He tried to just sit and not talk with her, but he found it harder than Lucy expected.
“Have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe, I am really interested in hearing what you have to say?” he asked one evening after sitting next to Lucy on their couch silently for over an hour.
“Have you ever considered that the reason you always want to talk with me is that you are afraid of what I might be thinking about when not talking?”
Lucy was talented at reading people, especially Derek. His attempts to keep his fears and insecurities hidden were in vain. If he asked a strange question, she always could figure out what Derek was really trying to uncover.
“Until you learn to listen more than you speak, you’ll never make a good detective,” she told him once after he found out that he didn’t get the promotion with the Columbus Police Department he was expecting. “God gave you two ears and one mouth. Use them in that proportion.”
Derek worked on being comfortable with silence. After a while, he actually grew to look forward to times when he and Lucy could just sit together and digest their days in silence. As long as she was in the same room as he, Derek could go hours without muttering a single sound.
“It’s nice. Isn’t it?” she asked one night. “To just be together and not have to always struggle to think of something to say.”
Derek glanced at his wife as he sat across their living room and raised his index finger to his lips.
“Shhh,” was the only response he offered in answer.
Lucy smiled.
Derek remembered that night. How they laughed together. How they talked about starting a family some day. About their upcoming vacation to Maui and how Lucy would someday be able to stop working as a children’s counselor and be able to stay home and raise their kids. He remembered how they made love that night and how wonderful it felt to just hold her. There was no way of knowing that the next day, Lucy would be dead.
As he continued driving through the twisting roads of the Adirondack Park, Derek could clearly see and hear the events of Lucy’s final day.
The call came in over his police radio while Derek and his partner, Bill Manner, were on routine patrol. They responded along with at least twenty other patrol officers, lead investigators, Derek’s lieutenant and Captain, and the two hostage negotiators.
The call came through as “10-42, 10-43b, First Metropolitan Bank. 423 North Main.” Officer Manner new to the police force asked Derek what the codes meant.
“Robbery in progress, and shots fired. Looks like we are headed to a bank robbery.”
When Derek arrived on scene, he was approached by his Captain. The look on his face was one that sent immediate concern warnings to Derek.
“Officer Cole, I need you to stay back from the scene.”
“What’s happened?” he asked, his voice dripping his fear.
“Your wife is in the bank with the gunman. He’s already shot the kid she was with. Hostage negotiators are trying to establish communications with the suspect now. You need to stay back.”
“Captain, I know this bank like the back of my hand,” Derek pleaded. “I do security for them on my off days.”
“Officer Cole, I need you to stay back and let the experts handle this.”
“If he’s already killed one, why wait and give him time to shoot someone else? I could get in the back entrance without him ...”
“Cole,” his Captain interjected. “I need you to let us handle this one. You running in through back door with your level of emotional involvement will probably end poorly. Let the experts handle this.”
Derek could see into the bank through the front window and could make out five, maybe six people all prone on the floor. Towards the teller counter, he could see the gunman holding a woman in front of him with his gun pressed to her temple.
“This is detective Allen Green,” a voice boomed from a patrol car’s loudspeaker. “I’m here to make sure that no one else gets hurt.”
“Leave me alone,” a muffled voice was heard screaming from inside the bank. “These bastards took everything from me.”
“Why don’t you put your gun down, walk outside, and you and I can have a conversation about what happened to you? I promise that no one will hurt you, and if someone in the bank did something to hurt you, I’ll promise to give you justice.”
The front window of the bank exploded as the gunman fired three shots from his Glock .40 caliber into it.
Derek could see that the gunman was moving closer to what remained of the window, screaming words that Derek couldn’t understand.
As the gunman reached the unbroken windowpane, his human shield’s face became clear.
“Captain,” Derek yelled. “that’s Lucy!”
“Stand down, Cole. Our sharpshooter is clear to take the shot as soon as he can. Stand down.”
“Captain, I can be in that bank in twenty seconds without him knowing.”
“Cole, are you seriously suggesting that I allow you to go freelancing into that bank and risk having you screw up and getting yourself and your wife killed?”
“He’ll never know I’m there until it’s too late,” Derek begged, his eyes now locked with Lucy’s. “Please, Captain. I can end this.”
Before his Captain could talk, the gunman screamed. No words, just a primal sound at the top of his lungs. Derek could see the fear in Lucy’s eyes. She stood, her faced pressed against what remained of the cool window pane as the gunman began grunting, breathing in heavy pants, and sending his spit onto the window pane.
“Captain,” Derek said, his eyes never leaving Lucy’s, as the gun fired.
He watched her fall to the ground in a lump of death, her head exploded out on one side, and her eyes instantly glazed over.
He never heard the next few shots. The gunman turned and opened fire on his hostages before then turning the gun on himself.
No one tried to hold him back as Derek sprinted across the parking lot and in through the shattered glass of the bank. He knew she was gone before he fell beside her and held his dead wife in his arms. He cradled her, saying nothing. Gently rocking her and whispering “shhh” into her ear.
“It’s all quiet now,” he said as he kissed her bloodied forehead. “No more questions.”
No one asked Derek to release his hold of his wife. They worked as silently as they could around him, as he sat cradling her body. He sat holding her for nearly two hours before someone told him it was time to let her go.