"Nothing. I was so scared. I thought I would never see you again."
"It's okay. I'm all right."
Bailey looked like she was about to burst into tears. I carefully shifted myself over and tapped the mattress beside me. She didn't hesitate. She climbed up onto the bed and curled into my side, resting her head on my shoulder.
"You just stay there.I'll come around and help you," Bailey said as she climbed out of the car and ran around to the passenger’s side to help me out.
Even though I was perfectly capable of getting out of the car alone, I waited for her to come around and open the door. With my bag slung over her shoulder, she helped me to the front door and waited while I slipped my key in the lock.
When I stepped inside, I was surprised to see Cara, Ryan, Grant, and a bunch of other guys from the station standing in my living room.
"Welcome home," Cara said, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around me.
"Thanks, it’s good to finally be out of there. Thought I was going to have to make a jail break." I chuckled as I shook hands with a few of my fellow officers.
Bailey was oddly quiet, and even though she was polite with everyone, I knew something was bothering her. She smiled and then placed her hand on my shoulder, leaned in, and whispered, "I'm just going to take this bag down to your room, then I'm going to do some of your laundry while I'm here."
"You're not going to stay here with everyone?" I questioned, looking into her eyes.
She could barely look at me as she shook her head silently. She looked over at Cara, softly smiled, and then turned back to me, placing a kiss on my cheek. "You just enjoy yourself, okay," she said kissing my cheek again before turning and leaving. Everyone was quiet and watched as she slipped down the hall, but then the talking started, followed by laughter, and soon we were all seated in the living room reliving some of our greater takedowns.
As the afternoon passed, officers came and went, but soon it was just Ryan, Cara, Grant, and me. Bailey hadn't made an appearance all afternoon. When I had gone to see if she was okay, she claimed she wanted to make sure that everything was clean.
"Is she okay?" Cara asked, a look of concern on her face.
"I don't know. She's been funny for the last week. It’s like she has something she wants to say but won't."
"I'll talk to her," Cara said, standing, taking some of the plates into the kitchen.
As soon as she was gone, Grant cleared his throat. "So I wanted to let you know that Dorian Patton was arrested the night of your shooting. He turned Garrick in, gave us everything. We just need to find him, but in the meantime, we had forensics examine the bullet that we found at the scene of your incident against the one we found at the scene the night Connor was shot."
"And."
"It matched the same one Connor was shot with," he said, keeping his voice low. "You were right."
"Have you told Bailey?" I could feel excitement building at the fact that we had finally found his killer.
"Not yet. It’s not a matter of public record yet. We are launching a full investigation into this guy, but as of right now, he is wanted, he is up for charges in relation to both incidents."
"Good to know. Thanks."
"On that note, I have to get going. Got to get back to the station. Jackson, I'm glad you are home. Enjoy your time off. Ryan, don't be late." Grant chuckled as he made his way out the front door.
"Did you want some help cleaning this mess up?" Cara asked Bailey, who had just stepped into the room from the kitchen.
"You don't have to."
"No, come on. I'm not leaving you with all this mess," Cara said, getting up and stacking dishes into a pile. "You guys just relax."
Once everything was cleaned up and put away, Ryan and Cara said their good-byes and started home. Bailey started gathering her things and turned to look my way.
"I think I'm going to head home."
"Why? I was hoping you'd stay, maybe watch a movie with me."
I watched her look around the room. It was almost as if she was looking for a reason or excuse as to why she couldn't.
"Come on, sit down," I said, flipping the TV on and patting the empty spot beside me on the couch.