Bloody Seven of Spades 1: Life and Death

On the way to the Boulder police station, Keith became increasingly unconscious, and the two officers had to turn around and drive to the nearest hospital.Levi and Dominic followed closely behind in Dominic's pickup truck - there was no way Levi would let Keith out of his sight.

After arriving at the emergency department, they walked directly through the waiting area and were placed in a relatively secluded corner at the back.Keith was handcuffed to the bed, and the receiving nurse checked him, drew blood, and tried to comfort him as best he could, while Levi notified Tina and Michelle Chapman.

The small bed against the wall was surrounded by curtains, and it seemed extremely cramped for a bunch of people, not to mention that one of them was Dominique.All the way from the Warren Stadium, he has never said a word, and he seems to be preoccupied, and his frown has not been relaxed until now.Levi himself was too preoccupied with the important matters in front of him, and had no time to ask what he was worried about.

He shifted his attention from Dominic to Keith, who was lying on the hospital bed babbling nonsense, the sweat on his head soaking the cotton sheets underneath.Is this the one who planned and carried out five well-conceived murders without leaving any convincing evidence behind?This was the man who had been calm and collected on the phone with him, the man who had deftly disguised himself, teased Dominic, and even saved Levi's life?Is this the self-controlled, prodigiously intelligent, ruthless serial killer who's been playing Levi around for the past few weeks?Let Levy believe that person is Keith?

Come on.

"Keith." After the nurse walked away, Levi sat down on the roller stool next to the bed and took Keith's free hand. "Look at me. I want to help you, but I need you to be honest with me—did you kill Loretta Kane and Benjamin Ross?"

Keith looked at him, eyes wet and confused.Suddenly, he said, "You're the murderer," and spat in Levi's face.

Levi flinched back.Dominic stepped forward and put a hand on one of his shoulders.

"You can't ask anything about him now." He lowered his voice.

Levi stands up, shrugs irritably and shakes off Dominique's hand.He resolutely regretted it, so he hooked Dominic's wrist with his fingers, and apologized silently.Dominic nodded.

"Officer?" the resident called to him from outside the curtain. "Can I hold you for a few minutes?"

Levi came up to her, staring at Keith out of the corner of his eye.

"You previously indicated that Mr. Chapman's agitation and delirium were drug-induced. Can you say what medication he may have been on?"

"It's hard to say. I mean, I know his psychiatrist prescribed antipsychotics, but..." He gestured to Keith, who was restless and whining in bed, "Antipsychotics Isn't medicine just for this symptom?"

"Yes, to ease his agitation. It's possible he's on a mixed prescription - that could be an adverse drug interaction. Is he taking any other medications?"

"I don't know. His wife and sister are coming soon. They should know more than I do."

"Help me, help me stop," Keith muttered to the nurse over and over.The nurse wiped his forehead and spoke to him in a soft voice.One of the local policemen chose to stand at the door as a guard, while the other stood by the bed, staring at Keith with sympathetic and helpless eyes.Judging by his half-child appearance, he must have just graduated from the police academy.

"Keith also said he had a problem with his memory," Levy told the doctor. "There was a period of memory gaps or something. I found a bottle of ketamine on him. He said he had taken it before. , but I don’t know if he is taking medicine now.”

"Hmm. Ketamine can cause short-term memory lapses, and many types of drugs can cause strong side effects during antipsychotic medication." She moved behind the curtain to the bed. "Mr. Chapman? I'm Dr. Trager. We're going to do some tests, and in the meantime, I'm going to give you a small dose of medicine to help you calm down—"

"No!" Keith yelled, so loud that the doctor took a sharp step back.He struggled to sit up. "Fuck you, don't touch me! Get away from me, don't touch me—"

He yanked the handcuffed hand and struggled to move it.This time, the nurse couldn't calm him down, and he struggled even harder, trying to get out of the restraints.

"We need to change him to a safer restraint method before he hurts himself," the doctor said.

The nurse held Keith's other arm, and Dominique grabbed his kicking legs.But Keith was unrelenting, swearing and twisting his arms in extreme panic to break free of the handcuffs.The policeman present would just stand there dumbfounded.

"My God, his wrist is going to break," the nurse said.

The doctor went back behind the curtain, blocking Levi's face and causing him to suddenly lose his footing.At this time, what Levi was afraid of happened: the policeman hurriedly took off the key on his belt and unlocked Keith's handcuffs.

"Don't!" Levi yelled, rushing forward—but the terrified doctor got in the way and he was delayed for two seconds to make a detour, just two seconds, and it was too late to stop.

Keith pushed the nurse away with a force that sent her stumbling onto Dominic, who let go of Keith's feet as he caught her.The two fell to the cart together, but thanks to Dominique's timely response, they did not knock over the cart and avoided a baptism of medical supplies.

Keith jumped out of bed, pulled the pistol from the police officer's holster and put his arms around his neck.He leaned his back against the wall, using the policeman as a shield, and pointed a gun at his forehead.

Levy and Dominic drew their guns at the same time.The doctor rushed out of the ward and shouted for security.

This kind of thing can't happen again.

For a brief moment, all Levy could see was Dale Slater pointing a gun at the little boy and threatening to shoot the boy in the head if the police didn't let him go.Slater's desperation, the kid's panic, Levi's blood loss when he realizes he has to do it... God, it can't happen to him again.

He glanced to the sides.Dominic was expressionless, and Levi had never seen such empty and cold eyes in his eyes.He clasped the gun tightly in both hands, though the tense position must have caused a lot of pain to his injured shoulder.

"Stand behind me," Dominique said to the nurse.She quickly got behind him, and her tall figure easily blocked her completely.

"Keith," Levy said, "what the hell are you doing?"

"It's not my fault." Despite the frantic look in his eyes, Keith spoke with a little more order than before. "None of that was my fault. You tried to send me to jail, but I won't let you. I didn't do anything wrong."

"The right people don't take hostages."

Behind Levi came the sound of running footsteps. It was the security guards of the hospital. They stopped when they saw the situation clearly.The frightened little policeman looked at Levi, opened his eyes wide and begged him for help.He may have been trained to deal with situations like this, but fear instantly cleared his mind.

"Let him go," Levy said. "Please, Keith, you're not that kind of guy. Let me help you, and we can figure it out."

Keith licked his lips, looking back and forth between Levi, Dominique, and the security guards.His cheeks were flushed, and that was the only color on his face.

"Question?" He let out a harsh laugh. "The problem is, I'm always broken for no reason. I wake up with blood on my clothes and I don't know where I've been. My wife and kids are afraid of me. I'm afraid of myself."

Levi stepped forward.Keith pulled the policeman tighter, pressing the muzzle of the gun to his forehead.The policeman stammered and groaned.Levi stood still.

"I can help you—"

Keith repeated his words, not without sarcasm: "Yo, can you help me? How? Take me to the doctor and the doctor says I'm crazy? Say I'm crazy, give me a bunch of Are the drugs driving me crazier?" His hand on the gun twitched, and the policeman shuddered and whimpered. "No, I lost everything, and I don't even know why. Can't stop, can't stop at all."

Levy heard sirens approaching from a distance, the emergency room was being evacuated, and frightened people were running and shouting.In the deadlocked space they formed, there was silence.

"Keith," Levy must know the truth, must know, "are you 'Seven of Spades'?"

Keith showed a strange expression, which was a determination forced out of desperation. "There is a way to know."

He put the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger.

Levy's shocked cries were drowned out by the policeman's screams of pain.Keith staggered to the ground, and the policeman collapsed, covering his ear next to the gun with his hands.

Levy holstered his own gun, ran to Keith and knelt down.Although there was a large hole at the base of Keith's skull and the wall behind it was splattered with blood and brains, he tried to feel for a pulse.

He was vaguely aware of the chaos around him, and Dominic was speaking hurriedly to him, but it became the background noise.He knelt on the floor, sick and shocked, with one thing on his mind.

Keith Chapman died, and the truth went with him.