by Kay Wyont
“Speaking of Frank,” Veronica said, looking at the young officer, “we have something to tell you.”
“Let me guess,” Randy said. “You’re getting married.”
“How did you know?” Frank asked. “My parents don’t even know yet. I just asked her an hour ago.”
“He’s a detective, honey.”
“You must be San Antonio’s own Sherlock Holmes.”
“Not really, Frank. But I saw how you were looking at her when we came in. It doesn’t take a detective to notice that. Besides, she said ‘we’ have something to tell you. That’s a dead giveaway. Congratulations, you two. I would say you’re a cute couple, but with all those bandages you have on, Veronica, I’ll save the ‘cute’ remark for later.”
“Well, I still think she’s cute. Bandages or no bandages,” Frank said.
“Ah, to be young and in love. Remember when we used to think like that, Randy?”
“I still think like that, Danny. Twenty-six years and still going strong. And unless I’m seriously wrong, you still feel the same way about Mary.”
“Guilty as charged!”
“See, you two? Who says love has to die?” Randy asked.
“That’s good to hear, boss. I’ll need a vacation for the honeymoon. Is that okay?”
“No problem. I think we can spare you a day or two.”
“A day or two? We were thinking more like a week or two,” Frank said. “Are you sure you can’t let her go longer than just a few days? We’ll have to honeymoon in Corpus if that’s all the time she’ll get.”
“It’s not too late, Veronica,” Danny said. “You haven’t said the ‘I do’ part yet. There’s time to rethink this whole engaged-to-an-extremely-gullible-individual thing.”
Frank sighed. “I can’t win. Don’t you guys have a bad guy to arrest or something?”
“Funny. That’s exactly what Margaret asked when she kicked me out of the house this morning and made me go to work.”
“I think I’d like her,” Veronica said.
“You would. Okay, we’re getting out of here. Let us know if you need anything, Veronica. You focus on getting well.”
“Thanks for coming by. Tell the guys I said hi.”
“Will do.” Randy stood up to leave and patted her arm. “And one more time, I’m proud of you. You could be in a training video for what to do in an emergency. You did exactly what you should have done, and exactly what I’d have done in the same situation.”
“Thanks again, Randy. That means a lot coming from you.”
“Keep us posted. And you take good care of our girl, Frank.”
“I will,” he promised.
On the way back to the car, Danny said, “She did good.”
“That she did. She’s going to need counseling, though. The guilt she’s feeling now will only get worse once her body starts to heal. Especially if she thought they were friends. That’ll be hard to live with.”
“Yeah. But she kept her cool under fire. Literally.”
“Is it just me, or has the whole world gone batty?”
“Like a soldier shooting his own team members?”
“Exactly. One more thing to add to a growing list of weirdness.”
“No kidding. I wonder what was up with him.”
“Another question we’ll probably never get an answer to.”
“At least Veronica kept her wits about her and remembered her training. I’d hate to lose her. I know I got a little testy with her when she was on the task force, but she’s a good cop.”
“That she is.” Randy pulled a parking ticket off the windshield. “Crap.”
“Told you so!”
“Oh, shut up and get in. I need to make a call.” Randy got in the vehicle and pulled up the number for one of his on-base friends.
SEVEN
Randy and Danny sat in Chief Sanchez’s office, watching a television news reporter broadcasting from the scene of a school bus accident. A Northside ISD elementary school bus carrying seventeen children on a field trip had stopped on the train tracks. The teacher and parent chaperone were able to get the children to safety through the emergency exit, but the driver was still on the bus when a train rounded the bend and slammed into it.
Danny squinted at one of the patrolmen on the screen. “Isn’t that Frank?”
“Sure looks like him.”
“Who’s Frank?” Chief Sanchez asked.
“Frank Jenkins. He’s a patrolman,” Randy replied.
“We met him when he was guarding Rick Caldwell, and since then he seems to pop up everywhere. He thinks something’s fishy in the Caldwell case, too, for whatever that’s worth. He was at SAMMC visiting Veronica when we went to check on her. Actually, he’s her fiancé.”
“I don’t think I’ve met him. She didn’t tell me she got engaged when I visited her yesterday.”
“She hasn’t had the chance. He just popped the question before we got there.”
“Probably seeing her all banged up made him realize how he felt about her,” Danny said.
“How’s Veronica doing? I meant to get over there again this afternoon, but something came up.” Chief Sanchez sighed. “Something always comes up, it seems. Lately, anyway.”
“She’s as good as can be expected, under the circumstances. They’ll probably discharge her tomorrow, but I don’t know when the doctor will release her to come back to work.”
“Make sure she gets all the time she needs to recuperate.”
“I will,” Randy promised.
“This is probably a stupid question, but will Veronica have to undergo an investigation into the shooting? We all know it was justified, but you know how Internal Affairs is,” Danny cautiously asked.
“Probably not, Danny. If she was just off duty she would, but she was assigned to the Air Force and used a military weapon, so it’s under their jurisdiction. My friend on base implied the investigation’s complete with no charges filed, so Veronica isn’t in any trouble. My guess is she’ll get a medal.”
“Good,” Randy replied. “She’s got enough on her plate without worrying about that.”
“Hey, look.” Danny pointed at the TV. “That reporter just grabbed Frank.” Sure enough, Sarah Medina brought her cameraman in closer to the scene and stopped the officer in his path.
“Is he going to speak for the department?” Chief Sanchez scowled. “That should go through Public Affairs. I sure hope he doesn’t say anything he’ll regret.”
Randy grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.
“Officer, what happened here? Did the bus just die on the tracks?” She shoved the microphone under Frank’s nose.
“We haven’t determined that yet, ma’am. I’m sure the department will send out a spokesman, and you can ask them any questions you have. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” With that, Frank maneuvered around the dumbstruck reporter.
“Okay, that’s just funny.” The chief’s belly laugh drew a curious glance from a secretary passing through the hall. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her speechless. I like that boy! He shut her right down and walked away.”
“He seems like a good kid. Kinda gullible, though. We were jerking his chain and he fell for it every time,” Danny said. “Veronica had to tell him we weren’t seriously going to bring him in for questioning when we caught them holding hands.”
“He’ll learn. You’re right, Chief. That was smooth,” Randy agreed.
“Shhh, she’s zeroed in on the chaperone now.” Chief Sanchez leaned toward the television as Medina almost tackled the harried woman rushing past.
“Mrs. Johnson, I understand you were on the bus?”
“Yes, we were looking forward to this trip. Sally loves SeaWorld.” She had one arm wrapped tightly around her daughter. Tears streamed down Sally’s ashen face.
“What happened? Did the bus stall on the tracks?”
“I don’t know. It all happened so fast. I don’t know if the driver got sick or something. He wouldn’t an
swer when we called him.”
“That sounds scary. What did you do?”
“Mrs. Babcock and I got the kids out through the back. It wasn’t but a minute or so later that the train hit the bus.” Mrs. Johnson stifled a sob and hugged her daughter even tighter.
“I’m sorry. Were you scared?”
Mrs. Johnson stared at Medina like she had just escaped from the loony bin. “Obviously! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m taking my daughter home as soon as the rest of the parents get here. There’s my husband now.” Mrs. Johnson turned away, almost running as her husband rushed toward them.
“Oh look,” the intrepid reporter said, “there’s the teacher. Let me see if I can get a word with her.” Holding a microphone in front of the teacher’s face, she said, “Mrs. Babcock, you were on the bus. Can you tell us what happened?”
“No, and I have to go. I don’t want to talk to anyone right now. And, really, couldn’t you people have a little more sympathy? One of our drivers died here. Quit shoving that microphone in everybody’s face. Nobody wants to talk to you now.”
“Way to go, Mrs. Babcock!” Randy grinned at the reporter’s dismay. “You don’t know how many times I’ve wished someone would tell a reporter to leave them alone.”
“I’ve never seen that before,” Chief Sanchez said. “And it was on live TV.”
“I’ll say this for her, though. She doesn’t give up easily. Look, she’s trying to interview one of the children.” Danny shook his head in disgust.
“I can’t watch this anymore.” The chief retrieved the remote and hit the power button.
“But if someone punches her out, we’ll miss it.” Randy was still chuckling as he repositioned his chair.
“We can only hope,” Sanchez said. “Anything new on Caldwell? Is he still in a coma?”
“Yes.”
“You two do know your time’s almost up, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir.” Randy replied. Here it comes. He’s going to kick us off the case.
“Have you found out anything new?”
“No.”
“What did you find out at the weight loss clinic? Is there anything there the defense can use if Caldwell goes to trial?”
“We didn’t find out much. Dr. Higgins said that Rick had been going there about four months. According to the doctor, Caldwell only had about twenty pounds to lose and didn’t even appear to want to be there,” Randy said.
“Then why did he go?”
“Higgins thought the parents were forcing the issue,” Danny replied.
“I suppose they thought they were doing the best for their child.”
“It was mostly the father,” Randy explained. “Mr. Caldwell’s mother died from diabetes complications, and he was concerned Rick was headed down the same path, so he took Rick there to learn how to control his eating. He wanted to help him get a handle on his weight before it got out of control.”
“I guess that makes sense. It doesn’t help us any, though.”
“No.” Randy sighed. “You pulling us off? We’ve still got a couple days left.”
“I don’t know.” Chief Sanchez stood and went to his thinking spot by the window. He stared out over the city for some time. Randy and Danny exchanged confused glances. What could the chief have to consider for this long? He finally turned from the window and took a deep breath. “Look, guys, something is bothering me. Beckman, close the door. I’d prefer this conversation stays just between the three of us for now.”
Danny closed the door and sat back down. “What’s up?”
“I swear, if any word of this leaks out, I will personally see to it that both of you are on parking meter duty for the rest of your lives. Are we clear?”
“Perfectly, Chief.” Randy gave him a curious look. This has taken an ugly turn. Maybe I can use a little humor to keep him from shooting us. “But if you tell us you killed somebody, then all bets are off. I mean, we like you and all that, but, boss or no boss, we’re putting you away.”
“Should I pull out my handcuffs, Randy?”
“I think you know what you can do with those cuffs, Beckman,” the chief muttered. “Look, something is stuck in my craw, and I want your opinion. I trust both of you, even if you do yell at me in public, Monroe.”
“I didn’t yell, Chief!” Randy cleared his throat and lowered his voice. “I might have talked a little loud.”
“Semantics. But that proved something to me.”
“What’s that?”
“That proved I can trust you to tell me the truth. That’s important, and I need that same candor now.”
“Does that mean I can yell at you too, Chief?” Danny asked.
“You I’ll shoot, Beckman. Okay, here goes, but I’m trusting you. I’ve been doing a little snooping and talking to people on my own. Like I said, something’s sticking in my craw.” Sanchez paced back and forth.
“What is it?” Danny asked.
“I’m getting to it. I just don’t want you think I’ve gone completely off my rocker. Look...Caldwell is a clean-cut, no-problem kid, and he killed four people and hurt others for no apparent reason. He didn’t even understand it himself, or so he claimed, and either from guilt or something else, he tried to kill himself. It’s like the fourth death pushed him over the edge. He couldn’t live with the guilt.”
“Right,” Danny said. “We know that.”
“Shut up. I already think I’m a little crazy, so let me tell it my way.”
“Don’t worry, Chief, if he interrupts again, I’ll shoot him myself. Go ahead.”
“So, we have Caldwell. Not too long after that, a dentist goes off the deep end and crashes his plane into a school gym. By the way, the NTSB hasn’t found a thing wrong with the plane. They haven’t written the final report, but a friend of mine who works there thinks it’ll come out as pilot error. Only problem with that is Dr. Nelson was an experienced pilot. He’d been flying for years. There is absolutely no reason for pilot error. So, you go to the personal problems issue and figure maybe he was trying to kill himself. That doesn’t wash, either. He had a stable, happy marriage and they were expecting their first grandchild. No drugs, no alcohol, no nothing. He had everything to live for.”
“Huh,” Randy said.
“Et tu, Monroe?”
“Sorry. Continue.”
“Then we have Veronica. I talked to her when I visited. She thought she knew Hank. As well as you can know someone you only see on weekends and the yearly stint, that is. She never noticed anything ‘off’ about him. For some reason, this guy just starts shooting people. People he knows and works with and hasn’t had any problems with. Doesn’t make sense.
“And in case you’re thinking his military record has something hidden in it, you’re wrong. My friend on base says they’ve checked his background. There’s nothing—only glowing praise. No terrorist ties, no mental instability. He was even up for a promotion. Shooting his buddies was completely out of left field.
“And now, a school bus driver parks a load of children on a train track. Granted, he could have had a heart attack or something, but that chaperone didn’t say he was slumped over, she said he wouldn’t answer. This whole thing has been bothering me for a while, and this incident’s the icing on the cake. I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in days. I can’t seem to get it out of my head that something weird is going on. San Antonio is a huge town but recently, three, possibly four extremely strange things have happened. Things we can’t explain, that basically defy logic. My head says this is loony, but my gut is telling me something is seriously wrong.
“And there’s one more thing.” The chief glanced up at his slack-jawed detectives. “I know you think I’m crazy. But, do you remember the shooting right after the first of the year at the bar over on the Southside? A fireman shot two customers and the bartender, then turned the gun on himself.”
“Yeah,” Randy said. “We worked the case. His wife and friends never could come up with an explanation. We didn’t
know why it happened, but we knew he did it, so we closed the case. Lord knows it’s been drummed into our heads enough that we don’t have to know the why of it all.”
“I’ve said it myself on more than one occasion, including Caldwell’s case. That conversation got me to thinking and remembering. When I visited Veronica and heard her story, I started checking on my own. Something’s not right. Too many incidents too close together for it to be chance.” Chief Sanchez eyed them warily, as if bracing for an attack, then his shoulders sagged in resignation. “Okay, this is the part where you tell me I’m full of crap and you swear on a stack of Bibles you won’t ever mention it again.”
“I’m...kind of at a loss for words.” Randy stared at the floor, unwilling to look at his boss. He’d never known the chief to be so unsure of himself. Is he losing it? What do I say? He knew what he wanted to say. Chief, you’re crazy. Although, he had a point. Weirdness was happening and they couldn’t explain any of it. Maybe it was coincidence, but what if the chief was right? Could they afford to ignore the possibility that the strange events were connected?
Danny finally broke the awkward silence. “Well, I picked up on the fact that you have a lot of friends. So that’s good, I guess.”
A faint smile lifted the corner of the chief’s mouth. “You think I’m making the proverbial mountain out of the molehill?”
“I don’t know, Chief.” Randy chose his words carefully. “You think something’s off. I get that because we felt it on the Caldwell case. But what could possibly cause such a strange rash of occurrences? There's no shortage of conspiracy theories out there, but if someone was, say, dumping mind-altering chemicals into the aquifer, there’d be more instances like this. Sometimes coincidences really are just coincidence.”
“I agree with Randy, Chief. It’s strange, I’ll give you that. But an intentional plot to make random people into murderers? I don’t quite see it.”
“Maybe I’ve seen too many episodes of Criminal Minds.” Sanchez withdrew to the window and gazed over the city. When he spoke again, his voice was soft. “I thought I might be going a little crazy. Seems like you think so, too.”
