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"Simmons, I’m sorry about your partner. I know how it feels to have a —"
"Fuck all that! What happened to her?" I yelled and I pounded my fist against the glass. It frightened the nurses, so I tried to calm down. "Just tell me what happened." I expected Richards to be his usual arrogant white boy cop self, but he was cool.
"She was shot in the living room, there wasn’t any sign of a struggle. Her gun was still in her shoulder holster. We figure she either knew the guy or he caught her off guard. He came in, she turned, and he shot her. Your other partner," Richards checked his notes. "James Bronson, says the door was opened when he got there. Paramedics told me, he probably saved her life, stoppin’ the bleedin’, before he left the scene. He wasn’t real clear about why he left the scene. Says he went after the guy who did it. He was pretty shook up, so I didn’t press him about it. But we’re gonna need to talk to him."
"Where is he?"
"He left about fifteen minutes ago."
I started to ask if he said where he was goin’, but I knew better. I knew Jett. The only thing on his mind was finding who was involved. And kill them. And he wouldn’t be invitin’ the cops along. "Thanks."
"Like I was sayin’, I know what it feels like when your partner gets shot." Richards walked away. Maybe be wasn’t such an asshole.
I talked to the doctor before I left the hospital. She told me the Monika’s condition hadn’t changed. "It’s all up to her now." She promised that she would do all she could. I thanked the doctor for everything she had done. My mind was on finding Jett.
Where would he go? I drove by the house he followed Monika’s assailant to. Looking for anything that might lead me to who was responsible. No cop cars, no yellow crime scene tape. Just in case somebody was watching the house, I parked a couple of blocks away and walked back. When I went inside the body was gone. All the blood was cleaned off the floor. There was no trace that Jett had tortured and executed a man there. I went through the house anyway. Nothing.
"What now?"
I didn’t feel like sitting around the hospital, so I drove by Rocky’s spot. I didn’t think he was involved in Monika’s shooting, but I was mad. I had a little payback I wanted to deal out.
When I got there a crowd had formed. The police were standing around a convertible Impala stopped at the light. I parked and approached the crowd. I watched as they took two bodies out of the front seat. "What’s goin’ on?" I asked an old man in the crowd. "Somebody shot those three men in that car." The third body was removed from the car. It was Rocky. My first thought was Jett.
"You know if they saw who did it? Was he white?"
"I don’t know."
I thanked the man and returned to my car. With nowhere else to go, I went back to my apartment. Quietly I was hoping that Felicia had come back. I needed to see her, but that wasn’t happening. The place was in darkness.
The phone rang.
"Listen, Nick," Jett said, he still didn’t sound good.
"Where are you?"
"I’m at the stake house, by Chilly’s. I know who did it."
"Who?"
"I can’t talk now. Meet me here."
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"Jett, wait!" I yelled, but he was gone. I drove as fast as I could to the house. When I got to the house, Jett was gone. I was about to leave when I noticed some papers next to the phone. It the research Jett was doing on Felix. I picked up the papers, walked outside and got back in my car. I drove down the street slowly. I saw Jett’s car parked on my right. I parked up ahead of him and walked back to his car. I came around to the driver’s side. "What’s goin’ on, Jett?"
"Jett!"
I looked in the car. His eyes were wide open. "Jett!" I shook him. That’s when I saw the trail of blood coming from his ear. I opened the car door and Jett fell into my arms.
He was dead.
I asked a lady walking by to call the police. I sat there in the street holding Jett until the paramedics came. I talked to the police and was doin’ an excellent job of telling them as little as possible, until Richards showed up. "What’s goin’ on, Simmons? First one of your partners, then the other. What are you involved in?"
"I don’t know. My case was closed when you found Rollins dead body with a bullet in his brain."
"I didn’t tell you this, but Rollins was already dead when he was shot. His neck was broken, that’s what killed him.
"How he died don’t matter, he’s dead. You found that formula and arrested Chilly."