ACT 3
With all that was going on in the moment, it was a miracle that Sabrina was able to collect her thoughts enough to do the thinking for five people.
As Kris waited impatiently in the car, Sabrina hurriedly plunked two nickels into the payphone and punched in Bill's number. Kelly, Jill, and Max might be foolish enough to go prancing back into danger without any backup, but she sure as hell wasn't. She forced herself to stand calmly, to not pace or grit her teeth while she counted out the rings on the other line. There wasn't a lot of time to be wasted, though she wasn't too worried about her three idiot friends getting too far ahead. They were in her Pinto after all, she grudgingly admitted to herself, and Kris had her sister's lead foot and a pair of sirens to go with it.
Kris had just leaned on the horn, attracting the attention of every person at the gas station they were parked in, when Bill finally picked up.
"Bill-" Sabrina greeted him quickly, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. "So that thing we talked about earlier? I have another idea, now hear me out-"
"Oh, for the love of Christ." Bill groaned, immediately setting the tone of their conversation. Sabrina ignored it. His reluctance to hear out her plan was more than expected, but it didn't matter. To keep her friends safe, she needed to convince him to get someone out to that hospital. If he could get someone there before Kelly did, then that was good. And if she could get him to do that and get herself off the phone in time to catch up and stop Kelly from getting there at all, then that was even better. The police would search the hospital and either arrest whoever was in there or find enough evidence to convict them. Then it would be over. Kelly would see reason, her friends would stay safe, and this would all be over.
Either way, there was nothing Kelly could do about it and why she hadn't ignored her friend's lunacy and done this earlier was beyond her comprehension.
So ignoring every sigh, every mumbled curse, and every derisive laugh from her ex husband, Sabrina launched herself into her explanation. When she was done, she took a deep breath and slowly and evenly said. "I know what it sounds like, Bill, believe me, I do. But, I know her. She's not lying."
The muffled chuckle that came from the other line was like nails on chalkboard to the frazzled detective. "Really? She's not lying?" Bill said sarcastically. "I go from waiting until tomorrow to running out there in the middle of the night with my pants around my ankles in just an hour? To find some baby snatching Nazis who work in an abandoned hospital that your two friends just happened to stumble into. Really? And I'm supposed to think something isn't going on? C'mon, Bri."
"Nothing's going on, Bill!" Sabrina insisted. "I just feel like it needs to be checked out tonight, that's all." She wouldn't dare tell him Kelly had snuck out of the hospital and was on her way to Divinity's Reach as they spoke. Kelly seemed guilty enough without having to make an excuse for why she felt the need to clear her tracks.
"Why'd her story change? What's she covering up?"
"Nothing, Bill! She wasn't lying!"
"Yeah, just like she wasn't lying when she said she couldn't remember what had happened?"
Sabrina forced herself to take a deep, calming breath. If she lost her temper, if they started a fight, he wouldn't help them, she told herself.
"She was scared, Bill." Sabrina sighed.
She heard Bill scoff. "Bullshit, she was scared." He sneered loudly, the way he did when he disagreed with anything anybody said. Bullshit the Raiders would win Sunday night's game. Bullshit, there would be a Democrat in the White House. Bullshit, he'd trade shifts with someone. Bullshit this, bullshit that. He'd said it so often Sabrina was amazed that she had forgotten just how obnoxious it was to her to hear him say it. His latest bullshit nearly had her slamming the phone into the wall in a rage.
"You mean to tell me that Jill wakes up and once Kelly has had five minutes with her, she suddenly remembers everything?" Bill went on in the patronizing voice that made Sabrina want to knee him in the crotch. "Please, you can't see that she waited for Jill to wake up so they could both have the same story? And now here you are changing your story right with them. Tell me what's going on."
Sabrina took another deep breath. "Are you calling Jill a liar too now?" she asked wearily.
Bill snorted. "I don't have a problem with Jill. But, to me, it looks like both of them are hiding something."
"And what if she's not?"
"Then I'm the Queen of England."
Sabrina mouthed a swear before composing yourself. "Well, Your Highness," she started sarcastically. "I think I know her better than you do and-" even she had to roll her eyes at the irony of the next words to come out of her mouth. "-Kelly would never lie to me. Especially about something like this. Now can you get out there or not?"
She heard Bill mumbled something to himself. "Depends." He started. "I'd have to call some people up in the Bridge Grove area. We can't spare a patrol car the rest of the night checking out a bogus lead. Besides, it's out of our jurisdiction. They'd have to handle it."
"Then can you call in a favor, Your Majesty?" Sabrina asked sarcastically.
"It'd be a hell of a favor, Bri." Bill sighed. "If she's lying, I could get into some shit here at work, you know that right?" He laughed wryly. "Or is that her intention?"
Sabrina rolled her eyes. "What is it with you and Kelly?" she asked heatedly.
"You know."
"She's never done anything to you." Sabrina continued, her tone almost scolding.
Bill breathed an exasperated sigh. "I don't trust her, Bri. Neither should you."
"I trust Kelly with my life." Sabrina answered firmly. "I don't call anyone a friend unless I can trust them."
She waited for a moment while Bill shuffled some papers on the other line. Finally, he gave a derisive chuckle. "Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn't." he replied. He muttered to himself for a few beats before clearing his throat. "But, I'll see what I can do. I can't promise you anything. I'll ask them to stop by on a welfare check, but that's all I can do without saying that I'm doing it to cover up your friend's tracks."
Sabrina gritted her teeth. "Tonight? They'll be there tonight? And it could be dangerous, make sure they know that."
She could almost hear Bill rolling his eyes. "Yes, tonight. And no shit. You're welcome."
"I appreciate it, Bill." Sabrina replied dryly. "Thanks."
He was quiet for a moment before snickering. "What happened to that Your Majesty shit. I coulda gotten used to that."
His poorly timed joke wasn't as appreciated as his help. "Shutup, Bill." Sabrina sighed tolerantly.
"Maybe we'd still be married."
"Married to the Queen of England. Then that'd make me the king, wouldn't it."
Bill laughed. "You always were, babe."
Sabrina fought the urge to smile. "Just call in the favor." She heard him laughing to himself before the line went dead. Sabrina shook her head.
Asshole. He'd never change.
"Please tell me that you've thought of something past stealing your friend's car and driving it right back to Nurse Ratched."
In the passenger seat of Sabrina's Ford Pinto, Kelly turned her head to give Max a weary look. "I'm working on it." She grumbled.
Not for the first time since they'd left the hospital, Max heaved a frustrated sigh. "Well, if I can make a suggestion-" He started, but Kelly had heard his suggestion more than enough times.
"No, Max. No cops." She cut him off.
Again Max sighed and despite her urgency, Kelly had to grudgingly admit that the poor guy had a point. They'd been on the road for nearly half an hour and after briefly filling Max in on the goings on of last night, most of their sparse conversation had consisted of giving directions and navigating his blind spot. Now that they were finally making their way out of L.A., the traffic was dying down and with it, the distractions that were masking their complete and utter lack of a plan.
Kelly turned in her seat to see Jill, slouched in the backseat, both arms folded sullenly across her chest. "What do you think, Jill?" she asked hopefully.
Jill narrowed her eyes. "I'm not sure you want to know."
Exasperated, Kelly flopped back into her seat and rubbed the bridge of her nose in agitation. Jill had had the good sense to turn on Sabrina's CB radio in hopes that a stray police frequency would give them a heads up if Sabrina or Kris had alerted the authorities. It had seemed a good idea at the time, but the constant buzzing and whistling and clicking was starting to grate on Kelly's nerves. Her head had been pounding since they'd left and didn't seem like it had any plans of stopping. The obvious lack of support from her two companions wasn't helping matters either. "Ok-" She said finally. "We won't exactly know what to expect until we get there-"
"I have a pretty good idea." Jill chimed in sarcastically.
"Shutup, Jill." Kelly sighed. "Look, if the place is empty, then all we have to do is sneak back in through the window that….the cop broke and-"
"How the hell are we going to know if it's empty?" Jill interrupted heatedly. "Did you see Nazi-mobiles parked out front last time? Did you see any lights? We didn't know anyone was there until after we'd gone in!"
Kelly closed her eyes and rested her head back against the headrest. "You're right. But we didn't exactly look for anyone before we went in either." She pointed out in a calm, tired voice. Just because Jill was picking a fight didn't mean she had to match her friend's angry tone. "We can circle around, check it out from the outside. If it looks empty then we go from there."
"And if doesn't look empty, we leave and call the cops, right?" Max said hopefully.
He was watching the road and didn't see the look Kelly shot his way.
"Yes, then we leave and call the cops." Jill answered for her, fixing her friend with a contemptuous glare.
More than aware of her companion's resentment, Kelly scowled. "If we ever get there." She grumped. "This isn't your Datsun, you know. You can go over fifty."
Max looked incredulous. "I'm going sixty." He shot back. "Besides, do you really want to get pulled over right now? This car is technically stolen, remember? It's sure as hell not registered to me. And both of you are fugitives."
Kelly sent him a side eyed look. She had just about had it with Max's slow and overly cautious driving and any other time would have immediately taken over. But with one hand unusable and her head swimming, she was in no condition to drive. Jill was doing well just to keep herself sitting up and so driving duties automatically defaulted to Max. "You can still go faster than sixty." She insisted stubbornly.
Shaking his head, Max pressed a little harder on the accelerator and edged the little Pinto up to seventy five. "Fine." He muttered. "Why not? Speeding won't even crack the top ten on the list of laws we're about to break tonight."
"Thank you." Kelly grumbled.
"And if I get a ticket, Old Charlie will take care of it, right?"
"You're not going to get a ticket." Kelly sighed. "Will you just-"
All three occupants of the Ford Pinto were visibly startled when red and blue flashing lights suddenly illuminated the night behind them. The trio swore in unison.
"Shit!" Max hissed between his teeth. "The one time-"
"Don't slow down yet!" Jill was turned to look out the back window. "It might pass us. Hang on." She chanced hopefully. The three held their breath in anticipation, but it was hardly a surprise when the squad cars sirens began to blare. The police cruiser sped up until it was right behind them, dashing the slight chance that the Pinto wasn't its target. Max groaned. The cruiser's intentions couldn't have been have been made more obvious.
"Well, shit." Jill conceded, flopping back into position in the backseat. "Nevermind. Pull over."
The inside of the Pinto was washed in flickers of red and blue for an excruciating few moments before Max began to steer it toward the shoulder.
"No! What are you doing?! Just keep going!" Kelly suddenly cried in agitation, slapping at Max's shoulder. "We can lose them!"
Max looked horrified. "What?!" he cried. "No, we can't-"
"Yes, we can!" Kelly cried. "Go! Floor it!"
"Are you out of your mind?!" Jill snapped, smacking the back of Kelly's headrest with an angry palm. "Max, just pull over."
"Don't pull over!" Kelly shouted.
"Pull over!"
"No!"
"I'm not a drag racer!" Max said firmly, signaling left. "Just everyone calm down. It might still be ok-"
The drone of static on the CB radio suddenly cleared and an unmistakable voice crackled to life inside the interior of the Pinto.
"Busy Beaver?! Come in, Busy Beaver! Is that you, goddammit?!"
Jill and Kelly exchanged an alarmed look through the rearview mirror. Whether that voice made the situation better or worse would remain to be seen.
Kris's borrowed squad car squealed around and past yet another car, sirens blaring, bullying its way through traffic as it made its way north. Inside, Sabrina sat in the passenger seat, her face nearly pressed against the window as she helped Kris navigate her way up the highway, hoping to achieve their goal of catching up to Kelly and Jill.
Doing so without killing anybody would be a plus.
"Okay, you're clear! Go, go!" Sabrina ordered, waving her arm wildly.
Kris gritted her teeth and swerved into the newly cleared lane. She hadn't thought to check herself and fully trusted Sabrina's judgement, so when an alarmingly close car horn blared behind her, she yelped and instinctively slammed on the accelerator, sending Sabrina thudding back into her seat.
"You said I was clear!" Kris cried accusingly, as she regained control of her vehicle.
Sabrina breathed a curse. "You were clear! He was being sensitive!"
"Sensitive?!" Kris echoed angrily. The offended white sedan she'd just cut off veered around and passed her on her left hand side. He laid on his horn, jutted one arm out of the driver's side window and flipped up his middle finger before speeding away.
When the white sedan was a safe distance away, Kris let out a relived sigh and relaxed. She'd considered it a small victory when she had been able to convince Sabrina to let her drive Ryan's car earlier, but now Kris found herself wishing she was sitting in the passenger seat instead. Sabrina was proving to be the most infuriating of back seat drivers.
"Did you see that?" Sabrina complained, watching the white sedan disappear into a crowd of vehicles. "This is a cop car. What a jerk."
Kris rolled her eyes. "Now who's sensitive?"
"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Sabrina sighed quickly. "We're almost out of town."
"Thank God." Kris grumbled.
The two women fell into a tense silence as they drove. Finally, the traffic thinned out as they began to make their way outside city limits. Completely fed up with the loud howling sirens by now, Kris was too happy to shut them off. The relative silence was a welcome relief.
"They couldn't have gotten far." Sabrina mumbled, more to herself than Kris. "They can't be more than twenty minutes ahead of us. We'll run into them soon."
Kris nodded absently. Now that they'd left the bright city lights behind them, it was much harder to see the road. She checked her speed slightly and flicked on her brights. "You do know where to go, right?" she asked nervously.
"Yeah." Sabrina answered with forced confidence. But, her outward confidence quickly melted into a troubled frown. Even she couldn't keep up the façade. "Well, sorta." She admitted. "Max was with me last time. He knows his way around there."
"Too bad he's back at the hospital wondering where we are."
Sabrina scoffed. "There's no way either of those idiots is able to drive. He's with them. I know he is."
That made such perfect sense, that Kris was surprised she hadn't realized it before. "Ah." She replied slowly. Though she should have been angry with Max, she couldn't help but be relieved that neither her sick sister nor injured friend was behind the wheel of a car. "Well, at least with Max driving, there's a chance we can catch up to them."
That bit of news caught Sabrina's attention. "What? How do you mean?"
Kris smirked. "Unless he's on his bike, he drives like someone's grandma. Trust me, if he's driving, we'll catch them."
That news made Sabrina almost smile. Maybe tonight wouldn't end as badly as she thought. "Good."
She settled back in her seat and the two women continued their way toward Bridge Grove. There were hardly any cars on the road now and several miles passed between sightings. They were definitely headed in the right direction. Both women remembered well the sense of isolation their last visit to Bridge Grove had given them.
Nearly half an hour went by before Sabrina perked up in her seat. Kris watched as she leaned forward, craning her neck and squinting her eyes at a far off set of taillights in the distance.
"Hey…I think that's them!" She blurted out excitedly, whispering for reasons unknown.
"Are you sure?" Kris answered back, adopting Sabrina's whispered tone.
"That looks like my car. Can you speed up?"
Without answering, Kris pressed down on the accelerator, easing the cruiser closer and closer to the far off set of lights in front of them. She could feel her throat began to tighten as they drew ever closer to what could be Sabrina's Pinto and an end to this madness. A few minutes later they had gained enough ground for the cruiser's headlights to illuminate just enough of the car in front of them for Sabrina to be certain of her earlier guess.
She let out a whoop of joy that made Kris jump.
"That's my car!" she whispered, tapping on the dash in her excitement. "That's them. Pull up next to it, will ya?"
Kris obliged her and sped up as much as she dared to on the dark stretch of highway. Any lingering doubts she had about the vehicle in front of them not being Sabrina's Pinto were quickly washed away the closer they got. They were close enough now to make out the outlines of the Pinto's three passengers. Jill, Kelly, and Max. And about damn time too.
"Pull up on the driver's side. No one's coming." Sabrina said quickly, her eyes glued to the car ahead.
"I'm trying to." Kris sighed. She was pushing the cruiser even faster, but it wasn't her imagination. The Pinto was speeding up significantly. "They're speeding up. You think they made us?"
Sabrina's lips pressed into a grim line. "Probably. It doesn't matter, though. They're going to stop. Turn on the siren."
The siren wailed to life in response, flooding everything around them in red and blue lights. The Pinto slowed just slightly and then returned to its previous speed, much to Sabrina's exasperation.
"Why aren't they stopping?" Kris wondered aloud.
"Oh, they'll stop." Sabrina growled, over the sound of the siren. "They better stop."
"Then why aren't they stopping?" Kris cried again.
"Because, they know it's us." Came Sabrina's quick answer. She leaned forward and began pawing at the police scanner in the car. "Hey, how do you turn this damn thing on?"
To keep Sabrina from damaging Ryan's car and giving her something else to answer for when she returned it, Kris slipped one hand away from the steering wheel and quickly flipped on the radio. "Press the button on the side to talk." She ordered hurriedly.
Sabrina had already figured it out. "Busy Beaver!?" she yelled into the receiver. "Come in, Busy Beaver!" Nothing. She turned the dial.
"Come in, Busy Beaver!"
"Hey, there you are, baby girl!" a lecherous male voice drawled on the radio. "Tell Daddy where you are and I'll be happy to come-"
"Ugh, this guy!" Kris cried in frustration.
She lunged forward, her free hand flew back to the panel and the man's voice clicked off before finishing whatever it was he had been about to offend her with. She angrily turned the knobs, tuning into whatever frequency she could get to get away from the highway pervert.
Sabina decided not to comment. "Busy Beaver, come in!" she tried again. When the dead static continued longer than a second, she changed frequencies yet again. Was the third time a charm?
"Busy Beaver?! Come in, Busy Beaver! Is that you, goddammit?!"
Inside the Pinto, Kelly had recovered enough to grab up the radio receiver and respond. Jill and Max were silent, their attention glued to the receiver as if Sabrina herself was in the car with them.
"Bri?" Kelly answered nervously into the receiver.
"I told you this was a bad idea." Max groaned. "She's gonna kill us isn't-"
Kelly shushed him and leaned closer to the radio to listen.
"Yes, it's Bri!" Sabrina's angry voice crackled back. "What the hell are you doing?!"
Kelly swore under her breath and clamped down on the side button to reply. "I…is that you in the cop car?"
"What? She's in the cop car?" Jill blurted out from the back seat. Kelly ignored her.
"Yes, it's me! Pull over. Now!"
Kelly groaned to herself and glanced at Max just in time to catch his pleading look. The receiver clutched loosely in her hand, she slumped back in her seat, utterly defeated. She was just off guard enough for Jill to lunge forward and yank the receiver from her hand without a fight.
"Hey!" Kelly protested.
But, Jill had quickly come to a conclusion and was determined to salvage the situation. "Sabrina, is Bill with you?" Jill called frantically into the receiver, ignoring Kelly's feeble attempts to win it back. "Put him on!"
"No, he's not with me!"
Jill looked horrified. "What?! Don't tell me you stole his car! Did you steal a cop car!?"
Kelly's eyes went wide.
"No, I didn't steal a cop car, stupid." Came Sabrina's voice, before Kelly could react. "It's Kris's car, reme-"
Her line cut out immediately, but not before both Kelly and Max plainly heard Kris's shriek of horror.
Jill's features screwed up in confusion. "Kris's…" she started into the receiver. "Kris is with you? Kris…why does Kris have a cop car?"
There was an unnaturally long silence on the other line and Kelly could just imagine the conversation that was now taking place in the police cruiser behind them.
"Why does she have a cop car?" Jill redirected her question in genuine confusion to Kelly and Max in the front seat. She turned back to the receiver. "Come in, Kris. Kris, why do you have a cop car?"
To her growing unease, Max and Kelly's eyes darted towards each other and then looked away. The pair of future parents looked very much like two guilty children all of a sudden. Sensing immediately that the two of them knew something she didn't, Jill leaned forward between their seats and tried again in a soft and eerily calm voice.
"Why does my sister have a cop car, Kelly?"
Max sent Kelly a helpless glance. He most certainly was not going to take the lead in this. There was no other option but for Kelly to tell her.
Kelly took a deep breath. "Okay, so…"
The radio coming back to life spared her from having to continue. She shut her mouth as Kris's timid voice filled the Pinto.
"Jill? You there?" she called nervously.
"Yes, I'm here. Where did you get a cop car?" Jill snapped back.
"So…I'm a cop. In San Francisco. I didn't tell you. I'm sorry. I wanted to. I was...I was going to tell you, I swear."
Jill looked floored. "What? Y-you? You're a cop? No, you're not. Since when?"
"Since last summer."
Jill shoved the receiver back into Kelly's hand and withdrew into the backseat. "Oh my God." She breathed to herself. Her gaze met Max and Kelly's in the rearview mirror. Neither had dared interrupt for fear that her rare Munroe temper would rear its head.
They could not have been more right.
"So my sister is a cop. And I guess I'm the last one to know about this, aren't I?" Jill spat, her voice like venom. "I cannot believe you let me go on thinking that she was st-"
"Whoa! We just found out this morning!" Kelly protested. "I swear I didn't know!"
"You've known all day!" Jill cut her off. Her glare leveled at Max. "And you? Let me guess. You're innocent too, right?"
Max flinched. "I…I found out this morning. We pulled up at that crazy hospital and there she was, in uniform, pulling you out of the window! I was just as surpr-"
"Max!" Kelly cried, seconds too late.
Max blinked, realizing what he'd just said. "I mean…she.- Aw, shit." He breathed softly.
In the rear view mirror, Jill's expression was unreadable.
"Kris was there last night?" she echoed slowly, realization washing over her in waves. "Kris was the cop in the window? With the gun? That was my sister?"
Kelly could have thrown Max out of the window. "Yeah, Jill." She settled on after a tense silence.
"Oh my God." Jill groaned to herself. The crazier pieces of Kelly's version of the story started to make much more sense. "That's why Bri had her go looking for us. 'Cause she called her and Kris said she was a cop."
Kelly hesitated for a moment. "Probably."
"So she calls Kris. And the little idiot comes over …without reporting it or calling for backup. All by herself. And climbed through a window and almost got herself killed because of us. That's why she's limping."
Kelly swallowed. That wasn't entirely true, but her blonde friend seemed to have the gist of it. "Uh…yeah, Jill."
The CB radio rattled and Kris's voice filled the Pinto's interior again.
"Jill? Are you mad? I'm sorry, Jill. Come in, Busy Beaver."
With a weary sigh, Jill leaned forward and again took the receiver from Kelly's hand. "No, I'm not mad." She said evenly into the receiver, still very much stunned. "I…look, we'll talk about this later, ok? Jesus Christ, for a second there I thought you had stolen a police car."
Kelly and Max mutually decided to let Kris field that comment as well.
"Uh…" came Kris's voice after a moment's hesitation. "about that. This isn't my car so I …kinda did."
Jill looked up sharply and clicked the side button one last time.
"Pull over. Now."