Garda - Welcome to the Realm (8 page)

“We are on the fortieth floor. Your room is at the end.”

“Why does everyone have a different knocker on their door?” I asked as we passed by a door with a brass eagle.

“The markers mean something to the people who live inside the rooms. The eagle we just passed, that was my room.”

“You’re up here, too? Does that mean you’re special?”

He laughed, and I couldn’t help but grin at the sound of it—so jovial and fun as it bounced off the walls.

“Yeah, I’m special.” He stopped in front of a dark oak-stained door. The knocker on it was silver with a yin-yang symbol in the center.

“This is your room.”

I stared at the symbol, drawn to it, but not sure why. “Should that have meaning to me?” I pointed at the knocker.

“Yes, and it will again very soon.” He reached for the doorknob, and I realized there were no door locks on the doors.

“No locks?” I asked as he turned the knob.

“There are no thieves here in heaven, Coralenna. We have everything we could ever want, so no one takes from others.” He pushed the door in, and we stepped through the threshold.

My breath got caught in my throat as I stared around the elegant room, not elegant in the formal sense, but elegant in the simplicity of it.

The living area was simple, with black and white furnishings, black leather couches and white throw pillows. Soft white carpet under my feet covered the entire room from the door to the glass wall of the balcony.

I walked straight to the balcony and opened the door. A soft breeze blew the scent of the flowers from below up to me. The sounds of the waves gently striking the shore rose to meet my ears. An eagle flew overhead, and my heart filled with happiness to see it all.

“This is absolutely amazing,” I whispered from the railing.

“Yes, it is. You have the view of both, I only have the view of the gardens.” David stood beside me and leaned down onto the railing with his elbows.

We were both quiet for a long time as we embraced the beauty in front of us. He spoke the words I was thinking.

“I could stand here forever and just behold the tranquility.”

“I was just thinking the same thing, and yet I feel slightly agitated, like I should be doing something.”

He turned to meet my dark blue gaze with his hazel ones, and I watched them sparkle brightly. “I know exactly what you need. Come on.”

~ Mitchell ~

“Mitch, come on man. You gotta pull it together,” Joe said quietly beside me. “Come on, let’s get up.”

I leaned back on the heels of my boots. With my body shaking heavily, I allowed Joe to help me to my feet. While I could feel my body quaking, I could not feel anything else.

Joe led me to a patrol car and opened the door, holding it open while I climbed inside. I fixed my sight on the windshield, yet I saw nothing other than a looped video showing the incident.

The rush of adrenaline during the chase, the bright red of the taillights in front of me, the sight of black boots flying through the air and rolling over the hard macadam—over and over again, the loop played.

Corey was dead. How the hell did this happen?

“I don’t know, Mitch, just the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess. It’s not your fault.” My face snapped to the left, I didn’t realize I had spoken out loud until Joe answered me.

“It is my fault! If I hadn’t seen that car and chased it, she would be alive!” I practically shouted at him as he drove away from the scene.

“Dude, you gotta get a grip on yourself! Man! I understand you’re upset and you feel like this was your fault, but trust me, this was
not
your fault.” I watched him shake his head with more anger in his voice than I expected.

“How can you say that? If I wasn’t chasing that damn car, she wouldn’t have gotten hit!” I slammed my hand down onto the dashboard.

“Mitch, look dude, there are higher powers at work than you know.” He shook his head again.

“What, like God? What the hell kind of God would take a person like Corey away from her life! She was so good! She helped everyone, went above and beyond what she had to do. She was a walking angel, dammit! She shouldn’t have died!”

I stopped my tirade when I realized that Joe had growled quietly. “Did you just growl?” I asked him.

His jaw ticked then locked down, and I watched him grind his teeth. He didn’t answer me, and I let it go, too upset by what had happened and knowing that the world was no longer as wonderful as it had been when Corey had been in it. I turned to watch the landscape pass as we made our way back to the station, my gaze flicking over the buildings, cars, and people but not really seeing any of it.

At the station, I stepped out of the car and stared at the large brick building. People were coming and going, some smiling, some appearing stern. None of these people were affected by what I had just done. None of them cared.

I watched the ground as I moved to the station door. Joe stepped beside me as we walked and held the door open for me as we entered. I went straight to the locker room, ignoring the glances from the other officers in the station. I didn’t want to see the accusation on their faces. Every one of them had liked Corey.

I sank down onto the wooden bench, listening to the soft whoosh of the hinged door closing to separate me from the squad room. I hung my head, now so heavy I could barely hold it up.

Tears prickled behind the lids as I thought about the first time I had seen her beautiful face. Flashes passed through my mind of our first kiss, the sight of her laughing with her head thrown back, her tough stance when she was dealing with a suspect. They moved quickly like a movie on fast forward, never stopping long enough for me to savor.

I heard the door open slowly and tried to sit up. I couldn’t move. I was frozen in grief. Just yesterday I had realized that she was everything I wanted, everything I needed, and today I had lost her, forever.

“Hey, Mitch, you okay?” Joe shuffled over to me, taking a seat next to me on the bench.

I shook my head, clasping my fingers together in front of me, squeezing my hands tightly to hold myself together. My heart felt like it was about to rip apart.

“Hey, I know how it feels to lose someone you care about.” His voice was soft next to me. “You’ll get over it.”

I turned to him. “Get over it? Jesus, Joe! She just died and you’re telling me to get over it! Insensitive much?”

A smile crossed his lips quickly before his face changed to solemn again. “No, I’m just saying, I know it hurts now, but it will get better.”

“I don’t want it to get better. I deserve to feel like this,” I muttered to the ground, noticing that my boots needed a cleaning. Strange thing to think about at this moment, but mundane thoughts helped stress. Muted words filtered to my ears. “What did you just say?” I turned to him.

He stood up, moving away, “Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”

Funny, I could have sworn he’d just said, “F-ing Brock.” I let it go since I had no idea why he would say that name, and at that moment, I didn’t really care.

“Look,” he turned back to me at the door, “the chief wants to talk to you.”

My shoulders slumped as I sighed deeply yet one more time. I knew I was going to get called into his office, but not quite so quickly.

“Did you love her?” Joe asked from beside the closed door.

I didn’t want to answer him so I kept my head down.

“Did she love you?” I turned my head to him as he reached for the door handle. We stared at each other for a moment, and I knew the answer to that question showed on my face.

“Sorry, man, that sucks.” His comment shocked me by the amount of insincerity it carried. I watched him shrug and walk out of the room. What the hell was his problem?

I examined my boots again and knew I was about to get plenty of time to clean them. I stood up and made my way to the chief’s office.

When I entered his outer office, I could hear him talking on the phone. I stopped to give him time to finish his conversation.

“Yeah, I know. She was a good cop. We will make sure she gets the best funeral that’s possible.” He was quiet for a moment, listening to someone on the phone. “Yeah, I know, I’m waiting for him to come to my office now.” Another pause and then he said a terse goodbye, and the sound of the plastic phone hitting the base reached my ears. I stepped up to the door.

“You wanted to see me, Chief Hensley.” The older man sat at his desk, his hands resting over the rotund belly of his navy blue golf shirt. His gray hair parted over to the side, appearing windblown. Today was Sunday; he wasn’t supposed to be working.

“Come in, Officer O’Reilly.” He leaned back further into his chair briefly before leaning forward and putting his elbows on his paper-strewn desk. He nodded at the chair in front of his desk, and I took it.

“What happened?” His dark gray eyes dug deep into mine. His sixty-something face intent on what I had to say, although not harshly.

I broke eye contact, trying to figure out where to even start, how to describe the horrible nightmare that I just wanted to fade away, but every moment was ingrained in my memory.

“Start with when you saw the car.”

In as strong a voice as I could manage, I proceeded to explain how I had seen the car and then attempted to stop it. The vehicle had fled, I pursued. The first part was easy, but I started to hesitate when I got further into it.

“I know this is hard, Mitchell, everyone really liked Officer Hamilton, just tell me what happened.” I tunneled my vision past him and out his window. A car drove by, a person walked the opposite way, life moved on.

I cleared my throat and continued to explain that the car was heading towards the café area and I saw children on the side of the road. I never saw her until it was just her feet flying through the air around the side of the sedan I had pursued.

The room was silent for a few moments; I stared at the pen holder on his desk, the one that sat beside his brass name plate.

“You were close to Officer Hamilton?”

I met his gaze. “Yes, we were friends,” my voice was husky as I answered.

He nodded to me, “I’m sorry, Mitch. It is very hard to lose a brother or sister in blue, and to lose one you considered a friend is even harder.” He paused for a moment. “My understanding is that she ran into the road to save a child. Is that correct?”

I shrugged, “Sorry, sir, I don’t know.” I hung my head, “I kind of lost it at the scene and have no clue what happened or even where the guys are that I was chasing.”

“No worries about them, they are locked up and they will be charged with homicide by vehicle, I can guarantee you that.”

Knowing that someone would be punished did not make me feel better. In my heart, I knew the crash was still my fault.

“It wasn’t your fault, Mitch,” the chief addressed my thoughts. “You were doing your job, she was doing hers. You both signed up to serve and protect, that is what you were both doing. It is a shame that it had to happen the way it did, but she will receive a hero’s funeral for it.”

My eyelids closed of their own accord. I couldn’t bear to think about burying her. Oh, God! Hold it together, just a little while longer, Mitch. Do not break down in the chief’s office.

“I think you need a few days to deal with this,” the chief said in a soft voice.

I blinked back the wetness and nodded to him, “Thank you, sir.” I moved to stand.

“Officer O’Reilly, we will need an official statement before you leave, and then you can go home to your family and take a few days to deal with this. It will get easier.”

My family—the breath that left my chest was like someone slugged me in the gut. They were the last ones I wanted to see right now. “Yes, sir, thank you.”

He stood up and moved around his desk. “Go see Sergeant Bryant. He will take your statement.”

I nodded once and he stopped beside me, resting his hand on my shoulder. I bit back the tears that threatened to fill my vision again.

“It won’t ever go away, what you saw, but eventually it will get better, son.”

I gave a quick nod to him and I turned, not trusting my voice. In the hallway, I stopped and regained my composure. I knew I had to give this statement and give it in detail. I swallowed hard and went in search of the sarge.

I put on my business face and locked down my emotions. The interview took over an hour, and when I was done, I walked to the locker room and changed into jeans and a T-shirt. Grabbing my keys, I made my way through the squad room. Once again, I ignored all the knowing glances from my fellow officers.

I climbed onto my motorcycle and cranked it over, revving it harder than necessary. I pulled out of the parking lot but didn’t head towards home.

I found my way to the park we had been in the night before and sat on the bench for hours, remembering every second of the time I’d had with her.

The anguish of knowing I would never see her again made my heart want to implode. What was this world going to be like without Corey in it? I couldn’t fathom not having her in my life.

How do you lose part of yourself and still go on? How do you survive when part of your soul is missing? How could I possibly go back to my home, my family, and pretend like I hadn’t just lost the most important thing in my life?

~ Brock ~

It didn’t matter that I was staring at her as if I wanted to eat her alive. She was here and knowing that I could reach out and touch her, that I could see her true inner beauty radiating off of her like rays of sun, kept me in reverence of her being. She was more beautiful now than she had been in her living life.

I knew she had no memory of her time on Earth, but eventually it would come back. I would worry about that later.

I saw her take a step closer to him, and I knew I had to stop her. With no thought, I blocked her path and startled her.

As we walked away, she peered over her shoulder one last time. I glanced back and saw the heated look. I pierced him with one of my own and walked with Coralenna through the gate Montgomery opened.