Get Out Your Damn Umbrellas

Chapter 23

Officer Rachel Delaney had been waiting for this case to reach its tipping point for a while now. She just didn't expect it to happen so soon.

Several squad cars and a few ambulances were already surrounding the abandoned apartment complex when Delaney pulled up to the scene. However, no one had gone inside the building yet. The other officers were busy getting into full tactical gear. Delaney strapped on a helmet and vest as well and volunteered to go in first.

Delaney turned her torchlight on as she descended the shadowy basement steps. Of course, upon entering the room, the extra light source wasn't needed in order to see the pile of dead bodies lying in the middle of the floor. Delaney kept her gun raised and cautiously hurried forward to inspect the carnage.

Shining a light on each of their faces, Delaney recognized the two men who had already been officially identified as suspects. She was also willing to bet that she was currently looking at all four perps. Still, something about this scene was off.

Three of the perps had been shot squarely in the forehead by someone who had to have been an expert marksman. On the other hand, the heavy-set man's corpse half-lying on a dingy mattress a few feet away was in a supine position with blood pooling from the back of the head, which suggested that the bullet had been fired through the mouth. At first glance, this appeared to be a murder-suicide, but that didn't make any sense.

Where was the gun, and where was Dan?

Delaney only realized there was someone alive in the room when she heard panicked, labored breathing. She turned towards the wall and rushed over to it when she saw Phil handcuffed to an exposed pipe.

Kneeling down in front of him, Delaney holstered her gun and grabbed the keys from her utility belt. The raven haired boy was near-hyperventilating as she spoke to him in a calming tone. "Phil, it's Officer Delaney. It's alright. We're going to get you out of here."

Before she could reach up and undo the handcuffs, however, Phil stopped her by shouting, "No! You've gotta help Dan! He still has the gun! Please, help him!"

Delaney quickly scanned the room with her torchlight until the beam landed on a huddled figure a few feet away. Drawing closer, she saw Dan sitting in the corner with his knees drawn up to his chest. The boy was naked and shivering all over.

Also, he was holding a gun to his head.

"Oh Jesus," Delaney exhaled quietly.

Right then the two-way radio attached to her collar emitted a crackle of static followed by the voice of her captain. "Officer Delaney, report. What's going on down there?"

"Ten thirty-two," Delaney answered in code. "Stand down. I repeat, stand down." Then she switched off communication and drew a few inches closer. "Dan?" she called quietly. "Can you hear me?"

There was no response.

"It's okay. Everything's okay," she whispered as calmly as she could manage. "I promise you're not in any trouble. This is a textbook case of self-defense. You haven't done anything wrong, okay? Let's just get you out of here."

Staring blankly ahead, Dan mumbled in a faraway voice, "I didn't want it."

Delaney's stomach clenched at those words. "Dan," she said slowly, battling a wave of nausea, "whatever happened here... no one could possibly think that it was something you wanted to happen. If they hurt you-"

"I didn't want it," Dan repeated, squeezing his eyes shut. "I didn't want it."

Apparently her side of the conversation wasn't reaching him in the depths of his dissociative state. Thinking quickly, Delaney took a different approach. "Dan, listen to me. Phil is badly hurt. He needs to be taken to the hospital right away. There's an ambulance waiting outside, but I can't let the paramedics in here until you put the gun down."