Chapter Five

At the hospital Cecilia had arrived and wasn’t too happy. “Okay, one of you going to tell me what the hell happened!”

“Hello to you to Mom.” Rick said.

 “Richard!” she growled thru gritted teeth.

“Mom were sorry okay. It was supposed to be just a surveillance assignment that’s all. The perps must have taken off and they must have followed them. We’re not sure yet what happen because they can’t really talk right now. You know smoke inhalation and all.” A.J. said.

“Well is she involved with this one too?” Cecilia asked sarcastically.

“What? No of course not. I don’t think Jon would like it.” A.J. said.

“Excuse me but no Ma’am they’re not seeing each other if you’re referring to my Brother Mick. “ Joe stated.

“Well yes I was young man only because they were together and I’m sorry he was hurt also. By the way did anyone bother to call Jon?” she asked. The brothers shook their heads no.

Back where the band was, they were sitting in Richie’s room just hanging out watching the game as their team had won. “Well that was a great game.” Alex had said.

 “Yeah not bad.” Dave chimed in.

“I’m going to call up room service you guys want anything make a list for me.” Richie said. So the guys started to make their list as Richie grabbed the remote and started to flick through the channels.

 “What the hell are you doing?” Jon asked.

 “I’m trying to find a movie for all of us to watch.” He said. As he was continuing he came a crossed the news channel which was showing the incident on the tv. “Hey there showing some big fire in San Diego.” Richie said.

 Quickly Jon turned his eyes to the tv. “Wow look at that.” He said.

As they watch the local reporter came on: “And as you see the fire in San Diego started at a cabin in the woods but luckily the San Diego Fire Department was able to put it out in a timely manner due to the Investigation teams of Barrett and Simon and Simon.”

“Whoa what did they say Simon and Simon?” Jon asked surprised.

“Yeah bro they did.” Richie said.

The reporter continued: “The only ones hurt in the fire were Mick Barrett and Mary Simon but why they were in the cabin no one is saying. The cabin we do know belongs to a Robert Brady whose wife’s necklace was stolen a few weeks ago and both the Barrett’s and the Simon’s are working the cases. When we get more information we will report back soon.” Temple reported.

Jon just sat there with a stern look on his face. His breathing was deep and he was gritting his teeth. She told him nothing was going on with Barrett but why was she alone with him at the cabin when it caught on fire. But worst she put her life in danger again.

“Jon, Jon you with us man? Jon!” Richie yelled.

 “Yeah.” He said as calmly as he could.

 “You okay?” Richie asked him a little scared that he seemed to calm at the moment.

 “Why the hell wouldn’t I be okay.” He asked as he sat there ready to rip apart the chair he was in.

 “You don’t know the whole story yet Kidd so don’t go accusing her of anything.” Rich said calmly back.

 “Yeah you’re right. She wouldn’t do anything to hurt me right?” he asked Richie praying.

 “No she wouldn’t Jon.” Richie said.

 “I know, I know. It’s just what the hell was she doing there with him?” he asked.

“Her job?” Richie explained.

 “What’s going on?” Dave asked wanting to know why all the questions about Mary.

“Nothing.” Jon said again calmly.

“Well it’s something you’re answering with one word answers and your face is like stone for crying out loud.” Dave said.

Tico looked at Jon and then Richie and saw the concern in Richie’s face. He turned to Dave and said “Let it go Dave, just let it go!”

“But…” Dave mumbled out but again Tico put up his hand to stop him. “Dave why don’t you and Alex come with me to my room okay.” Tico said. But before the guys could argue Tico got up and started for the door and waved to them to follow. They knew better to go against Tico when he was in his stern mood.  

After they were alone Richie asked Jon “Are you going to call her?”

“I don’t think so.” He said.

Richie just looked at him confused. “Why the hell not! She got hurt don’t you want to know if she’s alright?” Rich asked surprised.

 “Of course I do Rich but nobody there took the damn courtesy to call me and let me know that she was okay now did they?” he yelled.

As they were talking Obie came into the room. “Hey guys why all the yelling?”

 “We’re not yelling!” Jon said.

“Okay I see, well then I have a message for Jon a Mrs. Simon has been trying to get in contact with you. Apparently she didn’t have the room number or the name you were going under so the desk didn’t know who to give this to, here.” Obie handed Jon the note. As Jon read it said that Mary had been in an accident and that if he could call her immediately so she could explain what happen to her.

“What does say Jon? Um. Does it tell you to call her?” Richie gloated.

“Shut the fuck up will ya.” Jon told him.

“What the hell is going on?” Obie wanted to know.

“Nothing Ob, Just Jon being an Ass that’s all.” Richie said.

Jon turned to Rich and gave him the stink eye. “Doesn’t work on me Kidd.” Richie said.

“Bite me! I need to make a phone call, so would you maggots please get out!” Jon yelled!

“We’re going! We’re going! Tell her I said Hi by the way.” Richie said on his way out.

“Rich would you please explain to me what’s going on?” Obie asked.

 “Sure man no problem.” Rich said as he patted Obie on the back as they left the room.

Jon was grateful to be finally alone. He picked up the phone and dialed Mrs. Simon’s number. He hoped she would be home. As a matter of fact she was just about to leave for the hospital when her phone rang.

 “Hello?” she said as she picked up.

 “Mrs. Simon? It’s Jon is Mary okay?” he asked her praying that it wasn’t something to serious.

  “Jon Hello dear. Yes, yes she is. I’m so glad I finally got in touch with you. I’ve left messages for since last night. And I believe I told you its Cecilia.” She said to him lovingly.

“Yes thank you Cecilia. Sometimes it’s hard to get the messages to me if you don’t know the system.” He said to her.

“That’s okay I just wanted you to know that she was fine because I knew it was all over the news because of the case they were on.” As she was telling him she could hear in his voice that he was a little off about this whole thing.

 “Well I appreciate that very much. I just saw it on the news as a matter of fact. It looked like it was really bad. What was she doing there in the first place?” he asked but did he really want to know.

“She was doing surveillance with the other detective that is working on the case. Apparently two of the suspects left the hotel and they followed them to this undisclosed area where they seemed to have lost them. But they did find this road they followed but Mick’s car got a flat but then got stuck in the mud. So they got shelter down this long driveway and found this cabin. Unfortunately they saw Mick and Mary enter the cabin so apparently they waited the storm out somewhere and after they grab them and set the cabin on fire with them in it. Mick didn’t want to do anything while Mary was standing right next to him he was afraid of getting her hurt or shot.”  She explained to him.

“Didn’t work out all that well did it she still got hurt didn’t she?” Jon huffed.

Cecilia could hear in Jon’s voice that he wasn’t too happy how things went down. She wasn’t sure how his conversation with her daughter was going to go. She knew she didn’t like her working in this business but now she had a boyfriend who also didn’t like it. She also knew how stubborn her daughter was. “Mrs. I mean Cecilia I can’t get out here until the end of the week. I have three days off so I can come see her to make sure she’s okay.”

“Jon it’s alright she’ll understand if you can’t come, really.” She told him.

 “No I really need to come and see for myself. I’m going crazy here. Just make sure she stays home okay. No more going out on this case.” He asked her.

“I’ll try dear but that’s like asking you not to sing.” She explained to him trying not to laugh.

 “Yes Ma’am. I have to go.” And he hung up. Cecilia felt terrible for him. She knew how he felt about her and she had an idea that maybe a little jealousy was seeping in where Mick was concern. She would have to talk to her daughter to see if Jon should have any concerns.

When Jon put down the phone he was glad that her Mom had called him to let him know how she was doing. It was a good sign that they still believed he was her boyfriend.

Cecilia got to the hospital to see her daughter. When she reached her room Rick and A.J. were already there. “Hey Mom.” Rick said.

“Well hello to all of you. How’s my girl today?” she asked her.

Mary pushed her shoulders up as to say ‘I don’t know.’

“Still not talking honey?” Mom said. Mary shook her head no.

“No her throat is still soar.” A.J. said.

“Well I just talked to your doctor and he said you could go home tomorrow if your x-rays are clear when they take the next round later this afternoon. How about that?” Mary just shook her head yes.

“Well don’t look so pleased. I thought you wanted to get out of here?” Rick asked. Again she just shrugged her shoulders. The three of them just looked at each other. They couldn’t understand what could be wrong with her. Maybe Cecilia could bring a smile to her face.

“Sweetheart I talked to Jon. He was very concern about what happen.” Mary just looked at her mother and smiled. “He was really scared that you got hurt. I told him that you would call him as soon as you could. So what are you boys here for?” she asked.

“We’re just wanted to see how our sister was doing that’s all.” Rick said.

“Really? You’re not here trying to get info on what happened in that cabin by any chance are you?” she asked them knowing damn well that was one of the reasons why.

  At the same time both of them said “Who us?”

“Yes!” Cecilia said with a smile.

 A.J. answered the rest of the question “Mom look we do need to know what they know and what they saw, that’s all why?”

“Well why don’t you go and ask that man what’s his name?” she asked them.

 “It’s Mick and we were going to next Mom but we wanted to check in with Mary first. Is that a crime?” Rick asked.

 “No but she needs her rest so scoot now.” She told them.

 “Fine we’re going. Take it easy honey we’ll see you later okay.” A.J. said and gave her a kiss on the cheek as he left and Rick did to as he left as well.

 “So I thought they would never leave.” Cecilia said. Mary rolled her eyes. She knew something was coming and being told not to talk was not a good thing. “So honey how are you really feeling?”

 Whispering “Okay.”

 “Good. Now you can just give me either a yes or a no or a shake of your head okay.” She told her daughter. Mary just looked at her mother and shook her head yes. “Now tell me is there something going on between you and this Mick person.” Mary nearly swallowed her tongue. How the hell did her mother know that she was feeling something for Mick and vice versa. She really needed to use her voice for this.

“Mom it’s more complicated than I really know myself.” She started to cough.

 “It’s okay honey, I’ll get you some water.” Cecilia said as she went and got her some water.

 As she took the water from her mother she asked her “Do you love this Mick?”

  Mary just looked at her mother and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t think so. I think it was the situation we were in. We were drenched and had to get dry so Mick had to start a fire and I found some sheets in the bedroom.(coughing) We stripped and sat by the fire but I got the chills pretty bad so he tried to keep me warm so we cuddled by the fire.” She explained.

“Oh I see, skin to skin I take it.” Mom said.

“Yeah I guess I fell asleep that way because I don’t (coughing) remember any other position I was in. But nothing happened Mom. I wouldn’t cheat (coughing) on Jon! Not for anything in the world!” she told her Mom as she started to cry.

“I know sweetheart. But I think Jon was a little scared that maybe something might have happened because he seemed very uneasy when I talked to him just before I came here.” She just made a face that broke her mother’s heart. Cecilia could see the tears falling from her eyes. “Sweetheart I know it’s hard to talk but you’re going to have to try and call him later. “Call him after you have the x-rays that way you’ll have something to tell him. And just be honest with him, he’ll understand that.” She shook her head yes.

Back in Mick’s room Rick and A.J. were asking him questions on what happen. “Mick wrote everything down on this pad of paper. He thought you two would want to know what happen and so this morning he wrote everything out.” Joe said.

 “Well that saves us asking questions doesn’t it” Rick said.

“What other questions do you want to ask?” Joe asked.

“Like what the hell was your brother doing with our sister in that damn cabin.” Rick demanded.

Mick just shifted uneasily in the bed. He looked at both Rick and A.J. and tried to say “Nothing happened, her virtue is untouched.” Mick was able to whisper out.

“Mick the doctor said not to talk.” Joe loudly said to his brother. Mick just held up his hand and shook his head okay.

A.J. gave Rick a stern look and said “Look Mick I’m sorry for the way Rick blurted that out. We’ll read this and find out what happened. In the meantime feel better man okay.” Mick shook A.J.’s hand and the brothers left the room.

 Joe turned to Mick “Who gave them the right to accuse you of doing anything to her when she probably wanted it just as bad as you did.” Mick held his hand up again and this time he pointed his finger at him too.

Joe knew he crossed a line. “Okay, okay sorry. You like her; I didn’t mean anything by it really. But they shouldn’t just blame you if something did happen that’s all.” Mick just shook his head again. “Mick did something happen between you two?” Mick just looked at his brother and shook his head no. Joe just smiled softly and shook his head.

The brothers decided to head back to the police department to see if Town had come up with anything. As they enter the reception area Nixon stopped them.

 “Okay guys what can I do for you?” he asked them as sternly as Nixon could.

 “Hey Nixon is Town here by any chance?” A.J. asked.

“Yes and he doesn’t want to be disturbed.” He told them.

“Well we’re not going to disturb him. We’re visiting him.” Rick said with a smile. “He said especially if the Simons stop by make sure you tell them I’m busy. Sorry guys.” Nixon stated strongly.

 “Oh come on Nixon but this is important. It’s about the case were working on and the one that got Mary hurt.” Rick said giving Nixon the sad eyes.

“Oh come on Rick don’t do that to me, please! Not Mary okay.” He pleaded.

 “Come Nixon she could have been really hurt or worst you know that.” A.J. added.

“How is she?” he asked.

 “Well she’s not supposed to talk and they’re keeping her another night because of the smoke inhalation. We were very lucky we got there in time.” A.J. said.

 “Okay, okay I’m going on my coffee break when I leave you can go in. Just tell Town you waited for me to leave got it.” He suggested to the two of them.

 Both at the same time “Yeah got it, right sure no problem.”

As Nixon left the boys walked over to Towns door; knocked and walked in. Town looked up and sighed as they walked in. “I take it Nixon isn’t at the desk?”

“Nixon, Nixon who?” Rick said.

“Very funny. What the hell do you guys want?” Town asked warily.

“Well we’ll cut to the chase then, did you get the report on the fire on the cabin yet?” A.J. asked.

“Yes, and the answer is yes again it was arson.” He told them.

 “Well Town we knew that. Did your guys get any prints?” A.J. asked agitated.

“Yes again and I tried calling the office but you weren’t there. I thought you might be at the hospital and I got ahold of your Mom and she told me you guys might swing by.” Town said smirking.

“So you knew we were coming you S.O.B.” Rick said.

 “What!  So do you want to know or what? The prints we got are from the two cons. The first one is Ted Carpenter and the second one is Bill Jenkins. They usually work with a third guy named Fred Stevens. We have an APB out on them. And I also have Brady coming in for a meeting asking him why these guys were hanging out at his cabin. You want in?” Town asked knowing the answer.

 “Do you even have to ask?” Rick asked rolling his eyes.

“What about the other guys in this case the Barretts?” Town asked.

“Yeah Rick they really do need to be here. Why don’t I get them and check Mick out of the hospital and get back here. Town when is Brady schedule to be here?” A.J. asked.

 “Not til four this afternoon so that should give you plenty of time.” Town told him.

 “Great, then we can check on Mary at the same time.” A.J. said.    

Four O’clock came around and the Simons and the Barretts were to meet Town in the conference room. “Mick if you have anything to say just write it down on here and either have Joe ask it or I’ll do it for you okay?” A.J. asked him. Mick shook his head yes. As they took their seats Town came in with Mr. Brady. The interview lasted for about an hour and a half and all they really learned is that Bill Jenkins once had worked in one of the warehouses that Brady had owned. And that he might have been to the house a few times to deliver items for his wife. When asked why they thought Jenkins and Carpenter were going to the cabin the only answer Brady had was that he thought maybe they were going to ransack the cabin and rob the safe there, but they would have been disappointed because they don’t keep anything of value in the cabin. Brady wanted to know why they were watching them and he was told that they had found out they were the ones trying to fence the necklace. He was appalled that anyone in his employ would betray him like that. When asked why he would think that he stated that he pays his employee’s very well and the benefits are very good. Plus the bonuses that he gives aren’t cheap either. Town tried to tell Brady that it would make sense that someone in his employ be a candidate to be a suspect. That they would know all the inside comings and goings of the would be daily operations.

After they were done and Brady had left they discuss what had transpired. “Well what did you all think?” Town had asked.

 A.J. started “Well I didn’t like how he thought they wouldn’t be involved in this just because Jenkins worked for him.”

“Yeah me either. Did he really think loyalty went that deep when it came to that much money?” Rick asked. Mick wrote something down and gave it to A.J. “What is it?” Rick asked.

“Mick wants to know why we didn’t tell him that the necklace was really worth one hundred thousand dollars. Well because he didn’t seem to know, or he didn’t want us to know. Because he knows now that the necklace was trying to be fenced. But nobody bit. So there had to be a reason right?”

 “Yeah so? Maybe because it was just too hot?” Joe said.

 “True but maybe they’re just not getting their price to. I say we stay on Brady while the cops bring in the other three.” A.J. said. They all agreed on that. Joe took Mick back to their motel so he could rest while the Simons went to tail Brady. They had agreed that it would be better if Mick got his strength back so the Simons would tail Brady and report back to the Barretts when they came up with anything.

Back at the hospital Mary had gotten back her x-rays and had her dinner. She had just picked up her book when her phone rang. “Hello?” she said a gruff voice.

 “Hey Baby, how you feeling?” Jon said.

 “Jon! Oh Honey I’m okay just a little sore throat.” She said a little raspy.

“Yeah I can hear. I’ll try not to keep you to long then.” He told her.

“No, no I want to hear your voice. I need to hear your voice.” She told him almost sounding needy.

 “Okay Baby. I miss you. When I heard the news on the t.v. well I nearly…” he nearly choked as he was trying to get out the words.

“You heard it on the news? Ah Baby I’m so sorry I didn’t mean for you to hear it like that.” She said breathless.

“Well your Mom did try calling me but she didn’t know the system and I guess you were kinda out of it to tell her. But I finally got her message and called her so no worries okay. I’m just glad that you’re alright that’s all. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.” He said as lovingly as he could without snapping at her.

 “I feel the same way Sweetheart.” She said to him lovingly as well.

 “Can I ask you something and have you not get mad at me?” he asked as he held his breath.

“Ugh yeah, I knew you were going to ask me this question sooner or later. Go ahead.” She told him waiting for the ball to drop.

Jon took a deep breath and prayed that the answer was going to be what he hoped. “What were you doing in the cabin with that guy Mick?”

She took a deep breath and told him the truth. “Well we were on surveillance and the guys we were watching um took off so we followed them.”

“Can I ask why were you with him in the first place?” Jon asked calmly.

 “Rick and A.J. thought it would be good if one of us were with them watching them, keeping an eye on them. So they asked me thinking that I was less threatening.”  She explained.

“Okay continue.” He said as he took a shot of his Jack.

 “Where were we, oh yeah um so we followed them to open area country road and it started to pour like crazy. But we lost them. We tried to turn around but Mick’s tire got a flat and he couldn’t change it because of the mud so we were stuck. So we jogged a few miles down and found some kind of road and followed that down and we found the cabin. Mick had to break in but that gave us shelter from the storm.” She said as her throat was getting really sore.

 “Baby there’s still that question of, both of you were soaking wet. How did you guys dry your clothes?” he asked hoping that it was just a simple solution.

 “You promise you won’t get mad?” she asked him holding her breath.

Jon gritted his teeth, and his stomach got very nausea very fast. He could feel the vein in his head start to pound. “No I promise I will try and stay as calm as I can okay.”

“Well Mick started a fire in the fireplace and I found some sheets in the bedroom because I couldn’t find any extra closes so I took the sheets you know.” She said as she was stumbling over her words. As she continued “So I changed in the bedroom I came out and draped mine over some chairs and gave Mick the extra sheet so he could change.”

 She took a deep breath and waited for Jon to answer, there was a pause as Jon finally came in “So did he?”

“Ah yeah he did.” As her voiced cracked a little.

 “Where?” he demanded.

 “Oh um right there in front me.” She said as she made a face even though she knew Jon couldn’t see her.

 This time there was a long pause before Jon answered. “He fucking changed in front of you.” he asked again through gritted teeth.

“Um yeah but I didn’t look, I turned around Jon.” She said with just a little annoyance in her voice.

“Of course you did. What else?” he asked his voice was very stern now.

“Nothing honey, we just stayed by the fire, unfortunately I had this really bad chill I couldn’t get rid of so Mick search the cabin for some food but only came up with some wine, crackers and some beef jerky.” She told him not really thinking.

“Convenient.” He said pissed off.

 “What? Are you kidding me? You think we went up there for a romantic interlude?” she asked now really ticked off.

“No I’m sorry okay I was just venting out loud. My imagination just got carried away. I’m sorry baby.” He kicked himself for the little outburst. He did promise her that he would be good.

 “It’s, it’s okay. I probably would of done the same thing too if it was you. Besides I think I drank two glasses of wine, Mick said it would help the chill go away. Boy did it; it also made me pass out. When I woke up it was morning and our closes were dry; we got dressed. Then as we were finishing up we got into this stupid argument which we seem to do quite often and I thought I heard Rick’s truck pull up. I went to the door to open it and Mick yelled at me not to but of course I didn’t listen and when I did these two guys came barreling in knocking me down.” She explained to him but feeling stupid in the process.

Jon wanted to laugh at the stubbornness that was his girlfriend which he knew all too well. “So you didn’t listen to him huh? I wonder why?” Jon snickered.

“Are you being sarcastic?” she asked questionably.

“Who me? Nuh?” Jon said smiling.

“You’re a dope!” she told him smiling to herself.

 “Thank You. Now how the hell did the fire start?” he wanted to know.

 “Well that’s easy, they knocked Mick unconscious and threw us on the bed; set the living room on fire I guess. Away I passed out from all the smoke I guess because I don’t remember anything until I woke up outside.” She told him.

 “Well you do know you could have been killed right?” he snapped at her.

 “Crap I knew you were going to go there sooner or later. Honey I already got the riot act read to me by Mom okay. Do I really need it from you too?” she asked him annoyed now and trying not to go into a coughing fit.

 “You know I should but I’ll wait til later how’s that?” he answered back just annoyed.

 “Thank you. Now tell me what you’ve been up to?” she asked.

 “Not much Baby just missing you. Oh and driving everyone here nuts.” He chuckled.

 “Really? Well stop it will ya. Hopefully I’ll be with you soon.” She told him hopefully.

 “Yeah how soon” he wanted to know.

 “Well this incident should put a fire under the guys so who knows why?” she asked him.

 “Because the faster you’re here the faster I’m happy that’s why, and the safer you’ll be.” He told her.

“Honey stop worrying it’s part of the job for crying out loud.” She said to him rolling her eyes.

 “What the hell does that mean, It’s part of the job. You getting killed every five minutes is part of the damn job.” He exclaimed.

 She exhaled which hurt. She was still a little tender in her chest. “Jon I'm too tired to really go into this right now can we just agree to disagree.” She asked him as she was getting really annoyed with him now.

“We can but this discussion isn’t over. Because I really don’t want you to do this anymore. I want you here with me. The sooner the better.” He told her outright in this cavemanish way.

 She just took a deep breath; she really didn’t want to do this right now. “Jon I’m really tired I think I need to try and get some sleep now.”

“Okay I get the hint but like I said this isn’t over. Get some rest and I’ll talk to later. I love you.” He told her hoping she knew just how much.

 “I love you too sweetie. Try calling me at home tomorrow okay?” she said tiredly.

 “Okay bye.” And they hung up. Jon just sat there for a few minutes rethinking their conversation. He needed to talk to someone and that someone was Richie.