Damien moved, trying to see what was happening. “He’s been shot! He can’t move his legs or his arms!”
A small gap gave Damien a glimpse of Frank. Two EMTs were sliding an orange board underneath him. Another was squeezing a bag off the mask they’d put over his mouth. Within seconds, Frank was on the stretcher and they pulled it to waist height. An EMT crawled on top of Frank, pressing his palms against his chest.
The stretcher was whisked out. Damien hurried after it, watching them load Frank into the ambulance. Three police cars circled the street. Damien rushed toward the back doors of the ambulance, intending to climb in, but the doors were slammed shut and the ambulance rolled forward, its sirens blaring against the brick walls of the complex.
Damien stood there, staring at his bloody right hand. The phone was still in his other hand. He tried to dial Kay’s number, but the phone fell and the battery popped out and onto the sidewalk next to his foot.
Nearby Captain Grayson got out of a dark sedan, frantically motioning for Damien to get in the car.
24
“Damien, what did you see?”
“Nothing. I got there; Frank was on the floor.”
“Nobody else?”
“No one but me.”
“And you received the text from Frank this morning.”
“Yes. It was very jumbled, but we read it as Help me. Angela’s house.”
“So you went right over?”
“Yes. I didn’t think anything was really wrong. I didn’t know where Angela’s apartment was exactly. I saw the truck, then saw the apartment door open. I knocked and saw him.”
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“We’ve been internally investigating Frank for about four days now.”
“Why?”
“The Web site.”
“What about it?”
“We came across some information that led us to suspect that Frank might be involved.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I know this is hard to hear.”
“It’s not hard to hear. It’s ridiculous.”
“Did you know that Frank has a sister?”
“Frank doesn’t have any family. His parents died years ago, and he has no siblings.”
“He does have a sibling. Her name is Meredith. She’s in an adult home a few miles from here in Camden, where they grew up.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“We’re just now putting the pieces together, having just learned it ourselves. But apparently she tried to commit suicide when she was twenty. Frank walked into the garage and found her and cut her down. She was alive, but her brain lacked oxygen for too long, and she’s been in a vegetative state all these years.”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with anything.”
“Meredith attempted suicide after she overheard a conversation. Two friends went into a room at her house, said some horrible stuff about her, not knowing there was a baby monitor in the room. She heard all of it. Three days later she hung herself.”
“How do you know this?”
“His ex-wife told us.”
Damien pushed the conversation from the night before out of his head and walked without breaking pace down the softly lit hallway, took a right, and found himself in a small, black room carpeted from floor to ceiling. Against the back wall was the casket, gaping open like a mouth.
He wished he could stop playing the conversation in his head, but it was relentless, like a fly darting around his face that he couldn’t ever quite shoo away. He focused on the elevator music in the background. For once it was actually welcomed.
Frank looked peaceful. Damien stepped closer, within a few inches of the casket. At first he studied the plump, fragrant flowers set on the floor on either side of the casket. But then slowly, he made himself look.
Frank in a suit made him smile. Damien had made the decision, mostly because Frank was always uncomfortable in his uniform. Called it “ill-fitting.” But he was equally uncomfortable in a suit. Said they never looked right on him. But Kay had convinced him that if Frank had to choose, he’d choose the suit. He had only one in his closet, so that made it easy.
His badge stuck out of his pocket. And beside him was his cell phone. Damien smiled again, but this time the smile couldn’t stop the tears, and he found himself laughing and crying all at once.
That guy loved his iPhone.
A few other medals were put into the casket too. Frank didn’t have much hair to fix, but what he did have was slicked down like he would never wear it. Also, his cheeks were kind of pink, and Frank never had a hint of pink on any part of him.
Still, he looked like he was resting, as if he’d fallen asleep during a Sunday afternoon football game. His hands were folded over his belly as if he’d just eaten a big bowl of chili.
Damien touched the casket, running his fingers along its rim, grazing the silk lining.
Captain Grayson’s words whispered in the corridors of his mind again, and their conversation at the hospital started to replay. He blinked, trying to kick it out again.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Meredith?” Damien said to Frank, wiping the tears from his eyes. “How could I not know that? I know everything about you.” He never told anyone except Angela. Not even his closest friend. What kept him quiet all these years? Was it guilt? shame?
He took a few steps back and felt a hand on his shoulder. He knew it was Kay.
“The kids are here,” she said quietly.
Damien nodded and turned. Jenna rounded the corner first, followed closely by Hunter. Jenna’s dress glided around her knees as she walked. Hunter fidgeted with his collar. Damien held out his arms, and they each buried their face in a shoulder.
“You know,” Damien said, still blocking their view, “you don’t have to see Frank like this. It’s all right to remember him how he was.”
“It’s okay, Dad,” Jenna said, her gaze drifting toward the casket. “Frank was family. We should be here for him, even like this.”
Damien took them each by the shoulder and turned. Hunter trembled beneath his hand. Jenna leaned into him. Kay came up beside them and they stood silently for a while, just looking.
“I hope you two find as good a friend as Frank was to me.” Damien wanted to say more, but his voice quivered and he hated his kids seeing him like this.
Then Jenna lightly laughed. “Is that his cell phone?”
Damien grinned through his tears. “Yeah. Figured Frank wouldn’t want to go through eternity without his technology. The police finished their investigation of it and gave it back.”
Hunter looked at him. “Is the lid going to be open during the funeral?”
“No. This is called a viewing. We’ll close it before the funeral starts.”
“Good,” Hunter said. “Frank would not want to be seen in a suit.”
Damien laughed. “Exactly, buddy.”
“He’s in heaven,” Jenna said. “I know it. I remember when we were little, Frank would always talk to us about heaven and God and Jesus. He always said he wasn’t getting there by his merits, which he thought was funny because of his last name.”
Damien smiled. Sounded like a Frank joke.
“Jenna, you got your cell phone?” Hunter asked.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Let me see it.”
She dug in her purse and handed it over. Hunter’s thumbs flew over the number keys.
“Son,” Damien said, “now’s not a good time to be texting-”
Suddenly Frank’s cell phone lit up and vibrated. Hunter smiled.
Damien leaned in to read it: We luv u Frank. Rest well.
With another smile came another swelling of emotion. Tears dripped down Damien’s face faster than he could wipe them. Kay brought him into a hug, then let go, nodding that he should look behind him.
He turned.
Angela.
“Honey,” Damien said, “why don’t you take the kids out. I’ll be there in a minute. It’s almost time for the funeral to start. We need to get over to the church.”