Credo's Run, page 23
I nodded and turned to my car.
“Alex?” When I looked back at her, she held my gaze a moment before speaking. “First, I want your word you will not investigate her shooting.”
I faced her and nodded.
“And second, I wasn’t angry that you wanted to find out who shot Pipes.” She took a step closer to me. “It’s only fair to you that I tell you this now. If you ever speak to me like that again, I’ll open an IA investigation on you for insubordination and do everything in my power to get you fired. The only reason I didn’t do it this time was because you’d just spent ten minutes giving your friend CPR and you thought she was dead.” I opened my mouth to apologize again, but she held up a finger. “Now, that’s your one ‘get out of jail free’ card. I don’t care how upset you are in the future; you will keep a civil tongue in your head when speaking to me.”
I blushed and looked down at her shoes. I knew she’d been angrier this time than any of the other times I’d pissed her off, but I hadn’t realized how much angrier.
“Now, go take your growing menagerie and let’s figure out where and why these kids are being drugged.”
Normally, I’d give her a smart-ass comment to lighten the mood, but I was tired and stressed, and about all I could muster was a sigh and a nod before turning around and heading for my car.
Kate stopped me again with a hand on my shoulder. “Other than that, you did an excellent job today. Hopefully, you and Casey saved Pipes’ life. Good job on stopping the bleeding and starting the CPR.”
I nodded again. “Thanks, Boss. I’m fine. Really.” I turned to face her and scratched my head, a bit nervous about bringing up something I’d been worrying about. This seemed like as good a time as any to get it out in the open. “You realize her getting shot might have something to do with our case. I might not be able to separate the two if it does.”
“If it does, you let me know.” She held my gaze. “Immediately.”
“Okay.”
Sage suddenly flew over us and soared through the open church door.
For some reason, that made me think about Pipes’ few belongings. “And…everything Pipes owns is in a back room in there. When people find out she’s gone, they might take stuff. Not that she has much to take, and most of it’s broken anyway. But, still…” I growled quietly and shook my head.
She patted my shoulder one last time. “Let’s see what we can find, Kiddo.”
We walked through the sanctuary together, and when we reached the door to the pastor’s study, Kate motioned for me to precede her. As I mentioned before, Pipes’ room was trashed. I took a cursory look around to see if there was anything she might consider special because even though we were going to secure the front door, I was under no illusions that her refuge would be safe from other homeless people looking for a place to crash or from kids wanting to wreak havoc in an empty building.
She had a suitcase full of neatly folded clothes that, with the permission of the aggravated assault detective investigating the case, I took out and put in the trunk of my car. When I returned, I went to a cardboard box that had been flung into the corner. Since the room had been neat when I’d visited, I assumed it had been tossed around in the fight. I picked it up and rummaged through the contents. “Huh. Looks like she had a small dog at one time.” I held up a teal harness with a five-foot leash.
Casey, who’d come in behind us, came over to have a look. “Perfect.” She took the harness from me and stepped out into the sanctuary where Sage had claimed the back of the front pew as his little kingdom. I followed, not knowing what Casey intended to do with the leash. When she approached Sage, he fanned his tail feathers and began tapping one foot. Casey put up a hand and backed away. “Okay. I’m going.”
She turned and motioned me over. “This isn’t for a dog. It’s a harness for Sage. Here. You put his beak in here and then gently lift it over his head. Then you put this around one wing, pull it snug, and then put the rest around the other wing.”
I looked at her suspiciously. “Why don’t you do it?”
“Did you see the way he flared his tail and began tapping his foot? That means he’s agitated and doesn’t trust me. Also, watch his pupil.” Casey stepped toward Sage, and his pupil immediately constricted. “That’s called pinning, and it’s another sign he’s not happy.”
“He’s not happy, and you want me to put this thing on him. Are you crazy?”
“Well, he flew to your shoulder, so he must like you. Just try it.”
I grabbed the harness and after mumbling about needing all ten of my fingers, I slowly approached the pew. Sage bobbed his head, and I stopped. “What does that mean?”
“Well, sometimes it means they feel threatened, but most of the time, it means they’re excited or hungry. It’s usually a good sign.”
I walked forward and held out the harness. “What do you think, Sage? Can I put this on you?”
Captain jumped onto the wooden seat and sat next to Sage.
The bird cocked his head sideways, inspecting the dog and the harness in turns. Eventually, Sage took the harness in his beak and laid it on Captain’s muzzle.
Captain stayed perfectly still except for his eyes, which crossed when he looked at the harness, and then uncrossed when he looked at me.
Casey moved a step closer and pointed at Captain. “I think he’s trying to settle her down. One of the traits they looked for in these dogs was an exceptionally high degree of empathy. Do you remember when Peanut and Captain helped calm Tommy’s mother in the hospital? I think that’s what Captain is trying to do here. Go ahead and take the harness and slip the part I showed you over Sage’s head.”
I glared at her. “If he bites me….”
“Try not to be scared. Birds pick up on that.”
“Easy for you to say.” I pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Captain wagged his tail when I approached, which I heartily appreciated. I plucked the harness from his muzzle and held the circle close to Sage’s beak. To my surprise, Sage stuck his beak and head through like a pro. “Huh!” I grinned at Casey, who nodded. Slipping the loops around the wings was just as easy.
“Okay, now tighten that front part there, not tight, just snug. There. You have him secured on a leash. Awesome.”
“Does he fly with it?”
“No. Always, always, always put that loop around your wrist. If he flies away with the leash dangling, he’ll foul it in a tree or some wires and end up accidentally hanging himself.”
Sage was perfectly comfortable walking next to me and seemed to enjoy being on the leash. I tried to keep him on my right since Captain always walked on my left, but Sage wanted to stick close to his new buddy. Now I had two of them on my left, and I wondered what Director Crawford would have to say if she ever found out.
“Hello?”
I looked up to see an African American man standing at the door. I guessed him to be late middle-aged with a nose that had been broken one too many times. His eyes seemed amiable enough but there was also an anxious quality to them. I stepped toward him with Captain and Sage at my heel. “Can I help you?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I saw all the cops and medics here. Is Pipes okay?”
I glanced back at Casey, who stepped up beside me. I turned back to the man. “You know Pipes?”
“Not really. I know she stays here, and I know she keeps the place in good order. That’s about it.”
“She’ll be in the hospital for a while. I hope she’ll be okay.”
He nodded and then hiked his thumb over his shoulder. I just live in that neighborhood over there. I do some carpentry work here and there. Would you like me to board this place up, you know, until she gets back?”
I smiled. “That would be wonderful. You’ll have to wait until the detectives finish in here, but I can introduce you to them, and I’m sure they’ll be happy to let you know when you can lock up.” I took a few steps forward and held out my hand. “I’m Detective Wolfe, and this is Detective Bowman.”
He pulled off his baseball cap and shook my hand. “Thomas Scatterly.”
“Mr. Scatterly, if you need anything or if there are problems here, please feel free to call me.” I handed him my business card, which he carefully tucked into his shirt pocket.
“I’ll do that, ma’am. Thank you.”
We introduced him to the on-scene detective and mentioned his offer to board up the church. With that done, we headed to the main station to shower and change.
Chapter 20
At three o’clock, the five of us walked or hopped into Mr. Carter’s office, a single room behind a gaming store in a strip mall. A single bulb hanging from a cord illuminated the room, and the dirt on the walls had accumulated over years of neglect and/or an incompetent cleaning crew.
Carter, whose bloodshot eyes had black semi-circles beneath them, didn’t even get out of his chair when we entered. That could have been because of the half-filled bottle of Jack Daniels on his desk and the nearly empty glass on the blotter next to his elbow. He sat sideways in his chair, facing the door with his cheek on an upturned fist. Bleary eyes focused on the dogs first, and then he squinted at Sage, trying to decide if the whiskey was playing tricks on him. “Whass’at?”
I indicated Sage with my elbow. “That’s a macaw. Don’t ask.” There weren’t any extra chairs in the room, so Casey and I stood staring down at him. “You’re Mr. Carter? Tommy’s father?”
“Yeah.” His eyes filled with tears, and he grabbed the glass and pretty much threw the contents into his mouth. Most of it hit the mark, but some splashed onto his cheek and ear. “They said he was gonna need a liver transplant.” He lowered his head to his desk and drunkenly sobbed, “How the hell am I gonna pay for my little boy’s liver transplant?”
Casey was all for leaving, and she stepped to the door. “We’ve come at a bad time, Mr. Carter. I’m sorry about Tommy.”
I began to follow but stopped when he raised his head. There was hatred in his eyes when he said, “Why does that stupid bitch’s kid come out fine and my—” his eyes scrunched up, and he began to blubber again.
Casey let herself out of the office, but I said, “What stupid bitch, Mr. Carter?”
He mumbled something into his arm.
He seemed to be drifting into an alcohol-induced haze, and to wake him, I banged on the desk with the flat of my hand.
Casey ran back into the room at the same time Carter’s head shot up.
He slurred, “Wha’ the fuck, lady?”
“I’m sorry, my hand slipped. What stupid bitch are you talking about?”
He scrunched up his nose, “Wha?”
“You said, ‘why is that stupid bitch’s daughter okay and Tommy’s not?’ What stupid bitch were you talking about?”
“Fuckin’ Jane. Mealy mouthed nothin’ her whole life, an’ now she th….” His head dropped to the desk again, and I left him to his drunken grief. I had a partial answer and needed a trip to the library to hopefully get the rest.
It was late in the day, so Casey headed home to feed her critters, and I decided to go to the library to see Kelly. When I walked in with Captain and Sage, Tammy Mae came barging out from behind her desk, holding her hand up like a traffic cop. “There are no animals allowed in this library, Detective Wolfe.”
Luckily Kelly was coming down the wide stairs at the rear of the main floor. “I’ll handle it, Tammy Mae. Thank you.”
Tammy Mae looked like she was ready to spit nails, but when Kelly gave her a raised eyebrow look, the woman muttered and returned to her desk.
Kelly walked over and grinned down at Captain and Sage. “This is a new dog, isn’t it? And I definitely don’t remember seeing you before.”
Captain sat by my heel, and Sage hopped around behind him.
“They’re both new.” I had a lot on my mind and didn’t have it in me to spend time on idle chit-chat. I glanced at Tammy Mae, who was obviously listening to our conversation. “Can we go somewhere a little more…?”
Kelly immediately understood and showed me to a side room next to the elevators. She must have read something in my eyes or my posture because she got right down to business. “How can I help you?”
I blinked at her, a little embarrassed about my first question. “This is gonna sound strange, but do the words, ‘The monstrous crying of wind’ mean anything to you?”
“Yeats? Of course. That line is part of a beautiful poem. Here, let me get it for you.” She led me out to the stairs, and we climbed to the second floor. “Let’s see, all of our poetry is in the eight hundred and eleven section.” She ran a finger down a row of book spines, and when she found what she was looking for, she put on her readers and opened to a specific page. “Here it is. To a Child Dancing in the Wind, by W.B. Yeats. This is one I’ve always liked.” Her voice became melodic as she read the poem to me.
“Dance there upon the shore;
What need have you to care
For wind or water’s roar?
And tumble out your hair
That the salt drops have wet;
Being young you have not known
The fool’s triumph, nor yet
Love lost as soon as won,
Nor the best labourer dead
And all the sheaves to bind.
What need have you to dread
The monstrous crying of wind?”
* * *
I was quiet for a moment, hearing Pipes’ whispered words as she lay dying beneath her tree.
Kelly left me to my thoughts as she closed the book and waited patiently for me to come out of my reverie.
“That’s beautiful. I kind of get it, but do you know what Yeats meant when he wrote it?”
She tucked a piece of her straight, black hair behind an ear and then focused her bright blue eyes on mine. “I don’t think anyone really knows exactly what a poet or writer means by their work. But even though there are many, many undertones to this poem, I like to interpret Yeats’ work at its most basic. The most basic being, of course, a child who happily skips along the shore, oblivious to what’s happening around her. It’s about the innocence of childhood and the way our perceptions change. How, as we age, we encounter love and love lost and the vagaries of life.” She tilted her head and studied me a minute. “The final line you quoted, ‘the monstrous crying of wind,’ speaks of the unfairness of life. It’s as though an adult is watching that innocent child, knowing and grieving for the heartache she’ll experience later in life.”
My thoughts kept returning to Pipes’ swing. How when Megan and I first met her, she was alone, maybe reliving her innocent childhood and wishing she could return to that idyllic time.
Kelly touched my arm, a look of concern on her face. “Are you okay, Alex?”
I realized a tear had slipped down my cheek, and I quickly wiped it away. “Yeah. Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”
“Would you like to check out the book?”
I smiled, “Will you be insulted if I say I’m really busy, and it would probably be easier for me to look it up on the internet if I need to see it again?”
She laughed, “Of course not. Oh, I almost forgot. I spoke to Jasmine about those books Detective Jeffers was perusing. Would you like to see them?”
“Yes!” I spoke with more enthusiasm than normal because I never liked people to know I was upset about something. “That would be great. Thank you.” She led me up to the third floor to a section I was somewhat familiar with from an earlier case we’d worked on together.
The yearbooks were arranged by school and then by year, and she pulled out two books and laid them on a nearby table. “Here you are.”
I checked the time and said, “Now, these I’d like to take with me.”
She glanced around as though checking to see whether anyone was watching. “Come down to my office for a second. She picked up the books and tucked them under her arm. Her office was in the bowels of the library, and it took us a bit to get from the third floor to her little domain because Sage kept wanting to check out bright and pretty things, like casters on chairs or book spines with shiny, metallic letters.
We finally made it, and once inside, she grabbed a cloth shopping bag and settled the yearbooks inside. “Here. I’ll need these back, eventually. They’re Reference books, which means you can’t check them out.” She grinned. “So don’t let Tammy Mae see you leave with them.”
I folded the top over the books and tucked the bag under my arm. “Your entry into the life of crime is safe with me.”
She laughed and walked me to the garage exit. “You know where to find me if there’s anything else I can do.”
“Will do. And thanks.” I settled Captain and Sage into the back seat of my car and called Megan on the way to the hospital.
She answered almost immediately and instead of the normal, hello, said, “Hey, you ready for dinner?”
“Dinner?”
“Yeah, Lak and I brought some pizza to your place.”
“I didn’t invite you to dinner. And since when do you bring people to my place without asking first?” I mentally shook my head. Megan always brought friends to my house without asking permission. “Scratch that. I need a favor.”
“What kind of favor?”
“Pipes was shot today and—”
“What?” She practically screeched in my ear and then turned away from the phone and stage whispered to Lak, “Pipes was shot today.” She came back to me. “What’s the favor? Of course, we’ll do it. Is she okay?”
“That’s what I need to find out. I have to go into the hospital, but I can’t because of—”
When she gets excited, she rarely lets me finish my sentences. “Because of Peanut? Of course, you can take her into the hospital.”
“I have Captain now, but he’s not the problem. I also have Sage with me, and I know they’re not going to let me bring him in. Can you come and sit with him and Captain in my car while I go in to see how she is?”
