his blood pressure is rising, though. I think you better leave now. This is a little too much excitement for one day.”
Moments after Frank left, Nurse Leland watched in awe as Parker started to cry uncontrollably. He emitted no sounds. His good arm shook, his hand clenched the side of the bed. His heart rate reached one hundred and ten. She made a frantic call to Doctor Chan, who prescribed a mild sedative.
An hour later when Nurse Leland checked on Parker Smith, she noticed he had pulled a pen off the nightstand and scrawled a simple note on his bed sheet. It said,
CALL NOLAND
Chapter 58
“Shhh, don’t say a word. Promise?”
The long cedar-colored tail whipped across the front seat. The Irish Setter cocked its head at Jake and padded restlessly across the front seat of Jake’s Buick Riviera. Strands of copper hair clung to the burgundy and gray cloth seats.
“Thanks,” Jake said picking up some of the hairs and flinging them out the window. “Now you’ll force me to clean my car.”
Jake snapped the leash on the dog and led it from the car. From the trunk, Jake hefted a bag of dog food. The Irish Setter sniffed along the driveway and the walkway toward the patio.
The sun was setting behind the tall willow trees. In the distance, Jake saw Alex kneeling in the grass fixing the brick edging around the birdbath. The dog spotted Alex at the same time and started pulling on the leash.
“You promised to remain quiet.” Jake unsnapped the leash. The dog took off.
“Hey, Poco.” Alex fell back on his rear as the dog jumped on him. “Where did you come from?”
Jake dropped the twenty-five pound bag of dog food on the ground. “She’s my thank you for doctoring my head.”
Alex looked toward the house. “Does Sam know?”
“It will probably be a week before she even discovers the dog.”
Alex rubbed the back of Poco’s neck as her tail whipped the air furiously. He looked up at Jake’s head, the gash that was starting to scab over.
“It is healing nicely.” Alex looked at Poco, then Jake. Jake detected a grunt as Alex turned to leave. Alex mumbled something about “now I get to clean up all the crap in the yard. Lucky me.” But it didn’t stop Alex from reaching down to pat Poco on the head as they walked away.
Jake smiled. Alex wasn’t exactly showering him with accolades or glowing in brotherly love. But it was a start.
Chapter 59
Sam paced the length of the dining room table. Time on her hands, too much time. Tim was still working on the password. Frank hadn’t called from Elkhart and it was close to seven o’clock in the evening. She had no idea where Jake was, and Hap Wilson’s body was on its way back to D.C.
Hap — she had met Hap when she was younger. She had been the one tracing the pin at her father’s desk. Hap had been at her father’s office. Sam stopped pacing. No, Hap had been here, in her father’s house.
She rushed down the stairs by the kitchen. The basement ran the entire length of the house with a ten-foot high ceiling. It was as tidy as the upstairs, decorated with the furnishings discarded from the redecorating Abby had done several years before. The patterned linoleum floor was dotted with a variety of area rugs.
Sam dodged the pool table and bookcase, stopping at the far end of the basement where a large mahogany desk sat. She heard a door upstairs close, then Jake’s voice.
“DOWN HERE!” Sam yelled. When she heard his footsteps on the stairs, she said, “Help me move this.”
He stared at the four-foot by six-foot red mahogany desk. “It’s built like a Sherman tank.”
“It was my father’s. I remember now. Hap came over to the house, not the office. Maybe he left some notes.”
She pulled out the heavy wooden chair and sat down. Almost immediately the drawings of lightning bolts flashed before her eyes. She smiled and said, “I knew it. I knew there was something right under my nose.”
“Don’t you think Abby would have found whatever your father might have left?”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Sam pushed the chair away from the desk and started opening drawers.
“What are we looking for?”
“I don’t know. Something, anything.”
“Let’s see if we can move it away from the wall.” Jake grabbed one end while Sam grabbed the other. It wouldn’t budge. “Like I said, it’s built like a tank.” He looked around the room. “Do you have a flashlight down here?”
She disappeared into a closet under the stairs and came back with a flashlight. He flashed it behind and under the desk.
“Nothing,” Jake said. They proceeded to take out the drawers and turn each of them over. Taped to the underside of the bottom right-hand drawer was a small, brown envelope.
Once upstairs, seated at the dining room table, Sam still couldn’t bring herself to open it. “Here.” She handed the envelope to Jake. “You do it.” Jake ripped the envelope open and spilled the contents on the table. A long, silver key clinked against the tabletop. “What is it?” Sam picked up the key and clenched it in her hand. Nothing. No visions, no sounds or scents.
Jake took it from her and looked at the number. “I think it’s a safety deposit key, Sam.” He checked his watch. “Banks are closed. I’ll check into getting a court order.”
Frank called to fill them in on his visit with Parker Smith in Elkhart. The nurse had informed him of the name Parker had written — Noland. Noland was Parker’s attorney.
After Jake hung up with Frank, he said, “I’m going to stop by the Chasen Heights Post Tribune office.”
“I’ll call the family attorney,” Sam offered.
Instead, Jake headed over to the Suisse Hotel to brainstorm with Carl.
Chapter 60
Ling Toy busied himself tying together makeshift cots to carry the wounded. But he never took his eyes off of the white soldiers. Hap and his friends were covered in dirt and dried blood. But the white soldiers had clean, sleeveless tee shirts, and looked as if they were catching a few rays while waiting to be picked up.
The shade from the scrub pines didn’t hide the arrogance in P.K.’s face. George lowered his tall frame onto a felled tree trunk, pulled out his knife, and slowly ran it across the back of his hand. Smitty’s bony fingers played with the dog tags around his neck. Len’s brooding, dark eyes peered out from under hooded brows. They eyed Hap and his unit like hyenas waiting for the weaker one to drop.
Hap tossed his cigarette butt aside, grabbed his stomach, and told Booker, “I gotta go find me some bushes.”
P.K. yelled at Ling Toy, “What are you looking at?” Ling Toy turned away quickly. He tried not to hear what they were talking about. All he knew was that Base had instructed Booker, Hap, Bubba, and Shadow to bring the injured in. But the white sergeant, P.K., wanted them to take a look at what was over the hill.
Rays from the setting sun bounced off the weapons drawn by the white soldiers. Gunfire rang out.
Lincoln Thomas woke with a start.
