Soon after that, the on-duty detectives arrived. Ed Sinclair and Sally Combes, doing the weekend graveyard shift. Followed a short while after by Steve Chrisafoulis, who’d been with his family coming out of the movies in White Plains. Shell-shocked, he looked at Hauck, relieved to find him okay. Hauck’s arm was being dressed and he had lacerations all over his face and neck. Steve asked, eyes wide in disbelief, “Who won?”
“We did,” Hauck said. “Six to one.”
“Not funny, Ty.” The head of detectives shook his head. “What the hell is it with you? Can’t a guy just enjoy a relaxing Saturday night?”
Hauck shrugged. “If I can’t, why should you?” The med tech applied a temporary bandage to his arm.
“How’s the kid?” Steve looked over at Jared.
“A little shaken. Take a look inside. You’ll understand why.”
Steve nodded, scratching at his mustache. “You?”
Hauck exhaled, the kind of equivocation in his eye that said he was not exactly sure. He knew he’d come within an inch of losing his life. If he hadn’t found that skate with his last breaths, if Jared hadn’t distracted his assailant, Hauck was pretty sure it would have been him they’d be in there looking over. “Lucky to be alive.”
“You don’t exactly look it,” Steve said. He put his arm on Hauck’s shoulder and squeezed. “You know we can do this ourselves. Why don’t you go outside and get some air? I’ll have Ed and Sally take your statement in a while.”
“No. I’m alright.” He pulled himself up.
The tech finished up on his arm. “That ought to hold.”
Hauck rolled down his sweatshirt. “Let’s get it done.”
Steve went in and asked Ed and Sally if he and Hauck could have a minute in the locker room alone. It was an unusual request, but they nodded, “Sure,” given that only a few months ago, Hauck had been their boss.
Steve stopped and gazed soberly at the inert body, his eyes growing large at the sight of the skate still lodged in his chest, the pool of blood congealing next to him. He shook his head. “Jesus, Ty…”
“I know.”
“These hockey dads are just gonna have to learn not to take things so damn seriously.”
This time Hauck smiled and then told him how it had all happened. Chrisafoulis bent down over the body. He stretched on rubber gloves and turned it, gently, rummaging through the guy’s pockets. “What do you think, was he after you?”
“He knew who I was.” Hauck shrugged. “He knew I was an ex-cop. My gut says he was trying to prove a point with the boy. Trying to get to me by going after him.”
“Get to you how?”
“I think you already know the answer to that one, lieutenant…”
The detective lifted a wallet out of the corpse’s pants. “James Alan Merced. The address says Pismo Beach, California. There’s an armed forces ID in here too. The guy’s a vet. Camp Victory. Iraq.”
He dug his finger deep inside the billfold and pulled something out. A small badge-a wreath of gold leaf overset with what looked like a World War I rifle.
Hauck shrugged. “What’s that?”
“CIB badge,” Steve said. “Means he saw hand-to-hand combat. You’re a lucky dude.”
“There’s also a cell phone in the jacket pocket,” Hauck said. “That should tell you something.”
Chrisafoulis looked up at him reprovingly. Only the investigators were supposed to touch the body.
Hauck shrugged sheepishly. “Couldn’t help myself. Old habits are tough to break.”
Soon after, Annie rushed in, straight from the kitchen. She embraced her son tightly, her eyes wet with joyful tears. “Oh, baby, baby, what happened? Thank God you’re okay.”
“The man tried to hurt me, Mom.” Jared squeezed her. “But Ty came in and saved me. They had a big fight. He told me to run, but I tried to help him, Mom.”
“I know, baby, I know,” Annie said. “I heard. You’re such a brave little man.” She hugged him again and looked up at Hauck. “He’s alright?”
“The med tech said just a little shock. Some small cuts on his neck.”
“Ty got cut, Mom. He’s hurt.”
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.”