*
Jack couldn't believe his ears. She was found. His prayers were answered. He slammed the phone back into its cradle with force so great that it bounced off, and hit the floor. Jack didn't care. He'd put the phone back on the hook later. He had to get to St. Benedict’s. He grabbed his keys off the hook by the kitchen door and walked quickly to his car. Adam, Blake and Tommy were following, fast on his heels, determined to go with him. Jack eyed them suspiciously, and sped off without them. He wanted to do this by himself.
The usual half-hour drive took Jack twelve minutes; throwing caution to the wind as he tried to get to the hospital as fast as he could to see Tristan. Road rage took over as Jack cursed at drivers who, heaven forbid, adhered to the speed limit. It just wasn't fast enough for him. Finally, he pulled the truck into the parking lot of St. Benedict’s Hospital for the Infirm. When he got to the front desk, there was no guard to check him in, so Jack flagged a nurse that was whizzing by, and she told him where to wait. Jack made his way over to the waiting room, patiently waiting on Dr. Branson to give him an update.
Jack wasn't a very patient man to begin with, so this was utter torture for him. He watched in agony as the clock on the wall ticked away the minutes. Finally, about forty-five minutes later, Dr. Branson came through the double doors of the emergency room with a frazzled look on his face.
"Are you Mr. Morrow?" asked Branson, as Jack rose to his feet.
"I am... How is she?"
"She is being taken back to radiology now to get an x-ray of her ankle. I think it’s a sprain, but we just want to take the extra precaution."
"Can I see her now?"
"Once she's out of radiology and back in her room. I must warn you though, she is still exceedingly belligerent."
"Belligerent?"
"Angry. She does not want to be here. She is jumpy, like she thinks she is still in danger."
"Did she say anything about where she was?"
"She won't speak to anybody."
"Okay. I'm sure this was all a shock to her. The important thing is that she is alive."
"After her x-rays are complete, I will have a nurse come grab you."
"Thanks, doc..."
Jack slumped back down in his chair biding away his time, fighting off the urge to go back to her patient room himself.
*
DiNolfo pulled her squad car up to 10 Farringer Drive in Elkhart and came to a halt. She double checked the address on the notepad, just to make sure she had the right place. It was definitely the right address. She walked up to the door and rang the bell, but there was no answer. A moment later, a young woman opened the door.
“Excuse me,” she said as she pushed her way through the doorframe, “Oh, were you ringing the bell? It’s broken you know...”
“Oh, it is? Do you live here?”
“Yeah... Going on two years now.”
“So you’re familiar with the other tenants?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Mrs. Matheson on the first floor is okay, but the guy that lives on the third floor is a real weirdo.”
“What is his name?”
“The mailbox says Kendricks, but he never introduced himself. I think he’s a teacher at Steeplechase. I wouldn’t know. I never went there.”
“Why do you think he’s weird?”
“He just is. Very odd. The postman mixed up our mail the other day and I walked a letter up to his apartment as a courtesy, just to be nice, and he looked at me like I was crazy. Then this morning around 4 A.M., he came barging in the apartment building cursing and making a lot of noise. Like I said, he’s really weird.”
“Thanks, Miss...”
“Benson. Lisa Benson.”
DiNolfo raised her eyebrow. In a small town like this, the surname was no coincidence. She would have to remember this later.
“I recognize your name from somewhere.”
“Yeah, you and everybody else. My father was a popular guy back in the ‘80s around here. You should ask Deputy Cope more about him. He’s the one who got him locked up in the first place.” Lisa spoke in a tone that was wrought with anger and sarcasm. “As if anybody around here believes that my father really did anything.”
“I’ll have to take a look at that case file.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Nice to meet you. Please, take my card, and call if you have any information for me.”
With a nod, Lisa was gone, and DiNolfo was climbing up the first flight of rickety steps in the apartment building. The inside of the building was in serious disrepair. The spackle on the walls was cracking, the yellowing drop panel ceiling was missing several tiles, and the staircase looked as if they hadn’t been vacuumed in years. This was exactly the type of run down establishment you would expect to see in a mountain town like this with no real economy or strong financial foundation.