The Promise

by Patrick Hurley

  “Okay, Elie, if he did that how did he know you would suggest going to that shed in the woods?

  “Look, Gallagher, you’re the one who thinks you saw a dead guy. I’m just going on your premise. I’m trying to make sense out of chicken salad and you’re giving me a big, fat turkey wing to make it with!”

  “You think Oden is a big, fat turkey wing, huh?”

  “I have more impolite words for him. Turkey wing will do for now.”

  “I’m not quite ready to give up on the possibility that Oden is still alive, Elie, I just have to logic out how he did it so my mind is satisfied. I’m not there, yet.

  Our next move is to call the family and find out who is driving that Mercedes…”

  Elie countered, “I don’t think a big, fat turkey wing can drive, especially, a Mercedes.”

  Gallagher concluded, “You never know, Elie, turkey’s are pretty smart birds, except in November.”

  Chapter Forty-four-A phone call from England

  It had been almost a month since Allison Taylor had disappeared. There was one burning question that continued to haunt Detective Mike Gallagher, “Why?”

  Kidnapping was unlikely. There was no ransom note or demand for money. A voluntary runaway scenario was improbable, too. Allison was too responsible to do that according to her family and close friends.

  There was also no apparent motive for her to do so. In addition, her bank accounts, including her ATM card and phone credit cards had not been used once since that day.

  Murder?

  Gallagher shook his head, by whom and for what reason? Suicide was possible, but, why would a girl kill herself over a goofy lug nut like Justin Shaw?

  As he sat in his office wondering if he should repaint his mascot, Mick, in all black, his phone rang.

  He answered, ”Gallagher, here!”

  He immediately recognized the English accent, “I have a person to person collect call for a Detective Mike Gallagher from Dr. Wells Thumbley.

  Is this Detective Gallagher?”

  He responded affirmatively.

  “Will you accept the charges, sir?” Another yes.

  “Detective Gallagher? This is Dr. Thumbley, you told me to call you collect if I had any new information, correct, sir?”

  “Yes, Doctor. I really appreciate it. What can you tell me?”

  “Well, Professor Buckman did date an American girl that was about the age of your missing girl, I assume she is still missing?”

  “Yes, she is, Doctor Thumbley.”

  “This girl was very pretty. She came into the office with Jon one day and I had a chance to visit with her. She told me she was from Athens, and up until this morning, I was thinking Athens, Greece, because she had dark features.

  But, while I was motoring to work, I remembered she had a southern accent. And, I suddenly did the logical thing and realized she was from Athens, Georgia.

  She said she was on an honors trip to study Shakespeare as part of her school’s exchange with an all-girls school here in the London area.”

  “Do you remember what she looked like, Doctor?”

  “I remember she was witty and quick-minded. Her language was sometimes salty. She acted older than her age. A black-haired beauty and she knew it, too.

  She also had an uncommon name, Ravelle? Ranee?”

  Gallagher was processing the information quickly, “Was her name, Raven, by any chance, Dr. Thumbley?”

  “Raven, yes, as a matter of fact, I believe it was.

  Because I told her she would fit nicely here with our very own Edgar Allen Poe, who of course, wrote, ‘The Raven’ and she snapped back, ‘Nice try, Dockie, but, Poe is from Boston.

  Besides, he would die of food poisoning around this town because it is so bloody inedible!’ I had to laugh. She was so charming and bratty, memorable girl.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like Raven. Do you remember anything else about her or the relationship she had with Buckman, Doctor?”

  “She seemed overly protective of him, almost obsessive. I think she wanted to marry him, despite the age difference between them. She really looked out for him. That’s all I can recall, for now. I hope this helps.”

  Gallagher felt like shouting. “This definitely helps, Dr. Thumbley. Thank you for calling. Get back to me anytime. You made my day, sir.”

  “Good day, Detective.”

  As Gallagher hung up the phone he knew one thing for sure. It was time to have another talk with the feisty and always entertaining Miss Raven.

  This time, he had some solid evidence to present her with. Plus, he wanted to see a copy of her handwriting to see how she crossed her “t’s”.

  Blimey!

  Chapter Forty-five-heart Attack

  Elie surveyed her dorm residence. On her side of the room, there was a psychedelic bedspread with toss pillows, a few stuffed animals and a poster. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. She loved Paul McCartney as well as that particular album. She not only knew every song on the tracks, she knew every person’s face on the album cover poster.

  She wished she could have been alive in 1967.

  She loved the music of that era. There were pictures on her desk of Paul singing on stage, her dressed as an English rocker at a Halloween party in high school and a poster of Marianne Faithful, a former girlfriend of Mick Jagger and a 60’s icon herself.

  But, the other half of the room, was desolate.

  There was a bed, with no sheets or bedspread with just a pillow laying on it. There was nothing on the wall and the desk was bare.

  Verna was gone.

  The spirit on that side of the room was missing, as well.

  Elie sat in her chair wondering what she could do to make that side of the room come alive to complement the rest of the décor. Until she was assigned another roommate, she needed to do something to bring life to her living situation.

  It was too depressing, otherwise.

  Her cell phone rang. It was Gallagher.

  “Elie? I need you to come down to the station. There has been a development in the case. Can you meet me in a half hour?”

  “No problem, Mike. See you then.”

  She went into the bathroom and retouched her makeup, changed from her top and shorts to something a little more appropriate for a police officer and headed out.

  As she jumped into her car, she saw Raven talking to Samantha. She smiled over at them and yelled out a, “Hello!” Sam waved back. Raven just stared at her.

  Shaking her head, Elie drove to the station listening to her CD of, “Rubber Soul” and sang heartily all the way to downtown Athens. When Paul sang, “Michelle,” she replayed it several times and imagined what it would have been like to go on a date with him.

  Where would they go? She visualized a picnic along the Oconee River, just her, Paul and his guitar. She would bring the fried chicken and the wine and he would bring his incredibly cute face.

  She would tell him her real name was Michelle, her nickname was Elle or Elie, so he could sing the ballad to her personally. When he got to the French part of the song, he would lean over and kiss her.

  A girl can dream.

  Arriving at the station, Elie made her way back to Gallagher’s office. As she entered, he wasn’t there, so she sat down and waited for him.

  After twenty minutes or so, she finally asked one of the officers if he had seen the detective. The man replied, “Yeah, he’s at the hospital. Some guy had a heart attack. It sounded pretty serious, so Mike shot out of here like shit through a goose!”

  “Do you know who had the heart attack?”, Elie asked anxiously. “It wasn’t Chief Parker was it?”

  She knew her superior was overweight and under a lot of stress. His favorite food was a moon pie with RC Cola for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He was a cardiac bomb ready to go off.

  “Nah, it wasn’t the Chief. If it were, this place would be empty. It was some big shot from town. The furniture guy who’s daughter is missing.”

  Eli
e gasped, “Archer Taylor?”

  “Yeah, that’s right. He’s at Baptist Memorial, ICU.”

  The FBI agent was already out the door and racing to her car. Her mind was swirling.

  If Archer Taylor was dying, he might have some significant things to say to Mike Gallagher before he passed on. Even if he didn’t die, he might be scared enough to talk about anything he knew regarding the case.

  She pulled up to Baptist Memorial Hospital and ran to the emergency room area. Flashing her badge, she was quickly led to the waiting room near the Emergency Care Unit.

  She spotted Gallagher sitting there, tossing a small rubber ball against the wall. He was alone in the room.

  “How’d you rate a private waiting room, partner?” she laughed.

  “Police business, Larsen. I need to concentrate.” BOINK! went the ball against the wall. Gallagher caught it and threw it again. BOINK! “Isn’t this a renaissance moment!” BOINK!

  “Sure is. What’s the prognosis, Mike?”

  “Not sure.” BOINK! “The doctors don’t know if he is going to make it or not.” BOINK! “They did promise me that if it looked like he was going down, they would let me in to talk to him due to the circumstances of the past month.” BOINK!

  “Gallagher, will you do me a favor?”

  “Sure Elie, what?” BOINK!

  “Put down that damn ball. It’s driving me crazy!”

  “Oh, you mean this?” BOINK! “Okay, okay.” He pocketed the ball.

  “I hope he pulls through, after he tells me the solution to this case, of course. I think he knows something he isn’t telling me.”

  At that point, one of the resident internists entered the room, “Detective Gallagher?”

  The detective stood up swiftly. “Yes?”

  “If you are going to talk to Mr. Taylor, now would be a good time. There are no guarantees after that, Gallagher.”

  “What about his family? Will I be intruding?”

  “No, he has no family here. He asked for you by name. Please hurry.”

  Rushing quickly with the doctor into the private room, Gallagher signaled to Elie to wait in the foyer. “You need to lay low here. He must not see you. You are Bree Kelly, remember?”

  As he approached the bed, he saw Archer Taylor surrounded by tubes and an oxygen machine. His breathing was labored. He appeared to be asleep.

  “Mr. Taylor? It’s Gallagher. Just wanted to say hello and see if you had any last minute furniture deals for me!”

  The Home Buys, Inc. magnate managed a weak smile. He whispered, “How about a 1970’s lava lamp.”

  “Seriously, you’re going to make it, Arch. You need to be here when Allison comes home. She needs you.”

  “Allison’s not coming back. My daughter’s gone forever. I’m the one to blame.”

  Now it was Gallagher’s heart that began to skip beats. He suddenly felt light-headed. “Tell me what happened, Arch. It’s time.”

  “I failed her so many times. I attended all those parties at Redding’s with those young girls. And, my daughter stood up for me.”

  “So, you think that’s why she disappeared, Arch, retaliation?”

  “I think,” He suddenly emitted a deep breath and closed his eyes. Gallagher’s eyes scanned the pulse monitor. It started to flat line. “Oh my God,” he shouted. “We need a Doctor, help!”

  The room was suddenly filled with doctors and nurses who administered CPR and several shock jolts to revive him. The detective backed out of the room as they worked on Arch.

  He soon found himself back with Elie as they awaited word on Taylor’s critical condition.

  “What happened, Mike?” she anxiously asked him.

  He said, “Allison was gone because he fooled around with teenage girls at Redding’s parties. Redding?”

  Elie thought for a moment, “Redding’s his business partner, remember? He’s Justin’s dad.”

  “That’s right! Let’s go see him right now, Elie…”

  “Wait, Gallagher. Did he say anything else?”

  “He started to respond and then he sighed deeply and his pulse went dead. That’s when I started yelling for the doctors. We need to get going.”

  Elie stopped him in his tracks. “Gallagher, you are the one who needs some oxygen right now. Your brain is not functioning clearly. We can’t leave him right now. He may be dying.”

  The detective thought about it for a moment, then his face softened, “Yeah, you’re right. We need to stay. But, as soon as we find out what happened to Arch,”

  “Shut up and sit down, Gallagher. Play with your ball.” She motioned for him to have a seat. Obediently, he acquiesced.

  BOINK!

  Hours went by. No word.

  Gallagher fell asleep on the couch. Elie read every magazine they had in the room and went to the gift shop and bought five more. Another two hours went by and finally, around ten o’clock that evening, the internist came in to tell them the fate of Archer Taylor.

  “Are you Detective Gallagher?”

  Groggily, the officer sat up slowly from the couch. “Yeah, what’s the news, doc?”

  “Mr. Taylor is still alive. We were able to resuscitate him as you left the room. He is asleep. The next twenty-four hours are critical. I have your cell phone number. Go home. There is nothing more you can do right now. I’ll call you when I have a medical update, okay?”

  Gallagher nodded, “Okay,” he sleepily assented, “That’s good, right?”

  “Yes, alive is good. Good night.”

  Elie wrapped her arm through her partner’s and helped him walk unsteadily towards the exit of the hospital and a future meeting with Redding Shaw.

  Chapter Forty-six--did raven do Shakespeare?

  “You made me come back down here again? Are you crazy, Gallagher?”

  The detective turned his chair around to face her, “It’s because you’re so charming Raven. I missed you.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “I just wanted to hear about your trip to England last year, sounds fascinating.”

  “Yeah, well, it wasn’t.”

  “You went over there with another girl from the Colony, right? Let me try to remember her name.”

  Raven stood there uncomfortably looking away from Gallagher. She was not enjoying this discussion.

  “What was her name?”

  “Cut the crap, Gallagher. It was Allison Taylor. What game are you playing here?”

  The detective smiled at her. “No game. But, it would have been nice had you told me about this little trip you shared.”

  “I didn’t share anything with her. We flew separate planes. She was in my Shakespeare class. We saw each other in the hallway from time to time. There’s nothing here, man.”

  “What can you tell me about, Professor Jonathon Buckman, Raven?”

  At the mention of his name, the strong-willed girl emotionally shifted.

  Tears formed quickly in her eyes and began flowing down her cheeks. For several seconds she was in abject pain. Finally, she gave the detective the look of fire,

  “You bastard!”

  Gallagher was taken aback by her strong response. He realized he had hit a deep emotional nerve with the girl.

  He decided to back off and be a little more gentle. “I’m sorry he passed away, Raven. I truly am. I know you cared for him deeply.”

  That set her off. “You have no idea what I cared for him. Only he and I know that. I have nothing to say to you, Mr. Police Detective. You called me in here and set me up!”

  With that statement, she sat in the chair at the table and sobbed hysterically. Gallagher looked frantically around for Kleenex. There was none.

  After a few minutes of crying, Raven whispered, “Can I go now?”

  Gallagher realized she was not in a frame of mind to discuss Dr. Buckman but he had to press her one more time, “Do you think he died of natural causes, Raven?”

  She looked at him and without hesitating she snapped, “No, He didn’
t.

  I loved him, he loved me but someone else loved him too, and she is the one who killed him.”

  “Was her name Allison Taylor?”

  “I will just say this. Allison Taylor loved him. And, now she is getting exactly what she deserved.”