Contrarium (The Book Glasses Series Book 2) - Arthur Bozikas

Contrarium (The Book Glasses Series Book 2) by Arthur Bozikas

Book excerpt

“Samantha? Samantha? Doc Page, can you hear me?”

Through the pounding in her head, Sam could hear someone calling her name. It was Detective Gower. Then she heard an explosion and put her hands to her ears, trying to block out the noise. It did nothing, however, to stop the incessant pounding.

That wasn't an explosion, Sam thought. That was a gunshot!

Deliberately keeping her movements slow, Sam lifted her head and took in the scene around her. She was still in the viewing room, where Detectives Roth and Gower had called her after she’d talked to Garza’s son. She clutched the seat of the chair onto which the detectives had helped her sit down on when her world had started spinning.

At her feet, Gower lay unmoving, a hole in his temple. She turned and stared into the barrel of a gun, then dived off her chair onto the floor, curled into a ball, and wrapped her arms around her stomach.

She looked up to see Detective Roth charge into the room, gun drawn. He tossed the glass of water intended for Sam at Gower’s assailant and fired. His slug hit the shoulder of the man now holding Gower’s gun. But Roth was too late. The man had already pulled the trigger and his bullet tore into Roth’s chest.

Terrified for her unborn baby, Sam lay frozen in horror, watching a pool of Roth’s blood spread across the floor. She desperately scanned the room and her gaze rested on her handbag, which contained the two pairs of book glasses. Gower’s knee, clad in black trousers, almost nudged the bag.

But Gower was dead. Alongside his body was the gunman, who Sam recognised as Antonio Garza’s son, Anthony. He had passed out after he’d been shot by Detective Roth. How did Garza Junior get in here, Sam wondered.

Only minutes earlier she had left the adjacent interview room where he was securely handcuffed to the table, and she had seen the young constable lock the door after she left. Then she had walked into the viewing room and was overcome with dizziness. If not for Gower’s quick response, she would have ended up on the floor. As Roth raced out to get her a glass of water, Gower had helped her sit down and gently helped her ease her head down into her lap.

Moments later, drawn by the shooting, the room was filled with law enforcement officers. It was chaos. A young detective helped her up off the floor and onto a chair and asked her what had happened. Another handcuffed Garza Junior, who was just coming to. Sometime later, the paramedics arrived. Sam allowed them to check her for injuries. She was fine but they insisted she should go to a hospital. For the sake of her baby, she agreed. But there was nothing they could do for Detectives Gower or Roth. While waiting to be escorted to an ambulance, Sam overheard a snippet of a conversation between two people out in the hallway.

“Where did the suspect get a gun?” asked the first man.

“It appears he managed to get hold of Gower’s gun,” replied the second.

“What a bloody mess!”

The hallway was crowded when the paramedics escorted her out to the ambulance so Sam couldn’t identify either of the speakers. But she had to agree, it sure was a bloody mess! How did Garza Junior get out of the locked interview room? Perhaps he had inside help? Yes, if Junior is anything like his old man, it is quite likely he has a cop on his payroll.

As she lay in the back of the ambulance on the way to the hospital, Sam recalled her shock discovery that the second pair of book glasses may well belong to her mother. This opened a floodgate of thoughts. Why was Mum so secretive about the book glasses? What else is she hiding? But perhaps both Roth and Gower had been mistaken.

Saddened and shocked after witnessing the deaths of Roth and Gower, Sam was also secretly a little relieved they were both dead, but she hated herself for even thinking something so awful. The two detectives had both been good men and had repeatedly gone out of their way to protect her. Today, Roth and Gower had saved her life, at the cost of their own lives. If they hadn’t met her, they would still be alive.

Having been so careful to keep the book glasses hidden over the years, she couldn’t believe how reckless she had been of late. The discovery of the second pair of glasses had rattled her. Then again, she had learned to expect the unexpected. The consequences were too high to risk someone finding them. She needed to refocus and ensure she did not drop her guard again. She needed to protect the book glasses.