Big Sick Heart: A Detectives Seagate and Miner Mystery

by Mike Markel

  “Why did you change your name?”

  “I was in debt, about a hundred and fifty thousand, from the medical bills. My insurance had maxed out years before. I put all the bills in my name, so Patty’s credit wouldn’t be ruined.”

  “What happened that night, in Rawlings?”

  “After we got back from that bar with you and Detective Miner, I got the call from Robert Kesler on my cell. He said Patty couldn’t talk. The doctor had sedated her. Amber had had a heart attack. She was gone. She had just turned fifteen.”

  “What did you do then?”

  “I’m not sure. I left my room. There was a maintenance guy working on the elevator. His tool kit was in the hall. I picked up a screwdriver. It was big, a really long handle. I knocked on Arlen’s door. He opened it. After that, it’s a blank. I think I killed him. I woke up in my room, covered in blood. I showered and lay on my bed. I can’t account for the time.”

  “It wasn’t about Connie.”

  He was looking out at the ocean. “No, it wasn’t about Connie. I loved her, and in a way I think she loved me. I’m not sure she had ever been in love in her life. She didn’t really know how to love anyone. She had never ever seen it in her life. There was no possibility for us, of course. I tried to talk with her about getting away from Arlen. She told me it was not that big a deal for her. Eventually, she asked me not to talk about it. So I didn’t.” He turned to me. “No, it wasn’t about Connie.

  “I don’t remember ever losing my temper with Arlen. What he did to the girls was cruel and selfish, and I hated that about him. But I don’t know. Maybe I talked myself into being very mature about it. Connie seemed content, at least as content as someone in her situation could be. And I tried to be an adult about the stem cells, too. It wasn’t his fault Amber was so sick. I never mentioned her to him. And he never asked about my family, about kids, about anything.

  “He looked at stem cells like it was some sort of exercise in logic. He thought his point of view was valid, and I couldn’t really say he was wrong. Until I looked at Amber. Then I knew it was very wrong. But I went out on that stage, night after night, and we did the debates. Then we had a drink or two. We made a good team. Maybe I was a coward, unable to confront him. I told myself it was a way to practice keeping my composure when I visited Amber. I think I was a coward.”

  We stood there, the call of an occasional gull breaking through the distant rumble of the surf below us, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

  “Do you have any children, Karen? Do you mind if I call you Karen?”

  I shook my head. “No, Warren, I don’t mind. You can call me Karen.” I looked at him. “Yes,” I said. “I do. I have … I have one son. His name is Tommy.”

  “How old is he?”

  “He’s fourteen, almost fifteen.”

  “You’re very lucky.”

  “I know it,” I said. And I was telling the truth. “Warren, this sounds to me like manslaughter at most, maybe even temporary insanity. You’ll do time, but it won’t be life.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know anything about the law. You’re probably right. But I’m not going back with you.”

  “I have to take you in.” I knew I had my pistol in my big leather shoulder bag. I eased back from him and slowly reached into the bag. He was looking out at the ocean.

  Sensing I was pulling away, he turned to me. “Don’t worry, Karen,” he said softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. But I have to go now. I’m just so tired.”

  “Listen to me, Warren. I know you’re going through a terrible thing here, but you can—”

  “Karen, please. I need to go now. It’s right that I go. Thank you for letting me see the ocean one last time. But I need to sleep now.” He boosted himself onto the wooden guard rail. I grabbed at his leg, but he shook me loose, knocking me onto my hands and knees. I lunged at the guard rail, pulling myself onto my feet as he soared out over the sandstone cliff, his body blocking the sun for a moment.

  He floated, his arms spread wide, graceful as a young cliff diver, until he landed, silently, on the sandstone wall. I saw the body convulse for an instant, just for an instant. His life had already left him as he rolled down the canyon toward the blue water, his arms and legs like the broken stick limbs of a discarded marionette, tumbling over and over until he came to rest where the cliff touched the beach.

  I reached into my bag, pulled out my cell, and called it in to Lieutenant Davenport at San Diego Police Department. Then I called Ryan and told him Endriss was a suicide. I asked him to tell Margaret Hagerty and Connie de Marco they could go home and tell Harold Breen he could release Arlen Hagerty’s remains.

  Chapter 11

  The staff in the Pediatric ICU knew who I was because I had kept calling.

  “Can you tell me how Annie is doing?”

  “Annie’s not here anymore,” the nurse said. I felt my knees buckle. I reached for the handrail on the wall.

  “No, no, Detective,” the nurse said, grabbing me by the arm. “I’m sorry. We transferred her out of ICU yesterday.”

  I tried to catch my breath. “Oh, thank God,” I said, starting to cry. “So she’s gonna be okay?”

  “No guarantees with this kind of trauma, but all the signs are good.”

  “Can I see her? Please. It would mean so much to me.”

  “It’s not up to me, Detective,” the nurse said. “Give me a minute. Let me see what I can do.” The nurse walked down the hall, out of ICU and into Pediatrics. I sat on a chair, trying to pull myself together. I saw the nurse head into a room some thirty yards away.

  I got up and walked down the hall to the room. I snuck a glance through the window. The nurse was talking with Annie’s mother. The nurse was gesturing toward the ICU section. The mother was wearing a grim expression, shaking her head no.

  I turned and started walking toward the elevator. I took a deep breath, a sense of relief flowing through me as I realized the little girl was getting better. As for the mother not letting me see the girl? I understood that. Why should the mother want to let me anywhere near her daughter? If I was in the same position, I wouldn’t, either. All in all, though, my best visit yet. And one of these days I would learn that Annie had gone home.

  The light on top of the elevator read 2, then 3. The indicator bell rang. “Detective!” a voice called. I turned and saw the nurse hurrying toward me, then waving her hand, telling me to come. As I got closer, I saw the smile on her face. “Room 432,” the nurse said.

  Aubrey Pritchard stood in the door. She stepped back, inviting me in. Annie looked good. Her color was back. She still had a bandage on her head, but the drainage tube from her skull was gone. Her hair, the color of wheat, was starting to grow back. She was sitting up in the bed, a crayon in her hand, working on a coloring book.

  “How are you feeling, sweetheart?” I said.

  “I’m okay,” the girl said. “Who are you?”

  I took a deep breath. “My name is Karen,” I said. “I was the person who got in the car accident with you.”

  Annie said, “Did you get hurt?”

  “No, honey, I didn’t get hurt,” I said. “I’m so glad to see you’re doing better.” I paused. “Annie, I want to explain to you how the accident happened. Can I talk to you about that for a second?”

  “Okay,” Annie said, “if you want.” She kept coloring.

  “Yes, I think I should,” I said. “You and your mom were driving down Route 113. I was coming down Chalmers, which intersects with 113. There was a stop sign … but—”

  The mother interrupted. “What happened was, Karen wasn’t paying attention when she was driving.” I turned toward Aubrey. “She didn’t mean for it to happen. It was an accident.”

  I turned back toward Annie. “I am so sorry it happened,” I said, touching Annie’s hand, right next to the IV tent taped to the slender wrist.

  “Can you come visit me again?” Annie said.

  I turned to the mother, who nodded slightly
. “Of course, Annie. I’d like that very much,” I said, smiling.

  * * *

  The chief said, “What the hell happened?”

  “He jumped.”

  “I know he jumped. How was he able to jump? Wasn’t he cuffed? Didn’t you restrain him?”

  “No, I didn’t cuff him or restrain him. We were just talking.”

  “What was it, like a date? What the hell were you thinking?”

  I shrugged. I wasn’t sure I could explain it to myself. I was certain I couldn’t explain it to the chief.

  “I’m trying to add up how many procedures you’ve violated.”

  “It’s three or four, Chief, depending on how you interpret them.”

  The chief smiled. “Thank you, Detective,” he said. “Pistol and shield,” he said, tapping the desk in front of me.

  I removed the pistol from my belt holster and the shield on the leather case hanging from the chain around my neck. Placing the items on his desk, I said, “I’ll be gone in a half hour.”

  “No, you won’t. You’ll stay and do the 120’s on the case. Finish them, then go.”

  I turned and left, catching a smirk from Helen Glenning, the chief’s assistant, as I swept past.

  I was at my desk. Ryan said, “Did he fire you?”

  “I’m not sure. Either that or I quit. He told me to do the 120’s, then go.”

  “That what you’re going to do?”

  “Yep.”

  I sat at my desk and pulled up the forms on my computer. I worked on them steadily. It took two hours.

  “Okay, Ryan,” I said. “I’ll be heading out.”

  “Can I ask you a question, Karen?”

  “Sure, Ryan. What?”

  “Why didn’t you restrain him, bring him in?”

  I gazed out the window. The trees were waving silently in the frigid December breeze. “I don’t really know. When he asked if he could see where he used to go with his daughter, that seemed the right thing to do at that time. So I did it. I could see it in his eyes. He wasn’t gonna take off, and he wasn’t gonna overpower me. He had just lost his daughter. He needed to talk to me. Maybe I needed to listen to him. I don’t know.”

  “You knew he was going to take a flyer?”

  “Maybe I did, on some level. I guess I wanted him to have a little control of things. It had been a long time. He chose the right thing for him. What would be the point of him going to jail for a decade or two? He was just … just too busted up inside to want to keep going.”

  “What are your plans, Karen?

  I smiled. “If I knew how to make plans, Ryan, I wouldn’t be an unemployed drunk.”

  I knew I would have to give Ryan’s question some real thought over the next … well, over the next however long it took. What Warren Endriss had said to me, right before he jumped, was true: I am lucky to have a son. I owe Tommy something more than just to disappear, no matter how busted up I am right now, and how sorry I feel for myself. Walking out on him would be easy enough, and the smart money says he’d be better off if I just disappeared. But what if, someday, he needed me? No matter where I was, no matter what I had become, I would know it, and I would know I was a coward.

  I saw Ryan’s eyes shining with tears. They were the same tears I saw on Tommy’s face when I told him I had to leave his father. I rushed over to Ryan’s desk and put my arms around him. “Oh, no, Ryan, it’s okay,” I said, kissing him on the top of his head. “It’s fine,” I said, stroking his back. “It’ll be fine.”

  I knelt down beside his chair, touching his cheek with my fingertips. “You’re a beautiful young man, Ryan, and a fine detective. The department is very lucky to have you here. I wish you a terrific life, Ryan, full of love and purpose. May God bless you.” I stood and kissed him on the forehead.

  “You, too, partner,” he said, his voice choking. “You, too.”

  I walked around to my desk and picked up the small framed photo of my son. There was nothing else to take. I went over to the coat rack. It was a cold and windy day, with some mean-looking clouds barreling in from the northwest. Winter was settling in, and it would stay for a long time. But there would be a Spring. I knew there would be. I got into my coat and walked toward the red Exit sign.

  ###

  About the Author

  Mike Markel is the author of the Detectives Seagate and Miner Mystery series:

  Big Sick Heart (Book 1)

  Deviations (Book 2)

  The Broken Saint (Book 3)

  Three-Ways (Book 4)

  Fractures (Book 5)

  The Reveal (Book 6)

  He lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife.

  Thank you for taking time to read Big Sick Heart: A Detectives Seagate and Miner Mystery. If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends or posting a short review. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend.

  Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikemarkel

  Friend me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Markel-mystery-writer/111910452241789

  MikeMarkel.com

  The Detectives Seagate and Miner Mystery Series

  To sample or buy any of these titles, visit Mike Markel’s page on Amazon.

  Visit MikeMarkel.com.

  BIG SICK HEART (Book 1)

  Bad decisions have finally caught up with police detective Karen Seagate. Her drinking has destroyed her marriage and hurt her job performance, and the chief is looking for any excuse to fire her. Still, she and her new partner, a young Mormon guy who seems to have arrived from another century or another planet, intend to track down whoever killed Arlen Hagerty, the corrupt leader of Soul Savers. Clawing his way to the top, Hagerty created plenty of enemies, including his wife, his mistress, his debate partner, the organization’s founder, and the politician he was blackmailing. When Seagate causes a car crash that sends a young girl to Intensive Care, the chief thinks he finally has his opportunity. But even the chief can’t believe what Seagate does when she finally catches the killer.

  DEVIATIONS (Book 2)

  Former police detective Karen Seagate is drinking herself to oblivion and having dangerous sex with losers from the bar when the new police chief tracks her down. The brutal rape and murder of a state senator by a lone-wolf extremist gives Seagate a chance to return to the department, but the new chief has set down some rules, and Seagate is not good with rules. At this point, she is just trying to stay alive. With nothing left to lose and nobody left to trust—not even her partner, Ryan—Seagate goes off the grid to find the killer. She doesn’t care that she will be fired again. She has much bigger problems, now that she has been captured inside the neo-Nazi compound.

  THE BROKEN SAINT (Book 3)

  Seagate and Miner investigate the murder of Maricel Salizar, a young Filipino exchange student at Central Montana State. The most obvious suspect is her boyfriend, who happens to have gang connections. And then there’s Amber, a fellow student who’s obviously incensed at Maricel for a sexual indiscretion involving Amber’s boyfriend. But the evidence keeps leading Seagate and Miner back to the professor, an LDS bishop who hosted her in his dysfunctional home. Seagate takes it in stride that the professor can’t seem to tell the truth about his relationship with the victim, but her devout partner, Ryan Miner, believes that a high-ranking fellow Mormon who violates a sacred trust deserves special punishment.

  THREE-WAYS (Book 4)

  When grad student Austin Sulenka is found strangled, nude on his bed, the first question for Seagate and Miner is whether it was an auto-asphyxiation episode gone bad. Evidence strewn around his small apartment suggests that he spent his last night with at least different women. Each of them and their other partners had motives to kill the philandering graduate student. As Seagate and her partner try to unravel the complicated couplings, she finds herself in a three-way relationship that threatens to destroy her own fragile sobriety.

  FRACTURES (Book 5)

  The fracking boom in eastern Montana has minted a handful of new m
illionaires and one billionaire: Lee Rossman, the president of Rossman Mining and the leading philanthropist in the small city of Rawlings. Rossman is the last person Detectives Seagate and Miner expected to discover dead in the alley next to a strip club. Later, when Lee’s son is found out at the rigs, with significant internal injuries, numerous broken bones, and a belly full of fracking liquid, the detectives know the two crimes are related but can’t figure out how. Seagate and Miner must try to solve a mystery awash in enormous fortunes, thwarted ambitions, and grudges both old and new.

  THE REVEAL (Book 6)

  Many citizens in the small college town of Rawlings, Montana, are unsurprised to learn that Virginia Rinaldi, the world-famous sociologist, was murdered. A few are secretly pleased. Her political enemies knew her as an ideologue who used insults, threats, and blackmail to promote her unpopular social views. When Detectives Seagate and Miner begin their investigation, they discover that a local prostitute had recently moved into the professor’s house, angering Rinaldi’s college-age son. And when the community learns that the prostitute made a lesbian porn video with one of Rinaldi’s students, tensions on campus erupt, leading to more bloodshed. Drawn into a horrifying world of sexual violence and exploitation, Seagate devises a plan to flush out the killer. The plan appears to be on track—until Seagate unwittingly jeopardizes the life of her partner, Ryan Miner.

  ###

  Prologue: Deviations

  Following is the Prologue of Deviations, Book 2 in the Detectives Seagate and Miner Mystery series.

  For many years, Leonard Woolsey had been a faithful and committed member of the Montana Patriot Front. When the Reverend Barry needed someone to teach a weapons or tactics class at a rally, he knew he could turn to Leonard Woolsey. And when the Reverend Barry needed someone to break some windows, tag some buildings, or rough up some brown-skinned people who perhaps did not realize they were frequenting the wrong clubs, he thought first of Leonard Woolsey. He knew that Leonard Woolsey would never disappoint him, never disrespect him, and never place his own ambitions before the goals of the Montana Patriot Front.