Брайан Фриман - Funeral for a Friend

Stride closed his eyes. Then he struggled to speak again. “I died.”

Serena struggled to speak, too. “Yeah. You did. Your heart stopped during the operation, and they had to revive you. You didn’t come back right away. Any longer, and they were going to call it. I almost lost you, Jonny.”

“Sorry.”

She laughed through her tears. “Don’t scare me like that again.”

He managed a smile.

“Cat?” he said.

“I sent her home. She couldn’t handle seeing you like this. She was falling to pieces. I just texted her that you’re awake. She’ll be here soon.”

Stride let his mind drift backward, but there was nothing to find in the moments before he was shot. That night inside the convention center, the town hall, everything was gone. The last thing he remembered was sitting outside the DECC with Serena in the pouring rain and listening to the thunder. And then, just a blink later, he was here.

“Others hurt?” he said.

Her face bent into a frown. “Well, the good news is, it could have been much worse than it was. One of the men in the crowd took a round in the shoulder, but he’s already out of the hospital and doing well. Colleen’s shots on stage were basically aimed at you and Cat, and other than the shot that hit you in the chest, all of her other rounds missed. She didn’t hit anyone else.”

Somehow, Stride knew there was more. He could read the look on Serena’s face.

“But,” she said.

He already knew what was coming next. The memory of her face was in his head. “Andrea.”

“How did you know?”

Stride didn’t answer. He simply waited.

“Yes, I’m sorry, Jonny. Andrea froze when the shooting began, and then she tried to run. She ended up in the crossfire, and she was hit. She was killed instantly. We got the ballistics report back. The bullet came from Brayden’s gun, but it wasn’t his fault. Andrea was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Stride nodded.

He thought about Andrea, gone. They’d shared years together, most of them unhappy, but he felt sad that she’d lost any last chance to make peace with her past. And yet, somehow, he also believed that death had brought her that peace. He’d seen it in her face.

He’d seen it in the suncatcher she held.

“How did you know Andrea was dead?” Serena asked again. “You’d already been hit. You were unconscious.”

“I saw her.”

“Where?”

“A dream.”

“While you were...?”

Stride nodded, feeling the exhaustion of trying to speak and the weight of sleep closing in on him again. Even so, he forced himself to say what he wanted to say. “I saw the dead with me. Steve. Michaela. And Andrea. So I knew.”

“Wow.” She reached out and stroked his face with the back of her hand. “Tell me something. Was... she... there with you, too?”

He knew who she meant, and he nodded.

“You saw Cindy, and you still came back to me,” Serena murmured. There was a little bit of wonder in her voice, and he watched tears silently move down her cheeks again.

He squeezed her hand, because he couldn’t do much more.

“I’ll let you sleep,” she went on, seeing his eyes blink closed. “Cat will be here soon.”

Stride shook his head firmly, despite the pain it caused. He moved one finger to beckon her closer, and he managed another word. “Autopsy?”

“What? Who?”

“Andrea.”

Serena nodded with a little confusion. “Sure, we did an autopsy. Maggie called with the ballistics report, but I haven’t seen the autopsy report itself. Why? There’s no mystery about how she died.”

He wasn’t sure if he was already asleep, but in his head, he heard himself telling Serena, “Check it.”

Maggie emptied the dregs from the bottle of champagne into the last of the plastic glasses and made an announcement to the police officers gathered in the conference room. “Ladies and gentlemen, a toast. To the Unsinkable, Indestructible, Very Much Alive Jonathan Stride.”

A cheer arose from the cops. They downed their champagne and launched into a round of applause. Maggie grinned as she studied their faces. She wasn’t surprised to see a lot of big, tough cops working hard to hold back tears. She’d known every one of them for years, and she knew they would all risk their lives for Stride. They knew how close they’d come to losing him.

Guppo didn’t even try to hide his emotions. He simply blubbered. Maggie wandered over and gave him a hug, and she found herself brushing tears of relief from her own cheeks, too.

It was a happy moment, but then the devil walked in to spoil it.

“Maggie.”

She glanced at the doorway of the conference room and saw Dan Erickson signaling to her. He wore a phony smile of sympathy. Maggie rolled her eyes, then grabbed the remnants of another glass of champagne from the table and swallowed it down to give herself strength. She joined Dan in the hallway outside the room.

“You want some bubbly?” she asked. “If you do, too bad, because we’re all out.”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“We’re celebrating, you know.”

“Yes, I know.”

“What do you want, Dan? Because right now, all I want to do is go to Sammy’s and get a pizza and drink a lot of beer.”

He shrugged. “Can we talk?”

“Now? Really?”

“Really.”

Maggie sighed. “Yeah, sure, whatever you want.”

She led him to her office, and she noticed that he closed the door when they went inside. She didn’t particularly enjoy being in a closed room with Dan, but she consoled herself with the idea that if he tried anything, she had no qualms at all about kneeing him in the groin.

“What’s up?” she asked, sitting behind her desk.

“It’s good news about Stride, obviously. What a relief.”

“I’m sure he’ll be touched by your concern, Dan.”

“You may find it hard to believe, but I’ve always respected Stride, and I’d never want to see something bad happen to him. I couldn’t be happier that he survived. However, good news or not, I wanted to check in with you about the future. Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“Come on, Maggie. Stride’s alive, but this was an extremely serious injury. He’ll need months to recover. He’s not coming back to the force anytime soon. I assume K-2 will be making you the new lieutenant.”

“I’ve given that exactly zero thought,” she snapped.

“Well, you should. It’s reality.”

Maggie scoffed, but without saying so out loud, she knew that Dan was right. K-2 had already told her the same thing. She’d assumed that the chief would eventually relent and bring Stride back with a reprimand, regardless of whether the Baer case was resolved. But the shooting had changed everything. Stride wouldn’t be in any shape to return to the job for the foreseeable future.

Assuming he wanted to come back at all.

She was going to be in charge of the detective division. She was taking over. It scared the hell out of her.

“Let’s focus on Ned Baer, okay?” she said. “We still have a murder to solve. That’s my priority right now.”

“Have you learned anything more?” Dan asked.

“Well, gee, the last couple of days have been a little busy, but actually, yes, I have. Debbi King tracked down a photo of Ned Baer from his college days, and Guppo showed it to Adam Halka. Halka identified him. Ned was definitely the roadie he brought to the party that summer. It doesn’t give us any conclusive evidence that Ned assaulted Andrea, but as far as the murder investigation goes, I think it’s reasonable to suspect he did. The question is whether that changes anything or gives us any new suspects. Unfortunately, I’m not sure it does.”