George pocketed the card, and now that his hand wasn’t being pumped or his body hugged, he started making his way around his truck to see how bad the damage was. He called his company for a possible tow and to report the accident.
“Hey Christine. First thing first, Megan is not injured but she was attacked and she might be in shock. I need you to go to our hospital and meet the ambulance right now as she is on her way there. Stay with her until I get there. I have to stay here to talk to the police and fire department,” JJ tried to avoid scaring her too much but she had to be told.
Christine kept butting in and JJ thought she might be crying, “I will explain it all when I get there, just stay with her and assure her all will be ok. I have to go now, stay lose, ok?” JJ then hung up the phone and went looking for the fire chief.
As JJ approached the smoking debris, that littered a portion of the black topped street, he recognized the back of the tall fireman. He watched for a few moments as the, heavily gloved, fireman moved some of the vehicle’s steel framework around. This steel framework, some running gear and the vehicle rims were the only things left that were recognizable pieces of some type vehicle.
“Hey Chuck, will you quit playing in that mess? You get all dirty and your mom will be pissed at you.” JJ said smiling at the fireman as he turned around.
“Hey JJ, man, I haven’t seen you in a couple of months. What happened, you banned from Alley Katz or did your old man ground you?” Fire Chief Charles Graham asked with a big smile on his face as he shook JJ’s hand.
“Actually none of the above, not been banned and my dad is the one mom grounded, not me. I’ve just been very busy. You heard about Megan’s injuries, right?”
“Yeah, wow I heard, that was some ordeal, falling down a fire escape like that. I’ve hit my knee on some similar steel steps before and I can understand the pain and injuries falling down one might cause. How’s she doing?”
“Not really sure. Being pushed down that fire escape and now being almost run over on purpose by a vehicle has got to take a toll on a person mental stability.” JJ paused then continued. “I was pretty sure she was well on her way to a full recovery, that was until today. Now this attack happened and it may have set her back, mentally I mean, but luckily she wasn’t physically injured, not today,” JJ assured the chief.
“Well, I hope this doesn’t slow her down too much. She is a very strong person so, maybe she will respond better than you fear. I will try to get by the hospital and see her when I finish here.”
“She would be happy to see you and I sure hope for the best too. So what have you found so far?”
“Hottest vehicle fire I think I have ever seen. Not much left to investigate, as you probably noticed, some framework, running gear and the vehicle’s rims is all that is left. The reason I say hot is right here. Look how these free weights, that must have been stored in the back, have melted and are now welded to the truck’s framework, now that is hot.”
“I have to agree, that is hot. I suppose there is nothing left that would identify the vehicle, you know, license plate or Vin number ID tag?” JJ asked as he wondered around looking in from the edges of the smoking debris.
“Doubtful, I think the cops will have a really tough time finding anything identifiable if you ask me.”
JJ was in a hurry to get to the hospital so he said goodbye to Chief Graham. He promised to see him soon at Alley Katz and he promised he would be buying the beer next time. He also promised to invite him to the next close of case party. The chief promised to take a really good look and sift through everything there to insure that nothing was overlooked in his investigation.
Chapter Twenty Two
Not on my Watch
There was a young cop at the door to her hospital room and as JJ approached the officer stepped in front of him preventing his entrance. JJ and he had a moment of stare down before the officer spoke, “I’m sorry but no one is allowed in,” but he didn’t look sorry, he looked like he was just trying to be bulletproof.
“These your rules or are you working under Megan’s or the doctor’s orders?” JJ asked as he faked to the left then went by the officer on the right when the officer took the bait and followed JJ’s move to the left.
The young officer came blustering in behind JJ apologizing all over himself, “He tricked me, that wasn’t fair. I’m just trying to do my job here, this is no place for trickery.”
“It’s ok, it’s ok. He does that kind of thing to everyone. Officer Arnold Drum meet James Jacques, JJ, my partner in crime, so to speak,” Megan said as she waved her arm across at JJ.
“No harm, no foul, ok?” JJ said as he extended his hand.
“Please don’t do that again, it makes me look young and stupid,” Arnold whispered to JJ as they shook hands then to everyone in the room, “I’m going back to my post, will there be anyone else coming by to humiliate me?” Officer Drum asked as he backed toward the door to leave.
“This should be it, and hey, thanks for not putting JJ in cuffs and escorting him to the big house,” Megan said as she gave the officer one of her best smiles.
“Yeah, my pleasure,” Officer Drum sarcastically said but, he did smile back at Megan.
“Mimi Stroud? What are you doing here? No wait, how did you know Megan would be here?” JJ asked as he realized there were two girls standing beside Megan’s bed where he only expected one.
“You know me too? How is this possible?” Mimi asked the room.
“I well, I don’t know you personally but, I know your face. We, all three of us, got familiar with your ah, your good looks. We actually studied all the residents while we were investigating the cause of Megan’s injury and Mr. Logan’s death. When you moved out shortly after Megan’s near demise, you, John and Clyde became central in our investigation.”
“Wow that is scary, I had no idea I was of interest until Megan and Christine told me so a couple days ago.”
“Ok, I’ll ask again. What are you doing here and how did you know Megan was here?”
“I was there,” Mimi shyly whispered.
“Excuse me, you were where?
“Where? I was there, I saw her almost get hit by that speeding vehicle, that, that white van with no driver,” Mimi said with a little more volume and self confidence as she pointed in Megan’s direction.
JJ’s face went a little on the red side as he spoke, “you were there, you best not be a part of this plot against my friend or, so help me, there won’t be enough of you left to cremate.”
Tears welled in Mimi’s eyes as she spoke, “I had no part in any of this. I made a mistake in choosing where to live but I’m not the bad guy here. I’m here trying to help.”
“Ok, if that’s true, what were you doing there when the van tried to run Megan down?”
“I live there right now.”
“You live in one of those apartments?
“No, no, I live on the street right across from there, in the alley.”
“In the alley, of course you do. I followed you there after you met Megan and Christine at that restaurant. I’m sorry, I forgot and of course you would be there, it’s where you live and you were home.” JJ, somewhat calming down, thought for a moment then asked, “do you think this could be the dirty work of those friends of yours, Clyde and John?”
“I have no way of really knowing. I spent very little time with them, it was just a cheap place to sleep.” Mimi dug in her bag she carried then pulled out a CD case and handed it to JJ. “I took this before I left that apartment. It was theirs and they watched this CD over and over. At first they would be laughing their butts off and cheering, look at it go. I could hear people screaming then when the screaming stopped and things were silent for a while I heard them say, “Why were they even on board? It could have been remote operated and they would have been safe.” Mimi looked JJ in the eyes as she finished, “Them saying that back then did not make any sense, well, not until I saw that van go down that street today with no on
e on board.”
“Oh crap, excuse me please. Megan, I’m sorry. I should have asked how you were doing before I went on that tirade. How are you and can you forgive me?” JJ said as he went to Megan’s bedside.
“I’m fine, really, just fine. Christine here has been the life raft keeping me afloat. Mimi comes in here and, after totally surprising me, she simply adds to the buoyancy that has lifted my spirits.”
“Stop it, you sound like a rubber raft out on the ocean.”
“Well, for your information Mr. Smarty Pants, life is like an ocean and you best swim, get on a raft or get out of the water for, if you don’t, you might just get to have a parlay with Davy Jones in his locker,” Megan said as she gave Christine a high five.
“I’d like some of the five too,” Mimi put in and slapped five with both the other girls.
“Oh, and about my well being, the doctor said one more time in here and I can start earning frequent flyer miles.”
“Yeah right, well I’m going to try to keep you from earning those miles if I can,” JJ smilingly added as he gave Megan a hug.
“Ok Mimi, what is on this CD?” JJ said as he held it up.
“Oh no, not going to say. You have to watch it and draw your conclusions. I’m not going to bias you with my opinions on what any of this means.” Mimi said while shaking her head and shaking her index finger at JJ.
“It’s ok JJ, we can watch it at the office. The doctor said that he was completing the paper work to discharge me.” Megan put in.
“You sure? It could wait you know?”
“No, no, I’m getting back on that horse, it’s the only way I can get through this. I’m not going to be sidelined by some murderous SOBs, not on my watch.”
“Excuse me,” Officer Drum said as he poked his head in the door, “there is a fire chief here that would like to come in.”
“Thanks, you can let him in,” Megan quickly said.
“Hello Megan.” Chief Graham said as he entered now dressed in his chief’s blues and chief’s hat. “How is my favorite PI doing, oh, ah JJ, no disrespect meant.”
“And non taken, my second best favorite fire chief friend.”
“Stop it you two. I’m ok, getting ready to get out of here. How are you doing and what did you find at the scene?” Megan asked as she gave Chief Graham a hug. “Oh, wait. I believe you already met my Guardian Angel out at the door, Officer Drum, but let me introduce Christine Panic and Mimi Stroud, this tall good looking fireman is Fire Chief Charles Graham from the 16th Division.”
“So formal an intro, please it’s Chuck, good to meet you,” Chief Graham said as he shook hands with both the girls.
“Christine is my personnel assistant and Mimi is an innocent bystander but is somewhat connected to the attacks on me so feel free to tell all,” Megan explained.
“Well, as I told JJ earlier, and it’s still true, there isn’t much to tell. The fire destroyed everything due to the intensity of the blaze. All glass and anything made out of lite metal was simply melted. The police were collecting the debris as I left but they too held out little hope of anything identifiable.”
All the goodbyes and well wishes were said and everyone had cleared out except Megan and JJ. The doctor, true to his word, came back shortly and cleared Megan for release.
Chapter Twenty Three
Attack Video
With as much bravado as she could muster Megan made it back to the office and, although she was still a little pale, she took her seat in the conference room. Christine headed to the kitchen to fix some coffee. She made the coffee a little stronger by selecting the smaller cup from the Keurig single cup coffee machine. Less water stronger coffee.
Megan, now sipping her coffee, watched as JJ prepared the CD player with the CD that Mimi had given him. She tried her best to stop the thoughts she was having of what could possibly be on that CD.
The first thing they saw was people on the street of some unknown city. They were screaming and running as if chased by some type Japanese Godzilla monster. They could tell it wasn’t some Hollywood production, it was probably a cell phone video. The view swung to the left and they got the first look at the monster that was causing the panic.
A large brown van was racing down the street swinging from left to right, going randomly onto both sidewalks and running over pedestrians who were unable to avoid the speeding goliath. This went on for a hundred yards or more before the large van suddenly ran into a lamp post that was sturdier than the normal. The rear of the vehicle lifted on impact then settled back to the street as momentum stopped. The sound of the engine had, like the people’s screaming, died with the impact.
Both doors popped open and the driver and passenger, who were on board, scrambled out and started running. The crowd slowly realized the van had stopped and the threat was evidently over and, unfortunately for those two operators, most had seen them exit the vehicle. These surviving pedestrian had now suddenly gone from being someone’s prey to becoming an enraged mob with murder and revenge on their minds. They swarmed the two culprits who hadn’t prepared for this scenario. Both were quickly pummeled to the ground.
The video did not show the individuals now. The only thing now was two separate pods of people gathered around something on the ground. Their backs and the back of their heads was all you could see. The scene was like worker bees as they circled around the edge while building one of the cones in a bee hive. The feet of all those gathered in those pods were moving swiftly, in a kicking motion, toward the center of each pod.
The shuffling of feet and slow rotation of the pods lasted for only a few minutes before they seemed to lose some of their steam and some individuals started moving back from the pods. Soon all had moved away from the pods and, in doing so, they exposed what was left of the two operators.
The video camera operator zoomed in on the residue left by the pods and there wasn’t anything there that had any resemblance to something with a human shape.
Christine was softly sobbing as she quietly left the conference room and headed for the laboratory.
Megan sat staring at the now blank screen. Her eyes were no longer focused on anything as she slowly readdressed the last two days. The remote controlled vehicle that attacked her, the CD showing the carnage on that city street and Mimi’s talking about the comments from those two roommates of hers. These all have some connection to her accident and Mr. Logan’s death now her and JJ’s job was to connect the dots.
JJ was busy connecting his cell phone with the big screen. He finished and turned to Megan, “you want to see what happened back when you were attacked? I’ve got the video of it all on my cell phone which I have connected to the big screen. I won’t run it until you are comfortable viewing it.”
Christine had just returned and was standing in the doorway when JJ said it. “Wait a minute, wait a minute. You recorded that attack on Megan? I don’t believe this. Why would you do that?”
“It was all I could do. When this happened I was on the third floor watching Megan’s approach. There was no way I could get down there to help her, I could only hope they were just trying to scare her. I made the recording because it was all I could think of to do, it wasn’t perverse or anything it would just be evidence.”
“You’re right, you’re right. I’m a little shook up and not thinking right. Sorry JJ, I know you wouldn’t do something like that unless it was all you could do,” Christine said as she returned to her chair and sat heavily down. Their individual thoughts ran a gambit of scenarios as the office was quiet for a moment.
Even with the quiet they hadn’t heard him come in the lobby but when he knocked on the conference room door, that was standing ajar, all three heads swiveled toward him as if connected together on some robotic assembly line.
Megan slowly rose from her chair, “Detective Mercer, can I, er, can we help you?” Megan included JJ and Christine with the sweep of her hand.
“Do you have a few minutes so we can talk?”
> “Ok, sure, how about my office? Would you care for some coffee?” Megan, for some reason, felt her face reddening. She felt that her current reaction to his just showing up here was somehow juvenile. “This way, in through there,” she gestured toward her open office door, “have a seat, did you say yes to coffee?”
“No, I didn’t say, but yes, coffee would be great.” Harold Mercer said as he took the offered chair.
“Christine, bring a cup of coffee for Detective Mercer and warm mine up too,” Megan said into the intercom after Christine had responded to the com’s ping.
“Is it always this chilly in here or is it just me?”
“No, it is normally warm and comfortable in here, why do you ask?”
“Ok, I think, oh thanks, I don’t know your name.” Mercer said as Christine handed him the cup of coffee.
“It’s Christine Panic, did you need my social and location during a certain time or something?”
“I don’t, I don’t think so, do I detect some hostility?” Mercer said as Christine turned and left the room.
“She was appraised of our first meetings and she didn’t appreciate the way you responded to our investigation at that time. I’m afraid we all hold a little hostility from then and maybe that makes this room a little chilly for you.”
“Well you should, hold hostility I mean. I am by nature a conceded jerk who knows everything and needs no ones help on anything. I jump to conclusions and sometimes fail to fully investigate as I should but, then again, I resent anyone telling me otherwise.” Mercer held his cup up and said, “I hope she didn’t spit in this.”
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