chapter 165

word count: 1430

as the aging blue chevy sedan pulled up outside the front doors of the 45^th st. precinct,, gil turned to the driver.. he had been so caught up in racking his brain to remember what happened to him earlier in the day,, he hadn’t really noticed they had been silent the whole way there..

“hey, man,, thanks for the ride.. sorry i wasn’t very good company,, just got a lot on my mind..”

“no problem.” stated the driver,, who still had a look of genuine concern on his face.. “are you sure you wouldn’t rather go get checked out at the hospital first,, you’re not lookin’ too good..”

“i’ll be fine. “ gil retorted, as much to convince himself, as it was to convince the driver.. “hey,, i don’t think i caught your name?”

“steve, steve shingle. private dick.” the driver said as he dug into the interior pocket of his sports coat.. “if you guys ever need me,, this is where you can find me.” he said as he handed the card off to gil, with a broad salesman like smile..

“will do steve!” gil said as he exited the car,, “and hey,, thanks again..”

as gil made his way through the front entrance information area,, all eyes were on him.. ‘jeez,,’ he thought to himself,, ‘i must look even worse than i feel..’

it wasn’t until he exited the elevator into the 2^nd floor homicide division and hank , was waiting for him just outside the opening doors, as if he had been notified of his arrival, that he started to get the feeling there was something more going on here than his worse for the wear appearance.. 

“hey, bud,, can i get a word in with you in buzz’s office?” hank more dictated than asked. 

“sure.” gil nearly stammered. “what the hell is going on around here?”

“i’ll fill ya in once we are behind closed doors..” hank advised him as he led the way through the maze of cubicles and directly into buzz’z office, where he proceeded to draw the privacy shades, and gesture for gil to take a seat.

“before i get started, i need you to tell me exactly why you left the recovery room in such a hurry,, as well as fill in where you have been and what you have been doing in between then and now.. let me just tell you, before we get started here, that it has already been confirmed that you did not come back to the office to catch up on some paperwork like you said you were going to do when you abruptly left the recovery room..”

“jeez!!” gil exclaimed as he lowered his still throbbing head into this hands and proceeded to rub his temples.” you’re not gonna make it easy on a guy are ya?”

it was obvious to hank that gil was far from being himself.. the pale face,, the dark circles under his yes,, the visual evidence that he was evidently suffering a hell of a headache.. his gut said gil was hung over like a motherfucker,, but he was, after all his partner.. so he had to give him the benefit of the doubt before he really passed any judgment.. 

“take your time buddy,, why don’t we start with why you left the bar so abruptly,, and where you really went right after that?”

gil took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and stretched his legs out in front of him..

“well it all started with me getting a gut feeling that there was a tie in between that algie fellow and his wife priscilla, with a memo i had come across earlier in the week about some diamond missing from the british royal collection.. the diana diamond i am pretty sure it was called.. something about the missing diamond,, and then how our little crew has been consistently infiltrated by brits lately,, just didn’t seem right to me.. so i decided i would come back to the office and do some digging,, see if i could tie the two of them,, or maybe even buzz’s brit housekeeper, mrs. dunn to the diamonds disappearance..”

all that seemed to make perfectly good sense to hank,, seeing as how he had half assed been wondering about the british invasion as of late himself..  “ok.. so you made what you felt was a valid connection,, but you never made it back here to check it out?? how did that happen??”

“wish i knew, “ gil heaved a heavy sigh.. “all i can remember is walking out into the parking lot,, and seeing guns drawn, i cannot even put a face to any of the prospective shooters,, all i can remember was that priscilla was there.. i don’t know if she just walked into it like i did,, or if she was a part of it,, but she was there..i remember drawing my weapon,, but that's it.. the  next thing i knew,, i woke up briefly in the back of a box van,, with some other guy, it was totally dark in there so i never saw his face.. and then i guess i lost consciousness again.”

gil took another deep breath and continued, “next time i woke up, i was alone on the side of the road, i don’t even know what road,, but some passerby,” gil dug into his pants pocket and retrieved the guys card, which he in turn handed off to hank,, “here it is , steve shingle some kind of private dick,, picked me up and dropped me off here.”

“so this other guy, the one you said was in the back of the box van with you, he wasn’t dropped off on the side of the road with you??” hank continued his questioning reiterating what gil had already told him,, just to make sure the answers jived.. 

“i already told you i was alone when i came to.. whether or not this other guy was dumped there, i would have no way of knowing,, because as i explained to you already,, i didn't really begin to regain my bearings until the car pulled up,, and this steve guy offered me a ride.” gil answered although you could tell he was getting irritated.. he knew an interrogation when he heard one,, and he wanted to know what the hell hank was doing interrogating him.. 

“so then you have no real recollection of where you were or what you did between the time you stepped out into the parking lot of the recovery room,, other than being in the back of a van? and from there, no recall what so ever until the time you got into the car with this private dick?? is that what you are telling me??”

“did i studder??” gil lashed back at him.. “what the hell is going on here hank?? i am done answering questions!! i wanna know what this interrogation bullshit is all about!!”

hank picked up a pen off buzz’s desk and started rolling it between his palms, a sure fire give away that he was getting tense,, and this whole situation was difficult for him as well.. 

“well," hank let out a loud breath of air, “about all i can tell you  right now,, is that you are a suspect in a homicide..”

“what the fuck??” gil cried out,, the sound of his own voice causing a deafening echo inside his already aching head..

“since you are considered a suspect,, you  know a well as i do that i cannot release any further information to you.. all i can say,, is that your gun was found at the scene,, the only fingerprints on it were yours.. we are currently waiting on ballistics to determine if it was in fact the gun that was used in the homicide..”

“jesus christ hank!! you mean you don’t even have the ballistics back yet,, and you are interrogating me about a murder i couldn’t have possibly committed?? i thought you were my partner! my compadre! you know me better than this!!!” gil raged.. 

“and you haven’t even asked me if i was ok?? i mean look at me dude,, there is no way you cannot tell i have been through hell and back,, and yet all you seem to care about is pinning some murder on me with nothing but some circumstantial evidence..”

gil rose from his chair,, not even allowing hank time to respond. “when you get the ballistics back,, if you’ve got any hard evidence,, you know where to find me!!” before he stalked out of the office, ,slamming the door,, and headed toward his cubicle.

at least there he had a nice friendly flask of jack waiting for him,, and man could he use a friend right about now!!!