Chapter Thirty Three:

Saturday, November 1, 1997 – Los Angeles, CA – Cedars-Sinai

Thompson and Greer followed Daisy and Soonie into the waiting room. Inez asked Thompson, "Where's the sling?"

He held out his left arm revealing more of the lightweight cast. "I only needed that the first couple of days. Took it off when I got home last night. Forgot to put it back on. This thing is bad enough, the sling just gets in the way."

Daisy hadn't registered the cast on the detective's left arm until now.

Inez pursed her lips and, much to her own surprise, acknowledged Soonie with genuine sympathy, "Kay." The woman looked totally spent.

Soonie responded, in kind, with, "Inez," then turned to Daisy. "Daisy, this is Inez De Pina, Senior Detective in Enos' unit."

Instead of extending her hand to Daisy, Inez crossed her arms and assumed a professional stance. "Ms. Duke. I'm sorry we have to finally meet under these circumstances."

"Yeah, me too," Daisy said, feeling the coolness in the detective's voice. "Where's Enos?"

"He's up on the eighth floor, in diagnostics."

Pretty much cried out and trying her best to exhibit the steadfast mettle of a police officer's wife, Soonie asked, "What is his condition?"

"He has some trauma to his nose and may have a concussion. Right now, he's stable and sedated. The doctor said he would be in imaging for a little while. So you both need to settle in for a spell. Could be a long wait."

Inez motioned to Thompson and Greer with her head towards the door. "Let's talk outside." Then, she turned back to Daisy and Soonie. "I have to talk to them for a few minutes and then I'll be back in to talk to the both of you."

Inez gathered up evidence bags that had been out of sight on the seats in the middle of the room. There were several small plastic bags with vials, a medium sized bag with a badge and a small pistol and holster, and two larger bags. Daisy's eyes followed Inez out of the waiting room, fixed on the large bag that contained a white dress shirt stained with dark red blood.

Soonie deliberately riveted her attention on two uneven tiles in the floor under the waiting room window. Had Enos' arms been anywhere close she would have crumbled into them like an over-baked cookie. But she was determined not to let her exhaustion allow her to fall apart in front of either Daisy or Inez.

After Inez, Thompson, and Greer disappeared down the corridor, a different, armed, uniformed officer assumed a watchful position just outside the waiting room door. A little calmer now, Daisy looked around the waiting room. It appeared very small for a large hospital like this one. There must be activity in the trauma center around the clock.

She asked Soonie, "Are we suspects?"

"I think she is there for our protection," Soonie said. She knew from her ride in with Dylan that the working theory was leaning toward assault on a police officer.

With neither of them wanting to talk about what went on the night before or to start something they couldn't finish, a silence, not in the least companionable, descended on the room.

In the corridor, Inez asked Thompson and Greer, "Okay, what's the story with those two?"

Based on what Kay had told him on the ride in, Greer let Thompson take the lead on this one.

"Where to start," Thompson began. "I was able to get Kay's mobile number from Strate's phone. When I called her, she had been on her way to San Francisco to her uncle's house but was already headed back to L.A. I asked her to pull off on the shoulder before I told her what happened. She didn't take it well, at least, not as calmly as she seems right now."

"She's had a lot to deal with over the past couple of days. E told me yesterday that her brother's plane had gone down in Central Africa. As far as I know, she hasn't heard anything about whether he's dead or alive."

"Sheesh, talk about the rain in southern California…," he said. "According to Ms. Duke, Strate was headed for San Francisco. By the way, who is she? Kay wasn't making much sense when she told me I should be trying to find Ms. Duke. Still don't have a clue." He wondered if he should be adding the pretty Ms. Duke to the growing list of 'Strate's Women.'

"Long story," Inez said, looking at Greer who likely knew exactly who Daisy Duke was. Couldn't have known E for as long as he had without knowing about 'Daisy.' "Way too long to get into here. Where did you find her?"

"At the airport, right where Strate's neighbor told me I would."

"How," Thompson asked Greer, "did you end up with Kay?"

"The air-ambulance that landed on the helipad earlier – that was one of the victims of the major accident on the I-5 on the southeast end of Griffith Park. Major pile up. One driver went to sleep at the wheel and took out three other vehicles. Rest of them went to Ronald Regan. Traffic was snarled up for several miles. She parked her car on the shoulder and trudged through the median to find anyone with LAPD on their uniform. When I recognized her, she told me why she needed to get to Cedars, we left her car and keys with Torres and I brought her here in my patrol car."

Inez didn't have time to explore why Kay Mun would be recognizable to Dylan Greer or vice versa, so she didn't pursue it. But Greer read the question on her face.

"Firing range," he said. "Every other weekend for the last couple of months."

Thompson asked, "So how is he really?"

"Pretty banged up," Inez said. "By the time they came to get him for the CAT scan, the right side of his face was reddish purple and the swelling had increased. Doctor Reubens assured me it looks worse than it probably is, but we won't know that until the CAT scan's analyzed. And then there's the possible concussion. The main concern for us, right now, is that he didn't do this to himself. Somebody hit him pretty hard."

Thompson said, "I don't think it was either one of them." He motioned toward the waiting room with his head. "They were both pretty shaken up when I told them he was at the ER."

As much as Inez still harbored a deep, abiding animosity toward Daisy Duke, she didn't think it was a possibility either. And a small part of her, the part that truly wanted E to be happy even if it could never be with her, was actually rooting for Kay.