I led our group out of the courthouse. The demands of running an ongoing investigation into the human-trafficking ring on top of a slew of other cases hadn’t allowed Juliet and I to sit in on the whole trial, but it felt important to be present when Karl was sentenced. He hadn’t protested his innocence. Standing beside the judge, his expression hadn’t wavered when the jury pronounced him guilty on all counts.
I pulled my collar up as we walked down the stairs. The weather had begun to warm, but it was as likely to rain or shine within a five-minute window.
Juliet was already absorbed in her phone, her brows lowered as she jabbed at the screen. Alice and Maddy chattered with their arms linked. James smiled shyly, standing awkwardly in a suit that complimented his bulky frame.
Juliet had been bemused when they sat around us this morning. I wasn’t sure she recalled the uniformed officers from Melanie’s case. She’d shaken her head fondly when Maddy called us a team.
I’d nudged Juliet when Jordan and Leo walked into the court room, sitting side by side. I didn’t know what had changed between the two young men in the last few months. They were friendly enough that when tears coursed down Jordan’s face, Leo had a tissue ready. They’d sat behind Ida and Evie, the older women leaning into one another as the charges were read.
‘Pub?’ Maddy suggested.
‘Not for me.’ I held up my hands to staunch her protests. ‘I’m meeting Ollie.’
‘Ollie,’ Alice sighed. She whipped her head around. ‘Is he here?’
I looked across the street. Recently, I’d noticed an unswerving ability to pick my boyfriend out of a crowd. His hair had been cut at his most recent shoot, the sides of his head covered in bristle while waves flopped over his forehead. He raised one arm to wave, the other restraining an overexcited Alsatian. Ollie grinned at me, then concentrated on finding a break in the heavy traffic.
‘The only thing that makes him hotter is when he’s walking your dog,’ Alice said.
Before I could ask her to stop objectifying Ollie again, a car backfired. I flinched, my hand flying to my sternum.
I’d had a few moments like this recently. The main content of my nightmares remained unchanged, but the crack of a gun had intruded. Loud noises startled me, my heart taking a while to slow.
I laughed at myself, shaking out my hand. Now Karl had been convicted, this nervous reaction should ease off.
Juliet’s phone clattered to the ground. A joke about how I hadn’t thought it possible to unglue it from her palm was halfway to my lips when I noticed the red stain growing on her white blouse.
‘Juliet?’ I pulled her coat to one side.
Blood. Scarlet red. Pulsing from a bullet wound in her chest.
Juliet looked down at it, then up at me. ‘Fuck,’ she breathed, before collapsing.
‘Gabe, what happened?’ Maddy grabbed my arm as James and Alice sprang into action. The older man repositioned Juliet on the ground, his jacket held firm over where her blouse was soaked. Alice had her phone to her ear, shouting details to an operator.
Shouting, because people screamed all around. I blinked at their horrified faces as they ran, the tears of those who crouched behind a bus stop. Leo’s auburn hair stood out. He and Jordan bracketed Ida and Evie, hurrying the elderly women away.
I blinked at Maddy, feeling as though I was walking in a dream.
Another crack, and pain crashed through my shoulder. The force of it made me stumble. My heel caught, and Maddy’s scrabbling hands weren’t enough to stop me falling.
Breath punched out of me as my back met concrete. My shoulder screamed, the skin around pulsing with warmth. Above me, Maddy’s mouth moved. Half words reached my ears, incomprehensible under the beat of blood and shrill screams.
I turned my head. Juliet lay beside me. Her hair fanned across the ground, her arms flung wide. A stranger had taken over pressing on her wound. James was occupied with pumping her chest.
Her eyes were half closed, her mouth sagging.
I turned the other way, catching another glimpse of Maddy’s horrified face. It was much closer. Hands pulled at my front. Chill air danced over me as someone tugged open my coat.
The traffic had stopped. Alice stood shouting, arms pointing. Most members of the public followed her instructions, their movements clumsy as they fled.
One person refused to move. The dog at his side barked, teeth flashing.
I stared at Ollie’s stricken face. I wanted to tell him not to cry, to touch his cheek and reassure him that it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t even painful anymore. I didn’t feel like I’d been shot, more like I was floating along a cool river.
I blinked. Reopening my eyes was an effort. Ollie’s mouth was open, moving around a single sound. The kaleidoscope of screams faded.
I closed my eyes and drifted into the dark.