by Terri Reid
“Hey, Mary, take it easy,” Bradley said. “Sean’s doing all he can...”
“Well, it’s not good enough,” she interrupted, “Not nearly enough.”
She turned away from them, staring sightlessly out the window.
“Mary, I’ll figure this out,” he said softly, picking up his coat from the back of the couch. “I won’t let someone else take a bullet because of me.”
Mary turned around quickly. “Sean, I didn’t...”
The door closed on her words. Mary covered her mouth with her hand, tears filling her eyes. “I didn’t mean...”
Bradley pushed himself up from the couch and walked over to Mary. He pulled her into her arms. “Yeah, he knows,” he said. “He’s just as frustrated as you are. He’s doing all he can, Mary.”
“Damn it,” she sniffed. “This was not supposed to happen.”
Bradley laid his cheek on Mary’s head. “Yeah, I know. But life has a way of changing the rules when you least expect it.”
She wiped the remnants of the tears off her face and took a deep breath. “Well, I certainly don’t want to just sit around waiting for them to try again,” Mary said, “Let’s go kick some bad-guy ass!”
Bradley laughed and then winced at the pain. “Okay, I’m in a kicking-ass mood,” he said. “But perhaps we should figure out what we want to do before we change into our superhero outfits.”
Mary chuckled softly. She stepped back and he let her slide out of his arms. She gently placed her hand in the middle of his chest. “Okay, here’s the deal,” she said with a watery smile. “You get to change into your superhero costume if you promise you won’t try to stop speeding bullets with your body. Okay?”
He laid one of his hands over the one she placed on his chest and cupped her cheek with the other one. “As long as I can still leap tall buildings in a single bound, I’m good.”
A shaky laughed escaped her lips before she could stop it. She covered her mouth with her free hand, controlling her emotions and nodded at him. “Deal.”
“Mary, I’m not going to die,” he said firmly. “I have too much to live for.”
She sniffed. “Well, if you even consider getting hurt again, I’ll kick your butt,” she said.
“Well, then, that settles that,” he said with a grin, “Now, about that plan...”
*****
Chapter Twenty-three
“No, we don’t need to check out Kevin,” Mary stated, “I’ve known him since he was eight, he’s clean.”
“So, what’s the harm, then?” Bradley argued. “If he’s clean, then no harm no foul. Besides, he’s the only lead we can follow up with tonight.”
She shook her head. “Why are we even considering him? This makes no sense.”
“My spidey sense tells me this guy is hiding something,” he said. “Listen, if you were a bad cop who had some skeletons in your closet, the last thing you’d want is some psychic hanging around talking up the people you’ve offed.”
“But Kevin isn’t a bad cop,” she said.
“Prove it.”
“How?”
“Let’s go chat with one of Kevin’s old partners,” Bradley said. “If nothing else, we’ll get some deep dish pizza.”
It was nearly eleven o’clock, but Pizzeria Uno was still busy.
“We need to sit in the corner booth,” Bradley said.
“And how are we supposed to accomplish that?” Mary asked.
“Still got your old badge?” he asked with a smile.
She smiled. “I like the way you think.”
Within fifteen minutes they were seated together on one side of the corner booth with soft drinks and a plate of assorted appetizers. “Do you see him yet?” Mary asked, her hand linked with his.
Bradley shook his head. “Not yet,” he said, turning and casually looking around the room. “Wait. There he is, by the bar.”
“Okay, I’ll go talk with him and invite him back to the booth,” Mary said.
As she walked from the booth to the bar, away from Bradley, the intimate pizzeria’s clientele increased substantially, but these ghostly customers wouldn’t be ordering food any longer. She saw the large, dark-haired policemen who had to be Kevin’s former partner standing at the end of the bar, trying unsuccessfully to toss Beer Nuts into his mouth.
A few minutes later, Sergeant Jack Monroe, formerly of the Chicago Police Department, was seated across from them at the booth. “So, you’re Sean’s little sister,” Jack asked in a larger-than-life voice. “Damn, you don’t look a thing like him. Lucky you!”
Jack laughed at his own joke. “Get it, don’t look a thing like him?”
Mary chuckled, “Yeah, I get it.”
“So, did you know Kevin Brady?” Bradley asked.
Jack nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yeah, Kev’s a good boy. We were partners,” he explained, “Always had my back.”
Mary turned and gave Bradley an “I-told-you-so” smile.
“So, how did you die?” Bradley asked, ignoring Mary.
“Dammed if I know,” Jack said. “One minute I’m eating all-meat deep dish, the next minute I’m watching the paramedics carry my body out the door.”
“Sean thought you might have had a heart condition,” Mary suggested.
“Hell no,” Jack said. “Just had a physical the week before. The doc said I was strong as an ox. Had a ticker that would go the distance. Genetic thing. My grandfather lived until he was 104, big as me too.”
“Wait,” Bradley said. “You didn’t have a heart condition?”
Jack shook his head. “No, like I said, strong as an ox.”
“What did the coroner say?” Mary asked.
“Hmmmm, well, I don’t believe there was ever an autopsy,” Jack said, scratching his head. “Come to think of it, why wasn’t there?”
Mary pulled out her cell phone and called Sean.
“Hey, Sean, I just have a random question. Remember the officer Bradley saw at Uno’s? What did he die from again? Yeah, that’s right, heart attack. Now, I remember. So, how did you know it was a heart attack?”
Mary paused and closed her eyes. “Well, of course, he was Monroe’s partner, he would have known about his heart. Yeah, makes sense. Thanks, Sean.”
She turned to Bradley, her phone still on her ear and shook her head sadly.
“No, we were just deciding on dinner, that’s all,” she lied into the phone. “Thanks, Sean. Bye.”
She hung up the phone and turned to Jack. “Why would Kevin tell them that you had a heart condition you were covering up?”
“He said that?” Jack asked incredulously, “That’s crazy. He knew I had just gone for my check-up.”
“Jack, are you, by any chance, allergic to penicillin?” Bradley asked.
Jack nodded his head. “Oh, yeah, that stuff could kill...”
He stopped. “You know, now that you mention it, I was feeling a little woozy on the night I died. We stopped in here, got a couple of sodas and ordered dinner. Halfway through dinner I was feeling pretty sick, nauseous. Then, I guess I died.”
“Did you leave the table at any time?” Mary asked.
“Sure, after we ordered the drinks I went to the john,” he said. “Pretty much the routine.”
“What do you drink?” Bradley asked.
“Coke,” John said. “I love a cold glass of Coke.”
“That could have masked the taste,” Mary said. “And the allergic reaction would have started with nausea and then finally become a full blown anaphylaxis attack.”
“So, you’re saying someone killed me?” Jack asked. “You’re saying Kevin killed me? Why the hell would he do something like that?”
“Well, that’s the next big question,” Bradley said. “What were you working on with Kevin at the time of your death?”
Jack pondered for a few minutes, and then his eyes filled up with tears. “I can’t seem to remember,” he said. “It seems so long ago.”
“That’s okay, Jack,�
�� Mary said. “It’s hard to remember things like that. Things that you didn’t think were important at the time.”
“Jack, there was a young girl, she looked Hispanic, she used to be a prostitute,” Bradley said.
“Yeah, little Maria Hernandez,” Jack said, “Cute as a button. We got in touch with her parents and sent her home. She was a runaway who got mixed up with the wrong people.”
“Jack, she never made it home,” Mary said. “She died. Kevin said she was a prostitute who got caught up in a bad deal.”
“No, no, we sent her home,” he insisted. “I bought her an airplane ticket with my own money. She was supposed to go home.”
“When?” Bradley asked.
Jack thought for a moment. “The day I died.”
*****
Chapter Twenty-four
“I can’t believe this,” Sean said, running his hand over his face. “You can’t expect me to believe this. We’ve known Kev since he was a kid. He couldn’t be a killer. He just couldn’t.”
“People change,” Mary said. “And we haven’t really kept up with Kevin for the past few years. I know you don’t want to believe it.”
Sean turned on Mary. “And you do?” he asked. “You want to believe it?”
Bradley walked between the two siblings. “Hey, if you want to get angry, get angry with me because I insisted we check it out,” he said. “Or, better yet, get angry with Kevin who not only betrayed your friendship, but killed a fellow cop.”
Sean shook his head and walked across the room. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right,” he said. “It’s just...”
“He was your friend,” Bradley said, “And it would hurt the most to have someone you thought was a friend betray you.”
Sean nodded. “Yeah, something like that,” he said.
“We have to assume that it was Kevin who tipped off the kidnappers,” Mary said, “And shot Bradley because he thought he could see ghosts.”
“And it makes sense he would use penicillin again,” Bradley said. “It worked for him last time.”
“He just sat there and watched his partner die?” Sean asked, shaking his head. “What happened to him?”
Mary walked over and put her arms around her brother. “I don’t know, Sean,” she said. “But he’s not the same person he was when we were little.”
He nodded. “You’re right and now we need to bring him in,” he said. “But we have to be smart about it; we need to get evidence in order to make this stick.”
“I think I need to go on a date with Kevin,” Mary said.
“No!” Bradley and Sean stated emphatically.
“Stop being such men,” Mary said. “He doesn’t know I can talk to ghosts. He doesn’t know we know about Jack. And he thinks he’s pulled one over on us.”
“I’m going with,” Bradley said.
“Stop! I am a trained police officer. I’ve done undercover. And, if you come, you’ll block me from seeing Maria,” she said. “I appreciate your concern, but really, this is the only way this can go down.”
“I really don’t like this,” Sean said.
Mary smiled. “Yeah, you only say that when you know it’s the only way,” she said.
“Do you have any undercover cops Kevin wouldn’t recognize?” Bradley asked Sean.
“No, they’ve all worked Vice,” he said. “And even if he didn’t know them, a cop can recognize another cop a mile away.”
“Damn,” Bradley ran his hand through his hair. “Isn’t there another way?”
Mary shook her head. “No, he’s done a really good job covering his tracks. Anyone who could have testified against him has ended up dead.”
“You know, that wasn’t the thing to say to make me feel any better about this,” Bradley said, walking over to the window.
“Yeah, sorry,” she said, and then turning to Sean added, “I’ll call him first thing in the morning and set it up.”
“Okay, I’ll make sure there’s back-up close by,” Sean said. “Bradley, you want to ride with me?”
Bradley nodded, but didn’t turn and face him. “Yeah, that’d be great, thanks.”
Sean stood and walked to the door. “Oh, just so you know. Your bed was moved into a private room in intensive care because you had a near-fatal reaction to some misadministered penicillin. You’re in a coma and not expected to survive.”
“Well, that’s the best news I’ve heard all day,” Bradley said.
Sean nodded and left the hotel room.
The silence in the room was deafening. Bradley stood looking out into the night sky. Mary stood next to the couch her arms wrapped around herself.
“I guess I’ll get ready for bed,” she said finally. She walked slowly to her room.
“Mary,” he said, still looking out the window. “You’ll never get any sleep in there. We can share the couch again.”
“But your shoulder...” she started.
He turned. The intensity in his eyes stopped her words.
I need to hold you tonight, Mary. Watch over you while you sleep.
“I’ll be fine,” he said.
She nodded. “Thanks, that’d be nice.”
*****
Chapter Twenty-five
Mary slowly opened her eyes. The sun had risen over the waters of Lake Michigan casting a dusty rose hue to the sky and gilding the blue waters with gold. The darkness of the hotel room was beginning to fade, replaced with warm light. She turned her head and gazed at Bradley’s face, propped against the cushions of the couch above her. His hair was brushed forward on his forehead and his mouth was relaxed in a smile that Mary adored.
She lifted her hand to brush the hair back when a movement across the room caught her eye.
The woman stood close enough to the window that the morning rays of sun passed through her and onto the carpeted floor. Mary recognized her as the same woman she had seen at the hospital. Had she too been a victim of Kevin’s actions?
“Can I help you?” Mary whispered.
The woman smiled sadly and, once again, lifted her finger to her lips and faded away.
No sooner had she left than Mary felt Bradley’s arms tighten around her. She looked up and his eyes met hers.
“Hi,” he whispered, “How did you sleep?”
“I’ve never slept better,” she replied. “How are you? How’s your shoulder?”
“What shoulder?” he asked with a smile.
“The one that probably hurts like hell about now,” she said.
“Oh, that one. It hurts like hell.”
Mary chuckled and sat up. “I’ll get your meds.”
She popped open the bottle of pain killers Sean had brought from the hospital and pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator. “About last night,” she began, as she walked back to him.
Bradley shook his head. “No, we really don’t need to go there,” he said. “You’re right. I hate it, but you’re right. The only way to catch him is to talk to Maria.”
She smiled and passed him the pills and water. He swallowed them and then slowly stretched. “Yep, hurts like hell,” he muttered.
She sat on the chair next to the couch. “And?” she asked.
“And what?”
“And what advice do you want to give me?” she asked with a smile.
He met her eyes with complete soberness. “Don’t take risks. Don’t do anything stupid. And if you get hurt, I’m going to kick your butt.”
She nodded and dialed her cell phone. “Hey, Kevin, am I interrupting you?” she asked. “Oh, that’s good. Hey, listen, can I redeem that rain check from the other night?”
She paused and listened for a moment.
“Yeah, I need to get away, think about something else,” she said. “Bradley is in pretty bad shape, they don’t think he’s going to make it.”
Her breath caught and tears filled her eyes. She sniffed. “Sorry, I’m a little emotional,” she said. “Anyway, Sean is kicking me out of the hospital for a while to get some fresh air.
I just wondered if we could do something.”
“Yeah, that would be great,” she said. “Do you want me to meet you there or do you want to pick me up?”
