Manning stood and said “I’m going to see if our suspect can be interviewed, I want to understand why you were targeted.” I nodded and thanked her.
Chapter 47
The three detectives entered the hospital room of Fredrick Danton, alias Big D. They had already identified him from his finger prints taken at the hospital and run through the FBI computer. Manning introduced them all.
Since this was Jefferson Parish Manning took the lead, Fredrick Danton you are under arrest for attempted murder.” She read him his rights. “Ok Freddy, what do you have to say?”
He looked at her with hate in his eyes, “My name ain’t Freddy bitch, and I want my fucking lawyer.” Manning shook her head, “Well that’s too bad Freddy, cause that woman you shot is probably going to die, and when she does, you gonna get the needle. Home invasion and first degree murder, death penalty baby, they gonna fry your ass.”
They turned to leave when Danton said “Wow muther fucker, I tolds you my name ain’t Freddy, it’s Big D, now you show some respect and we might just have us a little talk.” Manning smiled “Ok Big D, you want to talk, fine, so tell me, why did you shoot that woman; why did you pick that house?”
Big D was smiling, “Shit I didn’t shoot nobody, that was that muther fucker that hits me in the head, he shot her, me and my brother was trying to stops him.” Thibodeaux couldn’t resist, “Your brother, oh that’s who the mother fucker with no head was, you see, you two assholes picked the wrong house.” Big D had a surprised expression, “That’s crazy talk; they said my brother was in this same hospital, you just trying to bullshit me.”
Manning looked him straight in the eyes, “Big D, your brother is dead. The guy’s house you hit, well, he had a shotgun. He blew your brother’s head off before he even got upstairs. The woman you shot is in this hospital and is probably going to die, so you are screwed. You going take the whole wrap by yourself. You got nothing Big D, you going down for murder one, now maybe, just maybe we can get the death penalty taken off the board. You talk and I will see what I can do, but you lawyer up, and that deal is gone?”
Big D was stunned, “He kilt my brother, that muther fucker is dead, I’m gonna kill him, you hear me, I’m gonna kill him.” Thibodeaux was smiling and shaking his head, “You about a dumb bastard, you see that handcuff on your arm, you ain’t goin nowhere stupid. Now you want to help yourself, ok, otherwise, fuck you.”
Big D lowered his head, “Guy I know had this address, that’s all I knows, he said the guy was in the game and had lots of stuff and cash. We just wanted to score big, that’s all. Little D wanted to make his bones, so he kilt the woman, not me. So you gonna help me, I didn’t do shit, I’m innocent.”
Thibodeaux laughed. “Fuck you, you dumb bastard, enjoy that cocktail they gonna shoot in your arm.”
The three detectives left the Big D to his own misery.
They entered the waiting room and Carr, Wilson, and the woman were still sitting in the same place. Manning again sat across from Carr, “Any word?” Carr shook his head, “No not yet, still the same, the doctor just left.” Manning looked down “The suspects said someone gave him your address, said you had lots of stuff and money. Not sure what he meant by that, but before it’s over he’ll tell us what we want to know.
Thibodeaux squatted down next to Carr, “You know; you brought this on yourself.” Manning stopped him, “Ryan, enough of that, this isn’t the time or place.” Shelby addressed Thibodeaux, “Detective, I hope you never have to feel what this man is feeling right now, and if you do I hope some heartless bastard blames you for it. Now, if there is some question you would like to ask Mr. Carr, please do so, otherwise, get the fuck out of here.” Manning looked at Wilson, “Detective Thibodeaux was just leaving, weren’t you detective.” Thibodeaux stood up and walked out the door.
Chapter 48
Carl Rome entered West Jefferson Hospital through the main entrance. Shelby had called him and informed him of the incident at Jessie’s house. Carl didn’t take the news well. Carl could never remember crying anytime in his life, until now. Jessie, Shelby, Rachael, and Jasmine were Carl’s family, and family was what mattered most to Carl.
Carl was preparing for the ride to New Orleans when Shelby called again to update him on Rachael’s condition and happened to mention that one of the suspects was in the same hospital. Something about that just didn’t sit well with Carl. Somehow that piece of shit breathing the same air as Rachael was wrong.
Carl happened to be in his home in Central Mississippi. He had been staying at a hotel on the coast, but happened to drive home that very night. He wandered into his garage and made preparations for the ride to New Orleans.
Carl roamed the halls of the hospital and found an open linen closet. He rummaged through the dirty clothing and found a set of scrubs. He put them on over his clothes and again began wandering the halls. West Jefferson is a large hospital and the appearance of one more orderly in the halls would never be noticed.
Carl exited the elevators on the fourth floor and immediately saw two Jefferson Parish Uniformed officers sitting outside of Room 423. He reentered the elevators and pressed the third floor button.
He walked again until he found the doctors on duty lounge. He entered, no one was there, but there was a row of small lockers in the rear near the entrance to the shower. He heard the shower running and looked in, a tall thin man was just adjusting the water temperature. There were eight lockers, all with padlocks, but one lock was hanging open. He opened the locker and found what he was looking for, an ID tag.
Pinning the ID on is scrubs he again took the elevator to the fourth floor. Carl was not a man to rattle easily; he approached the deputies on duty and nodded to them as he entered room 423. The guards glanced at his ID but made no effort to stop him.
In the room was a single hospital bed, the black man in it had a large bandage on the side of his face. Carl walked up to the bed; the man looked at him “Who the fuck is you, whats you want?” Carl smiled his most reassuring smile, “I’m Doctor Holmes, just checking to see how much pain you are in.” The patient responded, “Man I’m fucking hurting here, they gots my ass chained to this bed and I gotta piss, my fuckin head hurts.” Carl smiled again “Well I can help you then.”
Carl removed a syringe from his pocket “I have some pain medication for you, ok.” The patient said “Yea man, I hurting, let me have it.” Carl smiled “No problem my friend.”
Carl injected a 20cc dose of Hydrogen Cyanide into the patients IV. “There, you should feel better in just a little while, you have a nice day.” He turned and exited the room, caught the elevator to the second floor, threw the scrubs and ID into a trash can, and left the hospital.
Chapter 49
The three detectives were standing in the parking lot of the hospital. Manning looked at Thibodeaux, “Man don’t you have any sense, what the fuck is wrong with you. That man is hurting and you start that shit.” Thibodeaux looked down, “Fuck, that man is a murder, I know it. I was just telling him the truth.” Manning was pissed, “No, you were just trying to solve your fucking case by badgering him, God damn man, you are fucking amazing.”
Before Thibodeaux could answer Manning’s phone rang. She answered, had a startled look on her face and quickly hung up. He looked at the other detectives “Our suspect is in some sort of distress, we gotta get up there. They ran back into the hospital and took the elevator to the fourth floor. One of the uniform deputies was standing outside; they passed him and entered the room.
There were several people standing around the patients bed, all were either doctors or nurses. There was a horrible smell in the room, a combination of vomit, feces and urine. Manning looked at a doctor “What the hell is happening, I just talked to him?” The doctor shook his head “I have no idea, his heart started racing and his body is convulsing, possibly some brain swelling, but I’m not sure.”
The patient was convulsing so badly three people were trying to hold him down. One doc
tor injected something into his IV in an effort to slow down his heart. He continued to convulse violently. Suddenly he vomited a large amount of blood; his eyes were open very wide and bulging. As quickly as the convulsing started, it stopped. “No pulse, get me the cart.” Someone rolled the crash cart next to the bed, a nurse began using a breathing bag on the patients face. The doctor applied the paddles and yelled clear. The patient’s body jumped on the bed, they tried again. One doctor looked at the other and they both shook their heads. The doctor in the back of the room looked down and said “Call it.” The other doctor nodded “Time of death, 0523.” They covered the patient and began packing the equipment. Manning was startled “What happened, fifteen minutes ago he was fine; so what happened?”
The doctor in charge said “We won’t know until they do an autopsy, until then I have no idea, whatever happened I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
Thibodeaux had been standing in the rear of the room “Well, I guess the state can save the money it was going to spend on this piece of shit.” Manning had to laugh, “Jesus Thibodeaux, you are piece of work.”
Chapter 50
We were sitting in the waiting room, it was 8 AM. A doctor came out and approached, he was one I hadn’t seen during the night. “Mr. Carr, I’m doctor Harris, I’m a neurologist. Your wife is stable now, her vital signs are good. I was called into evaluate her neurological condition. She had a massive amount of blood loss, so far, everything is looking good, however; it will be some time until we know for sure if her cognitive functions were affected.”
I was totally exhausted, but at least this news was hopeful. I thanked the doctor and asked him if I could possibly see her. He told me to wait a few minutes and he would return.
Jasmine, Shelby, and I all hugged and whispered a prayer. The doctor returned “Mr. Carr they are in the process of moving her to the Intensive Care Unit. It won’t be long, someone will come and get you and bring you upstairs.
Shelby wondered where Carl was, I knew better than to ask that question. I had been with Carl on many missions and I learned that Carl was a very mysterious person. I had seen him slip off into the darkness without so much as a word, and return hours later, bloodied. I always thought that with Carl, the less information I had, the better.
About an hour later a nurse came to get us. We were escorted to the ICU ward. I was allowed to go in for a few minutes, but only one visitor was allowed at one time. I entered Rachael’s room; she was hooked up to several machines and had two IV injections running, I took her hand and cried for a long time, I apologized for bringing this on us and asked forgiveness for my past sins. I prayed for help, even though I didn’t deserve it, I knew she was a wonderful and caring person, and deserved it. The nurse entered and told me I could return for five minutes every hour.
I went to the ICU waiting room where Shelby and Jasmine waited for word. Again, we all cried and prayed together. I told them to please go get some rest. They argued, but I promised to call with any change at all. My house was still a mess so they went to a local motel.
I sat alone and wondered what, if anything I could do to make this right again?
I visited with Rachael every hour until 4 PM when Detective Manning came to see me. She was alone “Mr. Carr, how is she?” I could feel her genuine concern “About the same, I was with her about twenty minutes ago, she is in a coma, but the doctor says her vital signs are strong.”
She nodded, “Good, I was praying for her, actually for both of you.” I shook my head “Thank you, but don’t waste your prayers on me, I’m not worth it, send them all to her.” She looked at me “Mr. Carr, I’m really sorry about before, you didn’t deserve that. Detective Thibodeaux can get carried away sometimes.”
I had to smile, “I know, I spent a few hours with him in the interrogation room. But you know, as much as it hurts, he was right. Things from my past always seem to come back and affect the ones I love. You know I’m not a saint, but she didn’t deserve this, I don’t think I did either. If I could turn back the clock I would change a lot of things, but that’s not something any of us can do, so we deal with the fallout.”
She said “You probably shouldn’t say some things, they might get misinterpreted and we wouldn’t want that, especially now.” I nodded in agreement, even though at that moment I really didn’t care what happened to me, just Rachael. “Thanks for the warning, I just want her well and get to our lives back; is that too much to ask?” She shook her head “No, I guess it’s not.”
We sat next to each other for thirty more minutes in silence. It was time to go visit Rachael again, I asked her if she would come with me. She agreed. We stood by Rachael’s bed for five minutes and held hand, the three of us, in prayer.
We returned to the waiting room and I cried again, she held my hand and tried to comfort me. “Thank you for being there, I know you have a difficult job, but it means a lot to know you care.” She looked sad, I could see the tears in her eyes, “No one deserves what you are going through right now, no matter what wrong they believe they did. God isn’t punishing her for your sins; right now he is punishing you.” I though back to a conversation I had a few weeks ago, “You know I recently told some one, that revenge is a false God that we worship, but if I had the power I would reach through those walls right now and pull the life out of that man, that bastard that did this.”
She looked at me, “Oh you don’t know, he died at 6 AM this morning. Not sure what happened; just took a bad turn and died.” I was shocked, “I understood he was going to be ok, maybe my prayers were answered after all.” She smiled, “Maybe they were, an autopsy will hopefully tell us what happened.”
I sat back and thought it over, now I knew why Carl wasn’t there. I had to smile, that was Carl for you.
Chapter 51
Detective Manning was sitting in her office, it had been three days since the Carr shooting. She had checked in periodically with Carr, he had never left the waiting room. His wife’s condition was unchanged she was still in a coma.
She wasn’t sure what it was, but she liked the man. Here was someone who cared so much about the ones he loved, he didn’t even care about himself. She was still pissed a Ryan Thibodeaux, his bedside manner was awful, but she had to admit, the physical attraction was still there.
It was 11 AM and her cell phone rang, she looked at the number and it was Thibodeaux. She answered “Hey, what’s going on?”He spoke quietly “Just wondering if you were still pissed at me, or can I take you to lunch?” She had to laugh, “Yea; I’m still pissed, but for a free lunch I might forgive you.” They agreed to meet at a local restaurant near the race track.
Thibodeaux was enjoying a cold draft when Manning walked in. “Drinking on the job I see, I might have to call your boss; where is your partner anyway?” He took a long swig of his beer “His kid is sick again, he took the day off.” She shook her head, “Shit, that kid is sick more than he is well, you sure he’s not cheating on you, maybe getting a little nooner?”
They both laughed. He looked at her, “I am sorry you know, I shouldn’t have stepped on your investigation like that, I was out of line.” She smiled “Damn right you were; and Carr should have decked your sorry ass. You know, some people actually do have feelings.” He looked down “I know, I know, I know, I just wanted to solve that Calliope thing so bad, shit. I don’t know why, but I actually admire that little cocksucker, he had the balls to do what no one else could or would.”
She was startled, “Shit, is this the same Ryan Thibodeaux I know, you actually admire something someone did, damn.” He shook his head, “aAlright, let’s not get too carried away here, I don’t give a shit about those gang bangers or about that fucking pimp, I’m sure Carr did them all, I just wish I knew what really happened to that girl, the whore, and why he did what I know he did, that’s all.” She agreed “Yes, that’s the rub, fuck them other assholes; they got what was coming, but her, that’s different.”
He said, “By the way, ho
w is his wife?” She looked sad “No change, might never come out of it, he’s been sitting there the entire time, has never left. You know, I kinda like the guy.” She held up her hand before he could speak. “I don’t mean like that fool, but kind of like you feel, I guess I admire him in the same way. I was talking to him that night, I think he would have told me everything, but I stopped him. I didn’t want to know. I don’t’ want to jam him up when he is hurting like that, it’s just not right.” Thibodeaux looked puzzled “You mean he was going to give it up, damn, ah shit you couldn’t use it anyway, never read him his fucking rights. Hey, maybe he’ll talk to you, off the record. I just want to know about the girl, I won’t jam him up, I promise.”
She believed him; she had never seen him like this before. Finally the big teddy bear was coming out.
She looked in his eyes “We’re good friends here right? I mean more than friends” She squeezed his hand.” I want you to tell me the truth Ryan; six years ago you smoked a fucker from the Florida Projects. I read the report, the guy had a shitty little Saturday night special, no serial number, nothing; the piece of crap wouldn’t even shoot. Off the record, just between you and me, that was your throw down, wasn’t it?”
He looked down at the table for almost a full minute, then he looked up in her eyes; “Yea, the cocksucker killed a mother and her three year old; fucking knifed them, bad, then he shot a cop, my partner and I cornered him in an alley in the Bywater. I was crazy, just kept thinking about the poor kid. I told him to get on his knees, he told me to go fuck myself and laughed, I blew that little prick out of his shoes. Searched him, don’t know what he had done with his gun, probably dropped it somewhere. I dropped my throw down near him; nobody looked at it too hard; review cleared me in record time.
Manning thought for several minutes; “You know Ryan, the shit we do and shit we see every day, it can really get to you. I see a couple of low life pricks take each other out and I want to cheer. But then I see some sadistic bastard that tortured his kid, I want an hour alone with him. “