Nurse Or Nanny?

Chapter Ten

David's POV

I sigh in frustration, tell the man on the other end of the line I understand and slam the phone on the desk.
"Whoa, what was that for?" my partner Chris says.
"They lost the witness." I say and spin around in my chair towards her desk.  "They had one job, keep her moving till trial and we'd finally be able to put that killer away." She looks at me and knows how upset I am.  Of course I'd be angry if it was any other case as well, but this one hits close to home.  The killer who we've been chasing for almost three years murdered my wife. 
"What happened? Did Luis find her?" Chris asks.  Chris, Christina is her name but she prefers Chris, always has.  She has been my partner for four years, we came up in the academy together, were assigned to different parts of the city, but we took the detectives exam around the same time and it worked out we would be partners.  I don't know what I would have done without her over the last three years. 
"No, he was on her trail, I guess she spotted him out and about in the town she was in and she made a run for it.  She told her case officer that she was going to run and not to try and find her.  John Hamm, can't find much on him, he looks like to have a clean record.  She called him and he didn't report her missing until a few days later. I wonder what was said in the call.  We should go and talk to him." Chris gives me a pointed look.
"In Canada David. Come on, you can call him, but we are not going up there, who will look after your kids, your parents are getting worn out and you have Jackson now too." I sigh, she's right.  I have leaned on my parents a lot and I shouldn't have taken Jackson in but I figured I could get some free babysitting from him, and I wasn't about to track down his deadbeat dad.  His mother, my sister has severe bipolar disorder and had committed herself until she can get things under control.  And Canada, I can't go all the way up there to talk to one guy.
"I know you're right, but it's only been a couple days since they reported her missing, maybe we will see something they missed.  Or get a track on Luis. We can't just sit here and do nothing!"
"Look, I have some friends up there, I'll give them a call and see what they can dig up, they owe me a favour, your sure you want me to cash it in on this?" She raises her eyebrow at me waiting for me to answer.  
"Make the call." I say.
"Alright, it'll be a long shot, it's not fresh, its been closer to five days, I'm not sure what they will be able to get now.  Maybe I'll get them to find that John guy and really drill him for some answers." She sort of says to me but not really too me as she is looking up the contact information on the computer.
"It's been a long day, I'm going to head home.  Call me if anything comes up." 
"Will do, and give the kids a kiss for me." 
"Always." I say as I walk out.  She is known as aunty Chris to the kids.  

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On my way home I start thinking about that night, I always think about that night, when Luis Palmer killed my wife.  I work other cases, this one has just been a long drawn out one and there are days, sometimes weeks that go by where we don't even touch it, so when major things happen it brings everything rushing back.  It was three years ago and we were out on a date.  We had a babysitter for the kids and it had been our first night out without them in over a year.  Laura and Joe would have been three and seven at the time and it was hard to find a babysitter comfortable taking care of two kids under the age of ten.  Juliette and I were taking a walk after dinner down by the ocean, we had too much to eat and drank too much wine, we needed to walk it off and get some fresh air.  We lived in Galveston, Texas, about an hour outside of Houston.  When we sobered up and started making our way back to our car I remember seeing some guys hanging around a black SUV and it looked like they were fighting, I didn't think anything of it at the time but I should have know better.  I had only been on the force a few years but I was in training to become a detective.  We kept our distance as we walked by them on the other side of the street, I made sure to keep an eye but wasn't going to get involved. I was off duty, they didn't know what I was and I wasn't about to tell them.  One of the men noticed me looking and started walking across the street towards me,
"You got a problem there gringo." said the man I know today as Luis Palmer.  He came right up next to us and stopped us in our tracks, I could see the gun on his hip and he didn't even try to conceal it.
"No, not at all, just a little buzzed and forgot my glasses in the car, can't really see anything." I said to try and throw him off, I wasn't buzzed, not even in the slightest as I could feel Juliette's grip on my arm tighten.
"Hey, hey, you and the misses having a little night out.  Hey pretty lady, what's your name." He said, and I wanted to tell him to shove it right then and there but it was getting dark, the street had been getting quiet, and I didn't want anything to happen to Juliette.  This guy had seemed unhinged.
"Juliette." She had said so sweetly, I wish she would have hardened her voice a little but how could I blame her, she noticed me taking it lightly so she was just following my lead. 
"Juliette you say, what a pretty name, say why don't you guys comes over and meet my friends, it looks like you two are in for a good time." He said with a sick smile and devilish look in his eyes.
"Hey, thanks, but we are just on our way home, maybe next time." And the look he gave me at that moment, I knew things were going to turn.  
"No maybe next time, you'll come now, don't make me force you two." He said as he put his hands in his pockets making sure to move his shirt out of the way so we could see his gun.
"My husbands a cop, please let us leave before you get us wrapped up in something that we can't forget.  You've done nothing wrong." Juliette had said and as soon as those words came out of her mouth Luis reached for his gun and I swung Juliette behind me.  She was so confused, she had no idea what she had just done, but you never tell anyone you are a cop when you're out of uniform and you don't have your partner with you, or a means to call for backup.  
"You're a fucking cop, how the hell did you find us, no one knows we are here." He said as he was walking backwards towards the SUV and yelling at the other guys to get in.  I was relieved at the time, thinking they were just going to leave us alone. But as the vehicle started to drive away, Juliette came out from behind me, she was still in a state of shock, and one of the windows rolled down, I saw the gun but it was too late.  Shots were fired, I was hit, but only in the arm, and Juliette was hit right in the stomach.  Everything else about that night is still sort of a blur.  I remember holding her as she was bleeding out, I was putting so much pressure on the wound and I can still remember the feeling of her warm blood on my hands, and the light going from her eyes and she was gasping for air, telling me to tell our kids she loves them and to not let my parents be too much of an impact on their life.  She got out that she loved me, she never loved anyone so much and she was lucky to find me.  All I could think about at the time was saving her, I just kept telling her that she wasn't going to die.
"David," she said breathlessly, "I love you and you have to be strong for our kids, they are going to need all of you." I think I was crying, I don't really remember. "And mourn me, but not for the rest of your life, it's okay to love someone else when the time is right." 
"Stop, you're not dying, do you hear that, that's the ambulance, you are going to be fine." She put her hand on my face and said she loved me one last time before closing her eyes.  The paramedics arrived and took over but she died on the way to the hospital.