Death on the Sound (2 page)

I wanted to say more, but I wanted to keep it short
and sweet. I did care for Tom a lot. He was sort of father figure to me since
I’d lost mine many years back, and didn’t want to watch him die in front of me.
I glanced over at him as we pulled into the Candlelight; he was looking out of
his side window. Finally, he spoke.

    
“Abby I’m
fucking scared. I know I’ve got shit going on inside me, but I just can’t get
myself to the doctor because down deep I know what they’re going to say; I’m
scared.”

I glanced at him and saw the sad look in his eyes.

    
“Tom, if
I went with you would you do it?”

He sat rubbing his thighs. I wasn’t sure if it was
nervousness or his tingling. He took a long time to answer me. We’d been parked
for several seconds, and were sitting in our running car looking at each other.

    
“Yeah, I
would.”

    
“Okay,
you call the doctor as soon as we get back from lunch, and get a blood test
scheduled. That part I don’t need to be there for. When you go back to see your
doctor about the blood test, I’ll tag along, deal?”

    
“Okay
Abby, I’ll call, I promise.”

I’m not sure what it is with men and doctors. They
want to gut it out, whatever it is, instead of getting a diagnosis and treating
whatever ails them. If Tom was married, his wife would be doing what I was
going to do, but he didn’t have a wife, all he had was me.

    
As we
walked into the Candlelight, I searched the already forming crowd for Mandy.
Mandy Canfield was a waitress at the Candlelight, and we’d gone out a couple of
times. She was one of those bubbly blondes with a personality that after awhile
becomes infectious. Mandy is divorced and in her late twenties trying to find
another job that will get her out of waitressing. I saw a hand rise above the
seated heads, and I moved Tom in her direction.

    
“Hi Mandy
have you got an open table?”

    
“Sure
Abby follow me.”

Tom excused himself and went to the bathroom as
Mandy stopped next to an open booth.

    
“You look
really cute today Abby. Sorry, I haven’t called, but I’m still not sure about
us.”

Mandy and I had been out on two dates. Before you
ask, yes I like men and women. Mandy and I sort of hit it off but she wasn’t
sure about dating women. We’d sort of gone beyond a girl friend date, when I
made love to her after our second date. She felt guilty afterwards, and we
agreed to cool our jets so Mandy could decide what she wanted.

    
“That’s
okay Mandy. We agreed to take our time. You know we don’t have to have sex on
every date. I enjoy being with you for you. The sex thing started because I’m
just weak, and you looked so cute that night.”

Mandy looked around before she spoke.

    
“Abby it
wasn’t anyone’s fault. We both were into each other that night and I loved
making love to you, that’s the problem. I hadn’t ever done that before, and it
scared me a bit. I didn’t think I was wired that way. Maybe a movie date this
Friday, are you available?”

    
“That
would be great Mandy. I’ll pick you up at six, and we’ll get some dinner beforehand.”

Mandy gave a quick glance around and then
commented.

    
“I’d like
that Abby, Friday it is.”

Tom came ambling up and slid into the booth.

    
“Okay,
enough yakking ladies, I need to see a menu.”

I sat down across from Tom and Mandy set our menus
down and walked away. I caught myself watching one of her better parts as she
moved away from me, down the aisle.

We finished out the day
with no more calls. Tom and I looked through city records to try and find out
when construction was last done on that sight. We found out that the last
construction took place twelve years ago, and that the office building never
panned out, and it was sold at a loss.

Tom and I went through
missing persons records for twelve years back. We were halfway through by five.
We’d finish up tomorrow. Tom had called his doctor true to his word and the
doctor’s nurse had set him up for a fasting blood test. He’d have to do it in
the early morning and not eat for at least twelve hours before the test. I gave
him a pep talk, and told him he had to do it. It wasn’t an option. He made up
his mind he’d do it the next morning. He’d stop at the clinic on his way to
work and get it over with. I wished him well as we separated on our way home.

    
I was at my desk continuing our search,
when Tom walked in at eight forty he had a bandage on his forehead.

    
“Tom, what happened, didn’t you get your
blood test this morning?”

    
“I need coffee, back in a sec.”

I
watched him shuffle in and shuffle out with his cup in hand and sit across from
me.

    
“Okay, you’ve got your coffee what the hell
happened to your head.”

Tom
scanned the room for any spies or whoever --- I had no idea. You’d think he was
trading national secrets. He finally leaned closer and spoke.

    
“I hit my head.”

    
“What? You went to give blood.”

    
“I gave blood and hit my head.”

    
“Tom, the two don’t go together. You give
blood and leave the room. Quit being so cryptic, what the hell happened, in
plain English please.”

He
started to get red around the jowls, and it slowly moved up his face. His eyes
were darting from side to side. I was about to reach across and slap him, when
he finally spoke again.

    
“I fucking passed out when they stuck the
needle into me. I fell out of my chair and hit my head on the coat rack. There
that’s what happened, satisfied?”

I
had to hold back my chuckle. I quickly slapped my hand to my mouth to restrain
my urge to laugh out loud. I had no idea Tom was one of those people that were
afraid of needles. I removed my hand, and put on my most serious look.

    
“I’m sorry you had such a rough time, but
it’s over now, and your secret’s safe with me.”

Tom
looked up with a scowl, which after I sat grinning at him, turned into a
begrudgingly given grin.

    
“It’s just embarrassing as hell Abby. I’m a
damn detective for Christ’s sake. I’ve seen dismembered bodies and brains on
the sidewalk, and not even flinched.”

His
fingers went up to the bandage on his head. He softly rubbed it like Aladdin
had given him a wish.

    
“Okay, sympathy given and received, let’s
get to work on the rest of these names.”

We
worked until nine when we got a call down in Pioneer Square. A seventy nine
year old lady had been attacked. Tom was on his way to the last doughnut in the
coffee room, and I gave him the evil eye, and he held up his hands in surrender
as he turned and followed me to the elevator. I let Tom drive again, he’d had
such a shitty morning he needed some slack. We arrived at the corner of Yesler
Way and Second Avenue where we spotted the black and white, and pulled in
behind him. Pioneer Square is a six block area of the city that used to be Seattle
downtown in the old days during the early nineteen hundreds. The buildings had
been restored, and were full of high end shops and restaurants. It was a
stone’s throw from the Safeco Field, which brought in business when the
Mariner’s were in town.

    
I walked up to the officer nearest to us
and got a nod.

    
“Hi detectives, we’ve got an older woman
who had her purse snatched or to be more accurate they tried to snatch it. The
victim is Agnes Mosley, that’s her in the brown dress with my partner, and the
snatcher is Terry Dawson, that’s him on the ground by the USA Today paper box.
We’ve called a medical unit.”

    
“It doesn’t look like too much was
snatched” I commented.

    
“No, Ms. Mosley seemed to have it well in
hand. If it's okay, I’ll turn it over to you, and we’ll get back on patrol.”

    
“Okay, thanks.”

I
walked up to the other officer, and he nodded as I approached. The diesel
exhaust from the busses was hanging in the air between the old buildings. We
were between weather fronts, and the wind had decided to leave town for awhile.
My eyes were starting to burn.

    
“Ms. Mosley I’m Abby Masters, and this is
my partner Tom Culhane we’re detectives. I know you’ve told your story to this
officer, but I need to hear it too.”

Ms.
Mosley epitomized the word feisty. She had the look that said “don’t mess with
me”. She was about five feet nothing with well coiffed hair. You could tell she
was not one to skimp on her appearance. Her brown two-piece was direct from
Nordstrom.

The ambulance arrived, and Tom walked over to stand
guard over our mean purse snatcher while I talked to Ms. Mosley. I moved her
away from the bus stop, and we stood near an alley that luckily had a slight
breeze for the sound pushing through it. I could breathe again and my eyes
stopped stinging.

    
“Now that we’re out of those bus fumes,
could you please tell me what happened?”

    
“I was walking to the Sound Art gallery up
the street. I’d just gotten off the bus on Yesler and was walking along when I
felt a sharp tug on my purse. I turned to find that young man trying to remove
it from my arm. My arm was through the strap, so I pulled back away from him,
and grabbed a hold with my other hand as we both pulled at my purse. I pulled
with all my might and it broke free from his grasp. I spun around and hit him
with my purse, and he hasn’t moved since then.”

I
looked at the purse and the young college kid lying on the sidewalk.

    
“What do you have in the purse Ms. Mosley?
I ask that only because normally a purse won’t put a snatcher down like that.”

    
“I have my wallet and my brick.”

    
“Your brick?”

    
“Yes, my brick. Actually, it’s only half a
brick. A full sized brick is too much to carry.”

I
could tell Ms. Mosley thought it was normal, but I didn’t. I had to ask.

    
“Why are you carrying a brick in your
purse?”

    
“For the very reason you see before you. I
was attacked, and I responded. If I hadn’t had my brick, I’d be on the ground,
and my purse would be gone. We older people are getting accosted all the time
downtown, and we need some kind of protection. If you police can’t handle it,
then it’s up to us to take care of ourselves.”

Ms.
Mosley’s eyes were glistening with fire as she spoke. She was on her soapbox
now.

    
“I understand Ms. Mosley. I’m sorry you had
to haul out your weapon, but I’m glad you had it along.”

I
took her information, and after she said she didn’t need any more help, I let
her walk on to her art gallery while I checked on Tom.

    
“What’s up over here? Will he survive?”

    
“Yeah, they’ve got him awake now. He really
got his bell rung, so they’re taking him to Harborview for a test or two. I’ll
send for a black and white to meet the ambulance there.”

Tom
walked back to the car to radio in while I watched the two hundred pound idiot
get his head bandaged. At times, its frustrating being a detective, and seeing
the people you arrest out on the street in a matter of hours after you’ve had
them in handcuffs. And there are the times when the bad guys get their just
due, like our purse snatcher. I was sorry the old lady was attacked, but also
glad she was prepared. I hoped I was that prepared when I was seventy nine.

    
Tom and I cleared the call and headed back
to the station. By the end of the day we had a list of sixty four names that it
could be, at least, that had been reported missing. Transients go missing all
the time, but no one reports them missing. Their world is different than ours. I
called

Maya
to see if she had any information that could get us started on our list of
names.

    
“Hey, Maya, Abby, I was just checking in to
see if you had any information yet. Tom and I have a list of names of missing
persons. If you could tell me whether they were man or woman and maybe a
height, we could narrow it down.”

    
“Hold on a sec Abby, let me get the file.”

I
heard Maya moving files around her desk. She was a detail oriented technician. She
wasn’t disorganized she just had a lot of dead bodies, and the associated
paperwork to manage every day.

    
“Okay, Abby here’s what I have so far. It’s
a female in her twenties. She was shot in the back of the head with what looks
like maybe a twenty two. The skull was crushed a bit around the bullet hole, so
I’m guessing on the caliber. She was maybe five four. That’s it for now. The
other tests aren’t back yet. I hope that gets your list narrowed down some.”

    
“That helps a bunch.”

There
was as they say, a pregnant pause, I thought Maya was going to say something,
but she didn’t.

    
“Well, thanks for the quick turnaround Maya;
I know you’re busy over there.”

    
“I’ll call you tomorrow when the rest of
the test results come back. Goodnight Abby.”

    
“Goodnight Maya.”

I’d
always sensed a bit of interest from Maya, but she never pursued it, and I
didn’t want to make the first step right now. I was seeing Mandy and one man
along with one woman which was enough to handle.

I
almost asked Abby about dinner but chickened out. I knew she was busy, and I wasn’t
sure what she’d say. If I was going to pursue anything with Abby, I needed to
get a backbone or at least be able to tell her what I wanted.