Just Take My Heart (29 page)

Sure that Emily must be ready to let Bess out, and too impatient to wait any longer, Zach was standing outside the door of the back porch when he heard the nearby alarm go off and then smelled smoke. He could see that the house at the corner was on fire. The neighborhood would soon be swarming with cops and firemen.

From inside, he could hear Bess's frantic barking. There was no more time. The cop outside her house had run up toward the fire. He had to get into her house. He ran to the basement window that he knew was in the tool area and kicked it in. Then, frenetically pushing away as much of the broken glass as possible, he forced his body through the narrow opening and dropped to the floor.

He felt the blood on his face and hands but he didn't care. The fire had been a sign. It was the end of the road. Fumbling in the dark, he reached for the hammer that he had remembered was on the wall, grabbed it, and made his way up the stairs. His plan had been to strangle her slowly, to feel her twitching in his arms, to listen to her trying to pray.

But he wouldn't have time for that. The cop who was stationed outside would come racing back here.

Step by step, Zach ascended the stairs as blood dripped from him onto the floor. He opened the door from the basement into the kitchen. Bess was in the living room, barking and barking. By now, Zach had expected that Bess would be running into the kitchen to-ward him. But then he heard a man's voice.

Can this be? The insult to him of Emily being with another man as he visited her made him tremble. His feet noiseless in the sneakers, Zach covered the short distance and then stopped. The man in the room was holding a gun to Emily's head as he pushed her down roughly into a chair.

Then he heard Emily scream, "You won't get away with this, Billy. You know that, too. It's over for you, and it's over for Ted."

"You're wrong, Emily. Too bad I had to set a fire to draw that cop away. Everybody will think that the nut Zach came back for you."

"The nut did come back," Zach said smiling as he raised the hammer and smashed it on Billy Tryon's head. The gun went off as the front door was battered open. As Emily slumped, blood spurting from her leg, Zach was tackled by two police officers. After a furious struggle, they wrested the hammer away from him and, as he lay moaning on the floor, they cuffed his hands behind his back.

Barely conscious, Emily heard a shocked voice yelling, "My God, it's Billy Tryon. He's dead."

Then the darkness closed over her.

The next day in Hackensack Hospital, Emily was visited by Gregg Aldrich and Alice Mills. She had known they were coming and was sitting in an armchair. Alice rushed across the room and put her arms around Emily. "They could have killed you. Oh, thank God you're all right, thank God."

"Hey, come on, Alice. You're supposed to cheer up the person you visit in the hospital," Gregg Aldrich said smiling. He was carrying a bouquet of long-stemmed roses. "Emily, thank you for giving me my life back," he said. "Richard Moore told me that the prosecutor has been arrested and will be charged with the murders of both Natalie and Jamie Evans."

"That's right," Emily answered, "I only passed out for a few minutes. When I told the cops what happened, they played it smart with Ted Wesley. They told him that Billy had been caught in my house and had admitted to killing Natalie and Jamie for him. He was petri-fied but that finished him. He broke down and confessed to everything. So I guess I still have my job. And I guess he won't be going to Washington."

Gregg Aldrich shook his head. "I'll never understand why all of this happened. But it's over." Gregg took Emily's hand and then bent down and kissed her on the cheek. "I have to tell you something. In some ways, you remind me of Natalie. I'm not sure why. I can't put my finger on it. But you do."

"She must have been a wonderful person," Emily said. "I'm glad if I do remind you of her."

"Do you agree, Alice?" Gregg asked tenderly.

"I know what you mean," Alice said softly, pretending to study Emily as she embraced her again. "We'll leave you and let you rest now. I'll call you tomorrow to see how you are feeling."

Dear God, Alice thought. Of course she is like her! Natalie's heart is beating inside of her. She remembered how, sick with grief, she had given her doctor permission to give Natalie's heart to a young war widow who was his patient, and who was probably not going to live if she did not get a heart very quickly.

I didn't need to read about her transplant at the same time and in the same New York hospital where Natalie's heart was taken. I didn't need to know that my doctor had performed Emily's surgery. The minute I sat across from Emily at her desk, I knew that Natalie was there with me.

Her eyes flooding with tears, she turned to say good-bye to Emily. She must never know. Gregg must never know. They must go on with their lives. Alice knew that she could only see Emily once in a while. She knew she had to let go. "Emily, I hope that you're going to take some time off and heal from this and enjoy yourself," she said.

Emily smiled. "You sound like my father, who is flying in to see me as we speak." And then, not quite sure why she was telling Alice, she said, "I get out of here tomorrow and Saturday night I have a date with an orthopedic surgeon. I'm looking forward to it."

I really am, Emily thought when she was alone again.

I'm ready now.

THE END

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THE END