Rigged

3

3

“Are you all right, Tess?” Keith asked undercover cop Tessa Roxburgh.

Tessa put her cart of medicine aside. “Let me put it this way Keith, I am better off nursing than police work at the moment.”

Keith was shocked at her openness. “Tess! Watch what you say!”

“How so? There is no one here; just the two of us.”

“You can never be sure.”

“Jesus, what had gotten into you so suddenly?”

“Stay careful, Tess. Always and everywhere.”

“Okay Mr. Expert. But tell me why are you here so early?” She checked the watch that, like many nurses do, hung from her uniform. “The mayor won’t be there for another hour.”

“I know. But Mrs. Taylor suddenly started itching for the hardware again.”

“Ah, and you, my dear sweet boy, have listened to her.”

“Yep.” He glanced at the room at the end of the hall.

“You can visit him,” Tessa said. She had long realized that Keith was curious to hear how Ted Sheegan was doing.

“No thanks. That man needs his rest.”

“Oh. Shall I go and say that to his wife? Because she is now with him.”

“Mrs. Sheegan?”

“That’s what I said. Or should I be careful with that too?”

“Okay Tess. You made your point. But um, Mrs. Sheegan is there? And soon mayor Chisholm will come?”

“Are you okay Keith? I think it’s time for your pill. Shall I see what I have on my cart?” Tessa laughed.

“Don’t let Aubrey hear it.” Keith made no further comment, but his mind went back to the moment just before the attack on Mayor Chisholm and his colleague, forensic inspector Ted Sheegan. Less than fifteen minutes before the attack, Sheegan had been temporarily appointed captain. Keith remembered standing inside the police station. So close to the pair chatting on the street in front of the desk that he could literally follow their conversation. He had heard enough, or maybe too much. “I’m going to say hello to her,” he said to Tessa. And prevent Mrs. Sheegan from bumping into the mayor, he thought. Because that is the last thing we can use right now. The relationship between Ted and the mayor was not entirely clear to him, but what once was going on between the two of them was not over yet. That was clear to Keith after the conversation he had accidentally overheard.

“Mrs. Sheegan?” Keith asked the only woman in the darkened room.

The woman sat in a simple chair next to her husband’s bed. She looked up at the unknown man in the doorway. “And you are?”

Keith Balon. Detective; I am a colleague of your husband.” Keith walked in, shook Mrs. Sheegan’s hand politely, then tried not to look too glitzy at the patient.

“Balon? Nice to meet you. Although I would rather have met you under different circumstances.”

“I understand that,” Keith nodded. “But, your husband was lucky.”

“Do you think so?”

Keith frowned. “Don’t you? The bullet went through his body. It passed all the vital parts.”

“Yes. And why?”

“Sorry?”

“Why was he hit? Why was he shot down?”

The way Mrs. Sheegan spoke, looking at her husband, seemed like a strange mix of grief and hatred to Keith. “Well,” he said cautiously, “I don’t think he was shot at but …”

“Exactly!” Mrs. Sheegan responded fiercely. “He sacrificed himself. He has thrown himself on her so that she… so that she… Rhhnnn…”

Okay, Keith thought. The conversation I overheard, the situation Ted and Chisholm discussed just before the attack, has clearly been going on within the Sheegan family for some time. All the more reason to keep Mrs. Sheegan away from the mayor. He quickly checked his watch. Another half hour then she would be there. Besides, where was Aubrey? She should have been here by now. “Um … Yes, you know, we are the police, so protecting civilians is part of our duty.”

“You say it right,” said Mrs. Sheegan grimly. “You work for the police. You’re not one of the president’s bodyguards! Then you should have sacrificed your life. But this… this here… It’s ridiculous. He could have been dead. For her!”

Keith wanted to make a stupid joke about the fact that Mrs. Sheegan kept saying “you,” when she clearly meant her husband, but managed to contain himself. He decided to redirect the conversation. “How is Red today?”

“Sorry?”

“Ted. I mean Ted. “ Keith recovered quickly. How could he be so stupid as to use the nickname of the red-haired Sheegan? Right now, in front of his wife?

Mrs. Sheegan looked at her husband with mixed feelings. “He is still kept in a coma. They are going to see if they can wake him up tomorrow.”

“That sounds good,” Aubrey Taylor said. “Doesn’t it? Julie?”

Keith looked back in surprise. He hadn’t heard Aubrey coming. And now it turned out that Aubrey and Mrs. Sheegan, that is, Julie, had known each other for some time.

“Seems we’re heading in the right direction Aubrey,” Julie said.

Great. As long as she’s still talking about ‘we’, it’ll be fine between the two of them, Keith thought. “What kept you so long?” he asked Taylor.

“I had another call that I needed to handle.”

“Alex Thomas?”

“Harold.”

“Oh?”

“You don’t have to know everything Keith.”

“No … No, of course not.”

Julie Sheegan gave her a questioning look.

“Okay. Harold, my ex, almost ex, called me. I kept it a little short.” She thought for a moment. ‘Well, I just cancelled the call.”

“Ouch,” Julie said.

“Yes. Not that smart, because we still have to discuss some things before the divorce is finalized. Anyway, he called me back, really pissed.” Aubrey looked at Keith. “Just after we spoke. And in the end I agreed to meet him anyway.”

“Well done,” Julie said. “It has to happen some day.”

“Yes, but I thought… You know, now. With everything that is currently going on.”

“What has to be done, has to be done love.”

“When are you going?” Keith asked impudently.

“Tonight.”

“What?! You were supposed to meet with coach Thomas, right? Or do you want me to do that?”

“You? Then we’ll never get anything done Keith. No, just leave that up to me. I don’t think the coach likes guys. Besides, you already have Angela. Don’t you? Afghanistan?”

Julie Sheegan looked at her in surprise. Afghanistan? she thought.

Aubrey shook her head. Don’t ask, she winked at Julie.

“That’s different,” Keith sighed. Very different, but that is none of your business, he thought.

“Hmm. Yes. Well, I came here to see how Ted is doing. Not to argue with you.”

“To argue? That’s what married couples do,” Keith said.

“Is that right?” Julie asked.

Oh my god, now what did I say, Keith thought. “I say Aubrey, you wanted to meet up earlier so we could discuss something before…” He swallowed the last words quickly.

“Before Mayor Chisholm comes?” Aubrey asked, accidentally dropping the bomb.

“What?” Julie responded immediately. “Why is she coming here? What is it she wants with Ted?”

“No, she’s not coming for Ted,” Keith said quickly. ‘We have to report to her. About the Grenfill case.”

“Here? In the hospital?” Julie Sheegan sputtered. “Why not simply on the station?”

Aubrey didn’t know what to make of Julie’s reaction.

“Julie. Mrs. Sheegan,” Keith said. “Please keep calm, and stay here, with your husband. We will make sure you won’t run into the mayor.”

“I would certainly do that, because she will not come in here!” Julie snorted.

“Come on,” Keith said to Aubrey. “Let’s do our preliminary discussion.”

“What was that about?” Aubrey asked curiously about Julie’s, in her eyes, strange reaction.

“Taylor,” Keith said embarrassed. “There are a few things I haven’t told you yet …”