Chapter 4

Sandy parked behind Pete's cruiser, and then she and Sammy went to the front door of Barbara and Bobby's house where Pete was waiting.

"Thanks for coming, guys," said Pete. "Do you have the key?" he asked Sammy.

"Yes," she replied, digging for it in her purse while Sandy glared at Pete.

"What's going on, Pete?" Sandy asked.

"May I just have the key please?" he replied, holding his hand out to Sammy. With a questioning glance at Sandy, she handed over the key to Pete.

"Alright," said Pete, "Julie's on the way to the hospital. When I saw her, she was unconscious on the floor of her bedroom with blood all over her face."

"Oh no!" exclaimed Sammy.

"The medics were getting her stable for transport, and they seemed optimistic about her."

"Thank god," breathed Sandy.

"I wanted your key to see if Bobby is in here. He was seen running from the scene as I drove up. And just before I left the wedding... well, I heard Julie and Bobby in a screaming match, which finished with Julie telling him to stay away from her. But obviously he went to her place uninvited anyway. I'd like to get a chance to question him without calling in more cops, to get his side of the story."

"I guess that makes sense," said Sandy reluctantly. "I'm sure there's a good explanation."

"I need you to go back to your car and wait there," said Pete.

"Why?" asked Sandy. "We can help convince him to come out."

Pete appeared to be having an internal debate for a moment. Then he said softly, "Sandy, the medics working on Julie said they saw Bobby had a gun when he ran off. I can't risk you being too close, until I know it's safe."

Sandy was startled, but stood her ground. "Well, we'll stay outside right here then," she replied. "We can help call for him."

Pete frowned at her for a moment, before reluctantly nodding. After that, he drew his gun from his belt and held it pointing straight up as he prepared to unlock the door with his other hand.

"What the fuck are you doing?" demanded Sammy in alarm.

"Pete, put that away!" exclaimed Sandy. "You're scaring me! If you're looking for Bobby you don't need that!"

Pete glared at them. 'They're going to tell me how to do my job? The kid had a gun for god's sake!' he thought.

"Just go back to your car, please?" he asked again.

Sammy said hurriedly, "You do not have my permission to go into our house!"

"Doesn't matter when in hot pursuit of a suspect," he replied. With that he opened the door and stepped inside.

Sandy then asked, "Suspect for what? Jesus Christ, Pete, what..."

"Bobby Taylor!" Pete yelled loudly into the house. "This is the police! Put your hands on your head, interlock your fingers, and come here at once!"

Sandy and Sammy stared at Pete's back in shock, as he waited for a response. He turned to them and said curtly, "Stay here!"

He then crept into the house and began searching it, room by room, calling out for Bobby to come out before entering each room. Sandy and Sammy stood hugging each other, hearing Pete calling for Bobby, and dreading each time that they would then hear a gunshot.

Eventually Pete came downstairs and holstered his pistol. "He's been here," he said. "The dress clothes he wore to the wedding are on his bed."

"Now what?" demanded Sandy.

"With what the paramedics saw at the scene, him hiding a gun on his person, then running away as I approached, and then finding that he came here and changed clothes before disappearing again... I don't have any choice but to conclude Bobby assaulted her and ran away to avoid capture."

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" exclaimed Sandy. "Bobby's been looking after Julie, not threatening her."

"They recently broke up, didn't they?" asked Pete, with no inflection or emotion in his voice at all.

"Yes, but they're still friends," Sammy insisted. "Bobby would sooner hurt himself than hurt Julie. He and I are probably her best friends. And there is no way he would ever hit her, or even touch her if she didn't want him to. That's one of the first things you learn in karate training."

"And he for sure wouldn't have a gun for god sakes!" added Sandy.

"I'm sorry," said Pete. "I'm just going on the evidence that's in front of me. It all points to Bobby."

"Didn't you hear what we just said?" asked Sandy incredulously.

Pete's shoulders slumped a little. 'This was why cops have such a high divorce rate, ' he thought sadly. 'Civilians can never understand what people, even people you think you know, are really capable of.'

"You're emotionally involved," said Pete stiffly, as he turned to head for his car. "I can't afford to be."

"Goddamn it Pete, this is insane!" screamed Sandy after him.

Pete got into his car without looking back, and sped off down the street.

The Medic One truck made good time getting Julie to the hospital emergency room. The staff there noted that the paramedic's report included a possible cocaine overdose, and they began a battery of tests to identify what all she might have taken.

Even from the brief time she'd been hooked up to the truck's vital signs monitoring, and now with the ER's gear, they could see that the young girl was getting stronger and more stable by the minute.

"God bless the recovery power of youth," thought the attending physician. He expected to have the toxicology report on her shortly. With that information he was confident they could make even more progress.

Sammy and Sandy stood in the kitchen of Barbara and Sammy's home, wondering what they should do. Bobby didn't carry a cell phone, and they had no idea where he might have gone.

Then Sammy noticed that the laptop computer was displaying a screen saver, scrolling through pictures of various scenes of the French Quarter in New Orleans. She had spent enough time in the house with Barbara and Bobby to know they usually powered down the computer when they left the house. She also knew their screensavers didn't lock out access. They just changed the picture every few minutes to prevent a constant image from burning into the screen.