Somebody wanted Sam dead. That much was obvious. The question was… Why?
The doctor excused himself a minute later, promising to let us know the second anything changed. As soon as the door closed, my aunt wiped at her face.
“Who would do something like this?” she asked nobody in particular.
I looked at the floor for a second before meeting her eyes.
“I don’t know…” It wasn’t the answer she wanted. Hell… It wasn’t the answer I wanted either. “But I’m gonna find out.”
…and I meant every damn word.
When we stepped back into the hallway, Mace was exactly where we’d left him. He looked up and asked, “What’d they say?”
“They got him stable for now.” Neither of us said anything else.
The silence lasted only a few seconds before one of the Atlanta detectives walked over with a folder tucked beneath his arm.
“Mr. Blackwell?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m Detective Harris.” He held out his hand, but instead of shaking it, I just looked at it. “I need to ask you a few questions.”
“What’s up?”
The detective nodded, and then went, “There’s also someone I think you should meet.”
I frowned. “Who?”
“The nurse who found your cousin…”
“The nurse who found my cousin?” I asked, pointing at myself.
Detective Harris nodded. “She was the first person to get to him. She stayed with him until the trauma team got outside.”
“Did she see who did it? I mean, why the fuck do I need to meet her?” I wasn’t at all trying to be mean or rude, but rightnow, my head was all the way fucked up to the point where I wasn’t tryna meet another mothafucka just to tell me the same thing I already knew.
“She heard the gunshots and saw the aftermath. As far as we know, she didn’t get a good look at the shooters.”
“Well, what did she hear before it happened?”
“We’re still trying to piece that together.”
That wasn’t the answer I wanted.
If my cousin said something before he got shot—or the people who pulled the trigger did—I needed to know what the hell it was.
Detective Harris must’ve seen the frustration on my face because he said, “She’s still here if you’d like to speak with her. I can’t promise she’ll have the answers you’re looking for, but she’s the only witness we’ve got.”
I didn’t hesitate as I told him, “Take me to her.”
He nodded and started down the hallway. I looked over at Mace. “Check on my aunt and uncle and let me know if anything changes.”
“You got it…”
I followed the detective until we stopped outside one of the conference rooms. He knocked once before opening the door.
“There he is,” one of the officers inside said as he stepped aside.