“Is he still around?” Jack asked.
“Yes, he’s staying at my place for a couple more days before he heads back. Though things have got a little hairy, you might say.”
“In what way?”
Boone cast a glance at Nurse Byrd who was trying to get two of the patients to settle down. They looked as if they wanted to play Jenga with the Bibles. “A local group of men threatened him. He believes they were also responsible for running Ms. Armstrong and her colleague off the road.”
“Armstrong?”
“A reporter.” He looked at him for a second then his brow furrowed. “He didn’t mention her?”
“No.”
“She’s from the San Francisco Chronicle.”
The very mention of the name brought Dana to mind.
“What’s she doing up this way?”
“If Dalton is correct, looking for an interview with you. She tried to get in here but was told they had denied all visitors. Hence the reason I had to set up a meeting at the hospital in Saranac. It was either that or Dalton would have come here. I wasn’t sure if you would be here today so he didn’t come with me. Said he had a few things to do related to Ms. Armstrong before he left.”
“Pastor, do you know when you’re going to start the service? The patients are getting a little distracted,” Byrd said pulling one of them back and forcing him into his seat.
“Right. In a moment.” He looked back at Jack. “Perhaps over the coming weeks we can spend a bit more time talking. I’d like to get to know you better, Jack.”
“You know I don’t do religion, pastor.”
He smiled and nodded. “Dalton made me very aware of that.” He tapped Jack on the shoulder. “But still, whether you get involved in the meeting here or just hang around to speak after, I’d like to be a listening ear.”
“I thought God was there for that.”
He chuckled and patted him before going to the front to make preparations to begin. Jack cast a glance over his shoulder and noticed Nurse Cross was no longer there. Big Charlie entered and sauntered down, slipping into a seat next to him, almost taking up two seats. “Didn’t take you for a religious man, Charlie,” Jack said.
“Thought I would pay my respects. Edgar was a close friend. A good man.” He glanced at him. “Heard you tried to escape and those two assholes put a beatdown on you. That right?”
“Not far wrong,” he replied keeping his eyes forward.
“One of these days those two are going to get what’s coming to them.”
Boone came walking up the aisle. “Can I get you two strong gents to give me a hand loading in the new speakers?” They nodded and got up and headed out to his SUV. Nurse Byrd was too busy trying to control patients to worry about Boone’s safety. Outside a warm sunshine beat down. Jack glanced across the yard and saw Nurse Cross making a beeline for a grove of trees on the far side with a psych tech. Figuring they were handling another unruly patient, he didn’t give it another thought. “Right, guys, if you want to drag that one out and I’ll carry this one. My back isn’t what it used to be.”
“The hospital pay for these?” Charlie asked as he reached in and removed some heavy blankets covering the equipment and pulled out a large black speaker. That garnered a laugh out of Boone.
“They charge me to use this building. So no, they don’t pay for squat.”
A scream echoed and all three of them looked off towards the grove of trees. It wasn’t uncommon to hear screams especially from female staff if a patient struck them but there was something about the continuation of the scream. They expected any second now to hear the alarm go off and see a troop of hospital cops but nothing happened. Jack rushed to the chapel and yelled to Nurse Byrd who had her hands full restraining a patient. She tugged on her personal alarm but nothing happened. She released the patient and jogged toward the entrance thinking it was out of range as it relied on GPS, but her second attempt failed to get any response.
Not wasting any time, Jack sprinted for the cluster of trees, with Charlie and Boone not that far behind. As he rounded the large thicket, Jack came out into a space that was out of sight of the hospital or even security. Pressing on, his eyes washed over a downed psych tech, he was motionless and had a nasty gash to the forehead. A short distance away, Sutton and two other patients surrounded Nurse Cross. They had her pinned to the ground and Sutton was choking the life out of her.
Jack rushed in, only to have the other two lash out. He kicked one of them in the nuts and Charlie burst past him exchanging fists with the other. By now Jack expected Sutton to have fled or at least come at him, but he was still straddling Cross, focused on strangling her. Jack launched forward, tackling him at the waist and knocking him clear. They rolled across the grass a few feet before Sutton parried with a blow to the face. It stung but without missing a beat, Jack headbutted him, bursting his nose before being thrown off by Sutton’s pals. Wanting to help, even Boone got involved, dragging Nurse Cross clear of the assault which was now building in intensity. Fists flew as Charlie and Jack took on all three of them. A jab, a hook, a kick to the knee and a mean uppercut and one of Sutton’s pals was out cold. Charlie had his hands full with a muscular animal that had been thrown inside for rape and murder. Sutton tossed a shank from one hand to the next and spoke through gritted teeth.
