by Brad Cooper
“I can’t believe this,” Kara said. “What do you think happened?”
Ryan’s face was expressionless. His focus was only on the road ahead and reaching the hospital as soon as possible. “I don’t know, babe. He’s one of the best drivers I know and he knows every road around here like the back of his hand, just like I do. He doesn’t make mistakes like that, at least not one so bad as to flip the truck over a hillside.” Discouraged, he paused and said, “There’s got to be something else.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. He was, I don’t know, trying to tell me something else on the phone but he’s out of it. That’s why I think he’s got a concussion or something. His speech was pretty slurred and he kept talking about another truck.” He looked at Kara and said, “Nobody uses that road late at night. Well, he does and I have before but no one else really. There’s nothing up there. It’s a mess. I don’t get it.”
Kara didn’t reply. She leaned back in the passenger seat, laying her head back against the headrest. Ryan kept his speed constant, blowing through every intersection without hesitation.
Every hospital has its own unique yet still generic odor. The aroma that was a strange blend of cleaning chemicals, medical supplies, and sick human beings struck the nerves in the olfactory section of Ryan’s brain, taking him back to the early days of his life. Many of those days were spent in hospitals, either visiting relatives unfortunate enough to be the guests of honor or there as a guest himself.
The elevator ride to the third floor seemed to take a lifetime. Ryan nervously tapped his foot on the way up, and found himself pressing the button marked “3” repeatedly, as if that would somehow force the elevator to rise even faster. The door slid open and Ryan rushed down the hallway with Kara closely in tow, looking for any sign of Adam. They found him sitting in the waiting area at the end of the hall. His tattered jeans were gone and he wore a hospital gown that was given to him as a matter of courtesy.
Ryan dropped a shirt and a pair of jean shorts on the chair beside him. “I just grabbed the first thing I saw. What happened?”
“I can’t believe they did this,” Adam mumbled. “Those mother…”
“Hey,” Ryan said cutting him off. “Who are you talking about? Who’s ‘they’?”
“The truck,” Adam muttered. “The truck hit the back and we just…” His voice trailed off as he stared into space.
The answer would have to wait. “Okay, you need to get changed and then we’ll talk.”
Adam disappeared into the bathroom and emerged several minutes later in the clothes he’d asked Ryan to bring. A small section of hair was missing near the top of his head, over his left ear, from the insertion of stitches to seal a cut he was unaware of until the emergency room doctor brought it to his attention. He sat down beside Ryan and let out a deep breath.
“Tell me flat out. No BS, no games. Should you be in a room right now?” Ryan asked.
Adam’s voice was strained. “No, I’m fine. I was a little out of it at first but I’m fine now. My back’s a little sore and my neck feels like someone hit me with a folding chair. How’s Kara feeling?”
“She’s here. She went to go check on Lisa and see how she’s doing.” He moved in closer and said, “Tell me what happened. I know something went wrong because I know what kind of driver you are, especially out at Ruby.”
“If this had happened a week ago, I wouldn’t have believed it. A pickup, an old one, just showed up behind us. It was in a driveway or stashed somewhere in a wide spot, I don’t know. It was a Chevy, I think. It comes flying up behind us, matches everything I do. I speed up, he does, too. I slow down, he does, too. We get to that curve about halfway down and he spins us around and takes us right over the side. I thought we were dead, man. Seriously, I did. We stop rolling, I feel beside me and she’s not there. I finally found her and called the ambulance with her cell phone and…”
“Alright,” Ryan said with a sigh. He paused and said, “You’re thinking exactly the same thing I am. I know you are.”
“Who else would it be? I mean I didn’t see who was driving. I just saw a glimpse of his shirt, a flannel shirt, but I never saw a face. I know who it was, and you know who it was, but does it really matter? What are we supposed to do with it? These assholes almost killed me and may have killed Lisa, and there’s not a thing we can do about it!” Adam started to get up in frustration but Ryan held his arm.
“Stop. You don’t need to go anywhere so just sit down.” Adam sat with his head pointed down. Ryan glanced down the hall and saw Kara, who motioned for him. “Hang here for a minute,” he said to Adam and patted his leg. “I’m, uh, going to run down to the vending machine and grab something. You want anything?”
“No, not right now,” Adam said without looking up.
Ryan walked down the hall and led Kara to a corner out of Adam’s sight. “Well?” he asked.
“She’s still unconscious and they don’t know much else. Her right arm is broken and maybe a rib or two but that’s not what they’re worried about. They think there might be some swelling on her brain or something. I couldn’t get much out of them because of the privacy laws and all that.”
“Oh man,” was all Ryan could muster. “They called her parents or anything yet?”
“They’re trying but can’t reach them. It’s weird. They said they were told that her parents were unavailable because they were out of the country. She doesn’t strike me as the rich girl, you know?”
“Neither do you, Miss Jamaica,” Ryan said. “Maybe it’s a business thing. If you want to head back to the house tonight… wait… never mind.”
“I know,” said Kara. “Not by myself. I’m starting to understand all the precautions now. I don’t think I want to be alone. How’s he holding up?”
“It’s killing him. He’s scared now but he won’t stay that way for long. By this time tomorrow his head will be clear and he’ll be hell-bent on revenge. It’s safe to say I better hang around him twenty-four-seven until then. I’m going back down there with him. Come on.”
The clock read 2:23 AM when the phone rang and he knew it because he glared at the clock before answering the call. Darrell Sparks was still half-asleep when he said, “This better be good.”
“It’s Carl,” said the voice on the other end of the line. “It’s taken care of. Just like you said.”
Sparks propped himself up on one elbow and said, “What are you talking about? What happened?”
“The girl and the blonde guy, the Walton kid or whatever, were up at Ruby Mountain. I took care of them on their way back down. I don’t know if they’re okay or not but they ain’t going to be talking to nobody any time soon.”
“Took care of them? What did you… Carl, at least tell me you were in your truck and not the cruiser.”
“Of course. Nobody seen what happened so don’t panic.”
“That makes me feel a lot better,” Sparks said in a mix of sarcasm and anger.
“Look, Darrell, I…”
“Don’t start. I hired you as an act of courtesy to your daddy and an act of charity for you. Now one impetuous decision might have just cooked our goose.”
“I…”
“We’ll handle this in the morning.” Sparks hung up and broke the line before Lilly could offer a response.
One thought raced through his mind as he lay there before giving up and walking to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast.
Either their problem had been solved or the walls of Jericho were preparing to tumble.
CHAPTER
26
“I’ll be right back,” Robbins said.
After the youngest officer in the department was gone, Sparks took a moment to glare at Carl Lilly. Words could not describe his anger for the moment. Lilly moved around in his chair, making every effort to avoid eye contact with his superior.
“You honest to God think that was what I meant, don’t you?” Sparks asked. “Do you really think I meant to push the
m over a hill? We don’t need any more graves being dug out there.”
“Chief, you said…”
“I know what I said!” Sparks exclaimed and slammed his hands the side of his metal file cabinet. “I’m well aware of what I said. I just didn’t think you were enough of a schmuck to do… what you did! One person, one of our own, is already dead and you think the answer is to put two more on a slab right beside him?”
“You said to take care of her and that’s what I did.”
Sparks inhaled deeply, rubbed his temples, and said, “Yeah, Carl, that’s what you did. You know what else you did? You probably caused more problems than we can handle, too. These people are already scared and desperate and now God knows what they’ll do. It’s bad enough that we got the slants on our ass and now you pull this?” He threw the pen that he was holding across the room. It bounced off of the wall and rolled back to his feet in multiple pieces. With his arms outstretched he said, “Anything? Hello?”
“I’m sorry, Darrell. I just…”
“Save it,” Sparks said. He pointed to the door and shouted, “Get out to your spot, pull over a speeder, get a dozen donuts, I don’t really care. Whatever you do, just get out of here. Watching you sit there and squirm just reminds me of how deep in it we are.”
“You don’t have to act this way, Chief. I was just doing what I thought you wanted and I said I…”
“I said get outta here!” Sparks stood and shouted before throwing his coffee mug full of pens, pencils, and paper clips, shattering it into pieces upon contact with the interior wall.
Ryan couldn’t remember the last time he’d sat in his house alone for more than three consecutive hours. It seemed like someone was always there; Adam, Kara, his father, someone. His feeling was a combination of loneliness and boredom like he hadn’t experienced in months, if not years. Kara was at the hospital with Adam and was supposed to call soon so he could drive them back to town. The television was no help in the middle of the day. He was not a fan of daytime television. A video game wasn’t appealing at the time, nor was a book to read or a treadmill on which he could run a mile or two. He needed interaction, yet he needed to be alone. He needed to think.
His attire was designed for comfort. A pair of navy blue athletic shorts and a natural colored t-shirt with the logo from Robicheaux’s boat tour and bait shop was all that composed the outfit. It was his favorite shirt, the only souvenir from a trip to Louisiana that seemed like it took place a lifetime ago. He needed the positive feeling of a favorite something. Not even socks were necessary for the moment.
The computer was his only hope to break the curse of monotony. The modem activated and dialed the number for the closest server of his internet service provider. After the connection was made, he opened his instant messaging program in hopes that a familiar screen name was online. Before reaching the bottom of his contact list, a message box popped up.
JPark407: hey hun
Thank God, Clark thought.
Her presence, albeit online and not in person, cured his boredom for the better part of an hour. Their conversation drifted from topic to topic. Everything from how each of their days had been covered, from plans for the coming week and even Ryan’s continuing situation with Kara. Despite the considerable geographical distance, Julie was his sounding board and he was hers. It was one of the wonders of modern communication technology.
He disconnected after fifty minutes when Julie had to leave for an unknown reason. The reason didn’t matter to Clark. His boredom was back and it was only Monday. The phone rang and Ryan answered to hear Kara asking for a ride home from the hospital. At least the car ride would give him a sense of accomplishment for the day.
Amick sat the oversized headphones on the desk and scribbled down a few lines on a nearby notepad. The slow day showed no signs of speeding up. In other words, nothing was happening. Lilly was at the edge of the four-lane with a radar gun in one hand and the other reaching into a box of a dozen glazed doughnuts. He didn’t care that he was perpetuating the stereotype. He was hungry. Robbins was taking a lunch break and Sparks was out doing whatever it was that he did during his lost time.
Sparks walked into the building and approached Amick’s desk. “Anything important?” he asked.
“Not a thing. The girl’s still in the hospital so her boyfriend and the other girl, the Morgan girl, are over there right now from what I could tell. Clark’s the only one home. The line only broke twice. Sounded like a fax machine for almost an hour, probably on the ‘net or something, and then a call a minute ago from the Morgan girl wanting a ride home from the hospital. I swear they don’t do much talking on that phone.”
“You say he was on the internet for an hour?’
“About that. Why?”
Sparks thought for a moment and said, “I don’t like that. I’ll be back.” He shook his finger as he left the room and repeated, “I don’t like that.”
Adam’s large frame made comfort unattainable in the back seat of Ryan’s two-door sports car but when Kara was along for the ride he knew his seat was in the rear. It was the courteous thing to do and he knew his best friend would rather have Kara beside him in the first place. For this trip, he preferred riding in the back. Ryan could talk to Kara and vice versa, leaving him out of the conversation for the most part. He didn’t feel much like talking.
Ryan leaned his head back, while keeping his eyes on the road ahead, and asked, “You want anything while we’re out?”
“No,” he replied in a raspy whisper.
The rest of the discussion was confined to Ryan and Kara.
Upon arriving at the house, Adam’s silence persisted. He walked through the front door and went directly to the couch and flopped down flat on his back, his eyes pointed at the plain white ceiling. His thoughts were centered on a single event involving a single person other than himself. His mind’s eye took him back to a single point of view, unfocused and tumbling, foliage and dirt surrounding him in a blur. He could not recall the smell or the sounds of the moment, only the sights. He couldn’t remember his head making contact with the roof. He couldn’t remember the sound of the window breaking. His clearest memory involved reaching for Lisa’s hand beside him and never finding it, then looking for and not seeing her. It was that memory that replayed more than any other in his mind.
“Want something to eat?” Ryan asked.
“No,” Adam replied in another hoarse whisper. Single word answers appeared to be the theme of the day.
“You haven’t had a thing to eat since yesterday. I can’t imagine what’s going on in your head right now but you’ve got to eat sometime. I’ll fix it. I’ll go get it. I’ll even pay for it if I have to. Just eat something, alright? For my peace of mind.”
“I don’t feel like it. Okay?” he said harshly. He caught himself and his tone and added, “I appreciate it. I really do but I just don’t feel like it right now. I’ll get something later.”
Ryan started to leave but turned back in Adam’s direction. “I know how you think and I know what you’re thinking right now. You need to stop.”
“So you’re… what? Psychic? A mind reader? What?”
“You’re sitting there thinking about what you could have done to stop it or something you could have done differently. You’re thinking it was your fault and it’s not! Don’t let yourself get into that frame of mind, Adam. It doesn’t do a bit of good and it makes you feel guilty when you shouldn’t.”
Adam cracked a small smile for the first time in hours and asked, “How could you possibly know that?”
Ryan sat on the armrest of the couch near Adam’s feet. “How many years has it been, brother? You know me better than anyone and vice versa. I can’t believe what’s happened either but we’ll figure it out. You just worry about being there for her whenever she gets released. She will get released and she will get better. You have to tell yourself that or you won’t be doing her any good. Just hang in there.”
Adam sat up and sa
id, “I hear you. Thanks.”
“We both know who did this.”
“Yeah, we do, and we both know we’re basically powerless right now.”
“I’ve been thinking about it all day and most of the last few days. Everything that happens centers around that chopper that shows up. The nearest airport is an hour away and we’ve got choppers coming in here? There’s a lot more going on than we know about. Something so important that they’ll fight and even kill one of their own to… What? Keep him quiet? Everything is about that chopper.”
“Probably so but how are we going to find out what it is? Walking up and asking them is probably not an option.”
Ryan’s face produced a smile of enlightenment. “No, it’s not, but I think we may have one; a better one. When you want to eat, we’ll go get the buffet at Tochigi’s. I think I’ve got an idea.”
“I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I guess I could eat something now if you need to go.”
“Me either but it’s worth a shot. We may have a wildcard in all this. I’ll get Kara in a minute. I need to call my dad first and see how my grandma’s doing.”
Ryan grabbed the cordless phone from the table and walked toward the kitchen as he dialed the number for his father’s office.
With the usual greetings and small talk out of the way, Ryan asked, “How’s grandma feeling?”
“A lot better. They were worried that it might turn into pneumonia but it didn’t. She really dodged a bullet,” his father said. Ryan cringed at his father’s innocent metaphor. “How’s everything in the old hometown?”
His father did not need to know the truth. Getting him involved would only mean another complication and the possibility of putting him in danger as well. “Fine, I guess. We’re a little bored right now but that’ll change in a few weeks with school and football coming up. The latter’s more appealing. Kara’s year off is over and she’ll be back in classes just like I am. I’ve been teasing her about it.”