The Promise (28 page)

              “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.”
 

             
Elie 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.”

              “Oh yeah, did you have anything to do with what she deserved, Raven?”

              “If I did, I sure as hell wouldn’t tell you, would I, Gallagher!”

              The detective’s face turned red as he angrily reacted, “You have just become my first suspect, Raven. I will do everything I can to nail you to the wall for what you did to the Taylor girl if you are the one who made her invisible.”

              It was Raven’s turn to get mad,

“Detective dickhead, if I gave that bitch what she deserved she wouldn’t disappear. You would easily see her with her face smashed in and the rest of her limbs decorating the freshman Homecoming float at halftime.

I don’t make people go away I make them pay for what they did to the ones I love. That’s my style. You have no style. You’re a loser.

If I was working this case, I’d be ashamed of myself if I were you. You couldn’t convict a shoplifter with a refrigerator clamped to his back!.”

She spied Mick sitting on the table on her way out, “And, what is this, a troll?” She held it up near Gallagher’s face.” Nice likeness, looks like you have similar physical characteristics if you catch my drift!”

              As Gallagher stood there speechless, his raven-haired suspect stormed out of the room slamming the door so hard it shook the entire police station.

More importantly, he forgot to get her handwriting sample. Cursing under his breath he went over to the window and watched her turn around, look up at him and flip him off before she angrily strode to her car.