It’s more of a relief that I could have ever imagined when Bishop pulls into my driveway. He’s stopped by a few cops but eventually let through and comes to meet me while I stand in the front yard. I had called him just before the plainclothes detectives showed up.
When he reaches me, we don’t do the handshake, back slap thing. I’d told him on the phone that Pepper had been shot and Charlie kidnapped, so when we’re toe-to-toe, he pulls me into a hard hug and doesn’t let go.
I let myself weaken for just a moment and press my face into his shoulder. Then I’m done and I pull away.
“What’s happened since we talked?” he asks as he crosses his arms over his chest.
“They’re out looking for Lida, but fuck…we don’t even know if she has a car. They’re organizing search teams to start walking the neighborhood in case…”
My throat clogs. I can’t even repeat the words the cops told me.
In case Lida had harmed Charlie and disposed of her.
“It’s okay,” he says as he puts a hand on my shoulder. “What about the media?”
“What?” I ask him in confusion. My mind is starting to go blissfully numb because it’s been so overwhelmed.
“You need to get on camera and let the news organizations have this. You need to post this on your social media accounts, and you need to ask people to open their eyes and look around. Need to get pictures of Lida and Charlie out there. You need to get the fucking citizens of Phoenix out helping their team’s star goalie.”
I just blink at Bishop as it dawns on me that he may be the smartest person in the entire world. Even the cops hadn’t suggested this although they might have at some point. Charlie’s been gone less than an hour so maybe they’d have other ideas as we progressed.
“You’re a fucking genius, Bishop,” I mutter and then walk over to one of the detectives I’d talked to. “Do you need me here or can I go to the hospital?”
I know I’ve got two choices right now. I can go be near Pepper or I can comb the streets potentially looking for my daughter’s body.
I don’t have that in me so I want to go to the hospital.
The detective shakes his head. “I’ll call you if we find something and I’ll be up to the hospital in a bit.”
“You drive,” I tell Bishop and we head to his car. I pull out my phone and call Jim Foppiano.
I explain what happened and that I want him to organize a press conference at the hospital for me to go on air in thirty minutes.* * *—
The first thing I do when I get to the hospital is go straight to the emergency room desk and find a nurse that looks friendly. I explain who I am and that I’d been told Pepper is in surgery.
The nurse gives me a firm but polite smile. “I’m sorry, sir, but unless you’re next of kin, I cannot give you any information.”
My hands ball into fists and I feel Bishop go tight beside me, but luckily I hear a familiar voice. “Legend?”
I turn and see Pepper’s mother, Meryl, walking toward me. On the one hand, she appears calm as a doctor would be but I can also see the fear of a mother in her eyes.
“How is she?” I ask when she reaches me.
“Her dad is observing the surgery,” she says in a professional tone. “It’s going well. It was a small caliber bullet and luckily it didn’t hit any arteries. There’s some damage but they think they’ll be able to repair everything.”
My knees almost give out and I sink enough that Bishop catches me under the arm.
I look heavenward. “Thank you, God.”
I’d sure as hell been doing a lot of praying on the way over here.
“Can you tell me what happened?” her mom asks me.
I tell her what I know and try not to lose my shit when her mom actually starts to shed tears when I tell her that Lida has Charlie. I tell her I’m going to go to the media with a press conference and she promises she’ll be by my side.
She leaves to go get another update on Pepper and I head toward the hospital front lobby where Jim had texted me he’d have the major news outlet crews there. After I released out into the world that I had a daughter and her crazy as shit mother shot my girlfriend, clubbed my nanny unconscious, and stole my little girl, then I’d start putting this shit out on social media. I had almost 800,000 Twitter followers, over a million on Instagram, and I sure as shit will be paying for some Facebook ad space with a wanted poster of Lida for my 230,000 fans.