Chapter 28: Rest

His vision was blurry and all he could see was the sight of red. He was definitely having an anxiety attack. He felt dirty and unclean and he needed to clean up now.

He was on his knees scrubbing the floor when the nurse came in.

Dirty. Dirty. Dirty, Sid thought. Everything was filthy. He had to get rid of the germs.

She screamed at the sight. Sid, the Kid had blood splattered on his face as he scrubbed the floor with his bed sheets.

Right next the bed was a man who was bleeding profusely.

"Oh my God, I thought I heard gunshots. Oh my god. Oh my god."

"C,call the Sergeant." Sid continued scrubbing, almost as too scrub the memory out of his head. He saw himself in the reflection of the shiny floor. He looked down and saw him with a stain of blood on his face.

How did it ever come to this?

~/~

This was the last day for Arnold Shortman and Helga Pataki. This was it. They were completely at the mercy of a power hungry maniac.

"Come here Lila!" Gino barked his orders at the timid girl. She came over instantly. He pulled a knife from his back pocket and put it in her hands.

"You know how much I don't like doing the dirty work. Kill her, won't you Dollface? Make it nice and slow so her boyfriend can watch."

Lila looked at the knife in her hands. She was shaking as she held the knife up in front of her face.

"I've never killed anyone before."

"Go on. Don't be shy. Slit her throat for me."

Lila walked up slowly to Helga who was sweating and also shaking. She could tell Lila didn't want to do it. It wasn't about what anyone wanted anymore.

The sirens sounded from outside as she felt the knife press up against her knife.

From outside a loud voice sounded from a megaphone. "This is Sergeant Bergman. Come out with your hands up Gino. No one will get hurt. I know you have hostages."

"Shit. Lila hurry up and kill her then kill the boy. We'll go out of the back and escape. No one will be able to pin us to their deaths. Come on babe."

Helga inhaled slightly. The cold metal against her neck made her shiver. Pressure was asserted and she could feel beads of blood form. It was all over then. Little Miss Perfect was finally getting her out of the picture. She shut her eyes and prepared for the worse.

Shots sounded.

~/~

Sergeant Bergman felt a sense of anxiety. When he got to hospital Sid looked like he was losing it. The scene was straight out a gruesome crime scene. Splashes of blood were splattered on Sid's face and he was scrubbing the floor obsessively, to the point where he didn't even notice him walk in.

When the nurse called him, she was obviously shaken up and he couldn't see why until now. Harold Berman was lying on the floor bleeding and unconscious. His blood founded a puddle on the floor.

"Sid?" The Sergeant hoped it would be enough to bring Sid back to reality. "What the hell happened?"

He saw the gun sitting the side of Harold's body and he knew. Something had happened that he possibly couldn't understand. They were the best partners at the station. How did they get to an all out shootout in a hospital room?

"I,I didn't kill him." Sid muttered as he continued washing the floor.

He hoped to god Harold wasn't dead. This was a mess even he couldn't clean up.

He heard Sid utter something else. "Have to stop Gino. Before it's too late."

Jesus, Gino was at it again.

~/~

It was quiet. Far too quiet. Is this what death sounds like? Absolute silence.

Footsteps! Helga heard footsteps! She wasn't dead. She didn't kick the dust. She could breathe! She opened her eyes. Gino was on the ground, staring up at the ceiling, his eyes vacant and lifeless.

"Lila!" Arnold yelled out. "What did you do?!"

That's when Helga saw her. Lila was grasping the handle of the knife, which was covered in blood. She stabbed Gino and from what it looked like she stabbed him several times.

"I'm free. I'm finally free. I'm ever so happy." Lila had that same perfect smirk on her face, which now was far too creepy to ever be able to forget. "I'm ever so sorry Gino but I was just ever so tired of your abuse."

The footsteps drew closer. Helga was shaking and scared. Who knew what Lila was going to do next if the cops didn't get here?

"Hillwood PD! Drop the knife!" 15 police officers swarmed into the warehouse with their guns aimed at Lila. The Sergeant walked in with his own gun pointed.

"Drop the knife miss." The Sergeant was in no position to let up. "We've got two hostages and a body. Secure the hostages!"

Three cops sprung to action and walked over to the immobile couple.

As the cops worked on using a bolt cutter to unchain them, the Sergeant was giving Lila an ultimatum. "One last time: Drop the knife Ms. Sawyer or we will be forced to incapacitate you."

Helga heard the knife drop to the ground just as she was freed from her restraints.

"Cuff her!" The Sergeant wasted no time making the next order. He was quick to pin her on the ground and handcuff. "Lila Sawyer you are under arrest for co-conspiring in mafia activity, money laundering, forging documents, bribery, acting as an accomplice in the murder of Patricia Coleman and the murder of Gino Vincent."

The Sergeant continued to give her her right. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to any attorney. If you cannot afford one one will be appointed to you. Do you understand Ms. Sawyer?"

Lila smiled the whole way through, "I ever so understand."

Helga was shaking as they took Lila outside and put her into the back of a car. By the the time Arnold was free the coroner had come to remove Gino's body.

As soon as he was free she ran straight to him and embraced him. She began to bawl into his arms.

She said between her sniffles, "I was so scared Arnold."

Arnold replied, "I know. I was too."

The Sergeant came back in to check on them. "Sorry to interrupt but do you need a medic? I see your face is a little beat up kid. And you have a mark on your neck Helga. We should get you both to the hospital just to make sure everything's okay."

"Thank you. Thank you so much. We thought we were going to be dead for sure."

"Don't thank me. Thank Sidney. He made the call. Now we'll need you both to give your testimony as to what happened today. I want you both to understand that you may be asked to testify against Ms. Sawyer."

Arnold was concerned still. "Is she going to be okay? I mean Gino abused her. We both saw that."

The Sergeant explained, "Most likely the DA will plead self-defense and that she wasn't in her right mind state. However, she'll be going away for a long time for what she did to Horowitz' company and what she did to Rhonda. Don't worry about her. We'll get you both to a hospital, okay."

Helga let out a sigh of relief. With Gino dead Rhonda could probably rest in peace. It was all over. After months of living on age, Hillwood could finally rest too.

Helga smiled to herself. She needed to remember to give Sid the biggest hug imaginable. Maybe once things settled down at home her and Arnold could take him up on that offer with those plane tickets. Something told Helga, that her and Arnold needed a little time away from Hillwood for awhile.

Author Note: All that is left is the epilogue. What would you guys like to see?

By the way, I'm considering writing a spin-off or a second Hey Arnold mystery story. Which would you guys rather read, another mystery story in Hillwood or a Sid spin-off story?

Farewell until next time.