Chapter 12

Roy followed Mr. Teal out of the house through the front door; Johnny led the way at a fast clip carrying the boxes and heading for the squad parked crookedly at the curb. After locating the car keys, Mrs. Teal had disappeared into the garage to back up their car. The three men had cleverly tricked her into taking her husband to the doctor; in reality, she was the one that they wanted the Teals' personal physician, Dr. Thomas, to evaluate. They stood in the green grass of the front yard and waited for her.

"Mr. Teal, could I ask you a couple of questions? Kinda weird questions, if you wouldn't mind?" Roy asked, hearing the sound of the overhead garage door rolling upwards as well as the familiar thump of boxes going into their truck's compartment. His eyes flicked towards the last noise and then slid back to the man standing next to him.

"Sure, I don't mind. You fellas have been more than understanding with my wife's, well, her little episodes," he responded, raising a hand to touch the white bandage Roy had wrapped around his head. Roy gave a little shake of his head, wondering if Mr. Teal's fall upstairs had anything to do with Mrs. Teal's sister, or if it had been just an accident like the man had stoutly claimed. *

"I was just curious, what was Alice's last name and what color were her eyes?" DeSoto asked, eyes straying back to his partner who was now crouched down on the sidewalk and searching for something on the floor in the cab.

"You're right, they are odd questions…." he paused and Roy wondered if he had overstepped. "Her name was Baylor, Alice Baylor and her eyes were a very pale green, peculiar looking. Hypnotizing actually, they really caught my attention when I first saw her."

Mr. Teal turned and watched as his wife slowly backed the Ford out of the garage. There was silence for a brief moment and Roy was surprised when Mr. Teal laid a hand on his arm, the grip light but desperate. His eyes, now staring at the paramedic, were full of worry.

"Do you think the doctors can help her?" He asked hopefully, limply dropping his hand. His next words were muffled as he lifted the same hand and splayed the fingers over his face, but the sadness was still evident. "Is she crazy?"

"I don't think she's crazy; it's more like she is unable to cope with her grief," Roy said slowly, wondering exactly what Mr. Teal would say if he knew the unbelievable things that had been occurring the last several days with Johnny. He sure didn't believe it, and he had been a witness to most of it! And those green eyes, was that just a coincidence? He would have to ask Marco if he was absolutely sure that he had seen that.

"You know, I dated Alice a few times, and then I met her sister Dorothy. I hate to use that old cliché, but it was love at first sight for both us." He paused, his troubled eyes moving back to his wife who was now moving the seat back and forth in an attempt to get it just right. "We didn't want to hurt Alice, but there was no possible way for us to ignore the way we felt about each other…."

Roy nodded in understanding. "So, Alice didn't take it too well when you started dating her sister."

"Yes, and that's an understatement," he agreed. "That's when I found out how manipulative and conniving she really was. I can completely understand her being hurt, jealous, even angry, but she went way beyond those emotions with her words and ultimately with her actions. Alice never forgave either of us for getting married, and I'm ashamed to say that when I discovered her true nature, I encouraged my wife to keep her distance."

"You can't be blamed for that," the paramedic argued quietly, his attention ping ponging back and forth between Harry Teal's anguish and Gage's confusing movements. Just what was Johnny doing in there anyway? His partner's searching had turned a little frantic; he had risen to his feet and was half hidden in the recesses of the truck. And just how far had Alice taken her anger? For that matter, how had she died? Of natural causes, or had it been something more sinister? That probably should have been the first thing that he asked, but it was too late now. He didn't want to press any further with that very personal question, and to tell the truth, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"They were very close before Dorothy and I started dating. That's something I could never understand either, since my wife is so sweet and innocent, the complete opposite of Alice. You would think that they would fight like cats and dogs." Mr. Teal's voice had calmed down, sliding into bewilderment.

"Yin and Yang," DeSoto muttered, his own confusion and anxiety rising as John abandoned his quest for the unknown object and took off across the lawn towards the Teal car. He jogged over to the passenger side, poked his head through the opened window, and then began adjusting the mirror apparently at Dorothy's direction.

Roy heaved a sigh of relief at the normal proceedings. But still, best to separate Johnny from both of the Teals before anything weird happened.

"Now let me ask you a question, young man. Your partner, he thinks my wife is crazy, doesn't he? I heard his little whistle of, well, disbelief if you will, as I was leaving the kitchen," Harry asked, and the words stopped Roy before he even had a chance to step in the direction he wanted to go.

"No, no I don't think that is it at all," he replied, twitching a little under the direct, piercing stare Mr. Teal was bestowing upon him; he could now hear the sound, but not the words, of a strange voice that seemed to be coming from the direction of the parked car. A voice that definitely did not belong to Dorothy Teal, which meant….so much for the brief hope that everything would go along smoothly. "My frie….er, my partner John is very sensitive to things like that, and uh…well, let's get you and your wife to your doctor, okay?"

He knew he sounded like an idiot but he needed to get to Gage, now. He didn't miss the sudden flaring of Mr. Teal's nostrils nor the surprised jerk of his head as he heard the odd voice; recognition flashed across the man's face followed quickly by a look of horror. There was no further communication as both men hurried across the lawn and over to the silver Thunderbird. Harry hesitated and then stopped abruptly at the front fender of the car, shaking his head in disbelief and obviously doubting what he had just heard for an uncanny silence had descended over the car.

Roy shot him a quick glance as he brushed by him; the lack of sound might be comforting to Mr. Teal but to the antsy paramedic it was a surreal quiet. There were absolutely no other sounds. Not of birds chirping, wind rustling through the obviously moving leaves on the trees bordering the lawn, or even the annoying clatter of the garbage truck rumbling by on the street. It was if a heavy blanket had dropped upon them and was smothering all signs of life within the tiny rectangle of space they were inhabiting.

A quick glimpse through the windshield as he skirted the front of the car showed a woman staring open mouthed and wide eyed at the lanky figure propped casually on the frame of the passenger window. A second look through the sparkling glass and Mrs. Teal now had both arms stretched out in supplication towards his fellow medic; her mouth seemed to be stretching in speech but he could hear nothing coming out of it through the opened windows.

Roy's pace increased from a fast walk to a hurried trot as his feet finally caught up to his thoughts. He could feel beads of sweat popping out on his forehead and a sour taste filling his mouth. Was he reading too much into this whole thing? Letting his imagination run away? There had been no ominous clouds of smoke billowing out from the Thunderbird or strange shrieks like before, just that unknown voice that had galvanized Harry into action. And at the cemetery his firmly grounded captain had not observed anything unusual except for Roy's own peculiar actions. Was he losing his marbles, just dwelling too much on the ghost stories Lopez and Kelly had regaled them with, or had he truly saw and felt the living, winding "thing" that had tried to extinguish him and seemed to delight in tormenting his counterpart?

He didn't know. Just like he had no clue as to what color Johnny's eyes were going to be - his own normal hazel to brown, or that green hue that Marco had observed. As he came up behind his partner he reached out a tentative hand and touched Gage's shoulder; the man leapt backwards with a startled yelp.

"Geez Roy, give a guy a heart attack would ya?" John griped, rolling those questionable eyes and then leaning forward again to stare at Mrs. Teal.

Roy caught only a flash of the rolling eyes, but he did catch the wide, apologetic smile being flashed towards the woman. He couldn't help his own little eye roll at that casual but very Gage like move but stayed close, a hand resting on the door. He immediately tensed up when he heard the quiet but understandable words that came from Harry's dark - haired wife…

"Alice, please understand…."

He leapt the tiny space that separated them, grabbing the dark-haired medic by the right arm in a firm grip and yanking him roughly around. There was an exclamation from the other man but Roy was relentless. He snared his left arm, and once he had him firmly held in place facing him bent his head next to his.

Trying to keep the panic out of his voice, he whispered urgently. "JOHN, we need to let Mrs. Teal take her husband to the doctor and…"

A low growl of anger erupted next to his ear and DeSoto realized he may have said the wrong thing if it wasn't Gage he was trying to reason with. His hold tightened. "We've got to get back to the station, now!"

There was a moment of tense indecision and Roy could feel the vibrations coming from Johnny. He reared his head back, trying to see his friend's face, but Johnny had his head deliberately turned away and his dark eyelashes covered the eyes that Roy so desperately wanted to see. Another second swept by and the usually unflappable man wondered how far he would be able to go if Johnny didn't back off. Would he be able to physically restrain him or hurt him if need be?

Luckily, the decision was taken from him when he felt the arms he gripped so desperately relax; in fact, he thought for a moment that he wouldn't be able to hold up the sudden dead weight that half slumped against him. Gage seemed to rally however, shook himself, and straightened. He gave a halfhearted wave to Mrs. Teal, shrugged off the still restraining hands, and headed for their truck.

Letting out his breath in a puff of air, Roy realized the saying "jump out of your skin" was pretty close to the truth when Mr. Teal touched his shoulder. He couldn't conceal the violent shudder that enveloped his body. He barely heard the apology as he closed his eyes briefly and schooled his features into the professional, bland mask that he could now so easily put on when needed. He turned to face the concerned man.

"It's fine Mr. Teal, I guess my mind was on other things," he explained softly, not bothering to bare his teeth in a false smile. Mr. Teal appeared to be very observant and there was no point in even trying to fool him with further words or facial gestures.

"I understand, I think. I used to work with this man that was ten years my junior and there were days where I thought I was more of a mentor, babysitter, and even teacher then I was the fellow's coworker." He forced a strained smile and Roy nodded his thanks, accepting the glib excuse Mr. Teal offered up to him and relieved that there was going to be no mention of the unexplained voice they had both heard. As the older man slowly climbed into the car and said something, Roy heard his wife let out a little wail of protest and couldn't help his convulsive swallow at her words.

"But Harry, I swear, that was Alice!"

~TBC~

*In the episode Séance, the paramedics respond to a third call to the Teal house when Mr. Teal injures himself looking for something upstairs. He claims it was an accident, but his wife is insistent that it is her sister trying to hurt him. As the paramedics follow them out of the kitchen, Johnny does give a little whistle of disbelief – at least that's how I interpreted it.