Letters From the Grave

Ross, thanks.”

  The University Medical Center at Lafayette was a small facility with only eighty beds. He made a slight course adjustment, straight over downtown to the hospital. On top, he banked into a wide circle to find a parking spot. The hospital had a helipad for emergencies, but he chose the top deck of the two-story parking garage, which nobody uses in the Louisiana heat. He circled once so that anyone watching would know his intentions and testing the wind, then made a straight-in approach flaring at the last second. He switched everything off and was on the ground floor level of the hospital before the rotor stopped moving.

  There was a police officer in the emergency room lobby waiting for him. They’d all seen the helicopter arrive. “Follow me, Mr. Ramsey?”

  He led Jake up to the ICU, where he had to check in with the nurse’s station. They already had his wristband waiting. As he looked through the glass doors, his knees almost buckled. It was like looking at Callie all over again. A nurse came out to meet him and led him to her bedside. Her face was relaxed with a tube in her mouth and a breathing tube in her nose. There was an IV ticking, and a monitor showing her vital signs. It all looked too familiar. He hesitated before asking the nurse, “How -- how is she?”

  “She’s holding her own for the moment, Mr. Ramsey. The doctor will be here shortly to talk to you.”

  He stood beside her and held her hand, but got no response. Her hand was dry and warm. He spoke softly to her, but there was no way to know if she could hear him. A woman doctor joined him shortly after he entered the unit. She explained that they didn’t know much at the moment. They were trying to stabilize her and then determine if any permanent damage was done. Julie was badly dehydrated and had suffered extreme heat exposure, which could damage her kidneys and other organs. Almost all such cases were “forgotten children” in cars that were generally fatal. They didn’t have a lot of experience with adults in this condition.

  Jake was given a chair. There was nothing more he could do. About an hour later, the nurse told him there were some police officers outside who wanted to speak with him. He stood and saw Tibbs with two uniformed officers. He was reluctant to leave Julie. Exiting, he said, “Hello, Tibbs.”

  “Hi, Jake. How’s she doing?”

  “We’ll know more tomorrow. Thanks for getting her here quickly.”

  Tibbs looked at the other officers. “These guys found her right away, Jake. They deserve the credit.”

  Jake shook their hands and thanked them.

  Tibbs continued. “Jake, we got Ryan.”

  Jake didn’t say anything but looked at Tibbs as he went on. “He’s in bad shape, might not live.”

  Jake spoke. “What a shame.”

  “Jake, I need to ask you some questions.”

  “Okay, go ahead.”

  “Okay. It looks like Ryan was shot, is that right?”

  “Yes, he held me at gunpoint all the way to the platform. When we got there, I was able to get to a shotgun stored in a shed, and we had an exchange of gunfire. There’s my 1911 on the platform that I shot out of his hand. His finger prints will be on it. His fingers are somewhere there too if they look.”

  Tibbs was taking notes. “Okay, that’s what I assumed.”

  Tibbs went on. “The response team said he was bound pretty good with duct tape. Did you do that?”

  “Yes. He admitted killing the women in town here, and I knew he was dangerous, even when wounded.”

  “Did you try to administer first aid?”

  Jake thought he saw Tibbs smile. “Yes. I didn’t have much time because of Julie, so I bound off his bleeding as best as I could without a first aid kit.”

  “Good. Ah, how did you get him to disclose her location?”

  Jake thought for a minute. “Hum. I think he told me out of gratitude for bandaging his arm.”

  Tibbs shook his head in agreement. “That makes perfect sense.

  “Okay, Jake. Based on the police reporting from out on the platform, they thought you might have tortured Ryan. Did you torture Ryan?”

  “No. We had a discussion about my civic duty and his remorsefulness for killing people. I think he was genuinely wanting to repent. I even tried inverting him to help blood flow to his upper body. I don’t know much about emergency medicine, so I did my best all alone out there.”

  “Good. That’s what I would have expected.” Tibbs was writing in his small notebook.

  Jake asked, “So, what does this mean? Am I gonna be investigated for something?”

  “No. This concludes it as far as we’re concerned. If Ryan recovers, which is questionable, and gets out of prison in a hundred years or so, he might bring civil charges, but I think the police report will prevent any worries for you. Just go take care of your wife, and, hopefully, live a long wonderful life together. Actually, the people of Lafayette owe you a debt of gratitude for capturing this monster.”

  Life with Jake and Julie

  Julie slowly recovered over several days in the hospital. Jake spent the first night with her, sleeping in a chair beside her bed. The ICU had no room except a small narrow chair between beds, and the only clock was outside at the nurse’s station. Julie was alone in the ICU most of the time, with other patients coming in for short periods. Mostly, she was alone. Jake could look at his watch to gauge night and day, but he needed rest. He was sleeping when she began to awaken. She became more alert and aware of her surroundings over several minutes. She moved her head back and forth slightly and say Jake asleep with his head against her bed rail. She was able to move her hand and touch his hair, waking him instantly. It was a supreme effort on her part, and she quickly closed her eyes after he reacted. He wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it, whispering, “Julie?”

  She moved her head slightly but didn’t open her eyes. “I’m so tired, Jake.” She went back to sleep with him resting on a chair beside her. Over the next twenty-four hours, she improved. At some point the doctors determined that her kidneys were working, and she was transferred to a private room at the request of the police. The doctor talked to Jake outside her room and gave her a good prognosis. Ryan had not abused her in any serious way, and there did not appear to be any permanent organ damage. Another hour in the trunk of the car would have had a different outcome.

  Jake stayed by her side. He left for a couple hours once to change clothes and shower at home, but he stayed with her most of the time. On the third day, Detective Tibbs and a female patrolman came to her room for a statement, and Jake spent an hour in the cafeteria.

  When he returned, the police were gone, and she was sitting up talking on the phone to Sue. He thought she looked fabulous. Her voice was strong, and her color looked good. The nurses had helped her look refreshed. The only remaining hospital equipment was a saline IV drip, just in case she had a relapse. When she saw him, she finished the call. “Hey, husband. You look great after a shower.”

  He bent and kissed her, “You look terrific, yourself.”

  “Well, it will be nice to get out of here and start leading a normal life with you. I feel like we’ve been living a reality adventure so far.”

  He chuckled, “More like a reality nightmare, if you ask me.”

  She looked at him. “Jake, it’s over. They got him and it’s over.”

  “Yeah. I don’t think he’s coming back.”

  Her face turned more serious. “The police said you saved my life.”

  “They saved your life, I just told them where to look.”

  “They said you caught Ryan and got him to talk.”

  “Actually, he caught me.”

  “You’re being modest. How did you get him out on an oil platform?”

  “Actually BJ gave me the idea. It seemed like the perfect place to hide some gold coins where almost no one could find them.”

  She grinned. “Yeah, but you put them in storage at the bank weeks ago.”

  He wasn’t looking direc
tly at her. “Huh, well he needed to believe he could get his hands on it.”

  “So, tell me how you got away from him and convinced him to talk?”

  “Like I said, hon, I figured I could rely on his greed to overcome caution if he thought he was close to his fortune. I just used that.” She wanted a more direct answer. “All right, so I went out this week and put some supplies on the old platform, figuring I could maneuver him there. I did it on one of my routine flights to other rigs.”

  “So, how did you convince him to fly out there with you all alone.”

  “He felt overly secure with the gun, and I didn’t give him an option.”

  “They said you shot him!”

  “I didn’t have a choice, babe.”

  “Was that how you got him to tell where I was?”

  “Yeah. It wasn’t part of the plan. But it turned out that way. My only objective was getting to you. I thought I could scare him, but he shot at me first. I had to shoot back. Luckily, I only hit his gun hand.”

  “Did you have to threaten him to tell where I was?”

  “Not really, he was pretty forthcoming after he was hurt.”

  “Too bad, you should have drowned the bastard!”

  Epilog

  Ryan recovered, but lost his arm at the shoulder. Several shotgun beads could not be removed and remained lodged in his body. He would need to take medication for the rest of his life to fight the effects of lead poisoning and would need constant surveillance for lead ball migration into his heart or other organs. He was convicted of first degree murder of the pawn