Jamie Brodie 02 - Hoarded to Death

with the bullhorn kept telling Kendall to come out, to no avail. I saw a SWAT cop with a riot gun position himself behind a squad car. Jon leaned into the car again. “They’re going to tear gas him.”
    The cop shot the canister through the window. After a couple of seconds, t he door to the shop flew open, and Kendall emerged, coughing. “Back off!” He was holding the gun to the head of the hostage, and using her as a shield. I got a good look at the hostage.
    It was Jennifer.
    I bolted upright. “ Shit! Jon, that’s…”
    “I see her. Stay put.” Jon closed the door and ducked down to scurry back to the cop he’d been talking to earlier. He said something quickly to the cop, who passed it on to someone else, who apparently passed it on to the guy with the bullhorn. “McEwen. Release Ms. Graham and drop your weapon.”
    “No!” Kendall must have squeezed Jennifer tighter because she yelped. “All you mob, back off! This bitch has cost me a lot of money. I don’t give a rat’s arse what happens to her.”
    Oh, God. I pinched the bridge of my nose. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Once this was over, if anyone ever spoke the name Jennifer Graham to me again, I was going to run the other way. I hoped Kevin wasn’t in sight.
    Kendall started inching away from the door of his shop, down the street, staying pressed against the walls and windows of the businesses he was passing, keeping Jennifer firmly in place in front
    of him. Fortunately he was moving in the opposite direction from where Jon had parked. My cell phone rang, and I jumped so high I nearly hit my head on the ceiling of the car. It was Pete. “Hey, what’s up?”
    “ We’re at Kendall’s shop and he’s holding Jennifer hostage at gunpoint. SWAT is here, and Jon thinks I should probably get away from the scene. But we came in his car.”
    “Wait, what? Kendall is holding Jennifer? At gunpoint? What the fuck?? ”
    “I know. Do you have another class or office hours or something?” I knew Pete’s schedule, but I couldn’t call it to mind right now to save my life.
    “No, I’m done for the day. I’ll come get you. How close are you to the shop?”
    “About a block. We’re right outside the police blockade.”
    “Okay. Sit tight, I’ll be there in a few.” He hung up. He’d have to walk home to get the car, but then it wouldn’t take him long. The shop wasn’t all that far from the Santa Monica city limits.
    I slouched down in my seat a little, but not so far that I couldn’t see the street clearly. As I watched, Kendall came to the corner of the block. As he started to ease around the corner, things started happening fast. I couldn't tell for sure from a block away, but it looked like Jennifer might have stomped on Kendall's instep. At the same time, a SWAT guy yelled something at Kendall. Kendall howled. His grip on Jennifer loosened, and she ran back toward the shop. Kendall swung his gun around in the direction of the SWAT guy, and the SWAT cop fired. He hit Kendall in the shoulder, and Kendall went down. About four guys were immediately on him. Another couple of guys grabbed Jennifer and hustled her away. The cops had Kendall on the ground, restraining him, and he was yelling and thrashing. They finally got him restrained enough that the paramedics could come in and start treatment on his shoulder.
    I sagged back into the seat cushions in relief. I saw Jon say something to the cop he'd been talking to, then he walked back to the car and leaned in. "Jennifer's kind of hysterical. I need to question her, but she's gotta calm down first. Think you can talk to her?"
    Fuck . "I'll try." I got out of the car and found that my legs were a little shaky. Adrenalin, I guess. Another ambulance crew on our end of the block, just outside the police barricade, was attending to Jennifer as she sat on the bumper of their truck. She was crying, like Jon had said, hysterically. As I walked toward her, I saw Pete pull up and get out of his Jeep. He headed toward Jennifer too, and we got there about the same time.
    Jennifer looked up at me. "Jamie-" She stopped and gulped. "What are you doing here?"
    "I was coming with Detective Eckhoff to talk to Kendall. What the fuck are you doing here?"
    She looked at Pete, tears streaming down her face, then looked back at me and started with the hysterical crying again. "He didn't come!"
    Pete, Jon, and I all looked at each other in puzzlement. I said, "Who didn't come?"
    "K-K-Kevin! He