The flight to California had been uneventful and Janel now sat in the waiting room of Los Angeles General Hospital waiting for the doctor to OK her visit. When the word finally came through, she was escorted past security and into his room.
Geraldo lay in the hospital bed, hooked up to machines that kept track of his body function. "I'm here," she said. "What do you want?"
His eyes focused on her as she leaned over him. "Bargain kept," he said, his words slurring. "Still don't wah die. Na my choiss. No…" he breathed. "No conrak." He breathed again. "Warn…"
"Warn who?" Janel asked and he pointed at her with his good left hand. "Warn me? Of what?"
"Yesh," he slurred. "Daygado after reeven."
"Delgado's after me?" she said. "He's dead."
"Vife," he slurred. "Isa…" he stopped.
"Vife? Vife is a what?"
"Isabell…" Geraldo said then stiffened and blew out another breath, taking no more. The alarms went off on the machines and the crew assigned to him came rushing in.
Janel found herself crushed into the corner as they worked on Geraldo but several minutes later, they called it. Gabriel Geraldo was dead.
They covered the body and began taking the carts and other equipment from the room. The doctor stopped to talk to her. "I hope you got what he needed to tell you," he said. "I'm pretty sure it was the only reason he was hanging on."
"Do you know why he had the stroke?" She asked. "He was deemed healthy only a few weeks ago when he survived the fire."
"They'll be an autopsy," the doctor said. "Did you get what he wanted?"
Janel took a breath. "I sure hope so," she replied. "Thank you doctor."
"You're welcome," the doctor said and left the room.
Janel stood for a minute, looking at the sheet covered form. "The last thing you did," she said to the inert form. "Was the right thing." She took a couple of steps to the bedside. "If you'd lived your entire life the way you lived those last few minutes… you might have been a good man." She turned to the door. "What a waste." She walked from the room.
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"Not a chance," Joe said.
"We're going," Danny said. He was backed up by both Jamie and Eddie.
"This is an FBI matter," Joe said.
"No," Jamie said. "This is a Reagan family matter. If you don't want to take us on the FBI plane with you, that's fine. We'll fly commercial."
"I should have known I'd find you sticking your fingers in an FBI case," a new player to the party put in.
They turned to find Agent Vaughn Morgan standing behind them. "The Commissioner pulled some strings and got them temporarily assigned to this case." He held up a file before handing it to Joe. "Their credentials and ID."
Joe opened the file. Sure enough, there was a letter faxed from his direct superior in DC and three clip-on ID tags with the pictures of the three NYPD cops on them.
"Done protesting?" Danny said with a smile.
"You knew this was on its way, didn't you?" Joe asked.
"Seems to me you need back-up," Eddie said. "And the kind you can trust without question." She paused to look between Joe's brothers. "You do trust us? Don't you?"
Joe looked to each of them. "Yes," he said finally. "Get on."
"Good luck," Morgan said with a jaunty salute to Joe. "You're gonna need it."
Joe gave him a dirty look and climbed into the plane and pulled the door closed. He headed past his brothers and Eddie to the cockpit.
"Ah, aren't we missing something?" Danny asked.
"Like what?" Joe responded.
"Like a pilot," Jamie said.
"You're lookin' at him," Joe told them.
"You're a pilot?" Danny said in disbelief. "Since when?"
"About seven years ago," Joe replied. "I have been flying all over the place and have over ten thousand hours in the air and only one accident… and that was not my fault."
"That makes me feel SO much better," Danny said sarcastically.
"Jamie," Joe said. "Why don't you come sit up front with me?"
"What and leave Eddie with him?" Jamie replied.
Joe looked back at them. "He'll be all right," he said. "She'll kick his ass if he gets out of line."
Danny gave him a dirty look and sat in one of the seats in the back of the small jet and buckled up as Eddie did the same across the aisle.
Jamie sat down next to Joe and watched as his older brother did the preflight check, then taxied out to the runway. Within minutes, they were in the air. At that, Jamie initiated small talk.
"How long you been partners with Janel?" he asked.
"Since she saved my life," Joe answered. "How long you known Eddie?"
"Five years," Jamie replied. "She was my partner for five years."
"And you never…?"
Jamie looked back into the cabin to find that Danny had fallen asleep and Eddie was reading a book. "There were a couple of close calls," Jamie replied. "But no." He looked out the front window. "You?" he asked casually.
"Never even thought about it," he replied. "She's attracted to older men, not younger ones." He looked over at Jamie. "Besides I love her, but it would be like dating Erin."
"Ew," Jamie said. "Just… no."
"That's the way it goes," Joe said.
"You date?"
Joe shook his head. "Not lately," he replied. "I'm just too busy."
"Too bad," Jamie said. "I think you'd be a great dad."
"You will be a great dad sooner than I will," Joe said.
"I delivered a baby a few months ago," Jamie mentioned.
"Oh yeah?"
"Boy," Jamie said. "Eight pounds."
"That's great," Joe said.
"Yeah," Jamie replied. "They named him Eddie."
Joe laughed so hard he woke Danny up.
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By the time they got to California, Janel had gone missing. "No one's seen her since last night," Agent Kyle Arapaho told them. "She had a late supper after coming back from the hospital from what the hotel room service waiter said."
"Dou you know what happened at the hospital?" Danny asked as he glanced around the hotel room.
"All we know is Geraldo died around 3:30 yesterday afternoon," Arapaho replied.
Eddie peeked into the drawers. "Her clothes aren't here," she said. "Maybe she headed back to New York."
Joe pushed past his brothers and opened the closet door. "She never unpacks," he said. "Says it's a waste of time since she's just going to have to pack again at the end of the trip." He pulled out her suitcase and set it on the bed before he began rifling through it.
"What are you looking for?" Jamie asked and joined his brother by the bed.
"Her journal," he replied. "She had this habit of forgetting important details and kept having to re-file reports because she left something out. She got in the habit of writing things down as she went." He finished with the suitcase. "It's not here."
"What's not there?" Danny asked. He had finished a discussion with Agent Arapaho and a security officer for the hotel.
"Janel's journal," Joe replied.
"Does she carry a purse?" Eddie asked.
The three brothers looked at her. "If she's writing things down as she goes," Eddie went on. "It seems logical that she would keep the journal in her purse."
"Good point," Joe agreed. "Where though?"
"There," Danny said as he pointed to a hook by the door where a medium sized leather purse hung. "It's where Linda kept her purse. On a hook by the door."
Joe went over and got in the purse and pulled a small notebook with hard covers from it. He flipped through the pages until he found the last page of writing. He read it aloud. "Gabriel Geraldo's time of death as recorded by medical personnel was 3:37 p.m. His last words on this Earth were a warning that I don't understand. I did catch that he'd had the contract on the Reagans cancelled but do not understand his final words. Vife after Delgado wants revenge. Or maybe it's supposed to be wife? Wife is a ball? Does that mean she's fun? I'm going to sleep on it. Maybe things will be clearer in the morning…"
Danny began to point at the page excitedly. "It's not Delgado is a ball," he said. "It's Isabel Delgado. His wife."
"Damn," Joe commented. "Now we just have to find where."
"Security has video," Danny said then gestured to the door. "What say we go take a look."
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