Crimson Blood

by Douglas Pratt

  “Okay,” I answered. “You name the place, we will go.”

  Her face lit up. “San Fransisco.”

  “Ever been?”

  “Nope, but I want to see Chinatown and Lombard Street. I want to ride the trolleys and walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.”

  “Let’s go then. I can get us a flight tomorrow.”

  “No, adventurers don’t fly when they can drive. San Francisco is the destination. It’s the getting there I want to do with you.”

  “Lauren, I don’t know anything about you.”

  Her eyes flashed a knowing glance at me. “By the time we get to Frisco, you will adore me.”

  “Probably sooner than that,” I said. “Where are you staying? Do you have a car?”

  “No, I took the bus. I’m staying over by the ball park. I don’t have much to carry. I like to travel light. I just need my bag.”

  “Then, why don’t we check you out and you stay with me tonight.” Then I added, “It doesn’t have to be like, anything funny, I have an extra bedroom.”

  “Max. Is it Maxwell or Maximus or what.”

  “Maxwell Jacob Sawyer.”

  “Maxwell Jacob Sawyer, I don’t need an extra bedroom. Let me go to the ladies room, then we can go.”

  She stood up and then leaned over and kissed me. Her tongue flicked against my lips, and her fingers slid behind my head. I pulled her into the seat with me and my arms wrapped around her.

  When she pulled away, her eyes stayed locked on mine. They widened slightly, and I swear, I have never seen eyes like that.

  “Max, I do believe in it,” she whispered. “Now, I have to go pee.”

  “Make sure you come back,” I said like some desperate child.

  “Don’t worry,” she touched my cheek and walked past me to the back of the restaurant. I watched her in the reflection of the glass as she disappeared down the hallway leading to the restroom.

  Her phone lay across the table next to the plate of rib bones. I nibbled on a fry while I was waiting. I flagged the server down, and paid the tab.

  I would need to text Leo that I was heading back to the house. He could find his own ride.

  I watched the reflection to see when she would be heading back. A man wearing a black leather coat walked into the hallway. He moved stiffly, and I turned to look at him. He had come from a side door, and he moved quickly toward the restroom. The way one does at a roadside gas station because he doesn’t want to be noticed.

  I picked up her phone and walked to the hallway. I could wait on her here. Past the restrooms was a door that was slightly ajar. I heard a slamming noise and a muffled screech.

  I pushed through the door into a storage area. A second metal door looked like it opened into the alley. The door swung open when I pushed it.

  The man in the leather jacket was struggling to hold Lauren. I charged him without much thought. He was taller than me, but our builds were similar. When I hit him, he, Lauren, and I rolled to the ground.

  “Run!” I yelled to Lauren who was already on her feet scrambling down the alley.

  The man jumped to his feet to go after her when I caught his arm. Pulling him back around, I punched him in the nose hard enough to feel the cartilage give way. I swung again and caught him on the jaw. He was stumbling backwards.

  My head rang as something cracked against the side of my head. The alley way shrank in that second. I saw the asphalt rising up before I blacked out.

  2

  “Sir, are you okay?” The voice seemed far away. I struggled to open my eyes. A bearded face stared at me.

  “Can you hear me?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” I think I said.

  “What?”

  “Yes,” I got out much clearer.

  A throbbing in my head drove my insides mad. I was trying not to throw up all over the guy’s beard.

  “We called an ambulance.”

  The bearded guy helped me sit up. As the world began to clear around me, I could make out his face, which was young.

  “Did you see a girl?” I asked.

  “No, man, we just found you. I was going to take a piss in the alley and found you. Were you robbed?”

  “No… I don’t know. There was a guy trying to grab a girl.”

  “Oh, man. My buddy ran to get a cop.”

  I was beginning to remember. I had knocked the guy down that was attacking Lauren. No, he wasn’t really attacking. He was trying to hold her. He was kidnapping her.

  She had run away though. I remembered her running down the alley. That’s when someone hit me. There were two guys.

  I needed to find Lauren.

  Footsteps echoed down the alley, as a police officer and another man came running down the street. They stopped in front of me and the bearded Samaritan.

  “Sir, what happened?” the officer said as he knelt down in front of me.

  “I was with a girl that was attacked. When I tried to stop it, someone hit me from behind.”

  The officer leaned around to look at the back of my head. “Yeah, you got a nice gash there. We have an ambulance on the way.”

  “I don’t know what happened though. Lauren ran off when I hit the first guy.”

  “Her name was Lauren?” the officer asked. “What’s her last name?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. We had just met.”

  “Where did you meet?”

  “In 152. Then we walked down to get a bite at Blues City.”

  The officer had pulled a pad out at some point and was taking notes. “What can you tell me about her then?”

  “She had blue eyes and her hair is dyed purple.”

  “Did she say where she lived?”

  I answered, “She said she was staying at a hotel near the ballpark.”

  “Okay, what about the guy that attacked her?”

  “He was about six feet tall, maybe 200 lbs. He was wearing a black leather jacket. I think he had black, or at least dark hair.”

  The officer looked down the alley. “Okay, you’re doing good. We have some paramedics that are going to look you over.”

  “You have to find her,” I said.

  “We’re going to work on it.”

  Two paramedics appeared in front of me. My head was still pounding.

  “Sir, can we have a look?” one of the paramedics, whose uniform said his name was Thomas, asked.

  I leaned forward, and Thomas shined a flashlight on me.

  “Okay, we got a nice cut here. Can you stand up?”

  I nodded.

  “Okay, you are going to need stitches. Let’s get you in the back of the ambulance.”

  The two paramedics helped me to my feet. The alley way felt like a swinging bridge as my equilibrium tried to stabilize me.

  The officer was now talking to the bearded guy and his friend. I tried to picture the man’s face that was struggling with Lauren. The image of the struggle seemed burned in my brain, but I could only focus on Lauren.

  The two paramedics helped me into the back of the ambulance. I still felt dizzy, but it was more like a feeling of drunkenness.

  “Rob,” Thomas said, “we need to get him to the ER.” He looked at me and said, “Let’s get you strapped in.”

  “No,” I said. “I’m okay.”

  “Nope,” Thomas said shaking his head. “My ride, my rules.”

  I laid on the gurney and let Thomas strap me down.

  “I hope you know my safe word,” I joked.

  Thomas winked at me. “We don’t use safe words here. They’re for pussies.”

  The ambulance started moving, and I watched the light on the ceiling as Rob turned up and down the streets of downtown.

  I hadn’t texted Leo. He would probably come over to Blues City eventually, and when he didn’t find me, then he’d text and go do his own thing. He had a key to the house, so he could come and go as he wanted.

  “So, what happened to you?” Thomas asked me.

  “I think I charged into a
tornado. I tried to stop a guy from grabbing a girl. Didn’t see his buddy who tried to take off my head.”

  “Know what he hit you with?”

  I shook my head. “Never saw him.”

  Thomas gripped the gurney as Rob turned again.

  “My guess,” he said, “is you caught either a wrench or a pistol. The point of impact is narrow, so like the width of a gun barrel. If it had been a heavy enough wrench, your skull would be crushed there. So I figure a gun.”

  He made a gun with his hand and demonstrated a swing. “See,” he said, “the way you hold the gun limits the swing and the momentum. So it became more of a glancing blow than a killing blow.”

  “Well, it hurts.”

  Thomas nodded. “I imagine he intended to kill you with the blow. Just be glad it wasn’t more direct.”

  He peered in my eyes with an scope.

  “You probably have a concussion.”

  “Awesome,” I said.

  “Who was the girl?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I had just met her.”

  “Hope she got away.”

  Me too, I thought.

  The ambulance bounced as it entered the driveway of the hospital. Through the back window I could make out the lights of the Med, or the Regional Medical Center. The Med was the trauma center in the area dealing with accidents, shootings, or, well, trauma.

  When the ambulance came to a stop, Thomas released something that locked the gurney in place. The back doors opened. Rob stepped up and helped him unload me.

  “I can walk,” I insisted.

  “Don’t be silly,” Rob said. “If you go in on a gurney, you are going to be seen faster.”

  “Really,” I asked.

  Thomas chuckled, “As far as you know.”

  Not having much choice, I rode into the emergency room on my back. A red-haired nurse was the first person I saw.

  “What have you got?” she asked.

  “Head injury. Got a gash on the back of his skull and possible concussion.”

  She turned my head. “Yeah, that hurts I bet.”

  “Just a little,” I answered.

  She smiled at me. “Let’s get you stitched up.”

  I was rolled into a room, and the straps released. The nurse helped me over to the bed. Then Thomas and Rob were gone with their gurney. The nurse, who was in her thirties, situated me on the bed.

  “We are going to run you down for a CT scan. Make sure your marbles are intact,” she told me as two men in white came and wheeled me out of the room. “Gotta get you outta those clothes though.”

  “But we just met.”

  The nurse gave me a jestful sneer at a joke she probably heard often.

  After what felt like hours being scanned, I was returned to a different room. My red-haired nurse returned a minute later.

  “I’ll be back to stitch you up.” Then she vanished.

  I sat on the bed. The night replayed in my head despite the constant drumming of pain. I needed to text Leo. I fumbled in the pocket of my pants that the nurse had folded on a chair and pulled out a pink iPhone. Lauren’s phone. I had forgotten I had picked it up off the table.

  I went to the other pocket and found my phone. I had two messages from Leo. The first asked me where I was, he stopped by Blues City. The second said he was giving up on me, and that he and his two new friends were going back to my house. I rolled my eyes. Not much point in texting him now as he was probably pretty well occupied.

  I picked up Lauren’s phone. The screen was locked, but I remembered watching her unlock it at Club 152. I swiped the pattern key with an upside down N. The screen lock vanished, and the phone’s home screen appeared.

  I clicked her messages. She had no messages. I opened her contacts. I was the only number listed. Then I found her call history. There was one number called, and it was two days ago. An area code of 256. I didn’t know where that was.

  Her pictures showed four pictures. Each was a selfie of her. The first was in front of Auto Zone Park with the big Redbird holding a baseball bat on the sign. The next two were on Beale Street. Judging from the sky, it was less than an hour before I met her. The last picture was the one she took in Blues City Cafe with the ribs.

  Her internet history was equally sparse. She had no Facebook or Twitter accounts signed into the phone. She had no emails. She was barely on the grid.

  The cute gingered nurse returned. She made me lean forward and began cleaning my wound.

  “So, how did this happen?” she asked as she carefully moved the blood caked hair from around the gash.

  “I rushed in where angels dared to tread.”

  She dabbed the cut with something causing me to wince. “You don’t strike me as a fool.”

  “Well, I tried to stop a girl from being attacked in an alley.”

  She continued to poke, and I fought to control the twitches of pain. “Wow, good for you.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t see the other guy. He beaned me with something.”

  “You’re lucky he didn’t kill you.”

  “How long will this take, do you think?” I asked, then added, “Not that I don’t want you to take your time. Just been a long night.”

  “We will probably get you stitched up pretty quick. But you won’t be able to leave for a few hours.”

  Great, I thought.

  She worked on my head for about twenty minutes before she started stitching the wound.

  “Do you know what happened to the girl?”

  “She was running away when I got hit. I hope she made it somewhere safe.”

  The stitches tugged at my scalp as she sewed the wound closed.

  “Did you know her?” she asked.

  “We had just met. She was very different.”

  “How so?”

  “Like she exuded something. She had intelligence that she seemed to carefully balance with naivete. She was whimsical and fun. I don’t know. The word I kept thinking of was alluring.”

  “Hmm,” she said. “Sounds like love at first sight.”

  “That’s exactly what she said. I don’t know. I’ve been very much in love before, but this was like I wanted to know her. Just from seeing her across the room, before she even spoke, I wanted to know her.”

  “Maybe you can find her,” she said.

  “Yes, if she’s okay.”

  A knock on the door interrupted our conversation. A man stood in the doorway wearing a shirt and tie with a folder in his hand. His face was very familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it.

  The nurse asked, “Can I help you?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m with the MPD. Detective Anders. I was hoping to speak to your patient for a minute.”

  “Anders?” I asked. “Didn’t you work on that museum murder back in…what was it ‘01?” I asked.

  “I think it was 2002. I thought your name sounded familiar. How’s your head?”

  “Hurts. But I seem to be in good hands.”

  “Sorry to bother you, but I needed to ask you a couple of questions. The girl you saw attacked, you told the officer on the scene her name was Lauren?”

  “Yes, I don’t know her last name. We just met.”

  “And can you describe her for me?”

  “She’s about 5’5” maybe… wait… are you still in the homicide department?”

  “Yes,” he said glumly.

  “Where did you find her?”

  “A homeless guy found her under the ramp to the interstate, down by the river.”

  “Dammit.”

  The nurse touched by shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault,” she assured me

  “I know, but, still. What happened to her?”

  "She was beaten badly, but it was a gunshot to the head that killed her.”

  Lauren’s purple hair sticky with blood flashed through my mind. Her pale blue eyes so lit up with life now dimmed.

  The nurse squeezed my shoulder.

  Anders asked, “Can you identify a photo?”

&
nbsp; “Yeah,” I answered.

  He pulled a picture from the folder and handed it to me. Lauren’s face was still and blank. Cuts on her cheeks and lips showed the results of someone repeatedly punching her face.

  “That’s her.” I handed the photo back to Anders.

  “She didn’t have any identification. The officer noted you told him she was staying near the ball park?”

  “Yes, that’s all she said.”

  “We can’t find anyone that remembers her. The only Lauren’s staying at the hotels have all been confirmed to be other guests.”

  “I can’t help you, Detective. We knew each other an hour. I couldn’t tell you whether she was honest or not.”

  “Your waiter at Blue City Cafe remembered you and she. He said that you two looked very familiar. You were even kissing.”

  “Yes, we were. She was very pretty, and in the hour I was with her, she was very engaging. But that was it, one hour.”

  “Let me get your address and phone number. I will keep you apprised.”

  I gave him both and thanked him, knowing full well that he had no intention of keeping me apprised.

  “Thank you,” he said, and then he left.

  The nurse resumed stitching my head. “You doing okay,” she asked.

  “Just peachy.”

  When she finished, she said, “Okay, you can rest. I’ll be in and out checking on you. You can probably leave in a few hours, but you will need to take it easy. You will probably feel nauseous, dizzy, or even have some blurry vision over the next couple of days. You’ll need to abstain from physical activity, as well as alcohol.”

  Great, could things get any better.

  3

  The red-haired nurse got off at seven in the morning. I was finally given the go ahead to leave about twenty-five minutes later. I caught an Uber that drove me home.

  I had dozed in the hospital bed, but I just couldn’t rest. I replayed the attack in the alley, over and over in my head.

  The man in the leather jacket had come in from the side door as Lauren went to the restroom. He waited on her. Sending the other guy to the alley, he went in alone. Less noticeable.

  I got home and walked into the kitchen. I started a pot of coffee and headed up to take a shower. I was supposed to keep the scalp dry for 48 hours, but I still felt dirty from lying in an alley. Had I been in a better frame of mind, I would have asked the redhead for a sponge bath.