Ыоуве Been Warned   ::   Patterson James

“Hey, did you hear me?Who are you, anyway?” I ask.

He stands there and takes out a cell phone, dialing 911. I get my answer.

“I’m a private investigator,” he tells the operator after reporting there’s been a shooting. “Multiple shootings,” he corrects himself.

The police arrive, followed by EMS. Lots of hustle and bustle all around me. A paramedic checks my pulse again.

I fade in and out for a while, then I hear the Ponytail explain to a cop that he was hired by “one of the deceased.” Mrs. Penley Turnbull was his client.

“She suspected her husband was having an affair,” he says. “Apparently the husband suspected the same thing about her.”

“Hope you got paid up-front,” jokes the cop.

“You think this is funny?” I say.

He doesn’t hear me. No one does.

“So, who’s the girl?”

The cop is pointing at me. When is this strangeness going to stop? Actually, when I think about it, I don’t want it to stop, do I?

“The nanny,” answers the Ponytail. “That’s who I discovered the husband was involved with.”

“So you were following her? If I’m following you so far?”

“Yeah, you got it right. Mrs. Turnbull wanted to see if I could dig up any dirt on her, I guess for the divorce. I kind of felt sorry for her, though. Kristin’s her name. She was young, in way over her head. I even tried scaring the shit out of her, hoping she’d back off the relationship with the husband, who’s a real scumbag.”

“Instead, here she is with a gun,” says the cop. “She had to be in on it with the husband, right?”

“I’m not so sure,” says the Ponytail. “I lost her at first when she entered the hotel, but the way she ran here, I think maybe she was trying to stop this from happening.”

The cop sighs. “Damn shame either way. There’s two little kids now with no mommy and daddy.”

“Or even a nanny. I could tell the kids liked her a lot.”

“That would explain it,” the cop says with a nod and a shrug.

“What’s that?”

“We sent a patrol car over to their school to get them, and the daughter was missing. Seven years old. I got word a minute ago, though, that they found her.”

“Alive?”

“Oh, yeah. She’s fine. In a manner of speaking.”

“Where was she?”

“Home. The little girl said she ditched school because she was worried about the nanny. She wanted to be with her.”

“Her name’s Dakota.