Chapter 6: A Whole New Ballgame

                                             

   Derek Mallory couldn’t believe his ears. “What do you mean you met Schuyler Whitney at the hospital? You’ve met the man, hell you’ve been hounding him in Monticello for almost a year!”

   

    Damian nodded on the other end of the line and rolled his eyes, waiting for the “Mallory Explosion” to end.  “Look, Chief, I don’t know if this is some kind of trick, but the man has a beard, a real one that can’t just grow in a couple of days, more like months.”

   

   “So you talked to him?”

    

   “Well I sat with him for a few minutes and chatted a bit. Believe me, my guard was up and he was trying to talk through a massive headache. He finally passed out and I helped a nurse get him back to bed.”

  

    Derek scoffed. “It sounds like he convinced you already.”

   

  “Hey, I don’t have any solid proof, but his story was riveting from what he could tell me. His memory isn’t clear on a lot, but if he was really piloting that plane that crashed 3 years ago as he says, it fits. And Chief?”

   

   “I’m listening.”

    “When you get a chance, see if you can talk to Valerie Bryson. Don’t let on what I’ve been telling you, just make it look like you’re checking Sky Whitney’s past.”

    “I don’t follow.”

    

   “This guy has a picture of her with him next to his bed.”

  

   “What?!”

  

   “Exactly.”

  

   “This is a heavy load, Tyler. Does it tie in with anything case-wise?”

  

   “Not that I can see. We all know who killed Gunther Wagner and Bobbie Gerard.”

  

   “Correction: we did know.”

   

    Damian frowned. “Right. If the man in this hospital is the real Schuyler Whitney, who the hell is the man I’ve been hounding? Wait a minute!”

   

  “Every minute I wait is on the Department’s bill, just say it.”

  

   “Let me ask you this: why was the man in Monticello so hostile toward me whenever I came to his house?”

  

   “Besides coming to see his wife? I’d take offense, too!”

  

   “No, Chief, it was more than that. Whenever I asked him about the plane crash or Jeff Brown, he got positively angry…come to think of it, the last time he and I spoke of it 3 months ago, I could swear he was more scared than angry. He seemed particularly interested in the length of my suspension.”

   

    Derek sat forward. “I hear you. The problem is, where’s the proof?”

   

  “Yeah, that’s always the problem. It took 4 months to get all of the pieces of Gunther’s murder together and much of it was by chance. If I hadn’t been on the Lorimer case I wouldn’t have learned about the blank cartridges.”

  

   “And you almost paid for that evidence with your life.”

   

   “Right. All right, Chief, I need to think on it for a bit. Anything interesting going on there?”

  

   “Besides my being engaged? Not really. Oh, yeah, there was an incident at the Whitney Mansion.”

  

   “Whoa, hold on. Engaged? To Jinx?”

   

    Derek smiled, he couldn’t help it. “Who else?”

   

    “Congratulations! Now what was that about our favorite center of criminal activity?”

    

   “Someone broke in and got shot by Spencer Varney.”

    

   “Spencer shot someone?”

  

   “He’s been cleared, the intruder shot first. Unlike Romeo Slade, this intruder is still alive. He apparently has gangland connections in Detroit.”

  

   “That’s bizarre. Did he say why he was there?”

  

   “No, he’s been quiet, too quiet really, almost like telling us would get him killed.”

  

   “Can’t Monticello be quiet while I’m not there?”

  

   “Well we can’t bore Calvin, can we?”

  

   “I guess not. I’ll be in touch.” Damian hung up and laid in his bed, thinking about everything…and it was exciting him and causing a massive headache at the same time.

 

   

   It was blurry at first, just a big gray blur. She opened and closed her eyes several times, but nothing cleared up. She tried to rub her eyes, but could not bring her hands to her face. She could hardly move them, in fact, they hurt like hell and could not bend…like her arms were in a cast. So she did what she always did in an unbearable situation: Raven Whitney screamed.

   

    After a moment, nothing happened. At least she heard herself scream, so she wasn’t deaf, but the vision was still not clearing. She closed her eyes and started to think, what was the last thing she remembered? In her mind, she saw the steep slope ahead, and remembered going faster and faster, losing control of herself. Sky told me it would be ok, he would be there with me.  A fast turn became a slide, then intense pain in her right leg…then it blurred. Wait, it wasn’t a complete blur…she felt Sky carrying her for a short time. Then he stopped. She could hear his voice, saying something…loving? Yes it had to be.

   

    So where was she? Where was Sky? What the hell was happening? In time, the gray turned to dark. It was night. She had apparently woken up on the edge of it. With a deep hopeless breath, she fell asleep.