Kinship 4

The phone calls flew back and forth for hours. Ross demanded Alex be allowed full access to the investigation, the Ohio Captain insisting that she was biased and would only hinder the ability to get at the truth of the matter.

Alex busied herself working the other end of the case. She got the description of the Monte Carlo and the plate number. She talked with Ruzicki's girlfriend and found the route the men had planned to take. Through phone calls and interviews, she traced their path all the way from the City to the truck stop where they'd had dinner. It wasn't far from the hospital. After checking on both Bobby and Lewis one more time, she went outside and got into the rental she was using.


"Oh, honey," the waitress said. "I'm sorry to hear that. They was just as happy as clams when they was in here, laughing it up and… more than a little flirtatious, if you know what I mean."

Alex smiled. "Boys will be boys," she said.

"Exactly!" The waitress smiled. "I never saw two grown men act so much like teenagers. Ate like 'em, too."

"You saw no sign that they were… arguing about anything?" Alex asked.

"Oh, no, honey. Those two woulda been more likely to tag team on that wrestling show than to fight each other."

"Thank you," Alex said, making notes on her pad.

"I hope they're all right," the woman said before going back to work.


That night, Ross called, triumphant. "You got it," he said. "Just tag along, get what you can, don't make any waves. From what I hear, they already have enough for the DA to prosecute Lewis. The Department isn't handing it over yet, based on your assertions."

"Thanks, Captain."

"How's Bobby?"

"The same."

"I'm sorry, Alex."

"Me, too," she said.


The next morning, Lewis' fever was gone. He could barely move, but he did seem to be improving. Alex accompanied the Ohio detectives when they came in to question him.

"Mr. Ruzicki, I'm Detective Schroeder, this is Detective Baxter. I believe you know Detective Eames."

"Detective Alex," Lewis said, smiling for her. "How's Bobby?"

"Okay," she said. "We'll talk about it later."

"Start at the beginning, Mr. Ruzicki, and tell us what happened."

"We were on a road trip, headed for my sister's wedding. Oh, shit! Did somebody call Elaine?" He looked at Alex.

"She'll be here tonight," Alex reassured him.

"She didn't call off the wedding, did she?"

"No, just the honeymoon. She'll be here tonight."

"Mr. Ruzicki?" Schroeder prompted.

"Oh, uh, yeah. We were driving to Chicago, and it was dark and I saw this car pulled off the side of the road." He looked at the Ohio cops. "I'm a mechanic, so I pulled over to see if I could help. One of them slammed the hood down and pinned me inside and the other one must've hit Bobby. They got the keys from my pocket, and the big one had a gun on me while the other one tied me up. They took my cell phone and my pocketknife. Then they threw me down that damn hill. I practically landed on top of Bobby. He was out cold. When he woke up, I tried to get him to walk up the hill with me, but he couldn't do it. Eventually, I dragged him up. It was raining so I figured the car was the best place to be. The doors were locked so I hit the window with the crow bar and unlocked them. Once we were inside, I turned on the lights and waited for help."

"That hill's a 45 degree grade," Baxter said. "Goren's a pretty big guy."

Lewis knew where this was headed, but he stared the Detective down.

"You expect us to believe that you… hauled Goren… all the way up that hill?"

Lewis would have rolled over if his muscles weren't so stiff. Instead he rolled his eyes and grunted, "He ain't heavy, he's my brother."

Alex raised a hand to hide her smirk. Once she'd recovered, she lowered it and took Lewis' hand. She raised it up off the mattress, revealing the ligature marks from when he had been bound. "Looks like some pretty good evidence here," she said. "Maybe you guys should have a look at his bruising." She gave his hand a squeeze and left the room.

After a few minutes, Schroeder joined her. "Look, Eames," he started. He sighed and looked away momentarily. "His story is plausible," he said. "But we've got to go with the evidence."

"I'm aware of that, Detective."

"Until now, everything was pointing the other way."

"I understand."

"Do you have any information that might…. Help us out?"

"Until the Monte Carlo turns up, not really." She told him about her interview with the waitress.

"That gives us a time frame," he said. "Look, can you keep Ruzicki around for a while?"

"He won't leave Bobby," she said honestly.

"We'll pull back, give his story a chance."

"Good." She saw Baxter coming out of the room. "Now… I have to go tell him about Bobby."


She smiled at him and took his hand in hers. "Lewis, I… I have some news…"

Lewis' smile faded. "Is Bobby…?"

"He's here, in the hospital, Lewis. But he's… in a coma. The head injury, it's bad."

Lewis struggled and sat up. "Take me to him," he said.

"Lewis, I don't think you're-" He stared her down, in the same way he stared at Baxter. "Okay. Don't hurt yourself."