Ghostly hostage, p.8
Ghostly Hostage, page 8
He eased his arm from around her grip and put it around her shoulders. "I have the best parents ever." He meant it too. He didn't tell them often enough how important they were to him. Despite his mother's quirky ability to speak to the dead and her crazy music obsession, she was the perfect mother, always there to pull things together when they felt as if they were falling apart. Somehow, she always knew what to say or do to make things right again. "I love you, Mom." He kissed the top of her head.
"I love you too." She gave him a squeeze. "Now let's go wait for Christine. She'll need us to get her past the secured area."
He released her and started toward the yellow tape where several officers were keeping people away from the building. "Are we alone?"
Lizzy nodded. "Ray went to the hospital and the others are inside with Lance. Betty will check in once they send out the stuff for the lab."
"Where's Dad?"
"He was talking to one of the officers he used to go to high school with. I got bored hearing all the old stories." Lizzy smiled. "He'll find us when he's done."
Angus found a spot near the crime scene tape where he could see Christine when she pulled into the lot and leaned against the wall. "Any idea what they found in the autopsy to make them need to talk to Christine?"
"The kid had some kind of lung disease from birth. Bethany thinks they just need to verify something about the lungs, but she also said she heard them say other than being underweight, they didn't see anything really wrong with the lungs. Who knows? You know how confusing all this medical stuff can be. I still don't see how the hospital would claim a heart attack if it wasn't. They of all people should know the signs of a heart attack. Just the fact that they want to talk to Christine tells me something is not right. The parents were right to question everything. I'm not saying they were right to take the morgue hostage, but I can understand why they did. I would do far worse to find the truth if you were killed under strange circumstances." She ran her fingers through her graying hair.
Angus smiled. "Thanks, but please don't end up in jail because of anything pertaining to me. There are better ways."
"I won't. I try my best to stay out of jail. Been there, done that." She waved her hand in the air.
Angus laughed, though it wasn't really funny. More than once he'd had to bail his mother out of jail after she'd faced drug charges for having pot on her. She never smoked it around him, but he knew that his parents often enjoyed getting high when they were with friends and heading to one concert or another. He tried to act as if he didn't know she still did it, but there were times he could smell it on her or in her home when he'd drop by to visit. "This is much worse than a small possession charge. Shawnee Meyers is probably going to do prison time for shooting Kyle. They're both looking at least jail time for taking the morgue hostage. I get they were upset and not thinking straight because of their son's death, but that won't be an excuse they can use when it comes to facing a judge. They've ruined their lives by doing this."
"As a parent, I feel for them. I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you. I still worry about that every time I think about you out here doing your job. You saw how crazy I got when cops were being killed. It's a mother's worst nightmare. And I mean that literally. Before I had you, my nightmares were scary things like fires, monsters, and stuff. Once I had you, every nightmare I woke up from had to do with you being hurt or missing. I still get them from time to time. You're five and we're at the amusement park and you go missing. I can hear you scream but can't find you. Doesn't matter that you're a grown man now. Those dreams still get to me."
Angus hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry. I wish I'd known."
"So you could do what? Promise me you'll never go to an amusement park? It's nothing you need to be sorry for. It's just how a mother's mind works. Our biggest fear is dealing with some tragedy about our kids. The Meyers’ nightmares became reality when Reggie died. With no one to help them understand that there were ways to question his death, they did the only thing they thought they could do. As hard as the future will be for both of them, I doubt they'll regret it if they get the answers they need. You do what you need to for your kids."
"I get that, but there were legal ways to handle this. Someone would have told them if they'd asked around before acting," Angus argued.
"You don't know if they did ask around. We don't know what the hospital told them. Doctors don't like to be questioned. If they said it was a heart attack and the Meyers questioned that, the doctor might have gotten defensive. Doctors take deaths hard. With this being a child, my guess is the doctors had a rough time with it as well. The situation was a mess for all involved. Let's wait and hear what everyone has to say once things settle." Lizzy pointed. "There's Christine."
He looked over to see Christine headed toward them. She looked just like he remembered, though her hair was a bit longer. She also had the ability to speak to ghosts and had been a lifesaver when the ghosts had begged her to give him a message while he was working a case at the station a while back. Since then, she'd become good friends with his mother and often met her for lunch. He smiled as she neared and lifted the crime scene tape for her to join them on the other side. "Good to see you again. Sorry that it's under these circumstances."
"Hey." She hugged Angus, then turned and did the same to Lizzy. "What is going on? You said Lance is being held hostage?"
Angus explained everything that had happened up to this point. "I'm not sure what disease this kid had. The medical files are in the motorhome for you to look over. It's all gibberish to me."
Christine laughed. "I'll see if I can make sense of it all. I'm happy to help, though I'm not sure I'll be able to give them answers. I'm used to working with the living. This is the first time I've been asked to consult about a death."
"We just delivered dinner to them, so we'll get you caught up and give them time to eat. Then you can call and see what they need." He led Christine toward the motorhome. "How have you been?"
"Good. Been keeping busy. How about you? I worried about you with all those police shootings."
"Franks took a bullet to the arm during that case, but we're both fine. Lance and I just got home a few days ago from a cruise. Of course, as soon as we're back to work, this happens." Angus sighed.
"Well, when this is all over, we need to get together and you can tell me all about your cruise. I'm jealous. I wish I had a cute travel companion."
"Franks is single." Lizzy winked.
"Not my type. We're good friends, but we both agreed we weren't that kind of friends. We discussed it around Halloween when you guys hinted at us dating." She narrowed her eyes at Lizzy.
"Hey, you can't blame me for wanting everyone happy." Lizzy laughed.
"I'm sure my prince is out there. I just need to find him. I've been so busy that I haven't had time to even think about dating." She paused and smiled. "Hey, Betty. Good to see you."
Angus sighed, once again left out of the conversation as Betty, Lizzy, and Christine caught up. He reached for his phone to check for messages, then remembered the captain had it. He sighed and looked around for Franks. He found him talking to Mack near where their car was parked.
"Ready to go in?" Christine touched his arm softly.
"Sure." He kissed his mother on the cheek. "We'll be out in a bit."
"Betty said they're about to make the swap now in the garage," Lizzy told him.
"Then we might have to wait, but you can be looking at the medical records until we can call inside." Angus opened the door to the motorhome and gestured for Christine to go in. He followed her, seeing the captain glance up as they both entered. "Captain Marshall, meet Dr. Matthews. She's the doctor Lance requested to speak with."
"It's Christine. No reason to be formal." She offered her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Christine. Sorry to have to drag you down here, but we appreciate your help. We're just getting a couple of our hostages released. I'll be with you in a moment." Captain Marshall went back to watching something on his laptop.
"Medical file?" Angus asked.
Captain Marshall pointed to a thick folder sitting on the edge of the counter.
"Thanks." Angus grabbed it and led Christine farther into the motorhome to where a couple of chairs sat around a small round table. "Can I get you a drink?"
"I'm good for now, thanks. I'll just sit and read through this." She dropped her bag by her feet and took the file. "Big file for such a young boy. Did you say he was eight?"
"Yeah, sounds like he had a pretty rough start to life. I don't have a lot of background. I'm sure Lance might when you call him." Angus sat down across from her.
"This file will tell me everything I need to know." She lifted a thumb drive that sat on top of the papers in the file and set it aside before leaning down and pulling a small laptop from her bag. She glanced over at him once she had it set up and plugged in. "If you have stuff to do, go ahead. This will take a while." She gestured to the thick file. "I want an idea of what I'm talking about before I call inside."
"I'll leave you be then." Angus stood. "If you need anything, just ask Captain Marshall."
Christine reached out and grabbed Angus's arm before he could get away. "Stay strong. Lance is smart. He'll make it through this."
Angus gave her a weak smile. "I'm trying. I'll feel better when I can hold him in my arms again."
"Then I better get to work so we can make that happen." She released his arm and opened the file.
Angus slipped out of the motorhome, once again thinking about their vacation and wishing they'd never come home.
CHAPTER TEN
Lance watched as Kathy and Carrie climbed into the back of the ambulance, carrying the cooler with the things that they needed the lab to test. He was relieved they were getting out of the morgue safely. Now he just had to worry about Sam and Brayden.
He wasn't too worried right now. The Meyers were calm and weren't waving the guns around as much as they had when they first came inside. Oh, the guns were still in their hands and often pointed toward one of them, but it was in a more controlled manner. Lance was very aware of them, just not as worried one might go off accidentally because the Meyers were so nervous.
Brayden held several bags of food, and Lance grinned, seeing they were from his favorite Italian place. He would bet good money on the fact that Angus had been the one to decide where they got food from. It seemed silly to worry about food while being held hostage, but he was hungry, and comfort food would go a long way in helping him relax a little while they waited for the lab.
"Okay, they're gone. Slowly, reach in and close the garage doors," Tim told Sam.
Sam scanned his card to unlock the door, then opened it just enough that he could reach in and hit the button before letting the door close and relock. They watched through the small window until the garage door slid shut.
"Back to that breakroom." Tim gestured to them to walk in front of him and his wife.
Lance followed, thinking about how Mack would have been having to deal with any calls the morgue got today. He guessed they'd work out something with the hospitals in the area to store the bodies there until they could be transferred to the morgue when everything was done. It was going to be a long week if they didn't get this situation handled and get back to work as soon as they could. One day of delays they could handle, but Lance was pretty sure the morgue would be closed tomorrow as well while police investigated everything. That was if they even got out of here before morning. The lab work would take hours, some of it days. He wasn't sure if they'd have enough information to satisfy the Meyers by morning. And when they did have the information they wanted, did they plan to just give themselves over to the police and allow themselves to be arrested? Lance didn't see any other ending to this unless it was a violent one. His gut feeling was that the parents just wanted answers. Once they got them, they would give up and walk out. He hoped his gut was right.
Once they were seated, Tim dug into the bag. "Looks like we have a choice of lasagna or spaghetti. No, wait. It looks like there's enough for us each to have both." He started to pass the food around the table. "We have cans of Coke, Sprite, or bottled water."
"Coke." Lance needed the caffeine.
Once everyone had their food, they relaxed and started to eat. The food tasted better than ever, and Lance swore he would give Angus a huge thank you for getting it for them. He'd expected pizza or burgers, but the Italian was perfect. It hit the spot while letting Lance know that Angus was out there waiting for him.
"How long will we have to wait for lab results?" Shawnee asked.
Sam wiped his mouth before speaking. "Well, most of them can be done in a few hours, but there were a few that need to sit for a day or two before we get results. Hopefully, we'll get enough answers from the faster tests so that we won't need to worry about the others. Once we know what drugs were in Reggie's system, that will tell us a lot. I can't make any promises since I don't know what the lab will find, but I'm hoping we have some results in two to four hours."
Lance nodded his agreement while he cut into his lasagna. "The toxicology test will tell us a lot."
"If you had to guess right now, would you say the hospital's cause of death is wrong?" Shawnee asked.
Lance hated the hopeful look in her eyes because even if the hospital got it wrong, nothing would bring back their son. At the end of the day, no matter what they found out, their son was still dead. He wasn't ready to tell the Meyers yet, but after doing the autopsy, Lance was just as curious as to what killed the boy. He didn't see any signs of a heart attack.
There was nothing that Lance could think of that would have killed Reggie. While his lungs were weaker than normal, they weren't visibly damaged to the point that he couldn't breathe. There hadn't been any swelling or abnormal fluid in the lungs. The small bit of scarring was older and shouldn't have been an issue now. He really needed to talk to Christine and figure out if he was missing anything. "I'm not comfortable saying that until we get the lab work back. There are too many factors and rare conditions that we could be overlooking. Right now, I will say I understand your suspicion and while I don't agree with you taking us hostage to get answers, I do agree that you needed to have his death investigated."
"What else could we do? They were going to send him to the mortuary and then we'd never find out anything once they embalmed him." Tim set his drink down. "We didn't want to do this, but we didn't have a choice."
"Did you tell the hospital you wanted an autopsy done?" Brayden asked.
"We told one of the nurses. She said it wouldn't be necessary and said we were just grieving, and that things would look different after we got some rest and accepted the loss of our son," Shawnee told them.
Lance shook his head. "That nurse should be fired."
"Agreed," Brayden said. "Anyone can request an autopsy. The hospital should have helped you contact us. If not the hospital, then the mortuary would have if you'd told them that you wanted one."
"We didn't know. We thought only a doctor could do that." Shawnee looked at her husband, then back at the group. "We're sorry we had to do this to you, and I'm really sorry I shot your friend, but we had to have answers. The doctor disappeared after he told us Reggie had died. The nurse said he was busy with another patient. Then when the nurse told us we didn't need an autopsy, we sort of lost it. I wanted answers and no one would give them to me. We got escorted out of the hospital by security when we kept demanding to see Reggie again. They said once he was in the hospital morgue, they couldn't do anything, and we'd have to wait for the mortuary to pick him up."
"That much is true. Once a patient is moved to the hospital morgue, they can't be removed again unless it's by the mortuary or Medical Examiner's Office. I think most hospitals have those rules." Sam reached for his drink. "I'll speak with the hospital though. They need to train their nurses that the family can request an autopsy. The hospital even has forms for that so we know we need to pick the body up."
Lance bit his tongue, but he was angry that all of this could have been avoided if one nurse hadn't tried to steer the Meyers into just letting it go. Now he had to wonder if that nurse or someone else at the hospital had something to hide. He wondered if Angus was looking into anything from the hospital side of things yet. Probably not, since they hadn't given them a reason to doubt the hospital yet.
Lance finished his lasagna, deciding to save the spaghetti in case they were held for another day. He couldn't even begin to guess when lab work would come back or if Shawnee and Tim would let them leave when it did come back.
"Do any of you have kids?" Shawnee asked.
Lance shook his head and saw Brayden and Sam do the same.
"Married?" she asked.
Again, all three of them shook their heads.
Tim laughed. "I would think it would be hard to find someone who can deal with what you do for a living."
"I think Lance is the only one of us in a relationship," Sam said. "I'm divorced."
"You're dating someone?" Shawnee turned her attention to Lance.
"The detective I called earlier today is my boyfriend," Lance admitted.
"He doesn't mind what you do?" Tim asked.
"He's a homicide detective, so our jobs aren't too different. I find out what killed them, he finds out who did it." Lance shrugged. "It makes the relationship easier since we both understand what the other does. He doesn't freak out when we talk about work like some guys I've dated in the past did."
"How do you do it? This place feels so creepy. It's like it's haunted or something." Tim glanced around.
Jeremy, who was standing with Betty and Bethany against the counter laughed. "He's not wrong."
"We could walk through him and touch him a bit to really creep him out. Maybe they'll let you go if they don't like the feel of this place." Bethany grinned.
Lance wanted to roll his eyes, but he didn't want Tim to think he was rolling them at him. "You get used to it. Each body has a story to tell. The dead can't hurt you. It's the living you have to be careful of."
