Marie stepped back, a look of total horror on her face. She looked at her hands which were covered in blood. "Jim..."
June looked up in time to see Jim falling backward toward her, she caught him awkwardly, one hand on his chest, feeling the dampness there. "Jim...." She breathed. She laid him down on the floor gently, looking at the ever increasing pool of blood that stained his grey t-shirt.
"What have I done?" Marie wailed.
"God..." June pulled off her coat and her light cardigan. She balled it up and pressed it against Jim's wound. Her hand shaking violently, she pulled her phone from her handbag and dialled Sun Hill.
"June..." Jim croaked, looking up at her.
"It's alright... Honey... oh, god Honey, we need an ambulance to 23 Wiskin Avenue... Jim's been stabbed..." The phone slipped from her hand which was slick with blood. "Just hang in there... please, Jim..."
Marie approached them slowly. "Are you OK Jim?"
"Does he look OK!" June cradled Jim's head protectively in her arms. "You did this and I'll make sure you PAY!" She screamed. "Jim... come on, speak to me..."
Marie looked from June to Jim, her eyes filled with tears. She grabbed her bag from the kitchen table and ran out of the door.
"They'll find her... they will..." June muttered. "Please Jim, come on, say something..." She placed a hand on his face. "Please..."
"I love you June..." His face wrinked with pain. "I..."
"Hey... I love you too...." Her tears overflowed, it hurt to speak, her chest and throat ached. "You're going to be alright... *we're* going to be alright..."
"Promise me you'll keep fighting... you can... get over this." His eyes closed.
"Jim... no... you're staying here with me! You're not going anywhere! That's an ORDER, PC Carver!"
He opened his eyes a fraction. "It hurts... can't fight it... promise me June."
"I don't want to... I need you Jim, I can't live without you!"
"Promise me... ahhhhh." He gasped loudly.
"OK... I promise, I promise..." June sobbed. She leant down kissed him gently. "But please don't go, Jim, please don't go..." She rocked back and forth gently.
He looked up at her, a slight smile on his face as his eyes fell shut again. "I... love... you." He murmured.
"Jim... Jim.." She touched his face, patted it lightly. "JIM?!"
Jim gasped one last time, his body stilling in her arms.
"Jim... no..." She pulled back, looking at him in horror. "Jim... Jim, come on you PROMISED me you would never leave me. Jim, come ON!" She shook him lightly, then harder.
"June� are you in here?" Gina's voice echoed through the house. "June..."
"In� the kitchen..." June just managed to say. She listened dumbly as the footsteps came closer.
"June? Oh my God." Gina stepped into the kitchen, the colour draining from her face. "He's not... is he... oh June..."
"He said he wouldn't leave me... he promised... he lied...." June gazed up at Gina wide-eyed.
Gina knelt down on the floor, her hand on Jim's neck feeling for a pulse. "What happened June?"
"Marie... she tried to kill me, and Jim... he... he saved me..."
"That's Jim for you... He died as he lived, always the hero." She slid an arm around June's shoulders. "Are YOU ok? She didn't hurt you did she?"
"I... my arm... but... I don't want him to be the hero... I just want him back..."
"I know you do June... he'll never leave you, not really... Show me your arm."
"Leave me alone!" June snapped, pulling away. She looked up to the door, Tony Stamp and Gary Best were looking in to the room, aghast. "Just GO AWAY!"
Gina looked up and gestured for Tony and Gary to leave. "June... June look at me..." She said softly.
"No..." June shook her head, concentrating her gaze on Jim.
"June please..." Gina reached out to her. "He's gone June... the ambulance is outside... we need to get you to the hospital..."
"No... no... please don't make me leave him..." June sobbed.
Gina's own eyes filled up with tears. "You've got to let him go..."
"I can't... you don't understand, do you, none of you understand...." June traced a line down Jim's face with her finger.
"Of course we understand June..." She stopped suddenly. "June... where's Marie?"
"She... left... she...." June shook her head. "Gina, please, just leave me with him a moment longer, please?"
Gina nodded, slowly getting to her feet. "I'll give you a few minutes... I'll go and start the search for Marie." She squeezed June's shoulder. "Stay strong..."
"Strong..." June laughed harshly. She waited until Gina had left the room. "Jim... I can't do this... I can't go on without you. I've loved you since the day I met you and my every moment was consumed by you, everything I did was driven by you, and the hope we would... you're my world... can't you see that? Don't tell me to go on because I don't have anything to go on for."
Gina caught a few of June's words as she left the room, a loan tear snaking down her face. She shook her head, wiped at her face with a balled hand and marched outside. With a quivering hand she reached for her radio. "All units... be on the look out for one Marie Carver, five seven, long auburn hair, possibly covered with blood in the vicinity of Wiskin Avenue. Wanted for questioning for the murder of PC James Carver." Gina beckoned to the paramedics. "We've got another officer in there too, she's hurt... Come through with me..." She turned back into the house.
She cracked open the door of the kitchen. June wasn't talking anymore, just hugging Jim close to her and sobbing. She glanced up when she sensed movement.
"The paramedics are here." Gina spoke softly. "Let them take a look at you." She retrieved an evidence bag from her utility belt, picking up the knife from the floor.
"I'm alright..." June whispered. "It's only a scratch, really."
"Let them be the judge of that..."
"I don't CARE about me!"
"You've got to do this... you promised Jim remember."
"No..." June sobbed as Gina hunkered to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Please..."
"Come on June... you're strong... you can do this for him."
"I don't want to say goodbye!"
"No-one ever does. But you have to." Gina sniffed. "You've got to let him go."
"He's so beautiful... I can't believe I'm never going to see his face, or his eyes... his smile... again."
"He'll always be with you June... and you'll never forget him... no one will ever forget him"
"I just want to hear his laugh one last time, feel him touch my face..." June shook her head. "I... this is too hard..."
"Come on June... you've got to say goodbye." Gina placed her hands on June's shoulders. "Let him go."
"I'll never let him go..." She looked down at him. "But... goodbye, sweetheart. Wait for me, alright?" She leant down, kissed his forehead, his lips. Gently, she placed his head down onto the floor.
"Come on..." Gina helped June to her feet. "Now show us your arm..."
June let herself be led from the room. Just as they reached the ambulance, she turned, and saw a stretcher being wheeled out, with a black body bag on it. Everyone and everything stilled as it was wheeled towards a second ambulance. Officers removed their hats, ducked their heads. Tony Stamp hid his face in his hands. "I want to go with him." June whispered.
"You can see him later if you need to. We need to get that arm sorted." She guided June to the ambulance.
"I didn't mean it in that way. I want to go with him... I don't want to be alone..."
"Oh June." Gina spun June around and looked at her. "You're stronger than this June..."
"Not without him." June snapped her gaze away. "It's all over."
Gina brushed June's hair off her forehead. "Look at me... don't give up June... you CAN get over this... and the... other stuff..."
"No... it's not worth the fight. The only thing that's keeping me going is the need to see Marie arrested, and charged... and...." She looked at Gina, then screamed with anger.
"We'll get her June... she'll go down for this... and for beating Ben... and for anything else we can make stick. Anything else you know of that we can charge her for"?
"I want her to die." She growled. "That's the only punishment fit for her." She looked up as the ambulance bearing Jim roared away. "She's killed Jim, she's killed me."
"She'll be punished... we'll make sure of that."
"For Jim." June nodded.
"Definitely... now lets get you sorted out."
"OK." June whispered. Inside however, she knew that it would take a lot more than few stitches and a bandage to heal the gaping hole she now had inside.
***
"Well that's the stitches done June... you're going to be sore for a while." The nurse placed a pad on June's arm. "I'll get the doctor to write you a script for some painkillers... I'll be right back." She left the cubicle closing the curtain behind her.
June sighed and leant back into the pillow. She clutched her arm protectively to her. She'd finally stopped crying, she had no more tears left to shed, and was feeling oddly numb, like none of this was real. She closed her eyes for a moment, Jim's face flashed before them and she snapped them open. Just as she did, the curtain was pulled slowly back, and into the cubicle came Polly Page.
"Oh June..." Polly threw her arms around June. "I came as soon as I could. Are you ok?"
"No..." June looked at her, hiked her eyebrows. "No, I'm not." She sighed deeply.
"I can't believe he's gone... I keep expecting him to turn up. That huge grin on his face."
"Don't, Polly." June swallowed, shuddered. "Please don't."
"I'm sorry June... I just don't know what to say."
"No-one does, it's all platitudes, like its going to change anything. Jim is dead. Jim Carver is dead..." She stared before her, her eyes wild, shaking her head from side to side.
"I'm sorry..." Polly sniffed, wiping her face with the back of her hand.
"Why does everyone say they're sorry?! It's not your fault! It's Marie's fault, it's MY fault!"
"You can blame Marie... but I can't see how this is your fault June. You have to stop thinking like that."
"I was the one who talked him into confronting her, into reporting her. It was me..."
"No June... Marie did this." Polly reached out and took her hand. "You tried to help him..."
"Help him..." June rolled her eyes and looked away. "Have they found her?" She said quietly.
"No..." Polly shook her head. "She can't have got far though."
"They have to find her... she... is Gina here?" June looked up suddenly. "There's something I need to tell her."
"She's in reception... shall I go and get her?"
"Please...." June looked at the heavy blue coat Polly was carrying. "Is that my coat?"
Polly nodded. "I won't be long..." She opened the curtain, looked back and smiled at June before leaving.
June looked at the coat which Polly had dropped on the chair beside the bed. Slowly she levered herself up, swivelled round on the bed, dropped her feet to the floor. She picked up the coat and slipped her good arm into it, leaving the other arm draped over her shoulder. Then, a moment of madness taking over her, she pulled back the curtain and strode quickly away.
***
"I'll wait outside ma'am. I think she wanted to talk to you on her own." Gina and Polly stopped outside the cubicle. "I've never seen her like this before ma'am... it's frightening."
"I know... she wouldn't let go of him, Polly, it was heartbreaking to watch." Gina pulled back the curtain. There was a moments silence, then: "Polly - where is she?"
"She was there a minute ago... she's probably nipped to the loo."
"You sure? I thought she had her bag with her... and didn't you bring her coat?"
"I left it on the ch... oh no, she's not going to do anything stupid is she ma'am?"
"Oh, I hope not..." Gina placed her hand to her forehead. "Maybe we're overreacting... she might have gone for some fresh air, let's check outside."
"I really hope so." They headed towards the doors. "She's not been herself her quite a while... I thought it was the wedding but now I'm not so sure... I hope she's ok... she won't talk to me about anything."
"There is something else, quite apart from this, but she told me in confidence, Polly." Gina looked up at her as they moved through the doors. They looked left, right, up and down the road outside the hospital. There was no sign of June.
"I knew there was something... would she have gone home?"
"Maybe... we'll check there first. Maybe she's gone back to the nick... I... we'll check ourselves before we put a call out. She doesn't need excessive fuss if all she wants is to be alone."
"Yeah you're right. Just tell me ma'am. Is she ok?" Polly turned to Gina, her eyes filled with concern.
"She's just lost the most important person in her life in the worst possible way. I think she's far from OK." Gina sighed.
on to Part 7