Amanda's Blue Marine (18 page)
Read Amanda's Blue Marine Online
Authors: Doreen Owens Malek
He shrugged. "That's not the way the force sees it. I disregarded a superior's directive and ignored the chain of command. I bolted and acted without orders. I broke a lot of rules and they aren’t happy about it. It’s like the service. It’s all about obedience and respecting your superiors. You flout the protocol, you pay for it.”
Mandy couldn't believe what he was saying. He was going to get into trouble for rescuing her? "So what's going to happen to you?"
“I’ll be fine. I’ve got a PBA attorney to represent me.”
“I should never have contacted you. I should have just let 911 handle it.”
“If you had done that you’d be dead right now. As soon as Cameron got wind of any kind of official response he would have killed you. The only way to handle it was for me to sneak up on him alone.”
“But now you’re in the hot seat. What’s coming next?”
He waved his hand dismissively. "Nothing," he said. "It's all to demonstrate to the rank and file that they're going by the book. I got a call tonight saying that the mayor is awarding me some medal for heroism. They can hardly drape a medal around my neck and can me at the same time." He was grinning.
“Heroism?” Mandy said.
“What? I’m not a hero?” Now he was laughing openly.
"What kind of medal?"
He looked puzzled. "Congressional Medal of Honor? Pushcart Prize? Chevalier de France? Palme D'Or? Academy Award? Golden Globe?"
"Kelly, be serious. I’m worried about this.”
"Don't give it a thought. The Commissioner has his panties in a bunch because protocol was ignored but on the whole the episode makes the force look good. He'll get over it."
Mandy asked the question she’d been avoiding. “Was anybody else hurt in the fire? Besides Banks?”
“Cameron didn’t see the two cops downstairs so they were okay. There were six people trapped on the lower floor and we got them out in time.”
“How did Cameron get into the building?”
“The building is really old and the basement has passages that run into the sewer system. Cameron worked cleaning the sewers one summer and knew the layout. That’s why he came after you at work, he knew how to get inside the building without being seen.”
“How did you finally get him, Kelly?” Mandy said quietly. She had promised herself that she wouldn’t ask but the question kept nagging her.
Kelly looked at her a few seconds, as if deciding whether he should answer, then said, “I couldn’t carry an arsenal with me if I came alone. I had to come alone because I couldn’t wait for authorization or get anyone else implicated in it with me. I just brought my service pistol, a 9mm Beretta with an eight bullet clip, and I didn’t realize until I got there that the place was on fire. I couldn’t see well enough in that thick smoke haze to get off any clean shots. And Cameron was very skilled at evasion tactics. I could only hope to wound him.”
“I don’t know how you managed to hit him at all. I couldn’t see anything.”
Kelly was silent and she realized that he would stop there unless she prodded him.
“Tell me the rest,” she said simply.
“He brought plenty of firepower but he was hurt in his shooting arm and off his game, tiring badly and losing a lot of blood. I never would have been able to get close enough to kill him otherwise. I knew that it was going to come down to hand to hand combat so I tracked him down and finished him.”
“How did you finish him?” Amanda asked.
Kelly didn’t answer.
“Tell me.”
“I kicked him here,” he said, gesturing to the center spot right under his own chin, “to snap his head back and break his neck. And I chopped him here,” he indicated the side of his throat, “to hit the carotid as he fell.”
“Which killed him?”
“Each blow should have been fatal. I hit him twice to make sure.”
Amanda felt slightly sick. “Who was helping him, hiding him?” she asked.
“Some waitress he hooked up with at the country club where the MD benefit was held. He was working there as a temp busboy. She wasn’t one of his previous contacts so we didn’t know about her. He was too smart to go back to his old stomping grounds.”
“What will happen to her as a result of her involvement with Cameron?” Mandy asked.
“Nothing good,” Kelly replied.
Mandy looked unhappy. “Aiding and abetting I suppose. She may not even have known what he was up to and now she’ll go to jail.”
“She’s better off getting away from him. He was a really bad guy, you know that. If she wasn’t aware of what he was doing she’ll be treated leniently.”
Mandy nodded.
He paused and then added suddenly, “I should tell you that internal affairs will be coming here to question you soon.”
“Here? In the hospital?”
“Yeah, they respond quickly before anybody forgets anything.”
“Who will it be questioning me?”
“Two guys from the IA investigation team.”
“I know that can’t be good for you,” Mandy said slowly. “It means they think you did something wrong, or they’re looking into it.”
“They’re investigating just what I told you,” he said, avoiding her gaze. “The procedural stuff, ignoring orders, taking the car and the ammunition, all the things I said that I did.”
“And?” She knew him well enough to know when he was hedging.
He let out a breath explosively. “They’re going to ask you if I was having an affair with you.”
“And I will tell them you were not,” she replied simply.
His aqua eyes blazed into hers. He said nothing.
“I’ll tell them you never touched me,” she added sanctimoniously.
He laughed shortly and shook his head. “Don’t do that, Amanda. They’ve seen you, they’ve seen us together, and they saw what I did in order to get Cameron. They’re not going to believe that there was nothing between us. Manning has already talked to me about it.”
“About what?”
“He asked me, point blank, if I was…” He stopped.
“Doing me?” Amanda asked dryly.
“That’s not exactly how he put it,” Kelly said.
“How did he put it?”
Kelly raised his brows. “I think he knew the answer before he asked the question, he’s been my boss for a while, but he had to mention it because could see that we were…”
“Involved mentally if not physically?” Amanda asked.
Kelly hesitated, then nodded, flushing painfully.
“Having an emotional affair?” Amanda inquired bluntly, pushing him to answer.
He looked at her a protracted moment and then replied, “Yeah, I guess. Whatever that means.”
“You know exactly what it means,” Amanda said, and he didn’t dispute her.
“Just tell the truth,” he repeated.
“I’m afraid that anything I say could make things worse for you,” Mandy said, distressed.
“Tell them what you remember of what happened. Answer their questions honestly. The fact is we never slept together. Wanting to isn’t the same thing as doing it or half the population would be under arrest.” He paused and looked down, then up at her. “Just be especially careful what you say to my boss.”
“Why?”
“Manning thinks that you’ll lie for me.”
“Manning’s right.”
Kelly closed his eyes. “Please don’t tell me that. If you start playing with the facts they’ll know it. They’re interrogation experts, do you understand? Didn’t you learn anything about giving testimony in law school?”
“Answer only what is asked specifically and narrowly. Don’t volunteer anything.”
“Good. Stick to that and you’ll be fine.”
Mandy still looked unhappy.
“What?” he said, reading her expression.
“Your career could be on the line because of what you did for me and I want to help you. Can’t I at least assist your PBA attorney with your case?”
“No, Amanda. I told you, they’re not going to do anything to me. The questioning is just a formality. They will look like idiots if they kick the local hero off the force. Commissioner Foster is a PR genius. He knows just how to play this- he’ll go through the motions of an investigation but he’ll make sure it comes out the way he wants.”
A night nurse stuck her head in the door and said to Kelly, “Should you be here? It’s the middle of the night and Miss Redfield needs her rest.”
“Please let him stay,” Mandy begged. “I’m not tired. Seeing him is helping me recover, I promise.”
“A few minutes more,” the nurse said, and padded off down the corridor.
“Nurse Ratched,” Kelly observed.
“Don’t change the subject,” Mandy said.
“The subject is closed. Tell the truth.”
Mandy didn’t agree but recognized that she wouldn’t get any more out of him.
He glanced at the bottom of the sheet covering her legs.
"How's your ankle?" he asked.
"Not a problem. They've given me so many happy pills I don't know where my feet are any more."
"It's not broken," Kelly said. "I talked to your doctor while you were asleep. They took a picture of it with a portable x-ray and he says it's just a bad sprain. You'll need to wear a brace for a few days but after that, nothing."
She nodded.
"So it's over," he said soberly.
She knew he wasn't referring only to the life of James Cameron.
"Where did you get that hoodie?" she asked, diverting him again.
"My brother Mike runs a martial arts school. I instruct a class on Wednesday nights and Saturday afternoons."
"And the T shirt?" she asked.
"Also my brother Mike. The Gaelic on it means ‘a hundred thousand welcomes.’"
Mandy nodded. “I know.”
"How do you know?"
"I looked it up when I saw it on one of your shirts. Caed is for one hundred and mille is for one thousand. Failte is a greeting, like 'hello'."
He looked at her in the darkened room, his light eyes flashing in his artificially reddened face. "You know a lot of things, Amanda."
“I know I’d be dead right now if it weren’t for you,” Mandy said quietly.
He held her gaze but said nothing.
Mandy picked up his hand where it lay on the top of her railing and held it to her cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Again he was silent, watching her, then closing his eyes when she turned his hand and kissed his palm.
"I know something else. I know I miss you so badly that I'd break the other ankle to get you to sit closer to me."
He looked down and didn't answer.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I'm heavily drugged and I almost died and I just don't care if I make a fool of myself."
"You're not making a fool of yourself," he replied, breaking his silence.
"Then come over here and hold me." Her voice was quavering.
He got up and lowered the railing at the side of her bed. He climbed over it like a spider monkey and lay down next to her. When he slipped his arm under her shoulders she turned against his chest and closed her eyes.
"Get some rest, Red," he said softly, his free hand caressing her hair. "You've had a tough time of it."
When the floor nurse came back half an hour later she saw them curled up like puppies in the bed, asleep, Kelly's arms around Mandy protectively. The nurse thought about waking them and telling the visitor to get out of the bed.
Then she sighed and left the patient's cup of pills on the nightstand. Taking Mandy's vital signs could wait until later.
The entwined couple were obviously an item and she didn't want to disturb them when they looked so peaceful.
7
The next morning Mandy was drinking a cup of watered down hospital coffee when Karen appeared in the doorway.
"Well, I always said you'd do anything for attention," Karen announced.
Mandy put down the cup and smiled. "I might have known you'd get here first,” she said.
“I talked to your mother on the phone last night. She says that you’re fine. Are you really fine, or does that just mean you’re fine enough to fight with her? She seemed somewhat perturbed.”
“I’m sure she is. She’ll get over it.”
"So? Where's Himself?" Karen asked, looking around the room brightly.
"Who?"
"The Man of the Hour, the Hero Cop, don't you read the papers?" She indicated the stack of newspapers she held under her arm.