8
Hoyt practically slammed the phone down before rubbing his head. Matt asked him as he walked in, "Everything ok?"
Hoyt shot him an irritated look and said, "No, its not. I've some crazy fan who wants to set off a bomb at the funeral of one of the most popular singers in the country...I've got the investigation into her murder...four very good suspects, all with motive and none with alibis...and to top that off..." His voice got louder, "I've got my star detective taking an extra long lunch with your secretary!"
Matt smiled a little looking down hoping Hoyt didn't see it. He didn't see anything because he was popping antacids again. Matt told him as he handed him a file, "Well, here is everything Baby had on your crazy fan. Seems Mr. Orlando was attending UCSB but then dropped out about a year ago when he became a groupie of Macy Raven. He followed her band around as they toured in the US and took about 100 photographs he tried to sell to local pawn shops. They have him listed in a database as a source for all things Macy Raven."
Hoyt looked at him for a second and then took the file. "Well, the picture here helps. We really didn't have a clear idea of what to look for. Doesn't seem to have a driver's license."
They nodded to each other when an officer walked in and handed Hoyt a slip of paper. He read it to Matt, "The funeral is just getting started. I've got half a dozen men over there now, but the message Orlando left us indicated the bomb would go off as they 'tried to put poor Macy in the ground.' You want to head over there with me?"
Matt nodded but then said, "Yes I do, but I need to go get Uncle Roy. He...uh...had an old contact in the company he needed to get a hold of."
Hoyt told him, "Well, don't keep me waiting too long. I'm running this picture over to Williams to make copies and distribute and I'll meet you at the car." They then parted ways.
He found his uncle on a pay phone, "Yes that's right, Floyd Garrison...yes, please do keep me posted, I'll assume here that you can find me without any hints...of course Bloodhound, thanks."
Matt walked up and said, "Bloodhound?" His expression almost made Roy laugh.
He answered, "Old Bloodhound, not one of the five fingers, he was our point man. No one could hide from us for long, Bloodhound would sniff them out."
They started walking back to Hoyt's car when Matt said, "Does Bloodhound have a name?"
Roy stopped before getting in the back, turned to Matt and said, "Of course he has a name." Then he got in the car.
Matt just shook his head and got in as well. When they got to the gravesite people were just arriving. Matt looked for C.J. but didn't see her. The casket was being carried by Macy's band and there was a whole procession behind it with large flower arrangements. Matt stood by Hoyt as he and his men kept watch over the service on the other side of a small hill.
Matt's was looking all around for C.J. Roy was on the other side mingling with the mourners also looking out for C.J. and Orlando. Bomb sniffing dogs had already gone through the cemetery before anyone arrived and had found nothing.
Finally as the service was nearing an end, Matt spotted Orlando. He was dressed as a custodian of the cemetery, appearing to be tending to other gravesites. Matt elbowed Hoyt who at first was irritated but Matt nodded in Orlando's direction. Then Hoyt nodded and the two started to casually walk around toward him. They were able to successfully sneak up behind him.
Hoyt pulled his gun and stuck it in Orlando's back saying softly, "Alright there, you and I are just going to take a little walk and let these people grieve alone. Understand?"
Orlando said back as he put up his hands and Matt walked in front of him checking him for a weapon, "Man, all I wanted to do was attend the funeral, that's all. I wasn't really going to set off a bomb. Its just that she told me and I had to do something to get you to listen."
As they started to walk off Matt asked, "So she told you who killed her?"
Orlando nodded and told him, "Yes she did. She told me it was her drummer. I saw them all the time, that's why she told me. I have proof..."
Matt and Hoyt then stopped as they got back to Hoyt's car and he asked, "You have proof that can aid my men in a criminal investigation and you kept it to yourself? Why didn't you bring it in to the station?"
Orlando then told him, "I didn't think you'd believe me. I watched them on stage all the time. She would sit in his lap during the show while he played the drums. She told me in my dream that he was angry that, in all those years of being together that she would marry practically anyone else but him."
Matt then asked, "What's this proof you have that we wouldn't believe?"
Orlando then told him, "I recorded it."
Hoyt and Matt looked at each other confused and Hoyt asked, "Recorded what?"
Orlando answered, "I recorded what she told me...its in the white noise...if you listen carefully enough..." At that point Hoyt put the guy in the back of a patrol car and slammed the door shut before rubbing his forehead again.
He looked at Matt and said, "If I had a dime for every idiot out there that had 'proof' of something I'd be wealthier than you."
Matt patted him on the back and said, "Well, it may not be a total loss. He has a good point. If Larson did love Macy as much as he claims to, who's to say he wouldn't be ready to commit murder after being passed over 3 times?" Hoyt nodded.
At that point Roy approached and said, "Matlock, I didn't see C.J. at the service, but I think that's her car down there. She's bound to come back to it."
Matt looked at the car and couldn't quite make the outline out, but it seemed like someone was sitting in the front seat. He told Roy, "Actually I think she's already back to it. Why don't you get a ride with Hoyt and we'll regroup first thing in the morning to go over our suspects and start talking to people. I really don't think right after the funeral is the best time." The three men nodded and Matt left to go to C.J.'s car.
As he approached her car he could make her out but she seemed slouched over the steering wheel. At first he thought that perhaps her headache had returned and she was simply resting. Yet as he got closer he could see that she seemed unconscious. His brow furrowed and he went from walking quickly to jogging before he reached her.
He quickly opened her door, an action that startled her. He bent down as she sat up and brushed her hair back, "C.J...honey what's wrong..are you alright?".
C.J. blinked and told him, "Matt I'm fine, I just needed to sit down for a second.". She started to get up as she was telling him seeing the concern in his eyes, "You're a little late, the grave side service is about to start."
Matt had backed up for a second seeing her looking around confused. He stood up behind her and said softly, "The service is over".
C.J. took only one more step and then said, "I don't understand...where is everyone. I only sat down for a second...", her voice trailed off.
Matt put his hand softly on her shoulder still standing behind her. "C.J., what is the last thing you remember?"
She stuttered, "I...uh I just...I picked up Dove, the little girl, she's just...she's just so young and to have to be at her mother's funeral...I...". She started to turn around, her back still to Matt as she didn't really want him to see how this truly affected her. "One minute I was helping Dove get back to Perkins and the next you're telling me it's over. I..."
Matt put his hand on her arm, turning her to face him slowly. She kept her face down until he put his hand under her chin and tilted it to him. "Are you saying you blacked out? You don't remember anything from the last hour and a half?"
All she could do was shake her head. He drew her to him, wrapping his arms around her. Matt's mind swum with all the implications of what she was telling him. He held her tight and whispered in her ear, "Everything's going to be alright...just take it easy.". He pulled back to tell her, "Ok, first things first...does your head hurt anymore?". She shook her head. Then he asked, "Are you feeling ok now?". She nodded her head. Matt took a deep breath and then led her over to the passenger side door, his arm around her rubbing her back, opened it and said, "Let's go home, get some food in you and then talk, but C.J., whatever is wrong, it's going to be ok. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure of that." They kissed, he shut her door and then ran back around to drive them both home.
Once they got back to the beach house, C.J. walked in and up to the couch where she just sat down, staring out the window at the patio. She hadn't said much on the ride back which concerned Matt more and more with each mile. Finally though, they were back where he could talk to her, uninterrupted to see if there were some way he could figure out what was going on with her.
He started after sitting down next to her, "You hungry?"
She shook her head and furrowed her brow before saying, "I don't understand what happened, Matt...I don't think I've ever done that before. When I wrecked my car in Arizona I may have forgotten who I was, but I didn't just lose an hour out of my life like that."
Matt nodded and told her as he took her hand, "I remember losing that 30 days when Elgin Cody came back after me, making me believe I killed his secretary. I know how scary it is to lose time like that."
C.J. looked at him then and said after squeezing his hand, "Look at me, upset over an hour...its nothing I'm sure." She plastered a smile on her face.
Anyone else would have bought that, but Matt knew her for most of her life so he didn't. He told her after repositioning himself to face her, "This scared you, I know it did. Hell it scares me." He started running his hand through her hair and then said, "I have this fear deep in my gut that whatever happened to you before you came to Texas as a little girl is coming back to hurt you now."
She shook her head and squinted her eyes before rubbing her forehead and saying, "I barely remember my life before Texas, Matt. I'm sure whatever is wrong has nothing to do with that."
She got up and started to walk out to the patio. He followed her, "C.J...what do you remember?"
She shrugged as he came up behind her and softly put his hand on the small of her back, "Not much...I remember a birthday party here and there..." She looked down then and said, "I remember Daddy's funeral and my mother there crying." She started loose her balance but Matt moved closer to support her as she continued, "I...I remember her funeral..."
Seeing that she had stopped Matt prodded further, "How did she die?" His investigator instincts kicking in full steam now.
C.J. shook her head again furrowing her brow and squinting, trying to remember. "I don't know. I don't know how either of them died. I don't remember." Then she seemed to be looking out at the ocean in a trance and said almost too softly for Matt to hear, "I just remember burying them."
He rubbed her back and his instincts told him now to let it go. He would have to get what information he could from her slowly, take baby steps essentially. Whatever it was she didn't remember, he knew, was because of how deep the scars were from those memories.
Matt told her as he rubbed her back harder and started to turn her around, "Come on, let's get back in and get some dinner." She nodded and they did just that.
As he ran out to take the trash out to the dumpster, C.J. headed upstairs. The day had started taking its toll on her. She rubbed her eyes as and started to sit down. Matt's suitcase was on the bed beside her. When she moved it, it popped open. Laying on top was the lunchbox she thought looked familiar from her childhood. However almost as soon as she touched it she felt like she was going to lose the sandwich she ate for dinner.
Dropping the metal box back in Matt's bag she turned and went to the bathroom to be sick. Instead of actually being sick, she started having trouble breathing. She clutched her chest as the pain radiated out from there. Leaning against the wall she started taking deep breaths. What is happening to me? She thought to herself.
Matt started up the stairs after getting back in. He thought he was getting heartburn for a minute as he felt a slight burning in his chest. When he got to their bedroom he saw the bathroom door shut and the light on. Figuring C.J. was in there, probably getting ready to go to bed, which was exactly what he thought she needed, he proceeded to empty his suitcase. The dirty clothes went in the little bin she bought to take to the dry cleaners. The gun was in a zipper pouch and he took that to put in his drawer along with the lunchbox he found in that old house. For a second he thought about the fact that the bag was open when he got in the room and wondered if she saw it. He didn't want to show it to her right away. He had decided to do research on them both before approaching her with it.
"Matt..." she weakly called out from the bathroom.
Matt caught something in her voice that scared him and he immediately went in, finding her on the floor looking like she was having a heart attack. "C.J., what's wrong?". He knelt down not really knowing exactly were to put his hands first...around her waist to pick her up and carry her to his car? To her face where he could push her hair back? To her forehead to see if she had a fever?
She just looked up at him saying, "Something's really wrong with me and I don't know what...I think I should call Carol."
Matt didn't need to be asked twice. After sweeping her up in his arms and laying her on the bed he called Carol and offered to pay her whatever if she would just come over and check C.J. out.
He never left her side and had told Carol to just come in. After giving C.J. a brief examination and asking her a couple of questions, she told the both of them, "Well, it really looks like she had an anxiety attack."
C.J. asked still laying on the bed, "What? You mean it was all in my head?"
Carol shook her head, "Not exactly, but...well usually I see cases like this when someone is under a lot of stress. Now I know what kind of life you lead so it wouldn't surprise me exactly, but, well is there anything new that has caused you to worry more than normal?"
Matt blinked a couple of times and thought of something. He asked, "We're trying to start a family...would worrying about that cause something like this?"
C.J. looked down but Carol said with a smile on her face, "Are you kidding? Of course it can. That's great news though.". Then she noticed Matt had smiled but C.J. was almost faking hers. So she said, "Ah, Houston, do you mind letting C.J. and me have a moment...its been a while since we've had a little girl talk."
Matt nodded saying, "Of course.". Then he left. He went back downstairs to make a list of things he could do or maybe buy to help C.J. relax more.
Carol sat down on the bed by C.J. who had sat up. She said, "I think its wonderful that the two of you are starting to plan a family. You know you'll make a great mother."
C.J. smiled a little and then told her, "That's if I can get pregnant...Carol we've been trying for two months now and so far..." Her voice trailed off.
Carol smiled and chuckled before saying, "C.J...I usually don't sent my patients to a fertility specialist until at least 6 months go by if I don't find anything in the initial examination. Surely your OB told you that."
C.J. nodded and said, "She did and I know that, but...well...living with it is something different. I really don't want to let Matt down. Its been a dream of his to be a father and have a family for so long. I don't want to be the one who keeps him from being a father. I don't know what I'll have to do if..."
She had started to tear up again so Carol rubbed her arms, "You'll stay married to the most wonderful man in the world, I know you. The two of you have loved each other since you met, I think. I rarely see a husband as devoted as Matt has been to you, going all the way back to college when he would take those military leaves and surprise you on campus."
She smiled and then told Carol, "I know he is, I just want him to have everything, you know? What if I can't give him that? Its been two months, I..."
Carol interrupted, "Two months is nothing! Listen to me, I'm the doctor remember...I see this all the time. Stressing out about it will only make it harder to conceive. Trust me. In fact, I can't even tell you how many women I've seen that were so convinced after a few months of trying that they were sterile that they went out and adopted. About a month later, with that stress of conceiving gone, they come see me because...guess what...they're pregnant. The stress and worry is only going to work against you. You have an amazing husband. I think the two of you need to quit thinking about it and just relax and let nature take its course."
C.J. nodded and took a mild sedative that Carol gave her. After seeing C.J. start to drift off after another minute of talking about her boyfriend Jared, Carol went back downstairs.