The Runaway Reporter (A Police Procedural Mystery Series of Crime and Suspense, Hyder Ali #3) (17 page)

Her parents had a house in Mexico. Once they retired, they decided to move back.  Plus, they still had a large family there, so they were always surrounded by relatives.  Lopez tried to visit regularly, but now it was becoming more and more difficult.

But there was another reason she avoided going back. Everyone always asked why she wasn’t married yet. Her parents wanted her to marry a good Christian boy, one who was preferably Mexican, but over the years she had always fallen for bad boys.  These men only wanted to have a good time.  They didn’t want any responsibility that a relationship entailed. Marriage, a mortgage, children, even a stable job, was not something they were too interested in.

Soon, Lopez became tired of their childish behavior and she quickly moved on from them.

But Nolan was different.  Yes, he had his share of baggage, but he was a real man.  He was willing to commit to a marriage, a house, a child (his wife was five months pregnant at the time of her death) and even a career.  He accepted the responsibilities that came from being with someone.  Plus, he was capable of
real
love—a love that nearly destroyed him when his wife had died.

If things progressed well between them, she was certain he would be as devoted to her as he was with his wife.

She pulled off her jacket and tossed it on the sofa.  She removed her gun from her holster and placed it on the side table.

Angela was away on some audition and wouldn’t be home tonight, so Lopez wasn’t worried about putting the weapon in a secure place.

She turned on the television and moved to the kitchen.  The fridge was filled with leftovers from the previous nights.  She sniffed and tossed out most of the containers until she came upon a box of Chinese noodles.

She thought they smelled kind of fresh.  She didn’t have the energy to cook up something.  All she wanted was to take a long bath and watch some television.

She heated up the noodles and quickly ate them.

She then went upstairs.  From her closet, she picked out a set of pajamas and then moved to the bathroom.  She turned on the tap and began to fill the tub.

She heard a noise.  At first she decided to ignore it, but when it wouldn’t desist she turned the tap off and listened.

It was the telephone ringing.

Who is calling me at this time of the night?
She thought.  Couldn’t she get one evening to herself?

Grudgingly, she went out.  She found the phone and picked it up.

The moment she heard who was on the other line, she dropped it and ran out of the house.

SIXTY

(
Present Day
)

Lopez was in the waiting room of Franklin General Hospital.  She was anxious and stressed.  Nolan was in the operating room and even after two hours, she still hadn’t heard anything back.

She felt a pain in her chest.  She had tried to calm herself, first by picking up a magazine and scanning the pages, and then by staring at the television in the waiting room. But nothing made the dread she was feeling go away.

What if Nolan didn’t make it? This thought kept recurring in her brain.  She tried to push it aside by calling it nonsense, but deep down she knew the possibility was significant.  In her career, she had seen many gun related injuries, ones that the victims seldom survived.

Nolan had been hit at close range and he had lost a lot of blood.  The chances of him being able to walk away from it were very slim.

She had to prepare herself for the worse.  She had to remind herself that there was nothing more she could have done.

But there was…

She could have called 9-1-1 the moment she had received his phone call. 
He
could’ve called 9-1-1 instead of calling her.  And then, when he did call her, he told her to come by herself and not call for medical help.

Why?
She thought.

Maybe he wanted to tell her something before the paramedics took him away.  Maybe he knew his time was short.

She cringed.

If only she had listened to herself instead of him, maybe he would have been at the hospital sooner rather than later.

She put her face in her hands.  She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t allow herself to do it.  Not now, not until she was certain of it anyways

Good or bad, she had to wait for the doctors to confirm it.

She stood up and began pacing the room.  Luckily, there was only one other person there and he was passed out on one of the chairs.

Lopez tried to relive what had happened.  After receiving the call she drove like a maniac to Nolan’s house.  She found him bloodied on the kitchen floor.  He then told her…

Hyder
.

She found she couldn’t breathe anymore.  The room began to spin around her.  She fell into a chair, covered her face with her hands again.

Hyder shot Nolan
.

At first she didn’t believe what she had heard, but when Nolan repeated it, she knew he was telling the truth.  Also, he had mentioned to her that he was going to meet Hyder later in the day.  She was certain they were together in the house at that time.

But why did Hyder shoot Tom?

They were friends who had been through the TriGate Scandal and then the Monkey Murders, so what had happened?

She knew from Nolan that Hyder was unhappy about losing a story to the
Franklin Herald
.  Did they have a quarrel over this, which then got out of hand, causing Hyder to hurt Nolan?

But why did Nolan ask her to help Hyder?  Why was Nolan protecting the person who had tried to kill him? And also, why did he tell her not to tell anyone?

She shook her head.  Nothing made sense.

She leaned back in the chair, stared up at the ceiling.  This felt like a terrible nightmare, one she wished she could wake up from.

But this wasn’t some dream.  This was real.  Nolan was fighting for his life and Hyder was somewhere running for his.

She rubbed her temples.  She couldn’t believe this was happening.

The doctor came into the room and she quickly stood up.

She studied his face, to see any signs of regret which would indicate Nolan had not made it. “There’s nothing to worry about, he’s in stable condition.” The doctor said instead.

She let out a sigh of relief. “Thank God,” she said.

“Fortunately, the bullet didn’t hit any major arteries, but he has lost a lot of blood.  We are monitoring him, but I expect him to make a full recovery.”  He gave her a reassuring smile.

“Can I see him?”

“Of course, but he’s heavily sedated right now.”

“I just want to see him.  Please.”

“Follow me.”

The lights were low when she entered the room.  Nolan was lying in bed with tubes sticking out from his body.  There were several monitors around him. She knew one was for his heart and the other for dispensing pain medications and antibiotics.

Nolan’s eyes were closed and his mouth was open.

When the doctor left, she finally allowed herself to cry.  They weren’t tears of sadness, but joy.

Nolan would make it.  He would live.  She would help him get better, she told herself.  She would do everything in her power to get him back on his feet.

She went over and kissed him on the forehead.

SIXTY-ONE

Pascale and Halton showed up.

“How’s he doing?” Halton asked.

“He’ll make it,” Lopez said.

She couldn’t tell if he was happy or sad or indifferent.

“Did he tell you what happened?” Halton asked.

As per Nolan’s instructions, she couldn’t reveal anything.  Plus, there was still so much she didn’t know herself.

“I found him shot and then called for help.”

“No matter,” Pascale said.  “We’re certain it was Nolan’s weapon that was used against him.  We’ve sent it to forensics and very soon we’ll get a match on the fingerprints.”

Lopez’s heart sank.  She didn’t have much time.  She had to get to Hyder before they did.

SIXTY-TWO

Hyder stood across from the house, but he didn’t dare go in.  It had started to rain. His clothes were wet and stuck to his body.

He shivered and wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve.

He didn’t know where else to go but come here, his home.

His left shoulder stung from the cut.  He had managed to apply pressure to stop the bleeding, but he would examine it in detail when he had some time.

Right now, his mind was reeling from what had happened earlier.  It was sudden and unexpected.  It was as if it had not happened to him. Instead, it seemed to Hyder like something he had seen in a movie.

One minute he was talking pleasantly with Nolan and the next Nolan was attacking him.  Had he not grabbed the gun and fired, he was certain he would not be here right now.

But he wasn’t too concerned about his own life. He was more concerned about Nolan’s.

Had he killed him? The very thought made him physically ill.  He wanted to throw up, but if he did, then his fast would be broken.

He shook his head.  Breaking a fast couldn’t be worse than shooting a person.  But what else choice did he have?
It was done in self-defense,
he told himself.

He hoped and prayed that nothing happened to Nolan.  The last thing he wanted was to hurt him.

Hyder was a pacifist at heart.  He didn’t believe violence could solve anything.  He preferred open dialogue to resolve issues.

But in this case, there was no time to discuss anything.  It had happened too fast. All he could do was react to it.

He wiped the water off his face.  The rain had mixed with his tears.  He had shot his friend and he would have to deal with the consequences.

I should turn myself in,
he thought.  However long the sentence would be, he would serve it.

He did the crime and he should pay the time.

He then spotted someone in the window.  It was his mom and she was in the kitchen.  She was preparing for
Iftar
.

She would expect him to be home soon so they could open their fast together.  But that would not be the case tonight.

He couldn’t control his feelings anymore. He began to sob.

He thought of his mom and what would happen to her once he was sent to prison.  She had already lost a husband. Now she would lose a son.

“Oh, Allah,” he whispered.  “Please help me.  I am lost.  Please guide me through this.”

He didn’t have anywhere else to go, but he didn’t want to go inside and involve her.  She shouldn’t become an accomplice to his crime.  He couldn’t go to his brother, either.  After what happened with the Monkey Murders, he didn’t want him part of something like this.

He saw a car approaching the house.  A woman got out and he immediately recognized her.  It was Lopez.

He felt terrified, thought:
They are after me!
 
They knew what I have done!

Hyder took a deep breath.   He had to think straight.  He had to think logically. He couldn’t give himself up now. It wouldn’t solve anything.

It wouldn’t tell him exactly what happened at Nolan’s house.

He needed to find out for himself.

SIXTY-THREE

The only other place Hyder could think of going was the
masjid
.

It was open twenty-four hours a day and was known to welcome people at all times.

It was getting closer to
Iftar
, so the
masjid
was filled with worshippers.  This meant he could easily blend in without attracting too much attention.

He went inside and found plastic sheets already placed on the floor.  People were sitting on them with plates of dates and jugs of orange juice before them.

Hyder quietly sat beside a man with a long beard.  His eyes were closed and his lips were moving.  The end of the fast was usually the most difficult. People hadn’t eaten for most of the day and were therefore looking forward to their meals. It was why, according to Islam, prayers at this time were more likely to be answered by Allah.

The man next to him was doing exactly that.  He was praying for whatever ailed him.  Hyder took this opportunity to do the same.

He prayed for forgiveness.  He prayed for himself.  He prayed for his family.  But above all, he prayed for Nolan.  He prayed for his health and his speedy recovery.  In the end, he prayed for a way to get out of the situation he was currently in.

The
adhan
(
call for prayer
) was then recited.  The fast had opened.  Plates of dates were passed around, along with glasses filled with juice.  The worshippers quickly filled their stomachs and then lined up for the
Maghrib
(
evening
) prayer, which would be followed by the
Isha
(
night
) prayer.

After performing it in congregation, they once again sat down on the plastic sheets.  Plates of rice, lentils, and yogurt were quickly placed before them.

Hyder finally ate a full meal.  He wasn’t particularly hungry, though. He had lost his appetite when the incident had happened, but still he needed something to regain his energy.

Slowly, the
masjid
began to empty as worshippers headed for their homes.

Hyder couldn’t take their lead. Instead, he grabbed a medical kit and went straight to the washrooms. He removed his shirt and checked the wound on his shoulder.  The bleeding had stopped, but the cloth was now stained red.  The cut didn’t look too bad from his observations.  He cleaned it and then applied a fresh bandage over it to avoid any infections.

When he went out, he found the
masjid
completely empty save for a handful of people who were performing their
Itikaf
. It was a practice where worshippers voluntarily retreated to the
masjid
during the last ten days of the month of Ramadan, in order to spend the time in the act of worship.

These people ate and slept in the
masjid
, which meant it wouldn’t look odd if Hyder slept there too.

He found a spot in the corner and someone from the
masjid
gave him a pillow and blanket.

It had been a long and trying day. He was completely and utterly spent.  Before he fell asleep, Hyder prayed that, come tomorrow, all his worries disappeared.

SIXTY-FOUR

Hyder woke with a stir.  He blinked and then realized he was still in the
masjid
.  He hadn’t slept well last night.  He missed being in his own bed.  In fact, he missed being in a bed, period.  The floor, although carpeted, was no match for a mattress.

But he couldn’t complain.  He was, after all, a fugitive.  One who was seeking refuge in a house of God.

There were many stories of war where people hid in churches, temples, and synagogues, but this was nothing compared to that.  He was a criminal who would be charged with the attempted murder of his friend.

Hyder shut his eyes tight.  He wished yesterday were nothing but a horrible dream.  But it wasn’t, and soon he would be faced with the harsh reality of his actions.

He couldn’t believe how one event could change the course of his life.  He didn’t know if he would be able to see his family again, or even get married and have a family of his own.

The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to curl up and shut out the outside world.

He wished he could go back in time and change what had happened, but   he would have to deal with whatever came his way now.

He felt movement, realized that the
masjid
was slowly beginning to fill.  It was time for
Sehri
.  Worshippers were arriving to pray and close their fast.

Hyder debated whether to keep the fast or not.  Since becoming an adult, he had never willfully missed a day of fasting.  He had missed a day or two, but they were due to an illness or other health related reasons.  He prided himself in fulfilling his obligation for the entire month.

Today felt different, though.  He wasn’t sure how it would go.  He knew the police were out looking for him.  Why would Lopez come to his house if they were not?  Maybe they were outside the
masjid
right now waiting for him.