Chapter 2: Murder In Harmony
Chapter 2:
Darkness surrounded them. “Luis,” Sheridan said, her voice trembling slightly, “what’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” Luis said as he pulled them up off the floor. “I’m going to go check things out. I want you to stay here.”
Sheridan grabbed on to Luis’ arm, “Please don’t leave me. I’m scared.”
“It’s okay Sheridan. The power probably just went out,” Luis said trying to sound confident. “I’m going to go find a flashlight and see what happened. I’ll be right back, so don’t go anywhere.” Sheridan let go of Luis and as he walked out of the gym he pulled out his gun.
Sheridan stood alone in the dark windowless gym. She desperately wanted to go after Luis, but she forced herself to stay. After a minute or two Sheridan heard noises coming from outside the gym and then a gunshot rang out.
“LUIS,” Sheridan screamed. She was about to run out to find Luis when someone grabbed her.
Pierre snuck up behind Sheridan with a knife. He grabbed her shoulder and reached around to slit her throat with the knife. As soon as she felt him behind her, adrenaline surged through her body and she grabbed Pierre’s arm and flipped him over the way Luis had shown her. As he fell the knife hit Sheridan. She screamed out in pain and Pierre hit the floor with a thud.
Luis came running into the gym with his gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other. “Sheridan, where are you?”
“Luis thank god, are you ok?”
“I’m fine, what about you?” Luis asked.
“He tried to grab me,” Sheridan answered, pointing at Pierre, who was lying unconscious on the floor, “but I did the little flip thing on him. He had a knife though and I think he cut me when he fell.”
Luis shined his flashlight at Sheridan and saw that the side of her shirt was stained with blood. “Sheridan, you’re bleeding, we need to take you to the hospital.”
Sheridan stared down at the blood on her shirt and her eyes got wide as a memory of the body under the bloody sheet flashed in her mind. “No, no,” She cried out.
“But you might need stitches,” Luis said oblivious to the real reason she was upset.
There was a loud bang at the door of the youth center as the police came bursting through. “Harmony Police, come out with your hands up,” Sam shouted.
“Hey Sam, it’s Luis. Come on in, everything’s under control.”
“Luis, what’s going on?” Sam asked as he came into the gym with a standard issue police flashlight. “We got a report of gunshots and there’s a body out there,” Sam looked down at Pierre, “and who is this guy?”
“They are the French drug lords that have been trying to kill Sheridan. I shot the one out there. His name was Roger, and this one is Pierre. He attacked Sheridan and she knocked him out, but he cut her with a knife. She doesn’t want to go to the hospital so I am going to take her into my office and make sure she doesn’t need stitches.”
One of the officers found his way to the fuse box and turned the lights back on. Luis led a shaken Sheridan out of the gym and into his office. He sat her on the couch and pulled out the first aid kit before sitting down next to her.
“I need you to take off your shirt.” Sheridan tried to unbutton her shirt but her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn’t get the buttons undone.
Luis put his hands over Sheridan’s shaking hands. “It’s okay,” he told her and he moved his hands to the knot tied at the bottom of her shirt and slowly loosened it before undoing each of the buttons on her shirt. He removed the torn and bloody shirt from her body leaving her in her white lace bra. He put some peroxide on a cotton ball and started to clean the cut made by Pierre’s knife. Sheridan jerked back as soon it touched her skin. “I’m sorry, I know it stings, but I’ll be done in just a second. It doesn’t look too bad though, so I don’t think you need stitches.” Luis finished cleaning the wound and put a bandage over it. “All done, I told you it wouldn’t take too long.’’ Luis secured the bandage with one last piece of tape and then let his fingers brush across the side of Sheridan’s stomach before removing his hand.
The feeling of Luis’ hand against her bare skin caused Sheridan to shiver. “Are you cold?” Luis asked.
“A little,” Sheridan lied and she wrapped her arms across her barely covered chest.
Luis unbuttoned his navy blue shirt, took it off and wrapped it around Sheridan’s shoulders. “Here you can wear my shirt.”
Sheridan looked down at Luis’ shirt and inhaled his scent. “Thank you,” she said quietly and when she looked up into Luis’ face tears began to fill her eyes.
“Hey, don’t cry,” Luis said and he wrapped his arms around Sheridan and pulled her to him. Sheridan rested her head against Luis’ bare chest and her tears continued to fall as she sobbed softly. “It’s alright Sheridan.” Luis rubbed his hands across her back and he held her body tightly against his own. “You’re safe now. No one’s going to hurt you.”
“I was so scared when I heard that gunshot and then he grabbed me. I don’t know what I would have done if anything happened to you,” Sheridan sobbed.
Luis pulled back and wiped the tears from Sheridan’s cheeks. “Nothing happened to me. And I think you took care of yourself pretty well. Those French thugs were no match for us right.”
“Right,” Sheridan sniffled giving Luis a small smile.
Sam knocked on the door and popped his head into Luis’ office. “Hey Luis, we’re going to need you and Sheridan to come over to the station and give your statements.
“Ok Sam, we’ll be over in a little bit.” Sheridan wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and slid her arms into Luis’ shirt and buttoned it up.
“If you’re ready we can go, I just need to grab a shirt out of my locker first.”
“Ok, I’m ready,” Sheridan said and she followed Luis out of the office but she froze when she saw Roger’s dead body being zipped into a body bag.
Luis grabbed Sheridan’s hand, “why don’t you come with me,” he said and led Sheridan into the men’s locker room. Sheridan sat down on a bench while Luis got a shirt out of his locker.
“What are you thinking about?” Luis asked Sheridan who was looking around the room.
“I was just thinking about the last time I was in here,” Sheridan grinned.
“Oh really. Has it changed any?”
“No, the locker room is the same, but you look different?”
“How am I different?”
“Well, you’re wearing more clothes. Oh, and you’re drier,” Sheridan teased.
“Funny,” Luis laughed, “come on. Let’s go.”
Ivy entered the Crane Mansion and Kay followed behind her. “Oh wow,” Kay exclaimed, “I can’t believe how big your house is. Are you sure you want me to stay here?”
“Of course dear,” Ivy replied, “and as you can see we have plenty of room. Come on upstairs and I’ll show you to your room. I was thinking that you could stay in Sheridan’s old room, that way you’ll be close to Ethan and I. But if you’d like to have more privacy you could stay in one of the guest rooms in the east wing, although that would put you closer to Julian’s room.”
“You and Mr. Crane don’t have the same room?”
“Good heavens no. I don’t want to share the same wing with Julian, much less the same room. Here we are,” Ivy said and she opened the door to Sheridan’s room.
“It’s so big. Is this whole room for me?” Kay asked and Ivy nodded in agreement. Kay looked around the huge room. There was a fireplace with a couch in front of it and a large desk off to the side. There was a big mirrored vanity table and a bathroom that was bigger than the bedroom that she shared with Jessica at home. And in the corner there was a gigantic dollhouse almost as tall as Kay was. “Oh wow,” Kay said as she looked through the French doors, “there’s even a balcony. This is so cool.”
“I’m glad you like it dear,” Ivy said as she sat down on the edge of the bed. “Kay, will you please tell me what happened that made you want to leave home.”
Kay thought about it for a minute. “Will you promise not to tell anyone.”
“I promise.”
Kay sat down on the bed with a sigh, “Okay, I’ll tell you what happened.”
At the police station Sheridan and Luis sat side by side in two chairs in front of Sam’s desk giving their statements to FBI Agent John Mathers.
“…I guess Pierre hit his head because he was unconscious. Then Luis came in and that was it,” Sheridan said, finishing her statement.
“Ok Miss Crane. I’ll have someone type this up for you to sign and I’m going to check on Pierre’s status and then I’ll be back to take your statement Officer Lopez-Fitzgerald,” Agent Mathers said and he left the room.
Sheridan let out a big yawn. “How much longer are we going to have to be here?”
“Probably about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Are you tired?”
“Yeah, I didn’t sleep that well last night and I guess having people try to kill me makes me sleepy.”
“Well, your part is finished and since we’re going to be here for a little while, why don’t you lay your head down on my shoulder and try and rest.”
“Ok thanks.” Sheridan leaned across the arm of the chair and wrapped both her arms around Luis’ arm, laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She spoke as she began to drift off to sleep, “thank you for taking care of me.”
Luis brushed the hair out of a sleeping Sheridan’s face and whispered. “I’ll always take care of you.”
After Luis finished giving his statement Agent Freeman arrived. “Good work today Officer Lopez-Fitzgerald.”
“Thanks.”
“Is she ok?” Hal asked looking at the sleeping Sheridan.
“Yeah, she’ll be fine, she’s just tired.”
“Where is Chief Bennett, I wanted to have a word with him.”
“Chief Bennett had to go home for a family emergency.”
“Well, I just wanted to let you know that we’ll be turning Pierre and Roger’s body over to Interpol soon and they’ll be returned to France. Since Miss Crane is no longer in danger you have been relieved of your duty as her bodyguard.”
“Oh, ok,” Luis said with less enthusiasm than Agent Freeman had expected.
Sheridan began to stir and stretched before she opened her eyes. “Oh hi Agent Freeman. How long was I asleep?” she asked Luis.
“About an hour.”
Agent Freeman spoke up, “Miss Crane, I was just telling Luis that since there isn’t a threat on your life anymore that he is no longer your bodyguard and he can move out of your house tonight.”
?
“Oh,” Sheridan said, a lump catching in her throat. “You must be really happy to finally be going home Luis. We should get going so you can start packing.”
Luis was a bit surprised that she was so anxious for him to leave since they had been getting along so well lately. “We just have to sign our statements and then we can leave.”
“I’ll have an officer bring your car over from the youth center,” Hal offered, “but you’d better leave through the back. The press are camped out in front of the station waiting to see Miss Crane.”
Luis and Sheridan signed their statements and left the station, avoiding the press. On the drive home Sheridan hardly said a word, she just stared out the window.
“What’s wrong?” Luis asked as they walked into the cottage.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Sheridan lied, “you better start packing, I’m sure you’re in a hurry to get home.”
“Fine,” Luis said in frustration. He walked over to the closet and started looking inside for his bag but he couldn’t find it. “Sheridan, do you know where my bag is?” Luis asked, but when he turned around she wasn’t there. ‘Where’d she go?’
Luis looked through the house for Sheridan but he didn’t find her. Finally he walked out onto the patio and there she was sitting in a deck chair with her head buried in her hands. He could tell she was crying and it made his heart ache. He walked over and sat down on the chair with her.
“Sheridan, what’s the matter? And don’t tell me it’s nothing, because I know that you’re upset about something.”
To Be Continued…