Every Second Counts

I walked downstairs to the interrogation room, getting more and more furious the closer I came to Montenegro. When I reached the door, Detective Gillies was just coming out of the room. He saw me, and he put his hand out to stop me. “Mara, I can’t let you go in there right now,” he told me.

“Why not?” I questioned.

“You’re too close to this case. We can’t risk something going wrong in there and him coming out on top, not getting convicted,” Gillies said, and I sighed, knowing he had a point. But, I was still determined to go in there and talk to him. He had done so much harm to my life that I wasn’t going to just let him get away without talking to him.

“Gillies, I’ve got to talk to him. Send someone in there with me. I don’t care. I need to talk to him. I need questions answered,” I explained.

Gillies’ shoulders sunk down, and I knew he was about to give in. “Fine,” he said. “But, I’m going in there with you. You get five minutes, Mara. Five minutes,” he said sternly, opening the door up and allowing me to go in first with him following right behind him.

I walked inside, staring at Montenegro. He had changed my whole life in just a month. “Just the girl I’ve been wanting to see,” he flashed his teeth at me, causing my insides to crawl with disgust.

“Tell me why,” I said, staring in his beady eyes.

“Why what?” he asked, being intentionally oblivious, making me even more furious.

I slammed my hand down on the table that separated the two of us. “You fucking know what the hell I’m talking about!” I screamed, and I felt Gillies’ hand go on my shoulder, reminding me to keep my cool and not do anything that I would later regret.

“Why I tried to kill you? Why I broke into your apartment? Why what?” he asked.

“So, you admit to breaking into my apartment?” I asked. Sure, I had always suspected it was him that had broken in, but I had never known for sure. “Why? Why’d you do it? You didn’t take anything.”

“It put you on edge, though, didn’t it?” he asked, and I just leaned back in my chair, hating that he knew exactly how I had felt. “You didn’t know who had broken in, and I watched you squirm in the daylight whenever you were out on the street. You didn’t know who was after you.”

I could feel goosebumps forming on my arms at the thought of him watching me. “Why me?” I questioned. “Why were you after me this whole time? Was I just the luck of the draw?” He didn’t answer, and I once again slammed my hand against the table, right next to where his hands were, causing him to jump back in surprise. “Answer me, damn it!” I screamed.

“Jameson Lincoln,” he spoke in an extremely calm voice, and I stared at him, repeating the name over in my mind, before it finally clicked with me where I had heard it before. “Ring a bell?” Montenegro asked me.

“Yeah, Jameson Lincoln was the murderer from my first crime scene,” I said. “How do you know who he is?” I questioned. Jameson had been a twenty year old college dropout who had murdered his girlfriend. I had no idea why Montenegro would have even known about him, let alone connected him to me.

“Jameson was my son,” Montenegro said, and I resisted the urge to widen my eyes and drop my jaw. “You are the reason my son is in jail right now.”

“So you decide to kill me?” I asked in disbelief. “Your son is in jail right now because he murdered his girlfriend. I just found the evidence to prove him guilty. He’s the one that got himself put there.”

“You deserve to die,” Montenegro said, becoming more agitated, but I remained where I was seated, refusing to budge. “You little bitch. You took my son away from me.”

“You deserve to be right next to your son right now,” I told him coldly, and Montenegro suddenly leaped across the table, attacking me. My chair fell backwards and my head hit the cement ground hard. In an instant, Gillies, along with two other officers, were pulling Montenegro off of me.

“Mara, I think you should leave,” Gillies said, trying to restrain Montenegro, as he yelled obscenities my way. I nodded my head, walking out of the room, only to be met by Parker.

“You okay?” he asked, checking out my head where I had hit it on the floor. I assumed he had been watching through the glass the whole meeting between me and Montenegro.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured him. “As long as he is locked up for the rest of his life,” I muttered.

“He will,” Parker said. “They just got his confession right there,” he reminded me, and I smiled in satisfaction. “Now, why don’t you go home? You’ve had a long day,” he said, putting his arm around my shoulders.

“Actually, I’ve got somewhere else I’d rather go first,” I said.

***

I had called Kris on my way to the hospital, leaving him a voice mail message, knowing he was already at the United Center getting ready for his game tonight. Now that everything with Montenegro was finally over, I just wanted everything to go back to normal. I walked into Fiona’s hospital room, smiling when I saw that she had the Blackhawks game on the television already.

“How’s my boyfriend doing?” I smiled at her.

“Not bad,” she told me. “He’s already got an assist for the night,” she said as I glanced at the screen to see the Blackhawks had a two nothing lead halfway through the first period. “How was your day?” she asked, and I could tell by the tone in her voice that Parker had already called her and filled her in on what had happened with Montenegro.

“I’m sure you know everything already,” I laughed at her.

“I’m just glad that everything’s over now,” she told me.

“I’m sorry that you had to go through all of this. And all for me. You shouldn’t be in the hospital right now,” I looked down at her sadly as the game went to a commercial.

“Mar, you’re my best friend. You know I’d do anything for you. And, that includes sitting in the hospital on a ventilator, which thank God, they took me off of earlier,” she said. “Oh, and they just came in and told me that Reed woke up today, too,” she told me. “I think you should head down there eventually to see him. I’m sure he’d love to see you.”

“I think I’m going to do that right now, if you don’t mind. But, I’ll be back up in a little bit. You can fill me in on the game then, right?” I asked her.

“Of course,” she smiled at me. “Tell Reed I hope he gets to feeling better soon,” she added as I left her room to go find Reed.

When I walked into his room, I couldn’t believe how bad he looked right now. Sure, he looked better than he had when he first came out of the warehouse, but he didn’t look anything like himself. “Reed,” I smiled at him. “Thank God you’re finally awake!”

“Hey Mar,” he smiled at me.

“Reed, I’m so sorry,” I immediately apologized. “I’m sorry that you’re in the hospital right now. I’m sorry…”

“Just tell me that son of a bitch is locked up right now,” he said, his voice coming out extremely weak, and I was sure that was just a result of being in a coma and not talking for so long.

I smiled at Reed. “Yeah, he is. They caught him today,” I told him, going into all the details that had happened.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Mara,” he said, beginning to yawn.

“Thanks, Reed. I’m going to let you get some sleep. I’ll be back tomorrow morning, though, to check on you,” I added, and he nodded his head before resting it against his pillow once again.

***

I sat in Kris’s living room, waiting on him to get home from his game. He had given me the key to his place before I had gone to work, before Montenegro had been caught and I was still scared to be in my apartment by myself. His front door suddenly opened, and Kris walked in, wearing a suit and tie, having come straight from the team’s four to one win. “I could get used to this,” he smiled at me, taking his coat off before I gave him a kiss. “I could really get used to this,” he smirked when we pulled away from each other.

“It’s all over,” I said to him, earning a questioning look from him.

“What’s all over?”

“Everything with Montenegro. He was caught today,” I said, telling him exactly what had happened.

“So, I guess that means you can go back to your place now, eh?” he asked, a sad look on his face.

“Well, I was actually thinking this new arrangement might be better. I mean, I’m here all the time as it is,” I said, pushing his suit jacket off of his shoulders, letting it fall behind him. “And, if I had my clothes here, I wouldn’t have to rush back to my place to get to work on time,” I continued, untying his ties and beginning to unbutton his shirt. “And…”

“And, I think you should stop teasing, say you’re going to move in, and head back to our bedroom,” Kris interrupted me.

“I like the way you think,” I smirked at him.