One Strange Accident

by Kay Wyont

  Randy looked at Danny, who shrugged. He’s no help, Randy thought and studied the chief’s back, hoping to find the answer there. The chief’s not senile, but a whacko plot? Still...if he’s this concerned, there must be something there. He may be a lot of things, but crazy he’s not. Okay. Decision made. Giant leap into the deep end.

  “Look, Chief, I’ve said on more than occasion—to your face and behind your back—you’re a good cop with good instincts. If you say something’s wrong, then something’s wrong, even if I’m not sure I see it.”

  Sanchez turned from the window and returned to his chair. “I appreciate the vote of confidence, Monroe, but you’re probably right. I’m probably just imagining stuff.”

  “But what if you’re not?” Randy stood up and paced the office. “You know the thing that bugs us about Caldwell is the why, and he’s the only one who actually lived through the ordeal. We can’t talk to any of the other people because they died at the scene of the accident or shooting. We’ll never know what was going through Hancock’s mind or any of the others. If we’d talked to them like we talked to Caldwell, there’s a fair to middling chance we might have the same reservations about those cases. And if we came up with that same ‘why’ question from them, then we have a problem in San Antonio, and it goes much deeper than a few people wigging out. I’ve watched Criminal Minds, too, and it only takes one whacko to create a lot of havoc. What if we have one of those whackos here?”

  Danny’s forehead creased in a frown. “Wait a second. Are you buying into the chief’s theory?”

  Randy steeled his shoulders and looked at his partner. “Do you remember telling me that you couldn’t stop thinking about Rick?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Have you stopped thinking about him?”

  “No, and before you ask, I haven’t stopped thinking about the guy who shot Veronica, either. I hate it when stuff doesn’t make sense.”

  “Here’s another question. What are the odds Caldwell would survive his accident?”

  “I’d put that squarely into the ‘nothing short of a miracle’ category,” Danny replied. “You saw the car. I still don’t know how he survived.”

  “Had Rick died, we’d never have been bothered by why it happened, because we wouldn’t know he had no idea why he did it. That’s what’s bothered us all along; the fact that he doesn’t know. Realistically, if he can’t tell us why he did it, then how are we supposed to find out? The pilot, the soldier, the bus driver, and the firefighter all died, as Rick should have. And nobody would normally think a whole lot about it. Just a bunch of unrelated stuff that happened in a short period of time. Until a question surfaces, as it has in Rick’s case. And the question is simply why. Why did he do it?”

  Danny stared silently at Randy, no doubt processing what his partner had just said. “Suppose you’re right... Where do we start? We already investigated the bar and didn’t find anything suspicious, and we’ve exhausted our leads on Caldwell. We don’t have jurisdiction on the Hancock case since it happened on base, and NTSB’s got the plane crash and probably the bus incident, too. So, where does that leave us?”

  Chief Sanchez leaned forward and looked each man in the eye. “Before I answer that, do you think I’m crazy, or do you actually see something? And give it to me straight. If you think I’m crazy, then tell me. I’ll let it go.”

  “I’ll be perfectly honest with you, Chief,” Randy replied. “I don’t think you’re crazy. Farfetched or reaching, maybe, but not crazy. That being said, until you put them all out there, I never made the connection. But you’re right...it’s all just a little bit too weird. If there’s a one in a million chance you’re right, then we have to check it out before something else happens. Because if there is something going on, it’s not going to stop unless we stop it. We learned that on the last serial killer case.”

  “Beckman?”

  “I don’t know. I’m honestly on the fence, Chief. But Randy’s right. If there’s the slightest possibility, then we need to investigate. If something else happens, how do we live with ourselves if we could have stopped it and didn’t? I vote to do some further checking. I’m just not sure how we go about doing it.”

  “Okay, hang on.” Chief Sanchez picked up the receiver on his desk phone and dialed. “Hey, Chuck, who was the responding officer on that school bus crash?” Sanchez tapped his fingers on the desk while he waited for Chuck to check the dispatch records. “Thanks.” The chief’s eyes gleamed as he hung up the phone. “Well, this might be a lucky break. Guess who was first on the scene.”

  “Frank,” Randy and Danny said in unison.

  “You are correct. Give those guys a stuffed bear!”

  “Just one?” Danny sounded hurt. “We have to share custody?”

  Randy slapped him on the back. “It’s okay. You keep Teddy during the week. I’ll take weekends and holidays.”

  “Zip it, smart alecks,” Sanchez growled, but still threw a grin at them. “Get with Frank and find out what you can about the crash. If it was a straightforward accident then no harm, no foul. Under no circumstances are you to tell him what we talked about. Remember that warning about parking meter duty. If this is all just a figment of our overactive imaginations, then we don’t need to publicize it.”

  “How do we justify sticking our noses in where Homicide doesn’t have jurisdiction?”

  “I’m banking on you knowing Frank. Tell him you’re curious and pump him for information, without raising his suspicion. Try to make it seem like natural curiosity and not that you’re investigating something. In other words, be discreet. Think you can pull that off, Beckman?”

  “Tact is my middle name, Chief.”

  “If that’s his middle name, he stole it from someone.” Randy chuckled. Tactless would be more like it. “Question. If we do find something, how do we justify our involvement?”

  “Well, you’re still investigating the Caldwell case. Until we find out if there is or isn’t a connection between all of these, that case stays open. We can use it for cover. And if the explanation about the school bus seems weird, then I want you to try and find a connection between all five of these cases. Did they hang out together? Did they go to the same church? Did they use the same gym? You get the drift. Find the connection.”

  “It always comes back to that, doesn’t it?” Randy mused. “Find the connection.”

  “You did it last year. Do your magic again. Just do it faster this time. If there is something we’re missing, there might be another unexplained accident, and I use that term loosely. If these incidents are related, there hasn’t been much of a break between them. If anything, they’re coming faster. Find the connection, and hopefully it’ll be easier this time.”

  “Oh, no. Does that mean another of Randy’s spreadsheets?” Danny asked.

  “If that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes. Now get out of here and talk to Jenkins. And remember, parking meter duty!”

  Danny just looked at him and grinned, then pantomimed locking his mouth shut and throwing away the key. Chief Sanchez shook his head and shooed them out of his office.

  EIGHT

  Tracking Frank down without arousing suspicions was harder than they’d expected. Frank spent his days out on patrol, and when he did stop at the station he didn’t drop by Homicide. On the fourth day, Randy gave up and called dispatch. After concocting a reasonable excuse for tracking him down, they were on their way to the northeast side, hoping to catch Frank finishing up an assault report. Sure enough, they spotted his patrol car and pulled up behind it.

  “Maybe we should turn the siren on,” Danny said.

  “Why would we do that?”

  “To see him jump. Standing with his back to us like that, I bet he doesn’t even know we’re here. Rookie mistake. We should teach him a lesson.”

  “Oh, give him a break. Besides, we won’t get anything out of him if you keep harassing him.”

  “You never let me have any fun.”

&nb
sp; “Upgrade your idea of fun from what a two-year old would consider fun and I will.”

  “I swear, you’re getting meaner in your old age.” Danny huffed and stared out the window, then twisted back to look at his partner. “Does that mean I can’t shoot at him, either?”

  “Stop it!”

  “Just consider it training. He should pay more attention to his surroundings. Somebody could actually come up here and shoot him, you know.”

  “How do you know he didn’t see us?” Randy asked.

  “I didn’t see him look over here. Did you?”

  “Well, he’s seen us now. Try not to be too big of a jerk.” Randy rolled his window down and stuck his head out as Jenkins approached. “Hey, Frank, how are you?”

  “What are you guys doing here?”

  “Checking up on you,” Danny said. “And, by the way, you should be more observant. You didn’t even see us drive up. It helps to keep your back to the house, that way you can watch the street.”

  “That’s good advice, and normally I do just that. But there’s a guy in the house I don’t trust. I didn’t want to turn my back to him,” Frank replied. “And I did see you drive up. I just didn’t react. That’s the advantage of dark glasses. You can move your eyes without anyone seeing you. But thanks for the advice.”

  “Don’t let him bug you, Frank. He always thinks he’s the smartest person in the room. Or in this case, the car,” Randy said, chuckling.

  “Oh, it’s fine. I really do appreciate the advice. You guys have way more experience than me.”

  “Randy, did he just call us old?” Danny hooked a thumb at his partner. “This guy might be nearing retirement, but I’m in the prime of my life.”

  “No, that’s not what I meant at all.” Frank’s arms waved like windshield wipers trying to remove a summer’s worth of bug guts.

  “And we were going to offer to buy you lunch,” Danny mused, “but with the rising cost of nursing homes these days, maybe we’d better let you buy. At least we have the senior discount to look forward to.”

  “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to offend you,” Frank said. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Seriously, Frank, you have got to learn how to tell if someone is kidding,” Randy said.

  “Maybe it’s those fancy dark glasses. He can’t tell a good joke when he sees one.”

  “I give up. Maybe one of these days I’ll catch on. You still want to do lunch? I’m starving. But, you should buy. You make a whole lot more money than I do.”

  “I suppose you do have a wedding to save for. As a matter of fact, that’s why we wanted to invite you to lunch. If you’re going to marry one of our team, we should get to know you better. What’s good around here?”

  “There’s this little mom-and-pop joint up the road that serves the best hamburgers in town. How about that?”

  “Sounds good to me. You lead, we’ll follow,” Randy replied.

  “We’re going Code 3,” Danny said.

  “What? Why?”

  “We’re hungry. You mean you don’t use lights and sirens for lunch?”

  “No, I’m pretty sure that’s against every regulation... Wait. You’re kidding, aren’t you?”

  “There may be hope for him yet,” Danny said, laughing.

  Frank shook his head and got back in his cruiser. On the way, the detectives finalized their plan to casually drop the bus accident into conversation. At the restaurant, Frank waved at the middle-aged woman behind the counter. Randy glanced around the small restaurant and led the way to a table in the back. Once they had ordered, he put their plan into action.

  “Danny and I were talking about you the other day.”

  “Why? Laughing about how gullible I am again?”

  “No, but now that you bring it up, you’ll have to get over that if you’re going to marry Veronica. She’s one sharp lady. If I ever doubted that before, which I didn’t, her actions out at Bullis proved that all over again. She’ll be running circles around you.”

  “We men should always have the upper hand in our relationships,” Danny said.

  Randy rolled his eyes. “That’s pretty funny coming from the man who spends his whole Saturday working on a honey-do list. We both know Mary’s the real boss at your house.”

  “Uh uh. I just let her think she is. At least my wife doesn’t threaten to withhold my coffee in the morning if I joke with her a little.”

  “I still got my coffee, so that doesn’t count. Anyway, Frank, take some fatherly advice. Happy wife, happy life. That saying has been around for years, probably because it’s true. Just get the words, ‘Yes, dear,’ down pat, and you’re golden. Works for me, anyway.”

  “Thanks, Randy. That shouldn’t be too hard. I’m a lucky guy.”

  “I think she might be pretty lucky, too, now that you’re a celebrity. All I’ve got is this napkin, but can I have your autograph?”

  “Really? Why? Or is this another one of your jokes?”

  “No, no joke. You’re famous! We saw you on television when that reporter tried to interview you after the bus accident.”

  “Oh, yeah. I forgot about that,” Frank admitted. “She didn’t look too happy with me.”

  “Yeah, but you handled it perfectly,” Danny said. “We happened to be in Chief Sanchez’ office when it was on TV. You made big points with him.”

  “Really? Are you guys jerking my chain?”

  “Not this time. He really liked the way you handled that reporter. He even said he likes you because you just shut her right down. Being liked by the chief is a good thing.”

  “That’s kind of cool. The Chief of Police, huh?” Frank looked rather proud of himself.

  “Don’t let it go to your head,” Randy warned. “But it never hurts to get noticed. If it’s the good kind of notice, that is.”

  “It’s not how I’d like to be remembered come promotion time, but if it hadn’t been for that horrible accident, he probably wouldn’t know me from Adam.”

  “Speaking of accidents, how did that turn out? Did the NTSB take over the case?”

  “No, they left it to us.”

  “Really? I thought they’d keep it.”

  “So did I. They told my sergeant they had several other big investigations going on and turned it back over to us. I guess they didn’t think it was important enough for them to investigate since none of the kids were hurt.”

  “What happened? Heart attack?”

  “Not according to the coroner,” Frank said. “The guy wasn’t even that old. They identified him as Jesse Arthur. According to the report, he was in pretty good health.”

  “That’s weird. Did the bus have a problem?” Danny casually asked.

  “Bus checked out okay.” Frank’s burger sat half-eaten, but his appetite seemed to have vanished. He stared at the glob of ketchup on his plate, apparently engrossed in drawing perfect spirals in it with a French fry.

  Why is he suddenly so uncomfortable? Is he on to us? Randy quickly changed the subject. “How’s Veronica doing? We haven’t seen her in a few days. She’s home from the hospital now, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Does she have anyone staying with her while she recuperates?”

  “Her mom.”

  “Boy, that has to cramp your style, huh?” Danny asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “There’s probably not much necking going on if your future mother-in-law is underfoot, is there?”

  “No, but it’s fine.”

  Randy shifted in his seat. He sure has clammed up. What’s going on? “Have you guys set a date yet?”

  “No, not yet.”

  Danny cocked his head to one side. “Are you feeling okay, Frank? You’ve stopped eating. Is something wrong? If I upset you with my kidding, I’m sorry.”

  Frank moved on to ketchup figure eights. “Veronica...speaks pretty highly of you guys. She really likes both of you.”

  “That’s good to know,” Randy said. “We like her, too. I’v
e had big hopes for her since last year. She was one of the MVPs of the serial killer case.”

  “We’d just started dating back then. From what I heard at the time, you weren’t initially too nice to her, Danny.”

  “Yeah, I can be a real jerk sometimes. But I think I made up for it, didn’t I?”

  “I guess so.” Frank set his fry down, but he still didn’t look up.

  Randy looked at Danny and frowned. Danny shrugged his shoulders in his favorite ‘Beat’s me’ gesture. This is going nowhere fast. Time for the direct approach. “Frank, it’s pretty obvious something is bothering you. You want to talk about it?”

  “Look, you guys seem to spend a lot of time jerking my chain,” he replied.

  Randy glared at his partner. See, I told you. From Danny’s expression, it was clear he got the point.

  “I told you I’m a jerk sometimes,” Danny said. “We’ll stop if it bothers you that much.”

  “I just have a question. Why do you do that?”

  “I’ll answer that one so Danny doesn’t stick his foot in his mouth again,” Randy said. “We like you. Even more now that you’ve got Veronica’s seal of approval. Believe me, if Danny didn’t like you, he wouldn’t waste his time harassing you, and neither would I. He only kids people he likes. He’s murder on me.”

  “That’s all? You... don’t think I’m stupid or something? I thought that’s what it was.”

  “No, not at all. In fact, we both think you’ve got a good head on your shoulders. You proved that when you talked to the reporter. But if our kidding bothers you, we’ll stop.”

  “No, that’s not it.” He took a deep breath. “Veronica says I can trust you. Can I?”

  “I would like to think you can. Why?”

  “Well, you probably won’t think my head is too good after this, but here goes.” Frank glanced around to see if anyone was listening, then trained intense eyes back on the detectives. “I know you’re going to think I’ve lost it, but there’s something weird about that bus accident. I mentioned it to my sergeant, but he doesn’t see it like I do. He seems to think I’m overreacting to those kids almost getting killed. I don’t think I am.”