Avarice

The emergency area around Hillcrest Hospital in La Jolla was jammed with sheriff’s cars as Josh turned the Mercedes into the driveway. His heart was beating so hard it felt like a jackhammer pounding into pavement. He saw an ambulance at the front entrance, and, desperate to get to Rosemaria, he pulled to a stop next to a No Parking sign. He hopped out of the car, hit the ground running, and reached the back of the ambulance as two EMTs were placing someone on a gurney. An oxygen mask covered a woman’s face, and one of the EMTs was holding an IV bag with a tube running into one arm. He recognized Rosemaria by her unmistakable auburn hair, even though much of it was now stringy and covered with blood. His heart stopped beating for a second. He couldn’t speak. He was terrified.

The EMTs rolled Rosemaria through the glass doors and Josh had to run to keep up with them. “Will she be okay?” He tried to yell but choked on his words, and they came out as a whisper.

The EMTs didn’t answer, just kept rolling the gurney toward the ER, and before Josh could catch up with them or ask more questions, two uniformed sheriffs grabbed him by the arms. “What’s your business here, sir?” one of them demanded, his voice gruff and no nonsense.

Josh struggled to free his arms, but the sheriffs, one of them built like a middleweight and the other one thin and wiry but with a grip as firm as a jailhouse manacle, hustled him into a corner of the lobby. The middleweight put his face close to Josh’s. “Why are you here? What is your interest in this person?”

Josh was desperate to free himself, and it took every bit of self-control he had to answer. “She’s my fiancée!”

“You’ll have to wait in the squad car until we check you out,” the thin one said.

“Nuh, no, no!” He almost stuttered. “Please, I have to see her.” The phlegm in his throat was so thick he felt like he was drowning in it.

The cops ignored his pleas and began walking Josh toward the exit door. With a strength born out of desperation, Josh broke free and ran down the hall toward the ER. No damned cops were going to stop him from seeing Rosemaria. He slammed through the ER doors with the sheriffs on his tail. Medical personnel looked shocked to see a disheveled man staring down at the woman on the gurney. One man, his face covered in a white mask, who looked like he was about to poke a needle into Rosemaria’s arm, spoke in an angry whisper. “You need to get out of here if you care about her.”

Josh glanced down at Rosemaria lying helpless on the gurney, her gym T-shirt soaked in blood. The man with the needle turned his back on Josh and began issuing orders to the other medical personnel in the room. Josh’s legs almost gave way, and he felt the same mind-numbing fear he had felt years ago when he saw his father aiming a shotgun at his baby brother. Josh’s instinct was to reach out his hand and touch her arm, but he was caught as if in a vice by the two sheriffs, then dragged backward into the hallway and cuffed behind his back. He knew it would be pointless to fight. Tears blinded him, and he sagged to the floor, unaware of the chaos all around him. The two sheriffs looked at each other in frustration. The guy on the floor was big. They’d need help to get him the hell out of there. One of them spoke into his shoulder mike. In less than a minute, another sheriff came running, and the three of them half dragged, half lifted Josh away from the surgical entrance.

They had finally managed to pull Josh to his feet when they saw a tall, blonde, very beautiful woman staring daggers into them from a few feet away. She planted both feet on the floor with an attitude only a famous diva can exude. “Uncuff this man immediately.” Her voice implied she expected to be obeyed.

Middleweight glowered at her, “You need to step away, miss, or we’ll have to arrest you as well.”

The wiry one had recognized Joell. “Uh, you know this guy?” he asked as Middleweight looked at him in astonishment.

Josh, leaning against the wall, was slowly regaining his composure. Rescue in the form of Joell had arrived, and Rosemaria would be horrified at the scene he was making.

Joell spoke. “This man works for me, and that is his fiancée whose life is hanging in the balance while you harass and threaten him.” Her voice was cold.

Wiry asked hesitantly, “You’re sure he’s her fiancé?”

Joell’s imperious look had its intended affect.

“Fine, we’ll let him go, but you need to control him.”

“Take the cuffs off.”

Reluctantly, they did as ordered, and Josh stumbled past them and sank down in a chair in the waiting area. He slumped over, cradling his head in his hands.

Joell put her hand on his shoulder. “Come on, Josh. Keep it together, for God’s sake.”

He barely nodded his head.

“You ran out of there so fast after the phone call I didn’t get a chance to find out what happened. You didn’t have to take off by yourself. I would have driven you.”

He barely heard what she was saying. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, never mind. I’ll see what I can find out.” She stood up and walked toward the ER surgical entrance while Josh sat and waited. He watched Joell talking to a nurse outside the ER and then walk to the reception desk. He felt like his insides were about to explode, and old, unwanted memories of his little brother being shot flashed like lightning bolts in his brain.

Joell came back and sat beside him. “No news yet.” They sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Joell said, “Somebody must know something by now.”

When she stood up, she saw two gray-haired, middle-aged men, one of them Asian, both wearing nondescript off-the-rack brown suits standing directly in front of her. The Caucasian, who had a rapidly disappearing hairline, spoke to her. “Is this man the fiancé of the injured woman?”

Joell nodded, recognizing them immediately as the detectives they were. “Can’t you wait until she’s out of danger before you question him?”

The Asian man ignored her, took his detective shield out of his inside coat pocket, and showed the ID to Josh. “I’m Detective Loshi, and this is my partner, Detective Mack, of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department. We need to find a room nearby and ask you some questions.”

“I don’t know the answers to any of your questions.” Josh made an effort not to raise his voice as he felt anger threatening to overcome his good sense. “I’m the one who needs answers.” He glared at Loshi. “Maybe you could have the decency to tell me what the hell happened to my fiancée.”

Joell said to the cops, “Your timing stinks.” To Josh, she said, “I need to find out about Raul as well.” She got up and walked away toward the nurse’s station.

Loshi and Mack looked at each other and sat down on either side of him.

Mack spoke first. “Your name, please.”

“Josh Sibley.”

Loshi nodded and looked down at his notebook. “Ms. Baker has a cut on her head and a concussion from a fall, a broken arm, sprained ankle, and bruising all over her body, and a bullet grazed her shoulder. She lost a lot of blood but is getting transfusions now before they wrap her leg and put her arm in a cast. After that, they’ll do an MRI to check out what they think is a minor concussion.”

His words gave Josh no sense of relief. “How soon can I see her?”

“That’s not up to us. You’ll have to ask the doctor when he comes out to see you. Meanwhile, we need information.”

“You know more than I do, and I’m not moving.”

Loshi sighed. “We thought you might have some idea of who would want your fiancée dead.”

“She’s been a cop for a lot of years and a prosecutor for a couple of years. If you’re looking to find somebody with a grudge, there’s a long list.”

“Anybody stand out?” Mack asked.

Josh mumbled something and shook his head. The detectives looked at each other and stood up. Loshi handed him his card. “We’ll get back to you. Let us know if you think of anything.”

Josh accepted the card and put it in his jeans pocket. As the detectives walked toward the entrance, Joell came back and sat next to him. “She’s going to be okay, Josh.”

His hopeful expression as he lifted his head and searched her face broke her heart. “Yeah? The cops said that. They’re sure?”

She nodded. “Raul is already in a room upstairs. I’ll come back here as soon as I talk to him. A bullet grazed his leg, but it’s not serious.”

“What about your golf tournament?”

“Rory will have to find another partner.” She smiled. “This is way more important, okay?”

She took his hand, but he barely noticed. He kept his eyes glued to the doors of the ER.