Mike Faricy - Bombshell

“I don’t think they’re broken, a little bruised, nothing forty-eight hours and taking it easy won’t help heal. You’re a bit banged up, but you’ll live. If you want we can maybe transport for x-rays?”

“You recommend that?”

“Oh, I don’t think it’s necessary, but I suspect this might be on the city’s nickel.” He said under his breath, then gave a nod to the far corner where Manning was getting it from Louie, Aaron and Captain Elkers. I thought I might have detected the hint of a smile from the EMT. “I suppose if there’s nothing else I could give them the word.”

“Nah, I don’t want to do x-rays. I think I’ll be fine, but maybe we could let them discuss things a little further,” I said, then moved my head in the direction of the conference corner.

Louie was in the process of jabbing a finger at Captain Elkers and I heard the words, “with your goddamned signature,” and a little later, “grabbing headlines.”

“Be fun to watch,” The EMT smiled, “but if this is all we better get going, maybe take some extra strength Tylenol for a couple of days to make you a little more comfortable.”

“Thanks, no offense, but I hope I don’t see you around, Doc.”

He laughed, started placing things back into the medical bag. He tossed the bag on the stretcher and while his partner wheeled it toward the door he approached the group. Some low key murmurs followed, nodding, the occasional excitable outburst from Louie as the EMT continued to speak in low tones and then he nodded and left, giving me a wink on the way out.

Louie strolled over, opened his briefcase, spoke to me under his breath.

“Turn around and face me.”

“What?”

“Turn toward me, I need a picture,” he said, pulling a digital camera out of his briefcase.

I turned sideways in my chair. Louie quickly shifted a couple steps to the side. He was going to photograph me with Manning and Elkers in the background, unfortunately Aaron would be in the photo, too.

“Look toward the mirrors,” he whispered. The flash went off before I heard the camera click.

“What the, oh shit,” Elkers said.

Flash. Flash.

Elkers stormed past, red faced.

“Nice chatting with you, Captain,” I said as he tore open the door and fled the room.

Louie moved around me taking more photos. Talking to Manning, as the camera flashed.

“We’ll need a driver, my client, Mister Haskell will not be remaining in custody. Under the circumstances, I just don’t think your department is up to the task.”

Flash.

Manning looked like he was going to kill, but I’m not sure he was thinking of Louie or me as his intended targets.

Flash.

“Lift the shirt up Dev, let’s see those ribs.”

I pulled my shirt up, slowly, maybe a little too dramatically.

“Oh my God,” Louie said.

Flash.

“Christ, let me get some things arranged for you. You want anything?” Manning asked, he was standing with the door open, still red faced, but at least not heading toward purple any longer.

Flash.

“No, I think you’ve all done more than enough, already,” Louie said then took a couple more shots of the bruise on my ribs.

Manning nodded and left. Aaron walked over, waited while Louie took a few more shots of my face from different angles.

“I don’t know what it is with you people,” Louie said.

“Hey, Louie, relax, he’s a pal. And stop flashing that damn camera, you’re driving me nuts,” I said.

“Dev, what the hell happened, you were supposed to come nicely,” Aaron said. “You hit on one of the arresting officers’ wives in the recent past?”

“If I did, she most likely turned me down.”

“So what happened?”

“I don’t know, these SWAT guys just…”

“SWAT? They sent the SWAT team out there?”

“Yeah. I looked out the window, saw a couple of black and whites on the street, a television news van. I knew why they were there so I went upstairs to get a clean shirt, pee, the next thing I know they kicked in my front door.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I was ready to let them in, I was coming down the stairs to open the door and ask ‘em if they wanted something to drink.”

“Did they pound on the door or anything when you were upstairs?”

“No nothing, believe me, I thought it was going to be a nice guy sort of deal. Next thing I know the door gets kicked open, and I’m looking down the barrel of a couple of AK’s. Some guy grabs me and throws me over the banister, they weren’t kidding around.”

“Christ, that’s Elkers, he must have lined that up, wanted to go for the action shot,” Aaron said.

“Hey, you got an action shot, all right. We’ll subpoena the news tapes,” Louie said, then smiled coldly at Aaron.

“Dev, I’m truly sorry, it wasn’t supposed to go down like this,” Aaron said.

“You realize, Lieutenant, that…”

“Give it a rest, Louie,” I said. “Where do we go from here?”

“Well, here’s the deal, obviously this thing has turned into a cluster fuck. That said, there’s no doubt it will be running on the news tonight. The arrest of a stalker and killer,” he turned to look at Louie. “If you’re going to pursue the police brutality angle, and of course you’ve got your signed agreement, it would seem to me running on tonight’s news could only help your case,” Aaron said.

I nodded, it made sense.

“Based on what you tell me, I agree with your attorney. You shouldn’t stay in protective or segregated custody here. You can however, get us to pick up the tab on a fairly luxurious stay at some hotel. Eat some good meals for a change, take a few days off, rest up. Hopefully, someone will surface once they believe we’ve got you locked up and the coast is clear,” Aaron said.

“And if they don’t surface?” Louie asked.

“Sue our ass one way or the other, under the circumstances you hold all the cards. Like I said before, after today’s incident, continued cooperation on your part would only seem to strengthen your chances with any lawsuit you decide to bring down the road.”

We were seated at a large polished table in my hotel suite. The curtains were drawn back so we had a view of the boat traffic on the Mississippi and the sun setting off to the west. The sunset was a gorgeous orange and reflected down the length of the river. A large white boat with a red paddlewheel had just begun heading upriver on its evening excursion.

I felt a lot better after the massage, a hot soak in the tub and an hour nap. I sipped some more wine, then cut another piece from the perfectly grilled steak on my plate. I adjusted the thick, white terrycloth robe and got just a little more comfortable. Then clicked the remote to turn up the music and dim the lights over the table ever so slightly.

“More wine, my darling,” I asked.

“No, I better watch it, I gotta drive home,” Louie said, then burped some steak and baked potato.

“Since when did you get so responsible? Come on.”

“No, I better not, tell you what, you got a cold Summit or a Leinenkugel behind the bar there, I’ll take it.”

“Help yourself, I’m the patient, remember? I’m supposed to take it easy.”

“Man, Dev, you’re lucky those guys didn’t do some serious damage.”

“They kicked in the door, splintered my damn door frame all to hell, that’s enough damage for me.”

“You know what I mean,” Louie said. “Good thing you bounce well. A classic case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing.”

“No Louie, classic case of someone going in to grab headlines, steal all the credit and doesn’t communicate with the guys in the trenches doing the heavy lifting. Elkers was floating around knowing the press had been alerted. He moved things up a notch and got the SWAT team to barge in, instead of some baby faced rookie knocking on my door asking politely if I could accompany him downtown.”