Raven: A political thriller Page 10

  There, sitting on the living room couch, was Raven next to Maggie going over baby pictures of Don. He stopped in his tracks at the bottom of the stairs as Bear growled at Don while sitting next to Raven, who was running her free hand along his neck.

  “Ma,” Don said with a tone of annoyance, while staring at the two sitting on the couch.

  Maggie just glanced up and smiled while Bear gave out a low growl.

  “We were waiting for you to get up. I was just telling Raven what a beautiful baby you were.”

  Raven shrugged her shoulders as she stared up at Don’s bare chest. “I don’t mind. It was good to take my mind off all that’s going on.”

  Maggie patted Raven on the knee. “Now don’t you fret, dear. Don will make it all better.”

  Don glanced at Maggie and rolled his eyes, wishing she wouldn’t make promises like that. He turned to Raven and stared at her for the longest time before he regained himself.

  “Did the hospital call?” Don asked.

  Maggie shrugged. “No news is good news.”

  Don just turned and started walking into the kitchen while Maggie turned to Raven.

  “I should show you pictures of Don’s first day in kindergarten. He cried all the way there.”

  Don turned to Maggie quickly and shook his head. “I’m supposed to be protecting her, not boring her with baby pictures.”

  “I don’t mind,” Raven said with a smile.

  Maggie chirped with pride in her voice, “All three of my boys were carbon copies of their father.”

  “I’m an only child,” Raven said.

  “You’re lucky you didn’t have a brother. Men can be so difficult growing up.”

  Don wasn’t gone long. The call was quick, the news somewhat good. While in the kitchen he poured a cup of coffee and then walked back into the living room.

  Raven glanced up from the photo album. “What did they say?”

  “Fred made it through surgery. He’s in recovery now.

  Maggie quickly got up and walked past Don. “I’ll make breakfast.”

  “You don’t have to on my account. I should be leaving,” Raven argued.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Don asked.

  “I don’t know, but I know I can’t stay here.”

  “Why not?” Maggie argued. “I have plenty of room.”

  Raven turned to Don. “I have a life, a job that I need to get back to,” she argued.

  Maggie looked over at Raven. “It’s the weekend,” she said, reminding Raven of what day it was.

  “Also, there are people who want you dead.”

  “What about my parents?”

  “I’ll talk to your father and let him know you’re safe.”

  “Oh he’s going to love hearing from you,” Raven snapped.

  Don laughed to himself because he knew exactly what she meant. He hadn’t given the doctor a good impression of himself. But he also knew the doctor was concerned about his daughter and knew he understood the seriousness of the situation. Two attempts had been made on the Senator’s life. The fact that they trashed Raven’s house was a clear indication they were trying to clean up loose ends now.

  Don looked sternly at Raven and then continued, “And no phone calls. I don’t want them coming here looking for you.”

  Raven turned to Maggie, who was startled by Don’s abruptness and the tone of his voice. Raven then glanced at Don with a look that was sincere.

  “I promise.”

  “If you have to make any calls, do it on my cell phone,” Don said as he handed Raven his phone.

  Raven just slipped it in her pocket.

  “I’ll take Maggie’s. Her number is programmed in so if you need to call me, go into speed dial.”

  Raven quickly went into speed dial and then smiled when she realized Don had his mother’s phone number as number one in his speed dial.

  “Why would I need to call you?” Raven asked, shaking her head.

  “In case you need help.”

  “You’re scaring me,” Raven said, looking up at him.

  “I’m just covering all the bases. You may never need it.”

  Don walked out and left Raven in the care of his mother. He felt she should be safe, as no one knew she was there and there was only one person who knew she was still alive. That was the person who set the Mustang on fire, and he wanted to keep it that way for now.

  Maggie walked into the kitchen. She sensed there was something special about Raven. It was in the way Don looked at her and the fact he brought her home to protect her. There were safe houses around the city to care for victims of crime. For him to bring Raven here made her special in Maggie’s eyes. Plus the fact, she liked Raven.

  * * *

  Don entered the hospital and quickly took the elevator up to the fifth floor. Although there was no reason to have a security guard outside Fred’s door, one was placed there until things could be sorted out. Don wasn’t asked for his ID, and the officer on duty was a rookie cop Don saw in the station on numerous occasions. As Don got closer to Fred lying motionless on the bed it scared him at first, but the steady heartbeat on the monitor was confirmation that the man lying there was still alive. The IV dripped fluids directly into his bloodstream.

  Don stood near the bed as Fred slowly opened his eyes. He tried to get up but Don stopped him.

  “You have to rest,” Don said.

  “What happened?”

  “All hell broke loose last night,” Don replied and then paused before continuing. “Did you see anything when you drove up?”

  “I almost missed your car parked in the neighbor’s driveway. Smart move,” Fred said and then laughed. “There was a car parked two blocks down, but it was empty.”

  “That was probably the car Raven was driving.”

  “Then I wasn’t dreaming. That was her I saw?” Fred said as he caught his breath. “Where did the gunfire come from?”

  “Near as we can figure, behind the hedge across the street.”

  “I heard a dog barking, then you opened the door. That’s all I remember.”

  “Charlie is checking out the property owner. Neighbors say they’re out of town, won’t be back until mid-week.”

  “This whole mess could be over by then.”

  “I wish.”

  “Where’s the VanBuren girl?” Fred asked.

  “Safe for now. I want to keep it that way, so don’t say anything about her still being alive, not even to the Chief.”

  “How did you know?” Fred asked staring at Don. He was curious.

  “I didn’t know for sure. It was only after Senator Maxfield was shot again that things started adding up.”

  “What was your first tip-off?” Fred asked.

  “Her parents.” Don shrugged in a way that irritated Fred because he passed it off as Don’s obsession with the portrait.

  “Yeah, they did act rather strange,” he said, trying to cover up the fact he had missed their reaction to their daughter’s untimely death.

  “It didn’t make sense.”

  “I guess that’s what years on the force will do.”

  Don shook his head. He disagreed with Fred. “No, that’s knowing human nature.”

  Suddenly a CODE BLUE came over the hospital intercom system. A nurse scurried around outside, and then ROOM 542 was broadcasted. Don turned to Fred quickly with concern on his face.

  “That’s the Senator’s room.”

  Don rushed out of Fred’s room and followed the nurse to the room with all the activity. He tried entering but was pushed out by a nurse. All Don could do was watch as the crash cart was wheeled in. The doctor frantically tried to get a pulse while a nurse was pumping oxygen into the Senator. The doctor quickly reached for the paddles. He turned up the dial, listened for the hum as the machine quickly wound up, and then once the machine reached the proper frequency, the doctor quickly yelled out.

  “Clear,” the doctor ordered.

  Once the patient was clear of
everyone, the doctor quickly pressed the paddles to the Senator’s chest. The Senator’s body jumped as if convulsing. This process was repeated two more times without success. Finally the doctor flipped the switch on the crash cart. He turned and glanced at the nurses, who were standing by silently, and then looked at his watch.

  “I’m calling it,” he said and then continued. “Time of death, 8:38 am.”

  One of the nurses quickly wheeled the crash cart out while the other nurse made the notation on the chart. She handed the clipboard to the doctor, who quickly signed off on it. The doctor walked past Don and started walked down the hall. Don quickly followed after him.

  “What happened?” Don asked.

  The doctor stopped and turned to Don. He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  Don hurried over to the nurse’s station at the end of the long hall. He waited until the nurse hung up the phone and then quickly asked what was bothering him. “Where’s the cop that was posted,” he said, pointing down the hall to the Senator’s room.

  The nurse just glanced up at Don, appearing somewhat puzzled by his insistence. “It wasn’t my day to watch him,” she snapped. Her sarcasm was clearly noted.

  Don’s eyes narrowed as he stared down at the woman in front of him. There had been too much crap happening lately that he had no control over. It angered him when lives were at stake, and he didn’t take kindly to defiance during an investigation. His nostrils flared as he started barking orders.

  “I want all those rooms checked,” he said, pointing to the rooms down the long hall.” And then he stared down at her. “I don’t want anyone entering the Senator’s room until the lab boys are done in there.”

  No sooner than Don got the words out, a loud scream that came from the Senator’s room. Don ran back down the hall to the room in time to see the nurse standing in front of the open bathroom door. He hurried over there, only to see the uniformed officer sitting up against the vanity with a third eye in the middle of his forehead. Don just shook his head. He would have preferred chewing the young officer out rather than going to his funeral.

  Don turned to the two nurses nearby. “Anyone see anything?” Don asked.

  The two nurses looked bewildered. Granted, they dealt with death on a daily basis, but the officer being shot like that was not something anyone could get used to.

  * * *

  Don was in Fred’s room. The curtains were closed to allow Fred to rest. But Don pacing the floor like a caged cat was unnerving even for Fred, who was still heavily sedated.

  “Now what,” was all Fred could muster up to say.

  “How in the hell should I know?”

  Don shook his head and then stopped and drew the curtains back. He stared out the window for the longest time.

  Fred tried to get up, but the pain was too great. He reached for the bed controls and raised the back of the bed until he was almost in a sitting position, then he just stared at Don.

  “You’re walking a fine line.”

  Don turned to him and then shook his head. “They’re not after me.”

  “They weren’t after me either. I only got in the way,” he snapped and then after a long silence he continued, “Someone wants her dead.”

  Don felt chills run up his spine. There was nothing more he could do there. Fred was no longer in danger, but Raven, on the other hand, was like a sitting duck. Especially if someone followed him last night. Don hurried out of the door and left the hospital. It was a long drive to his mother’s house and traffic was heavy for a Saturday morning, making him even more nervous than he was.

  Chapter 16

  After what happened at the hospital and talking to the attending physician, it was clear the Senator did not succumb to the bullet wound he sustained. Best that could be determined was he was injected with an arterial air embolism which caused a heart attack, but it wasn’t official and the best Don could hope for was Monday morning for that report. Until then he would have to lay low. His only hope was that no one had him on their radar and that Raven would be safe where she was.

  Don hurried out of the hospital but got hung up in heavy traffic. His biggest fear was that Raven would hear about the Senator’s death on the radio and call her friend to offer her condolences. At this point he didn’t know if anyone was listening in on the Senator’s home phone. He didn’t need them tracing any calls to his phone.

  Once Don got to Maggie’s house he quickly parked the squad, and when he saw the front door slightly ajar, his heart raced thinking about what just happened at the hospital. A part of him told him there was no way for anyone to know Raven was here, but then his cop instinct took hold. A cop posted outside the Senator’s hospital room door wasn’t enough to stop them from going in after the Senator a third time to finish the job.

  Don’s biggest fear was that whoever was behind this might be going after everyone involved to clean up loose ends. He didn’t need his mother getting caught up in this case.

  Slowly, Don climbed up the steps while he unholstered his gun. Once he got to the door he stood there for the longest time listening. He slowly opened the door with his foot and then slid silently in. The television was on, which made it difficult to focus on any other noise in the house. Don’s heart was in overdrive throughout this whole process. The perspiration dripped off his forehead, not knowing what he brought down on his mother. He would never forgive himself if anything ever happened to her because of a stupid case he was on. For an instant he regretted his actions of last night, but it had seemed his only course of action at that point in time.

  Don kept close to the wall as he slowly maneuvered into the kitchen, and, when he turned the corner and looked in, he was relieved there were no bodies on the floor. What puzzled him was that the backdoor was wide open, something Maggie never did. He rushed over to the door and, as he stood in the doorway, he came face-to-face with Maggie and Raven as they walked up the porch steps.

  Maggie was shocked to see Don with gun drawn. She screamed and dropped the basket of tomatoes from the hothouse out back. Raven just stared at Don in disbelief.

  “Lord Jesus! What’s gotten into you?” Maggie yelled at Don in disbelief.

  All Don could do was lean against the house as he also was in shock and out of breath by what he had just done. Slowly he lowered his gun and struggled to breathe again. In all his years as a cop he’d never once pulled a gun on his mother.

  “The front door wasn’t closed. I thought?” Don started to say but Maggie cut him off.

  “The mailman came with a package. I must not have closed it tight,” Maggie replied, curious why a simple thing like a door ajar would prompt her son to draw his gun like that.

  Maggie bent down to help Raven pick up the tomatoes, then she turned back to Don.

  “What’s this really about?” Maggie asked.

  Don had a guilty look on his face as both women stared up at him and waited for his answer. It took Don a while to say the words.

  “Senator Maxfield is dead.”

  Raven collapsed on the steps as she put her hands to her face. “Oh my God!” she cried.

  Don reached down for her. “I’m taking you with me. It’s the only way I’ll know you are safe from now on.”

  Raven attempted to get up but then collapsed again. She appeared somewhat white in the face. “Nothing makes sense. I have to talk to Ellen. She needs me.”

  Don reached down and grabbed Raven by the arm and helped her up.

  “There were already too many people who know you’re still alive. We don’t need more.”

  “But,” she tried to say.

  Don cut her off quickly. “No buts about it. Get your things. We’re leaving.”

  Maggie said nothing. From the moment Don stepped through the door with Raven at his side, she knew there was something special about this woman. She did not know to what extent his concern for her was. It might have had something to do with his recent breakup with Jackie. But somehow she didn’t think it was that. There was s
omething different about Raven. Maggie liked her too. She seemed unlike the other woman that Don always brought home. Raven seemed normal.

  Slowly, Maggie put the last of the tomatoes in the basket, and then she finally looked up at Don.

  “We were going to make a batch of chili for you, the way you like it,” Maggie said.

  Don just laughed. “You two can play happy homemaker another time.”

  Maggie quickly turned to Raven. “Do promise to come back.”

  Raven glanced up at Don. She noticed the concern on his face and knew she better follow his orders, but it angered her that she seemed to have no control anymore. She was caught up in a tidal wave of despair ever since Willie confided in her about his investigation. Yet he didn’t share pertinent details, which angered her now, because it might be all for naught in the end. She was fuming that whoever did this might get away with it because of his naivety in dealing with these people.

  “I’ll come back,” she said, hoping that it was the truth. And then she glanced up at Don. “I can’t keep going like this,” she snapped.

  “You have no choice. We’re leaving now.”

  Don wasn’t so sure that what he was doing was best. All he knew was that Raven had to be at his side. He was trusting no one to keep her safe. It bothered him that he’d left her alone with his mother. Because there was no telling what kind of danger he put his mother in because of that.

  Don might have to bring Raven back, but for now she was not leaving his side.

  Chapter 17

  Don followed Raven out of the house. He stared at her for the longest time and was so relieved she was okay he could hardly control himself. Don couldn’t tell her that. It was his duty to keep his distance. It was not appropriate for him to get involved in someone pertinent to a case he was officially working on.