Chasing Memories (Shadow Man Book 2) Page 2

  “How’d you know it was me?”

  Harper laughed. "I can literally hear you pouting."

  Jill sighed. “I’m sorry, I was trying to be quiet. I didn’t want to wake you.”

  “You didn’t,” Harper promised. “I woke up on my own. I would like to know what I'm doing in a hospital and why it hurts to blink.”

  “I’ll call the doctor,” Jill scrambled for the call button. “I don’t know all the doctor lingo.”

  “But you do know I caught him,” Harper whispered. “I caught the Shadow Man.”

  "Well." Jill rubbed her hands together. "You did catch him, but I have a lot to catch you up on."

  Harper immediately felt sick to her stomach. Her mind swam with possibilities. Had she accidentally killed him in the chase? Did she catch the wrong guy? Did he get off on bail because she didn’t identify herself as a police officer? Did she somehow fumble the ball?

  She didn’t have much more time to think about all the different ways that she could have messed up, because she could hear the doctor come in. Light footsteps, she was a woman or a very small man.

  "Officer Storm," a soothing female voice chimed in. "I'm Doctor Miller."

  Harper smirked despite herself.

  “I’m glad you’re awake. Is there anything I can do for you?”

  “You could tell me why I’m here for one,” Harper sighed. “And explain to me why it hurts to blink?”

  "I'll increase the pain killers." The doctor smiled, tampering with the IV. "But you sustained some injuries chasing after that man in the woods."

  Harper whistled. She could feel some of the aches and pains melting away, and she smiled soothingly. Whatever magic medicine the doctor gave her seemed to be working.

  "You cracked four ribs on the right side and tore up the flesh there. You also sustained injuries to your eyes and eyelids from the soil, and you fractured your nose."

  Harper nodded slowly, remembering everything. “Sounds about right.”

  “Good Lord,” Jill scoffed. “What the heck happened there?”

  Harper explained the chase scene. She said everything and explained how she jumped and rolled into the tree that cracked her ribs. She told Jill about the dirt bomb and how the guy had played dirty, and the desperate kick to her nose. Jill listened silently, and so did the doctor.

  “I’m surprised you only suffered cracked ribs then,” Dr. Miller chuckled. “Seems like you went for a spill.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  "Sounds like we can add assaulting an officer to his charge list." Jill clapped her hands. "To be honest, we didn't know how you sustained your injuries, and the man isn't talking."

  Harper sighed with relief. “So you have him in custody?”

  She could hear Jill shift uncomfortably in her seat. “Yes… we do. I reported you as the arresting officer, and the newspaper got you down as the arresting officer, but… well, Andrew has been taking credit for it. He says that it was his idea to do this.”

  Harper scoffed. “And none of y’all talking about how it was like pulling teeth to get him to do this?”

  Jill sighed. “We did, but you know how the journalists are in this town. They love Andrew.”

  Harper growled. Of course, he was taking credit for her hard work.

  “Well, he’ll be getting an earful from me once I’m discharged from this place. Now, what about the man I arrested?”

  "He's in custody after being treated by EMS," she explained. "He sprained his ankle running from you and fell on his face."

  Oh, right.

  Harper had forgotten about punching him in the face. However, that wasn't what she was worried about right now. If they think he fell on his face and he wasn't saying any different, then Harper wouldn't change the narrative.

  "He's pleading the fifth and is swearing that he needs a lawyer," Jill sighed. "He won't even tell us his name. All we know is that he's asking for you."

  “Probably because I arrested him,” Harper snickered.

  “Well, actually,” Jill rubbed her hands together. “He says that he knows you.”

  “He says that he what!?”

  “Don’t rip my head off,” Jill ordered. “I’m just telling you what I know. He also stopped speaking after that. We weren’t able to get anything else off of him. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” Harper sighed. “You did your best. I understand.”

  Harper could hear Jill smile from her chair. “Thanks. I’d hope you would be proud.”

  “No one’s questioning him without his lawyer present, right?” Harper asked.

  Even though she hated the man who actually took Beth, she wanted to get him the right way. She wanted to make sure she had him by the book - convicted by a jury and sentenced by a judge.

  It was the only way that made sense to her.

  It was also the only way to make sure she would be able to sleep again.

  “They’re not supposed to be,” Jill nodded. “They should be obeying the rules of the law, even with you gone. You know that Leroy will keep them in line.”

  Harper chuckled to herself. “That’s true.”

  Jill exhaled.

  “So Doctor Miller,” Harper offered, “What’s the low-down? What am I looking at?”

  “Well, you need to stay in the hospital for a little bit longer for some more tests and monitoring your symptoms. Plus, your eyes are healing, so I don’t want you having to hurt them more by moving them around a lot.”

  "But doc, I thought that the eyes were the quickest healing organs in the body," Harper joked.

  Luckily, Doctor Milled seemed to sense the tone and played along. “Yeah,” She snickered, “And that’s the only reason why you’re able to be here for a day and not seven.”

  She gently patted Harper's leg and told her something about getting medicine for her soon, and Harper said her goodbyes. The second she heard the door close and the doctor leave, she inhaled sharply.

  “Get me Andrew on the phone,” she barked at Jill.

  Luckily, Jill didn’t question why. She just pulled out her phone and started dialing. Andrew picked up on the second ring, sounding almost drunk with happiness.

  “Jill, dear!” He cheered. “It’s so good to hear from you!”

  “Are you questioning the witness without his lawyer present?!” Harper asked.

  Andrew coughed to clear his throat. He was obviously not expecting Harper on the other end of this phone call, and part of her felt bad. She felt that maybe she should have told him that she was the one that orchestrated the call, but she also knew she was calling Andrew and that he was trying to take her career arrest from her. She did not like that and couldn't wait to shove her foot so far up his butt that he would feel her when he coughed, but she knew that had to wait.

  "Harper," Andrew's voice was lower than usual. "I know Jill was with you."

  “I would say she was the only one who cared to stay,” Harper barked, “But I know you were busy trying to take my arrest, Andrew.”

  Harper heard some scoffs from the office where the call was seemingly being held on speaker. Andrew cleared his throat.

  “Did Jill tell you that?”

  "No," Harper lied, "I figured it out on my own. Your reaction and the laughter alone are enough to let me know that I'm right, so there's that."

  She could hear Andrew huff on the other end of the phone.

  Then, to her surprise, she heard the chief of police barking up.

  "Actually, Harper," he offered, "I was just talking to Andrew about the arrest. Your colleagues spoke wonders about you and the pursuit that you did to follow after him."

  Harper smirked, even though no one could see her. “Thank you, sir. It’s not every day I chase a perp until I’m in the hospital, but on the days that I do, I expect recognition.”

  "You're going to get it, that's for sure," the chief bellowed. "Once you're healed, we need to get you on an interview about the chase scene."

  Harper frowned. “Of course, of course… but listen, that wasn’t my main reason for calling.”

  “Are you telling me that your main reason for calling wasn’t chewing me out?” Andrew laughed, garnering a swell of supportive laughter from behind him as well.

  Harper ground her teeth together.

  “No,” she sighed. “I heard that the witness is asking for me specifically. In case you’re wondering, Andrew, that’s all Jill told me.”

  Jill flashed Harper an appreciative smile with a matching sigh, which was the only way she knew that Jill was happy. It was impossible to read her face at the moment, but Harper didn't worry too much about that. Jill was a breather - she always exhaled or inhaled whenever she did something (or anything, really) that involved emotions. That's how Harper was able to read her and how she knew that Jill was appreciating Harper lying on her behalf at that moment.

  However, the fact that Jill seemed to need someone to come to her defense against Andrew bothered her. Was she scared of him? If she was, Harper wanted to know why. Of course, sometimes people just didn't like the concept of confrontation - which Harper admired. If someone liked confrontation, that was always weird to her. Harper always lived her life staying away from confrontation but knowing that she could take care of herself if it were to come to that.

  That was the key to being assertive.

  Jill knew how to take care of herself – all force members did. So it probably meant to Jill that she just didn't want to be involved with the situation or any drama that came with it. Frankly, Harper understood. Workplace drama was never fun, and even Harper hated it.

  However, Andrew deserved whatever he got thrown at him, and Harper was more than happy to throw more things at him
.

  Something about this entire case, this situation, felt off from the beginning. She never outright hated Andrew, but there was a coolness between them. Harper thought it was because he was afraid (and rightly so) that Harper was after his position of power in the force, and she ignored it from there and summed it up as a workplace spat that wasn't personal. However, since the start of this case, Harper felt like his anger and frustration were nothing but personal. They were also affecting the case that mattered more to Harper than anything else in the world.

  Her blood was boiling as she heard him exhale loudly over the speaker.

  "Yes, he is," Andrew admitted. "He's refusing to talk to anyone else but you, and I have to say, Harper, it's really frustrating."

  “Tell me about it,” Harper rolled her eyes and winced in pain after realizing what she had just done. Quickly, she forced herself to recover before Andrew or anyone else started asking questions.

  “Well, the doctor said I had one more day to stay here in the hospital. So, I should be back tomorrow to interview him. Has his lawyer come in yet?”

  “Not yet,” Andrew admitted.

  “What!?” Jill barked over the phone suddenly. “He asked for a lawyer hours ago! Before I left to check on Harper!”

  “What!?” The chief barked.

  She heard Andrew inhale sharply. Harper smirked. If Andrew had been somehow interfering with the process of the law, the chief would hopefully have his butt on a silver platter. However, as fate would have it, it seemed that Andrew - once again - had a perfect excuse lined up and ready to use.

  “The lawyer is on his way,” Andrew barked. “No one has interviewed him after he said he wanted his lawyer, I swear.”

  "You better be telling the truth," the chief growled, "Because if we get sued over this case of all cases, I will have your badge on my desk faster than you can crap your pants. Understand!?”

  Jill had to slap her hands over her mouth to prevent herself from laughing over the phone, and Harper smiled to herself. When someone got the chief mad, it was always a fun experience for the audience that got to watch what happened to the unwilling suspect. Harper snickered a little. Even though she couldn't stand Andrew, she didn't want him to hear her laughing.

  Or the chief.

  "Yes, sir," Andrew's voice was smooth as stone. "I understand. We'll keep an eye on him and make sure that everything is okay. I promise."

  "Okay," the chief huffed and chimed into the phone again.

  "Okay, Storm, give me a call when they discharge you. Jill, stay with her."

  Jill laughed. “Don’t mind if I do. She’d go crazy without me.”

  "Of course, I would," Harper smiled. "That's why you have to stay with me."

  “Okay, okay,” the chief sounded annoyed over the phone before finishing with, “Listen, some of us have to get to work. I have to let you go now.”

  "Of course, Chief," Harper laughed. "Goodbye, everyone! I'll see you guys tomorrow."

  There were some cheers before the line went down. Harper scoffed as Jill took her phone back.

  “How much money do you want to put down that Andrew hung up before everyone could say goodbye on purpose?”

  “Interesting that you caught that,” Jill laughed.

  "Of course, I caught that," Harper had to fight the urge to roll her eyes again. "Everything I do is wrong in that man's eyes. He literally couldn't be more annoying."

  "That's not exactly true," Jill reminded her. "He could somehow be even more of a kiss up to the higher-ups. Speaking of," Jill laughed again, but, this time, it carried more whimsy in it. "Did you know that the chief was there when you called to confront him?"

  Harper laughed back. “Actually, no. I know that probably doesn’t seem like me, or even true, but I thought I was just going to confront him on his own.”

  “So that was just a bonus for the rest of us, then?”

  Harper and Jill laughed together, and for a split second, Harper felt mildly normal. She felt like the kind of woman who could go out for coffee with Jill and consider her coworker her best friend – Jill was the closest thing that Harper had to a best friend at the moment. She forgot about Beth, the chase, about the fact that she was in the hospital. But the second the laughter died down, the truth came crashing back.

  Harper felt her tongue get heavy with thoughts. She wondered if she should tell Jill the truth about Beth and the Shadow Man. If she let Jill on with what was happening to her, there was a definite chance that maybe Jill could help ease the pain a little bit, but she couldn’t.

  She had no idea where she would even begin.

  The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if telling Jill was even the right answer. She knew that Jill was a great girl - in fact, as Harper had just thought, Jill was probably the closest thing that she currently had to a best friend. However, she didn't want to scare her. She didn't want Jill to freak out or her loyalty to Harper's feelings to cloud her judgment on the case. Harper feared that if she could convince Jill that she was telling the truth and that she had a history with the Shadow man, Jill would immediately take to arresting the man they caught.

  Instead, Harper decided to share what had been weighing on her mind since she arrived in the hospital.

  “I don’t know what I think of the guy I caught today,” Harper said through gritted teeth.

  She could hear Jill freeze. Her friend slowly moved her legs from the couch, where she had propped them up, and leaned over to sit properly. She set something down and cleared her throat.

  “What do you mean, Harp?”

  Harper sighed. The pain medicine was certainly helping her feel more at ease, but it didn’t calm the waves of frustration in her mind. She shifted a little bit, moving around so it would be easier for her to position herself the right way and talk better.

  "I just… it didn't seem right. That guy didn't seem like the kind of man who could take off with a kid. He was so flighty, so frail and fragile. It was like I could break him over my knee, Jill."

  “He did outrun you for a hot second, though,” Jill pointed out. “He might be frail, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t capable of stealing a child.”

  “How could he carry a child?” Harper pondered. “Especially one that was kicking and screaming?”

  "Are you sure that the child would be kicking and screaming, though?" Jill asked again. "After all, Kaison said that the dark man used to talk to Gina. Maybe the kids he took trusted him, or something like that. Maybe it's just as simple as that."

  "Yes, but Kaison also said his sister told him to run," Harper remembered. "She wouldn't be saying that to him if she knew the dark man. She promised her brother that she would introduce him to the dark man - so why would she say that and then go back on her word?"

  “Maybe it was a sister thing,” Jill offered. “Sisters lie all the time. Mine still lie to me to this day, especially when it’s about something they care about. They lie out of selfishness.”

  Harper sighed. "You're probably right."

  "I just don't know if he's our guy."

  "Then why would he be in the woods like that?" Jill asked. "He was coming back to the site of the abduction to relive the thrill," she offered. "There's no other reason that someone would be there. We were out so late. It wasn't like he was out for a hike or something."

  Harper knew that Jill was right, and yet at the same time, she felt wrong. Her intuition guided her to the fact that the man she arrested was innocent. Still, Jill's logic was ironclad. There was no reason for him to be there so late, and there was no reason for her to question how she handled things. She did well when she went after him, and though her intuition was telling her that things were off, there was a chance that her feelings were getting in the way of things.

  After all, was anyone ever satisfied when they found out who had tormented their family, peace, and everything else about them for years?

  The more she thought about it, the more she realized that despite it all, she might have felt that everyone but the Devil himself was wrong.

  Chapter Three

  Harper couldn’t get out of the hospital soon enough.

  She enjoyed her time with Jill, of course, but it just wasn't what she wanted. What she really wanted was to teleport to the precinct and conduct the interview herself with the man she arrested who was conveniently asking for her and her alone. Jill did a good job of momentarily taking her mind off the job, though. They talked about TV shows, a guy that Jill was seeing, and the fact that Harper wasn’t seeing anyone. They talked about anything and everything that came to mind.