Destroyed and Detained

by Danelle Helget

  The fire truck driver came over to the ambulance driver and his partner. They spoke briefly as they got two boards out of the back and two big bags. They also had a defibrillator bag and an oxygen tank. They rushed over to the county boat pulled up to my dock. The two EMTs jumped on, and they flew back over to the ship. The fire truck stood by but was as helpless as I was. Across the lake I saw Derek’s Jeep towards the back of the driveway, but no Derek or Butch. I rushed back to the house.

  When I opened the door, all three girls were sitting on the couch, squished together and crying softly. I felt awful. Val and Tannya were in such a horrible situation. I’d been there, and I knew how hard it was.

  I hustled through the room, used the binoculars and looked around the property for Derek. I couldn’t see him. I looked on land and then in the water for Butch.

  There he was! He was still swimming. He was almost to shore. I frantically moved the binoculars around, searching for Derek. “Where are you?” I said aloud. Finally I caught a glimpse of him behind the front fender of the truck. Butch was just coming out of the water. He climbed to his feet, soaking wet. It looked like he’d lost his shoes, jacket, and pants during the swim. He had to be exhausted. He grabbed his arm and looked at his shoulder. I could see that he had been hit, but it must have just scraped by him. The wound was small and didn’t seem to slow him down much. He slowly and weakly made his way towards his truck. He stopped in his tracks suddenly and looked up.

  Derek was behind the truck with his gun drawn. I couldn’t tell what they were saying to each other, but Butch put his hands up in surrender then slowly laid face down on the ground. Derek carefully approached him and then knelt on his back and tied his hands. I couldn’t tell with what exactly, but it looked thick.

  I watched as Derek used my phone to call someone. I scanned back over to the ship. The men had Scooter secured to a body board and were slowly lowering him by a rope down to the pontoon. The two county officers got him on the pontoon and set the board on the floor between the front two seats. I looked back to the ship deck. The men carried Wayde on the other board and tied up the end of the rope, that they’d just pulled up from the pontoon, to the board.

  Meanwhile the county officer got in his boat and pulled it around to the front of the pontoon. He tied it to the rope ladder and jumped back on the pontoon just in time to grab Wayde. It seemed to take forever, but finally the two county officers carried his board to the sundeck and placed him up on it.

  Then the two EMTs scurried down the rope. One of the county officers drove my pontoon back towards us. The county boat was left tied to the ship.

  I ran outside, and with a nod from the fireman, got in the ambulance and backed it up to the dock. I left it running and opened the rear doors for them. The fireman got out and stood alongside me, ready to help.

  I heard more sirens and looked over to the driveway. The fireman told me that it should be another ambulance since there was only room for one stretcher inside each.

  It arrived just in time. They carried Scooter to one and loaded him in. I caught a glimpse of him. He looked really bad. His whole body was burned. His pants were almost completely gone and his shoes were mostly gone, too. Everywhere I looked his skin was black. I gasped at the sight and covered my mouth. I got a whiff of the smell of his burnt flesh and turned around and threw up. After I wiped my mouth off, I stood there and stared as they got the stretcher onto the wheeled cart and loaded into the back. Scooter’s eyes were open, but I didn’t notice them move or blink. His face was badly burned. He wasn’t even recognizable.

  The EMT rushed in and closed the doors. The driver jumped in and took off down the driveway. I glanced to the house and noticed all the girls in the window. As that ambulance left, they turned their eyes to me. I covered my mouth and turned away from them.

  The fireman and the county officer were already carrying Wayde off the dock to the other ambulance. The two loaded him quickly in the back and left. He looked the same as Scooter, every inch of his body burned, only small charred pieces of clothing left. They loaded him in the second ambulance and off they went. I felt horrible for them both. I couldn’t imagine the pain they were in. I doubted either would survive. I was surprised they weren’t already in body bags.

  The fireman gave the county officer a huge fire extinguisher to take with him back to the ship and then stayed with me as the county officer drove the pontoon away.

  I looked over to Wayde’s property. Derek, Butch, and the Jeep were gone.

  My phone rang, I pulled it out of my pocket. It was Derek.

  “Hello?”

  “Go into the police car. Look in the glove compartment and trunk for extra handcuffs. Get them out for me. I’ll be there in a sec.”

  I ran over to Rex’s police car and checked the glove box and found a pair. I opened the back door, too, and waited for Derek. A few seconds later he pulled into the driveway and parked by the squad car. I ran over to him and handed him the cuffs. He had Butch turn in the back seat and cuffed him before he removed the seatbelt he’d tied him with. Then he got him out.

  Butch still looked exhausted as he maneuvered himself out of the Jeep. He caught my eye. I was stunned. It was hard to look at him, knowing what he’d done to Scooter and Wayde. I glared. He winked back at me. He was pure evil. It made me think I was lucky, and so was Jodi, that we weren’t hurt. And to think, he did all this to avenge the murder of his friend? My evil side wanted to spit on him, but I fought it and just looked away. He’d get what he deserved—a life sentence, hopefully.

  Derek shoved him into the back of the squad car and slammed the door shut. “Holy hell!” he said with a sigh and wrapped his arms around me. I cried into his shoulder for a few minutes. I felt so weak and helpless. Everyone was hurting, and I could do nothing to fix it. Poor Val and Tannya, they were going to be emotional basket cases. I knew how they felt. You loved men, then hated them, and wanted them to be okay but not in your life … this was going to suck for them.

  Derek was holding me with one arm and calling Rex on the phone with the other hand.

  “Rex, Derek here. I have Butch detained. He’s in your squad. Yes. Will do.”

  I pulled away from Derek and told him, “I’ll be in the house.”

  “I need to stay by the car,” he answered. “I’ll be in later.”

  I looked back to the ship. The fire on the deck seemed to be getting worse again. I’d thought the flames were out, but apparently not. The county officer was walking around spraying what he could but it wasn’t helping. I watched from my patio for a moment.

  When the extinguisher was empty, Rex and the county officer went down the ladder and returned to the boat and pontoon. When I saw them start back to my dock, I headed into the house.

  Inside, Tannya and Val were both crying, as was Miss Kitty. They looked at me when I opened the door.

  “Were they alive?” Val asked sadly between sobs.

  Tears came to me too. “I think so, but they looked really bad,” I told them. “I don’t know if they’ll make it.”

  We cried and talked sadly about what a horrible day this was. And about how evil Butch was, and how what we had thought was a neat game was actually a horrible cover-up to theft and a revenge plot.

  “I’m sorry,” Val said. “This is all my fault.”

  “No it isn’t!” I assured her.

  “It’s my fault,” Tannya said. “I was the one who wanted to start a LARP and get in on the action. I shouldn’t have done that.”

  “I shouldn’t have gotten so excited about it and bought all the shirts and boat decals and the cannon …” Miss Kitty said, hanging her head.

  “For the record, we’re all adults, and each of us chose to be involved,” I said. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel the cannon was worth it, even if it was only for the hole in Vagina’s car.” They all smiled slightly.

  I glanced out the window and noticed the county officers were loading their boat up on the trailer. Rex
and Derek were tying up the pontoon. They all stopped and looked in the direction of the ship. I walked to the patio door and looked, too.

  It was glowing orange. There was no way to save it now. The fire was wrapping around the side and front and reaching high into the sky. The girls got up and joined me at the window.

  “Well there’s something you don’t see every day,” Miss Kitty said.

  We watched from the glass door as about a third of it burned. Then it quickly sank to the bottom of lake.

  Lake Hawsawneekee would never be the same. Now scuba divers from all over would come to tour the sunken pirate ship of northern Minnesota. It would be a legend in this town for generations to come. The story would change from person to person and year to year. New details would be added and some would be omitted, but the story of pirates on the lake would live on, especially in this small town.

  Dang it, I was going to make the paper again. I had a lot of explaining to do to Joan about the cannon fuses I borrowed.

  30

  I took a deep breath and turned to Tannya. She had to be hurting the most. Scooter was her ex, but that was because of the drugs. Now he was clean, so up until earlier today I thought Tannya still had feelings for him. It was hard to tell what she might be feeling, because we were also held at gun point by his associate. He’d made a bad choice to partner with Wayde, but he was in a difficult situation too. I’m not sure how I would feel if I were her.

  I locked eyes with her. “Is there anything I can do? Do you want to go to the hospital?” I asked her.

  She thought about it for a moment and then nodded.

  “Okay,” I said and slung an arm over her shoulder. “Do you too?” I asked Val. She nodded as well.

  Miss Kitty walked past us quickly and grabbed her shoes. “I’m coming, too. I want to be here for my friends,” she said. I again wondered if we were the first friends she’d ever had.

  The fire truck and county truck and boat trailer were gone. Derek came to the door as we were getting our shoes and coats. He looked at me with concern in his eyes. “Tannya and Val would like to go to the hospital,” I told him.

  “Okay, I’ll come with too. Rex would like to see you for a second,” Derek told me.

  I walked out with the girls. Tannya loaded into the Jeep—I figured she’d come back for her car later—and Val into Miss Kitty’s car, as I met up with Rex at his squad car. Butch was still sitting in the back. I glared at him.

  “Hey,” Rex said in his soft, sexy voice. He was covered in soot from the fire, and he smelled of smoke. I was amazed at how calm he was in the midst of all that had gone on in the last couple hours. “You okay?”

  I nodded and looked down. “Val and Tannya want to go to the hospital,” I told him.

  “HOSPITAL? If he were any kind of captain he would’ve went down with his ship!” Butch yelled from the back. Rex slammed his door shut.

  “Sorry. Don’t listen to him.” I saw Rex’s jaw clench as he said it. “They took them to St. Joseph’s in Brainerd. I’m going to need statements from you guys as soon as possible.”

  “Okay.”

  “No later than tomorrow noon. Tonight would be best. Let them know that for me,” he requested.

  “Sure.”

  “Thanks for your help with all of this. I think we should get you trained and maybe give you a badge and gun.” He smiled slightly.

  “Yeah, right.”

  “I’m going to get this jerk processed. You guys better hurry if they want to see them. If they make it, they’ll probably fly them to the Cities where there’s a better burn unit.”

  “Okay. Thanks, I’ll talk to you soon,” I said and rushed to the Jeep.

  Rex turned back to his squad car. I waited for Derek to jump in the Jeep, and then we drove to the hospital in Brainerd. Miss Kitty followed in her car. We talked on the way there. I asked Tannya how she was feeling. She was totally lost and didn’t know what to feel. She was a mess of angry, sad, hurt, and concerned. Derek looked at me sympathetically. I’m sure that’s exactly how I’d sounded when I first met him.

  We got to the hospital and parked in the emergency lot. We walked in as a group and went to the admissions counter. I explained that we were friends of Wayde and Scooter, had been at the scene and wanted to know if they were okay and if we could see them.

  “One moment,” the nurse said and checked her computer.

  We anxiously waited. I watched her eyes dart around on the screen and her eyebrows squeeze together a few times.

  “Okay,” she said with a sigh. “Have a seat. I’ll be right back.” She disappeared through the door behind her. The older woman in the next cubicle smiled sympathetically. We looked around the waiting area and took seats in the far corner. No one said anything.

  After a few minutes, the checkin nurse came out accompanied by a woman in surgical garb, including booties, a cap, and an apron. She approached us quickly.

  “Hello,” she said, “I’m Doctor Barnes.” She sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of us. “You’re the friends of Wayde Johnson and Scooter Potter?” she asked.

  We nodded.

  “Do they have any family or next of kin in the area?” Oh, boy, no one uses “next of kin” unless …

  “I’m Scooter Potter’s ex-wife. I’m able to contact his family,” Tannya spoke up.

  “And I’m Wayde’s … girlfriend,” Val said. “He doesn’t have any family,” she said sadly.

  The doctor nodded and looked at the floor. Then she inhaled deeply and told us, “I regret to inform you that Wayde passed away en route to the hospital. I’m so sorry.”

  Val leaned over and put her head on my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her. “And Mr. Potter, is in critical condition. His burns are the worst we’ve seen. We’re trying to stabilize him for air transport to Hennepin County Medical Center in the Cities. They have an excellent burn unit there where he can get the help he needs.”

  “Can I see him before he goes?” Tannya asked eagerly.

  “Umm,” she said. “Let me see where they’re at.”

  “I just want to say good bye,” Tannya said sadly.

  A few moments later the doctor pushed open the door and waved for Tannya to come with her. Tannya rushed to her. I watched them head down the hall together until the swinging doors blocked my sight.

  I held on to Val. She silently cried. When she was still and relaxed and not sobbing anymore, Derek got up and brought us all coffees. We thanked him. I heard the thumping of a helicopter above us. “I hope she got to see him,” I said.

  Miss Kitty was pretty quiet. She reached out and rubbed Aunt Val’s arm. “I’m sorry,” she told her. “I know you cared about Wayde deeply.” Val nodded.

  A moment later I could hear the helicopter take off again. Just then Tannya appeared in the doorway. We all stood.

  “I saw hi … hi … him,” she sobbed. She was carrying a handful of tissues. “He looked bad. Real bad,” she told us and then shook and caught her breath again, between sobs. She looked at me with pain in her eyes. “I told him I still loved him. I don’t think he could hear me though,” she told me.

  “Of course he heard you. He knows you were there. That’ll mean everything to him,” I assured her and gave her a big hug.

  “His burns were bad. His ear was gone,” she said and starting crying harder again. I squeezed her tighter. “He still heard you, Tannya, and he knows you came,” I repeated.

  What a horrible sight. I saw it when he came off the water, but I couldn’t imagine what that same sight would do to me if it were someone I’d loved. The image was burned into my head and hers too, I was sure.

  The nurse from the cubicle came over and got some information from Val and Tannya.

  After they were finished we drove back to my house. It was kind of sad driving into my yard and not having the ship on the water. The lake looked empty without Poseidon’s Zebra Mussel floating on it.

  I dropped Derek off, and then the four of us went
to the police station and gave our statements. It was dark and we were tired, but we wanted to get it done so we didn’t have to go through all the emotions again tomorrow.

  Rex took our statements, and we all stayed in the room together. He had different questions for me, because of the time I spent alone in the woods with Butch and the fact that the whole thing took place in my backyard. He questioned Tannya and Val on the relationships that they’d had with Scooter and Wayde. It was hard for them to relive parts of it.

  The week had started out so great. We were excited and having fun, and I’d found my dream shoes, but then again there was my head, ankle, the kidnapping, Jodi, the fire, the ship sinking and Wayde’s death, and Scooter … the week had gone downhill pretty fast.

  After our statements were taken, I went to Morning Glory and picked up two large take-and-bake pizzas and headed home. I invited everyone back for dinner. They accepted.

  At home Derek had the oven warmed up. We ate a few bites but no one had much of an appetite. Miss Kitty said she was going to head home, and invited Val to join her. Val agreed to stay there again.

  At the door she told me, “I called your parents and gave them the shortened version of what happened. They said they’re going to be here about noon tomorrow. I’ll be back over here by then to see them, too.”

  “Okay. I love you, Aunt Val. Get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning,” I said and gave her a long hug.

  I hugged Miss Kitty too and shut the door behind them.

  Tannya was ready to go home too. I invited her to stay so she didn’t have to be alone, but she wanted the peace and quiet. I hugged her and locked up behind her. It was after 11:00 p.m. by the time they’d left.

  I went straight to bed and slept through the night. The day and the events had completely worn me out.

  31

  I woke up to my phone ringing. I ran to the kitchen to get it.