It was late when I was able to sit with Officer Barnes as he lay in a room in the Kailispell hospital. Columbia Falls had a clinic, but the ambulance crew had been able to discern that Officer Barnes' injuries were too severe for them to handle. It was actually the time spent driving from Columbia Falls to Kalispell that put Officer Barnes as close to death as he had come. How I sensed a twenty mile drive lasted only five minutes, I didn't know, but I wasn't really paying attention to any of the clocks.
"You ought to let him sleep, sir," a nurse said nervously as she came in to check the equipment.
"He took a shotgun blast for me," I said weakly from the chair they had let me sit in. It wasn't all that comfortable, but I wasn't about to complain, "He has to get better."
The nurse looked over the various machines that Officer Barnes was hooked up too. No alarms were going off, and she wrote something down a clipboard before speaking to me again. I could hear the nervousness in her voice when she did speak.
"We're doing all that can be done at the moment," the nurse said slowly, "I know you officers tend to stick pretty closely together, but he'll be fine. There nothing YOU can do here, and I'm sure you still have some work to do."
I sighed and looked down. She was right. While the other officers and Officer Howard had taken Beauregard into custody, there was probably plenty of work that needed to be done, and with Officer Barnes recovering from wounds, I would need to fill out the paperwork for what happened. I then thought of Molly, who probably didn't know what had happened. The fear of someone going after her was no longer there, but I was sure she would be worried about me.
"Of course," I sighed after a moment and slowly began to make my way out.
As I did, I ran into Officer Howard, who appeared to be patrolling the hallways with a couple of nurses trailing him.
"Sir," I said respectfully.
"How's he doing?" he asked first.
"They believe he'll pull through," I answered, "though I'm not sure about how long it will take for him to make it back."
Officer Howard gave a heavy sigh, but one that also seemed to be filled with relief.
"This overall case has already involved far too many dead officers," Officer Howard sighed, "the last thing we need is a Montana officer to join the four killed in Illinois."
I looked back into Officer Barnes room and sighed, "I should have done something... anything. I should have heard him waiting outside the door... I should have smelled him... I should have sensed that something wasn't right."
"He's your partner," Officer Howard sighed, "and the two of you have worked well together."
I was about to answer when one of the two nurses that had been trailing Officer Howard interrupted.
"Officers, could you continue this conversation elsewhere," the nurse spoke firmly, "let our patients sleep."
"Of course," Officer Howard nodded and began to lead me out of the hospital. Once we got closer to the weighting room he spoke again, "the two of you did fairly well with what you found."
"You found the notebook?" I asked.
"You appeared to have dropped it in the doorway when Beauregard attacked you and Officer Barnes," Officer Howard nodded, "I'm not sure if the evidence would be truly damning on its own... as Beauregard could have always denied any real intent behind the planned actions... but after this, I doubt he'll be able to use that effectively."
I slowly nodded.
"But how did he get the drop on the two of you so easily?" Officer Howard questioned firmly.
"He was in one of the outside barns when we arrived," I explained, "we explained the warrant, which he did comply with. He said his doors were open, and we went in. I expected him to come along, to try to say what we could and could not look at, but he didn't. We found the notebook, and collaborated supposed R.A.M. donations with deposits into Beauregard's own accounts and moved to leave. He was waiting for us on the other side of the door. As soon as the door was open, he shot Officer Barnes, as he was in front. He then attacked me. If it hadn't been for one of his ranch hands coming to my aide I fear he might have shot me dead on the spot. He lost his gun in the attack, and in the resulting wrestling match, I managed to grab him by an arm and pulled him away from the rifle..."
"Leaving a good human sized indentation in the plaster of his interior wall," Officer Howard commented.
"I guess in the heat of the moment I put more strength in moving him then necessary," I sighed.
"Be lucky you only dislocated his arm in doing that," Officer Howard said firmly, "Anything more, and you would be looking at losing your badge for police brutality. As it is, we took him to our clinic, they set the arm back in place, and then I came down here looking for you."
"I apologize, sir," I spoke, "I should have done more to restrain myself."
"Do better next time," Officer Howard answered, "you got lucky in that the injuries Beauregard took were not enough to warrant a brutality case and considering that you got evidence that at least proves he was swindling those on his own side, and gives the general implication that he planned what happened in Peoria and the attempt to get at you or Molly here, as well as the fact that he nearly killed your partner, I doubt anyone's going to look at a dislocated arm as brutal."
"No, I should have done more," I said firmly, "R.A.M. isn't going to care about the facts. He's feed them so many lies that it won't matter what we say..."
"Part of the sea we have to swim in," Officer Howard replied, "but I doubt with their leader looking at a very long prison sentence, probably even longer then the three Pit Bull people we caught, that R.A.M. is going to be much of a threat anymore. Especially when they learn that Beauregard pocketed their money. You and Barnes did a good job in getting proof."
"So what do we do now, sir?" I asked.
"Now?" Officer Howard commented, "right now we go home. It's late, and you spent the last part of your shift looking after your partner. I'm sure Molly is nervously waiting for you at home."
"What about Officer Barnes?" I asked.
"I've already called Joey and his family," Officer Howard replied, "they'll be coming by here some time tomorrow to check on him."
We then made our way out and moved toward Officer Howard's own car that was parked close to the front door of the Kalispell hospital. I calmly got into the back seat and sighed heavily. The doctors appeared confident that Officer Barnes had made it through the worst of it, and he would recover in time. There was nothing I could do, and I would need to tell Molly what had happened. I still didn't know if she would be frightened that I could have been killed or overjoyed that the man who had done the most to try and get rid of us had screwed up so much that he was looking at a life sentence.
As we got onto the road to head back up to Columbia Falls, I thought about some of the other things that had gone on during the fight with Beauregard. The one who had saved me was Molly's uncle, Frank Rhoer, and her cousin, Nessie Rhoer had worked to try and keep Officer Barnes alive until the ambulance arrived. He may have screwed up in my books for sticking with Beauregard for so long, but he didn't let his boss murder me. A good part of me considered letting bygones be bygones between Molly and I and Frank Rhoer and his family. I'd need to discuss that with Molly first, though.
"I want you to take tomorrow off, Officer Wayne," Officer Howard spoke from the front seat, once we'd gotten to a spot in traffic that wasn't as heavy.
"Sir?" I asked.
"Take tomorrow off," Officer Howard repeated the order, "You've gone through plenty recently. The conviction against the Smiths, dealing with the Pit Bulls that moved to into town..."
"Do you know what happened to the two females?" I wondered curiously.
"Not one clue," Officer Howard sighed, "my best guess is that they high-tailed it out of town as soon as they knew their "boys" weren't going anywhere but jail. And considering what they did to that hotel room, even if they do go straight, I doubt it'll be in Columbia Falls."
"I see," I nodded as we drove along.
"Anyway, dealing with the Pit Bulls and then this..." Officer Howard spoke, "You've gone through more then enough to warrant a day off."
"Thank you, sir," I answered.
"And if you manage a way to visit Officer Barnes tomorrow, let him know we're all pulling for him," Officer Howard spoke.
"I will."