There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 25

"No problem boss."

"What a shame Colonel. $12,000 for a 'Singer,' and she drives with her top-down."

"Do you see any broken glass Paul?"

"No sir."

"What would we be doing now if we didn't have the 'Singer'?"

"One day Colonel, I am going to learn to keep my mouth shut."

"Do you realize the day you learn to do that, will be the day I stop having fun."

"Open wide Sandra, we have to put the mouthpiece in. Good girl, now, let's do it just the way we agreed, one-quarter ounce at a time. Before we start, give her more chloroform Paul."

Sandra fought the procedure. However, 30 minutes later, she had four ounces of alcohol, and 20 milligrams of Valium running through her veins.

When they were finished with Sandra, Rory and Lucy were told to get into the Lincoln, and put the blood where they had practiced.

Lucy said, "I am not going to do it with him watching me."

As soon as she finished her sentence, Lucius started walking towards her, with a look on his face she had never seen.

"I'll do it Colonel. Don't worry about me, sir. I'll take care of it right away."

"Lucille, I never had a doubt in my mind that you would follow orders."

"That's what orders are for sir, to be followed to the T."

"Then get in the fucking car, and do it!"

Lucille's pants were on the ground, before she entered the Lincoln.

"Jack secure the sawhorses, we are ready to leave."

As soon as Jack Daniels completed his tasks, he spotted two sports cars making the turn onto Clark Road.

"Lucius get out of there in a hurry. You have two speedsters coming your way."

"Thanks Jack, we are gone. Go to the hotel."

"I'm on my way."

Paul started the car, as Lucius ran over to tell Rory and Lucy that company was on its way. As soon as he finished warning them, he hopped in the rental car. Paul turned north on Country Club Road and cleared the area.

The damage to the Lincoln, caused by Sandra's car, was exactly as Jack had predicted, and drawn up for them at the hotel. Sandra hit the car just behind the rear axle, pushing it forward, and causing it to turn 90 degrees onto the roadway.

What happened next was not part of the plan.

The two speedsters Jack saw taking Clark Road southbound, were sons of high-ranking, very wealthy members of the Country Club. They did what they wanted, whenever they wanted to do it, without fear of reprisal.

As they raced side-by-side down the road, they whizzed by the warning sign, about the upcoming turn ahead. They were still doing over 100 miles an hour.

Rory heard the cars approaching as they down shifted into the turn. Instinctively, he knew they were in trouble. He grabbed Lucy by the neck and pulled her down across the front seat.

Lucy yelled, "What the..."

"Stay down; we're going to get hit."

Rory threw his body on top of hers, as the two roadsters made it into the turn, uncontrolled. Neither one of them had a chance to stop, before meeting the obstructions.

The Corvette, in the inside lane, slid onto the gravel siding, and was attempting to steer back to the road, when the driver saw the accident vehicles in front of him. It was too late to do anything else as the body of his car started to disintegrate. Its automatic safety protocols engaged microseconds afterwards, and soon the driver heard,

"This is 'On-Star.' Our sensors show your car has been in an accident. Do you require assistance?"

"Yes, there is a four car accident. It looks like we are going to need a lot of help. Please call my parents, and tell them I'm injured, but I'm okay."

"I will take care of it Melvin."

"Thank you, the people in the Lincoln are probably dead. They got hit twice."

"Please don't say anything else, this is a recorded line."

"Thank you ma'am."

"Hang on Mister Gibson, help is on the way."

The driver of the Jaguar was luckier, for the next few seconds anyway. He was able to maintain control of his car, as it was able to move into the right lane, and keep its tires on the asphalt portion of the road, as he continued to downshift. As his eyes adjusted from the attempt not to hit his friends' car, he saw this black obstruction ahead of him. He realized, too late, it was the side of another vehicle. He hit the steel pillar of the Lincoln that gave the inside cabin of that car its main source of protection from a side impact collision.

Everyone called these older model Lincoln's 'TANKS', and when his Jaguar hit it, the Lincoln's reputation remained untarnished.

The sloped, aerodynamic hood of the Jaguar tried to slide underneath the steel bars that held the weight of this mammoth beast. Instead of crumpling, as it is designed to do, against modern cars, it tried to lift the Lincoln off the ground. As it reached the middle of the hood, the Jaguar's engine block broke in half, under the strain carrying the nearly 3 ton beast, and fell to the ground. The car shuddered, and stopped, under the weight of American made steel.

The driver looked at the Lincoln, sitting halfway up the hood of his car, and said, "I'm getting too old for this shit."

His next thought was for his friend. As he tried to extricate himself from his car, he realized his feet were stuck under the brake and shift pedals. His ankles weren't broken, because he was not pain. He was just stuck where he was.

He pushed the automatic dial on his car's steering column to see how his friend was, and amazingly, it worked.

When Mel answered the phone, he said, "Hi mom."

Danny laughed. "How many times do I have to tell you I'm not your fucking mother? Your father maybe, but not your mother."

"Are you all right?"

"That depends on your definition of alright? I can't move my feet. I believe they are trapped, but not broken. Everything else feels fine. How are you?"

"I think I'm okay. I'm a little fuzzy. I'm not going to move until the EMTs get here. OnStar called me and the troops are on their way here."

"That's a cute little toy you have there, my son."

"Thanks dad."

************

"Are you okay Lucy?"

"I don't think so. Something hurts inside. How the hell did you know?"

"I'll tell you about that later. I have to call the Colonel."

************

"Yes."

"Sir, we have a complication. Two more cars came around the corner. One hit the subject, while the other one broadsided us. Lucy may be hurt."

"Hang on, were on our way back."

*********

Rory was argumentative at first, but cooperative when they began questioning him as to what happened.

"I'll tell you what happened after you take care of my wife. She is newly pregnant and she is hurting badly. We have waited a long time for us to become pregnant. Our great uncle is going to give us a great deal of money when our baby is born. If anything happens to this child, he will move heaven and earth to see that person, or entity is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and possibly further."

"What is your uncle's name?"

"My uncle's name is William Zabo."

"I'm sorry I don't know anyone by that name."

"You can ask anyone, who lives on the west side of the river who he is; they will know. Now take care my wife."

"I have to make a call first."

************

"May I speak to Mister Jefferson please?"

"Hello?"

"George, this is Archie. I have three from the west side that are hurt, and in need of transport to the hospital. I have two visitors that also need transport to the hospital. The man tells me the wife is newly pregnant, and if anything happens to that child, his uncle will move heaven and earth to make sure anyone involved in this will pay heavily for it. What do you want me to do?"

"Tell them to go fuck themselves, no one can hurt us. They will go last."

"Thank you George that's what I thought."

"Did they give you this uncle's name?"

"Yes sir, they did. William Zabo."

"William Zabo!"

"That's what he said George."

"They go first. I want our best Doctors checking them both over. I want every item documented on all individuals concerned, and I want them notarized. If anyone fucks up, their jobs are forfeit. Do you understand me Archie?"

"I will supervise everything, and get you a copy of everything, under seal. The district attorney will be called in on this immediately. You can count on me being completely thorough on this one. Just out of curiosity, who is this guy?"

"I'll put it to you this way Archie; he's rich enough to buy the entire northeast portion of the United States, without touching the principle on any of his accounts."

"I guess were talking about seriously rich. I better get to work. I'll talk to you soon George."

*************

Sandra Finch was just coming out of her drug-induced coma as the police, and fire rescue units started appearing on the scene. Her speech was slurred, and disconnected. It was initially thought she had a brain injury. She was put into a neck collar, and taken away by ambulance. By the time she got to the hospital, the 'ORDERS' were already in place. Everyone's work would be checked and double-checked for accuracy, and then notarized.

At the hospital, she was totally uncoordinated. Her voice was slurred, and she could not perform a simple task. She was known in the community, and volunteered at many outreach programs for the elderly and infirm.

When they drew Sandra's blood, it registered at .2167. At any other time, the technician would have discarded the first number, inserted a zero, and written it down on his log sheet. Today was a different. He printed out the first result, cleaned the machine thoroughly, and ran the test a second time. The result was identical. He called his supervisor and showed him the results of the two tests.

His supervisor said, "Run it again, while I watch you."

"Yes sir. The technician cleaned the machine, thoroughly, for the second time. Inserted the sample and waited for the results. He was not surprised when number .2167 materialized for the third time."

The supervisor said, "Sign all three copies, and I will cosign them. Register them in your log, and I will sign off on that also. This woman is in big trouble."

When they were finished, the supervisor said, "We better run a full profile on all these people tonight, just to see what else is in their blood."

"They didn't ask for that sir."

"Trust me, the District Attorney's Office will ask for it soon, very soon. I have no idea who this young man is related to, but I have never seen anyone on the west side of the river jump so high, and as fast as I have tonight."

The request came from the district attorney the following afternoon. It was returned to him within minutes. The only thing they found in this patient's system beside vodka, was the tranquilizer/depressant Valium.

***************

They were about to take Melvin Gibson out of his car, and transport him to the hospital, when Chief Bunker walked over and told the EMTs that Gibson would have to wait until another ambulance returned to the site. They were taking Mister and Mrs. Trevelyan to the hospital first, because she was in serious condition.

Melvin retorted, "I don't care if she has a fucking pole up her ass. She does not live here, and she does not live on the west side of the river as I do. I'm going to have my father fire your ass, unless you get me to the hospital first."

"Sonny, if anything happens to that young woman, your father may not have a pot to piss in. If she loses the baby she's carrying inside her, that young man's uncle has enough power to bulldoze the entire west side of the river, and make it into a parking lot. If I were you, I would shut the fuck up, and go with the program."

No one who lived on the east side of the river had ever spoken to him in that manner before. If the chief had the balls to do it to him, while he was sitting in a wrecked car, whoever those two people were, in the Lincoln, had some very powerful friends, in very high places. He decided to back down, and speak with his parents later.

The driver of the Jaguar, Daniel Glover, had high amounts of THC, which indicated he had recently smoked marijuana or ingested marijuana oil. Normally it would be swept under the rug, but not this time. This time it would show up on his adult record, and either he would plead no contest and be found guilty, plead guilty, or plead not guilty and face trial. It would be very interesting to see how the people on the east side of the river would treat a resident of the west side in a court of law. It had never happened before.

**************

As they were driving down Country Club Road Paul said, "Colonel, there is an awful lot of activity down there."

"Pull off to the side and let's see if I can get in contact with Rory."

"This is the Colonel. The emergency beacon on your phone went off. May we help you sir?"

"No Colonel, thank my Uncle William for his concern. The police have finally started acting on my request to take care of Lucy. She is not doing well. I am concerned for the baby. Lucy is bleeding vaginally. She is going to be distraught if she loses our child. I will call you in case we need an aircraft to take us home. Hang on a second Colonel."

"Chief, I know your first name is Archie, what do I tell my uncle your last name is?"

"Bunker, Archibald Bunker."

"Colonel, you can tell my Uncle William that the police chief's name is Archibald Bunker. He helped us a great deal tonight, by cutting through all the red tape, and getting Lucy to the hospital in front of all the high-powered locals that caused this accident. The only thing I can suggest is to get one of our lawyers up here, before they have a chance to change the records to suit their purpose.

I will call you if anything major happens. Good night Colonel."

As he closed his cell phone, the chief said, "Rory, there is no chance the records will be changed. They are being checked, reviewed, and notarized on the spot. As important as this case is to you, it is to us as a city, and as a people. I give you my word on that."

"Thank you very much chief, that makes me feel much better. Knowing that you were going to treat this case on an equal, unbiased, basis, is very important to us."

"That's a very odd statement Rory. Most people want the police to take one side or the other."

"Yes chief, I know. All my wife and I want is justice. If we can get that, we will be very satisfied."

***********

"Chief, the DA is waiting so we can run the Trevelyan blood."

Archie said, "I'll be there one second."

Rory asked, "Can I come too?"

"No that is against the law, because it could be used against you in court."

"My lawyer will find out in discovery anyhow. My wife can't drink because she's pregnant. She won't take drugs, other than what the Doctor ordered for her, because we've been trying for 10 years to have a baby. She would no sooner harm our chances of having a baby than she would try to plow a 1000- acre plot of land by hand."

"I'll ask the DA, and if he approves, you can watch."

************

"Rory Trevelyan, this is our District Attorney El James."

"Hello sir, it is nice meeting you."

"Mister Trevelyan, if the tests come out poorly for you, in 10 minutes you won't like me very much."

"Mister James, I was the one who was driving. I was the one that got us lost, and I was trying to get us back to Interstate 89. I purchased a new GPS when we landed in Burlington, and had the guy in the store program it for me. I programmed the computer to tell it where I wanted to go. I got three green lights, and we followed the directions. I came down this same street, Clark Road three times, before I gave up on the computer and pulled over to the side as far as the gravel would let me, so we could look at the paper maps. I had all my lights on, including the lights inside the car. I was a third of the way from the next turn when the red car hit me. I don't know how long I was unconscious, but the first thing I did was check on Lucy. She was still unconscious, and bleeding from everywhere. I reached for my cell phone, when I realized all the lights in the car had just gone out. I was about to unbuckle my seatbelt, and reach across to open the glove box to take out the flashlight I purchased, when I heard cars down shifting from high-speed coming from behind us. I pulled Lucy across the bench seat, and put as much of my body as I could across hers. If one of us was going to live, I wanted it to be her, because she was carrying our child."

"Louis, run Mister Trevelyan's blood first."

A few moments later, the machine spit out the results.

"He's clean sir. No alcohol, barbiturates, or drugs of any kind are in his system. Do you want me to take pubic hair root samples? It will tell us if he had anything illegal in his system in the past 180 days."

"That won't be necessary Louis. We are only interested in what was in his system tonight. Let's do Mrs. Trevelyan now please."

Moments later the results printed out, and everyone, except Rory, poured over the results.

Archie asked, "Don't you want to see what the results are?"

"Archie, I know my wife. She wouldn't hurt that child if you put a gun to her head."

"Mister Trevelyan, you don't know your wife, as well as you think you do."

"I would stake my life on what I said to you before. Tell me where to stand chief, and if Lucy has alcohol or illegal drugs in her body, I will sign my life away, and you can shoot me here and now."

"Don't you wish all men loved their wives and trusted them as much as this man does?"

"It would put a lot of divorce lawyers out of business."

"Rory, she's clean. There is a high amount of Folic Acid, and iron in her system, but everything else looks normal."

"Can the test tell you how well the baby is doing?"

"I'd have to run a different blood panels to find that out."

"Would it also tell you if she has lost the baby because of this accident?"

"How far along is the baby?"

"We just found out about two weeks ago. The doctor said the baby is five weeks old."

"I'll be able to tell you if it's still viable, but the most accurate way is a vaginal ultrasound."

"Let's take things one at a time. Would you do what your machine does best, and give me the result."

"It's okay with me Mister Trevelyan, but who's going to pay for the test?"

Rory said, "I will. Anything that keeps my wife calm at a time like this is worth its weight in gold."

Louis ran the new test, which took a little longer than the others did. When it was finished, he didn't look at the result he just handed the paper to Rory and waited for his reaction. Three people in that room waited for his reaction and when it came, they were sure Lucy had lost the baby.

El James said, "Dammit man, say something."

"Guys, according to your test, she is still pregnant. Lucy will laugh herself silly. My uncle will be overjoyed. I can't wait to tell her." (This should be an interesting conversation.)

El said, "Let me see if they have her in a room, or if they're still doing tests."

The hospital had moved Lucy to the front of line. If Sharon was getting a CAT scan, Lucy was getting an MRI. In radiology, it was like musical chairs. When El called to find out where Lucy was, he was told she was having an EMG, and would be going for an ultrasound next."

"Come with me Rory, we can catch her between tests. You can give her the good news then."

"I don't want to tell her in a hallway, and I'd like to have flowers in my hand when I do."

"You are some piece of work Mister. There are many men like you around. If we hustle, we can get the flowers, and get to see her before her next test.

They got to radiology just as the technician was about to close the door to the Ultrasound Suite.

The district attorney introduced himself, and showed his badge. He said to the technician, "Let these two people use the room for a few minutes alone. Mister Trevelyan will open the door when you can go in."