After the Shooting
The next day, Thursday, King arrives at the office a bit late as usual. He says hi to Lisa, the administrative assistant, and continues straight to his office and closes the door. He tries to focus on what he needs to accomplish at multiple job sites, but finds it difficult to concentrate. He finds his mind drifting to what he will say when the police come to interview him. He’s practiced it in his head numerous times, but wants to be sure he is consistent in his answers. He tries to anticipate what the police might ask him.
After about 45 minutes in his office, Lisa knocks on his door.
“What is it Lisa?”
“I’ve had a couple of phone calls for Ryan but he’s not in the office yet. Was he going to be late today?” she asks.
“Not that I know of,” responds King as he shrugs his shoulders.
“I tried to reach him on his cell, but it went to voice message,” Lisa tells him.
“Yeah, maybe he had a meeting this morning and forgot to tell you,” suggests King.
“Hmm, maybe,” says Lisa as she shuts the door.
At about 9:00 am, Cooper is starting to regain consciousness. He opens his eyes, but items in the room are blurry and his head is pounding. He sits up, but closes his eyes again, and rests in a drowsy condition. He is finally able to sit up in the chair, but doesn’t feel like he can stand yet. He also feels a bit nauseous, and the air has a strange smell to it. What the hell happened to me last night, he thinks.
Cooper’s mouth is extremely dry. As he starts to further gain consciousness, he decides to try to pull himself up to walk to the kitchen for a glass of water. He puts one hand on each arm rest, carefully centers his legs, then pushes himself into a standing position. He takes a few seconds to maintain his balance. As he turns to start to walk, he sees something lying on the floor about twelve feet away. At first, he is not sure what he sees, but quickly realizes it is Naomi. He starts to move quickly toward her, but loses his balance and falls, hitting his right hip on the coffee table in the center of the room. He screams out as pain shoots into his hip. Cooper slowly gets up on his hands and knees and crawls over to Naomi.
He can’t believe what he sees. Naomi’s blouse is soaked in dried blood. Her mouth is open, and her eyes are shut. Her head is turned to the right and there is a small trail of dried blood that has dripped from the corner of her mouth. Cooper touches her arm and face, knowing instantly she is dead.
“WHAT HAPPENED!?” screams out Cooper. “Who killed my sweet Naomi? HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!”
No one can hear Cooper’s screams. He realizes he needs to find his cell phone to call the police. The shock of finding Naomi dead has helped clear his mind, although he is still unsteady on his feet. He sees his cell phone on the round table next to his recliner. He also sees a drink glass and bottle of rum on the table. He grabs the phone and quickly dials 911.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“I need help! I believe my wife has been shot and she is dead! Someone came in last night and killed her,” he says between panting breaths.
“Okay sir, try to stay calm. I have your address here and we are sending officers out now. Can you tell me what happened?”
“I don’t know. I woke up this morning and was very dizzy, then I saw my wife on the floor. When I checked on her, she was dead. It looks like she was shot.”
“Alright, do you know who came into your house?”
“No, I must have been asleep, I just don’t understand right now. I just don’t know.”
“Are there any weapons in the house right now?”
“No, no weapons. Well, I do have a gun in my office, but that’s it.”
“Our officers are almost there sir, can you walk out your front door for us?”
“Uh, yes I think I can walk now.”
“Okay, when officers arrive, I will need you to walk out your front door with no weapons and your hands in the air. This is only for our officers' protection.”
“I don’t have a weapon.”
“I know, it’s just a precaution. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes.”
The dispatcher keeps Cooper on the phone for another minute or so until officers are on the scene.
“The officers are outside now and ready for you. You can walk outside now. Remember, keep your hands in the air.”
Cooper slowly makes his way to the front door. He unlocks and opens it. He steps outside and hears the command, “hands in the air sir.”
Cooper puts his hands in the air and two officers approach from the side of the house. One officer pats him down for weapons, then tells him he can put his hands down. The second officer, Officer Regan, asks where Cooper’s wife is.
“She is in the living room on the floor”
Just then a third officer arrives and stands with Cooper as Officer Regan and his partner go into the home. Officers find Naomi dead on the floor with what appear to be two gunshots to the chest. Officer Regan finds a Smith and Wesson five-shot revolver on the floor just to the right of the recliner Cooper had been sitting
