Free Blood Red Sundown: Evil Begins by Allen Gates

have to listen to it while I’m enjoying a pleasant memory and a
great cup of coffee.
    Pulling in next to Lon’s car she let out a profanity
then muttered;
    “Lon, can’t I ever get here before you? You must live
here.”
    Walking in, she was confronted with Lon’s typical morning
jab.
    “You look awfully perky this morning, partner! Did you
get a lot of sleep or something and I do mean something?”
    He looked into her eyes, and smiled. “You had a date,
I can tell. Tell me about it and don’t give me; the I don’t kiss and tell bit.”
    Anne gave him a half-smile turned and sat down at her
desk slightly embarrassed, but pleased he had noticed. She toughened up and confronted
him.
    “Forget my love life and let’s figure where we are on
the questions needing answers on this case?”
    “Come on Anne, who is he? How did you meet him?”
    “I think you’re jealous that I’m having a life outside
this job. You ought to try it I think it would help your disposition.” She sat back
in her chair.
    “For the first time in a long time Lon, I woke up and
felt like singing. When was the last time you woke up feeling like that?”
    “Okay, I give. I’ll leave you alone on the matter until
you feel like talking about it. Just one more question? Did you get lucky?”
    She threw a pen at him, which he ducked relishing in
the humor of his question.
    “You would love it if I described the entire evening
in complete detail, wouldn’t you?”
    He smiled, nodded yes as he answered his phone, and received
a message from a lady officer on patrol.
    “New information Anne, the senator’s car was located
last night. I want you to call and tell him we’ve located his stolen car and inform
him that he can pick up the Mercedes his wife was driving that night. We will hang
on to the car until it has been thoroughly examined. If he needs assistance in the
matter, volunteer the two of us to drive the wife’s car home for him. It will give
us another chance to check in on him and check his level of grief now that time
has passed. One other thing, it was bad news on the lab report. Nothing was found
to implicate your senator.”
    The call was placed and it was agreed that they would
drive Mrs. Radford’s car home and he agreed to another session of questions. He
had agreed, but it had to be coordinated with his schedule.

24
    STEPHANIE PARKED IN her designated spot at the hospital. She fluffed her hair in the visor mirror, checked
her teeth, shrugged her shoulders and left the car. Her second week on the job and
surprisingly it was beginning to feel like home. She hoped this move would be good
for her and as soon as she found a house, her life should be normal again. She walked
through the side door of the hospital and was greeted warmly by several staff people,
but one orderly in particular, always over did his greetings with a look that made
her feel uncomfortable.
    “Avoid that one,” she said to herself.
    The desk nurse handed her the clip board that held her
schedule for the day. Regardless of the difficulty of her schedule she always started
her mornings by visiting two terminal patients that she had grown fond of and dropped
in to keep their spirits up. They had little or no family who spent time with them
and it gave her a warm feeling to provide them this small gesture.
    As her morning rounds ended, her stomach alarm alerted
her to head down to the cafeteria. The elevator door opened and the dreaded orderly,
pushing a wheelchair patient, entered the elevator.
    “Hey Doc, are you checking up on me?”
    “Why, pray tell me, would I want to do that?”
    The car stopped at the next level and he pushed the patient
out into the hallway, turned, smiled and said, “See you.”
    She ignored him as the door slid shut. She tried to get
his arrogance out of her mind as she stepped out into the dining area. There were
quite a few hospital staff as well as visitors already seated.
    “Salad today Stephanie and forget the pie, even