Witness To The Truth


Disclaimer: I own nothing, except paper and socks!


Chapter Seven

'But, but why?' Helga spluttered, Mike sneered at her,
'Why not?' Arnold was frozen on the spot, all of his training forgotten, he was suddenly back on his first day of the job being handed an address and told to keep the guy from jumping. Stay cool. He instructed himself, he felt something heavy in his hand, it was cool, and smooth, what the hell was it? Glancing at his hand he realised he was holding a gun, somehow he had it pointed at Mike, he didn't remember doing that.

So this was it, a standoff, the battle between good and evil, insane and not insane, damn this will make a good story. Helga mentally cursed herself for being so damn coldhearted when her best friend, love of her life and bodyguard had a gun pointed at his unusually shaped yet adorable head.
'You know so much about me why don't you tell me why I'm doing it?' Mike ordered, the way he said it made Helga realise it wasn't a good idea to ignore him,
'I, I don't know, I just know your past names, and thats all.' Laughing Mike kept his gun pointed at Arnold,
'You honestly think all those guys were the same person?' Helga was stumped, she had thought that, hadn't she?
'But, but I thought they were the same person, the names are always on a same level.' Mike brought his other hand around to the one holding his gun, he was clapping,
'Doesn't mean anything. Sure people think all the Joey's and the Jakes and the Peters were the same but really as one of those jokes got killed another would just follow, each more cold hearted than the last. You know when I got in with Louie's gang?' Shaking her head Helga tried to think of a plan, running and screaming was the only thing she could think of at the moment, it didn't seem appropriate.
'When that bitch I call ex wife left me I was devastated, she took my child away too, my kid was my life, I loved her more than life itself, and she took away my only reason of living. At work I was surrounded by the likes of Jim who had a wife and kids who adored him, the perfect fucking life, it wasn't fair. They didn't try to make me feel better just gave me cases to work on, some little girl in Kansas was snatched, a woman who'd has a misscarriage stole a baby boy from his crib while he slept. I kept seeing my little girl crying, and I couldn't find her, I got no sympathy just told to suck it up and stop bitching. Then I met Louie, he saw potential in me, a murderous edge that would make me the worst criminal in Mafia history, and I am, nobody knows who I am, except my victims. But what can they do about it?' Laughing he smiled at Helga,
'Then you came along and Big Louie was sent to prison, but only if you testified, and I knew you would, you see Helga there's an honourable streak in you that wants to see justice as much as your little boyfriend does. And like a dog with a bone you wouldn't give up, so I tried threatening you, and it nearly worked until that bitch Malone convinced you not to. I thought I was going to lose my grip on you, that little twinge of fear you got from the mention of my name. I thought my luck had run out, but Malone had other ideas she assigned me to look after you, of course she assigned Jim and Arnold as well, but I got rid of Jim and I pretty sure I can get rid of Arnold, then there's only one person left. You!'

Arnold was watching his last chance approaching, he knew his gun was loaded, he's checked it before they left the bedroom, Mike's attention was fully on Helga, with the exception of the gun pointing at him.
'Mike, don't do this. This isn't the answer to your problems.' He heard himself say, he had to warn him, it was the honorable thing to do, he couldn't kill him, not yet, not without giving him a chance. The small part of Arnold's brain that wasn't so honerable was screaming at him to shoot the bastard and run, he ignored it, for now.
'You are my problem!' Mike yelled, Arnold could see Mike's finger squeezing the trigger, it was now or never.

CRACK!

Helga screamed as both men went down,
'I'm okay, stop screaming!' Arnold yelled, Helga gave a shriek of relief and flung herself at Arnold, kissing his full on the lips she said,
'Don't ever do that again.' Arnold nodded and then bent down next to Mike, checking his pulse he shuddered, firing two more bullets into Mike's chest he said bitterly,
'I'm wasting perfectly good bullets on this scum!' Standing up he took Helgas hand,
'Grab your bag we're going.' Nodding Helga picked her bag up and followed Arnold out of the house,
'Arnold, do you know the way out of here?' Arnold shook his head,
'Nope, but we can find out, we have all the time in the world.' Nodding Helga said softly,
'I'm sorry Jim is dead. I'm even more sorry that I believed it was him. How could I be so stupid?' Arnold shook his head,
'I thought it was him as well, even before Mike pulled him out, I was pretty dense.' Unlocking the car he smiled as Helga sat in the front passenger seat,
'Okay, we are ready to drive.' Sitting in the front seat he put the key in the ignition and turned it, the car roared to life,
'Home, at last.'

The clock on the dashboard read 4.05 a.m. At that time in the morning the highway was deserted, and even though it was still snowing Arnold was able to drive fairly quickly to their destination. The silence in the car was beginning to feel oppresive and finally Helga said,
'I'm sorry.' Arnold raised an eyebrow but didn't take his eyes off the road,
'What for?' Shrugging Helga realised that she was sorry for a lot of things, some of them she didn't think she could put into words.
'Everything.' Arnold glanced at her and Helga realised she would have to explain what she meant,
'For being so horrible to you when we were kids, for dragging you and Jim and Brainy into this mess when in fact it's my mess, for not makng sure my gun was loaded, for kissing you and for the fact you are falling asleep at the wheel and I haven't taken over yet.' Arnold laughed and Helga looked at him with a frown and he said with a grin,
'Helga, I got over the fact you were horrible to me years ago, me, Jim and Brainy are your friends, we wouldn't let you handle this by yourself, you weren't to know Mike would take your bullets out, I liked it when you kissed me and when we get to the next exit you can take over.' Grinning Helga realised that a lot of the guilt she had been carrying around had been taken off her shoulders, finally she laughed aloud and Arnold joined in, for several minutes the moving car was filled with relieved laughter.
'Come on Arnold I'm driving now.' Arnold nodded and got out of the car, for a few minutes he didn't move and remained standing in front of the car staring into space, it was still dark and tapping him on the shoulder Helga kissed him on the cheek.
'You get some rest.' Nodding Arnold yawned and climbed into the front passenger seat, chuckling Helga sat in the drivers seat and turned the key in the ignition.

'Arnold, we're in the city, where do we go?' Arnold yawned and woke up,
'Huh?'
'Us. City. Here. Now. Where go?' Shooting her a look of contempt he said,
'Police station.' Nodding Helga drove past a set of traffic lights and onto the main road, glancing in her wing mirror she bit her lip and said,
'Arnold we're being chased, I hope you have your gun ready?' Nodding Arnold sat up straight, fully awake he pulled his gun out of it's holster and held it ready,
'Do you recognise the car?' Glancing at it Helga shook her head,
'No, I can't see the driver either, but whoever it is is definatly chasing us, do you think it could be the Weasel and Breakneck?' Nodding Arnold turned his head and looked at the car following them,
'I recognise the car, it's Weasels, better step on it.' Nodding Helga smirked and put her foot on the gas, the speed shot from fourty mph to sixty and maneuvering the car through streets and alleys she over took a lorry. The drive of the lorry blasted it's horn and shaking her head Helga turned onto a street, the car hit black ice and spun, fighting the urge to panic she regained control of the car and shot forwards.
'Have we lost them?' Arnold grinned and nodded,
'Yeah, we lost them about five minutes ago, come on, if you turn down that street and take the second left you can see the Police station on the corner of the street.' Nodding Helga followed his directions, five minutes later the car pulled to a stop outside the station, jumping out of the car Helga grabbed her bag and Arnold's running up the steps of the station. Arnold followed and at the top of the stairs inserted his key card into the slot, punching in his password he pushed the door open and pulled Helga into the warm building. A few officers were milling round the office and they just stared at Arnold and Helga as they ran passed, finally they reached the office that Helga had been led to over a week ago. The few detectives in the office were subdued, when they saw Arnold and Helga they sighed with relief and surrounded them asking questions. Finally Arnold yelled,
'Shut up and we'll talk!' The detectives shrugged and sat down wherever they could, Arnold and Helga sat on the edge of a desk and Arnold told them what had happened.
A female detective stared at them in shock, finally she said,
'Mike? But, he was always such a great cop? Really dedicated to the cause.' Arnold nodded bitterly and Helga said,
'We thought so to, you'll have to send somebody out for the bodies, and we heard Captain Malone was dead?' The female detective nodded,
'Yeah, Mike got her, it must have been before you left, we found her about ten minutes after you all left.' Frowning Helga said in confusion,
'It can't have been Mike, he didn't leave us, did he?' Arnold nodded,
'Yeah, I didn't mention anything but we were walking down to the carpark and he dissapeared for a few minutes, damn it, I wish I had called him out, I thought he was just going to get something.' There was a brief pause before he said sourly,
'Probably his Clinton mask.' Helga reached out and squeezed his shoulder.
'Come on Arnold, you know that there was fuck all you could have done about his breakdown, 'cos that's what it was, a breakdown, he just couldn't handle being the good guy and watching all the bad guys grow stronger, not everybody can. Big Louie prays on those who aren't strong enough to say no.' Arnold nodded and said with a sigh,
'You're right, damn it your are always right.' Grinning Helga said softly,
'Somebody has to be.'

Helga sat down heavily on a chair and spun it round, she and Arnold had been stuck in the station for two hours as Arnold contacted lawyers, judges, other cops and even politicians. Finally he looked up and said with a sigh,
'I did it, the trial has been moved to Wednesday. Grinning Helga sighed,
'Great, is the prosecution ready?' Arnold nodded,
'With you as the star witness we have no chance of losing.' Smiling to herself Helga yawned and said,
'Can we leave now? I'm kinda tired.' Arnold nodded, I won't be going back to work until next week, so until then we are free to go.' Grinning Helga stood up,
'Lets go then.'

Arnold's apartment was a few blocks away from the station so they walked, the streets were deserted and even the number of cars had died down. It had begun to snow heavily and for the first time since she had met up with Arnold after eight years she wondered why they hadn't seen each other around. After all they had lived in the same city for years. Focusing on where she was walking she narrowly avoided walking into a lamp post, Arnold grinned and took hold of her elbow,
'Focus Helga, lamp post's aren't going to avoid you, you have to avoid them.' Sticking her tongue out at him she hurried to catch up to him, and a thought made her stop,
'Arnold? Did anybody go and pick up the dead bodies in my apartment?' Arnold stopped and stared at her,
'I have no idea, I think I'll call the station when we get to my place.' Nodding Helga started walking again.

Finally they reached Arnold's apartment and he unlocked the door eagerly, Helga followed him cautiously, the last time she had been in an apartment she had nearly been killed, she hoped that this time they would be alone.
'Nice place you got here.' She said after looking around, it was partly true anyway, although Arnold had mastered cleaning and keeping things neat he hadn't mastered decorating so the place was plain. Tidy but plain.
'It need decorating.' Arnold said with a smirk, Helga refrained from saying anything, and Arnold grinned and showed her around the apartment.
'Bathroom, living room, bedrooms, kitchen, it's kinda small but it has everything we need.' Helga grinned,
It's really nice Arnold.' She said honestly, an unopened newspaper lay on the table and glancing at it Helga's eyes widened in shock,
'Oh my god. Arnold look at this.' Picking the newspaper up she read aloud;

'Journalist dies and Mafia boss to go free in a misscariage of justice. For Mafia boss Big Louie Santoni his freedom came with a price, the death of journalist Helga Pataki, the key witness in the Santoni Vs the State case. Miss Pataki went missing over a week ago, and is presumed dead, a body was found in the New York harbour and although the body was too mutilated to be of any use the dental records confirmed that it was the body of Miss Pataki aged twenty-seven. ('bastards they got my age wrong.') Miss Pataki was reported missing by her long time friend Phoebe Heyerdahl, who was quoted as saying, "This is very unlike Helga, she wouldn't go off without telling anybody." Miss Pataki's parents were unavailable to interview although her older sister Olga Pataki gave this short statement. "Helga's death has been a shock to us all, we are all deeply upset at her life cut short. We hope that wherever she is now she is happy." Miss Olga Pataki then was unable to talk as she was too overcome with emotions. A public mass will be held in the town hall as a remembrance of a precious life and one of this papers hardest working journalists tragic death.
Miss Pataki's death is being viewed as suspicious, although no suspects have been named at this time.'

Throwing the newspaper down Helga felt tears running down her cheeks, Arnold wrapped his arms around her,
'How could they use Phoebe's name like that? Why can't they just leave her alone, instead she's used in this pathetic hoax just so Big Louie can get off scott free. Well damn it I won't let that happen. Call the prosecution lawyer, tell him both Miss Pataki and Miss Heyerdahl will be available to stand trial. One to be the star witness and the other to prove to those leeches out there that I am alive and kicking.' Grinning Arnold kissed her on the cheek,
'Helga, go kick some Mafia ass!'



Hey peeps, next chapter coming soon. Hope you enjoyed this one. :-)