Shaw nodded his head as though he’d reached a decision.
Jack forced himself to his feet. His vision blurred, but he tried to focus on the large blur in front of him. He balled his right hand into a fist. One punch. He might have one good punch left in him.
Maybe.
“There he is!”
Everyone turned to look at the source of the shout. Alex Hernandez stood atop the hill near the road, his arm thrust out as he pointed at Shaw. Beside him stood Murray, and a policeman in full orange rain gear. The officer’s flashlight swept over the group.
Jack and Robyn pointed at Shaw.
The cop shined his light on Shaw and drew his gun. “FREEZE! Hands where I can see them!”
Jack managed a faint smile.
Nicer words he’d never heard.
32
Like Your Old Man
Jack shifted his position on the hospital gurney and winced. He’d lost track of how long he’d been in the emergency room. He’d been poked, pricked, X-rayed, and prodded. Now he waited in a small examination room, itching to find out how his father was.
An older doctor walked through the door. She scanned his chart.
“How’s my dad?” Jack asked.
“He’s fine. He’ll have a sore throat for a few days, and we had to stitch up a cut on his face. It’s mainly in his eyebrow, so the scar shouldn’t be too noticeable. He’s getting dressed and will be with you in a minute—”
Jack’s dad hurried into the room, still putting on his shirt. The left side of his face was bandaged; his right eye had a deep black circle under it and was swollen shut. Jack cringed when he saw the bruises on his throat.
They hugged, and then Jack’s dad turned to the doctor. “You said nothing’s broken?” he asked hoarsely.
She smiled. “Young bones. He’s got a nasty bump on his head and a bruise on his back. You both need to take it easy for a few days. I’ll leave instructions with the nurse.” She lost the smile and cleared her throat. “There’s a detective outside who wants to speak with you.”
As she walked out of the room, Detective Clark came in.
He brushed his gray hair back and his scowl darkened. He looked at Jack’s father and shook his head. “This is what I get for trying to involve a responsible adult?”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Derrick.”
“Dramatic? You both almost got beaten to death with a tire iron and I’m being dramatic?”
“It’s my fault,” Jack said.
“No, it isn’t,” the two men said at once.
“I’m responsible,” Jack’s father said. “But there’s a very good reason for my actions.”
Clark crossed his arms and waited.
Jack’s father cleared his throat and winced.
Clark’s wrinkles softened somewhat. “That throat of yours looks like you fought a boa constrictor and lost. Let’s hear this ‘very good reason.’”
Jack’s dad stood as if he were addressing a classroom. “Jack realized there was a possible witness.”
“Murray Pratt?”
“Yes, Murray. I decided that before speaking with you, I should go and warn him that his life was in danger.”
“It’s the ‘before speaking with me’ part that I have a problem with, Ted.”
“Seriously, Derrick? What was I going to do—tell you some homeless man in Hamilton Park ‘might have seen something’?”
“Yes.”
Jack’s dad huffed. “You can’t work off that. You need facts. Something more concrete.”
“No. We go off a hell of a lot less, typically. We would have re-canvassed the park. Asked different questions. It’s standard procedure.”
“Well, I thought his life was in immediate danger… and that it was the right thing to do.”
Clark looked back and forth between Jack and his father. His gaze stopped on Jack. “Now I know where you get it, kid. Fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree. You’re just like your old man.”
Jack smiled at his dad.
Clark’s harsh face softened. “You saved Murray’s life.”
“You have that wrong,” Jack replied. “If it wasn’t for Murray getting help, and Alex getting the police…”
Clark pointed at Jack. “You were right about Michael Shaw, too. He killed his wife, and then lost it. Paranoid as hell. I don’t think he’s slept since he killed her.”
“So you talked to him? He confessed?”
“Yes. To everything. After we confronted him with the evidence, he started going on and on, giving us every detail. I personally think it was you, Jack, who drove him over the edge.”
“Me?”
Jack’s dad laughed. “Jack can have that effect on people.”