Key West Gone into the Night

by Elizabeth Hilleren

  Jenny came out of the shadows and walked over to Consuela.

  She put an arm around Consuela. “It’s all right now. No one is going to hurt you or the precious baby.” The woman didn’t seem to notice her.

  “Clear,” Jenny said into her radio.

  Back in the living room Sharkey cuffed Manuel and gave him over to an officer. “Read him his rights and book him into the jail.” He ran to Javier, who was groaning on the floor.

  “Get me a medic. Now.” Sharkey said.

  That’s when Harris came through the door. “What the hell?” He moved quickly to Javier’s side. “Hey, kid, you hang in there, you hear me?” He took hold of Javier’s hand. “Come on, buddy.”

  Javier was pale. “He’s beautiful,” Tears filled his eyes.

  “Yeah, that’s what all good dads say. You hang in there. He needs you.”

  Max Sexton stepped through the door and went straight to Javier. “Let me take a look.”

  “Let’s stop the bleeding. Harris, hold this over the wound.” Max called to the hospital to set up for a gunshot wound.

  “Stay awake for me,” Max said. “Keep him with you, Harris.”

  “Will do. Hey, Javier, look at me…keep looking at me. You’re going to be just fine. That’s the way. You and me, we make a good team, if you don’t get in the way of a bullet. You did good, kid. Now you gotta stay with me.”

  “Okay.” Javier tried to smile. “He’s beautiful he…Susan’s smile…”

  “I can’t wait to see him. He needs you, so you fight to stay with me…Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “They’re ready for him in surgery. Let’s move him out. Harris, are you coming with us?”

  “Yeah. He’s family.”

  Sharkey got on the radio. “I need a team to go through this house looking for a seven-year-old. Blond hair, blue eyes.”

  “Roger that.”

  Two officers entered the house and headed upstairs. And two others went through the first floor.

  * * *

  The scene at the emergency room was chaotic, “That guy dead?” Harris asked.

  The charge nurse was on duty. “The first man is a heart attack. They just brought in a D.O.A. The one that just arrived with you is on his way to surgery.”

  “He’s family. You gotta save him. He’s all I have left of my daughter. His son needs him.”

  The nurse didn’t try to understand what he meant but was more concerned about Harris being so upset.

  “We’ll take care of him. You need to come…”

  “No, I ain’t goin’ nowhere till I know he’s all right.”

  The nurse looked at Harris. “You’re Amy’s guy. Where’s Amy?” She said softly, still holding his arm.

  “She’s at home.”

  “I’ll call her. You can wait here for him to be moved to surgery.”

  Amy headed for the door as soon as she got the call from the nurse.

  “Oh, Burt. God help him.” She said as she ran for her car. A few minutes later she emerged through the emergency room doors and found Harris.

  “Burt, how bad is it?”

  “He got shot. But he’s hanging in there. The baby is fine and that’s all I know. Sharkey and the baby are on their way over.”

  “I’ll get you some coffee. Sit right here.” She pulled up a chair and he sat down.

  She returned just as the curtains opened and they wheeled Javier out.

  He was pale but his eyes were open. “Harris…Mateo?”

  “He’s in good hands. Manuel is in jail and Vasquez is dead. They will never hurt you again. That’s a promise. Now you concentrate on fighting your way through this surgery and back to seeing your son and me again.”

  “We need to move him now,” the nurse said softly.

  “Yeah.” Harris felt a lump in his throat as they wheeled Javier into surgery. “God be with him,” Harris said under his breath. Amy guided him to the waiting room.

  * * *

  It was late now, and Billy had drifted off to sleep. He was rudely awakened an hour later with someone kicking at his shoulder.

  Billy’s eyes flew open and he looked into the face of Hank.

  “What are ya doing?” Hank asked, his breath smelling of beer. “I just wondered if you got a kid in there.”

  “None of your business. Get out of here,” Billy said.

  “What you doing with a kid?”

  “Look, you leave now, or I’ll call Officer Fitzpatrick.”

  “I just want to see him.”

  Billy pulled out his phone. Hank backed up. “You wouldn’t do that.”

  “Get out of here or I will. And I will press charges this time.” He started to dial Fitz’s number and Hank charged forward.

  “No,” Billy yelled as Hank pushed him aside and yanked opened the door of the shed.

  “Damn you, Hank,” he said as he picked himself up off the ground and reached for his bat. “I’ll knock your head off.”

  Hank stepped into the shed and Billy followed with his baseball bat.

  Hank reached for Tyler and pulled his shirt off just as Billy’s bat came in sharp contact with Hanks head.

  He slumped forward onto the bed and Tyler scrambled off the end of the bed and hugged Billy. “Who is that?” he said, holding tight to Billy’s legs.

  Billy hugged Tyler back. “It’s okay, Tyler. It’s okay,” Billy said. “He won’t hurt you. I won’t let him. “Here, put this back on,” he said, pulling the night shirt over Tyler. “Come on, let’s go outside and I’ll get you a coke.”

  Billy punched the number five on his phone and waited. The call was answered right away by Fitz.

  “Hey, Billy, what’s up?”

  “I got trouble here at the shed. You gotta come right away. Call for an ambulance too.”

  “Okay, hold on, I’m on my way.”

  Billy saw that the wound was bleeding but he was still breathing. He took some washcloths, got them wet, then put pressure on the wound. When it slowed the bleeding, he got dry ones and put them over the wound and duct taped them on. The wound stopped bleeding. It was only a few minutes later a police car pulled into the lighted area of the shed.

  Billy turned to Tyler and told him to sit down in the chair until he got back.

  Fitz got out and walked over to Billy.

  “We need you, Fritz. Hank tried to take my friend here out of my shed.”

  “Show me.”

  Billy followed Fitz into the shed. Fitz felt for a pulse on Hank, then took out his camera and photographed the scene.

  “He’s alive, but I need to get him to the hospital.” Just then the ambulance appeared, and the medics took over.

  “I’ll press charges now on him for what he tried to do to me.”

  “Billy, you did the right thing to call me. I’m going to talk to your friend now.”

  “Hi, there. What’s your name?” Fitz asked softly.

  “Tyler…Tyler Abbott.”

  “My name is Fitzpatrick, and my friends call me Fritz. Now you can call me Fritz.”

  “Hi, Fritz. Nice to meet you.” He stuck out his hand and shook Fitz’s hand. “You talk different.”

  “I’m from Ireland,” Fritz said with a grin.

  Tyler grinned, “that’s nice. My mom has a friend from Chile. He talks different too.”

  “Can you tell me where you came from?”

  “I came from Miami. My mom had me stay with a lady for a while, then a man came and drove me around for a while. Then I got out and he said my mother was just around the corner. I ran over there and she wasn’t there. That’s when I met Billy and he bought me a burger and took me to a safe place till he could think how to help me find my mom.”

  “Okay, Billy will stay with you while I take care of the hurt man. I’ll be back.”

  “I’m sleepy, Billy,” Tyler said, rubbing his eyes.

  “Why don’t we go sit in Fitz’s car and you can sleep there. I’ll see if that’s okay.”

 
; He returned with a thumbs up and Tyler fell asleep almost instantly.

  The medics loaded Hank into the ambulance and gave him oxygen. The bat had split the skin open, but it had stopped bleeding. “That kid did the right thing. He kept him from bleeding to death.”

  Fitz returned to Tyler and Billy.

  “Tell me how you met him, Billy.”

  “I saw him get out of a car and run to the corner of Green Street. The car that dropped him turned around and drove off. It seemed strange, so I went to see what the boy was running so fast for. He was supposed to meet his mother, but she never came. He didn’t say much then, just that he didn’t know how to find her.

  “It was late in the afternoon and I didn’t know who was chasing him so I got him a burger and took him home with me till I could figure out who could find his mom.

  “Hank must have seen us together and decided to follow us. He was going to hurt him. So, I stopped him and called you. Am I in trouble?”

  “No. You stopped him and called me.”

  “I’ve known you for about six years now, and I know you’re a hardworking good guy. You also saved Hank’s life. If you press charges for what happened a month ago to you, he will go to jail for a long time. With what he did here, it will add to his sentence.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Now, we have to help your friend here find his mom.”

  “What are all those sirens?”

  “We had a situation across town. Cops everywhere.”

  “Wow. I haven’t heard sirens like that since that explosion at the chemical place.”

  “Once in a while all fury blows up.”

  “Come on. Let’s get you and Tyler to a safer place and some warm food.”

  “That would great. He had a hamburger, but he needs real food.”

  “You got it. I’m hungry too.”

  The Medics pulled out with Hank. Fitzpatrick followed until he turned into the Denny’s parking lot.

  “He’s sleeping, but I bet he won’t turn down food.”

  Fitz woke Tyler up and he was happy to wake up to a food offer.

  “You two order whatever you want. I have to make a call.”

  Fitz stopped by his favorite waitress and asked her to keep an eye on the kids. He went into the front lobby and called dispatch.

  “I need to talk to Nancy Duckworth.”

  “I’ll get her for you.”

  “Duckworth here.”

  “It’s Fitz.”

  “You haven’t called me this late at night for a long time.”

  “I need your help. I got a kid that doesn’t know where his mom is.”

  “Okay, where are you?”

  “I’m at Denny’s on Duval.”

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “Great, I’ll buy you dinner.”

  She laughed. “How did you know you could get away with buying me dinner?”

  “I’m just glad you finally said yes. See you.”

  Fitzpatrick headed back to the table and saw Tyler eating a hamburger and Billy cutting through a country fried steak.

  “I have a friend who will be joining us for dinner. She works at Child Services.”

  Billy’s face turned white. “She gonna take me and put me in a home?”

  “No. I won’t let that happen.”

  “How about me,” Tyler said. His eyes were like saucers.

  “No. She’s a nice lady who takes care of kids till their moms can be found.”

  “Billy, you’re staying with a friend of mine tonight.”

  “Oh…kay…”

  “Hey, a real bed, your own bath and shower and hot cocoa before you go to sleep.”

  “All right.” Billy’s eyes lit up.

  “I thought you were a bachelor.”

  “I am, and so is my friend. He’s part of the canine department and he has helped out with friends of mine before. But I live well.”

  Billy’s face lit up, “Okay, I’m a bachelor too.”

  Nancy appeared at the door and Fitzpatrick went to meet her.

  “Wow, you look great.”

  The tall red-headed woman smiled at Fritz. “You’re looking pretty great yourself.”

  “Nice to hear, at two in the morning. Come and meet my kids.”

  “Billy, this is Miss Nancy.”

  “Hi.”

  “Hello, you enjoying dinner?”

  “Yes, thanks.”

  “And this is my friend, Tyler.” He looked up and smiled.

  “Hi.”

  “Tyler is missing his mom and needs a place to stay until we can figure out who she is.”

  “How long since you last saw your mom?”

  “Days…. I don’t know, a long time.”

  “And where did you stay?”

  “With a lady, Consula.”

  “Consuela?”

  “Yeah, that’s it. They let me off to meet up with my mother…they said she was just around the corner. She wasn’t there but Billy came by and I went with him…He saved my life. He’s my friend.”

  “And Fritz, how did you find them?”

  “A known molester tried to get Tyler, and Billy stopped him and called me.”

  “Okay. I’ll take my friend Tyler with me. I think I know who might know where his mother is.”

  “All right,” Billy said, high-fiving with Tyler.

  “Our friend Detective Sharkey will be very happy.”

  “Well, if you boys have had enough, Miss Nancy will take Tyler to Detective Sharkey, and Billy and I will head for home.”

  “Tyler,” said Billy, “Detective Sharkey is a real cool dude.”

  “Okay.” Tyler took Nancy’s hand and they left.

  “I’m going to take you to my friend’s place, and you can shower and get some sleep.” Fitz had called his friend Nate Windsor who agreed to keep Billy at his place.

  “Okay. Thanks. It’s nice to have you as a friend,” Billy said.

  “Same here.”

  * * *

  Sharkey got a call from dispatch. Nancy Duckworth wanted to meet him at the police station. Sharkey called her back.

  “Sharkey, I’ve got the boy you were looking for.”

  “Tyler Abbott?”

  “One and the same. He has quite a story to tell. I have him in my car and he’s fast asleep.

  “Okay, I’m at a crime scene right now. Listen, he has family. Why don’t you bring him to the hospital? His grandfather is there.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  Sharkey called Harris’ number.

  “Harris, it’s Sharkey. I have good news. Fritz found Tyler. He needs family and some good sleep. He knows nothing about his mother or father.”

  “Got it. That’s fantastic.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I said. Nancy Duckworth will be bringing him by the hospital. He’s fast asleep, so maybe you can take him to your place.”

  “How about Mateo?”

  “I still have him here at the house. I’m here for a couple of hours tying things up. Quite a night.”

  Amy saw the look on Harris’ face and hurried to his side.

  Harris hung up and hugged Amy. “They found Tyler and Mateo.”

  “Oh, thank God.”

  “Nancy is on her way over here with Tyler who’s asleep in her car. She wants us to take him home. He doesn’t know anything about his mom or dad.”

  “Okay, we’ll just put him to bed and let him sleep.” She hugged his arm. “I’m so happy for you.”

  “Yeah. This is great. Let’s go meet her.”

  Nancy pulled into the circular drive in front of the hospital and Harris and Amy came out to meet her.

  “Burt, this is your grandson. He’s a heavy sleeper. I’m so happy for you.”

  Harris opened the door and carefully lifted Tyler out of the car.

  “My Lord, he’s so much like his mother,” he said softly, his voice filled with emotion.

  Amy pulled the car up. “You sit with him and I’ll drive.”


  Once at home, Harris tucked Tyler into bed and left the light on.

  “He’ll be fine. I’ll call you when he wakes up. You will want to be there for Javier.”

  “Thanks, Love.” Amy kissed him and returned to the bedroom to watch Tyler sleep.

  * * *

  Sharkey walked into the bedroom where Jenny was sitting with Consuela. Jenny introduced Sharkey to her. Sharkey knelt and smiled at Consuela. She looked away from the baby for a moment.

  “He’s mine. I’m his mother. I can’t give him to anyone except Ricardo. He adopted him for me.”

  “Consuela, I need you to come with me. Ricardo is in the hospital.”

  “What? Is he all right?” Her face suddenly looked afraid.

  “I need you to be there,” Sharkey said.

  “All right. I’ll get Mateo and we will come with you.”

  “Let Jenny here hold Mateo. She will take good care of him. They won’t let babies in where we have to go.”

  Jenny smiled. “It’s all right. You know I won’t hurt you or the baby.”

  Consuela nodded. “Okay, I must see Ricardo. He was supposed to be here.”

  “Let’s go.”

  “All right. Here, Jenny. He needs to be changed. I have a bag in the living room with diapers.”

  “I’ll take care of that.” Jenny took the baby, changed him, and wrapped him up.

  “I’ll drive. Jenny and the baby, you go with Officer Sue here, and we’ll meet at the hospital.”

  “All right.”

  Sharkey entered the hospital and the nurses took care of Consuela and Mateo.

  “Jenny, I want you to keep Consuela under surveillance until I can talk to Vasquez here.”

  “Roger that,” Jenny said and followed the nurse who was escorting Consuela down the hall.

  The nurse caught up to Sharkey. “You need to know that Ricardo Vasquez is dead. He had another heart attack on the way in. He evidently had a heart condition that was not evident. He’s gone.”

  “I was hoping to talk to him, so that’s too bad.” He smiled at Cynthia. “I appreciate you telling me that.”

  “No problem, Handsome.”

  “You’re the best,” Sharkey said, suddenly feeling the strain of the last few hours.

  * * *