A Series of Unfortunate Events

Chapter 18

Rusty angrily slapped his hands on the counter at the nurses' desk, "No! You are not going to stand there and tell me she's not here either! I have been all over this God-forsaken desert for the last several hours! This is the third hospital I've been to! She's got to be here!" He ran his hand through his hair that was getting long again.

"Sir, I'm sorry she's um she's here. Just… not… not on this floor," said a young nurse assigned to desk duty because of her advanced pregnancy. She wore purple scrubs and a long black ponytail. Her name was Estrella. She could see how agitated the young man before her was and didn't want to have to be the one to tell him the news she had to tell him.

"Has she been admitted? Which floor is she on?" Rusty asked suspiciously. He was young but he had been through a lot in his short amount of years, he wasn't stupid either and he could tell she was holding back something.

"Um… I'll… I'll… get my supervisor," Estrella said nervously.

As he finished his tirade and the girl was finished stammering through what she was trying to tell him. Rusty looked up and saw Andy walking down the hall towards the ER with Bella on his shoulder, but no Sharon anywhere around. "Andy! Where have you been?" Rusty asked all but yelling.

At the same time, Andy asked, "Rusty, where have you been?"

"Looking for you," was Rusty's answer. "All over the desert!"

"Seeing the pediatrician with Bella," was Andy's answer.

"Where's mom?" was Rusty's next question.

"Where's your mother?" was Andy's next question.

"Wait, are you just getting here?" Andy asked incredulously.

They spoke simultaneously, both a little irritated with each other, at first.

"Yes. There was a backup on the freeway. We were crawling, for a couple of hours. I kept trying to call you but you didn't answer. I went to two hospitals before this. Grace gave me the address for Eisenhower Medical Center but you weren't there. Then they sent me to Desert Regional, but you weren't there either. They said that this was the only other hospital around and that nurse over there was telling me she's not here!"

"What nurse?"

"The one in the purple scrubs. She's standing over there with that other nurse." Andy looked over at where Rusty was pointing. He didn't recognize the woman he was indicating. Well, it's probably change of shift. It's been a busy day. She probably hasn't met her yet. Look your mother should be in this cubicle, he walked over to the area that he had sat in with Sharon. 11B, it now had a man that looked like he'd been in a terrible accident and was in pretty bad shape. He was covered in bandages, a lot of bandages. Andy just stared, then he turned toward Rusty.

The lady Rusty spoke of, talking to the nurse in purple scrubs was the Nurse Supervisor for the evening shift. She was coming their way, with an inscrutable expression on her face. "Gentlemen, could you come to my office, please? We need to talk." Rusty and Andy looked at each other, both knew this could not be good.

They followed the nurse into her office and sat down. Andy placed the sleeping Bella in her car seat and buckled her in. Then he sat up and looked the Nurse Supervisor in the eye. "Okay, where is my wife? I left her here two and a half hours ago to go to the pediatric area of the emergency department, so our daughter Bella could be seen. My son, Rusty here, hadn't arrived yet so I was forced to leave her alone. She was asleep because she'd been given a sedative after a home invader shot at her with our daughter in her arms and she had to shoot him, She had a furrow on the side of her head from a bullet that grazed it. That needed stitches, but she was otherwise unhurt. Her name is Commander Sharon Raydor of the LAPD and she was in 11B until I left her at 3 or 4 in the afternoon."

"I'm sorry to have to inform you, but Sharon Raydor died this afternoon."

Andy's face and Rusty's face lost all color. Andy didn't know what he had expected her to say but that wasn't it! "Excuse me? Did you just... sa… s… say she… d… d… died?!" Andy and Rusty cried at the same time.

The woman nodded. "I'm really sorry. At this time, we're not sure how it happened, it was an unattended death. She's been sent down to the morgue so our medical examiner can figure it out. Unfortunately, there have been many deaths because of a multi-car accident so he probably won't get to her right away. It could be a couple of days before we find out I'm very very sorry for your loss."

Rusty was speechless with grief. He felt like he was suffocating. She couldn't be dead! She survived a shoot-out in the courtroom. Not one but two bomb explosions, double pneumonia from that, and being shot at by Gary. How could she be dead?! He stood up and ran blindly out of the office.

Andy wasn't even aware that Rusty had left. His heart felt like a brick in his chest. He struggled to take deep breaths to keep himself from hyperventilating or having another heart attack. He needed to stay calm and focused. This couldn't be true! He knew that if she was really dead he would know it in his heart, in his very soul, but all he felt was mind-numbing fear. If she wasn't dead then where could she be and what was happening to her? Andy cleared his throat and said, "I need to see her, but first I need to use a landline phone because my cell isn't working."

"I'm afraid it's not possible to see your wife at this time. We have a strict rule that civilians are not allowed down in the morgue. Only medical personnel are allowed down there. Once she's been autopsied she will be released to a funeral home of your choice. They'll arrange a private viewing. As far as your phone, we have no signal here within the hospital for cell phones. Here is the landline. I'll give you privacy. Again, I'm very sorry."

Once she left the room, Andy called Dr. Morales. "LAPD Morgue. Dr. Morales speaking, how can I help you?"

"Fernando, this is A… Andy Flynn. I need you to drop what you are doing and come to Desert Hot Springs Medical Center as fast as you can! I…" Andy tried to swallow a sob.

"What are you doing there? That is like the armpit of the desert? Lieutenant… Andy? What's going on? Why are you there?"

"It's a long story, but you're right about that. It is the armpit of the desert. They are telling me…" Andy swallowed back another sob. "They are telling me that… Sharon is... Sharon is dead and I need you to come down and confirm it for me. I'm finding it impossible to believe that she's dead, but if… if… it's true, and it is h… her. I know that she would want you to… be the one… to take c… care of her. Please, bring your high-tech identification equipment. I don't think they have any equipment that was invented after the 1990s."

Dr. Morales was shocked by what Andy was telling him. Trying not to upset the lieutenant more than he already was the doctor kept his voice even, "sure, I'll come right away. Um… Do you want me to call Chief Mason or do you want to?"

Andy was pacing as he talked, he couldn't seem to stay still. "I'm going to try to get ahold of Tao or Provenza. I'll let them talk to Mason. Oh, if Fritz is back from seeing Brenda see if he could bring you here."

"Don't worry, the LAPD will get me there. I'll talk to SOS. Hang in there, Andy. We'll get this straightened out. I'll be there as fast as I can." Morales was making a mental list of what he needed to do to get out of there as fast as possible.

He took in the hospital around him not believing what was happening. Andy couldn't hold back his distress any longer. "Please hurry, Fernando! We need to find out what happened and they won't let me down there to view the body."

The doctor tried to help by explaining, "they won't let civilians down there, but you're not a civilian, Andy. You're a lieutenant of the LAPD."

"I know, but I'd rather wait. As long as I don't see the body it's not real. It's a mistake. Oh, my God, I can't bear for this to be real!" he sobbed.

"I can't either. Listen, focus on making the rest of your calls. I should be there soon. Meet me in the parking lot. I'll call you, on your cell in one hour."

"My cell hasn't been working, but maybe if I walk outside, it will."

"It'll do you good to take a walk, Andy. It will clear your head. I'll be there as soon as I can." Then Dr. Morales hung up.

Andy hung up too, picked up the car seat with Bella in it and walked out of the hospital. He saw Rusty right away. He was pacing while talking on his phone. Tears were running down his face. Andy figured he was talking to Dr. Joe or Buzz… or Gus. Andy sat on the bench under the awning but far enough away from the hospital to get a signal. He started making his calls. As he tried to dial he realized his hand was shaking. He squeezed his hand shut and then opened it. He tried to take some deep cleansing breaths and tried to keep it together. Sharon, Bella, and Rusty needed him to keep it together. Andy called Provenza first, but his phone was busy. Next, he tried Patrice, her phone was busy. He left messages, and then he called Mike. "Tao residence, Mike speaking."

"Hey, Mike. I need you and the team here at Desert Hot Springs Medical Center ASAP." He then explained what had happened.

Mike got up from the table and started pacing. He'd been eating dinner, but after hearing Andy's news he suddenly didn't have an appetite. "I'll call Mason, Amy, Nolan, and Julio. We'll be there as fast as we can."

Andy exhaled loudly relieved that the team would be there soon. "Thanks, Mike and thanks for not treating me like I'm just a grieving husband who doesn't want to admit the truth."

"Andy, Raydor has been the best Captain I've ever had. We loved the Chief but she could be a bit unconventional. It took a little while to trust our Captain but once you did, you always knew she'd do it by the book and keep us out of trouble. We all love her and would give our lives for her. If this happened to Cathy, I'd be doing the same thing. I'd want my team to take me seriously. Take care and stay calm. We don't need you to have another heart attack."

"I know and I'm trying to keep it together. It's hard, very hard. Just… get here as quickly as you can."

"On my way!"

After finishing talking to Mike, Andy started to call Emily and Ricky but decided against it. They would insist on coming and they'd end up getting in the way. He would wait and see what developed. Until then, he would wait to call them. While he was thinking things through, Provenza called. "Hey, Flynn. Rusty called and told me what's going on. Look, this has got to be a misunderstanding. Patrice is trying to get a flight for us." He looked up and met Patrice's tear-stained face. She wiped away tears. She had become friends with Sharon and was very upset for Andy and Rusty. She nodded quickly, indicating she'd found a way there." We'll be there as fast as we can. Hold on Buddy, we're on our way."

"Thanks, Louie." Provenza swallowed his own tears back as he heard a sob in Andy's voice.

"You listen here, Andy we'll be there with you soon, and when she turns up and she will turn up, alive, we'll all go out for a steak dinner and I'll even pay."

"No, I'll pay even though you know I don't eat steak. I'm sure I'll find something I can eat and it'll be the best damn meal we've ever had," Andy's voice faltered. "I gotta go. I'm getting a text."

"See You at The Desert Hot Springs Medical Center. That's what it's called, right?" Louie asked.

"Yes. Right now, we're in front of the hospital ER because there's no cell service within the hospital."

"Okay, we'll be there!"

"Thanks, Louie," After getting off the phone, Andy was starting to check his messages, when he heard a shout from Rusty. He went to find out was going on.

TBC...

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