Chapter 15

-l-l-l-

The drive to James' house was long and dreary. Going home traffic clogged the narrow streets, each driver racing to get home caused the traffic to back up. Dark rain clouds covered the setting sun making the drive more gloomy for Lewis. Rain slowly began to sprinkle on the windscreen creating a smeary mess of the splatted bugs.

As he turned off Marston Road onto Cherwell Street he notice Mrs. O'Malley getting out of a taxi with Percy, her faithful poodle trailing behind her. The old lady almost slammed the door on the dog as he darted through the closing door. 'Would have been a funny sight to see,' thought Lewis. He noticed the taxi driver was standing beside the taxi counting his fare money.

The taxi drove away before Lewis could park his car, he was hoping to talk to the driver. However, he was able to jot down the number of the taxi, he could question the driver later when he had more time. Right now, he wanted get into James' house, Lewis had a gut feeling that he had missed something this morning.

"God, only half the day has passed. Seems like weeks," Lewis mumbled out loud to himself as he climbed from his car. He was reading a forensic report as he walked up to Hathaway's front door. He looked up to see young PC stretch crime scene tape across the green door.

"Leave that for right now, PC ugh," Lewis stammered to search for the young PC's name tag. "PC Bell. I'll lock up when I'm through."

"Yes sir, DI Lewis," replied PC Bell. "Sir, do you mind if I... I get..."

"What?" Lewis was distracted by something in the report and did not understand what the kid wanted. "Oh, yeah, sure just come back in a few hours. Here's my card, call before you come back, I might need you to bring me something." PC Bell eagerly took the card and was honored to have such a seasoned detective talk to him.

"I'll be back asap, Sir," Bell called over his shoulder as he skipped too his car.

"Don't hurry, Bell," Lewis replied. "I'll be here for a while."

Lewis was scanning the forensic report again as he fumbled with the lock. The keys slipped from his fingers and dropped into the flower pot below. He did not get the keys right away, Lewis was concentrating on one troubling line in the report.

"What! This can't be right," he shouted to the report.

Angry, Lewis grabbed the door hand only to find the door still locked. He cursed and began to search for the dropped keys. While frisking the potted plant for the elusive keys, Lewis notice all the cigarette butts in the pot. He also noticed a burnt ends of hand rolled butts. Curious, he picked up one of the hand rolled butts and sniffed the unburnt end.

Anger boiled inside him, Lewis shoved the keys forcefully into the lock and kicked the door open. He stormed into James' house, tossed the offensive report onto the kitchen counter and stuffed the evidence he found in the flower pot into a bag.

His mobile began to ring, Lewis did not pay any attention to the familiar ring tone. "What?" He yelled to the defenseless person on the phone.

"Well," the soft voice of Dr. Hobson responded in mock of fence. "Have I caught you at a bad time?" She questioned.

"Yes," he snapped.

"What's goin' on, Robbie," Laura asked as she entered James' kitchen, sneaking upon Lewis. He spun around to face his caller.

Lewis turned off his mobile and jabbed it into his coat pocket. He reached into the lower pocket and retrieved the evidence bag to show Laura what provoked his angry outburst.

"So," was her only response.

Fuming even more, Lewis' face turned red. "He's been drinking, heavily. He took enough sleeping tablets to knock out an elephant. And now I found out he's doing drugs!" Lewis started to pace the kitchen and living room waving his arms. "What are they going to say when they read this report?" He threw the report scattering the papers across both rooms.

"THEY, already know, Robbie," she explained. "I talked to Innocent and Chief Whats-His-Name."

"Chief Glasgow. You told them?" he yelled.

Laura rolled her eyes. "Innocent knew before James disappeared."

"WHAT!" he yelled even louder causing Percy to bark in Mrs. O'Malley's back yard. "SHUT-UP DAMN YOU," he yelled to the dog.

"Calm down. Innocent suggested thepharmaceutical medical cannabis. I had Dr. Daniels write and fill a prescription for James," Laura justified their actions. "The medical cannabis was the only way to get him to calm down. The stuff is not strong enough to get a buzz or anything. Most of it was a placebo, the rest was …. fake."

Lewis picked up a sheet of the forensic report and waved the crumpled paper in Laura's face. "What about this report? It says he had this stuff in him when he puked! It also says he drank enough scotch to drown a Scotchman and sleeping pills! He took SLEEPING ….."

"Robbie," she tried to calm him. "Innocent and Chief Glasgow know and understand. There will be no reprimands for James. We just have to find him." She pulled the report from his hand and held both of his hands looking into his eyes. Hoping to see him calm down. She could see the anger in his eyes slowly simmer.

Lewis took a deep breath and sank down into the white sofa chair. "We have to find him alive, Laura." Tears welled up in his eyes. "With all this shit in his system he...," he left the rest of the words unsaid, hanging in the air like a guillotine .

Laura knelt in front of her distraught friend. "We'll find him. Besides if you took the time to read the report completely you would have read that there was not enough of anything in his system to have done James any harm."

"How do you know that," disbelieving he asked.

"The urine sample gathered. Remember?" She gave Lewis and encouraging smile.

He put his head back and inhaled sharply trying to decipher all the information clogging his mind. "Where do we start?" he pondered aloud. Lewis lean farther back into the cushy chair laying his head back. His eyes absently roamed the top of the bookshelf behind him.

Lewis' eyes stopped and focused on a small book hiding on the top shelf behind a huge plant. The corner of the book barely visible from where he sat. He turned around in the chair to get a better look, but the book once again hid behind the plant.

Keeping his eye on the shelf Lewis grabbed a nearby dinning chair and pulled the chair to the bookshelf. He mounted the creaky wooden chair and handed the plant to Laura. She had followed Lewis to the bookshelf curious as to what Lewis had found.

"What's this?" Lewis handed the hidden book to Laura and brushed his hand on top of the bookcase searching for more hidden items. A small bundle fell to the floor with a storm of dust. Lewis also saw a corner of a piece of paper sticking out behind the top of the shelf. Unable to grab the paper, Lewis attempt to move the heavy bookcase.

Laura sat on the sofa thumbing through the once hidden book. "It's his journal," she began to search for the last entry. "He wrote something in here yesterday, his last entry." Slowly she read the haunting words written by their tormented friend.

Lewis began to push on the heavy bookcase, but the shelf would not budge. He put his hand behind the case to pull but he heard a click. The shelf surprisingly swung slowly open to reveal a hidden shelf built into the wall.

-l-l-l-