Fire and Rain

by Andrew Grey

  “You’ve been watching way too much television,” Kip said.

  “Really.” Carter stopped typing and glared at him. “If you want Jos to know how you feel, then you need to tell him, and not in some beating around the bush way that’s designed so you don’t have to put yourself out there.”

  “That’s easy for you to say—you have Donald.”

  “Yeah. And do you think it was easy telling Donald ‘Ice’ Ickle that I loved him? You remember what he was like. Thank God he’s thawed a lot, because I love the guy with everything I have, but it was dang near pants-crapping scary… and the best decision I ever made.” Carter turned back to his computer. “I bet you didn’t come in here for relationship advice, and I should mind my own business, so what did you need?”

  Kip was so grateful Carter had changed the subject he wanted to hug him. “I was wondering if you’d found out anything more on Jos’s aunt.”

  “There’s only so far I can look, but I found something strange. Sometimes searching when you don’t know what you’re looking for requires a lot of luck, and I think I may have had some. But I’ll confess I don’t know what it means. I do know that Josten’s family comes from close to where his aunt lives, and there are some probate court records that Jos’s mother and aunt were named in. It could be nothing, but I requested copies. The records are open, so I did it as a citizen’s request. It could be just an old will, but within a year, Aunt Kathy bought her house and opened her business, so something changed in her life.”

  “Interesting,” Kip said. “It could be nothing.”

  “That’s true,” Carter said, turning to look at him. “But there was suddenly quite a bit of money that was available to her. We’re police officers, and we don’t believe in coincidences. You told me the story she told Jos, and it seems too American-dreamy for me. Too perfect. You told me she seems like a really driven person, and parts of that story just don’t fit.”

  “She did say that she got an inheritance, and that her sister spent all of hers,” Kip said.

  “All right. But something doesn’t feel right to me. I don’t know what it is.” Carter turned back to the computer. “Like I said, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes there are lots of blind alleys. Only additional information will tell us what this is. You could be right and it’s nothing, or it might help us follow a trail someplace else.”

  “We’ll have to wait and see,” Kip said and checked the clock. “I’ll see you later, and thanks for everything.”

  “No problem. These things are what I love.” Carter flashed him a smile and then went back to his work. Kip quickly ate his lunch, then checked in for any information he needed before returning to his car. He’d been assigned to what was becoming his usual area of town, the northeast quadrant, although that could change as calls came in. During the afternoon he dealt with kids skateboarding on the sidewalks and pointed them to the park where boarding was allowed. He didn’t give them a ticket, because they seemed genuinely surprised, and the kids were polite and hurried off in the direction indicated when he told them where they could go. His mission was to help where he could.

  It got dark early. Kip drove south on Hanover, watching people as they walked the sidewalks. A rough-looking man shuffling down the sidewalk caught his eye. Since encountering Jos, Kip found he paid more attention to the people who spent their time on the streets. He’d gotten to recognize a number of them and knew some of their routines. People who had once been faceless had come into higher relief for him. There were more people like Jos out there than he’d ever imagined. He stopped at the light on Louther and watched a tall, poorly dressed man cross the street, coat pulled closed, bracing against the cold. The signal changed and Kip glided through, glancing over at him again, but he was already out of sight.

  Kip had some time, so he pulled over and got out of the car, getting a pretty good idea what had happened. Sure enough, Kip found the man hunkering down in the same deep doorway where he’d first met Jos. “Can I help you?” Kip asked, staying at the ready and not getting too close.

  The man turned around.

  Kip stepped back and stared into the face of Tyler Adamson, the man who’d attacked Jos. Kip’s first instinct was to go off on someone who had hurt someone he cared for. But he was a police officer and his training kicked in. “What are you doing here?”

  “Just looking around,” Tyler answered and turned to leave.

  “Stay where you are,” Kip said and called in to the station. “Aren’t you supposed to be in jail?”

  “I got bailed out a few hours ago,” Tyler answered.

  “Just sit down on the ground and don’t move.” Kip called for backup through the radio.

  “You can’t hold me for no reason. Innocent until proven guilty and all that,” Tyler argued.

  “Either sit or I’ll assume you’re trying to threaten me,” Kip said. He received the response that backup was on the way. A set of lights appeared behind him, and Carter joined him.

  “What’s going on?”

  “This is the suspect I apprehended attacking Jos. He’s saying he was bailed out, and I need to verify. He has a tendency to be violent.”

  “I’ll watch him,” Carter said, and Kip returned to his car, made some calls, and requested the appropriate information through his computer. The answer shocked him.

  “How did you make bail?” Kip asked when he got back. As far as he could tell, Tyler didn’t have anything.

  “My brother,” Tyler spat, and Kip wondered why this guy could hold such contempt for someone who was willing to put his money on the line for a loser like him.

  “Your brother posted bail?” Kip asked.

  Tyler nodded. “Can I go now?” he asked, hands in the air like he was a minister or religious figure giving a benediction. He should’ve won an Emmy for overacting. “The Salvation Army will open its doors in a few minutes.”

  “Where is your brother?”

  “At home.”

  Kip backed off and Carter did the same. For now they had to let him go. Kip wished he had a reason to search him to find anything that could be used to return him to jail. If Kip had been later and Tyler had stayed hunkered in the doorway longer, he might have been able to make a loitering charge stick, especially based upon the new No Loitering sign that hung in the doorway.

  He and Carter watched as Tyler walked down the sidewalk. Kip shivered as the wind picked up and the first drops of rain fell around him. “Jos can’t seem to catch a break no matter what.”

  “Sometimes it’s two steps forward, one step back,” Carter said. “It sucks and we know it. The law we’re supposed to uphold sometimes does things that drive us crazy. It’s to protect everyone’s rights, including mine, yours, Jos’s, and even that guy’s.”

  “Still sucks sometimes,” Kip muttered.

  “You won’t get any argument from me.” Carter got back into his car. Kip called in, letting Dispatch know he was free, and got into his car as well. Now he had to explain to Jos what had happened.

  Kip spent the rest of his shift on edge. He’d never been so happy for rain and the chill in the air in his life. It meant the night was quiet. He got back to the station on time and pointed his car toward Café Belgie as soon as he could. He got a place to park just down the block and hurried inside. He didn’t see Jos anywhere.

  “Hi, Kip,” Billy said a little breathlessly. “Jos left about ten minutes ago. He said he was going to get Isaac from day care.”

  “In this weather?” It was only a few blocks, but still….

  “He had an umbrella and a good jacket, so he thought he’d be okay. It wasn’t raining too hard when he left, but I see it’s picked up since then. You can probably catch him without a problem.”

  “Thanks,” Kip said and left, going right out to his car and following the route he hoped Jos would take. He reached the day care center and went inside.

  Isaac hurried over, a large piece of paper waving as he ran. “I made this for you,” Isaac sai
d gleefully, and Kip took it. Of course he couldn’t discern exactly what it was. “It’s you and Jos holding hands under the table.” Isaac giggled, and Kip saw the rough outlines of what Isaac was telling him.

  “Are you going to be a famous artist?” Kip asked, keeping one eye on the door, his heart pounding. If it were pounding any harder, his shirt would vibrate.

  “No. I’m going to be a policeman like you,” Isaac told him definitively. “Then maybe I’ll be an artist… and a cowboy, so I can ride Spistachio.”

  Kip suppressed a chuckle. He loved that Isaac had dreams now, and he liked to think he had a part in that. “That’s wonderful. You can be anything you want.”

  “A cowboy policeman?” Isaac asked.

  “You certainly can. They have them in lots of places,” Kip turned to Miss Carrie. “Jos was on his way over to pick up Isaac.”

  “He hasn’t been here yet,” she said.

  Kip nodded and kept looking at the door. He hoped like hell he’d only taken another route, and that Kip had just missed him. Seeing Tyler back out on the street had really messed with his head. But still, Jos wasn’t here yet, and he wouldn’t be late to pick up Isaac. Kip pulled out his phone and dialed, but the call went to voice mail.

  “Let’s get you dressed to go outside, and we’ll find Jos. He’s probably walking over.” As more and more time passed, Kip’s nerves grew and grew. He stared at the damn door, willing the thing to open and for Jos to walk in.

  By the time Isaac was dressed and ready to go, Jos still hadn’t shown up. Kip gathered Isaac’s papers and drawings and tucked them carefully under his coat. He unlocked the car with his key fob and hurried Isaac out to it and got him in his booster seat.

  Kip pulled away and traced the routes Jos could have gone. He didn’t see him and stopped at Jos’s building. His windows were dark, so Jos obviously wasn’t there. As he and Isaac sat in the car, Kip called Miss Carrie, who confirmed that Jos still hadn’t been there and that the center was about to close. Kip hung up and pulled out once again. He put on his lights and turned around, determined to follow Jos’s possible routes as best he could. Something had happened, and all Kip could see was Tyler and Jos beside that house. He gripped the wheel, damn near paralyzed with fear that Tyler might have found Jos.

  He went yet a different way, taking Bedford over to the day care. A block away he pulled to a stop and jumped out of the car. A figure lay in the street by the wheel of a parked car. Something fluttering in the wind caught his attention. It turned out to be the remnants of an umbrella. When he got close enough, he saw a familiar blue jacket and light head of hair.

  Kip pulled out his phone and called 911. “This is officer Kip Rogers. I need an ambulance and police assistance on Bedford between Pomfret and South right away.” He kept the panic out of his voice for the length of the call. As soon as he hung up, Kip knelt next to Jos, afraid to touch or move him in case he made things worse. He did manage to lightly touch Jos’s neck and found a pulse. He raced to the car, and after reassuring Isaac that he had found Jos and was going to help him, he yanked an umbrella from the floor of the backseat, opened it, and used it to shelter Jos from the continued rain. He heard sirens within minutes. An ambulance arrived first, and the EMTs got to work covering Jos in blankets and transferring him onto a backboard. Kip’s fellow officers arrived next and began taking pictures, trying to piece together what had happened.

  Kip stayed with Isaac while Jos was loaded into the ambulance, then followed them to the hospital and carried Isaac inside the emergency entrance. Kip explained who he was and why he was there. Then he sat with Isaac and tried not to fly apart from nervousness.

  He did manage to think clearly enough to call Donald and Carter, to let them know what was going on, as well as Billy at the restaurant.

  “As soon as we close I’ll be down there,” Billy said. “We added Jos and Isaac to our insurance when he started, so I need to get you the information.”

  Isaac knew something was wrong and that Jos was hurt. Kip held him, letting Isaac rest his head on his shoulder as he clung to him. “Is Jos gonna be okay?”

  “Yes,” Kip answered each time Isaac asked, hoping like hell he wasn’t lying.

  He soothed Isaac and waited. Eventually they were able to see Jos. They didn’t want to allow Isaac back, but Kip flashed his badge and explained that Isaac needed to see his brother. They relented, and Kip carried Isaac in.

  Jos lay on a bed in a curtained-off area. They had him on oxygen.

  “What’s that for?” Isaac asked, pointing at the monitor.

  “It tells them how Jos’s heart is. All those numbers help them help Jos.”

  “Is he asleep?” Isaac asked.

  “He hit his head,” a doctor said from behind them. “Are you his family?”

  “As close as he has here. This is his brother, Isaac. Jos and I have been dating.” He knew there was very little the doctor could tell him without Jos’s express permission, and he’d had no chance to give it. “Don’t worry, I understand the rules.” He sighed, dying to know what had happened. “I only brought Isaac back so he could see him.”

  The doctor nodded and went about his work. He checked Jos over carefully. “I’m ordering some tests.” Of course he couldn’t say what they were, and that was frustrating as hell.

  “I’m a police officer. I’m the one who found him.”

  “Are you here in an official capacity?”

  “I can be,” Kip said. He gently set Isaac down and kept him close before calling in. He explained where he was, and Dispatch confirmed that they needed information on Jos’s condition.

  “I’ll relay to the officer in charge that you’ll get that information and pass it on to him,” Helen told him. “They’ll be grateful. It’s turned into a busy night.”

  “It’s official,” Kip said and pulled a small notebook from his shirt pocket. He’d been trained to always have one, so he carried it everywhere.

  “He sustained a concussion, most likely from a collision with a car. It’s possible he has at least one cracked rib, and there are multiple abrasions.” Kip wrote it all down. “At this point, we don’t know how severe his concussion is,” the doctor explained. Kip saw Isaac stand closer to the bed, holding Jos’s hand.

  “Jos, wake up,” Isaac said, and then he turned to look at Kip.

  “It’s okay,” Kip said, trying to reassure him. He moved closer to Isaac and turned to the doctor.

  “We’ll know more after we’re able to run some tests. We’ll admit him and put him in a room once we’re done. I honestly don’t expect him to wake up tonight. Leave a number at the desk, and we’ll call you when he wakes up.”

  That was like kicking Kip’s legs out from under him. That meant it was bad—Jos might have slipped into a coma. “Thank you,” he said and quickly called in the information he’d received. Then he lifted Isaac into his arms. Kip hated to leave Jos alone, but staying here wasn’t going to be good for Isaac, and he had to be the first priority. Kip walked to the bed and took Jos’s hand, rubbing the back of it lightly with his thumb. He stood silently at Jos’s side, willing him to wake up and hoping like hell he hadn’t lost him already.

  “He’s supposed to wake up when he’s sleeping,” Isaac said. He rested his head on Kip’s shoulder, whimpering softly. Kip wanted to join him. He understood just how Isaac felt at that moment.

  “Let’s get you home,” Kip said. “You can see Jos in the morning.” He hoped that was a promise he’d be able to keep, for both their sakes.

  Kip left and stopped at the desk, leaving a number for them to call if Jos woke during the night. Then he got Isaac in the car and drove through the wet and rainy roads to Jos’s apartment. He let them in with the key Jos had given him because he sometimes picked up Isaac, and went upstairs, helping Isaac get ready for bed.

  “Will I see Jos in the morning?” Isaac asked, eyes watery, looking up at him from around his covers, Weeble and Pistachio next to him.

  “
I hope so.” Kip turned out the light.

  “I don’t want Jos to be dead like Mama,” Isaac said, and Kip’s throat constricted. He wasn’t able to talk for a few seconds.

  “I know. Me either.” He stroked Isaac’s head and did something he hadn’t done in many years: he said a prayer. It was simple, but he said it for Isaac, who didn’t deserve to lose another person who loved him, and he said one for Jos to stay strong and to get through this. Hell, he said one for himself because he didn’t know what he was going to do about the hole in his heart that would be left if anything happened to Jos. “Good night. I’ll be here, I promise.”

  Isaac nodded and turned over. He was obviously tired, and Kip was relieved when he went right to sleep. He wished that were possible for him. After watching Isaac for a long time, Kip left the simple room and returned to the living room. He sat in the chair that he had given Jos when he moved in, turned on the old television, and stared blankly at the screen. Eventually he found a blanket and tried to get some sleep, but of course every sound made him jump a little. More than once he reached for his phone because he thought it had vibrated, but it was just his nervous leg playing tricks on him.

  He eventually fell asleep, but he jerked awake when his phone actually did vibrate. Turned out it was a Facebook message from someone trying to sell him Mary Kay. Kip wanted to fling the dang phone across the room, but he sighed and put it away, trying to still his restless mind long enough to go back to sleep.

  As soon as light shone through the windows, Kip gave up even trying to sleep and stretched his aching neck and back before going to the kitchen to make some coffee.

  Isaac wandered out in his horsey pajamas, carrying Weeble under his arm. “I’m thirsty.”

  Kip got some orange juice for him and made him a bowl of cereal. While Isaac ate, Kip called the hospital to see if he could get any information. He was able to find out that Jos was in a room and that visiting hours began at nine. Nothing else.

  “Let’s get you dressed, and then I’ll take you to school.”

  “I want Jos,” Isaac said, sucking his thumb. Kip hadn’t seen him do that before, even at the height of the stress in their lives when they’d first come to stay with him. Maybe Isaac could deal with just about anything as long as he had Jos. Kip was beginning to understand how he felt.