The Mourning Missed Read online

  “Exactly why one of us should stay behind and keep watch,” Phillip concurred.

  “And what exactly do you tell someone if they come in?” Lilly asked.

  “Who’s coming in except maybe the folks involved in the kidnapping,” Phillip argued. “I say, anyone who comes in gets drawn down on and subdued until we can prove they’re not harmful.”

  “Agreed, you should be sure to do that,” Sarge concurred. Turning to Lilly, he said, “Let’s go.”

  “Whoa, wait,” Philip said quickly. “I should do it? I’m the ADA, I have no arrest authority. My investigators do, but I have none. You’re a police officer, you have arrest authority.”

  “I only have arrest authority for something that happens on Academy grounds; it’s right in the bylaws. I have no authority outside the Academy proper.”

  “So what; I need to stay here while you two go look for Clint?” Lilly blustered. “I’m the Geiger Counter, remember?”

  “Fine, I’ll stay,” Sarge acquiesced.

  “But, you just said you can’t arrest them,” Lilly reminded him.

  “No, but I can subdue them,” he replied.

  THE ELEVATOR GROANED and clanked as it rose. “If anyone’s here, they certainly know we’re coming,” Lilly remarked.

  “And will probably think it’s one of their people, so we’ll at least have the element of surprise in our favor,” Phillip replied.

  When the door opened on four, they both had their weapons drawn at high ready. He went left and she went right, low and fast.

  “Clear,” he called from his side.

  “Clear,” she called from her side.

  Meeting back by the elevator, he looked at her. “What does your Spidey Sense tell you?”

  “I’m not feeling anything,” she blurted in shocked realization. Returning to the elevator, she closed the door without selecting a floor. Nothing. Opening the door, she stepped out. “I feel nothing,” she said mournfully.

  “When did it stop?” He asked.

  “I don’t know,” she replied. “I felt it downstairs, and I felt it coming up the elevator. Somewhere in there, it went away.”

  “Then we backtrack,” he recommended.

  As soon as the elevator started down, the sensation returned. “It appears to be on the third floor now,” Lilly said, puzzled. Stepping off the elevator, they were once again ready to meet resistance. Instead, they found the entire floor well lit, pristine and white. Walls, tile, ceiling, doors; all stark white.

  Phillip looked at her and raised an eyebrow; she shrugged. He silently pointed to himself and motioned to the left, she nodded and went right. As she walked around the hallway, the pounding sensation in her heart never changed in intensity or tempo. She tried every door she came to; all were locked. Not having a lock pick set, she continued on in hopes of finding something.

  Seeing movement ahead, she crouched and hugged the wall. It was too far back to the corner to seek cover before whoever was coming arrived. Inching forward, she kept her head up waiting for contact. When she saw dark hair, she leapt into the center of the hallway, pistol at the ready. “Freeze,” she commanded.

  PHILLIP FOUND ONE LOCKED door after another. After finding the bar and rake which worked on these particular locksets, he opened each one almost as fast as if he had a key. Each room inside was barren and all white. He had finished examining the first hallway and was working down the second of obviously four in this rectangular building. Movement ahead caused him to look back, but the corner was too far away. Crouching, he inched along hugging the wall with his head up, watching. Finally, he saw dark hair and skin, and leapt into the center of the hallway. “Freeze,” he commanded.

  LILLY AND PHILLIP STARTED laughing simultaneously. They had been stalking each other. “I’ve opened every door so far, and they’re all empty,” Phillip said.

  “Well, let’s make sure we open every one of them,” Lilly replied.

  When they had finished, every room’s door stood ajar and every room was empty. “There has to be a hidden door or something,” Lilly moaned. “I can’t take much more of this. He’s here, I can feel it. But where?”

  Walking back around the four hallways once more, she stopped and placed her hand on the wall at intermittent intervals. “It’s almost like he’s in the walls,” Lilly complained. “I get the same intensity of feeling everywhere I go.”

  Finally, she could take no more. “Clint,” she cried; then louder still. “CLINT.” Finally she screamed his name hysterically over and over again. Phillip rushed to her side and held her until she collapsed into his arms.

  “We need to go, he’s not here,” Phillip said after a while.

  “But he is here, I can feel him everywhere,” Lilly argued.

  “What you feel is whatever Voodoo your Aunt put on you,” he corrected. “We don’t even know what we expected to find. The woman I know said what I described was a divining spell for finding things. I’m not sure what we found here, but it isn’t Clint.”

  Walking to one of the few doors without a lock he said, “Why don’t you go inside the Ladies room and wash up before that drives you crazy?”

  Lilly rose and walked zombie-like into the restroom. She had been in longer than Phillip liked when the elevator groaned to life. Knocking on the door, he cracked it open when he got no response.

  “Lilly?” He called expectantly. When he heard nothing, he decided he’d waited too long. Barging into the restroom, he found Lilly unconscious on the floor. Hearing the elevator arrive, he moved to the closed door and cracked it open. Movement soon became Marty Bacchus and Phillip stepped back, pulling the door open.

  “We’re in here, Marty,” he called and let the door close. Returning to her insensate form, he gentle patted her hand as he called her name. There was no response. Peeling back an eyelid, he found only whites. Palpating her pulse, he found it weak and thready. “We need to get her to a hospital right now, she’s in shock,” he yelled to Marty. “Take the keys and go get the car, I’ll carry her down.”

  Marty looked ready to argue age, physical fitness, and strength, but took the keys and ran to the elevator. “Did you find the stairwell?” He called, looking around the elevator shaft.

  “We’re on the backside of the building. There must be a dividing wall between here and the front,” Phillip replied. “This elevator appears to be the only way on or off the floor. Let’s go.”

  When the doors opened on the first floor Sarge took off like a shot, dodging through the detritus of the long-abandoned business. Phillip took careful steps, not wanting to lose his footing or knock any part of her senseless form against fixed objects. He arrived at the main door just as Sarge screeched to a halt outside.

  Leaping from the front seat, he flung the back door open and crawled across the rear bench to open the other door. Crouching, he made ready to cradle Lilly’s head and shoulders in his large, powerful arms as Samuels handed her in head-first. Sarge gently pulled her tiny, unresponsive form across the rear seat. As soon as her head was near the door, he lowered her to the seat and closed the door, climbing back behind the wheel.

  Phillip had crawled in the back seat and had Lilly legs bent in his lap so he could monitor her pulse while keeping her feet elevated. “Go,” he shouted.

  “Take this bottle of water and my handkerchief,” Sarge said as he tore through the center of town.

  “She’s unconscious, I can’t give her any water,” Samuels exclaimed.

  “Well, unless you want to explain the name written in blood on her chest, I suggest you get her cleaned up.”

  Seventeen

  “SHE’S SEMI-COMATOSE and generally unresponsive except to Autonomic Nervous System stimulus,” the ER doctor told them when he returned from examining Lilly. The pair had pulled straight into the ambulance bay, siren wailing. A team with a gurney came out, expecting them after Sarge had the presence of mind to call his dispatch and have them notify the hospital. “What precipitating event caused this?” />
  “She went into the ladies room, complaining of a sudden headache. When she didn’t return, I went in and found her on the floor; like she is now,” Phillip hedged. The details of where and why wouldn’t make any difference to the doctor and they didn’t need anyone knowing what they’d been up to.

  “We’re admitting her because she’s unresponsive, otherwise she’s stable,” the doctor shared. “As soon as the paperwork and transfer are complete, I’ll let you know where they’re taking her.”

  “With all due respect, Doctor, Lilly’s the investigating officer on the Clint Parsons kidnapping,” Phillip embellished. “After what happened to her partner, I’d rather not leave her side.” When the doctor looked to protest, Phillip continued. “I will make it official if I must but I really don’t see any need for the additional paperwork. Plus, the hospital doesn’t need any more sensationalism.”

  “Sensationalism?” The doctor asked, puzzled.

  “Seriously, doc?” Sarge interjected. “Patrolman shot, kidnapped from MC General was bad enough as a headline. Do you really want to even consider what this one would read like if something happened to the investigating officer, especially on your watch?”

  The doctor considered for only a moment. “Follow your protection protocols and I’ll notify staff in admitting there’s a security detail accompanying her.” He turned and hustled off to make the arrangements.

  “I’m going back to the Academy to fill the boss in on what’s happened, even though she doesn’t officially work for us anymore,” Sarge informed Samuels. “I’ll be back to spell you in four hours.”

  “I appreciate that,” Phillip acknowledged graciously. “Do you suppose there are any others who might want to help figure out want happened; strictly on the QT, of course?”

  “Yeah, I might be able to round up a few,” Sarge smiled as he turned toward the exit.

  Phillip returned to his post outside the emergency examination room curtain. He desperately wanted to make sure all the other ways into the ER were covered. At the same time he didn’t want to shine a light on the methods and mannerisms currently being used in the investigation. Basically, he didn’t want any attention called to them. Was that paranoia? It’s not paranoia if they’re really after you, one of his favorite TV characters had always said. How true that felt now.

  “NO CHANGE?” SARGE ASKED as he walked into the private room on the third floor.

  “None,” Phillip replied. “We have an added compatriot in our protective detail, whether we want her or not,” Phillip informed him.

  At Sarge’s cocked eyebrow, Samuels nodded in the direction of the door. “The nurse on duty is one Jennifer Alnought, the ICU nurse from when Clint was here,” he explained. “When she heard Lilly was in here, she tried to get her sent to ICU but the city’s insurance wouldn’t hear it. So she did the mountain and Mohammed thing; swapped details with another nurse.”

  “Apparently, ICU nurses get a stipend, so the nurse on this floor was willing, especially as you have to be certified.” Phillip shook his head. “Did you know Lilly threatened to shoot the security guards the night Parsons was taken if they didn’t come up here and find her?” The look of mild surprise on Sarge’s face answered the question.

  “So, Jenny says she’s here for the duration, even to the point of pulling a double if need be. She’s in here about every fifteen minutes, so you may as well go out and introduce yourself.” As Sarge left, Phillip turned back to the small, still form on the bed. She looks like a little kid, he thought as he gently picked up her unfettered hand. The other had an IV line, fingertip pulse monitor, and BP cuff on it.

  “Come on, kiddo, open your eyes for me,” he pleaded softly. When she didn’t stir, he tried again. “Lilly, I know you’re in there, you can’t get the day off that easy. Let’s go, we have bad guys to catch and knees to break.” Again, there was no response.

  Sliding a chair next to the bedside, he gathered her small hand into his much larger one and covered it with his other. “If I knew anything about Voodoo mumbo-jumbo, I’d dance around this bed wearing a grass skirt and coconut-shell bra singing You Can Do Magic if it would make you wake up,” he confessed. “You’re like the daughter I wish I’d had, instead of the girlie-girls I got.”

  “I always wanted a son to hang out with and teach man-things to but I got two girls instead; and that’s all she wrote. Complications after the second birth meant Loraine and I had no more children, which I’m okay with. But man, if one of them had your moxie, I’d quit wishing for a boy,” he finished with a grievous hitch in his voice.

  “I love her, too, Phil,” Marty said from the doorway.

  “Ah, spying on me in my weak moments, huh?” Samuels groused good-naturedly, swiping moisture from his eyes. “Yeah, there’s a whole lot about her to love. Now if she’ll ever calm down enough, she might make it to middle age before she self-destructs.”

  “Exactly,” Sarge replied in frustration. “She’s got more chutzpah than any ten guys I’ve put through the Academy. We both know a little something about burnout, don’t we?”

  “I try not to think about that too much,” Phil replied while nodding his head slowly. “Those were dark days, brother.”

  Sarge stepped out of the room for a moment, returning with a swivel chair. “I hope the docs don’t mind my borrowing their break-room desk chair,” he grinned. Sitting on the opposite side of the bed, he laid a large, roughly-calloused hand on Lilly’s supple caramel-skinned forearm.

  “You can get up anytime you’re ready, Lil,” he said gently. “Just rest as long as you need.”

  “You always knew exactly what to say to get me up off the mat,” Lilly whispered.

  Phillip’s sharp exclamation had Jenny in the room in a flash, while Sarge sat grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “You’re awake? How do you feel? What happened? Are you alright?” Phil asked in a rush.

  Opening her eyes, she fixed Phillip with a penetrating gaze. “Obviously, like I was hit by a bus, I don’t know, and I’m not sure,” she responded smugly.

  “Well, her smart-ass survived intact,” Sarge interjected.

  “Quit harassing my patient,” Jenny said, stepping in and making shooing motions with her hands. “Get, get out of the way. I need to check her over.”

  Both men stepped back quickly from the bed, pulling their chairs with them.

  A broad grin broke like the morning sunrise across Lilly’s features. “Jenny, what are you doing here?”

  “I do work here, you know,” Jenny scoffed.

  “Yeah but in the ICU, where I’m not from the looks of things. And where you’re very good at what you do,” Lilly replied, looking around the room with a wily eye. “You changed, didn’t you?”

  “Well, I have lost a few pounds since our last little escapade and I decided to try out a new perfume,” Jenny demurred.

  “Come off it, you know what I mean,” Lilly replied cheerfully. “You wanted to take care of me, didn’t you?”

  “Turn about is fair play,” Jenny observed. “Now close your mouth and stick out your tongue.”

  That brought a guffaw of laughter from everyone in the room. When she finished her examination, Jenny noted the results on the chart clipped to the foot of the bed before returning to Lilly’s side. “Can I get you anything? Are you hungry? Do you need to go to the bathroom? I guess we should get that catheter out so you can,” she asked and observed all at once.

  “Yes, yes, yes, and let’s just wait,” Lilly replied with a broad smile.

  Jenny returned the gesture and said, “Let me get you a menu of what’s available for dinner,” she said, looking at her watch. “I can just get the order in before cutoff.” As she hustled out, Lilly looked wide-eyed at Phillip and Sarge in turn.

  “He’s inside me,” she whispered with awe.

  “Say again?” Sarge asked.

  “Clint’s inside me now,” she repeated softly. “When we were in the building, it was like he was all around me. That’s why we c
ouldn’t find him; he was in the building. Specifically; he was a free spirit, attached to the walls on the floor of the building we were wandering around.” Her face was angelic in its transformation; she glowed from within and without. “I guess that’s where they took him from here, when they were trying to find out what all he knew.”

  “Knew about what?” Phillip asked.

  “Everything,” she replied. “Who the masterminds are behind all the criminal elements in Montrose City, and how things are run. Who on the police force is in on it; it goes literally all the way to the top. How the high school kids are involved and where their drugs are coming in from. It’s a massive network and city employees from all aspects of government and service are involved.”

  “And, how do you know all this?” Sarge asked.

  “Because I now know everything he does,” she explained as if it was too obvious to belabor. “They were talking about it while he was lying there dying right in front of them.” Her expression translated from beatific to fierce as she spoke. “They pumped him full of all kinds of drugs just to wake him up so they could find out how much he knew and who he had told.

  Although he never regained consciousness, he heard every word. He even heard who told them to give it up and just leave him there off life support. They knew he’d die slowly and in great pain, yet they didn’t even care to make it quick. Well, they’ll get the same consideration when I get to them.”

  “Who are they?” Phillip insisted again.

  “Let’s go somewhere safe, we have a lot to cover and very little time to do it in,” Lilly observed. “Clint is warning me they’re looking for me because they think somehow I now know more than they can allow. Well they’re right; and there’s going to be a comeuppance.”

  “Right after we get you discharged,” Phil reminded her.

  Eighteen

  “YOU BOTH NEED TO WRITE all this down,” Lilly said solemnly. “And once you do, you’re lives and the lives of your families hang in the balance. You’ve both got to figure out how to ensure if something happens to you, the information gets to someone who can do something with it to bring them all to justice.”