Chapter 8

Barb looked back and saw that they were out of sight of the doors.

"Let's go ahead and get you taken care of Mr. Jacobs. It will take them quite a while to get the shit back there cleared up. By the time they get to looking for us we may be done. X-ray is down this way."

Barb then noticed that she and Ken were not alone. "Pardon me miss, may I help you?"

"I'm staying with Ken; every time I let him get away bad shit happens."

Barb looked over at Ken with raised eyebrows, "I thought you said that you didn't have a girlfriend?"

"I don't, Connie is a friend and co-worker at the lodge."

Connie was behind him looking at the nurse with a serious expression slowly shaking her head back and forth.

"Oookaayy." Barb turned and led the way to the X-ray room.

Back in the waiting room things were more than a little tense.

Three police officers were standing in the doorway pointing their guns at Marcia. Into this setting strode the Public Safety Director for the city of Carmel-by-the-sea; Elizabeth Turrington.

"Marcia Friedman, what the hell are you doing?"

"Hello Beth, I wondered if you would show up. I'm keeping control of these hoodlums; they broke in here and shot one of your people. I'm not going to put this gun down until they are restrained so you had best get your people over there."

"What about the man on the floor? He doesn't look like he would be much of a threat."

"He's the one who shot Officer Billy, Beth."

Chief Turrington waved two officers over to secure the men under discussion. "Now would you like to tell me what is going on?"

"Don't say anything else Mrs. Friedman, and where is Mr. Jacobs?" The lawyer from Marta's firm had arrived. He was a tall reedy type with glasses dressed flawlessly in a pinstripe grey suit with a bright blue tie and carrying a briefcase.

"Hello Wilbur, I am glad to see you. Ken is getting his arm x-rayed. Are you aware of what happened out at the lodge?"

"Yes ma'am, I am. My brother Wilbur is out there keeping Mrs. Horne out of trouble. Walter Neilson at your service Ma'am."

"My apologies Walter. Are you and Wilbur twins?"

"Yes ma'am, don't worry about it; happens all the time. Now I need to talk to you for a minute in private before you answer any more questions from the police. I'm sure you understand Chief."

"Yes, I do. If Marcia will just hand me that gun you two can step outside and talk for a minute. I've got a bunch of people in here who can tell me the events of the last few minutes."

"Be sure you ask those crooks what they have to do with Donny Drake, Beth. While they were robbing us they said something about taking off to Mexico with him."

"Thanks Marcia, I will."

Marcia handed the gun to Beth, "This belongs to the man on the ground, he used it to shoot your officer." Marcia then led Walter outside and off to a private little alcove.

Inside The hospital Beth started her questioning of the suspects; she pulled one of the men off to the side and spoke to one of her officers. "Hey John, see if you can get someone to look after that guy on the floor, he doesn't look too good right now." Turning to the man she held, "You, on the other hand, don't seem to have any problems other than participation in the commission of a felony. You want to tell me what this is all about and what connection you have with Donny Drake?"

"I'm Eddie Cullen, Donny and David Drake are guys I hang out with sometimes. David is Donny's brother; he's in the red shirt over there. If I tell you what I know, can you do anything for me?"

"That depends on what you tell me. I can guarantee that if you talk to me it will go easier on you than it will on the others."

"Okay, I'll give it a try. Here's what happened. We were down at the Ranch Club drinking and this dark skinned Mexican gal comes in. Donny said that she wasn't getting away from him tonight; he was going to get some from the half-breed. He tried dancing with her and she told him off; so then he stopped every one else from going over to ask her to dance. When she saw what he was doing she just packed up and left. Donny told us to hang loose and then he followed her out.

"The next thing we know is about an hour or so later Donny calls Jerry and says that he had to knock out a doctor, and he'll pay us good if we can get him out of the ER. He said that there was a cop in the waiting room; we'd have to take care of him. We piled into Jerry's car and came over here. As soon as we walked in Jerry pulled a gun and shot the cop.

"I swear I had no idea that he was going to do something like that. Donny has a lot of money and he pays good, but I would never have signed on for something like that. Anyway, David took the cop's gun and headed down the hall to find his brother. We started taking wallets and purses from the folks in the waiting room for something to do. The next thing we hear a crash from down the hall, then a few minutes later Jerry falls and there is this fucking barbarian standing over him holding Jerry's gun telling us to go stand in the corner.

"We do what he says and then he gives the gun to this woman and tells her only to shoot us if we fuck up. Conan took off with a nurse and the babe Donny was after, then you came in. Is that good enough to help? That's all I know."

"Yeah Eddie, I'll do what I can for you. Now go outside with this officer and wait for us in the car while I check what you said with the others."

Outside Walter was being brought up to date by Marcia.

"Okay Mrs. Friedman, I don't see where you are going to have any problems from this. You haven't done anything anyone would have a problem with or try to sue you for. Mr. Jacobs, on the other hand, is in serious need of assistance. The altercation out at the lodge shouldn't cause much trouble because he stopped as soon as the assailant was no longer a threat. His actions here seem to be more in the line of a vigilante than pure self protection though. The legal ramifications of that can be quite extensive. I need to get together with him and be present whenever he talks to the authorities. You do realize ma'am that this is going to take time and money to do. Defending Mr. Jacobs is not your or Mrs. Horne's responsibility."

"I don't like the sound of that Walter. Ken has saved our lives and tonight I am sure that he saved at least Consuela's and probably several more. There is no way that Marta or I are going to drop him on a public defender. You and the whole law firm if necessary are going to keep our employee from suffering for his actions in our defense, do I make myself clear, Walter?"

"Completely Mrs. Friedman, and I am pleased that you have. I was hoping you would say that, but I had to give you the option. Now, do you think that you could distract Mrs. Turrington while I locate and brief Mr. Jacobs?"