THE DENVER EDITION – CHAPTER 2
Her alarm, and Quark's barking pulled Ruthie out of a really pleasant dream. The girl couldn't help but smile when she thought about the events of last night. She and Doug had goon to 'Music Under the Stars' at the planetarium. It was where they projected the sky and ran a twelve hour cycle in two hours. While they were doing that they played classic rock over the PA. Usually Pink Floyd or Moody Blues or some of the more ethereal groups from the sixty's and early seventies. Occasionally they'd throw some Zepplin or Stones into the mix, just to keep you guessing. Ruthie loved it, and came to this kind of thing often. She didn't know how much Doug had appreciated it because he really didn't have any strong feelings about music.
This revelation had shocked Ruthie to the core. Music was a huge part of her life and her art; she couldn't imagine anyone who was truly indifferent to it. And yet she had found such a guy. She didn't really know how to deal with the revelation at first; but after everything was over they had walked for about an hour or so, just talking about music and what they had heard and experienced. She laughed when she found out that Doug's mom had been in a band in her younger days, and he laughed when she told him that her dad had done the same thing. She had caught him digging the sound a time or two during the presentation but she didn't push it, she wanted music to be something he explored for himself, with her just offering suggestions from time to time. 'Pleasant' she thought last night had been pleasant. There had been no fireworks or soul igniting kisses; as a point of fact there had been no kissing what so ever, but Ruthie had still enjoyed herself immensely. She felt right with Doug, so right that she vowed to herself that even if nothing romantic happened with the man, she was still going to hang on to him. The doc had serious friend potential, and friends were something you always needed more of.
She shut off her alarm indulged in a long and sinuous stretch; luxuriating in the feel of her muscles coming awake. Reluctantly she got up and walked over to the door, best to let Quark in before he woke everyone in the whole building. She opened the door, the smile on her face lasted all of ten seconds, that's how long it took her to take in the headline; 'Bank Robbery goes Wrong, Ten Dead'. "It just goes to show you Jane, it's always something" she quoted to herself with a grimace; then she picked up the paper and started trying to figure out how to keep ten people breathing until tomorrow.
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"Nif could you focus please?" Ruthie said this for possibly the twentieth time that morning. Unfortunately Jennifer had seen the footage from the security camera, and consequently had seen Doug. As soon as Ruthie showed up that morning her friend was on her like a Terrier on a rat. She had asked about what he said and how he looked and what they had done. Nif had frankly not believed Ruthie when she said that no kissing had occurred, but eventually let it go.
Ruthie was getting frustrated; she kept insisting that it hadn't been a date, just two friends doing something together. She needed Jennifer to focus so they could figure out what to do about the robbery, Nif kept going back to the night before.
"OK, OK; I'll stop about your date that wasn't a date" Jennifer said "does the paper say what went wrong?"
"Not specifically, it just says that the robbers panicked and started shooting, killing seven people and wounding twelve before the cops punch their tickets."
"Nasty, I don't suppose a phone call would do it?"
"I've already tried that, I called the bank and the police; no change in the paper unfortunately."
"You're at least gonna wear the vest, aren't you?"
"Of course, it'd be a heck of a wasted of money to buy it but never use it. Besides, you know how I feel about bank jobs."
"I remember, and speaking of which, you sure you want to do this solo, I don't mind being there to thwart evil at your side. Did Supergirl have a sidekick?"
"No" Ruthie said "but if she did it would be you." She was touched at her friends concern, and the fact that guns scared Jennifer a lot more than they scared Ruthie. The fact that Nif was willing to still jump into the breach knowing what was coming was one of the bravest things Ruthie had ever seen. "Thanks Nif, but I don't want you at risk if you don't have to be. Besides, I move a bit better than you do."
Jennifer looked at her friend, she had known her offer to help wouldn't be accepted. At times it bothered her a bit that Ruthie wouldn't let her be more directly involved, but she always kept it in the back of her mind that the reason was simply that Ruthie needed her. She needed Nif to take care of all the things that Ruthie herself didn't have time for. So in a real sense, Nif was in the field all the time because of the support she gave her young friend. Jennifer also realized that Ruthie cared more about strangers than most people cared about close relatives, and that was a burden that Jennifer helped ease as much as she could. "You just make sure you get back in one piece kiddo, I don't want to have to change the name of this place to the 'Ruth Camden Memorial Gallery', the fees to have the sign fixed would bankrupt me."
"I will, you take care of yourself in the mean-time, OK."
"Sure, see ya later."
"And no playing my Doors box set til I get back."
"Just leave already, Jeeze."
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Ruthie went to one of the back rooms and put on a Kevlar vest that she had bought the day after she had started getting the paper, her memories of Chicago still being fresh in her mind. She hadn't needed it yet, but she was darned glad to have it. She headed out the back of the gallery and checking the time, decided to walk to the bank, it was only three blocks away after all. She checked the paper again to make sure that nothing had changed. It hadn't and she had fifteen minutes before things went really bad. She headed to the bank, her mind working over different ways to head this off. By the time she got to the bank Ruthie hadn't come up with anything different to try. Well, time to give it her best shot; squaring her shoulders she marched into the bank and headed for the executive's desks.
Five minutes later, she thought she might have convinced someone to actually do something, at least call the police if nothing else. But then the guy asked 'the question'; "so exactly how do you know this?"
She hated this, people believed her, but only after the fact. If they were gonna believe her before an incident, they wanted ironclad proof triple witnessed and notarized. All of this was completely aside from the fact that she hated out and out lying. She was cool with bending the truth, but flat out lying stuck in her craw. She was willing to do whatever was needed to save people; lying included. But that didn't mean she enjoyed it. "That's not important; that they'll be here in a few minutes is; so do whatever it is you need to do to keep all these people safe."
"Unfortunately I cannot just go on your word young lady; please tell me again how you know what you told me is true."
"I heard them planning it" she told the man.
"So why didn't you say something to the police?"
"I did, they didn't believe me."
"So why do you expect me to believe you when the police wouldn't?"
"I'm hoping you're smarter than they are."
"I'm sorry miss, but I don't believe you."
"Why would I lie about this, you think I enjoy having you look at me like I'm insane?"
"I don't know what your motives are, nor do I care. Please leave now; we don't want and incident do we?"
Ruthie didn't mind in the least having an incident if it meant that ten people would still be drawing breath tomorrow, but this guy was useless. She got up and checked her watch again; one minute to go. She glanced out the front door, no on was there that looked like someone getting ready to rob the place. She wondered about the paper from time to time, could it be wrong? She didn't think so, but it was a heck of a gamble sometimes; taking that much on faith. Ruthie realized she was running out of both time and options, so as she was walking towards the front door, she darted to her right and vaulted the counter. This put her on the same side as the tellers. One of them panicked and triggered the alarm, just as Ruthie hoped would happen. She checked the paper, now there was no mention of the robbery and all she had left to deal with was the prospect of going to jail.
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Sergeant Billy Faraday was confused, and that meant he wasn't in a very good mood. A couple of uniforms had brought in a bank robber that apparently hadn't tried to actually rob the bank. Yes the girl had ended up behind the counter with the tellers, but had made no aggressive moves and had no weapons and no note. One of the managers had said that the girl was trying to warn him of a robbery, but that he hadn't believed her. Billy had checked, and sure enough someone matching the girls description had tried to tip them off about that particular bank being hit. But since she didn't have any substantiation, her tip had been ignored. While it was pretty clear that this girl hadn't been actively trying to rob the bank, there was no evidence that anyone else had been trying to do so either. Which was why he was confused; what the heck was the girl up to, was she a distraction for a robbery that hadn't come off, was she just a concerned citizen or was she some sort of nut job that has to create drama in her life. He was getting ready to go back into interrogation and find out the answer when a soft voice behind him asked "do we have any external surveillance?"
Billy nearly jumped out of his skin, it was his Lieutenant. This guy was scary; he had instincts like nobodys business and could stalk so well that the dude was damn near invisible. The guys in the precinct were all for chipping in to buy a bell for the LT to wear around his neck so they'd know he was there. "We haven't examined it yet sir" he replied."
Can we pull it up" the LT asked.
"Sure sir, just a second." Billy spoke into a little microphone and soon the image on the monitor changed from the interior of the bank to the exterior. "OK sir, here we are. This is starting five minutes before the alarm was set off."
Billy and his Lieutenant studied the tape. After two run throughs the LT straightened up "she's telling the truth" he stated with total conviction.
Billy whipped around to look at the man behind him in total disbelief "you know that from what we just saw?"
"Yep" the Lieutenant said with a thin smile "check the patrons in front at four and a half minutes, two and a half minutes and right before the alarm was set off."
Billy turned back to the monitor and focused at the times that the LT had emphasized. It took six more run throughs, but he finally saw it. Three guys in long coats, they would pause while walking past the door to the bank. They were moving individually, but their focus was always on the door. When the alarm was set off, they left rapidly and Billy saw one coat flare. This exposed what looked to be the end of a shotgun. "OK, the kid was right, but how did she know it?"
"That's what I'm going to find out" the Lieutenant said as he headed for the interrogation room.
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Ruthie was frustrated as well. She could tell that the officers didn't believe her about the robbery, but she hadn't behaved like a criminal, so they were confused about what she had actually been doing. She was glad she didn't have anything else to do today, or it all of this would have seriously messed with her karma. As it was she was getting a bit antsy and was just getting up to start a Tai-Chi routine to calm her nerves when the door opened and a different police officer came through.
"Ruth Camden, age twenty four, part owner of an art gallery and part time employee of the Denver Post; not the kind of girl that usually gets mixed up in a bank robbery. So what is it, you were bored or something?"
"I didn't have anything to do with it officer"
"Lieutenant" he cut her off abruptly; "Lieutenant Paul Armstrong. We know you were telling the truth, we saw the robbers on the exterior cameras, what we don't know is your relationship to them. We don't know if one of the guys is a brother or other relative. We don't know if one of them's your boyfriend and he turned out to be different from what you'd hoped. No shame in having a guy fool you, it's happened before to women smarter than you, I assure you of that. Heck for all we know you're just someone they hired that got cold feet when you realized what was about to happen. So which is it, how did you know where and when they'd hit?"
"It's none of those Lieutenant Armstrong, I just knew, that's all."
"How did you know, like a flash, voices, some sort of second sight, or do you just have guys plan robberies in your art gallery?"
"No sir, nothing like that." Then the name sank into her "Armstrong, Paul Armstrong; you moved out here from Chicago, right?"
"Yes I did, but how did you know that, another psychic flash?"
"I'm not psychic" Ruthie answered "we just happen to have a mutual friend."
"And who might that be?"
"Gary Hobson"
Paul jerked back when she had said that name. In the observation booth, Billy almost came through the door; the LT was reacting like the girl had pulled a piece or something. Ruthie saw a swarm of emotions on the man's face, only to see them suppressed brutally; the only hint at the depth of his emotion was a slight twitching at the corner of his left eye. "You know Hobson?"
"Yeah" Ruthie said with a bit of a smirk "you might say I'm a protégé of his."
Armstrong's eyes got big with understanding "so you do a lot of 'paperwork' Ruth?"
"Yes sir, for the last few months."
Paul just sat down and put his head in his hands. Sometimes it just wasn't worth coming into work.
In the booth, Billy was even more confused. The kid had said one name, and the LT had collapsed like a house of cards. He was wondering who the chick was, and more importantly, who the heck was Gary Hobson."
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Nurse Maggie Selneck smiled as she watched Dr. Howser take care of a little girl with a broken arm. Frankly she was astounded at the difference in him from just a day or two ago. He was smiling and joking with the kid and even with the parents. Maggie had been a nurse for over thirty years, and she had seen a lot of doctors. Some had been brilliant, some abysmal; but most had just gotten by. The Emergency Room was like that, it drained you if you weren't careful. When he had come back from California two years ago, Maggie had been sure that they wouldn't be seeing doctor Howser around for very much longer; but he had proved her wrong. She knew he had been miserable for most of that time, but he had stuck at his post; she had admired him for that, for putting duty above his personal feelings. And now he was alive again, not imitating it as he had been doing, but actually alive. She didn't know how or why but she was grateful to whoever had pulled him out of the downward spiral he was in. She waited until he was done with the girl and walked up and casually asked "so who is she?"
She almost giggled as Dr. Howser jumped like he'd just been goosed, "who is who" he asked.
"The girl who's got you walking on cloud nine" Maggie answered.
"Uhmm, well, you remember the sprained ankle girl who was in here two days ago, well we kinda went out last night."
"And where did you 'kinda' go to?"
"The planetarium" he replied "we sat and listened to music for two hours and then went for a walk."
"That sounds lovely and very old fashioned" Maggie said with a smile. "So are you going to see her again?"
"Well I" doctor Howser started to answer, but then he just fell silent and his eyes got big.
Maggie turned and saw a very pretty young woman walk into the ER. She was smiling, and her smile grew when she saw Doug standing there. Bold as brass, she walked right up and planted a kiss on the startled man's cheek "so how are you doing today Skippy?"
He stammered for a moment then got control of his vocal cords back "I'm fine". Then, remembering his manners, he introduced the duty nurse to his new friend. "Nurse Maggie Selneck this is Ruth Camden, Ruth this is Maggie."
Ruthie turned to the older woman, very aware of the scrutiny that she was under at the moment "nice to meet you" she said, extending her hand.
"And you" Maggie said, taking the younger girls hand in a firm grip "how's your ankle?"
"Fine, thank you for asking. It's just a bit stiff now and again, but definitely better than it was."
"That's good, doctor Howser said that the two of you went to the planetarium last night, that's an unusual place for a fist date."
Ruthie looked a little uncomfortable with the inquiry that was going on so Doug stepped in. "A bit unusual I guess, but it was fun. So what brings you by today Ruth?"
"I was in the neighborhood and wondered if you wanted to go for dinner when you get off."
Doug looked at his watch "well, I'm off in half an hour if you don't mind waiting."
"No, waiting is no problem." Ruthie went to sit down, but before she got there she turned back and asked "you don't like hockey, do you Doug."
"I don't love it, I don't hate it either; why do you ask."
"Cause the Av's are playing the Red Wings tonight and I was kinda wanting to go somewhere to catch the game, if you're OK with that."
"Sounds good, I'll see you in a bit" he said as he went back to work.
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They were sitting in Bash Riprock's enjoying some greasy food. Ruthie was drinking a Killian's and Doug had a Screwdriver, they had come here after Doug had gotten off shift. Surprisingly there hadn't been any awkwardness between the two, and considering their respective pasts that was very surprising.
The game was between periods when Doug asked "so what went on in your day?"
"I got hauled into the police station because I saw that some guys that were going to rob a bank so I tripped the alarm to scare them off." She fired this off like it was an everyday occurrence.
Doug was incredulous, and Ruthie had a brief giggle at the expression on his face. "You can't be serious" he said.
"Yeah, I am" she replied. "The police thought for a while that I was part of the gang and had just screwed up, but they released me finally. How about you; any serious doings in the ER?"
"No" he answered, still a little freaked about the bank robbery thing "it was a pretty routine day, the usual accidents and stuff. No one died, so that's what I call a good day."
"I'll drink to that" she said raising her glass. They clicked glasses and drank, then they found themselves looking in each others eyes over the rims of their glasses. They held their gazes for almost a minute, before a yell from the bar snapped them out of it. Suddenly Doug looked uncomfortable and Ruthie felt herself blushing.
"You know you surprise me Ruth" Doug said trying to dispel the awkward silence that had descended "in my experience, not many girls actually like drinking beer. I'd have thought you would have gone for a mixed drink or wine cooler or something like that."
"I spent the last five years in Chicago" Ruthie replied with a grin "you can't live there and not drink beer. Besides everyone has to have one vice, beer just happens to be mine." She leaned forward with a predatory smile "what's your vice doctor Howser?"
She had expected him to blush or stammer or something, what she didn't expect was for him to lean forward until he was right in her face and say "whips and riding crops".
Ruthie found herself blushing and her heart racing; he couldn't be serious, could he. She started to stammer out something about personal preferences and stuff like that until she saw that Doug was barely holding his laughter in. She glanced down at the table and then looked up with a grin "man did I deserve that"; then she started laughing and he joined in.
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"So do you like acting, I mean in the theater type acting" she asked as they were walking back to his car.
"Well, I took an acting class for a bit with a good friend of mine, but that's been a while; why?"
"Well, I'm in this amateur Shakespeare troupe and we're doing 'Much Ado about Nothing' this year, or at least we're trying to."
"What's the problem?"
"Well, to put it simply we need more people, I was wondering if you'd be interested."
"Who would you be playing?"
"Beatrice"
"Is Benedick still open?"
"Yeah it is; you know Shakespeare?"
"I'm not a complete stick in the mud, believe it or not."
"No, I believe it, especially after the whips comment." She looked at him with hope in her eyes "so you'll help?"
"Of course" he said "how could I say no to my life guru." His voice was laughing, but his eyes were serious. Ruthie saw this and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and kissed him, slowly and tenderly. "Thank you" she said and he nodded. After another moment or two they headed on to his car.