Once in the hall, Charles answered the call.  “Mick, hey,” he said.

“How is she?” Mick asked on the other end of the call.

Charles placed his hands in his pocket and leaned his back against the wall.  “Not good.  Looks like she was hit several times.  She’s in surgery now.”

“How’s Brent holding up?”

“About the same way you would be holding up, or I would, had it been our wives.”

Mick let out a harsh exhale.  “He’s been through a lot.  And Makayla.  Damn.  I hate to hear this news.”

“Yeah.  Me too.”

“Have you been in touch with Amelia?” he asked.  “Does she know?”

“She and Hammer are still in Paris,” Charles said.  “They extended it for another week.  I’m not going to ruin a break she desperately needs.  Not just yet.  Besides, my prayer is that it’ll all be over by the time they return.”

“Who has their baby?”

“Carly and Trevor.  They’re here now.”

“Robert gave me the background.  He said the killer has been dealt with.  But who was he?”

“Some guy named Percy Diallo.  He’s an African diplomat who showed up in town a few days ago.”

“A diplomat?”

“Yep.  He used to be Jenay’s ex-fiancé who led her to believe he was dead, but then years later he shows up wanting her back.  She turned him down in no uncertain terms.”

“So he gets revenge by shooting Makayla?  Yeah, okay.  That makes no sense.”

“Eddie Rivers believes he was going for Junior.  For Jenay’s grandson.  To punish Jenay.  But Makayla covered Junior with her body, and he ended up hitting her instead.”

“She’s a good woman,” Mick said.  “And brave.”

“Yes, she is.  I thank God that Brent has a lady like that in his life every day.”

“You believe that’s the motive?” Mick asked him.  “To punish Jenay?”

“I don’t know,” Charles responded.  “So much has been happening lately.”

“Such as?”

“Couple of thugs broke into my office and tried to rough me up.”

“You beat their asses I’m sure.”

“It wasn’t as easy as that.  Jenay saved my bacon that night.”

“Jenay is always saving your bacon.  What else is new?”

“Fuck you,” Charles said with a smile.

“Go on,” Mick said.

“Then they claim Lou Fontaine paid them to rough me up.”

“What does that old bag have to do with you?” Mick asked.

“She said it was because I broke her daughter’s heart.”

“That sounds like bullshit to me,” Mick said.

“To me too.  But we never found out real reason.  She was about to tell us, but then she was killed.”

“Somebody killed Lou Fontaine?  Damn.  And you were there?”

“And Jenay and Brent, too, yeah.”

“I’ll be damn.  But they only got her?”

“Just her.”

“Who pulled off that hit?  Those same two thugs?”

“No, they were in jail.  But they did give us enough intel for us to find the guy.”

“Who was he?”

“Local loser named Jesse Colbert.  One of my renters who had a major issue with me because I had gotten into it with him.  We confronted him about it, he tried to make a run for it, and I had the privilege of taking him out.”

“Good.  But what are you saying?  You think that’s related to what happened to Makayla?”

“You wouldn’t think so,” Charles said.  “I mean, why in the world would a diplomatic attaché from Botswana be affiliated with people like those two thugs and Jesse Colbert?”

“The same way a blue-blood like Lou Fontaine was,” Mick said.

“True.  But to answer your question:  I don’t know if there’s a connection or not.  The cops say no way, and the investigation I did on Diallo would say no.  He’s shady, but not that kind of shady.  But you never know.”

Mick exhaled again.  Charles could feel his anger.  “So where are you?” Charles asked him.  “Were you thinking about coming to Jericho any time soon?”

“I can’t right now,” Mick said.  “I’m out of the country right now.”

“Oh.  Okay.  I didn’t know.  But call me when you get back.”

“I will.  And you keep me updated.”

“I will, Mick.  Thanks for calling me back.”

And they ended the call.

Mick held the phone in his hand a moment longer, and then turned.  Only to be surprised to see that his wife, Rosalind Sinatra, was leaned against the doorjamb, listening.

“Who was that?” she asked.

“My brother,” he said.

“Why did you tell him you were out of the country when you’re right here, at home, in Philadelphia?” she asked.

But Mick didn’t respond.  He was still in deep contemplation.

 

When Charles ended his call, and was about to head back into the waiting room, Jenay came out into the hall, closing the door behind her.

“What’s wrong?” Charles asked her.

“What did Mick say?”

“He just said to keep him in the loop.  He’s out of the country right now.”

“Who did it, Charles?” Jenay asked him.  “You were hesitant when I asked before.  Why?”

“Because I didn’t want to worry you.”

“After everything that’s going on lately?  Worry me, Charles.  I want to know.  I had Junior to take care of, or I would have checked myself.  Tell me who did this to Makayla.  Was it somebody we knew?”

“We?  No,” Charles said.  “But you knew him.”

Jenay was puzzled.  Who in the world could she know who would do such a thing?  “Who?” she asked.

“It was Percy, Jenay.  Your ex.”

Jenay couldn’t believe it.  “Percy?  You’re telling me Percy was the man in that car who tried to kill Makayla?”

Charles nodded.  “Yes.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense, Charles.  Why would Percy want to kill Makayla?”

“The cops think he was trying to kill Junior, but Makayla got in the way.”

“Good Lord!”  Jenay said.  “Junior?”  That made it even worse!  “But why?” she asked.  “Why would he do such a thing?”

Charles didn’t want to go there.

“What, Charles?  Tell me.”

“Nobody really knows at this point,” Charles said.

“But what is your guess?” Jenay asked.

“The guess is that he tried to kill somebody he figured would be near and dear to you, like your grandson.  To punish you.”

“But why would he want to punish me?  Because I told him I love my husband and won’t be leaving you?”

Charles believed that was exactly the reason, if that was the reason at all.  “Yes,” he said.

But Jenay was shaking her head.  “That’s not Percy.  No way.  He wouldn’t do something like that.”

For some reason, her faith in that fucker angered Charles.  “Well I’ve got news for you, Jenay.  He did do it.  That’s not at issue.  He could do it, and he did it.  What’s at issue is why.”

Jenay looked at him.  “You don’t believe it’s because I rebuffed him.  Do you?”

“It seems a little flimsy to me as a reason, yes.”

“Then what else could it be?”

Charles shook his head.  “I don’t know.  I just don’t see what he thought that would prove.”

“You mean punishing me?” Jenay asked.

“Yeah.  What would he get out of that?”

“Satisfaction?” Jenay asked.

“Maybe.”

“He was a member of the diplomatic corp.  If he did it to punish me, maybe he figured he would be able to invoke diplomatic immunity and get away with it.”

Charles nodded.  “Yeah, I thought about that too.”

“But you aren’t buying that either.  Are you?”

“Oh, I think he did believe he could get away with it by invoking diplomatic immunity.  But I’m not certain he did it to punish you.”

“He doesn’t seem like the type to you either?” Jenay asked.

“I wouldn’t put it pass him as quickly as you might.  But he didn’t come across that way to me.”

“How did he come across to you?”

“Like a man who would need to get something tangible out of it if he put himself out there like that.  And satisfaction ain’t it.”

“Then what could it be?” Jenay asked.  “Money?”

“I don’t know.  I hope that’s what it is, and we can put this episode behind us.  But I don’t know.”

Then Charles placed his arm around Jenay.  “Let’s get back inside,” he said.

But before they could, the surgeon walked up, and both of them froze.

“Is Chief Sinatra still here?” the doctor asked.

“He’s right in here,” Jenay said, and Charles opened the door.  And the surgeon, along with Charles and Jenay, went inside.

Brent rose to his feet.  Everybody in the room rose to their feet.  And Charles closed the door.

“Hello, Chief,” the surgeon said.

“Is she out of surgery?” Brent asked.  “How is she?  How’s my wife?”

“Although she was shot at several times,” the surgeon said, “she was hit only once.  And even that bullet wasn’t lodged.  It went straight through, and bypassed all of her major organs.”

“Praise God!” Jenay said.

“That’s a good one to praise,” the surgeon said to Jenay, with a smile.  Brent was smiling too.  Everybody in the room were smiling.

Then the surgeon looked back at Brent.  “She’s going to be just fine, Chief.  There’s no swelling at the entry point.  There’s no shrapnel or other fragments internally.  And beyond the general concern about infection, of course, I believe she will make a full and speedy recovery.”

It was exactly what Brent wanted to hear.  It was exactly what everybody wanted to hear.  And they all let out a great sigh of relief.

 

And then two days later, as the family once again were assembled at the hospital, but this time at Makayla’s bedside as she rested peacefully in a private room, Mick and Rosalind Sinatra walked in.