Page 51 of Holding On to a Hero
We both sat for a moment, trying to get our breathing under control. I was just starting to panic about the shooter – because it had to be the same guy – coming after me instead of Cole when Felix advised, “Will, don’t get any ideas about danger being romantic or anything. I’m still not dating you.”
I was still laughing when I heard, “Police! Stand up and keep your hands where we can see them!” Detective Callahan, if I wasn’t mistaken.
I wasn’t. Felix and I stood up slowly with our hands raised. Ochoa and Callahan were pointing their guns at us but dropped them as soon as they realized who we were.
“Mr. Graham! Are you okay?” Felix and I nodded as Callahan cursed. “Where did the shots come from?” Felix and I looked at each other and shrugged.
“Probably the trees? We were over by the driver’s door.” I showed him where we’d been standing and how we’d moved around the truck.
“Stay here. We’ll be right back. There are patrol cars on the way.” They loped off. After a moment Felix and I were both anxiously scanning the trees for their return.
“Maybe we should go back to the restaurant,” I suggested. Felix had his arms wrapped around himself and was shivering. It wasn’t cold out.
“I’m okay,” he said. “Look, they’re back.” He pointed toward the opposite side of the lot where Ochoa and Callahan were striding toward us. Callahan was on the phone and stopped several feet away. Ochoa walked up to us.
“We didn’t see him. The techs will figure out where he was.” He gestured at Callahan. “He’s calling the captain to let him know what’s happening, since we were already on the scene.” He glanced toward the front of the restaurant, where a small crowd had gathered to stare at us. “Are you two okay if we stay here for a minute?” We both nodded.
“Great. You want to walk me through what happened?” Felix and I traded off our versions of the shots and ducking for cover.
“Detective,” I said slowly, “You don’t think this is the same guy, do you?” I mean, it had to be the same guy. But I desperately wanted someone to tell me it wasn’t and couldn’t possibly be the same guy. Because if it was, didn’t that mean I was the intended victim all along?
“Wait a minute,” Felix demanded. “What do you mean by ‘the same guy’?” I could see him connecting the dots. Sirens were finally approaching, but that didn’t distract him. “Does this have to do with your ex? You told me he hit his head on a door handle.”
Ochoa raised his eyebrows at me. I grimaced, then threw up my hands in defeat. “He hit his head on a door handle because we were being shot at and I pushed him out of the way of the bullets.” Felix looked at me in horror.
“And you thought it was a good idea to go on adate? When you’d been shot at?”
I shrugged helplessly. “I’m so sorry, Felix. It was six weeks ago. And we all thought the guy was shooting at Cole, not me.”
“Well, I guess it looks like you were wrong, doesn’t it?” he snapped. Yes, it did look that way. And if I was the intended target, then Cole was in a coma because of me. I felt sick. Two police cruisers pulled up and Ochoa went off to deal with them. Felix turned away.
“I really am sorry, Felix.” I offered again. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”Like Cole was,my brain offered helpfully. Felix didn’t reply, which was probably for the best.
I tried to divert my guilt into a more productive line of thinking, like working out all the ramifications of the shooter coming after me. Why was the shooter only trying again now? Had Ally and Abby been in danger? How long had he been following me?
I was starting to hyperventilate but Felix pulled me out of it by spinning around suddenly. “Cole? Cole who is in acoma? Are you talking about—”
“Not so loud!” Thankfully, Callahan was there to intervene. “We need both of you to come to the station and we can talk about it there.” He guided us away from the restaurant, toward the rear of the parking lot. “We’ll take my car.”
Felix got in the front passenger seat, so I collapsed into the back. I felt like I was going to be sick. My mind was running through all the times I’d taken Abby to the park or to school. Had the shooter been watching us then? Waiting for a chance?
Once again Felix broke my thought spiral. “So, when you said you went on three dates with Cole, who is now in a coma? And who is…?”
I shook my head at him. “I’m not outing anyone without their consent.” Which of course was confirmation.
“Holy shit!” He covered his mouth with his hands and stared at me through the gap between the seats. “Holy shit! I mean, I won’t tell anyone. But holy shit!” He muttered several moreholy shitsto himself, then came out with, “So the person who shot at us, that’s the same one…?” He looked between me and Callahan.
Callahan said, “At this point we’re not sure of anything.” He met my eyes in the rearview mirror. “Ranger Ramirez is going to meet us at the station.”
* * *
Excerpt from transcript of interview with Spencer Tranh, stuntman and friend of Cole Washburn:
Special Agent Bardo: Mr. Tranh, could you please describe your relationship with Cole Washburn?
Tranh:Um, I did stunts for Cole on his last five movies. We became friends. We text back and forth all the time, and when he lived in L.A. we hung out together a couple of times a month.
Special Agent Bardo:So you were friends away from the movie set.
