days already. She wondered why someone would ever do such a thing to another
human being. She stopped herself, she shouldn't be thinking like this,
sentiment wasn't good. At least not in her line of duty. She was here to do
her job and that was that. At that moment her partner walked over to her.
"Find anything Sal?" he asked her, smiling. "Well, this body has been here
for a week, two at most. The police already checked his pockets. They
couldn't find anything to identify who he is." Or was, she thought to
herself.
"What happened to him?" her partner asked.
"He was shot 3 times. One hit his leg, the second his arm, and the third, was
a bullseye. Hit right in the heart. Must have died instantly. From the
tracks, the police think he was running from the shooter. When he got hit in
the leg, he fell down. Then the next hit his arm and the next killed him.
Wasn't a very good shooter, whoever it was." She suddenly turned to her
partner and grinned mischievously. "Want to take a look to see if I've missed
anything?"
"No thanks," he said hurriedly. "You know dead bodies don't make me feel too
good. I can't stand to look at them."
Sal laughed. She loved to tease her partner.
"Come on, we have a lot of paper work that needs to be done," Sal was telling
Matt. "I think the local PD can handle it from here." She turned to look at
him when he didn't respond. He looked at her and answered her unasked
question. "No, nothings wrong. I was just wondering why they called US out
here to look at the body and didn't just leave it up to the local PD," he
said.
"Who knows. You know how they can get sometimes," she said with a small smile
remembering their last encounter with a different PD. At that they walked to
their car and drove away.
The next day Sal was busy trying to finish all the paperwork she had to do.
It was the one thing she hated about her job, all the paperwork. Someone
knocked on the door to her office. "Come in," she said, still writing.
Someone walked into the room and stood there. When the person didn't say
anything, Sal looked up from her paperwork. "Oh, hi, Matt!" she said as he
grinned at her. "Come to help me with all this paperwork?"
"Not exactly," he said, still grinning. "I just came to see what you were
doing.
"Well, if you're not going to help me then you might as well get out. I have
lots of work to do," she said crossly.
"Come on Sal. If you're going to be that mad then hand over some paperwork.
I should probably do my share anyway."
"Of course you should," she said throwing a stack of papers at him. Sal sat
down and began to work again. After awhile she realized that Matt was staring
at her. "What?" she asked, looking up at him. He grinned sheepishly. "Um, I
don't have a pen." "Get out of here!" she said playfully and tossed a handful
of pens at him.
Several pots of coffee, a pizza and a lot of laughing later they had finally
completed their paper work. They both locked up and headed towards their
vehicles. "Thanks again Matt for actually doing your fair share of paperwork
this time," Sal teased.
"Oh, any time," he replied.
"Do you know what our next case is? Weren't we supposed to get the file
today?" she asked.
"They handed it to me today. Left it on my desk, sorry. Anyway, you aren't
going to like it very much," he smiled. "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, tomorrow," Sal grumbled and they both drove away in opposite
directions.
The next day Sal arrived at work a half an hour late. She headed over to
Matt's office. She was eager to find out what the new case was. "You're
late," he grumbled the second she walked in the door.
"I'm sorry. I've been busy."
"Busy doing what?" he asked her rather rudely.
"Well, what's your problem?" she replied, crossly.
He ran a hand through his thick, dark hair and sat down. "It's nothing," he
said more quietly.
"What's the matter? I know something is wrong. You can't hide anything from
an FBI agent." He smiled a little at her comment but then got serious again.
"I lost the file that had our next case in it. I looked all over but I
couldn't find it. I would swear that I put it on my desk yesterday. But it's
not here anymore."
"Sometimes I wonder how you ever made it out of the academy," Sal joked. When
Matt didn't say anything she spoke again. "Why don't you just go ask Assistant
Director Janeway for another copy? I'm sure they have more than just one copy.
I know it might wound your pride a little but oh well," she smiled.
"I know. I'll go do that in a minute but I want to know what happened to the
original file. We don't want it floating around," he said.
"Why, what is it about?" she asked. Matt got out of his chair and headed out
the door. "Matt?" she tried again but he left. Oh well she thought, she'd find
out soon enough.
Sal waited a whole hour and a half before Matt finally came back. "What did
you do? Take the scenic route?" she playfully joked. Matt tossed a file at
her and didn't say anything. "Boy, you're real talkative today," she said as
she opened the file. She scanned through it. The next case appeared to be a
robbery case. She hated those. "Why can't the police do these cases?" she
asked, annoyed. "All they do is discover the crime and then throw it in our
faces for us to solve. It's just a waste of time. I say we forget it." Matt
didn't say anything. "I say we just forget it," Sal repeated again, a little
louder. Again, there was silence from Matt. "What?" she asked, looking up.
But Matt wasn't there. "Matt!" she yelled. She was really confused now.
"Matt, where are you?"
Just then he appeared at the door with about 15 of the other FBI agents behind
him. "Happy Birthday to you..." they started singing. Then Assistant Director
Janeway walked in carrying a big birthday cake. Sal was so surprised she
didn't say anything. "...to Sal. Happy Birthday to you," they all finished
singing. She couldn't believe it. She had forgotten all about her own
birthday but they had all remembered it. Everyone crowded into Matt's small
office, all talking at once, and began to eat birthday cake.
After about an hour everyone started to clear out. Once the last person had
left and it was just herself and Matt again she said "So the robbery case was
just a ruse?"
"Umm...actually no," he said. "We still have the case."
"Damn. Anyway thanks for the cake."
"You're welcome; you only turn 30 once."
"So what's so weird about this robbery case that they just had to give it to
us?" Sal asked.
"I don't know," Matt replied. "We should probably check it out, though."
"We kind of have to check it out or else we lose our jobs," Sal sad, mad. "I
just wish those police would do their fair share of work."
"It's okay, Sal. It's just another case. Let's just go check it out and see
if we can find anything. If nothing turns up, we can just forget the case."
"Fine," Sal replied, still annoyed. She grabbed her coat and the two headed
out to their cars.
"Why don't we just take one car?" Matt asked. "Just in case there is someone
around there, we don't want to look too suspicious."
Sal didn't say anything but headed towards Matt's car. He opened the door for
her and she crawled in. They buckled up and Matt started the car. They drove
out of the parking lot and into the street.
"So where are we going?" Sal asked. "Didn't you say it was some old rich lady
who got robbed last week?"
"Yeah," Matt said as he turned onto the highway. "So where is her house? You
give me the directions and I'll get us there in no time."
"I thought you knew where we were going," Sal said.
"But I didn't bring the case file along with me," replied Matt.
"How can you be so stupid?!!!" Sal asked, definitely annoyed.
"I'm sorry," he said with a sheepish smile on his face. He got off the
highway and started to head back to his office.
"Why did you start driving out on the highway when you didn't even know where
it was?" asked Sal.
"I don't know," Matt replied. "I guess I just wasn't thinking about what I
was doing."
"That's for sure," Sal said. "So, what were you thinking about?"
"Oh nothing," he replied.
"No. Tell me. What were you thinking about?"
"Fine. You really want to know?" he asked smiling.
"Yes, I really want to know."
"Okay. I was thinking about....."
"About what?" Sal asked anxiously.
"...about you."
"Not this again," Sal said. "Matt I know how you feel about me, and you know I
feel the same way. And we both know us being together would be a breach of
protocols."
"I know, I know, sorry. I was just telling you the truth," he said honestly.
Fifteen minutes later they were heading out to a small town in California.
"Why do they have to give us cases that aren't even close to where we live?"
whined Sal.
"Maybe they have some vendetta against us," joked Matt.
"That must be it," Sal said with a smile.
"So the thief didn't steal any money or anything else of value, just some
paperwork. Now that's a little bizarre. I wonder why the lady was so
distraught over some missing paper," said Sal. "It doesn't say here what the
papers were about."
"Well then I guess we'll have to ask her," offered Matt.
"Really? You think?" asked Sal.
"Make fun all you want," said Matt, trying to act hurt.
As their conversation ended they came to the dirt road that led to their
destination.
Matt and Sal got out of the car and walked up the little brick pathway to the
house. It was a fairly small, white house. All along the pathway were
beautiful little flowers and plants of all sorts. Matt reached the porch
first and rang the doorbell. They waited a few minutes and nothing happened.
"Maybe she didn't hear," Matt said, ringing it again. "The file said she was
pretty old." They waited for a few minutes and still, no one came to answer
the door.
"She must not be home," Sal said as Matt rang the doorbell once again.
"She's gotta be home," Matt said, getting frustrated. "She lives by herself
here and never gets out. Her niece comes by every afternoon to take care of
her. Something must be wrong if she's not answering the door."
"How do you know so much about her?" Sal asked.
"I looked it up, alright? We've got to get into this house," he snapped at
her and started banging on the door.
Sal went around to the side of the house and found a window that was partially
open. "Matt!" she called. "There's an open window over here!"
Matt came around to the side and saw the window. He started to open it all
the way, but it was stuck. It was only open about three inches, so neither of
the two could fit in.
"Help me here!" Matt yelled to Sal. "We have got to get into this house."
Matt is acting really strange, Sal thought. "Matt, what's the matter. You
know something that I don't and I want to know what it is."
"Alright!" he said exasperated, giving up on the window. "The lady who lives
here is the grandmother of one of my friends. She was always so nice to me
when I was little. When my own grandma died, she became my grandma. I always
called her grandma, even though she wasn't really my grandmother."
"And that's how you knew so much about her and that's why you have to get into
the house," Sal said, realizing everything.
"I only hope it isn't too late," Matt muttered to himself and went back to
work on the window.
As they worked together to open the window they heard the front door open and
a voice call out, "Hello?"
Sal and Matt walked over to the front porch. "Hi Mrs. Partain. I'm special
agent Sally Paris and this is my partner Matthew Torres. But I guess you two
are already acquainted," Sal said in a formal monotone.
"Oh Matt, it's so nice to see you. When was the last time you were here?"
asked Mrs. Partain.
"Sorry, nana. I've been busy. It's nice to see you two," Matt replied.
"May we come in Mrs. Partain?" asked Sal.
"Why yes, or course. Sorry for making you wait. I was in the other room and
well I'm not as young as I use to be," she said while escorting the agents
into the living room of her house.
Sal took a seat next to Matt on a soft, red couch. She looked around at the
room in awe. There were plants everywhere, on the table, on the walls, in the
windowsills, and even on the floor.
Mrs. Partain, after watching Sal look around the room said, "I love gardening.
It is my favorite hobby. I may be old but whenever I see a plant or flowers,
something inside me sparks up and I feel just like a child again."
"It's very beautiful," Sal said. "I have never seen a better garden than the
one I saw out front."
"Oh that old thing?" Mrs. Partain said. "That's the worst one. I have much
more pretty ones out back. Would you like to see?"
Sal was about ready to agree when Matt cleared his throat. "Actually, nana,
we're here on business."
"Oh really?" Mrs. Partain asked, surprise. "Well, what kind of business is
it?"
"Someone stole some papers from you. Wasn't that what it was nana?"
"We came to ask you just a few questions," Sal quickly added.
Mrs. Partain stared at the two in confusion. "I don't remember any papers
being stolen from me. Now let me think... Sometimes I forget things, you
know. Well, I just can't think of what might have been stolen. Did someone
break into my house when I was gone?"
"Nana, we're asking you," Matt said, a little surprised. "And by the way,
when were you gone?'"
"Oh yes!" Mrs. Partain exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "I went to Europe for
three weeks. I just got back two days ago."
Sal gave Matt a glance and said under her breath, "I thought you said she
never got out."
Matt was just as surprised as Sal was and didn't say anything.
No one said anything for a few seconds. Finally Sal said, "So you weren't
here on the 18th? You were in Europe?"
"That's exactly right," Mrs. Partain said. "Would you like to see the
pictures I took?"
"Not right now, nana," Matt said, trying to think.
"Matt," Sal turned to him. "If she was in Europe on the 18th, then who called
the police station and reported a burglary?"
"Would you two like some tea? I'll go make it and let you talk," Mrs. Partain
said rhetorically.
"I don't know, it doesn't make sense," Matt said.
"Maybe she wasn't in Europe, maybe she just thinks she was and she was the one
that called? Only she doesn't remember calling?" Sally said.
"Here you go," Mrs. Partain said as she walked in the room with a tea tray.
"Be careful, it's hot."
"Thanks Nana. You know, why don't you show us those pictures you took while
you were away in Europe," Matt asked, trying to sound casual about it.
"Sure thing, let me go get them," she said as she walked into the other room.
She came back out a few minutes later carrying a medium size photo album.
They sat there for a while looking through the photo album. After they had
looked and commented on all of the pictures Mrs. Partain left the room to put
the album away.
"Makes me want to take a vacation to Europe now," Matt said invitingly.
"Nice try," Sally retorted teasingly. "Well the dates on the pictures go
accordingly to the dates she says she was gone."
"Yep. Well I guess this case isn't so boring after all," he said. "But why?
Why would someone call the police from an old lady's house saying that they
had been robbed?"
Matt and Sally were on the highway, heading back to the office. "Oh, shoot!"
Sally suddenly yelled. "I was suppose to go pick up my niece after school
today!" She glanced at her watch. It was 4:15 and school had gotten out at
3:00.
Matt took the next exit and followed Sally's directions to the school. "My
sister was going to be working late tonight and wanted me to take Dana home.
I can't believe I forgot!"
Matt pulled up in front of the school. There was a small, smiling child, who
couldn't have been more than 11 years old, sitting by herself on the steps.
She was staring out into space and at first, she didn't notice that anyone had
driven up. "That must be Dana," Matt deduced.
"How'd you guess?" Sally asked, sarcastically. She rolled down the window and
called to the child, "Dana! I'm sorry I'm late, hon. I didn't mean to forget
about you."
Dana looked up and saw Sally. "Aunt Sally!" she yelled happily and ran to
jump in the back of Matt's car.
"Dana," Sally began. "This is my partner, Matt. Matt, this is my niece,
Dana."
"How do you do, Mr. Matt, Sir," Dana said, politely.
Matt and Sally chuckled and started up the car. They drove along in silence
for awhile. Sally glanced at Matt, who was looking grave. "What's the
matter? Still thinking about what happened earlier?" she asked, kindly.
"I just can't figure out why would someone call the police from an old lady's
house saying that they had been robbed."
Sally noticed Dana's curious look and so she quickly explained what had
happened earlier at Mrs. Partain's house.
Everyone was silent for a few moments, and then Dana spoke. "You know, maybe
that wasn't really your nana, Mr. Matt, Sir. Maybe someone came in and killed
your nana and then they dressed up like her. It's possible, you know. There
are make-up artists who could make you look like a totally different person.
They could even make a man look like an old lady. Maybe you were talking to a
murderer, thinking it was your nana. You haven't seen her in awhile, so her
voice could be slightly different and you wouldn't even notice. What if
that's what really happened? What if you two were talking to a murderer? He
could have killed you both!"
"Dana, you have such an imagination," Sally laughed. She looked over at Matt,
who wasn't laughing.
"You know," he said. "She might just be right."
"Come on Matt, give it up," Sally said. She then looked at Matt's face and saw
that he was serious. "Listen Matt...it wouldn't make any sense..." she was
saying but was cut off.
"The case doesn't make any sense to begin with," he said, deep in thought.
"Matt, this would only make it more complicated. Anyway, didn't you recognize
her? You said that you had known her for a long time. I think if it were
someone else then you would have noticed," she said.
"Well...now that I think about I didn't really pay that much attention to
physical details..." he said while being interrupted like he had previously
done.
"I'm serious, you're taking this too far. She's only a little girl, her
imagination is just running wild," Sally said, trying to convince him.
"Well you never know. Aunt Sally that's your job," the little girl said.
"What do you mean?" Sally asked.
"Well you investigate things. What happens if that is what really happened?
And you didn't investigate it? And a man gets away with murder? And..." she
continued.
"You know she's right," Matt smiled, knowing he had won.
Sally looked from Matt to her niece then to Matt again. "Fine. We'll go back
tomorrow and question her. Are you happy now?" she asked.
"That's all I wanted," he said as he smiled that one smile that he knew she
loved.
That night Matt could not get to sleep. He kept thinking about what Dana had
said. Of course she was just a little girl and had a big imagination. But
then he had read of an awful lot of stories where kids had been right and the
grown-ups didn't listen to them. And there had been studies that he had heard
and read about that showed that 86% of kids under the age of 11 gave accurate
information to police and detectives. And 99% of those detectives didn't
believe the kids until it was too late. But those were just statistics.
What if Dana was really right? What if I don't listen to her? What if that
really was some guy pretending to be my nana?
Matt jumped up, put on his shoes, grabbed a coat and the keys to his car and
left his house. He hopped in his car, started it, and slowly backed out of
his driveway.
He was on the highway now. A light rain began to fall. Matt glanced at the
little clock in the car. It was 1:06 in the morning. He continued driving,
looking straight ahead.
He got off at the next exit and headed for the old dirt road. It didn't look
as familiar and pleasant as it had that afternoon. Instead it looked more
eerie now that it was night, and not day.
What am I doing, he thought to himself. What excuse would I have for coming
here in the middle of the night. "Oh nana, I just wanted to check on you and
make sure you weren't really some criminal on the loose." Yeah, that would
work really well. And if it wasn't his nana...if Dana had been right...what
would the fake "nana" think? He probably had a gun and would shoot Matt and
then throw him into a lake somewhere and he'd never see Sally again.
"Sally..." he thought aloud. I can't do this. This is insane. Matt turned
his car around on the dirt road and headed back toward the highway. I can't
believe I almost did that! he thought. It was way against orders to
investigate anything without your partner.
Just then an old pick-up truck raced past him, going way over the speed limit,
and turned onto the dirt road that lead strictly to his nana's house.
Matt slowed down his car and stopped it on the side of the freeway. He knew
that he should probably just keep going. But what was someone doing going to
her house at this time at night? Well, besides him he thought.
So with this thought on his mind he turned his car around and slowly drove
back up the dirt road. The truck was now parked in front of the house. Before
all of the lights had been out but now they were all on. Matt didn't want to
make too much noise so he parked behind some bushes and trees that ran along
the dirt road. He didn't want the person to know he was there.
He then got out of his car and walked up to the side of the house. He went
from window to window peering into each room but he didn't see anyone. Maybe
they were in the bathroom or something he thought. But then he heard a twig
snap not too far away from him. Or, maybe the person realized that he was
there and so was outside trying to find him Matt concluded. Matt took his gun
out of it's holster right before he was to round one of the corners of the
house.
Very quickly he stepped forward and yelled "Freeze, FBI!"
At the same time he heard someone yell at him "Freeze, FBI!"
"Sally?" Matt asked into the darkness.
"Matt?" Sally asked back.
"What are you doing here? It's 2:00 in the morning," he said.
"Well I figured that you couldn't resist to come down here, I called your
house and there was no answer. So I decided to come and make sure that
everything was going well," she said. "I saw your car out there and you
weren't in it..."
"You were worried?" he asked with a smile, already knowing the answer.
"This isn't a good time to talk about it right now Matt. So what are you so
interested in that you are looking in the windows of an old lady's house at
2:00 in the morning?" she asked.
Matt sighed. "I really should go back home. I'll need to get some sleep,
especially since we have work tomorrow."
"Trying to change the subject?" she asked, teasingly. "What were you really
doing here? Trying to find out if Dana was right or not? Don't worry, I
won't tell anyone that you came here without me. We'd probably both be fired
if I did."
Matt hung his head. "Yeah, I was just trying to see if Dana was right. But
now I've got to go home. Want a ride?"
"I brought my own car. What'd you think I did? Walk?"
"Sorry, sorry. I'm too tired," Matt apologized as he walked toward his car.
When he got to his car, he noticed another, nice car, parked right next to
his. "Whose car is this?" he asked, suddenly.
"Well, mine, of course," she said, hopping in.
"Yours??? I saw an old, beat-up pick-up come speeding down this road and I
followed it here. That wasn't your car?"
"Matt... we are FBI agents. We do get paid a reasonable sum. You think I'd
drive some old beat-up car? And why would I EVER speed?"
Matt laughed a little, remembering Sally's first speeding ticket she had
received the year before. Then he got serious again. "No, seriously, whose
car was that?"
"How should I know? Your nana's?"
"Nana got her driver's license taken away about 3 years ago. If she goes
anywhere, she takes a bus or a taxi or she has a friend drive her there. And
besides, whoever was driving that truck was definitely drunk."
"Matt!!!!!!!!! You thought I was drunk and driving that car???????"
"Sally, listen to me. I'm tired. But I know what I saw and I know that
whoever it was, was definitely not my nana."
"Well, Einstein. Tell me where the pick-up is," Sally said, looking around.
Matt looked and there was not a pick-up in sight.
"Matt, I think you are losing it. Maybe you should take tomorrow off," Sally
said.
"No, I'm fine. Though there was a truck, I'm not crazy Sal," he replied.
She gave him a look and said, "Matt? You have to admit that you have done some
crazy stuff over the years." At the innocent look on his face she continued.
"Well there was the time you thought I had been kidnapped and so you proceeded
to..."
"Ok, ok. I surrender. I'm not perfect but I know what I saw and it definitely
was a truck. Maybe it drove away while we were talking..." Matt was saying,
deep in thought.
"Matt, don't you think we would have heard it. I mean, we would have heard if
someone started up the engine, especially if they were drunk like you
insisted," she said. "Come on, lets go home and get some sleep. Then tomorrow
we can talk about this and hopefully find some answers. But standing out here
at two something in the morning isn't going to get us anywhere with this
case."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Matt said. "Though, Sal?"
"Yeah?" She asked, while she walked over to her car.
"You have gotten drunk before," he said with that smug smile of his.
"Watch it, or you're going to be sorry," she replied. At that they got into
their separate cars and drove home.
The next morning, Dana walked into the office. Matt was muttering to himself
at his desk and jumped up when he saw her. "Ready to go?"
Dana looked at the car keys he held in his hand. "Matt, you don't have to
rush. We have all day."
"But-"
"Alright. I'll come," Dana replied, rolling her eyes.
The jumped into Matt's car and headed out for the highway. Pretty soon they
saw the familiar dirt road that led to his nana's house. Matt pulled onto the
road but then stopped the car and started to get out.
"What are you doing?" Dana asked him, slightly angry.
"Let's walk up to the house from here. If someone is there, I don't want them
to hear our car and then leave again...like last night." He glanced at her as
he said this.
Dana didn't reply but got out and followed. They reached the house and it
looked just as beautiful and innocent as the day they had first gone to it.
"Matt, I really don't think..." Dana started to say and then stopped.
Matt looked over and saw Dana peering at something on the ground. He walked
over behind her and took a look. There on the ground were big tire marks.
Tire marks that could only be made by a large pick-up.
"See Sal, tire marks. I was right. There was a truck here last night," Matt
said, triumphantly.
"Well the truck isn't here now," Sally said as they walked up to the house.
"Lets see if she's here," he said as he rang the door bell.
There was no response so he tried again but to no avail. After this he put his
hand on the door knob and wiggled it, the door opened slightly.
"Matt..."
"Come on Sal," he said, already walking into the house.
"Breaking and entering, is illegal unless we have a search warrant," she
protested as she, too, stepped into the house.
They walked into the living room to find it in the same condition it had been
in when they had visited Mrs. Partain earlier. They then separated and went
through the entire house.
As Sally entered one last room Matt joined her. It was a small room at the
back of the house.
"It's a mess," Sally stated the obvious.
"Well we know where the person has been staying. It would explain why we
didn't see any lights on, there are no windows in here," Matt said.
All of a sudden the two heard a muffled banging noise directly above them.
"What was that?" Sally asked, frightened.
"I don't know," Matt replied, equally scared. "We'd better go check it out."
"Matt! It could be the murderers up there."
"Sally, get real. We don't even know if there has been a murder."
"Then tell me where your nana is, Einstein."
"Sally, we can't keep arguing. I'm going to go check it out. You can either
come with me or stay here."
Sally didn't answer. She watched as Matt moved a small bookshelf off to the
side. She gasped when she saw the hole in the wall. It was a hidden door!
Matt smiled. "My nana showed me that. It's a secret passageway up to the
attic. I used to use it all the time when the attic had been my secret
clubhouse."
Matt disappeared into the hole. After a moment, he popped his head back out.
"Well, are you coming or not?"
"I'll stay here in case there really is someone bad up there and he is armed.
Somebody has to be down here to call the police."
Matt nodded his head and disappeared back into the passageway. He walked up
the stairs as quietly as he could. When he reached the door at the top, he
took his gun out of his coat pocket, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
the person tied and gagged, sitting in the chair in the attic. He was untying
her when the sound of a truck could be heard pulling up to the house. A door
slammed, a shout was heard, 3 gunshots were fired, and then everything went
black.
When he came to, the first thing that registered in his brain was pain,
incredible pain. Then he felt someone hold his head in their lap.
"Matt! Come on Matt, you can't die on me," Sally cried franticly. She
reached for his arm and felt for a pulse. To her relief there was a very
faint one, but one none-the-less.
Suddenly she heard him moan. This was good; he was conscious. She then
reached into her back pocket and fumbled for her cell phone. Within an hour
they were at the hospital.
Matt was in the ICU. He had suffered from one gun shot wound to the abdomen.
Lucky for him the shooter had had bad aim and the other two shots had missed.
Sally sat there next to him throughout the night. While doing this she
contemplated their relationship. She realized just what she would have felt
if he had died. She couldn't imagine a day without him. Her feelings for him
went beyond friendship. She didn't want him to die and never know exactly
what she felt for him. So sitting there she decided that after he had
recovered she would tell him; though she wasn't sure what would happen after
that.
Sally woke up. She was sitting in a hard, plastic chair in the hospital
waiting room. She immediately thought of Matt. She wandered over to his
room. The door was shut tight. Sally could hear someone talking inside so
she put her ear to the door and listened. She could only make out a few words
that were being said. "Poor thing... we tried all we could... wait until we
tell his family... the girl in waiting room ought to know about this... I
think she was his girlfriend or something... will be hard on her..." Sally
couldn't bear to hear anymore. She ran back to the waiting room and started
sobbing. It was too late. If only she had told Matt her feelings towards him
before. Now she would never be able to tell him.
An officer walked in and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry to hear what
happened to Matt. I didn't think you'd be that affected by it. I just wanted
to fill you in on the case." Sally stopped crying enough to listen to him for
awhile. "We arrived around the time the ambulance arrived. I don't know if
you remembered us being there, you were in quite an hysterical state. Luckily
the shot that you fired had hit the guy and he wasn't able to get away from
the house. He's being treated at another hospital and once he is better, he
will be thrown in jail. Mrs. Partain is quite all right. She filled us in on
all the details. I won't tell you them now as I can see you're upset but
they'll be on file in case you want to look at them."
Sally just nodded, not really paying much attention. "I'll leave you alone
now, if you wish," the officer said and headed out to the parking lot where
his police car was waiting.
"Hey, I'm not dead, yet!" a familiar voice said to Sally.
She looked up and couldn't believe her eyes. There was Matt. "Matt!!!" she
screamed and jumped into his arms.
"Whoa!" Matt said. "I was only shot. When I walked in here you looked like I
was dead or something."
"But I thought you were!" she exclaimed. "I heard the doctor talking..."
Matt turned Sally around so that she was facing him. "Sally, they were
talking about the other man in my room. We don't get our own rooms, you know.
We do have to share. My roommate died early this morning. I was asleep so I
didn't see what had happened.
"Oh, Matt!!! You didn't realize how worried I was about you."
"Oh yes I did," he said. "You were sitting with me almost all night. I was
only pretending to be asleep."
"You...you...I can't believe you!!!" Sally exclaimed as Matt smiled
mischievously.
Just then Sally realized her chance to tell Matt her feelings toward him.
"Matt..." she started to say but was cut off. Matt, who already had his hands
around her, pulled her closer and gave her a kiss.
Mrs. Partain walked into the waiting room and saw the two together. She
didn't say anything to them.
Just then Matt noticed Mrs. Partain standing off to the side. She looked a
little shorter than he had remembered her, but then again, he hadn't seen her
for a long time. "Nana!!!" he exclaimed. "I'm glad to see that everything is
better for you now."
"Why, yes it is," she said in an old voice. "I just wanted to come and thank
you two for saving my life. I could have died if you hadn't come and rescued
me."
"We were just doing our job, Mrs. Partain," Sally said. She glanced up and
Matt. He was staring down at her.
"Well, I'll leave you two little lovebirds alone," Mrs. Partain said, and
headed for the door. Sally and Matt didn't say anything so Mrs. Partain
exited.
As soon as she got outside into the cool air, Dana took the old lady mask and
the wig off. That was fun, she thought, and smiled.
THE END