Hawk, his eyes narrowed in hatred, walked over to Viper. As he stood over the crumpled man, he stomped his leather boot on Viper’s balls with full force. “Never.” Stomp. “Fuckin’.” Stomp. Stomp. “Touch my woman.” Stomp. Two kicks. “Motherfucker!” Two more kicks to the side and face. The wail of sirens drew near, and Cara moved away from Hawk and walked over to Eric’s lifeless body. Kneeling, she put her head on his cold chest and shivered. She smoothed out his shirt with trembling fingers, her breathing labored. Squeezing her eyes shut as her shoulders shook, Hawk came over to rub her back and stroke her hair in silence.
Red and blue lights flashed through the grimy windows, and Ruben and Chas stood aside as the paramedics rushed in, kneeling beside Jax. Right away, they placed him on high-flow oxygen after they examined his airway then placed a pressure bandage on his wound to stop the bleeding. One of the men checked Jax’s pulse and said, “Sir, can you hear me? Sir?” Jax’s eyelids fluttered.
The men worked fast to get Jax on a long back board. They rolled him toward them, and one of the medics patted down his back to look for the bullet’s exit wound, but found nothing. When they loaded him on a gurney and into the ambulance, Cara heard one of the paramedics ask, “Are you feeling any pain?” She looked at the opened door and saw Jax hooked up to two IVs. One of the paramedics came back into the shack. “I need someone who can answer some questions about the injured’s alcohol or drug usage tonight and when he last ate. I also need to know if he’s taking any medication or if he has any allergies. Who can help me with that?”
Giving Cara a hug, Hawk stood up and walked toward the ambulance. She watched the doors close, then the red flashing lights and wailing siren sped away.
A grip on her shoulder forced her to turn around. Josh gave Cara a faint smile and held her arm as he helped her to her feet. Her legs were wobbly, and she collapsed into his arms. Two police officers taped off the area around Eric’s body as they processed the scene. Josh dragged her out of the way, the biting cold reviving her as Cara gulped in breaths of icy air.
“Eric did horrible things to those women, Josh. How could he? How could I not have known something was wrong?” she said in a flat voice.
“I know this is hard, Cara, but please don’t blame yourself. Eric was a very disturbed man. Try to think of the Eric you knew, not the one he had become.”
“I think I killed Viper. I know he would’ve killed Hawk if I hadn’t stopped him. I think I killed a man.” The gravity of her statement hit her full-force, and warm dampness streaked her face.
“Viper isn’t dead. He’s hurt, but he isn’t dead.”
Cara crossed her arms around her chest, took a deep breath, and geared herself up for a long night. She wanted to go home, take a warm shower, and shut off her memory. She looked at Josh and said, “Let’s get this over with.”
Inside the shack, she saw Chas and Ruben as detectives spoke to them, answering the investigators’ questions in single syllables. They avoided her looks. One of the detectives walked over and told her he wanted to take her statement. Cara sighed before she recited what happened on one of the longest nights of her life.
Chapter Thirty-One
It seemed fitting that Eric’s funeral was on a gray, bleak morning. Dressed in black, the mourners looked like a flock of crows, their coats and veils whipping furiously in the bitter wind. They crowded before a mahogany casket, a white cloak draped over it. Cara’s aunt, Eric’s mother, sat on a canvas folding chair, sobbing, while Cara stood by her parents. Her father held her gloved hand and squeezed it as dampness glistened on her lashes.
Cara tossed a dozen roses on the grave, and their red petals looked like drops of blood against the snow. She patted Eric’s coffin and whispered, “You’re finally rid of your demons. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.” Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat then retreated with the other grievers. She noticed Nancy was not at the funeral, but she didn’t blame her. Nancy knew Eric during his dark years, and she had been, understandably, appalled at the news that her fiancé was the Mountainside Strangler. Cara felt blessed she had many years of good memories with Eric, but she couldn’t get the mutilated bodies out of her mind, and Nadyia’s dead eyes haunted her sleep.
She saw Hawk by the tree, its gnarled branches a perfect backdrop for the gloominess of the day. His gaze held desire, tenderness, and sympathy. Nodding to him, she turned her head away. I’m sorry, Hawk. I know I owe you an explanation, but I just can’t deal with anything right now. I know I’m avoiding you by hiding out at my parents’ house, but I can’t be a part of your world anymore. Our worlds are too different. I miss you terribly, but it’s for the best that we go our separate ways. I’m sorry, Hawk. So sorry.