In the same way he's fascinated by crosswords,
the puzzle of solving the murder is what drives him on.
- John Thaw
Chapter 8.
Kris was awoken when a nurse put her hand on Kris' shoulder.
"Miss?"
Kris looked up and met her eyes.
"We're gonna move your sister out from the ICU, so I need you to move over."
Kris nodded and rose to her feet, a rush of dizziness going through her. She stumbled, and the nurse managed to catch her.
"Miss, you all right?"
Kris nodded slightly.
"Yeah, sorry. Got a concussion, and I rose to fast."
"Sit down for a minute and take a glass of water." The nurse said, helping Kris to sit down and gave her a glass of water.
"Thank you." Kris said, accepting the water.
The nurse smiled and took Jill's vitals and wrote in the journal before removing some of the tubes attached to Jill, who were still sound asleep. The nurse and two others begun to roll Jill out, and Kris did another try to get to her feet. This time she did better, and she followed the nurses and Jill out.
They went down to another floor, and when the nurses had left, Kris grabbed the phone and sat down next to Jill again.
"Townsend."
"Hi, Charlie, it's Kris."
"Kris! I've been trying to call you guys for an hour."
Kris looked at her watch. Oh. They were supposed to have met the others an hour ago.
"We're at the hospital. We have some visitors last night, Jill took a bullet in the shoulder. She's all right thought, she'll probably be out within a few hours."
"Did you see the men?"
"One of them, he threw me across the room. Tall, he must have been at least 6 foot tall, and he had dark skin. And I've seen him before… I…"
"You know him?"
"I think he could be a bouncer at Manny's, but I'm not sure Charlie."
"Did you see anyone else?"
"I heard three different voices, but they were all out before I had a chance to see them."
"Okay. I'm going to call the others, they are all ready at the office, and then I'll call Bill.""Bill knows we're here, he was here last night. They guys that were supposed to watch us called him when they saw the blood."
"Where were they when that happened?"
"Out buying pizza."
"You must be kidding me. Bill must be furious."
"Oh, he was."
"I'll talk to you later, okay Kris? Give Jill my love."
"Of course."
Kelly, Julie and Bosley were sitting at the office when the phone called. Julie walked up to the desk and turned the speaker on.
"Townsend agency."
"Angels, Bosley."
"Hi Charlie. Have you heard anything from them?"
"They're at the hospital. Jill took a bullet to the shoulder last night, but don't worry, she's all right."
"Come on, let's go down there." Kelly said quickly.
"Talk to you later Charlie." Julie said and turned off the phone.
The trio got into their own cars and went down to the hospital.
"Hey… How is she?"
Kris turned around when she heard Kelly's voice. She smiled to her coworkers.
"She's all right, just sleeping."
The trio went up to the bed, and Kelly put her hand on Kris' shoulder.
"What happened?"
"There was someone in the house. Three men. They shot Jill, left the building. I took her here."
Kelly was just about to answer when Jill shifted slightly and opened her eyes.
"Hey guys." She smiled, tiredly.
"Hey angel. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine, just a bit sore."
"Want me to talk to the nurse?" Kris asked, but Jill shook her head.
"No, I'm okay."
"Promise?"
"Promise. When can I get out of here?"
"Fill these up and then you're out of here."
They all turned to the door, where the doctor was walking in. He smiled and gave Jill a paper and a pen, which she happily filled in. She gave them to the doctor.
"Good. I'll register these and send in a nurse to remove the iv. It will take about 15-20 minutes, then you're free to go."
"I don't have anything to wear." Jill said, looking from Kris to Kelly.
"I'll go and pick up some clothes for you, okay?" Kelly smiled.
"Thank you."
About an hour later, they were all in the kitchen in the beach house. Charlie was in the speaker phone, and Kris was serving everyone coffee. Jill had her arm in a sling, but she was happy to be home so quickly.
"So where do we go from here?"
"Well, everything seems to lead to the club. Julie? Wanna look into that?"
"Sure. I'll go there and see if they need some extra hands in the bar."
"You're a good bartender?" Kelly smiled.
"When I was short of money, I worked at a club two nights a week."
"Okay, you go there and try to get a job."
"What about the computer readouts Charlie?" Kelly asked.
"Richard Hooth. 27, originally from Tuscany, Italy."
"Wait, who's he?" Kris asked.
"That's Rick, your dance partner." Kelly smiled.
"Oh. Okay, go on."
"He's the son of Manny's brother, and he's been charged three times, convicted once."
"Due to?" Kris asked with big eyes.
"Rape."
Kris sighed and put her head in her hands.
"He was in the same jail during the same time Sam Hockley."
"So they know each other?"
"Who's Sam Hockley?" Kris asked, not following at all.
"The man you found dead."
Kris nodded and looked down into her coffee. Jill took her good arm and put her hand in Kris' neck, rubbing her upper back for support.
"And back to your question Kelly, yes, they knew each other. I called to the jailhouse and talked to the supervisor, and he remembered both of them, and he remembered that they were good friends."
"What about the others?"
"The readouts on Tommy Haven and Lisa Jackson came back clear. No charges, no police records."
"And they are?" Kris asked, getting irritated.
"Bartenders." Kelly said, giving Kris an excusing smile, before turning to the phone. "What about the third bartender Charlie?"
"Mark Wright. Charged for possession of drugs four times, convicted once."
"Don't tell me…"
"That he spent his time in jail together with Richard Hooth and Sam Hockley? Oh yes he did." Charlie said.
"So we have three people who all have been convicted due to drugs, rape or assault. They all did time during the same time in the same jail. Okay. What about the other readouts Charlie?"
"You're not going to like this."
"Tell us Charlie."
"Nicole Hanson. She's been charged twice for possession of drugs."
"Ever convicted?" Kris asked.
"No, but…"
"Then let's not jump to any conclusions, just because she has been into drugs in her earlier life doesn't mean she's doing that now." Kris snapped.
"Kris, hon." Jill said, still with her hand on Kris' upper back.
"She's my friend. She would never do anything like this to me."
"Kris." Charlie said. All of them could hear on his voice that he didn't want to say this. "Kris, the last charges is less than a year old. And… she is… very close with Richard Hooth."
"How close?"
"They are engaged."
"What?"
"They've been engaged for about three months."
Kris was just staring at the coffee cup, not believing what she was hearing.
"This doesn't make any sense."
"It sure doesn't." Kelly said. "Well. What do we know? Let's put this together."
As Kelly spoke, she grabbed a notebook from a nearby bench and begun drawing stick figures in it.
"Dead guy. Sam Hockley." She said, drawing a stick figure on the paper. "He's been in jail together with Richard Hooth and Mark Wright."
Two other stick figures was drawn to the paper, and arrows were made between them.
"Then we have Nicole Hanson." Kelly said, writing another stick figure with curly hair down to the floor."
"Her hair isn't that long." Jill smiled.
Kelly shot Jill an annoyed look, without answering Jill's comment.
"She is engaged to Richard Hooth. But when interrogated, she said she didn't know him."
"What about Thom York?" Julie asked.
"No police record, and I haven't found any connection between him and Nicole, but I'm going to look into his personal life and see if he has any connection with the other guys."
"Good. Talk to you later Charlie."
They hung up the phone, and Kris stole the pen and the notebook from Kelly. She quickly drew another stick figure with long hair and put a big question mark over her head.
"And where does she fit in?" Jill asked, her head on her side.
Kris made an arrow to Nicole.
"She - me - is friend with her and they go to a club together." Kris says and draw a square house and write Manny's over it, makes arrows from herself, Nicole, Richard and Mark to it.
"I danced with him…" Kris continues, making another arrow to Richard. "And I ordered a drink by him."
As she spoke, she made an arrow to Mark.
"And then I woke up at this man's house."
Kris made an arrow to Sam, and Kelly took the notebook back.
"Okay. And now what?"
Hope it didn't get confusing. IF it did, tell me ;P I actually had to draw the stick figures myself, and I'm happy to send the picture to everybody who wants to see it, lol :D
