Chapter 32

Waking up, I noticed two things. One of them was Sharon’s naked, lush body nestled against me and the other was a ringing phone next to my head. I reached out to answer it. I still wasn’t completely awake, and I moaned something into the mouthpiece. I recognized Sakol’s voice, and I heard him say, “Matt?” I grunted affirmatively. “It’s Sakol.” Again, I grunted. I knew who it was, I just wasn’t ready to acknowledge anybody yet. “Jeff’s at Harborview. He is in the ER, and he was found shot in a warehouse down in Auburn, south of Seattle. The person who called in the shooting took off after the medics and police arrived. Do you know anything about any of this?”

Of course, I knew all about it, but I’d hardly let him know. I was happy to hear Sakol say he was in the ER. To me it meant Jeff was still alive. My mind raced for the proper response. After a moment I mumbled, “How’s he doing? Will he be all right?”

“They’re operating on him as we speak. He was shot twice. One bullet went through his leg, but the other was a front entry, and that’s the one they’re concerned about. Without an operation, they don’t know how much damage he’s sustained.”

“Is there anything I can do?” I asked.

Sakol paused a moment, “Jeff called me when he got home last night and told me you were waiting for him near his house. He told me about your conversation, and I want you to know we’ve been working on the two names you gave us, but we haven’t told Frank about anything. If he knew where the names came from, we’d all be toast. I think after we find out what the prognosis is on Jeff, you and I need to talk.

“Oh ... by the way, I’m warning you now, Frank wants me to pick you up and take you down to the station.”

“Why?” I was wide awake now and I could feel Sharon stirring beside me.

“Frank thinks you might have had something to do with the shooting this evening. He doesn’t think you did it, but he believes you know who might have. He also thinks you could have prevented it. I don’t know what to tell him. When Jeff called me, he told me he was waiting for a phone call, but he didn’t tell me from whom. Keep in mind Frank’s the boss and I need to do what he says.”

I shouted so loud Sharon put her hand on my shoulder and made a shushing sound. “What! How could he think something like that?”

“Matt, you have to admit that with all that’s gone down and with your involvement, Frank’s just covering the bases. Be grateful he isn’t aware of Price and Hollis. I would have a difficult time covering for you then.”

“OK, Sakol,” I paused for a moment, “you tell me.

What do you think?”

“Matt, we are having this conversation because I don’t believe you had anything to do with Jeff, or with Slim or the other shooting. If I did, well, let’s just say we’d be having our little chat at the station. For what it’s worth, I’m just warning you Frank’s on the warpath. He’s getting a lot of heat from above, I mean way above I you understand what I mean, and he wants to make sure you’re not in the way. In addition, the military putting up a stone wall around you and Price and Hollis hasn’t helped his attitude, either.”

“OK, I understand. Thanks! I really do appreciate it. I’m going to get dressed and head over to Harborview immediately.”

“I’m there now. I’ll see you in a few—”

When I heard the phone click in my ear, I headed to the bathroom and quickly brushed my teeth and my hair. As I dressed, I explained to Sharon some of what Sakol had told me. I asked her to watch BJ for me and I’d try and call when I got a chance. She told me she’d stay in touch with the nursing staff and let me know anything she found out.

I drove across town to Harborview and as I was speeding through the empty early morning streets, it suddenly hit me. I’d just finished a conversation with Sakol and to my surprise, I hadn’t heard any sign of an accent. In fact, he’d used complete sentences and not once had I heard his familiar broken English. There was no question he’d fooled me all this time. Evidently, having to deal with Jeff L.’s shooting had made him forget his little act. If possible, I was even more impressed with him than before.

When I arrived at the hospital, I entered through emergency, and I saw Sakol standing in the hall talking to a man dressed in scrubs. As I approached, I overheard Sakol ask, “Any way you can be more specific?”

I assumed the man in scrubs was either the surgeon or Jeff L.’s doctor. The doctor replied, “I think by tomorrow evening, but maybe earlier.” The doctor looked down at his wristwatch, “I mean sometime this evening. We’ll have a better idea then if there’ll be any permanent damage. All in all, it seems he’s in good health and he’s resting as comfortably as we can expect.”

Sakol turned to me as the doctor left, “One bullet went through his leg and the other entered through the right side. There’s been some damage, but as you just heard, by tonight we should know just how bad, or how good things are.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“Jeff called me after he saw you near his house, and we do need to talk about that. I know about Hollis and Price and how you got the information. He told me after dinner he had one lead he wanted to follow up because he thought he might know somebody who’d know where to find this Hollis person.”

“You think Hollis did this?”

“It hard tell, look like...”

I noticed Sakol was lapsing into his funny way of speaking. I had to mention it. “What’s with your speech?”

“What mean?”

“What mean, bullshit. Sakol, your English is perfect! Why do you talk like someone who just got off the boat?”

“Not understanding, explain please.” He grinned, looking up at me.

“Let me take a guess. When you talk to people as if you barely understand English, people tend to underestimate you, and that’s just what you want?”

His answer was another of his grins. All I could do was grin back at him. It was a very clever ruse. When somebody can’t speak your language well, there is a tendency to think of them as either a little slow or perhaps a bit stupid. For a time, I have to admit, I too thought he wasn’t the brightest light in the harbor. But I’d also seen him figure things out far too quickly for somebody who is stupid. My estimation of him just continued to grow by leaps and bounds.

“Can we talk, and you and I’ll be totally honest with each other? Nobody will ever know about this conversation. Is that possible?”

“Possible, we try.”

“And can we cool it with the Charlie Chan act for a few minutes?”

“Possible ... we try.” Sakol responded again, but he grinned at me.

“Since I don’t know what Jeff L. told you, I’ll tell you what my friend told me about the two of them. I proceeded to tell Sakol about Walter and why he knew them so well. Because Sakol knew I had the picture of Price from the morgue I shared with him I’d shown the picture to Walter, and he’d identified Price. I mentioned the stripper who was supposed to know Price and Hollis and the reason that Walter had shared with me. I ended my story with the question, “Why is everybody so pissed at me? You know I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Sakol looked at me and I could see in his eyes he was trying to decide just how much he wished to confide in me. After a pause, he started, “First, thank you for sharing what you learned from your friend. That explains a lot. You already know Frank is upset with us, Jeff and me, and with you. In a way, he feels you’re the reason the military came and took away the body and the records of the shooting behind your place. But with what you just told me, I can see why the military would intervene.”