Book Four: Part 8 - Rhyming Evil - Chapter 15
Monday – July 16th
The Squad Room – 8:39 a.m.
“I don’t have time to go through all the news right now, but we are batting a hundred. So far, everyone’s qualified on the range at Brewster’s.”
Satchell stepped into the room.
“Just got the call. The Governor has just met the Vice-President at the airport. Their motorcade is expected to leave the airport in ten and should be at the Arena within thirty minutes.”
Baker inhaled and exhaled slowly.
“That’s it for now. You’re all looking good. Get in your cars and get to the Arena. Inside will be two attendants who will direct you to where you’ll be sitting. Officers from Stanhouse will be present as well.
All the cable networks are in place, so smile for the camera, this will be your ten minutes of fame. But please, keep that special finger on each hand hidden.”
The Arena – 10:51 a.m.
Before the festivities were over, speeches would be made by Governor Jacob Hawley, Lt. Governor Paul Rydell, three of the City Council members, and Mayor Jean Marsh. It would be her part (and a proud moment she later stated), to introduce the Vice-President.
The D.A., Alan Blackstone, Captain Satchell Page, and Lieutenant Janis Baker were also on stage with the heads of state and the Vice-President. To the right where every officer sat, Baker could see Stevie and Ed, and she smiled broadly at them. For her, today is a good day. And no riddles either.
When it finally came time, Mayor Jean Marsh stood in front of the podium’s microphone and thanked everyone for attending this special awards ceremony.
“Now, to present each Presidential Citation, each one personally signed by the President, it is my proud pleasure to present to you, the Vice-President of the United States, Joseph Biden!”
The applause was deafening in the Arena. It took several minutes before the clapping and loud cheers and whistles faded away.
“My fellow Americans, the president wanted me to convey his apologies for not attending personally, but he has a summit meeting in Yemen, impossible to ignore.
“Today, we are all here to not only give awards to 114 brave men and women, but to give honor and respect to people who are your friends, your neighbors; to people who, without thought of their own lives and safety, who saved every resident, and animal I might add, in Montie. Along with the officers and emergency responders from Stanhouse; a joint effort was made to preserve and protect Montie’s long and historic history and heritage, which remains more solid than at any other time in her history. Let today be another new beginning for Montie’s continuing effort to rise above the odds. With these brave men and women who sit before us this day, Montie shall ….”
The Vice-President droned on for another ten minutes before he started calling names to step forward and receive their presidential citation. Each officer, fire-fighter, or EMT would hear him say, “Congratulations,” he would shake their hand and each person responded, “Thank you Mr. Vice-President.” (It wasn’t lost on anyone that he never mentioned a name when handing out the citations, until the very end.)
“Our last recipient I personally saved for last. She is a ten-year veteran, and has received three citations for valor, and this officer deserves a very special welcome. She was part of a larger group and gave of her time, but she also took it upon herself to make sure that every animal, every child’s pet, every blind person’s dog were placed out of harm’s way.
“That, to me, ladies, and gentlemen, tells me this officer has a heart every bit as big as Montie. Please welcome, Officer Dianne Andrews.”
The applause rocked the Arena, and louder and longer than it had when Biden first stepped up to the podium to speak. As Dianne stood, Johnathan winked at her and squeezed her hand. In truth, she had hoped this wouldn’t have been brought up. Her face was bright red.
Once she accepted her citation and brief speeches were made once Biden was finished, it was 12:15 when Biden and company waved goodbye to the crowd and headed back to the airport.
By 12:45, Benny’s Pub was packed to the rafters for a quick lunch and by 1:30, pressed uniforms were exchanged for their street uniform and it was business as usual.
There had been forty-seven individual citations Baker handed out personally to a skeleton crew who maintained the Twenty-Second, and the city streets.
But today was a good day so far for the good guys. No problems. Nowhere.
Twenty-Second Precinct
Property Room – 2:11 p.m.
“If you will, sign here to receive your property.”
A quick signature, and then a manila envelope was placed on the counter.
“One watch, one wallet, sixty-eight dollars and twenty-seven cents in cash. Please check your billfold to make sure everything is there as you last saw it.”
A quick scan confirmed nothing amiss.
“Mr. Potter, you are free to go. Just return to the courthouse within the next thirty days to pay your fine. If you fail to do so, you do understand, a failure to appear warrant will be issued, and officers of the court will be instructed to come to your residence or place of work to arrest you.”
“I don’t need to be reminded. It’ll get paid.”
Once he made his way to his bank to make a cash-withdrawal, he shook his head. Five-hundred dollars for punching Michael in the nose! It was almost worth it. He mused aloud, “Damn, I can afford to punch that son-of-a-bitch forty-two more times.” He made his way back to the courthouse and immediately paid his fine, and then went to work. He would have some explaining to do.
Fifteen minutes later he walked into his small office and saw a note taped to his desk phone. “Call Eric—ASAP.”
Eric is the supermarket’s Regional Director. Cliff had a chill slice right through him. He made the call.
“Eric Kabor, please. Cliff Potter, store number 117, calling.”
He was placed on hold and listened to the standard elevator music for nearly eight minutes.
“Cliff, thank you for returning my call—finally.”
“Sorry, Mr. Kabor. I’ve had a rather, ah, difficult day.”
“More like an unfortunate weekend, and one that was read online as well. Cliff, I am relieving you of your position. Turn in your store keys to your assistant; I believe her name is Anne Crenshaw. After your recent event, I’m not sorry to say this, but this company cannot have any negative media attention that could cause us to lose customers. It has been nearly ten years since we have had any negative feedback, and we intend to keep it that way.
“I am authorizing you to receive your four weeks of vacation pay, and in addition, two weeks’ severance pay. We will mail this directly to you sometime today from corporate.
“And Cliff, do not use us for a reference. As you well know, company policy dictates your actions accordingly, off the job as well as on.
“Goodbye, Cliff.”
“But, Mr. Kabor, wait, please! Let me ….” It wasn’t until he took another breath when he realized he was talking to dead air.
Fired. He never expected that. Sixteen years. Gone. All because Michael interfered between him and Patrick.
“I’ll fix that little prick.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Cliff looked up into the dark gray eyes of Anne Crenshaw.
“Oh, nothing. Just a personal issue I’m going to fix.”
“Before you leave, the keys, please.” Anne’s chubby hand attached to her chubby body was stretched out and waiting.
He reached inside his pants pocket, took five keys off his key ring, and handed them to her. Deep down, he knew she wanted his job for years, and now she got her chance. Without saying a word, he gathered up his personal belongings, walked past her, and as he walked through the store to his car, he thought he could feel every employee’s eyes staring a hole through him. When he got into his car and was making his way home; Cliff was working on a plan.
Sonic Restaurant
1657 Atlin Way – 2:57 p.m.
Dianne and Johnathan had just finished a late lunch and were slurping down the last of their Blizzards, when Johnathan said, “It’s been an incredible day, Dianne.”
“Tell me about it. I never expected to be singled out like that. I wish I had a heads up, I wouldn’t have showed up.”
“Say what you want, but Biden was right. What you did went way beyond what the rest of us were doing. Here you are, saving human lives right along with the rest of us, and for some of these people, you were saving the only companionship they might ever have. Personally, I say job well done, Officer Andrews.”
She laughed at his poor impersonation of Biden, but those were the words she heard from him herself.
“Instead of saying thank you, I should have said I’m voting Republican. I bet that would have caught him with nothing to say.”
“Adam-16, there is a robbery in progress at Albertini’s Pizza Parlor, 809 State.”
“Roger that, we are enroute,” stated Dianne into her mobile radio. “We are one minute out. Request backup.”
“Roger that, Adam-16.”
“Johnathan backed the car from Sonic’s parking area, turned on the red and blue lights and spun away, drove one block up, turned left two blocks, made a quick right and was there.
The suspects were gone.
The owner, Tony Albertini, came rushing from his store. He pointed straight.
“I watched them run from here until they turned right up at that corner. Two black kids, maybe sixteen, seventeen. They had guns. It’s stupid I tell you. If they wanted pizza, I would give them pizza. They don’t have to steal from me.”
Dianne and Johnathan looked at him puzzled.
“All they wanted was all the pizza’s that were baked. They took eleven. Just stupid.”
“Dianne, stay here and get the rest of Mr. Albertini’s statement, and statements from everyone inside. I’m going on a hunt for pizzas.”
They could hear another car approaching.
“I’ll tell them to follow your lead. Be careful.”
“Always in all ways.” He winked, then stepped on the gas and was off. Just as he was pulling away, he briefly saw Lowery and Banyard.
Johnathan headed in the same direction as the two kids. Lowery and Banyard took an alternate route once Dianne explained things to them. The idea was to stay one block off, of a four block radius in order to spot two black kids running with almost a dozen pizzas, and more than likely headed for the projects.
But it was Johnathan who spotted them first and called in his location. As both boys were trying to climb a ten-foot fence after throwing the pizzas over the top, Johnathan drove his car to a dust-rising halt less than a foot from the fence.
Jumping from the car, gun in hand aimed at both boys, he yelled, “Party’s over. Just climb back down from there, slow, and easy. Easy now. Don’t do anything stupid. No one needs to get hurt. That’s it, nice and easy.”
Lowery and Banyard were driving up a side street when both boys looked at each other and nodded.
As quick as an eye-blink, both boys whipped out their guns and fired half a dozen times. Johnathan saw them move. Lowery and Banyard saw them move as both men raced from their car.
Johnathan returned fire, hitting one boy, but three bullets found their way into Johnathan’s chest.
The other boy, Lowery and Banyard, took out.
The ambulance seemed to take forever to show up.
Johnathan’s wounds were wrapped. He was put on an I.V., oxygen, and respirator. His stats were called in to the hospital as the ambulance raced its eerie sound across town.
Lowery had called the county morgue, and also called Carl Macklin Sr., to have his crime unit, or as Carl liked to call them his ‘F-Team’, on scene. Banyard drove Johnathan’s car back to Albertini’s to tell Dianne what happened.
With a mad rush of tears coating her face, she got behind the wheel of the car and drove like a crazed person to the hospital.
“Please, God! Not him! Not now! Please!”
Johnson County Memorial Hospital – 6:38 p.m.
Baker, Satchell, Devon, J.W., and at least twenty other off-duty cops sat with Dianne in one of the waiting rooms.
She recapped everything from lunch to arriving at Albertini’s. With backup coming, it didn’t look to be a problem. The boys would either be arrested, or they get lucky and not get caught. But this? Two young boys dead. Johnathan near death? All over eighty-something dollars in pizza?
What made this even harder for her, was when she told Baker when they had a few minutes alone; they were making plans to be married in September.
“We were going to let everyone know next week. But, Jesus, Baker, I just want him to wake up from all this and,” Dianne’s tears came at a brutal pace.
“I understand, Dianne. You’ve been through so much as it is, but right now, Johnathan is in God’s hands and a couple of competent surgeons. I promise you; Johnathan is in all our prayers.”
8:48 p.m.
“Officer Andrews?”
Dianne looked up and saw a doctor standing at the edge of the waiting room. She got up from her seat and was slowly followed by a few others who had waited with Dianne for any news on Johnathan.
“He is a very fortunate man. All three bullets went out the back. No major arteries or organs were hit. He is a resilient individual. He did lose quite a bit of blood, but we are transfusing him four pints, and will monitor that as his healing begins to progress.
“He is still in very serious, but stable condition. I advise he not have,” the doctor looked around the waiting room, “too many visitors for at least three days. We are going to keep him at least thirty days to keep monitoring his progress and to make certain that all steps we took, do not change course. By then, we can determine if he will be ready to be released to go home.
“I would suspect by then, with exercise, a sensible diet; Officer Prescott should be up and walking around by the end of September, and able to return to work by mid-October. But that is all contingent on how well he does now.”
Dianne breathed a sigh of relief. Her small entourage behind her were smiling, clapping one another on the shoulder, and just as relieved as Dianne was. A few shed grateful tears.
Dianne walked up to Baker, saying, “God has the best hands, doesn’t he?”
With the doctor’s consent, Dianne spent the rest of the night in Johnathan’s room. There was a brief flash of recognition when he saw her.
“I love you.” He was out like a light.
She reached over, cupped both his hands, and pressed her lips to his. She then moved her face until her lips brushed against his ear.
“Love you, too. Hurry up and get well. We have a life to live.”