The Door Into Summer
Chapter 17Jeff got to the office the next morning shortly after Suzanne. "Good morning, Jeff," she called as he came in the door. He went over to pick up his messages before greeting her.
"Hi, Suzanne. And before you can ask – yes, I talked to Stu last night and this morning. He's already cranky, but they're moving him to a regular room today. Did Roscoe have any luck yesterday?"
"He must have. He left this message for you."
Jeff took the note from Suzanne. It read – Boss, I got lucky. Don Waverly is working for Orange County Pipefitters. Everyone clocks in and out daily at eight-thirty and five-thirty. Address is 4500 Beach Boulevard, Huntington Beach. Phone number Hunter 6-0732. They are very pleased with him; he's a hard worker.
"Suzanne, when you see Kookie, send him in, would you?" and Jeff headed for his office. It was almost an hour later before Kookie made his appearance. "Have you seen Rachel yet?"
"No, that's where I was going now."
Jeff nodded his head. "Good. Put her off for two or three days. We've got a location on Waverly and I want to try and pick him up tomorrow."
Kookie grinned. He was more than happy to put Rachel off. "I'll tell her the relative I had that was sick is in the hospital. That can get me out of the meetings until we can snatch both of them."
"Just remember to look appropriately concerned. This may be our last chance to snag them."
"You got it, dad. Catch you later."
Jeff spent the rest of the morning catching up on phone calls and the things he'd missed. Right before lunch his private line rang. It was Gil. "Lieutenant Gilmore. Just the man I wanted to talk to."
Gil laughed. "Now I know I'm in trouble."
"No trouble. Just wanted to let you know that Roscoe found Waverly. We're fixing to apprehend him tomorrow at his employer's, Orange County Pipefitters, 4500 Beach Boulevard. He's supposed to punch out at five-thirty. Bring the unmarked car. Once we've got him, he can lead us to the motel they've been staying at and we'll have the girl. Good for you?"
"Sounds fine. But that' not what I called about. Have you talked to Stu today?"
"Early this morning. They're transferring him to a regular room sometime today. I haven't heard from him yet, but I can tell you this . . . when I talked to him this morning, he was already cranky."
"Good, that's more like Stu."
Jeff laughed and Gil joined him. "God bless him. I don't know what I'd do without him, Gil."
"Neither do I."
"I'll give you a call after he's in a regular room."
"Sounds good, Jeff. Talk to you later."
"Sure."
It was late afternoon when Kookie returned. "All set with Rachel. She knows she won't see me for a few days."
"She seem upset?" Jeff wanted to know.
"Smallsville, at first, but she got over it."
"I talked to Gil. He'll be at Waverly's employer tomorrow at five-thirty. We should be there by five-fifteen. The plan is to pick Waverly up and have him take us back to the motel so we can grab Rachel. Once we've got her we can take her to her mother and father. Then we're done."
"I'll be thrilled when this is over."
"That makes two of us," Jeff answered. "Correction – three of us."
"Heard anything from dad?"
"Not yet. You know how things are in hospitals. If I haven't heard anything by the time I'm ready to leave I'll call him."
"Cool. Let me know what you find out. I'm workin' the graveyard shift tonight."
Kookie left and everything remained quiet for the rest of the day. Suzanne left a little after five and Jeff finished the insurance report he was working on, then gave some thought to Stu. Before he got any further the phone rang on his private line and a disgruntled voice barked, "How the hell do they get anything done in hospitals?" Jeff started laughing and couldn't stop. Finally the voice demanded, "Is that all you can do?"
"Ready to leave the hospital so soon?" Jeff asked, managing to get his laughter under control.
"Sorry for being so out of sorts, but you know how much I hate ineptness. And this hospital, like every other one I've ever been in, is just one incompetent person after another," Stu finished.
"Have they gotten you moved to another room yet?"
"Finally, after futzing around with it all day. I'm in room 342, and it's private, thank God."
"Heaven help you if you had to share a room with someone."
"You mean heaven help them, don't you?" Stu asked.
Jeff gave that careful consideration. "Yes, I guess I do."
"Are you coming by the hospital tonight?" The question was asked in a pleading tone of voice.
"I suppose I should, just to prevent you from taking your frustration out on some poor soul that has no idea why you're angry. I'll be there in about an hour."
Stu sighed heavily. "Good. I need to talk to someone with some brains."
"Thank you. I think."
It was almost forty-five minutes later when Jeff got to the hospital. Once inside, he rode the elevator up to the third floor and hurried to find room 342. Stu looked up as he walked into the room and groused, "Took you long enough." Jeff immediately burst out laughing. "Why do you keep doing that?"
"Why do you keep saying things that make me do that?" Jeff shot back.
Even Stu had to smile at that question. "I guess I do, don't I?"
"Now, let's see if we can be civil to each other, shall we?"
"Yes, mother," Stu answered sheepishly.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm not sure. My hands don't hurt as much as I expected them to, but my ribs hurt more."
"And how's your head?" Jeff asked quietly.
"Better than it was yesterday."
"Did you see the doctor today? And what did he tell you?"
"Can we do something besides play twenty questions?"
A shake of the Spencer head. "Not until you tell me everything."
"I can do that," Stu replied. "The doctor is going to remove the bandages on my head tomorrow. And probably most of the bandages on my hands. The ribs? You know how they are. They'll heal on their own. With any luck, Doerner says I'll be home by the end of the week."
"Now see how easy that was?"
"Yes," Stu chuckled, "but it's much more fun when I aggravate you first."
Jeff leveled a look at Stuart. It was almost as good as the look Stu could give people himself. "And to think I went into partnership with you voluntarily."
"Alright, enough harassing each other. Tell me what's happening with the kids."
"With any luck at all we'll have both of them tomorrow night. We're picking Don up at his employer's around five-thirty and convincing him to take us back to the motel, where we hope to grab Rachel."
"Is Gil going to be at the employer's?"
Jeff nodded. "In an unmarked car. He's going to call you this evening. He was really worried about you."
"Sure he was."
"Listen, you need to know this. The day of the accident, he sent a patrol car to the office to pick me up and they ran me out here with lights flashing and sirens blaring, as fast as they could go. And he arrived at the hospital less than ten minutes after I did. That's quite a feat, considering where he started. He stayed a lot longer than I expected him to. And every time I talked to him, he asked about you."
Stu appeared to mull over everything Jeff told him. "Lights and sirens, huh? I guess . . . I guess I was wrong."
"You were."
"Will you call me and let me know how it goes? I really appreciate you doing this for me."
"Of course I will. Hold a good thought for our play, would you?"
Stuart nodded gently. "Of course I will."