Page 76 of Jagger
“Fine, just please get Molly to the ambulance. That woman pistol-whipped her, I think. She has a knot on her left temple under all that blood.”
I was hustled down the stairs, placed in the back of a squad car and left there to stew while the officers secured the scene. Deputy Do-Little helped Molly down to the ambulance, and I could see him taking her statement while the paramedics treated her. After about ten minutes, an unmarked police car pulled up, and two men in suits got out, obviously detectives. I rolled my eyes as the older of the two looked around to scan the parking lot, and I realized it was Abby’s dad. He was a homicide detective, so it made sense that he’d been called in, but he was going to give me all kinds of shit for this. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t keep me in these fucking cuffs a little longer, just for shits and giggles. The man had eventually come around to the idea of his little girl being married to a biker, but he still liked to yank our chain once in a while.
I watched as he and his partner approached the ambulance and spoke with Molly and Do-Little for a few minutes. At one point, he glanced over sharply toward the squad car I was in, and I saw his surprise as he caught sight of me. After a few more minutes, he headed my way, smirk firmly in place as he opened the back door of the squad car and reached in to help me out.
“Fancy meeting you here, Jagger.”
“Randy, good to see you, as always.”
He rolled his eyes then turned me around and unlocked my cuffs, and I rotated my shoulders to ease the strain on my arms. Those fucking things were uncomfortable, to say the least.
“So, tell me what the hell happened here,” he said, all traces of his smirk gone now as he got down to business.
“I’ll tell you whatever the fuck you want to know, just as soon as I make sure Molly’s OK.” I didn’t wait for his permission as I strode across the pavement to the ambulance.
Molly was sitting at the back of the ambulance as the paramedic finished taping a large gauze pad over the cut. She looked up as I approached, and gave me a weary smile, before returning her attention to the man next to her.
“You need stitches, ma’am, and most likely a head CT to check for a concussion. We need to transport you to the hospital.”
Molly gingerly nodded, the movement clearly causing her pain. I reached for her and carefully wrapped my arm around her, bending down to press a gentle kiss to her uninjured temple.
“You scared the hell out of me, Angel. Go on and let them take you to get checked out. I’ll be there as soon as the cops let me go.”
I could tell she was upset at the thought of the cops questioning me, so I tried to reassure her that everything would be OK.
“That detective over there is Abby’s dad. I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it,” I promised her. She relaxed a little in my hold, and I dipped my head to kiss her cheek before turning to ask the paramedics which hospital they would be taking her to.
“We’ll be transporting her to County General’s emergency department.”
I stepped back as they helped Molly lie back on the gurney, and watched as they carefully strapped her in for the ride.
“I’ll be there as soon as I’m finished here, Angel.”
She looked so pale and fragile lying there, but I could see the undercurrent of strength running through her as she met my eyes and nodded calmly. The paramedic sat down beside the gurney as his partner closed the doors to the ambulance, then hopped back into the driver’s seat and pulled away from the curb. I flinched as he switched on the siren and flashing lights, then watched as they wasted no time pulling out of the lot and onto the main road.
I turned to face Randy, who’d lost his smirk and was now looking at me with sympathy.
“Let’s go down to the station so we can get your statement. I’ll make it as quick as I can, so you can get to the hospital. If you want to call a lawyer to sit with you, feel free, but you aren’t under arrest. From everything Miss Walsh and her neighbors say, it was self-defense.”
A short time later, I found myself sitting in an interrogation room with Brick’s uncle, who happened to be the lawyer that we used on the rare occasions one of us ended up in cuffs. He advised me to just answer their questions honestly and was sure I’d be released with no charges based on everything he’d been told.
Randy walked in with two other men, one of whom he introduced as the lieutenant in charge of his team.
“Since we have a familial relationship, I have to sit this one out, but Lt. Brown will take good care of you. Oh, and King will be waiting for you when you’re finished,” he said, before shaking my hand and leaving the room. The lieutenant quickly got down to business, telling me the other man was from their forensic unit.
“He needs to swab your hands for gunshot residue and take your fingerprints so we can match them with your gun. It’s just a routine part of the investigation.”
Once the man was finished and left the room, the questions started.
“Explain to me exactly what happened, Mr. Morgan.”
I started at the beginning, explaining what happened with Anna, Child Services, and Chad Laskey. He listened intently, occasionally stopping me to clarify something. I heard my voice shake as I told him about this afternoon, finding Monica Laskey holding a gun on Molly.
“So, she turned and pointed the gun at me, and I shot her,” I finished, taking a deep breath as it finally sunk that I had actually killed someone.
Outside of breaking up more than a few bar fights and participating in a couple of ass-kickings for the club over the years, I’d never hurt another human being in my life. And now, I’d killed someone. I knew I should probably feel bad about it, but I didn’t. Monica Laskey didn’t deserve to live after what she did to her little girl, or what she tried to do to Molly. If killing her condemned me to hell, then it was well worth it.
After running through today’s events a second time, the lieutenant told me that they would have to keep my gun as evidence until they’d run their tests, but that I could collect it once their investigation was complete.
