“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
A moment later, Rachel heard Edith’s quivering voice from the hallway, explaining the situation to the emergency dispatcher. Blood was pooling around Rachel’s knees as she held the jacket firmly against Sam’s neck.
A red bubble formed on Wickersham’s lips and then burst, leaving a foamy red coating on his chin.
“Stay with me,” Rachel said. The blood was coming out fast—too fast. “Edith!”
“What?”
“Tell the dispatcher that the victim has severe trauma from a gunshot wound to the neck, with a likely arterial severing. Tell them they’ll need clamps, a catheter, and blood for a transfusion. Edith, are you with me?”
“Yes!”
“When they confirm an ambulance is on the way, keep the dispatcher on the line. Find Sam’s employment file. It’ll list his primary physician. Tell the dispatcher what you’re doing, put them on hold, and call his physician. Tell them it’s a life-and-death emergency and you need Sam’s blood type. Then give that to the dispatcher. Edith, did you get all that?”
“Yes!”
Now there was nothing for Rachel to do other than try to keep Sam Wickersham alive. As she held her blood-soaked jacket against his neck, she felt something weak and sticky wrap around her wrist. Sam’s hand. He was staring into her eyes and holding her wrist. For a moment, Rachel thought he was clinging to her as he clung to life, his eyes wide and pleading.
But then she felt his hand pulling at her wrist. Trying to pull her hand away.
He wanted her to let him die.
Rachel fought back tears and gently removed his hand from her wrist. He was too weak to resist.
“Please,” she said, “stay with me.”
Sam’s eyes closed. For a moment, she thought he was dead. But she could see his chest rising and falling with the breath of life. She could feel a weak pulse. He was still alive. For now.
A single tear slid down Rachel’s cheek and fell noiselessly into the pool of Samuel J. Wickersham’s blood.
CHAPTER 29
Rachel sat on the back bumper of an ambulance outside the Velos offices. She shivered in the frigid winter air, her bloodstained suit jacket having been taken away and bagged as evidence. She watched as EMTs loaded Sam Wickersham into the back of another ambulance, blood seeping through the towels held to his neck. He was strapped to a gurney, an IV already inserted into his vein, just enough blood left in his body to keep his heart pumping. Rachel asked the EMTs if they thought Sam would live, but they ignored her questions and focused on the wounded man.
Rachel was still shaken, her nerves jangling. If she’d been a split second slower, Sam would be dead.
She’d given a statement to the first officer on scene. She didn’t go into much detail or say why she’d been there in the first place, just that Sam took a gun from his desk and tried to kill himself. She left out the part about Caroline Drummond.
Even though Sam contributed to Constance Wright’s downfall, lied about their affair, and then helped cover it up, she believed him when he said he didn’t know who’d killed her. She’d sensed genuine remorse in his voice. He was a tormented young man who’d done something terrible. But he didn’t deserve to die.
She rubbed her eyes, forgetting for a moment that her hands were still coated in someone else’s blood.
“You all right, Ms. Marin?” the EMT asked.
“Yes. Long, very bad day.”
Then Rachel saw a familiar brown Crown Victoria pull up in front of the Velos entrance.
“Guess the day can only get worse,” she said to nobody.
Detectives John Serrano and Leslie Tally exited the vehicle. Serrano had a look of disappointment on his face that made Rachel feel sick and ashamed. But Tally had a look of pure anger, glaring at Rachel with eyes that could light a match. An EMT was checking Rachel’s vitals, to her embarrassment. Sam Wickersham was headed to the hospital near death, and some guy was checking her blood pressure.
Rachel had nearly forgotten that she hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours, but it was all starting to hit her. Serrano and Tally went over to a young officer writing in a notepad outside the Velos lobby. Rachel eavesdropped.
“How is he?” Serrano said.
“Partially severed jugular vein,” the cop replied. “Lost a ton of blood.”
“He gonna make it?” Tally asked.
The cop shrugged. Then he pointed at Rachel. “That woman there saved his life. Kept pressure on the wound, had Wickersham’s secretary give the 911 dispatcher the trauma details so the EMTs knew what they would be looking at. Even had the foresight to get his blood type to the hospital to prep for a transfusion.”
Serrano nodded but looked at Rachel gravely. She couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Is it true,” Tally said, nodding at Rachel, “that she gave a false name to the security guard to get into the building to talk to Wickersham?”
The cop nodded. “Guard said she gave her name as Caroline Drummond. Security tapes confirm it. Now why would she do that?”
Tally marched over to Rachel with a purpose. Rachel shooed away the EMT.
“I’m fine,” she said, then turned to Tally. “Detective, I can explain—”
Before she knew what was happening, Tally had spun Rachel around, bent her over the bumper, pulled her hands behind her back, and clapped a pair of handcuffs on her.
“Rachel Marin,” Tally said. “You are under arrest for interfering in a criminal investigation. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?”
“Detective Serrano?” Rachel said. She caught a look of surprise on Serrano’s face, which said that he didn’t know Tally had been planning to arrest her. But the look quickly faded. He had to back up his partner. Anger and panic and adrenaline flooded Rachel’s body. “Detective?”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Marin,” Serrano said. “We have to take you in.”
If looks could kill, Rachel was reasonably sure her glare would have killed not only John Serrano but all his ancestors as well.
Tally brought her around to the back of the Crown Vic, opened the door, and held Rachel’s head down as she pushed her inside. Then Tally slammed the door and threw Serrano a look that Rachel caught but that was clearly not meant to be seen by her.
It said, We have to clean up this crazy bitch’s goddamn mess again.
Thing was, Rachel couldn’t really blame Tally. She was the one who’d gone to Wickersham’s office and posed as Caroline Drummond. She’d wanted to get under his skin. In fact, Rachel felt a little lucky that she hadn’t been arrested before this.
“My children,” Rachel said, as Tally got behind the wheel. “My kids are in school. Detective, please.”
“We’ll have a blue and white pick them up and bring them to the station,” Tally said.
“You’re going to have a strange police officer go pick up my children from school after what happened with Aguillar and Steinman? Are you kidding me?”
“I’ll get them myself,” Serrano said. “Tally will book you, and I’ll get Eric and Megan.”