Greater Love

"Place your hands over his wound and press hard."

Molly followed instructions with tears filling her eyes. The blood kept coming, oozing between her fingers. Making a supreme effort, Dan raised his hand to brush a tear from Molly's cheek.

"Greater love hath no...." his words disappeared into a barely audible whisper and with a sigh, he was gone.

"Danny," Molly screamed. "Oh God. Oh God, no. Please help him."

McKinzie started to squirm.

"Fucking idiot. That's what he gets for getting in my business."

Chris brought the butt of the gun down hard on the back of his head. He grunted and went limp.

It's true what they say. It seemed like an eternity before they heard the clatter of the police coming down the hall. Finally, two officers came through the door, guns drawn and sweeping the room. Not wanting to startle her, the lead officer spoke in a remarkably gentle voice given the circumstance.

"We're here Christine."

She glanced over her shoulder. Jim Wolf had joined the force the same time as her father. He was her Godfather and she'd always called him Uncle Jim. She never had gotten him to call her by anything other than her given name.

"Jim, Corey." She acknowledged. Jim holstered his weapon and pulled out his handcuffs.

"It's OK. I've got this."

Chris rose and stepped back, but didn't pass the pistol back to Corey until the cuffs closed on McKinzie's wrists. He spoke into his radio.

"It's clear. We've got a man down."

Shortly, they could hear more footsteps coming at a run. Two paramedics worked their way into the room with equipment in both hands. The first one in tried to move Molly away.

"NO! NO!" she screamed, shrugging off the hands on her shoulders. The paramedics looked at Jim. He knelt beside Molly.

"Miss, we can't help him 'til you move out of the way."

Molly didn't budge. Bloody hands still pressed hard against Daniel's chest, she just shook her head. Finally, Jim stood behind her, reached down, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her away. She thrashed wildly for a moment and then collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably. Trying to avoid the growing pool of blood, the paramedic felt for a pulse, listened with a stethoscope, flashed a light in Daniel's eyes then rocked back on her heels. She looked at Chris and Jim, glanced over at Molly, then shook her head.

A look of fury crossed Chris' face. She glared at the sorry excuse for a human being lying on the floor and changed her stance, bringing her leg back. Jim caught her eye and shook his head.

"He's not worth it."

He saw the tension drain out of her as the moment passed. The look of fury faded into deep sorrow.

"Besides, looks like he's already got a pretty good knot on the back of his head."

Chris grimaced at Jim's attempt to ease the tension then gave him a tight smile.

"He was...disrespectful."

Jim snorted at the understatement.

"Remind me to never give you any lip."

People came and went. McKinzie was hauled off, none too gently. Molly's attorney had to be coaxed out from under the table. Crime scene techs began to process the room. Molly watched listlessly as one picked up the spent bullet and slipped it into an evidence bag. The police took everyone's statements while they waited for the coroner. Until the coroner officially pronounced his death, Daniel's body could not be moved. Conroy was nowhere to be found. Chris made sure that Karen had someone to be with and sent her home.

A blood spattered Molly sat like a zombie in the reception area. The paramedics had checked her out. Except for a nasty bruise she was unhurt. It took her a moment to realize someone was talking to her.

"I'm sorry, what?"

It was one of the cops, the one called Corey. He had the pistol in his hand. The cylinder was swung out. He'd been examining the weapon.

"I said you're very lucky. This is a small caliber Saturday night special with lower velocity rounds. The bullet didn't have enough energy to go through him and you too." He'd gestured back to the conference room where Daniel's body lay covered by a plastic tarp.

"His name is Daniel."

"I'm sorry. Was he a friend?"

When she didn't respond he continued.

"Well Daniel saved your life. He must have been quite a guy."

Corey saw the thousand yard stare so common to trauma victims. He stopped waiting for a reply, shook his head and went about his business.

Fighting to hold back her own tears, Chris took charge of Molly and ushered her into a restroom. She did the best she could to wash the blood from Molly's hands and arms. There was nothing to be done for the stained clothing. Chris was startled when Molly suddenly seemed to regain her senses.

"What did he mean?"

"About what?"

"What he said. Greater love... something."

Chris gave her a thoughtful look.

"Did you ever read the Bible or talk about religious beliefs with Daniel?"

"No, I had my fill growing up. The Bible is just a collection of quotes people use to justify what they're going to do anyway." Molly shrugged. "Danny knew I was an atheist. Maybe that's why stopped loving me."

Molly's father had tried to beat the Bible into her and her five brothers and sisters. Every week, he stayed drunk from Friday night to Monday morning. Whenever he'd come out of his stupor, he'd rail at everyone how they were all heathens and were going straight to Hell. Molly never did determine whether he got that way because her mother left or she left because of the way he was. In any case, it gave her a healthy distrust of religion in general and Bible thumpers in particular.

She'd never understood Daniel's fascination with religion. He didn't just read the Bible. He read every "holy" book he could lay his hands on. He never preached or pushed his views on her like her oh so pious and abusive father. He tried to explain, but she always tuned him out. When she warned him not to preach at her, he'd just smile, hold her close and tell her it wasn't about browbeating or shaming people. You didn't have to preach, he'd said, if you did your best to live what you believed. She came back from her reverie when Chris responded.

"The answer to your question is in the Bible. When you get home look up the book of John, fifteenth chapter, thirteenth verse."

Molly waited for her to start preaching, but like Danny, Chris didn't try to push anything on her. She knew she didn't deserve it, but since Conroy had disappeared without a trace, she let Chris drive her home. Molly was a little disoriented when the car stopped and she realized she was not in front of Conroy's mansion but the modest home she had shared with Danny. Chris assumed, rightly, that Molly was in no shape to confront Conroy about abandoning her, putting her life in danger and probably getting Dan killed. Neither woman had said a word in the car. As Molly was getting out, Chris said,

"You were wrong about Dan."

"How?"

"John fifteen thirteen ."

Before Molly could respond, Chris drove off. She trudged up to the door and without thinking stuck her key in the lock. Molly was surprised when she realized that her key still worked. She'd kept it in case they needed to retrieve any belongings and just never bothered to remove it from her keyring. Letting herself in, she headed straight to the master bedroom. She stripped hastily and threw the bloody clothes in the wastebasket. Stepping into the shower, she scrubbed herself until the water ran cold. It would be days before she felt clean and stopped expecting to see blood when she looked at her hands.

Back in the bedroom, she figured she'd have to wear something of Danny's. Again she was thrown a curve when she found all of her clothes still hanging in the closet and filling her dresser drawers. The picture of her and Danny on their honeymoon still sat on the dresser at the foot of the bed. It had been eleven months since they'd shared this room. Was he nuts? Why would he keep all these painful reminders around? That's why she took nothing with her when she left. Besides, Marcus had replaced everything with better.

She slipped on a flannel nightgown and her fuzzy slippers and shuffled into the kitchen. Although her stomach grumbled, the thought of food made her slightly ill. A large mug of hot chocolate seemed a better choice.

On her way to the living room, she took a well-worn book from a bookcase. Setting the book and her mug on a side table she went to the fireplace and lit a fire. Molly curled up on the couch as she had done countless times with Danny and stared into the flames. It felt weird. She half expected him to stroll into the room and plunk himself down next to her with that silly smile he usually had when around her. The same smile he'd had when she came to his aid. The same smile he had when he died.

Something made a loud pop in the fireplace and instantly she was back in the conference room. She felt the blow to her chest and watched Danny's bloodied body slump to the floor. The tang of gun powder and the coppery odor of spilled blood filled her nose. She could feel Danny's hand brush her cheek and hear his last words fade away. The flashback passed. She was left shaking and trying to slow her pounding heart. Molly pulled out the neck of her nightgown and looked at the darkening bruise between her breasts.

Suddenly, she yearned for Danny's arms around her. He always seemed to know when she needed to be held. Marcus would have just scooped her up and told her a good romp in bed would cheer her up. Suddenly it dawned on her that Marcus never read her emotions or tried to meet her needs. He simply persuaded her to feel what he wanted her to feel and need what he had to offer. She was dazzled by his charm and his wealth and somewhere along the way had lost her self.

With a trembling hand, Molly reached out and picked up the Bible. Being unfamiliar, it took a while to find the passage. Running her finger down the page, she found the thirteenth verse.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

She paled and her eyes grew wide as she realized the full meaning of the passage. Teardrops began to spatter the page. Molly hugged the book to her battered chest and, with a moan, began to rock back and forth.