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Stacy bounded over to Kendall. “Mother, put that down. Now!”
Melinda slowly lowered her arm. Her lips trembled, and her hands were shaking. Something had scared her.
“Kendall,” she said, crouching down beside his body and touching the side of his face. Her dull headache suddenly became a throbbing nightmare. “What did you hit him with?”
“The... the vase that was over there on the table,” Melinda stammered, her voice quivering with each word.
“Shit, Mother.”
Stacy pulled back the loose collar of his police uniform and placed her fingers near his neck. “His pulse is weak.” Stacy looked down. “Where’s Kendall’s utility belt?”
Melinda pointed to the other side of the room. Stacy followed her finger and saw it wadded up in the corner, behind the coffee table.
As Stacy flashed a confused expression, Melinda said, “I didn’t want him to wake up and take his gun and shoot me or us.”
“Mother,” Stacy called out. “Kendall is my friend. He protected me in the fall when Jamal Harris was stalking me. I sent him here to check on you, in case that person that stole the photos came back.”
“I don’t need protection from my own son.”
“Mother, stop it! Chance wasn’t here. It was somebody that probably looked like him. The dirty cops who want these photos are young, and they all look the same from a distance. It was just your mind playing tricks.”
Stacy walked over to the kitchen and removed a hand towel from the counter. She walked back over to Kendall and began dabbing his head.
“He needs an ambulance.”
Melinda crossed her arms. “Nope. I’m not calling anything for him.” Melinda took a small but shaky step closer. “That man, he was in all of those pictures that Chance took.”
Stacy looked back at her mother. “I thought you didn’t look at the pictures.”
“So? I lied.”
Stacy shook her head. She hadn’t seen the pictures yet and was now caught in an argument with her mother about what was in them.
“Stacy, listen to me. He was in every picture. Chance took closeups of several of the policemen, and I recognized his face. Those men, they looked like they were taking money from other people, people who weren’t in uniform. And they were passing stuff to people in bags. I’ve watched enough cop shows to know that it looked like drug deals.”
Stacy felt a knot form in her stomach, which almost matched the one at the base of her neck, making her miserable.
Melinda knelt behind Stacy. “I thought he was coming here to kill us.”
Stacy snorted. “Kendall wouldn’t do that. I’m sure he had a good explanation for why he was in those photos.” Stacy shook her head vehemently, and a tremor coursed through her body. “And it doesn’t give you an excuse to assault him with a glass vase. Jesus, Mother. You could’ve killed him.”
Kendall began to moan and move his lips. Stacy pulled out her cell phone and called for an ambulance, identifying herself and her badge number to the dispatcher.
Kendall began to roll around on the floor. “Kendall, it’s me, Stacy. Don’t move too much.”
Stacy leaned over him to see if any pieces of glass had punctured his scalp, forehead, or neck. It was difficult to see, but Stacy did note the large chunks of glass separated from the vase when Melinda slammed it into Kendall.
“Paramedics are coming. Stay calm.”
“Melinda,” he mumbled. His eyelids fluttered. “She...”
“She’s here, and she’s safe,” Stacy interjected. “Just stay calm.”
Stacy could feel Melinda move behind her. "That's right. Melinda is right here and still standing. I wasn't going to stand here and be taken advantage of, no sir. You're nothing but a crook. A thief. Chance has proof."
“Mother. Not. Now!”
Stacy impatiently looked out the front door and into the hallway, wondering what was taking the paramedics so long. “I’ve got a first aid kit underneath the sink.” Stacy reached back and grabbed Melinda’s right wrist and stuffed her hand with the blood-spackled cloth. Melinda looked at Stacy as if someone had assaulted her.
“Wipe off the blood and check for pieces of glass in his skin. I’ll be right back.
"Stacy, I can't...."
“Just do it, Mother.”
Melinda traded places with Stacy and barely hovered the cloth over his face. He moaned again as Stacy retreated to the kitchen. She flung open the beige drawers under the sink and removed the kit.
A gasp came from the living room a moment later, followed by a heavy thump.
Stacy whirled around and entered the living room to find Kendall on top of Melinda.