Background
While wanting to place trust in Logan, McKenzie searches for his sister's murderer. McKenzie doesn't believe anyone would harm her, but Logan feels it's his job to protect her from the threat.
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It's Wednesday afternoon. McKenzie and Logan have known each other 15 days.
Ending of Previous Post:
As Logan and Simon sat and watched Bill walk away, Simon said, "Mac's like a daughter to him."
"She is." He hesitated. "She means a lot to all of us. I'm guessing she has alcohol poisoning. What's the dangers?"
"During recovery she may experience a headache, stomach cramps, nausea, anxiety, and tremors. It's important she stays hydrated."
"Are any long term effects possible?"
Simon shook his head. "For Mac probably not. If she had been a long time drinker, definitely. But from what you've mentioned before, this is her first time drinking anything, so I'd say no."
"So you're saying she should make a complete recovery?"
"I'm not saying that. We don't know everything she went through. She might have some emotional issues. We don't know if she was sexually molested. Her clothes were in pretty bad shape. We don't know how badly she was beaten. Does she have any broken bones? We can't rush to any conclusions." Simon hushed, and then added, "At a minimum she's going to need your love and support. Just be there for her."
Logan nodded. "I plan to."
TODAY'S POST:
ST. LOUIS CHAPTER 31 PART 1
Early that afternoon Dr. Gray allowed Bill and Logan inside Mac's room. Both men sat in silence and stared at her unconscious body. Logan held her hand as he answered his ringing cell. "Trey, I'll put you on speaker. Bill's with me."
"How's Mac?" After Trey was filled in on her condition, he continued, "I interrogated each man separately. All four named Ivan Smart as the ring leader. Three of them stated there's a silent partner but had no idea who. One of the three is pretty sure he's with the police department, but that hasn't been verified. Two of them said he was really important and doesn't like getting his hands dirty. Do you have any idea who this might be? The fourth one had no idea about anything."
Logan released a deep breath. "Mac and I feel that man is Sidney Parks, but we can't prove it. A Sidney's name has come up but there's no proof they're the same person. It's just our hunch. We're waiting on the identification of a man looking in an Irish Pub's window the night she was drugged."
"How long ago did we turn in that tape?" asked Bill.
"We got it Friday. So really they didn't start working on it until Monday." Logan counted on his fingers. "That's three days counting today."
Bill took out his phone. "I'll see where they are with it." After he put his phone away, he said, "We might have it later this afternoon, but in the morning for sure. Thank you Trey, you did a good job."
"What do you want me to do with these guys?" asked Trey. "I can keep them here a while longer if you want me too."
Bill tapped his hands on the chair's arm rest. "Nobody in the PD knows about this situation. I've kept it under wraps. Let me think about the best way to handle it. I'll let you know." He waited for Logan to put his phone away before he asked, "Any suggestions on how to handle it?"
After few moments, Logan said, "I guess I'd go straight to the police commissioner. Tell him what you suspect and then go from there. I'm hoping he's somebody you can trust. Do you have a good working relationship with him?"
"I think so. I'm pretty sure he can be trusted. If things go well, he could okay us arresting Smart. Maybe Smart will give up Parks. We need to do this without Parks knowing anything." Bill took out his phone. "I'll call the commissioner's office and set up an appointment."
"I'd suggest him coming here, that way he could see first-hand what these people are capable of. It would also help if we had any security footage of Jose being shot outside the Tin Roof. Has anybody found anything, yet?"
"Good idea. While I check on both, see if there's anyway Trey can join us. I think he needs to be here. He can add first-hand knowledge of what the suspects said. Maybe send Mitch to guard them."
*****
Late that afternoon the police commissioner, Samuel Conley, opened McKenzie's hospital door and offered his hand. "Bill, it's nice to see you again." He glanced toward McKenzie, studied her, and then closed his eyes as he released a deep breath. "One of the victims?" After Bill nodded, he continued, "Can we go someplace to talk privately? We need to arrest these guys."
Bill stood. "Yes, sir." He glanced at Logan. "I feel you need to be part of this discussion."
Logan glanced at his hand holding McKenzie's. "Okay. Somebody needs to stay with her."
Trey stood outside the opened door. "I will. When I'm needed, we can switch places."
The police commissioner, Bill, and Logan went across the hall to a vacant room. They discussed the history leading up to McKenzie's kidnapping and rescue.
As the discussion moved to the possibility of a connection with Megan Nelson's murder, screams and cries were heard from McKenzie's room.
Logan rushed in with his weapon readied.
As tears rolled down McKenzie's face, she yelled, "Don't touch me. Get out!"
Nodding for Trey to leave, Logan put his gun away and sat on the edge of the bed.
A nurse entered with a syringe. "I have a sedative. It'll help."
McKenzie screamed. "No! No drugs!"
Grabbing McKenzie's hand so she couldn't yank out the IV's, Logan said, "Give me a chance to calm her down. If I can't, then give her the sedative. Fair enough?"
"The nurse paused, glanced at her watch, and said, "I'll give you five minutes." She left.
"Mac, it's okay. The nurse and Trey have left." She still attempted to tug out the IV's, as Logan added, "You need to keep these in. You're dehydrated because of the ingested alcohol."
"I'll drink water."
"This is better because it's faster, it has electrolytes, and you're also nauseated. You'll struggle keeping water down."
McKenzie took a deep breath and slightly relaxed. Her eyes met his. "You found me, didn't you?" He nodded, and she continued, "I knew you would. I knew I'd be okay because you wouldn't stop until you rescued me."
Logan swallowed. "May I?" She nodded and he put his arm around her. "You ingested a lot of whiskey. Do you remember what happened?"
She nodded. "Some. I was fixing you dinner and the dogs started barking. I let them out and went back to the stove." She glanced up at him. "It's the last time I'll ever cook. If I hadn't been in the kitchen, I would've probably been in the den and had access to my gun."
"I understand how cooking can be dangerous. What happened after you let the dogs out?"
"I heard the back door open. I figured Edger had figured out how to open it." She stared into space and closed her eyes. "A hooded man came in. I fought him, but two more came in; one on each side of me. I held my own, but a fourth man came in. I was knocked unconscious." Tears welled. "I'm sorry. I couldn't fight four men."
He used his thumb to dry a tear. "It's okay. Nobody expected you to." He kissed her forehead. "What's the next thing you remember?"
"I was chained to a wall in an old house. I think it was abandoned." McKenzie shook her head. "I don't know where it was. There were three other females with me. Are they all right?"
"Yes, we rescued them too. You were held in an old farm house off I-70, outside the city toward Columbia."
"Thank you." She took a deep breath and cuddled closer to him. "A man came in and started kicking me. I tried to fight back."
"Can you identify him?"
She shook her head. "No. The light was dim. He was a silhouette." She touched the inside of her right wrist. "He did have a tatt, here. It was a red five pointed star with the number forty-nine below it."
"Did he speak?"
"Not really but gave hand signals to somebody off to the right of me. I couldn't see the other person. I'm guessing he was a member of the Forty-nine BAD Bloods street gang. I have information on them in a file. Benson laundered money for them."
"When did they start pouring whiskey down you?"
"After I kicked the guy in the gonads."
"I can understand you wanting to do it."
"Probably not one of my wisest decisions, was it?"
"I wasn't there so I can't answer."
"Thank you for not making a judgement." Logan nodded, and she continued, "One guy pried my mouth open and another poured a bottle of whiskey down me. I spit as much of it out as I could. That only made them angrier. I don't remember much after that, only a few sounds, but nothing intelligible. They did this repeatedly."
"What happened when you woke up just now?"
"That man stood over me." McKenzie touched her forearm. "He touched me here, like this."
"That man's a buddy of mine. He helped me rescue you. His name's Trey Walker. How did he scare you?"
McKenzie closed her eyes. "My eyes aren't focusing very well. I'm sort of in a fog. He resembled Grandpa." Logan held her tighter as she continued, "When I was fourteen, I was awakened by him climbing on top of me. I screamed." She shook her head. "I tried to push him away but he put his mouth over mine. I tried to scream, but it was muffled."
"Where were your parents?"
"They had to work late. I had a bad cold so went on to bed."
Logan bit his bottom lip. "Did he molest you?"
Shaking her head, she said, "No. I heard Mom scream and then he fell on me. Blood was all over."
"Your mom stabbed him?"
"Yes, she ended years of him molesting young girls."
Wow, her mom killed Gus and was not only beaten but sexually molested by him her entire life. That explains a lot. The newspaper said blunt force trauma killed him, but he was stabbed. Logan continued to tightly hold McKenzie. "Mac, can I ask Trey to come in so you can meet him? I won't do it unless you're comfortable."
She nodded, so Logan began to stand, but she grabbed his hand. "Don't leave. I'm not ready."
He kissed her forehead. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Can you hold me?"
"You don't need to ask." Logan half sat and half laid on the bed, holding McKenzie as she fell back to sleep.
Update on the title issue. A reviewer recommended 'Missing Pieces'. I like it. Any suggestions????
Characters:
McKenzie 'Mac' Morgan a 27 year old private investigator
Major Logan Nelson 34 years old and an active duty soldier
Arlo McKenzie's black and tan dachshund
Megan Nelson Logan's younger sister - murdered
The Lou local name for St. Louis
Simon Knight and Sheila Logan's former Army buddy and a Lab technician. Sheila's his wife.
Fan name for the St. Louis Cardinals - a major league
baseball team.
Yadi What Cardinal fans call Yadier Molina - Cardinal's all-star catcher.
Edger McKenzie's black and tan rottweiler
George Whitney A former boyfriend of Megan, early suspect in her murder.
John Benson Man who murdered McKenzie's parents
Bill Abbot A D.A and McKenzie's God-Father; he was a high-
school friend of McKenzie's father. Joanie is his wife.
Jose Lopez his wife is Lucy Chicago Police Department undercover police
department.
Kate Hartford Megan Nelson's friend they taught middle school
together.
Donny Carlton A man Megan Nelson dated.
Mitch Gardner St. Louis Police Department detective who has
partnered with McKenzie's dad.
Ivan Smart A bad guy
Peter and Nancy Nelson Logan's parents
Sidney Parks works for the St. Louis Police Detective with the drug unit.
Mack and Helen Morgan McKenzie's parents - both deceased
Gus Piper McKenzie's abusive grandfather - deceased
Austin Bryant an old boyfriend - McKenzie broke up with him because he's a jerk.
Joshua Davis so far a nobody, but is a neighbor to Donny Carlton
Mark Young an acquaintance of McKenzie, a state trooper, and will become important much later
Trey Walker former Army buddy and now retired, lives in Kansas City and helped rescue McKenzie
Dr. Gray McKenzie's doctor
