Out For Justice (15 page)

“Yes, that means you.”

“You weren’t so bad yourself. I think I lost consciousness at one point.”

“Okay. Now you can move. My leg’s falling asleep.” Karen shifted her hips to alleviate the pressure.

“Sorry about that.” Mike rolled off Karen and lay next to her. He dropped a hand to her head and gently played with her hair.

“Don’t be. If I had my way, we’d be joined at the hips from now on.”

“That would make it kind of hard to work, don’t you think?”

Karen giggled. “Yeah, I guess it would.” She thought for a minute then said, “Okay. You are excused for work.”

Mike chuckled along with her. “You’re so kind.”

“Seriously, though. You had this thing about work. Was this just a one-time deal or are we…” Karen stopped talking when she saw the look in Mike’s eyes.

Mike stroked the side of Karen’s face with his fingers. “I hope we’re starting something special here.”

“Me too.”

“We’ll deal with work, however we have to. I know you’ll have erratic hours and the same with me. We’ll see each other when we can. We’ll be with each other as much as possible. We won’t let work get in the way of what we have here, okay?”

“Okay.” Karen threw her arms around Mike’s neck and hugged him. “I knew I saw something special in you.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t get you out of my mind either.”

“No?”

“Nope. Especially after we went running that morning.” Mike trailed his finger down Karen’s face to her neck and then over her breast. “You fill out a pair of running shorts quite nicely.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Even though it was Saturday, Karen checked in at the office and got caught up giving out status reports to everyone she met about Sam. She broke away from all the talk and went in search of her lieutenant.

Karen stood outside his office door. “Lt. Santiago, I’d like to talk to you.”

“Get in here, Sykes. I need to talk to you too.”

“Yes, sir.” Karen walked into the lieutenant’s office and sat in one of the chairs across from where he sat behind his desk.

“You want to stay on the Hunt case, right?”

“Absolutely. I’ve invested a lot of hours on this case and I know I can find Thomas. He can’t just disappear. I’ll get someone to tell me where he’s at.” Karen’s knee bounced up and down with pent up energy. “Just don’t take me off the case.”

“Don’t worry. You’re still on it. But I’m going to assign you another senior detective.”

Karen’s face went white. She stared at her boss. “But Sam… He’s not… I mean, I don’t… You know…” She tossed up her hands in frustration.

“Take it easy, Sykes. Sam’s in the hospital. He could be there for a long time. We don’t know the extent of the damage yet. You’ll need a senior officer to assist you with procedures. Sam trained Hendricks. I’ve already talked to him. He’ll make himself available for you. I want you to catch this son of a bitch as much as you do. We’re all on the lookout for him.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Now go find Hendricks and let him know I talked to you.”

Karen stood up and turned to leave.

“And, Sykes?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful out there.”

“No problem. I’m serious, sir. I’m going to find him.”

Karen walked out of her lieutenant’s office and made her way to Hendricks’ desk. He was waiting for her.

Karen held out her hand. “I’m Karen Sykes. I guess I’ll be working with you.”

Hendricks shook Karen’s hand and motioned for her to take a seat. “Call me John. I’ve seen you around with Sam. I’m sorry about that.”

Karen nodded her head.

“Tell me about the case you’re working on. Lieutenant said something about it, but not much.”

Karen leaned forward in her chair. “A four-year-old boy was found murdered in the Hamilton Davis Park Campground. Not a lot of clues, but we did get lucky with a fingerprint. We got a match to one Raymond Alan Thomas. Long term criminal out on probation. We find out his current address, but can’t seem to catch him at home. He has a woman living there; she’s in the hospital right now as well. Apparently he beat her up pretty badly when he assaulted Sam.”

“You know it was him?”

“According to the woman. She named him. Now it’s my turn to find him and bring him in.”

“Any leads?”

“I know where he hangs out, and with whom. I just gotta lean on them a little harder.”

“Any chance you can get more information out of this woman?” Hendricks shifted in his seat. “Do you think she’s covering for this guy?”

“That’s always a possibility, but if you saw her face, you wouldn’t think so. Not after what he did to her. But I’ll run by the hospital and talk to her again. She might have remembered something after all.” Karen made a move to stand up.

Hendricks motioned her to stay seated. “I don’t want to get in your way, Sykes. I know how important this case is to you. But I don’t want you running out there half cocked. I’m here for you, okay? You get a good lead on where this character might be hiding, don’t try and take him alone. I’ll go with you along with some back up patrol, okay?”

“Okay. I hear you.” Karen stood up and made her way to the doorway. She turned back and said, “I’m going to go back to the hospital and see if I can get more information out of Maggie Morris. Then I’ll check on Sam and see how he’s doing.”

“Good idea.” Hendricks picked up a report off his desk and scanned it quickly. “Remember, I’m here for you.”

“Thanks.” Karen turned and left Hendricks’ office. She stopped at her desk to check for messages then went out into the blazing sun to get into her car and drive to University Hospital.

At the hospital information desk she asked for Maggie Morris’ room and was given directions. In a matter of minutes, she was on and off the elevator and walking into Maggie’s room. A nurse was taking Maggie’s blood pressure as Karen walked in. “Can I help you?”

“I’m here to see Maggie Morris,” Karen said as she nodded to the blonde woman in the bed. It looked as if Maggie was sleeping. Her eyes were closed.

“Are you a friend or family?” The nurse finished with the blood pressure monitor and released the Velcro strap. She wrapped it up and tucked it under her arm.

Karen showed the nurse her badge. “I’m here to ask Maggie some questions about her attack.”

“Maggie? There’s a police officer here to see you.” The nurse talked directly to the woman in the hospital bed as if she were a small child.

Maggie opened her eyes slowly. She lifted a hand to carefully touch her swollen mouth. “Who?”

“It’s Detective Sykes, Maggie,” Karen said. She stepped forward so that Maggie could get a better look at her.

 “Who?” Maggie asked, blinking first at Karen then at the nurse.

“I don’t understand,” Karen said to the nurse. “What’s wrong with her? She knew who I was yesterday.”

“Let’s step outside, shall we?” The nurse motioned for Karen to leave the room. Once outside in the hallway, she turned to Karen and said, “We think it is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She’s been through a very traumatic event. Sometimes people aren’t able to recall those events for a while, or sometimes never.”

“She’s a very important witness. She’s gotta remember.”

“I understand, Detective. Maggie will be working with the staff psychologist to help her recall as much of the event as possible. She’ll need time.”

“Time is what we don’t have a lot of right now.” Karen balled up her fists and shoved them in the pockets of her blazer. Frustrated, she thanked the nurse for her time and turned and left. Angrily, she punched at the elevator down button.

Not bothering to see what surrounded her, Karen followed the directions to the Intensive Care Unit with her mind in a funk. She wondered what else could go wrong today. After giving her name to the nurse at the nurse’s station, Karen waited in the small waiting room for Mrs. Anderson.

“Detective Sykes?” Mrs. Anderson walked into the waiting room.

Karen studied her carefully. It looked as if Mrs. Anderson had gained a second wind. She looked stronger today, more sure of herself. “How’s Sam?”

“About the same.” She patted Karen’s arm and then said, “Thank you for coming.” She motioned for Karen to sit in one of the chairs flanking a small table, and then sat in the other. “The doctors still aren’t positive that Sam’s paralysis is permanent. They say they’ll know for sure when the swelling goes down.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know, dear. I’m sure if Sam were awake he’d tell you not to worry about him.” With restless hands, Mrs. Anderson picked at the front of her light blue sweater.

“Any chance he’ll wake up soon?”

“The doctors say that the swelling in his brain will go down. It’s just going to take time. They say that in cases like this, the patient usually wakes up once they reduce the swelling. There’s just no set time for it to happen. We’ll just pray that it works for Sam.”

“It will.” Karen slapped her fist against her knee. “It has to.”

“Yes, it will, I have faith. We just have to be patient and wait for the healing to begin.”

“I’ll come back again, if I may?” Karen asked.

“You’re welcome anytime.” Mrs. Anderson stood. “I want to get back in there. I don’t like to leave him alone for long.”

Karen stood, gave Sam’s wife a hug, and left before she broke down in tears. It was too sad for her to bear.

It wasn’t easy for Karen to leave the hospital without any new information. She was frustrated and it showed in the way she aggressively drove back to the office. On the way, she stopped to pick up lunch and breaking one of her own rules for her car, she ate her cheeseburger and fries while driving.

Upset, she stormed into the warehouse and dared anyone within a hundred yards to get in her way. Other officers and detectives obviously saw the dark cloud hovering over Karen’s head and stepped quickly to get out of her path.

 Only Hendricks ignored her turbulent presence and followed her to her desk. “So, what happened?”

“You don’t want to know.” Karen tossed her purse into a desk drawer and slammed it shut.

“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to know. Cut the temper tantrum and tell me what’s going on.”

Rebuked, Karen lifted her chin and stared at her temporary partner. “Fine.” Crossing her arms across her chest, she sat back in her chair. “Nothing’s changed with Sam. He’s the same. But plenty has changed with Maggie Morris. Seems she’s suffering from some post traumatic stress thing and can’t remember what happened to her. There goes my one witness who I was relying on to move this case forward. With Sam in a coma there wasn’t anyone else there who could tell me what happened.”

“Stress? That can be a temporary thing, right?”

“Yeah. Maybe.” Karen uncrossed her arms and threw them up in frustration. “I don’t know. I talked to a nurse. She said that Maggie’s working with a psychologist to sort it all out.”

“So this is just a temporary setback. Don’t let it get you down.”

Karen pulled out the Hunt file she’d been working on and sifted through the papers. Hesitating, she let her hand hover over the drawing of the flowchart she’d copied down the day she worked with Sam. She handed it to Hendricks and said, “Look at this. Tell me what I’m missing here.”

Hendricks took the paper and studied it carefully. He glanced over at Karen as she waited for him to speak up. “Looks like you need to find out where Thomas is and bring him in for questioning. Next, you need to get an ID on this John Doe.”

“I’m waiting on word from the Crime Techs. They say that FDLE is backed up right now and will get to it as soon as they can.” Karen sighed. “Looks like it’s back down to Nebraska Avenue and checking with Thomas’ buddies to see if they’ve seen him lately.”

“Sounds good. Just let me get my things and I’ll meet you out front.”

“You driving?”

“Of course, why do you even ask?”

Karen laughed. “You guys are all alike.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Mike Connelly took off the latex gloves he’d been wearing and tossed them into the nearest trashcan. After making the shot, he threw his fist into the air and shouted, “Score!”

“Damn it, Mike, you’re gonna scare me to death one of these days, you know that?” Susan jumped and held her gloved hand to her heart. She had been leaning over a table of evidence.

“Sorry about that,” Mike said.

“Wait a minute.” Susan held out her hand. “You’re sorry?” She put her hand on her hip. “Just like that, you’re sorry? Boy, what’s gotten in to you today?” Susan held up her hand and waved it at Mike. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. She’s about five foot five, short brown hair. You made it with the detective, didn’t you?”

Mike shifted his gaze and tried not to smile. He stared at a spot on the wall above Susan’s head. “Well, we had another date last night.”

“Uh huh. Tell Auntie Sue all about it. What’d you do, where’d you go?” Susan motioned for Mike to talk.

“I cooked her dinner at my place.”

“Your place. Hmmmmm. Women really go for that kind of treatment. Did you do it right? Used real dishes? Made more than one course?”

“Yes, yes, and yes.” Mike laughed. Then his face grew serious. “It’d been a hard day for her. You know about Sam, right?”

Susan’s face grew serious as well. Her hands dropped to her sides. “Yeah. I heard. He’s a fighter, Sam is. He’s gonna be okay. I’m praying for him to get through this.”

“We all are.”

Susan smiled. “That’s all we can do.” She folded her arms across her body and looked at Mike. “So, is it serious?”

“Huh? Oh, you mean me and Karen.” Mike shuffled his feet. “I don't know. We’re gonna give it a try and see how it goes.”

“I knew working together would be a non-issue for you. That was just an excuse to not date after Melissa.”

“Yeah. Maybe. I dunno.” Mike shifted from one foot to the other. “I still think work can get in the way, but if we try not to let it, we just might have something here.”

“Good for you, Mike. I’m glad for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, hey. Some mail came in while you were down in the lab. Looks like mostly test results and stuff.”

“Thanks. I’ll take it back to the office where we can sort through it.” Mike gathered up the stack of papers, envelopes, and interoffice memos and headed for the door. “Hey, boss,” he said to the gray-haired woman standing in the doorway. She was dressed casually with a white lab coat over her clothes.

“I was looking for you two. You’re on call today. Got a body in a vacant lot. I need you to get out there now. Who knows how long the body’s been in this heat. You’ll find all the information on this call sheet.” She handed the call sheet to Mike and walked away, her rubber-soled shoes squeaking on the tiled floor.

“You heard the lady, let’s go.” Susan snapped her gloves off her hands and tossed them in the trashcan.

Mike tossed the stack of papers back on the table where he picked them up. The pile slid onto its side and papers scattered about. “I’ll get to these when I get back,” he said to no one in particular and raced for the door. “I’ll get the SUV started and meet you at the back door.” He tossed the message in the general direction of Susan.

“I’m right behind you,” said Susan as she grabbed her Crime Tech windbreaker, thrust her arms into it, and zipped it up.

Mike started the big black SUV and backed it out of its parking spot. He stopped it at the back door and waited for Susan to climb in. Handing her the call sheet, he said, “Let’s find this place on the map so we don’t get lost looking for it.” He turned the steering wheel and pulled out onto Lois Avenue. “We’re looking for the Los Dos Amigos store on Sligh. You ever heard of it?”

“No, but then that ain’t my neighborhood, you know?”

“Well, we’ll find out what kind of neighborhood it is soon enough.”

Mike pulled up at the stoplight and leaned over to look at the spot Susan was pointing to on the map. He nodded that he understood, then turned back to watch the light.

“So, have you talked to Karen yet today?”

“No, but I didn’t really expect to. We said we’d get together tonight when she left this morning and hurried back home to get ready for work.”

“Oh really?” Susan turned and gave Mike an appraising look.

“What?”

“Nothing. I think it’s great. I knew the two of you would get along. I should go into the matchmaking business.” Susan looked as if she was very proud of herself.

“One success and you think you’re a genius.” Mike laughed.

“Hey, one success is all it takes.”