Frankie's Adventure

By Simahoyo

Frankie Rizzoli was supposed to be meeting Jane for lunch when he caught a suspicious movement out of the corner of his eye. It was right near an underpass where the homeless often congregated because it was near a food bank. There was a scruffy looking guy with survival gear, arranging his stuff so he could sit and eat his lunch. And just behind a pillar, Frankie caught movement, then the soft whoosh as a dart flew through the air and hit the poor dude in the neck. He looked surprised, swatted at the dart, and passed out. Frankie was running toward the guy when a woman slipped out from behind the pillar. She turned, looked at Frankie, and put one hand up to stop him.

"It's not what it looks like. I'm here to help him", she whispered. Frankie hesitated, although he itched to arrest her for hurting a poor homeless guy.

She walked up to the man sprawled on the ground, looked at her watch, took a prescription bottle out of her purse, wrapped the dart in a handkerchief, stuffing it in her purse, and took the guy's bottle of water. His eyes opened, and he gave a groggy shake to his head.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You fainted." Are you feeling better?"

"I don't feel so good.", he answered.

She held up the prescription bottle. "Is this yours? It's for Herald Ivarsen. Is that you?'

He nodded. She shook out a single pill, and handed it to him. He took it and drank the water.

"If you are supposed to take this, maybe that's why you fainted."

Frankie was puzzled, and very worried. This was so illegal, but the woman seemed so kind and caring. He wanted to bust her right then, but he knew there was more to this story.

"Maybe you should hang on to your pills, and take them, let's see, it says once in the morning and once at night. It should keep you from fainting. Okay?"

The homeless guy looked relieved. "Thanks. I'm don't like to faint. I'll remember these pills."

The woman picked up a long piece of bamboo, then walked toward Frankie, and he noted her description for his report. She was tall, just about half an inch shorter than Jane, with dark brown eyes, a straight nose, and high cheekbones. She was muscular, yet curvy. And her black hair was straight and long, in a single braid. He also couldn't help noticing that she was gorgeous.

"So, what's the story?", he asked.

"Let's get out of earshot, I have more to tell you about this."

So they went around the corner next to a warehouse. The traffic on the overpass was a little louder, but she could be heard.

"I'm Adela Osceola I'm a Private Investigator, and an Nurse Practitioner specializing in working with mental patients. I was hired to find Mr. Ivarsen by his family. They were concerned because he disappeared, and they suspected he had gone off his meds. I investigated the situation, and discovered that he had left his job at his law firm, and was living on the street. So, I tracked him down, determined that he was not taking his prescribed medication, got that bottle from his parents, and gave it to him. All highly illegal, I know, but what else could we do?"

Frankie was impressed and torn. He knew how devastating mental illness was for people on the street, and their families. He had seen the results time and again. He also knew that what Ms. Osceola (was that Italian?)had done was illegal, but it was kind, and she did know what she was doing. "I hate these situations. Yeah, it's illegal, but you helped him. I don't know where to go from here."

Adela shifted her weight. "I need to report that he has paranoid schizophrenia. If he hallucinates something where he panics and acts out, he might hurt a lot of people. That's why we did this."

Frankie knew this was bigger than he could comfortably deal with himself. Jane was just down two blocks, so he figured she might have some advice. Or she'd just be a big pain in the butt about it all. He pasted a smile on his face. "I know we have to report this, but I would like to bypass your part in the illegal things. I was meeting my sister, the detective, for lunch, so let's talk to her about it. It's just a couple of blocks. Do you know Hernandez's?"

Adela nodded, and they started walking together. Frankie's curiosity got the better of him. "How to you learn to do that knock out thing?"

Adela laughed. "Bird hunting with my Dad. He taught me to make my own blowgun and darts, and to hit a quail at 6 yards. Later, when I was discussing this with clients, I had to figure out a way to harmlessly disable a patient to approach them without scaring them."

Frankie frowned. "So this isn't your first time pulling this stunt."

"Uh, no. I'm the Go To Gal for parents of schizophrenics. I save lives. It just happened to be illegal."

They were in front of Hernandez's, a shabby wreck of a place with great Mexican food. Frankie opened the door, and allowed Aldela his, what? Prisoner? Informant? A stray thought wandered through his head, "Girlfriend?". He shut that down. Jane was sitting at the bar, glaring at her watch, and him. He lead Adela over to her.

"What? You picked up a woman on the way to lunch? I have to get back in half an hour. I ordered for us. Whose your friend?"

"This rude person is my sister, Jane. She's the detective I told you about. Jane, this is Adela. She needs to report something."

Jane went from snarky to serious, as she took out her notebook and pencil. "Are you a witness to an incident?"

Adela looked a bit guilty. "No, I'm a medical professional reporting that we have a Paranoid Schizophrenic living under the overpass about 2 blocks north of here. His name is Herald Ivarsen. If he is off his meds, he can be a danger to himself or others. He just started them again."

Jane wrote for a minute, looked through Adela, and asked, "What is your medical background?"

Adela relaxed, appearing to find comfort in this line of questioning. "I'm a Nurse Practitioner, specializing in treating the Mentally Ill. I studied at the University of Miami, then interned at the Immokalee Reservation. I decided to move up North when a friend was murdered by one of my mental patients. I wanted to get away."

Frankie understood that. No wonder she had gone this route.

Jane tapped her pencil against the top of her notebook. "Okay. So, how do you know this guy?"

Jane's voice was soft and dangerously calm. His sister missed nothing. That was why she was such a great detective, and such a pain as a sister.

Adela looked wary. She touched her chin with her thumb, looked down, and then into Jane's eyes. "His parents asked me to look after him. He left his place of work, and disappeared. I found him living on the streets, checked with his medical team, and checked on him just today. That's how I met officer Rizzoli."

"Frankie.", he supplied. Adela smiled at him.

"And just how did you check on him? What was the process?"

Adela rolled her eyes. Crap, she was going to tell the truth.

"I observed him for several moments, as he talked to himself, and made characteristic movements. I determined that he did need his medications, so I knocked him out with a sedative, and when he came to, I gave him one of his prescription tablets, and told him that he fainted, and that taking the medication would keep him from fainting."

Adela didn't cower, she stood her ground. Jane had faked her death stare, so Frankie knew she wasn't too upset. "You know that's illegal, right?"

"Yes, I do. I also know it's necessary."

"So you are making decisions for patients against their wishes. "

"Yes Ma'am. And I'll keep it up as long as these people need me."

"Unless I stop you."

"That's right."

"Thanks a lot, Captain Obvious You put me in a good mess. What would you do?"

Frankie inwardly jumped. God, he didn't know. Why did she think he brought this to her?

"I don't know. It's like the time Ma grew medical marijuana for Mrs. Galina because it helped her get through her chemo."

"What? Nobody ever told me about that. I would have arrested her." His sister's eyes were narrowed, and her jaw clenched.

"That's why nobody told you. Look, Janie, this is about helping people who need it, and the law gets in the way of helping. This guy went from a law firm to living under an overpass. If getting him back on his pills was illegal, that law is wrong."

"And without his medications, he might hurt others or himself. So, I did what I knew was right. And before you ask, I will continue to do this unless someone stops me. But I hope no one does.."

Jane was pretty quiet. She re-read her notes, looked at Frankie, then Adela, then back to Frankie.

"Did you actually see her shoot the victim with the sedative."

Frankie thought about it. "No. I saw the dart come out from behind the pillar and stick in his neck."

Jane smiled grimly. "I see. Did she force the pill on the victim?"

"No, she handed it to him, and he took the pill himself."

"No witness, no crime." Jane closed her notebook and put it away. The food arrived, and Jane and Frankie dug in. Frankie, stopped, fork halfway to his mouth. "Adela, would you like to have lunch with us?" Adela smiled sweetly, shaking her head. "No thank you. I ate just an hour ago. Thanks to both of you for your help. I'd better get going."

Frankie's brain finally alerted him. She was leaving. He dug in his pocket, and handed her his card. "If you have anymore patients you need to report to us, please call me." And he gave her his best flirtatious smile. She smiled back and took the card with her. He watched her leave, hips swaying just enough to keep his attention.

"God, little brother, your eyes are going to bug right out of your head. You plan to see her again?"

"Oh Yeah. I plan to."

"Remember your encounter with Riley then. Lesson learned?"

"Yeah, lesson learned."