Chapter 3
Harley stared at the commander dumbfounded. “It isn’t possible.”
“Could he simply have not told you he was not on it?” Burns asked.
“We live together, Commander,” Harley explained.
“We share our grandmother’s three-story brownstone.
I’m upstairs and he is downstairs, but we share the common area of kitchen and formal living and dining rooms on the main floor.
There is a small cabinet in the kitchen where we store the OTC drugs, vitamins, and supplements for when one of us is ill.
If Reilly were taking a medication, he would have stored it there. ”
“I see,” Burns said. “Can you provide me with his primary care physicians’ information and pharmacy?”
“Of course.” She pulled out her cellphone and showed him Reilly’s medical information and contacts, including his pharmacy. “I’m…I mean was Reilly’s emergency contact, so I have all his other medical contacts if you need them.”
Burns snapped a photo of her screen. “I’ll reach out to his doctor tomorrow and confirm that he wasn’t on Warfarin since you weren’t aware of it.”
“What does Warfarin in his blood show?” Harley asked.
“It means his blood was unable to clot and we think– or the doctor thinks–that’s why he bleed out,” Brand explained.
“So the cut on his neck isn’t what killed him?” Harley asked.
“It contributed to it, but if the ME is correct, then the fact that his blood wasn’t able to clot was the cause,” Burns added.
Harley rubbed her temples to slow her tumbling thoughts. “What does this mean?”
“It changes the cause of death from accidental to suspicious if he wasn’t taking the prescription drug.”
“Suspicious?” Harley said softly. “As in someone was trying to kill him? Who would want to kill him?”
“That’s the question we have to answer,” Brand said.
“Would you like an officer to be stationed outside of your house tonight?” Burns asked.
The unexpected change of subject caught Harley off guard, sending waves of fear tingling over her skin. “Why would I need that? Do you think I’m in danger?”
“We don’t know at this point,” Burns said heavily. “Hopefully the answer is no, but until we can determine more after speaking with his doctor, I’d rather err on the side of caution.”
“Then yes, please, assign an officer tonight,” Harley agreed.
“Let me make a phone call and I’ll have someone follow you home,” Burns said and stepped away.
“Would you like for Carly to spend the night with you?” Brand asked.
“No, thank you though,” Harley told him gratefully. “I probably won’t get much rest, and she doesn’t need to lose sleep in her condition.”
“So she shared our news?” A sudden grin lit up Brand’s face.
“She did,” Harley said, and they walked back to their friends. Carly coming over to meet them.
“I just checked with the nurse on the maternity ward, and Colleen is still in labor,” she informed them. “I was lucky to find out that much.”
“Are you wanting to stay or go home?” Brand slipped an arm around her waist.
“I’m not sure what to do,” she said. “I do have to work tomorrow. I have a client who wants to meet for a consultation at noon.”
Harley glanced at her watch and saw it was already after midnight.
She hadn’t realized she’d been at the hospital that long.
But she was certain she’d lost track of how long she and Jules had been waiting for news about Reilly’s condition before the girls came rolling Colleen in even if it hadn’t seemed that long.
Still more officers arrived, all wanting to speak with her about Reilly.
She forced herself to patience politely listening and responding when all she wanted was to get out of there and go home.
She wanted to process everything that had happened tonight and most of all, she wanted to talk to Scottie.
But was it wise? Should they be in contact with an investigation going on?
Uncertain what to do, she decided to wait for him to reach out to her. If he did then she would know it was okay. Until then, she’d keep her distance.
“Ready to go?” Jules asked. “You look like you are beat. I’ll drive you and Will can pick me up at your place.”
She nodded and grabbed her coat from the chair where she’d been sitting and slipped it on. “I appreciate it,” she said, and followed the couple out of the hospital and into the night.
The shrill ringing of the phone woke Harley late in the next afternoon, but she didn’t answer it.
Her head was foggy as she tried to recall why she had slept so late and then everything came rushing back to her so fast she screamed and held her head on both sides with her fingertips.
The image of Reilly lying on the ice, seeing the blood spilling all around him, the wait at the ER and then learning he was dead.
Exhaustion overtook her and she fell back on the bed crying at the loss she felt.
The phone rang again, and she stared at it for a moment before she reached out and answered, seeing it was Carly on the caller ID. “Hi. I thought you had a meeting with a client at noon today.”
“I did,” she said. “But it’s over now. Really dumb question, but how are you?”
“I’m numb.”
“Yea. I know it’s not the same thing, but when I got divorced, it felt like I was losing part of myself. Might be what you’re feeling like.”
“Maybe.”
“Did you get any sleep? Really?” Carly told her. “Can I bring you dinner or something?”
“I just got up. I haven’t even thought that far.”
“What about tomorrow?”
“I’ll figure it out as it happens,” Harley said.
“Fair enough, but if you need anything.”
“I’ll call you,” Harley told her. “I appreciate you checking on me.”
“Okay.”
And Carly hung up.
When she did, Harley started crying again. Damn. Carly’s phone call had only made things worse. She couldn’t pretend that yesterday hadn’t happened, that her twin brother wasn’t dead.
Pushing back the covers she went to the kitchen’s small cabinet and searched the bottles of OTC drugs, vitamins, and the few bottles of prescription medications, but nothing in there indicated that Reilly had been taking Warfarin like she told the commander.
She staggered to a kitchen chair and sat. Why? Why had Warfarin shown up in the tox screen as being in his blood work?
She went downstairs to his room and went through his bathroom cabinet looking for anything that might have been hidden there and then in his bedroom nightstand but found nothing.
It’s a mistake, she told herself. It’s all a mistake. With that mantra beating in her head, a shivering Harley returned to her room and her bed. She needed to talk to Scottie. She knew if she could they would be able to figure this out together and everything would be alright.
And then her grief overwhelmed her, and she cried herself to sleep.
“Wake up, Dugan.” Mitchell’s booming voice jerked Scottie out of sleep. Blinking, he sat up from where he’d slumped over the table. What time had that been? In the wee hours of the morning? He rubbed his jaw and winced at its tightness.
“What time is it?” he asked.
“Two in the afternoon.” Mitchell yanked his chair back. “Come on, stand up.”
“What’s going on?” Scottie slowly got to his feet. “Can I go home now?”
“Afraid not,” Mitchell said. “Internal Affairs is here to talk to you. He’s waiting for you in Commander Burns office. They thought it would be a better location than in here.”
Scotties eyes narrowed. “That’s awfully fast for them to come in don’t you think?”
“Not really,” Mitchel said. “I hate to break it to you like this, but Flynn died on the way to the hospital last night.”
Bile rose in Scottie’s throat, and his head swam at the man’s words. He grabbed the back of the chair to brace himself. “What?”
“You heard me. Flynn’s dead.”
“Shit.” Scotties knees gave way, and he sank into his chair again. “You’re shitting me, right?”
“Do you have an attorney?” Mitchell asked, ignoring his question.
“Do I need one?”
“You might.”
“As my union rep are you telling me to get one?” Scottie demanded, managing to get up again.
“If I were in your shoes…yes”
Disbelief clouded Scottie’s thoughts. “It looks that bad, huh?”
“What do you think?” Mitchell snorted. “Flynn died after your skate sliced the neck guard, cutting his neck..”
“But it was an accident, damn it!” Scottie protested.
“I believe you, but will Internal Affairs?”
“Shit,” Scottie repeated.
“And when they find out you were dating Flynn’s sister…”
Scottie grabbed Mitchell’s arm. “No one knows. We never told anyone because Reilly couldn’t stand me.”
“Then why date her?” Mitchell asked.
Scottie shrugged. “We clicked. We never intended for it to happen, but it did.”
“Okay,” Mitchell conceded. “We better not keep them waiting. Let’s go.”
They walked down the hallway and took the elevator up to the next floor getting off and turning left before they came to Commander Burns office. The door was open, and Scottie saw Brand walking out as they approached. He gave him a nod as they passed, and Mitchell knocked on the open door.
“Come on in,” Commander Burns said. “Close the door.”
Scottie and Mitchell entered, closing the door behind them.
“Take a seat, gentlemen,” Commander Burns said.
He pointed at the man seated beside him.
“This is Internal Affairs officer Robert Trainor. He’s here to investigate what happened to Officer Reilly Flynn.
Even though the incident happened while he was off duty, it was during a police force sponsored event. ”
“Good afternoon,” Trainor said. “You don’t look like you got much sleep last night, Officer Dugan.”
“I didn’t. I was help in an interrogation room all night,” Scottie replied.
Trainor directed his gaze at Burns. “Why was that, Commander? Did you feel he was a threat? Or a flight risk?”
“It wasn’t the Commanders call,” Simpson said. “It was mine. I was talking with him most of the night about what happened.”
“And you chose to treat him like a suspect?” Trainor said.