Las Vegas Savior

Emily had been 15 and Connie had been 17 and for the next four years they had lived a more normal life. Her mother filed for divorce and their father had not fought it but refused to pay alimony or child support. He had called them ungrateful brats that deserved whatever they got. Her mother found out that she had ovarian cancer a year after he left and died six months after that. Their father had not even bothered to come to her funeral.

Jake, at barely 20 years of age, had become the man of the family and had worked hard to keep them fed and a roof over their heads. Their mother had left a small life insurance policy, which paid for her funeral and had helped to keep their utilities on but wasn’t enough pay off the mortgage so Jake sold the house, which had been left to him by their mother, on the condition that he took care of his sisters until they were on their own.

They moved into a small two bedroom apartment not far from Jake’s job and he supported them until they graduated. Connie only had part of her senior year to complete but she did so with honors and Jake had paid for part of Connie’s wedding.

Jake had been the one to walk Connie down the aisle when she had married Stephan, not long after Connie’s 20th birthday. Emily had graduated high school two weeks later and Jake had been so proud of Emily that day when they had handed her not only her high school diploma but her letter for the scholarship for college.

He had bought her a really nice watch, used the rest of the insurance money to see her set up in her dorm at college, then he joined the Navy and went overseas. Emily suspected that he wanted to put their father’s training to good use to become a Navy Seal.

Growing up, school had been Emily’s sanctuary from her life at home and while she had done OK, she had struggled to keep up since her father didn’t think it was important enough for them to be allowed time for homework from school but she had made it through grade school and junior high with a passing grade.

After their father had left, Emily had excelled in high school and gotten straight A’s which had earned her the scholarship to the University of California. She had majored in computer science with a minor in math. She had always been so focused on her lessons that she had not gotten really close to anyone.

She had worked so hard to get where she had been when all of this started and now she had to tell herself on a regular basis that it wasn’t her fault that it had all fallen apart. She often wished that her father had taught her how to not get involved with men like himself. Now that seemed like a whole lifetime ago.

Jake had paid for her first year of boarding fees out of what little was left from the money from the sale of the house after their mother had died but had not been able to do much in the way of books or other living expenses. Emily had worked either waiting tables or working in the library at the college. She had worked hard to earn her degree in computer programming and had interviewed for several positions where she would be able to use her skills.

When the call had come in from the company in Seattle, Emily had been so excited and had driven up the day before for the interview and stayed overnight so that she would be fresh when she went in. She had been hired on the spot and she told them that she would have to relocate and they gave her a week and a moving allowance of $1000, which she used as a deposit and a partial month’s rent on her apartment.

As soon as she had left the interview, she had gotten a local newspaper and read through the apartment listings while she enjoyed lunch in what would become one of her favorite places to eat while she lived in Seattle. She had been truly happy during that time. She had a good job, a nice apartment and had made a few friends that she spent her free time with. For two years, she had been truly happy. Then she met Derrick Gibson and her wonderful life took a turn.

Derrick Gibson had changed her life forever. He had been so nice at first. They had met at the laundromat near her apartment in Seattle. He was slightly taller than her and was rather muscular but not bulky. He had warm brown eyes, kept his dark brown hair cut short in a military style and a ready, kind smile. He had protected her from a panhandler that wasn’t taking no for an answer and had tried to steal her laundry money.

Derrick had seemed so nice and it had started out so that she thought he was someone she could trust. They had exchanged phone numbers and talked often in the evenings. He had taken her out to dinner and dancing a couple of times and to the movies. Then they had started spending weekends together and over the course of six months, they were almost inseparable during their free time.

Derrick had tried to take their kissing and light petting to the next level but had never really pushed it when Emily had refused. Emily began to think he was the one and had been starting to hope that he was going to propose.

That thought in itself had shocked her since she had thought that she would never marry, after what she had seen her mother endure. But she thought Derrick wasn’t anything like her dad and she had been so happy with the way things were going with them.

But her happiness didn’t last. About seven months into their relationship, Derrick’s attitude began to change. He stopped calling her as often and when she called him, he acted irritated.

One night he had been just short of rude to her, only to call back the next day and apologize, using the excuse that he was under a lot of pressure at work. He also started becoming very possessive whenever they went out. He didn’t like it if she talked to other men, even the men she worked with. It had surprised the hell out of her the first night he tried to get rough with her.

They had been seeing each other for almost a year and had gone to their favorite pub on a date. He had gotten upset when she said hello to some people she worked with when they had run into some of her coworkers on their date that night. It had been a mixed group of people, both men and women she worked with and she couldn’t very well walk right past them on her way to the restroom without saying hello.

His reaction, when she had returned to their table, had shocked her. Derrick had refused to go over and meet them and had acted furious with her. He had gripped her arm so hard, as he practically dragged her out of the bar, that she had bruises on her upper arm the next morning.

He had yelled at her in the car on the way home, telling her that she was not allowed to talk to any other man. She had been so upset that she didn’t know what to say but had been thankful that he had not insisted on coming up to her apartment when he dropped her off that night.

He had stopped in front of her building and didn’t even get out to open her door for her, like he usually did. He had driven off, leaving her standing on the sidewalk. She had cried herself to sleep that night. She had expected him to call and apologize the next day but he hadn’t. In fact, she didn’t hear from him for several days, which had left her a lot of time to think things through.

In the end, she had decided to stop seeing him. She decided that she would just stop calling him and prayed that he would not call her. But when he did call, he demanded to know why she hadn’t called him and accused her of seeing someone else. She had assured him that she wasn’t seeing anyone else but that she wasn’t going to allow him to manhandle her the way he had the last time she had seen him. He told her “You’ll be sorry if you try to dump me.” Then he had hung up on her.

She had worried about it for days and had thought about calling her sister, Connie, for advice but kept putting it off. She was embarrassed to admit that she had gotten mixed up with someone like their father had been and had wondered if this was how her father had been with her mother when they first got together.

Emily had been racking her brain about what she was going to say to Derrick when he called again as she walked down to the market on the corner of her block for some of the things she had run out of at home. She was walking back to her apartment when she had passed an alley and thought she heard Derrick’s voice.

He had sounded angry and was yelling at someone about some money the man owed to someone he kept calling his boss. “The boss loaned you the money and you promised to pay him back months ago. You’ve had your chances, now pay up or else.” Derrick had yelled at the man who said something she couldn’t hear as she started into the alley.

She had only gone a few steps and was just about to call out his name when suddenly she heard two loud bangs. She recognized them as gun fire as she jumped and almost dived behind the dumpster in the alley. She peeked around the side of the dumpster and saw Derrick and another man, standing over the body of a third man. The other man looked up and saw her and then he pointed his gun at her and fired a shot that ricocheted off of the dumpster where she had been hiding.

Terrified, Emily turned and ran for everything she was worth back to the convenience store where she had bought the things in the now forgotten plastic bag that was dangling from her wrist. She ran through the store and into the hall that led to the bathrooms.

From her hiding spot, she could see the front door and out most of the windows. She finally got a look at both of them as she watched them run past the store, around the corner and down the street. It had definitely been Derrick but she couldn’t see much of the other man’s face and had no clue who the tall, bald, overweight man was but he had been the one to shoot at her. All she could hope was that Derrick had not recognized her.

She knew she needed to report this but she had left her cell phone plugged in at home. She asked the store clerk if she could use his phone but he claimed it was out of order. Emily knew that there was a police station two blocks over. She stayed hidden until she was sure they would not see her then took off running as fast as she could go, thankful that she had on the sneakers she usually ran in the park in.

She ran inside and quickly told the desk Sergeant what she had seen and explained that they might be right behind her. He told her to stand off to the side where she couldn’t be seen from the street while he called one of the detectives from the back to come out and talk to her.

Detective Martin Simpson, a 15 year veteran of the Seattle PD and a father of 3, took her in the back and took her statement. “So you are Gibson’s new girlfriend?” He had asked, giving her a look that said he didn’t think much of her.

“Not anymore.” She had answered. “I don’t want to associate with people who will kill someone. I take it you know of him and I’m not sure I want to know how or why. All I do know is that if he recognized me then he knows who I am and where I live and he knows that I saw what he and the other man did. I can’t go home now. What am I going to do?”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be judging you. Derrick Gibson is a leg breaker for hire. He’s been in town for a year or so, we believe and he’s been seen around town with Ralph Brunson, a local gun for hire.

Neither one of them have ever been directly connected to any one of the organized crime groups but will work for whoever can afford them. If someone owes them money and they can’t collect through legal means, they call on Derrick or Ralph. Once they come on the job, very few people walk away unhurt if they manage to walk away at all but so far, no one has been willing to testify against them. How in the world did you get mixed up with this winner?” Detective Simpson asked.

“We met at the laundromat down the street from my apartment. He kept a panhandler from robbing me. He was nice to me and made me laugh. He was so easy to talk to and get along with and up until a few weeks ago, he treated me very well. But lately, he’s gotten very possessive and almost abusive.

I’ve been trying to break it off but to be really honest with you, I’m kind of afraid of him. He started manhandling me and yelling at me for no good reason. And tonight I saw him shoot someone!” Emily had told him and he saw the tears gather in her eyes as what she was admitting finally began to sink in. “I’m scared, Detective. Please help me.”

Just then, another officer came over and told Detective Simpson that there was indeed a dead body in the alley, just like she had told them and he had turned to her and asked. “Are you willing to testify against him once we catch him?”

“Yes, if I have too.” She replied and felt the knots in her stomach tighten even more. Agreeing to do that had turned her world upside down.