Andrew Gross - Reckless

Annie draped her fingers across Jared’s face and went over to Hauck. She put out her arms and gave him a strong, grateful hug, so tightly he could feel the worry and fear in her own accelerated heartbeat. He didn’t resist. It felt good to be in someone’s arms. Someone who loved him.

“They told me outside what happened. I don’t know how to ever thank you enough. You know what Jared means to me. He-” She pressed her lips together tightly to hold back from crying. “You’re hurt?”

“Just a cut. Enough to make me look a little sexy.”

Annie said, “There’s nothing you could ever do that will make you look any sexier to me. I owe you my son’s life. Who’d want to hurt him, Ty? What kind of bastard would do something like this?”

“Someone who may have wanted to hurt me.”

Her eyes flashed with anger. “I want to see him, Ty.”

“No, you don’t want to see him, Annie. I know how you feel…” He put his arm around her and wiped the tears off her face. “You have to take him away from here, Annie…Away from me. Anywhere. And you too. The two of you just can’t be around me right now.”

She looked at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Because it puts you in danger, Annie. Because whoever was behind this might try it again. Because someone wants to stop me and they’ll hurt any part of me they can get to. Any part that makes me vulnerable.”

“We’re not running away from you right now, Ty.”

“You’re not running away. You’re protecting him. Keep him up at school. Send him back to California to visit your folks. You know how I feel about him, Annie. But he just can’t be around me right now.”

The look of hurt that came on her face shone with fear and worry. She looked at him deeply. “What the hell have you gotten yourself into, Ty?”

“I don’t know.”

“We’ll take you home,” Annie said. “I know you need to give a statement, but I’m not going to let you be alone.”

He shook his head. “No, you should be with your son.”

“Ty, please… You were almost killed! You’re hurt. That guy in there doesn’t get to win by driving us away. Please…”

“You go on home,” Hauck said. He put his hand gently on her cheek and walked her over to Jared. “They may need to talk to him again in the morning. I’ll work that out.”

Annie nodded, frustrated, not sure what she could do.

He knelt down and said so long to Jared. “You saved my life, guy! You are one brave little dude!”

The boy got up and hugged him, hard. Hauck realized he would have died himself if he had let anything happen to him. Even now, who knew how he was going to be able to process this? To Jared there was no evil in the world, only kindness. Hauck pulled the boy’s face to his side and mussed his hair. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

Jared nodded, putting on a brave smile. “That was a good game, wasn’t it, Ty?”

“Yeah, son, a really good game.”

Annie left the rink with him. Hauck felt a weight of sadness pulling him down. He gave a detailed statement to the detectives, leaving out his suspicion on who might be behind this.

When he finished up, his blood was still pumping and he wasn’t quite sure how to calm it. In his old job, he would’ve started the investigation. Looked into the cell phone. Run a criminal search on Merced.

But now there was really nothing for him to do but just go home.

Steve came up to him. “I can have someone follow you in your car, Ty. You want me to drive you home?”

“No. Thanks,” he said. He shook Steve’s hand. “I’m really okay.”

“Sorry to say this, LT,” the head of detectives said, calling Hauck by his old title, “but you don’t look so okay.”

A tight-fisted pressure had risen up inside him. An overheating boiler. About to explode. He realized just how close he had come to dying and what he would have been leaving behind. He had a sudden flash of feeling totally alone. He wasn’t sure who to call or what to do.

Steve patted him on the shoulder. “Go home. I’m glad you’re okay, Ty. I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”

Hauck took the detective’s advice and went out to his car. The chill in the air felt good. The wind beating against his face. A light rain had begun to fall. He stepped around the corner and leaned against the concrete wall, his legs starting to weaken, what strength he still had starting to bleed way.

He lowered himself to the ground. He drew in a long, cooling breath of precious air. It felt good, cleansing, just to be alive. The wind from the sound on his face. The rain. The whoosh of the thruway off in the distance.

Grateful tears filled up Hauck’s eyes.

He sniffed them back, took out his cell, and found a number on the speed dial. His heart racing, he waited for the line to pick up.

Jessie answered on the second ring. “Hey, Daddy-o, what’s going on? It’s a Saturday night…”

“Nothing’s going on, hon.” He blew out his cheeks. “I know it’s a Saturday. I just wanted to hear your voice. What’s going on with you?”

“A bunch of us are over at Kellie’s and we’re watching a movie. Ten Things I Hate About You. Have you seen it, Dad?”

“No.”

“You’d like it. It’s not just a dumb teen flick. It’s based on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.”

“No kidding, babe…” He sat, tears starting to roll down his cheeks. He moved the phone away and pressed it tightly against his sweatshirt, imagining the horror if this had all had a different outcome. What the hell have you gotten yourself into, Ty? “That’s great, hon.”

Jessie paused. “Dad, are you okay?”

“Sure, honey, I’m okay. It’s just… Go back to your friends. You have a fun night. I just wanted to say I love you. That’s all.”

“Dad, you’re sounding a little strange. You’re sure you’re okay?”

“Everything’s fine, hon.” He wiped the tears off his cheeks. “Scout’s honor.”

“You never were a scout, Dad.”

“Right,” he said, chuckling. “Then how about, ‘cross my heart and hope to die’!”

Jessie waited for a second. There was some high-pitched girl chatter in the background. “I love you too, Daddy.”

He clicked off the line and continued to sit against the wall. His fists were coiled in anger-maybe in relief. He sucked a cooling breath into his chest. He felt ready to take them on. The man with the tattoo, the one who had killed April. He was still out there. Hauck was sure this one, at the rink, hadn’t acted alone. He was going to get him; that he would bet his life on. For himself. For April.

He just had no idea who it was.

Y ou have to learn to relax more, Ty.” April grinned, tapping his hand with her nail. “You seem like you’re itching for a fight.”

It had become a regular thing between them now. Lingering over a coffee up the block from the doctor’s after their sessions. Before Hauck headed back to Queens and April to Connecticut. Occasionally, she stayed in town and went to dinner or a business function with Marc. Today they walked through Madison Square Park.

“I just feel like I’m going a little crazy,” Hauck said. “Stir crazy,” he pointed out with a smile.

“Glad you clarified that!” April said.

“It’s just that it’s time to get back to work. Figure out what’s next.”

Businessmen were sunning themselves at lunch. The cafés around the perimeter were busy. He got a soda and she got a chai at a local Asian market. They sat on a bench.

“See, I told you, you were just passing through…”

“You know, I sorta missed you,” he said, taking a sip of Diet Coke. She hadn’t been there for a couple of weeks. He missed their talks. He’d begun to think of her as a new friend, and his others, some choosing to rally behind Beth in the breakup, some just not a part of what he was going through, he no longer wanted to be around. “You guys were away?”