Fire in the Embers Ch. 06

Part 29 - Epilogue

Wednesday, November 18th. Deputy Police Chief Robert Brownlee was bitter. The night before, he had been told by Thomas P. Cook that the Second Reading of the Bill to cement Sean Moynahan as Police Chief had passed. Cook had made sure to note that he felt as betrayed as Brownlee by the actions of several Council members.

His calls this morning to the office of State Senator Katherine Woodburn had gone unreturned. In the first two, messages were taken. On the third call, he was informed the State Senator was in Midtown, was unavailable, and would remain unavailable to him for the indefinite future. That was politician-speak for "I don't want to talk to your worthless ass; go away and don't come back."

His temporary assistant Donna came into his office. His regular assistant had quit a couple of weeks before, and he was having trouble getting anyone assigned to the post; no one was willing to work for him. And Donna would be leaving for the Courthouse soon, to work for the Solicitor, Miriam Walters, at the end of the month.

"Sir, it's hot in here." she said. She looked at the thermostat, which Brownlee had set to maximum. The automatic system did not allow an actual heater temperature higher than 78 degrees, no matter what it was set to. But that was plenty warm.

"Are you kidding?" Brownlee said. "It's freezing!" Indeed, he was wearing his police jacket over his uniform, and was trying to huddle into it even more.

"Are you feeling okay, sir?" she asked, noting that he was very pale.

"Not really." he said. "I'm cold, I feel exhausted, I've got heartburn, indigestion..."

"You may be coming down with a cold." she said. "You should try that Zinc-eze medicine that prevents or shortens colds. Anyway, here are the budget figures you wanted." Donna said. She placed them on his desk and walked out.

As she sat down at her desk, she heard a *THUD* in the office. Getting up, she knocked on the door but got no reply. She opened the door and looked in, and shrieked.

Robert Brownlee was lying on the floor.

Donna's screams brought Lieutenant Teresa Croyle and several uniformed officers to the room. Brownlee's eyes were open now, and he looked up.

"It... hurts." he gasped, clutching at his heart.

"Call an ambulance! Get some aspirin!" yelled Teresa. A bottle was produced within seconds. She slipped an aspirin into Brownlee's mouth, and had him sip from a water bottle to wash it down.

"Ma'am," said Sergeant Irwin, who'd just appeared, "it'd be faster to take him to the Hospital in a Police cruiser than wait for an ambulance."

"You're right." Teresa said. "Get him into the back of SUV 3. I'll go get the keys."

With that, officers rushed to put the backseat of the SUV down, and put Brownlee inside amongst the equipment in back. Sergeant Irwin drove, blue lights flashing and sirens blasting, with Teresa on the radio, notifying the hospital, then notifying the Duty Desks of Headquarters and all the Precincts.

At the Emergency Room of University Hospital, E.R. personnel rushed outside as the Police SUV hurtled to the door, and put Brownlee on a gurney and rushed him inside. It was to Brownlee's great fortune that Dr. Richard Searles, one of the very best cardiologists in the Nation, just happened to be present and available to perform surgery upon him...

Finis.