Oh my god, Thank you Lemonpig for telling me I sent the unbeta-ed chapter 2 out to the web. I thought I had erased this piece days ago but then it remained here to point out why I desperately need a beta reader. I will never post after a glass of wine again.
Also, I must bid a sad good bye to Johnny Seven, the actor who played Carl Reese on the Ironside television show. It is always strange to think of the people we see on TV and DVD are not trapped in amber and as each one moves to the next stage of existence we are left diminished in our world.
After the Bullet
Chapter Two
June, 1967
Ed Brown pulled into the parking lot at the station house. He'd just got back from Sonoma where he had dropped off another bottle for the Chief. It was strange seeing his boss lying so still. The major crime division of the SFPD was working overtime with the Sonoma Sheriff; trying to find just who shot Ironside.
In San Francisco the betting pools around the city were laying down their money on what would be the next step for their Chief of Detectives. Some had already lost money because the man hadn't died the night he was shot in. Others lost money because he didn't sign of himself out against medical advice yet. The fact he was in Sonoma rather is than in the San Francisco kept his condition of mystery to the rank and file members of the police department.
"Ed," Carl Reese called to Brown, "back already?"
"Not a whole lot to keep me at St. Mary's, is there? I was just an overpaid messenger boy today."
Reese fidgeted, waiting for Ed to drop some information that would give him an advantage in the latest betting pool. He kept waiting but Brown kept silent.
"Come on, Ed, how did he look? When is the Chief gonna be a back?"
Brown rolled his eyes, "do I look like his doctor? Why don't you go visit him? The Chief would love to tell you to mine your own flamin' business. Hell, I'll tell you, mind your own flamin' business!" Ed, marched past the homicide detective but called over his shoulder, "but I'd bet on the Chief. Nothing is going to keep him from finding his sniper."
0o0o0
Weeks passed and the Ironside shooting slipped in importance and got colder and colder. Everyone was waiting for the Chief to take it over himself. Until then Ed Brown was attached to homicide and that wasn't so bad. Working for Carl Reese was a picnic compared to working for Robert Ironside, but even picnics got boring after a while and Brown wanted to be working for the Chief again.
Tonight Ed Brown was so tired his butt was dragging on the ground. He didn't even get the satisfaction of slapping the cuffs on the bastard who killed his own son. Just because the boy was dating a Chinese girl didn't give his father the right to murder him. Brown ate, showered and shook the cobwebs from his head before he collapsed on his bed. It was after midnight when the telephone ruined his sleep. Ed tried to ignore it but it rang and rang and rang until he grabbed it up.
"Brown," he hoped he sounded angry enough to scare whoever was at the hell this was away.
"Of course it's you, sergeant. I'm not so damned drunk and can't dial the flamin' phone."
"Chief, what's wrong?"
"What isn't," Ironside's slurred words and pugnacious attitude put Ed on alert.
"What's happening with my case, same lame excuses as always?"
"Chief, its 1:00 AM," Ed whined into the receiver.
"I can tell the flamin' time, Brown. 'm not shuch an invalid that I need someone to tell the flamin' time to me. I can ssstill tell the difference between the big hand and the little hand."
Now Ed was worried. "What's the matter Chief; anything I can do?"
"The bottle's empty… got no way to get any more in thish hick town. I'm sstuck Ed, I got myself stuck damn good thish time and there's no way out." And ragged sigh slipped out of the receiver into Ed's ear, "go to the bed sergeant, I'm sorry I woke you up."
The sound of the Chief's phone hitting the floor stole sleep from Ed completely. If he got to an all night liquor store and headed straight Sonoma Brown could be at the hospital in a little under an hour, but was it worth the effort. The Chief would probably be asleep by the time he got there. There was only one thing he could think to do right now. He shuffled through his wallet and found a piece of paper with the direct number to Sister Agatha. Brown had to let her know he was coming because he had to find out what the hell was going on with his boss.
0o0o0
"Sergeant Brown, you must have been breaking speed limits all the way from San Francisco to here."
"I'm just glad you said I could come, Sister." Ed didn't even bother trying to hide the whiskey bottle from the nun. "I just wish I knew what this was all about?"
"It's about that bottle of whiskey to start with. Please, follow me."
"I know the way sister, you can go back to bed." Ed marched to Ironside's room and pushed in.
The chief was propped up in his hospital bed, glaring at the door. "It took a long enoufff to get here."
"Takes a long time to find liquor cheap enough to show just how annoying it is to be playing gofer in the middle of the night." Ed dropped the bottle in the chief's lap, aiming right for his groin. The Chief didn't wince when it landed, he simply grabbed it and tried to twist off the cap.
"Ed," slurred speech and over precise movements showed Brown just how drunk the Chief was, "I've gotta make a plan. The flamin' doctor tol' me that I'd never walk again. That'sh crap… there is no way I am not walking out of this place." He tried the cap again, but the cast on his right hand made removal impossible. "Here, open this up and pour it neat… for both of us."
Ed bit his lower lip as he uncapped the bottle. He hoping that his boss would think he was having trouble with the whiskey and not the revelation he'd just heard. By the time Brown had poured the cheap liquor his poker face was in place.
"So, where do we begin, Chief?"
"Firsst, ignore that flamin' quack and get a secon' o-pinion... an' mebee a third and a fourth. I know… I know…" Ironside blew out a long breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I know I'm tired. Get here tomorrow affer your shift an' I'll ha' worked it out." With that the Chief's head dropped on his chest and he was asleep.
Brown took the glass from Ironside's slack hand; the damn thing crashing to the floor would wake the Chief. Then he slipped the extra pillows out from under the Boss's shoulders and cranked the hospital bed flat. Did it matter if he raised the bed rails, could the Chief roll out of bed anymore? There was too much to think about right now.
Exiting the room Ed passed the nurse's station.
"Sergeant," the night supervisor stage whispered and crooked her finger indicating for Ed to come over. "I have something for you." The nurse pushed a large leather bound book at him, smirking as Ed waited for an explanation for this. "Sister Agatha said you might want to read this. Just return it when you're finished."
Ed wondered what the old nun was up to when he picked up the medical volume and checked the spine; Introduction to Orthopedic Procedures. A holy card playing the role of a book mark was sticking out of the well thumbed pages. Brown opened the book there and saw the section title, The Spine.
"Tell Sister Agatha thanks, I'll get this back to her as soon as possible." Then he tapped the holy card and smirked. "Tell the sister I'm not Catholic, but I know all about St. Jude. I just hope this cause isn't as hopeless as it seems right now."
Ed Brown tucked the book under his arm and left for home.
tbc