Pretty Is As Pretty Does

by Gen Griffin

  David ignored him. He locked the doors on Cal's Chevy, pocketed the keys and headed back towards the road on foot.

  “Where are you going?” Kerry stammered.

  “I'm going to catch the bad guy.” David didn't even bother turning around to face them as he spoke. “Since you clearly don't realize that arresting criminals is supposed be your job.”

  “You're going down the road?” Ian asked.

  “You think he went into the swamp?” David kept walking. “Water is going to be at least thigh deep on me in these conditions. I wouldn't make it a quarter of a mile in 20 minutes with this much mud and water. If he'd gone into the water, Kerry would have seen him when he pulled up.”

  “What do you mean, Kerry would have seen him?” Ian hurried to catch up to David.

  “Kerry beat me here.” David barely felt cold even as the driving rain continued to pound down on him. “I only missed catching Curtis dumping the truck by maybe five minutes. Kerry was here before me. He must have gotten the call that Mason put in through dispatch.”

  “Okay, so?”

  “Curtis would only have had two minutes to make his escape. Maybe less than two minutes. He had to have been able to run. If he had run into the swamp, he wouldn't have been able to run fast enough through the mud and water to escape without being seen. Kerry would have seen him.”

  “Unless he ran up the road?” Ian suddenly sounded doubtful.

  “Its the only option I can think of,” David scanned the treeline. “Kerry would have arrested Curtis if he'd seen him. Kerry has tried to arrest damn near everyone in town at some point or another. He'd have been thrilled with the opportunity to arrest a real criminal.”

  “Yeah. No kidding.” Ian nearly giggled. “So, how do you think you're going to track this guy?”

  “He's got all the grace of a charging bull in a china shop,” David said. “If he went into the woods somewhere off of this road, we'll find him. You got my back?”

  “Always.” Ian pulled his own handgun out of its holster. “Let's go get this guy.”

  David nearly smiled.

  Chapter 12

  “I can't do this.” Kerry was hyperventilating as Curtis struggled to free himself from the passenger's side floorboard of the cruiser.

  “You don't get a choice.”

  “David nearly caught you getting into my car!” Kerry began digging through his own pocket, hunting for his inhaler. He found it and began greedily sucking on it.

  “Didn't you say that David is the guy who killed your girlfriend in high school?” Curtis leaned against the side of the car. The big man was out of breath and looking significantly worn for the wear.

  “Casey wasn't my girlfriend,” Kerry argued. “She was my friend. Just my friend. She was just a kid.”

  “I don't care about your sad little relationship. David is-.”

  “David killed Casey. Yes.”

  “I thought you said y'all found the girl's body under his house?” Curtis frowned at Kerry. “Why is he still walking around?”

  “DNA isn't back yet. Can't arrest him for Casey's murder until we're positive the body is Casey's.”

  “You aren't afraid he'll run?” Curtis attempted to wipe the rain away from his eyes. “Seems like a hell of a flight risk.”

  “David?” Kerry shook his head. “He's gotten away with murder for almost 10 years at this point. His best friend is the Sheriff's nephew. Same guy you shot point blank in the chest. Ian, the other deputy who just took off with him, is his cousin.”

  “He's not afraid of the cops around here because he knows you are the only one who would even try to arrest him,” Curtis sounded almost envious.

  “Pretty much.”

  “Sweet deal.” There was more than a slight hint of jealousy in Curtis's voice.

  “No. It's not. It's a horrible injustice.” Kerry took another couple of hits off the inhaler and then jammed it back down into his pocket. “You need to get out of here.”

  “And go where?”

  “I don't know. Into the swamp.” Kerry pointed at the deep, dark and murky water.

  “Hell no.” Curtis took one look at the swamp and shook his head vigorously. “I wouldn't make it 100 feet before I got eaten by an alligator.”

  “Well, you can't just hang out around here,” Kerry said. “If we get caught together, we're both screwed.”

  “We're not going to get caught,” Curtis said. “We've got to get out of here.”

  “I can't just drive away from a crime scene,” Kerry protested.

  “What crime scene?” Curtis asked. “A truck that we sunk?”

  “It's evidence.”

  “Evidence that needs to disappear,” Curtis hissed. “Especially since the lake wasn't deep enough to submerge the truck and therefore none of our prints have been washed away.”

  “But if I just leave the crime scene unattended?”

  “Surely you can think of some kind of excuse for leaving,” Curtis said. “Tell them you got another call.”

  “They would know I was lying. Ian's wife is the dispatcher.”

  “Jesus Christ this town is one inbred little clusterfuck.” Curtis shook his head. “Come on. There's got to be some excuse you can use to leave. Tell them you needed to take a shit.”

  “What?” Kerry gaped at Curtis.

  “Tell them you had to take a shit. There isn't a bathroom out here. The truck isn't going anywhere. Your house is only ten minutes up the road. You can take me back to the house and be back before they're halfway done searching the swamp for me. If anyone asks, tell them that you just couldn't hold your bowels any longer.”

  “And how do you suggest I get you out of here without them seeing you?”

  “How much crap you have in your trunk?” Curtis asked.

  “Not much. Why?”

  Curtis patted his stomach. “I think I'll fit in the trunk. Once I get in there, you can drive me right out.”

  “Oh.” Kerry hesitated for a second and then threw up his hands. “I just want you to know that I think this is a really bad plan.”

  “You have any better ideas?”

  Kerry frowned at Curtis. “How do you feel about running away through the swamp and then pretending that we never met?”

  Curtis smacked Kerry on the shoulder so hard that Kerry's knees buckled.

  “Ouch!” Kerry yelped.

  “Open your trunk,” Curtis told him.

  Kerry stood quivering in place for a moment longer and then popped the trunk.

  Chapter 13

  Addison woke up in a hospital room with a tube down his throat and his mother at his side. His chest was on fire. He reached up to try to pull the medical equipment off of his face. A thousand alarms started going off as various machines were disturbed by his movements. Addison felt like he was choking to death.

  “Don't!” Jane May tried to grab his forearm to stop him from yanking the tube out of his mouth. She wasn't strong enough, though her grip hindered him slightly.

  Someone else's arm came down on top of his. Someone a lot stronger than Jane May.

  “Easy.” A familiar voice but Addison was starting to panic. He'd never liked having anything over his face. Couldn't stand it. He'd failed his deep water diving certification test four times because he panicked every time the scuba mask covered his face.

  Addison tried to move his other arm but he couldn't. It felt like the entire limb had been completely immobilized. His attempts to move it elicited a stunning amount of pain that nearly made him black out.

  “Jesus, Addy. Calm down.” Cal's dark eyes appeared directly in front of Addison's face. “Calm down. I know you don't like having shit covering your face but you can't just yank that tube out. You'll do more damage.”

  Addison wanted to keep fighting but he was strangely weak. Cal, he realized with a strange and disconnected feeling, was pinning him down on some kind of table.

  “Dude, you're going to rip your stitches out. Stop.”

  Addiso
n struggled to ask what stitches Cal was talking about. He couldn't talk. The tube in his mouth was making him gag. The gagging only made him want to fight harder to get the tube out.

  Jane May was shrieking something in ear piercingly high volume. Addison couldn't understand what she was saying and he didn't try.

  “Addison. Listen to me.” Cal leaned even closer to Addison, so that the two of them were eye-to-eye. “Trust me. Okay? Please?”

  Addy did trust Cal. They'd been friends since they were kids playing Little League together. He stopped fighting against the weight that was pinning him down. He needed to ask what happened but he couldn't.

  “Listen to me,” Cal said. “You got shot in the chest. You've been drugged out of your mind with pain killers because you had to have emergency surgery to remove the bullet. You're in Baker County Memorial Hospital. That tube in your mouth is part of some kind of breathing machine. The doctor told us that the nurses would pull it out after you woke up. You're up and all these machines are screaming, so I'm pretty sure someone is probably on their way right now. Do you understand me?”

  Addison tried to talk again, choked on the tube and then realized he would have to nod. He nodded.

  “Good. You're going to be okay, but you need to stay calm. You don't want to start bleeding again. Trust me.”

  Addison had no choice but to nod again.

  “If I let you go, will you promise me you'll leave the breathing tube alone until the nurses get here?”

  Addy nodded a third time. Cal let him go. Addison wanted to try to sit up, but he had a feeling that Cal would just force him back down onto the hospital bed.

  “Are you awake sweetheart?” A chubby nurse appeared in front of Addison.

  “You need to pull that tube out of his mouth,” Cal said.

  “Well honey, I don't know how long he's going to be awake. We might want to leave the tube in a little bit longer-.”

  Addison shook his head no. He shot Cal a desperate, pleading look. He felt stupidly helpless.

  “You can't,” Cal sounded exhausted.

  “Calvin, you can't argue with the doctors,” Jane May cut in. “If they want to leave the machines on him, then you have to remember that they are the experts.”

  “He's claustrophobic. Badly claustrophobic.” Cal sighed. “I just had to pin him to the bed to stop him from pulling it out on his own. Either y'all are going to take that thing off his face or he will.”

  “Addison's claustrophobic?” Jane May frowned at Cal. “Since when?”

  “Since forever,” Cal grumbled.

  “You're sure he'll pull the tube on his own?” The nurse asked Cal.

  Cal looked down at Addison. “You going to freak if they don't remove the tube?”

  Addy nodded again. He tried to lift his arm back up to his face but belatedly realized that his mother was still attached to it.

  “Alright. Alright.” The nurse reached for the contraption that was covering Addison's face. “Relax. This will hurt more if you're tense.”

  A second later, Addison was gagging and coughing but the tube was gone. “Oh thank god,” he rasped. His throat was dry and aching. He felt like his mouth was on fire.

  “Water?” The nurse offered Addison a teeny tiny paper cup with an itty bitty straw sticking out of it.

  Addison tried to sit up. The pain that shot through his back took his breath away.

  “Not that way.” Cal grabbed a fat remote that was tied to the bed somewhere on Addison's left. “Use the buttons on the bed. Slowly.”

  Addison didn't bother trying to tell Cal to raise the bed up. He didn't need to.

  “I was so scared.” Jane May unexpectedly and abruptly appeared directly in his line of vision. She reached out and stroked his face with the palm of her hand.

  He tried to pull away, only discover he was too hurt to manage it.

  “Addy?” Jane May plucked the cup of water out of the nurse's hand and held it up to Addison's mouth. She poked the straw into his mouth. “Take a sip of water. You'll feel better.”

  He took a small sip of water. It burned like fire going down. He wanted to throw up but after several minutes of dry heaving, he came to the conclusion that he didn't have any fluid left in his body to throw up.

  The nurse was gradually turning off all the screaming machines.

  “I was so afraid we'd lost you.” Jane May kept stroking through his hair. Her turquoise eyes were puffy and red from crying. “You just looked so bad and lost so much blood. You nearly died on the surgery table. I thought for sure that I'd never be able to talk to you again.”

  “Wait.” Addison's throat cracked as he tried to talk. “I nearly died?”

  “Not really,” Cal said. “The bullet missed all the important stuff.”

  Jane May began over-dramatically sobbing against him. “You pulled through. You pulled through.”

  Addy wanted real answers. It took a lot of effort to focus his attention past his mother's hysterics, but when he did he saw that Cal was leaning against the foot of the bed. “Cal.”

  “What honey?” Jane May was less than two inches from his nose.

  “Get off. Need to talk. Want to talk.”

  “I'm here for you son. I'll talk. What do you want to talk about?” Her blue eyes were just as wide and innocent looking as his own. He knew better than to trust her.

  “Not you. Cal.” Addison tried to lift his arm so he could shove her away from but, but he was took weak. “Cal, get her off me.”

  Cal snorted. “She'll have me thrown out.”

  “What?” Addison croaked the word out.

  “Actually, I already had him thrown out. Not sure how he got back in here.” Jane May narrowed her eyes at Cal.

  “There isn't exactly a door guard,” the nurse said softly. “Though Mrs. Malone has specifically requested that you not be allowed in here, Mr. Walker. It is hospital policy that the family has the right to limit the number of visitors. Especially non-family visitors.”

  “I heard all the alarms go off from the hallway. I figured he'd woken up and was fighting with the equipment.” Cal shrugged his shoulders and then held up his hands in surrender. “You want me gone, fine. I'm gone.”

  “No.” Addison shook his head. He immediately regretted the gesture because his neck and head hurt like hell. He frowned at his mother. “Where's Gracie?”

  “Thrown out,” Cal said flatly.

  “Your sister was being extremely disrespectful and disruptive, Addison. I'm sorry but I need to be able to focus on getting you through this. I don't have time to deal with Gracie's attitude.”

  Addison closed his eyes and leaned back against the bed. “Get out.”

  “See Calvin?” Jane May turned around to face Cal. “He doesn't want you here.”

  “Not Cal.” Addison choked on his dry throat again. “You. Get out.”

  “You don't mean that.” Jane May stroked Addy's cheekbone again.

  Addison opened one eye. “Nurse?”

  “Yes?”

  “I want Cal. I want my sister. Get my mother out of here.”

  “Addison! How can you say that?” Jane May demanded. “After all I've done for you and all I've sacrificed for you. Nurse, he doesn't know what he's saying. It's the pain medications.”

  “Oh boy.” The nurse looked from Jane May to Cal to Addison and then back to Jane May.

  Addison narrowed his eyes at his mother. “I'm tired. I hurt. My chest feels like it's on fire. Go pretend to give a shit about me somewhere else.”

  “You ungrateful little jerk!” Jane May reared back as if she was going to slap Addison. Cal grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her back around so that she was facing the door.

  “Go get some coffee.” Cal shoved her towards the door. As soon as Jane May was back out in the hallway, Cal turned back to Addison. “And to think, one day that woman is going to be my children's grandmother.”

  Addison started to laugh and a burst of pain shot through his chest. The force o
f the pain was so excruciating it took his breath away.

  “Addy?” Gracie had appeared in the doorway that Cal had just shoved their mother out of.

  He lifted his right arm up in a weak half-wave. Gracie ran to him, flinging her arms around his neck. The hug hurt but Addison didn't mind pain if it meant he was still alive and able to see his sister. He lifted his unrestrained arm and wrapped it around Gracie's waist, pulling her snugly against him.

  Gracie's hot tears began hitting his bare skin. The hospital gown offered no real cover and he could feel every breath she was taking. “Oh god, we thought you were dead. I was so scared. We thought you were gone.”

  “Gracie, don't choke him to death.” Cal sat down on the edge of the bed behind Gracie. He ran his hand down her spine as he and Addison exchanged a look.

  “I love you, kid.” Addy closed his eyes and buried his face in her hair.

  “I love you too,” Gracie whispered. “It was so bad, Addy. Everything has been so bad. And mom is being terrible. You know she's making this all about her. She had me thrown out so I couldn't be here when you woke up.”

  “It's okay. I'm tough.” Addison made no move to let Gracie go. Now that the drugs were wearing off, his memories were starting to come back to him. He remembered pulling over on the side of the road for a stranded motorist. He remembered the motorist calling him Officer Fuck Buddy and shooting him.

  “Shit. David.”

  “David's not here,” Gracie said.

  “No. I need David.” Addison tried to gather his thoughts together. “The guy who shot me. I remember him now. He was-.”

  “Trish's ex-husband,” Cal filled in the blank for him.

  Addison looked up in surprise.

  “We know.”

  “Cal, I need you-.” Addison swallowed. His throat was still searingly dry. “I need you to tell me what happened today. I only remember bits and pieces.”

  “I only know bits and pieces,” Cal admitted reluctantly. “We don't have to talk about this now. You're going to be fine but you lost a lot of blood today. You need to get some rest. ”

  “Trish is in danger. That guy's crazy.” Addison tried to shift his weight on the bed and wound up regretting it. Even moving two inches to the left hurt like hell. “Gracie, baby, go get me a soda.”