Chloe Babineaux Private Investigator

by Lisa Clancey

  Chapter Nine

  I must have fallen asleep on the ride because when I opened my eyes, we were at the hospital. Where the hell am I? Oh, yeah, ambulance. “We’re there already?” I asked, feeling confused. “I can’t believe I fell asleep.”

  “Adrenaline will do that to you,” said the EMT. “Don’t worry you did fine. You don’t have a concussion. You aren’t nauseated, only a slight headache, you’re blood pressure is a little high but whose wouldn’t be? I recognized him from the scene of the miraculous explosion leaving me alive. Thank goodness. I would have been scared to death if I couldn’t remember anything.

  I was pushed me into the ER. A nurse took more vital signs and asked me more questions. I wasn’t as shaky, and they said that was a good thing. That nap must have helped. A doctor came in asking all kinds of questions. Actually, they were the same questions everyone else was asking. What was his name? Oh yeah, Dr. Brooks. Not real tall, thinning brown hair, but a nice smile.

  A woman came in asking me about my insurance. “I have insurance, but I don’t know where my purse is.”

  At that instant Cody and Rick walked in, badges and guns blazing, they always have their badges on their belts but usually try to hide their guns. They must have had problems getting past the people out front. Let me in, or you’re under arrest.

  “Hey, good you’re awake. How’re you feeling?” Cody asked smiling.

  “I’m alright. Do you…good you have my purse with you. I need my insurance card,” I said, glancing at his hands.

  He held up my purse. “Sure do. Anything I can do to help? I’m her brother,” he asked, looking at the insurance woman.

  “If she’s your sister, then you can help,” she said smiling at Cody. “Do you mind stepping to my desk to answer some questions? We can bring her the papers to sign when we’re through.”

  He looked at Rick and said, “Keep her company. Don’t let her leave until I get back. You might have to sit on her.”

  “Are you giving me permission to get on top of Chloe?” He grinned.

  Cody’s gaze bore a hole into Rick and growled, “I’ll be back.” He pushed the curtain to the side hard leaving them swaying.

  Rick smiled and took my hand in his. “Are you okay? Does your head hurt or anything? That was quite an explosion.” He looked at my bandaged arms and shook his head.

  “No. I’m not hurt. I’m feeling much, much better. I’m not shaking like I was. See?” I said holding my hand up, the hand he wasn’t caressing. I was only slightly shaking if I didn’t hold my hand up for very long.

  He brought my hand up and kissed it. Oh, now my blood pressure and heart rate are really going to spike. He’s laughing at me one minute and kissing my hand the next. This shock thing wasn’t what it was cut out to be.

  The curtain opened and in walked Morgan in all her glory. I don’t know if she ever has a bad hair day. I, on the other hand, looked like I was just thrown across a yard by a propane tank explosion.

  “Hey, my sistah. Cody called me. You scared the shit out of us.” My sister-in-law walked over to me, kissed my cheek, and checked the IV to make sure all was well.

  “I’m fine. Thanks, Morgan. Can you find out when I can go home?”

  “You won’t be here much longer. Probably another forty-five minutes to an hour longer. Where’s Cody?” She smiled looking at Rick.

  I rolled my eyes and said, “Not much longer she says.” I then looked at her and grinned ruefully. “He’s talking to the insurance lady. Oh, this is Rick Thompson, Cody’s partner; I guess ya’ll haven’t met.”

  “No, we haven’t,” she said shaking Rick’s hand. “I better go help Cody before Thomasina’s in tears,” she said, laughing while walking toward the curtain. Cody was always saying I have a problem with authority when the truth is we were pretty well matched when it comes to authority obstructions.

  “I’m glad I finally got to meet you. Your photo does you no justice,” Rick said smiling.

  “It’s nice to have met you also. Cody’s talked about you.” Morgan winked at me and walked out.

  “Gee. Wow. I feel better now. I’m laying here feeling and looking like I’ve just been involved in an explosion and you’re telling my drop dead gorgeous sister-in-law how good she looks. Thanks a lot,” I said and shook my head while staring at my blanket covered feet.

  He leaned over, put both arms on each side of me, looked me in the eye, smiled, well more of a leer, and said, “Your sister-in-law is beautiful. She’s also my partner’s wife. And you are hot, sugar buns.” He winked and smiled broader.

  Oh, my goodness. What do I say to that? You’re not bad yourself? That’s lame, even for me. Queen of lameness. All I could do was look at him slack jawed. Wait a sweet minute. Did he just say I was hot because I was involved in a fiery explosion?

  Of course, Cody and Morgan walked in at that moment. Cody looked from Rick to me, from me to Rick. Morgan looked from me to Rick and grinned.

  “Is there something I should know about?” Cody asked, narrowing his eyes.

  “Chloe was feeling sorry for herself. I was just telling her she did good. Smart, she stayed low to the ground because someone was firing a weapon. And getting as far away from that tank was the smart thing to do as well. She went through all that and still looks prettier than you do.” He grinned and winked at me again. What is with all the winking? Morgan and Rick was winking. I must really be smoking hot. Literally.

  “What? Did he just say prettier than you?” Morgan said looking at Cody with a ‘what?’ look on her face. “Honey, your twin brother, is good looking, but it’s you the guys out there are making excuses to have to come in here. Damn girl, the only reason they aren’t in here is that they saw the guns attached to their belts.” She looked at me and laughed.

  The room went suddenly quiet. I slowly grinned and said, “In that case, don’t y’all have detective work ya’ll need to do? Which reminds me, I’m gonna call Cheri and ask her to come up here with her boy-toy Brent to give me a ride home. Cheri can drive my truck back to my apartment since we live in the same building. Well, same apartment complex,” I said, grimacing.

  “Our work day is over anyway,” Rick said, narrowing his eyes at the curtain like he was daring someone to come in. “Don’t you think we should wait for Cheri to get here? You know, in case the doctor has something he needs to talk to you about.” He turned and looked at Cody.

  Cody answered him, but I don’t know what he said, I was on the phone with Cheri. “Hey, can you and Brent do me a huge favor?”

  “What did you do? Did you run off the road again?” she asked sarcastically.

  “Funny. No, I’m in the ER at Rapides General; can you give me a ride home?” I asked casually.

  “Oh my God! What happened? Are you alright?” she asked, shocked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine, someone was shooting at me, and a propane tank exploded, and the hospital won’t let me drive home. I would like you to drive my truck home. So can you?”

  “Yes, yes we’ll be there. We’ll be there in thirty minutes. Is that okay?”

  “Sure. I’m not going anywhere.”

  I disconnected and looked at Rick and Cody. “So, it’s all worked out. Ya’ll can pick up your trucks at the station and Cheri will drive me home. It’s all settled,” I said and smiled broadly.

  Morgan walked over to me, gave me a big hug and said, “I’m so glad you’re alright. If bad luck comes in threes, you better be careful. First, it was your truck and now this. Sweetie, I don’t know what I’m gonna do with you. You need a bodyguard.” She smiled and wiggled her eyebrows. “I have to get back to work.” She gave Cody a kiss and told him to feed the kids chicken nuggets with mac and cheese for supper.

  “Yeah, I have to pick up the kids. The daycare doesn’t stay open all night. I hate asking Mama to pick them up for me. You seem to be doing better, I’ll call you tonight.” He was giving me a big hug when the curtain opened and in walked Dr. Brooks.

  “Did you
piss off any Army guys while you were in Gardener? I mean, a sniper might have come after you,” Cody asked, giving me a mock glare. Was he serious? No, course not, he couldn’t be. Did Rick tell him about me flipping the bird at a bunch of Green Berets?

  “Now that I could understand. I mean, a Marine wouldn’t have missed,” Dr. Brooks said with a grin.

  “Are you a Marine?” Cody asked.

  “Yep. Ten years.

  Cody grinned and said, “Semper Fi. Eight years.”

  “Oh great,” I groaned, “The testosterone level has just risen. I can hardly breathe. Can I go home now?”

  Cody cocked his head toward Rick and said, “SEAL.” What? SEAL?

  “What’s a seal?” A seal is a mammal that swims in water and gets eaten by bigger things that live in water.

  Cody looked at Rick, and both grinned, but it was Cody that said with a head nod toward Rick. “Navy SEAL.”

  I widen my eyes and laughed. “Oh, no wonder…uh…” I couldn’t finish that sentence with Cody in the room, ‘No wonder he was laughing so hard at the Green Berets.’ It also explained a lot about his body.

  Luckily, Cody and the doctor were talking and not paying attention to me. Rick looked at me and grinned. He knew what I was thinking.

  “How long?” Dr. Brooks asked Rick.

  “Twelve years,” he said turning his head to look at the men grinning but looking mean. I wonder what his story was?

  “Wow,” I said wide eyed. “Impressive.” I looked at Cody and shrugged my shoulders. “Well, it is. If I think about it, if someone were to burst in here right now, with two Marines and a Navy SEAL, that dummy wouldn’t have a chance.” I looked off thinking about it then said, “No, never mind, with my luck ya’ll would jump on top of me to save me, and I would end up crushed because of all the weight that was on top of me. I mean, jeez Louise that would be like what, six hundred pounds?” All three laughed and agreed it would probably be about that.

  “I came in here to tell you that you can go home. All you have to do is sign some papers.” He grinned and walked out saying loudly, “Semper Fi.”

  Cody and Rick looked at me like they didn’t want to leave. I would have loved to have been in their place. I would have left so fast the curtains would have been flapping behind me.

  “Go. Just go. Didn’t you hear the doctor? I can go home,” I said, smiling. See? I’m fine. Nothing wrong here.

  “Okay. I’m leaving, but I’m calling you later.” Cody squeezed my hand and smiled wanly.

  “I’m calling you too. What’s your phone number?” Rick asked, pulling out his phone.

  “You can’t call her,” Cody said, glaring. He’s been doing that a lot lately.

  “Like hell, I can’t. I risked my life riding with you to Gardener,” he said and gave me a sidelong look. “He ran lights and drove on the shoulder so he could get to you before you left in the ambulance.” He glanced at Cody and said, “So yeah, if I’m risking my life for her I get to call her.”

  “You make it sound like he doesn’t usually drive like that.” I shook my head and said, “My poor parents had to teach us how to drive simultaneously.”

  “Scary I’m sure. Give up the number,” he said dryly, still holding his cell phone ready to punch in numbers.

  “You have a land line too?” He asked with a grin.

  Cody wasn’t grinning. He was snarling and growling. If I looked close, I could see foam forming at the side of his mouth. Of course, I had to laugh while I was giving the numbers.

  They eventually left, and I was alone with my thoughts and the TV. I hadn’t noticed the TV because it was turned way down. The news was on. I wondered if they’d have something about the explosion. I hoped not. It would show me dazed with my hair flying and dirt on my face. That reminded me of how Rick saw dirt on my face, and he still said I was hot. Morgan was beautiful, and I was hot. And he asked for my number in front of Cody. Cody could have stopped me from giving him my number, but he didn’t. It was either going to be a very loud or a very quiet ride back to the station.

  I needed to think about why someone would be shooting at me. Was I close to finding the painting? Someone was trying to make me back off. But if the painting wasn’t worth anything, why would someone go through all that to keep me away? Apparently, someone thought it was worth something. Otherwise, why would Petunia hire me to find it? Was it painted over some long forgotten masterpiece? Maybe it’s a Michelangelo. Could that be true? If it was painted that long ago surely canvas had to be really expensive and hard to come by so artists reused canvases. I bet that was it. It was painted over a long forgotten masterpiece. Yeah, because Shloe, Louisiana was well known for having hordes of hidden masterpieces. Was that a word masterpieces? Wait, Melrose Plantation did have artists, and that’s not far away. It couldn’t be Michelangelo, that was just silly, but Melrose had local artists. There had to be a reason someone was after the painting, but I just wasn’t grasping it. The next thing I knew the curtain swung open with Cheri and Brent right behind.

  “Oh my, God, Chloe! Honey, are you alright? Are you hurt? Tell me about the explosion. Brent will sue the owners.” She grabbed my hands and kissed my forehead. I winced when she brought my arms up, and her eyes widened.

  Brent smiled and shook his head. He was an attorney and a very good one and was very in love with Cheri. If she said yes to him, they would be married by morning. I made a mental note to tell her again how gorgeous and rich he was.

  “She had me thinking you were barely hanging on. Which I thought was odd since you were going home,” he said and laughed.

  “She exaggerates. Remember that when she tells you about the things I do,” I said, narrowing my eyes.

  He laughed and said, “Good God, I hope she exaggerates about the things you do. Did you really dress like a nun?”

  “Well, yeah,” I said with a pained look. “That wasn’t an exaggeration.”

  He laughed harder and said, “I wish I could have seen that. I mean, I saw the photo, but I would have loved to have seen you in person.”

  “Ya’ll do realize I’m standing right here. Did you call the girls?” Cherie asked, pulling her phone out of her purse.

  “No, you’re the only one I had a chance to call.” The girls were my best friends. We have known each other for years. I went to high school with Cheri and Fiona Garcia, a.k.a. Nona, and to college with Felicia Schmidt and Tammy Lawson. Felicia and Tammy went to Pineville High School across the river from us. Nona, Cheri and I went to Alexandria Senior High, otherwise known as ASH. We all went to LSU together and became best friends.

  Cheri called my friends while Brent and I made small talk. I couldn’t help but notice his dark blond hair was thinning and his nose was just a tad too small. But he was still going to be a good looking bald man.

  “You know Cheri loves you,” I said with a half smile.

  “I know. Do you have any suggestions on how to get her to say yes? I have a ring, you know, sitting in a dresser drawer,” he said with a sad smile.

  “She told me. Dang, she also said it’s a boulder, and that she’d feel self-conscience wearing it,” I said. “Maybe you should give me the ring to hold and buy her a smaller ring.”

  “Do you really think she wants a smaller ring? Hell, I’ll take this one back and buy a smaller ring if she’ll accept it. She can even go with me and pick out a ring; I don’t care. Actually, that would make it easier, because then I’d know exactly what she wanted,” he said with eyes wide. He laughed and added, “Chloe, we should have had this talk long ago.”

  “We would have, but you don’t like me that much. You think the reason she hasn’t said yes is because of me. The complete opposite is true. I don’t know why she’s putting you off. She tells me she loves you and that she wants to date you for at least a year before saying yes. A year dating and a short engagement. She didn’t say that, but I’m sure that’s what she wants.” I paused, and we just looked at each other. I slowly grinned and said, “I ke
ep asking her when is she gonna marry her boy-toy.”

  “I do like you,” he said, slowly shaking his head. “She told me to wait a year, but it’s hard when I love her so much. And did you just call me a boy-toy?” He grinned. “I should be offended, but I kind of like it.”

  “Yeah, all I can do is daydream about having a boy-toy. I just hope they’re as much fun to have as they are to dream about. Please, please don’t let my dream be wrong,” I said, crossing my fingers and closing my eyes tight.

  “Boy-toys can be fun,” Cheri said, smiling and holding Brent’s hand. “The girls know and are freaked out about it as much as I am. When can you go home?”

  “Now. I was waiting for you to get off the phone.” I looked at Brent and said, “You need to get out now so I can get dressed.”

  “I’ll be right outside the door…uh, curtain.” He left, and Cheri held the curtain closed.