Kenny Ch. 08-09

Chapter 8

Barb looked back and saw that they were out of sight of the doors.

"Let's go ahead and get you taken care of Mr. Jacobs. It will take them quite a while to get the shit back there cleared up. By the time they get to looking for us we may be done. X-ray is down this way."

Barb then noticed that she and Ken were not alone. "Pardon me miss, may I help you?"

"I'm staying with Ken; every time I let him get away from me bad shit happens."

Barb looked over at Ken with raised eyebrows, "I thought you said that you didn't have a girlfriend?"

"I don't, Connie is a friend and co-worker at the lodge."

Connie was behind him looking at the nurse with a serious expression slowly shaking her head back and forth.

"Oookaayy." Barb turned and led the way to the X-ray room.

Back in the waiting room things were more than a little tense.

Three police officers were standing in the doorway pointing their guns at Marcia. Into this setting strode the Public Safety Director for the city of Carmel-by-the-sea; Elizabeth Turrington.

"Marcia Friedman, what the hell are you doing?"

"Hello Beth, I wondered if you would show up. I'm keeping control of these hoodlums; they broke in here and shot one of your people. I'm not going to put this gun down until they are restrained so you had best get your people over there."

"What about the man on the floor? He doesn't look like he would be much of a threat."

"He's the one who shot Officer Billy, Beth."

Chief Turrington waved two officers over to secure the men under discussion. "Now would you like to tell me what is going on?"

"Don't say anything else Mrs. Friedman, and where is Mr. Jacobs?" The lawyer from Marta's firm had arrived. He was a tall reedy type with glasses dressed flawlessly in a pinstripe grey suit with a bright blue tie and carrying a briefcase.

"Hello Wilbur, I am glad to see you. Ken is getting his arm x-rayed. Are you aware of what happened out at the lodge?"

"Yes ma'am, I am. My brother Wilbur is out there keeping Mrs. Horne out of trouble. Walter Neilson at your service Ma'am."

"My apologies Walter. Are you and Wilbur twins?"

"Yes ma'am, don't worry about it; happens all the time. Now I need to talk to you for a minute in private before you answer any more questions from the police. I'm sure you understand Chief."

"Yes, I do. If Marcia will just hand me that gun you two can step outside and talk for a minute. I've got a bunch of people in here who can tell me the events of the last few minutes."

"Be sure you ask those crooks what they have to do with Donny Drake, Beth. While they were robbing us they said something about taking off to Mexico with him."

"Thanks Marcia, I will."

Marcia handed the gun to Beth, "This belongs to the man on the ground, he used it to shoot your officer." Marcia then led Walter outside and off to a private little alcove.

Inside The hospital Beth started her questioning of the suspects; she pulled one of the men off to the side and spoke to one of her officers. "Hey John, see if you can get someone to look after that guy on the floor, he doesn't look too good right now." Turning to the man she held, "You, on the other hand, don't seem to have any problems other than participation in the commission of a felony. You want to tell me what this is all about and what connection you have with Donny Drake?"

"I'm Eddie Cullen, Donny and David Drake are guys I hang out with sometimes. David is Donny's brother; he's in the red shirt over there. If I tell you what I know, can you do anything for me?"

"That depends on what you tell me. I can guarantee that if you talk to me it will go easier on you than it will on the others."

"Okay, I'll give it a try. Here's what happened. We were down at the Ranch Club drinking and this dark skinned Mexican gal comes in. Donny said that she wasn't getting away from him tonight; he was going to get some from the half-breed. He tried dancing with her and she told him off; so then he stopped every one else from going over to ask her to dance. When she saw what he was doing she just packed up and left. Donny told us to hang loose and then he followed her out.

"The next thing we know is about an hour or so later Donny calls Jerry and says that he had to knock out a doctor, and he'll pay us good if we can get him out of the ER. He said that there was a cop in the waiting room; we'd have to take care of him. We piled into Jerry's car and came over here. As soon as we walked in Jerry pulled a gun and shot the cop.

"I swear I had no idea that he was going to do something like that. Donny has a lot of money and he pays good, but I would never have signed on for something like that. Anyway, David took the cop's gun and headed down the hall to find his brother. We started taking wallets and purses from the folks in the waiting room for something to do. The next thing we hear a crash from down the hall, then a few minutes later Jerry falls and there is this fucking barbarian standing over him holding Jerry's gun telling us to go stand in the corner.

"We do what he says and then he gives the gun to this woman and tells her only to shoot us if we fuck up. Conan took off with a nurse and the babe Donny was after, then you came in. Is that good enough to help? That's all I know."

"Yeah Eddie, I'll do what I can for you. Now go outside with this officer and wait for us in the car while I check what you said with the others."

Outside Walter was being brought up to date by Marcia.

"Okay Mrs. Friedman, I don't see where you are going to have any problems from this. You haven't done anything anyone would have a problem with or try to sue you for. Mr. Jacobs, on the other hand, is in serious need of assistance. The altercation out at the lodge shouldn't cause much trouble because he stopped as soon as the assailant was no longer a threat. His actions here seem to be more in the line of a vigilante than pure self protection though. The legal ramifications of that can be quite extensive. I need to get together with him and be present whenever he talks to the authorities. You do realize ma'am that this is going to take time and money to do. Defending Mr. Jacobs is not your or Mrs. Horne's responsibility."

"I don't like the sound of that Walter. Ken has saved our lives and tonight I am sure that he saved at least Consuela's and probably several more. There is no way that Marta or I are going to drop him on a public defender. You and the whole law firm if necessary are going to keep our employee from suffering for his actions in our defense, do I make myself clear, Walter?"

"Completely Mrs. Friedman, and I am pleased that you have. I was hoping you would say that, but I had to give you the option. Now, do you think that you could distract Mrs. Turrington while I locate and brief Mr. Jacobs?"

"Yes, Walter, I think I can. Please call me Marcia, Walter; I believe that I would like to get to know you a little better. Are you or your brother married?"

"I think I would like that Marcia; and no, neither of us is married. We both were right after college, but the girls were not able to deal with Wilbur and I being so close. They seemed to think that just because we married them that my brother and I should not spend as much time together as we liked to do. It is hard to explain Marcia, but Wilbur is a part of me, I can no more take actions without considering how they will affect him than I could walk over hot coals without considering what it could do to my feet. Finding women who would see that and be able to deal with it is hardly easy. We have been going to twin conventions to try to find a matched pair."

"Ooh, that's kinky. Is Wilbur giving the same line to my sister?"

"He will probably try, but Wilbur is constrained by the fact that Mrs. Horne owns the firm we work for. Hitting on the boss is frowned upon. I however, have no such problem."

"We'll talk more about this later Walter; right now let's get back inside before we have more problems. You remember what I said though; Ken means a lot to us and we don't want anything bad to happen to him. Take care of him for us please."

Inside the x-ray room tension was mounting. Barb decided to cut it back a bit. "Tell me about yourself Ken. How did you find yourself in this situation and what are your plans for the future?"

Connie was still looking daggers at Barb, but she was interested in the last part of the question as well, so she contented herself with being close to Ken and touching his bare chest and arms as much as she could without looking too forward.

Ken didn't want to get too personal with someone he had just met, and besides that Connie already knew most of his past, so he was just going to gloss over the facts. "Well I got married while I was in trade school and I had to drop out to support her and the baby on the way. After she left me I was working at the mall as a security guard when Mrs. Horne gave me a job at her lodge. I want to go back to school so I can have a regular job and maybe get my little girl back. Do you want to see her?" He was trying to get to his wallet in his left back pocket with his right arm when Connie took pity on him and pulled it out.

"Here, this is my little Mallory. Have you seen this Connie?"

"No I haven't Ken. Ooh she is darling. Such a little princess. I assume that is your ex holding her?"

Barb saw the picture as well and she and Connie shared a look behind Ken's back.

"So you got this woman pregnant, married her, and then she left you? What caused that?" Barb asked.

"Actually I didn't get her pregnant; Mallory was born less than seven months after I met Belinda. All she saw me as was a meal ticket. I think her mother convinced her that she could get the same money without having to live with me, so she left."

"That's even worse. What trade were you training for?"

"Mechanic, I have been working on cars most of my life. This job with Marta is pretty good, but there isn't much of a future with it. I would like to have my own garage at some point in the future."

"What about your love life? Do you intend to get married again?" Connie's expression got a little more intense at this question.

"Oh, I don't know. I suppose if I meet someone I would be willing to try again. It would be nice to have a few more kids too. At least the sisters taught me that Belinda was wrong about me."

By this time the x-rays were done and the three were just sitting waiting for them to develop. As Barb pulled them out she said, "I can't wait to hear about this. Just what did these sisters teach you?"

Ken was getting into a full blush when Walter Neilson found them.

"There you are Mr. Jacobs and you as well Miss Gomez. Pardon me miss," he addressed Barb, "but I need to talk to my clients in private. Are you done with them for now?"

"Yes, you can just stay here if you would like. I need to take these x-rays to a doctor to read them and make some decisions as to treatment. I'll be back as soon as I find out."

Barb closed the door behind her and left.

Walter listened to Ken and Consuela recount to him everything that happened that evening and he only had a couple of comments. "Criminy, you killed him with a bedpan, that is justice squared man." And the other comment was, "A spear, you made a spear out of an IV pole? Well at least you didn't MacGyver it up with a scalpel or something. And Mr. Jacobs was correct Miss Gomez, you did nothing wrong to bring this situation about, but you should never have been going to these places alone. Please tell me that you will not do that again."

"I promise Mr. Neilson, besides; Ken offered to take me next time."

"All right, that would be best; now neither of you is going to talk about any of this without me being present. If need be, and it shouldn't, I will get someone else to represent you Miss Gomez. I will need to concentrate on helping Mr. Jacobs here. We'll let them question you and Mrs. Friedman first, as your stories are pretty close and you were mostly victims, you did very little on your own. The main advice I have for all of you is to tell the truth, that doesn't mean tell all of the truth, just what they ask about. Answer their questions, but don't volunteer any information. If you are asked why you did something, wait for me to interject, your motives are none of their business, just your actions, I'll make them restate the question."

There was a knock on the door then and when told to enter Barb stepped in. "Good news Ken, your arm is not broken. There is extensive and deep bruising, and a few cracks, but no breaks. You will need to wear a sling for a couple of weeks and then do some physical therapy, but that is all. I told the doc about the scalpel you had stuck into your arm, and he made out a prescription for some antibiotics just in case. You will need to come back in next Friday so I...he can check on your progress. Why don't you take me to dinner afterwards? There is a nice restaurant on fisherman's wharf and I am willing to go dutch."

Ken was flustered at this. He had no idea what to do in this situation. Connie, on the other hand, got a very calculating look in her eye. "How about this Barb, I will be accompanying Ken here, and he promised to take me dancing later that night; so let me join you two for dinner, and you can join us dancing? How about that?"

A surprised Barb answered, "Why not? Sounds good to me; it's a date."

Ken was bewildered, and Walter was laughing.

*

Chapter 9

"SHE DID WHAT!!?? Roared Ken.

"Relax Ken, it's all under control. The man Walter hired called social services and the police. Belinda is in custody and Mallory is waiting for you to come and get her. I made reservations for us and the limo will be here in an hour. Please calm down, everything is being done that can be." Marta was stalking back and forth the whole time she was talking. Her agitation was evident by the wringing of her hands and her quick steps.

This was Monday morning and Ken had been relaxing by the pool with Marcia, after doing what exercises he could with his arm in a sling. Then Marta had come out from answering a phone call. The call had been from Walter Neilson. He had told Marta that the investigator watching Ken's ex-wife had informed him that Belinda had gotten drunk Saturday night and left the baby in a biker bar under the supposed care of one of the waitresses. It had taken all day Sunday, but the judge had ruled that the father could come and get the child until a full custody hearing could be done. Belinda and her father were both in jail for two separate counts of drunk and disorderly. Her mother was out of town visiting a sister, so she was not available either.

All of this was happening after the longest weekend of Ken's life. The interrogation after the break in attempt was bad, but this time he had descended another three levels into hell. The Carmel police had not been too bad; the events at the lodge were pretty straightforward and easy to explain away. The hospital though, had been under the jurisdiction of the Seaside police. They had been another 30 minutes in responding after the Carmel police, and they had treated Ken as a homicidal maniac. Without Walter staying with him and filtering the rage he was developing, Ken would have lost it and probably spent a lot of time in jail trying to get things sorted out. Watching Marcia and Walter tiptoeing around each other and feeling out the beginning of a relationship helped though; and it kept Ken from examining his own romantic troubles too deeply.

Sunday night he had finally been allowed to go home and get some sleep. Ken was kissed and thanked fondly by each woman at the lodge. He had even been allowed to give Stefan a hug goodnight, a new first in his relationship with Connie.

The limo ride to Frisco and the flight to Boise were tense. Ken was flip-flopping between being excited about seeing Mallory again and enraged that Belinda would take such a chance with the child's safety. Marta and Ken spent much of the time talking about what changes would have to be made to adapt to having a little girl living with them. Marta wanted to move Ken into one of the larger cabins, but he would have nothing to do with it.

"Look Marta, we need to talk about a few things. This isn't the way I was going to do it, but what the hell. I am deeply thankful for everything you have done for me, but the job at the lodge is not what I want to be doing when Mallory goes to school. All of the heavy work is done now and maintaining what I have done will not take as much time or effort. There is no way you need to keep paying me as much as you have been. It is not fair to you, and that is how the job was presented to me in the first place. I want to go back to school now and finish up my certificate. I can keep the place up while I'm at school, but after that you can hire someone about to retire or maybe a disabled vet to do the maintenance. Once I have my certificate, I will need to work as a mechanic for a while to get the other certs I need. I was thinking that maybe you and Marcia would be willing to be partners with me in a garage. I've really come to love you both and I think Mallory will too. I don't want to drop out of your life, just change how I am in it is all."

"Are you going to take Connie with you when you leave Ken?"

"That is the other problem I have Marta. What am I going to do about Consuela? I know that she is thankful to me for saving her from that asshole, but that is not a good basis for a relationship. I found that out with Belinda. She needs to find a man worthy of her."

'Damn,' Marta thought, 'I thought that we had gotten him beyond this. How do I make him see that he is good enough for Connie, and may be the perfect man for her?'

"And yet you are taking her and the nurse out to dinner and dancing Friday night. Do you think that the nurse is more your speed, are you hoping that she will push Connie away from you?"

"I'm not sure what happened there Marta. I don't remember asking either one of them out, but somehow we have a date. I'm supposed to take them dancing and I don't know how to dance. Hell, I've never even been into a club."

"Well I'm not sure how the nurse happened to get into the picture, but Marcia said that you told Connie that you would take her to the clubs if she still wanted to go."

"I meant that I would go along as a chaperone, to keep her out of trouble. And barb said something about when I saved her the second time I no longer needed to ask to take her out. I suppose that is a good thing, because I never would have asked her. As soon as she gets over being grateful she'll leave."

"Well, I don't know this Barb, but I know Connie very well. I helped Selena raise her and I think I have a pretty good idea of what makes her tick. Now would you say that she needs a man who would be kind and gentle with her?"

"Definitely, but he would have to be able to be firm with her as well. Not physically or anything, but I have seen her go off on a tangent a time or two and her mother or you had to reel her in."

"That's right; she would need a firm hand now and then. Do you think that the man for her should be able to support her and her child?"

"Of course he should, he should also give her more children to love as she loves Stefan."

"Very good. Do you think that he should be willing and able to protect her?"

"That goes without saying Marta; she is a precious package and needs to be kept safe."

"And how about physical love? Do you think that he should be able to provide her with pleasure? Wouldn't it be good to hear her scream in ecstasy?"

"Well, yeah." Ken said, almost in a whisper.

"And lastly, do you think that the man for her should love Stefan as much as you do?"

"Now wait a minute here Marta, I see where you are going and you are wrong. Once she has time to wake up Connie will not want anything to do with me."