Un-betaed

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The Next Day

Chapter 11

Evangeline and John are now officially a couple again.  They spend as much time together as they can and try hard to share quality time with each other in spite of their demanding jobs.

The leaves on the trees are changing to the vibrant colors of early fall.  September brings cooler temperatures and the air is crisp and the sky is clear.  The summer showers give way to sunny days and sleeveless wear is replaced with light jackets.  School is back in session and the streets are not as crowded during the day because vacationers are either back in school or back at work.

But all is not as great as it seems.  There’s a storm brewing just below the surface.  An underlying darkness has come to dwell in fair Llanview.  If you ever saw the movie or television mini series, IT, it reminds you of the monster that dwells just below the surface.  Not many recognize it but it’s there nonetheless.

Recently there has been a rash of muggings, vandalism, and even arsons.  These types of crimes are not new but these have a dark undercurrent.  All of the victims are members of the religious or racial minorities.  Such selectiveness in victims has never occurred in Llanview.  The town residents are getting nervous about this change that is occurring in their community.  Other than the religious and racial specifics there is no pattern that the police can ascertain.  For a few weeks the crimes stop and the residents return to their regular routines.

New businesses move to Llanview.  More people move in and there is a boom in construction. Llanview University and Llanview General Hospital have both expanded their campuses.  Both the Sun and Banner newspaper are experiencing increases in their subscriptions and advertisements and as a result are increasing staffing.

Why does it usually happen that when something good happens something bad is just around the corner?  Someone sets fire to DA Hanen’s home and businessman Vincent Jones’s warehouse.  There are no injuries but once again the victims fit the profile from the earlier crimes. The community is once again outraged and once again the authorities have no clues as to the identity of the perpetrators.

Today Evangeline meets with Cristian Vega at his art studio. They have not spoken to each other since the diner incident.  Evangeline decides to make an attempt to make peace because she doesn’t like to be on the outs with someone especially after they’ve tried to make amends and apologized.  Cristian is better now, so she hears, since his treatment.  She’s willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. She does call John and asks him to meet her at Cristian’s studio.  She doesn’t want a repeat of the diner incident when Cristian grabbed her. Cristian knows that she’s coming because he asked her to stop by to take a look at his paintings, a peace gesture, not a ‘come up and see my etchings’ invite.

Soon after Evangeline arrives, Nora drops by and then Officer Sahid of the Llanview Police Department.  Nora and Officer Sahid ask Cristian why does he want them there. Cristian tells them that he didn’t call them.  Looking around the room Evangeline feels that something isn’t right.  She tells the others that she smells something odd and then she falls to the floor.  Within moments the others each fall to the floor unconscious.

Outside in the hallway, Lindsay Rappaport approaches Cristian’s studio to check on his painting progress.  She wants to display some of his work at her art gallery. At the door she notices that not only is it closed but it is also covered with tape around the seams. Behind Lindsay, unseen by her, a man creeps up and clubs her on the back of the head and that renders her unconscious.  The man starts to leave but then hears,

“Stop! Police! Step away from the lady with your hands in the air!”

The man does not step back nor does he raise his hands. Instead he turns and fires. The bullet hits the wall behind the police officer but the officer’s bullet hits the man in the chest. The man then falls to the floor and drops his gun.  The officer approaches the man, retrieves his gun and handcuffs the man. The man’s chest wound was not to kill him but to render him harmless.  The officer then calls for backup and for paramedics.  

Once he secures the assailant he checks on Ms. Rappaport. She’s alive and is reviving. She says, 

“The door.”  

The officer looks at the door and notices the tape all around it. He rushes to the door, removes the tape and opens the door.  The scene before him makes him cringe.  He smells the gas and runs to open windows.  Once the windows are open and the air is circulating he looks around and sees her.  His heart drops to his stomach.  He picks her up and carries her out into the hall.  By that time other officers arrive and secure the assailant.  They also assist him by removing the other three (3) victims while he works on her.  The paramedics arrive and transport all of the victims to the hospital.  He rides in the ambulance with her. She remains unconscious and unresponsive but she does have a pulse.

At the hospital they take her for treatment and he remains in the waiting area.  In walks Commissioner Buchanan, who approaches him and asks,

“What happened John?  We have a man in handcuffs with a chest wound; Lindsay Rappaport with a head bruise; Evangeline, Nora, Cristian and Officer Sahid knocked out from carbon monoxide poisoning.  You rode in the ambulance with Evangeline.  Did she say anything?”

John sees Bo but doesn’t see him.  All he can concentrate on, all he can think about is Evangeline. They gave her oxygen while in the ambulance but she hasn’t regained consciousness.  John knows that he needs to respond so he tells Bo what happened.  By the time he finishes the doctor comes out to say that Evangeline has regained consciousness. John stumbles back and sits in a chair.  He is so thankful that she is alive.  Bo asks about the other victims and the doctor says that they all regained consciousness.  The prisoner is out of surgery and will recover.  The bullet did not do much damage just was very painful.  The shooter evidently knew just where to shoot to stop but not to kill.  Bo looks at John and smirks.  Bo decides to handle the prisoner so that John can concentrate on Evangeline. Bo is also worried about Nora.

Three (3) hours later John is at Evangeline’s apartment sitting on her bed watching her.  They release her from the hospital so he brings her home.  One of the officers brought John’s car from the art studio to the hospital.  Evangeline’s not asleep because she’s afraid that she won’t wake up so he’s staying awake with her.  They take a shower together when they arrive.  Their showers usually turn into a ‘love making fest’ but not this time.  She holds on to him after they wash each other.  They stand in the shower until the water runs cold.  John leads her out of the shower, dries her and dresses her in her pajamas.  He put her in bed so that he can dress himself.  He starts to lie down next to her and reaches to turn off the light.  Her voices trembles when she says,

“Leave it on.”

He does and rolls over to enclose her in his arms.  She snuggles up to him and rests her head on his chest.  The thump, thump, thump of his heart puts her to sleep.  When he feels her relax, he closes his eyes and falls asleep too.

Morning comes and she’s still lying on his chest.  He dreads waking her but he has to go to the bathroom.  He slides from beneath her and she does not wake.  She mumbles his name and he smiles.  She’ll be all right in time.  They both had a scare yesterday but today is a new day. He finishes in the bathroom to find her awake.  Now she has to go to the bathroom and goes in as he exits.  Once done she returns to the bed but doesn’t lie down.

“John, what happened yesterday?”

He tells her what he knows from Bo’s interrogation of the prisoner.

“Oddly enough the prisoner waived his right to counsel.  He was proud of what he did by getting rid of the non-pure members of the community.  He belongs to a group called, One Pure People (OPP), a white supremacy group. They’re responsible for the rash of crimes targeting minorities.  The guy’s name is Tate Harmon and he supplied the names of others in his group in a plea bargain deal to lessen his sentence.  The only problem for him though, he didn’t realize that because he took his hate crimes across state lines it’s a federal case and the Feds will prosecute him for the crimes in all the involved states and even with a lesser sentence in Pennsylvania when you add the years for a conviction in the other states, he will still be in prison for life.  Plus several of the victims are filing civil lawsuits against the organization.”

“He tried to kill us like we aren’t human.  What kind of person does that?” She says with anger in her voice.

John holds her and says, “He’s the one not human.  He’s going away for a long, long time.  What do you want to do today?”  

She takes his face in her hands and kisses him.

“I want to live today John.”

They make love and fall back asleep.

Later in the day Evangeline calls Nora to check on her.  John goes to the station to finish his report on the shooting and the gas attack.  Cristian, Officer Sahid and Lindsay all recover.

Now that the authorities know who committed those other crimes they close those cases.  Every Llanview resident victimized by this OPP group add their names to the civil lawsuit.  Hurt them in the bank account.