Chapter 35

I stood there staring at the closed elevator doors. My mind was like a fuse box with too much power pulled through it. My fuses were tripped; my lights were out and there was nobody home.

How long I stood there I had no idea. Eventually my brain started to function, and I realized I needed to take some action, I had to do something. I pulled out my cell phone, and dialed Sakol. He answered on the second ring, just as he always does with his familiar greeting, “You talk, I listen.”

There was no reason to mince words, and I told him straight out, “I just found Sharon in her bedroom, and she’s been shot. The EMT people have been here, and they’ve taken her to Harborview to the ER. She was still alive when they took her. I also found a note on my kitchen counter telling us to back off. I’m positive it’s Hollis.”

Sakol abruptly told me, “I go. Call later.” The phone went dead in my ear.

I headed down to the garage and got in my truck to head for the hospital. As always, BJ followed along. From my car phone, I called the cleaning service which takes care of my apartments and explained there was a problem in one of my units. I told them where to find the pool of blood, but I left out how it came to be there. I asked them to do the best they could, but I wanted the place cleaned up as soon as possible.

Driving to the hospital I noticed all the Christmas lights decorating people’s homes and it dawned on me tonight was Christmas Eve. It was not how I had planned to spend the evening. I’m not a religious man, but I asked God for a Christmas present for myself; I asked him to spare Sharon’s life. I know it seems selfish, but I wanted her back, alive and well. It seemed like a fair request to me.

When I walked into the emergency receiving area, Nancy, one of Sharon’s nurse buddies noticed me. She came over and greeted me and all I wanted was to ask how Sharon was doing, but I was afraid to try and speak. I didn’t want to break down in front of her. Nancy seemed to know exactly what I was going to ask, and she told me even though Sharon had lost a lot of blood, she was going to make it. The bullet had nicked a vein, but she’d made it to the ER in time.

The next thing I knew I was sitting in a chair crying, and Nancy had her arms wrapped around me, holding and comforting me. I mean, I knew I loved Sharon, but until that moment, I hadn’t realized how deep my feelings had grown. I discovered the idea of losing her was way too much for me to even comprehend. There were no words to describe how I felt; I was so grateful for Nancy’s words and that Sharon was going to pull through. I’d made an important discovery; I now realized how important she was to me.

I heard the doors to the ER waiting room swoosh open and when I looked up there were two uniformed officers standing directly in front of me with Captain Frank standing in the middle.

“Oh fuck!” I thought to myself, “Here I go; off to jail.” I started looking around the room to see if there was a way to escape. My heart was pounding, and I was positive the two officers with Frank were there to take me into custody. Instead, much to my surprise, Frank gave me a small nod and came over and sat down next to me.

Placing a hand on my knee, he asked, “Evening Matt, how is Sharon doing?”

I told him about going to Sharon’s place and finding her on the floor. He asked me how I was doing. His concern was alarming me. This was not the hardboiled police captain I thought I knew. I wanted to ask, “Where’s the old Captain Frank? What’ve you done to him?” However, I wisely kept my mouth shut. I told him I was doing as well as could be expected considering everything that was going on.

Frank pointed at the two officers still standing in front of us. “These two officers will be guarding Sharon. I’m assigning officers, twenty-four hours a day, until we catch that son of a bitch.”

“How did you know about this?” I swept my hand towards the emergency area.

“Sakol called me. He told me about Price and Hollis and everything the two of them suspect them of doing. Sakol also told me you were the one who called in Jeff getting shot last night.”

I just sat and looked at him for a moment and finally I replied, “Frank, I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. I know Jeff was shot, but you ordered me to stay away from Jeff and Sakol. How could I be the one who called in about somebody shooting him in an old warehouse? Remember?”

Frank’s dark face lit up as he smiled at me, “Yeah! Right! I forgot I told you that. Then it must’ve been somebody else who called it in. You always do what I tell you to do. Right?”

I could feel my face covered with a big grin. “Yes, sir. I wasn’t anywhere near that old warehouse down south. It couldn’t have been me.” That was my story, and I was sticking to it, at least as long as I could.

“Well,” Frank winked at me, “if you ever see the person who stuck around and called 911, please tell that person thanks.” He stood and started to give instructions to the waiting officers.

As he started out the door, I called to him, “Thanks for having some of your people watching over Sharon.”

Frank took a step back towards me and with a rueful smile, “I forgot to mention, I know Sharon. I mean professionally. There is no way you could know this, but I ended up in the ER one night. I almost died. She sat with me the entire night,” Frank’s face looked kind and gentle with his memories, “She’s very special. I feel I owe her. There’s no other way, but to take good care of her.” Frank turned to leave, and then turned back around. He smiled at me and said, “Hey, Merry Christmas.” I nodded my head. As he stepped through the door, Frank called back over his shoulder, “See ya around.” I’d always had a soft spot for Frank, and now I realized why. Beneath the gruff exterior, there really was a heart of gold. No wonder everybody who serves under him thinks the world of him.

I knew Sharon’s doctor and when he finally came out to see me, we discussed how long they expected to keep her at the hospital, and I thanked him for his time. Now that I had a few moments I stepped outside to call Sakol. “You talk, I listen.”

“It’s Matt.”

“Not now. I call later.” As I hung up, I remembered I had BJ out in the truck, and she needed to be let out. I opened the door, and she came barreling out. Then she proceeded to go around and sniff the different bushes. As I stood there waiting for her, I suddenly remembered Lan, the stripper. A couple of things came to mind regarding her. The first was how safe she was since she knew all about Hollis killing Price. I also wondered if she could, or even would, tell me about Hollis. For some reason I thought she knew where he was hiding, that is if she was still alive.

The more I thought about it, it seemed to me killing Price had snapped something inside of Hollis. He was probably already a little crazy, and the thing with Price must have completely unhinged him. He was taking anybody and everybody out he thought was involved with the two of them. I knew Walter was safe, but I wondered just how safe I was.

I got BJ back in the car and pulled out of the hospital parking lot, heading for the strip club. There wasn’t a very good chance Lan would be there since she preferred working days, but I wanted to try. If nothing else, I was hoping I could convince the bouncer to call her to see if she’d meet me somewhere. At this point, I was desperate. Just as I pulled into the parking lot of the club my cell went off, it was Sakol. “What’s up?” I asked him.

“Bodies gone. Long day. Many problems. Sorry I not talk to you. Why call?” Sakol was back to Charlie Chan again.

“Sakol, my friend over on the peninsula told me about a stripper named Lan who works at Robby’s. She knew Price, and I believe she knows Hollis as well, I am under the impression she might know where to find Hollis.”

“Wait. I come. Where you?” I told him where I was, and he told me to stay there. The club was decked out with holiday lights, and it seemed a bit tacky for a strip club to have Christmas lights. I know it’s a bit small on my part, but it was what I was feeling. Sakol must’ve run every red light and busted every speed limit there was. It seemed I’d hardly hung up the phone and locked the truck when he came wheeling into the parking lot with his blue light flashing on top of his dashboard. He didn’t bother to properly park his car; instead, he just left it sitting in front of the entrance, the light still flashing on his dash. “She here?” he asked.

“I haven’t been inside yet. Remember, you told me to wait.”

“First time obey; nice.” I laughed.

Once again, the wall of noise assailed us as we stepped into the lobby. The same bouncer was standing at the front by the velvet covered chain. The one I had a problem with last time I was there. As he stepped forward to collect our money, he recognized me. He then pointed to the door, and I could make out his lips saying, “Get out!”