as soon as the ambulance appeared to take charge of
stephanie’s transport to the hospital,, aligie made his official affiliations
known to the first responders.. he admonished them that he had already put in a
call to detective bettencourt,, and that he in turn would notify detective
bowers.. without giving up any real information concerning the top secret
nature of case he was working on when the accident occurred,, algie was able to
convince the uniforms that he was engaged in a most important order of business,, and would have to meet up with them at the station
house to do the necessary paperwork later that afternoon.. with that,, algie
boarded the edsel and after slowly wheedling his way thru the all but stopped
traffic,, he was off..
since his last call to winifred had gone unanswered,, he
could only surmise that winnie still had her hands full with trudy.. he would
make an effort to contact her in person, making his first stop detective millers
house, and there with the help of winnie’s professional expertise,, they would
together decide upon the next most logical course of action..
algie was pleased when he saw winifred's car in the drive as
he brought the edsel to stop in front of the miller home.. he didn’t bother to
knock,, but rather burst through the front door,, stopping abruptly whatever
rant trudy was currently in the middle of..
“dear god algie!!” winifred called out in a startled tone,,
as he bounded toward the kitchen catching the two of them quite off guard..
“well finally someone that will listen to me!!” trudy
exclaimed, hoping that at last she had found a sympathetic ear..
“not now mrs. hunt!!” algie sternly cut her off.. “winnie,
front and center,, we must talk!!”
“now wait a minute!” trudy unsuccessfully demanded, as algie
ushered winifred out of the kitchen and quickly down the hall so he could
explain the days events to her in some degree of privacy..
as soon as he had winnie’s bedroom door closed securely
behind him,, he started to ramble off the condensed version of what had taken
place to winnie,, who waited patiently until he had enumerated the high
points,, and stopped to take a breath.
“first and foremost,” winnie began, “you should never have
undertaken this task alone..”
“time was of the essence, winifred!!” algie pleaded in his
own defense, “when i saw the ambulance take off with the mobs buffoon on
board,, knowing as i did about the key,, i had no choice but to follow them.. i couldn't take the chance….”
“well you did take the chance,, and currently as a result of
having done so, the only thing that has come out of it is the loss of the diana diamond and an injury to detective
bowers future wife!!” winifred exclaimed.
“indeed. an avoidable tragedy at best..” algie agreed with
winifred on that..
“our first step from here will have to be to contact the
taxi company,, and find out where the driver dropped dr. bigelow off.. i am
afraid we are going to have to enlist the help of detective miller on this,, as
the taxi company will never release such information to us as we have no
jurisdiction here.. winifred asserted in a calm calculating manner..
“quickly then,” algie nodded in agreement. “get detective
miller on the phone..”
***
dr. bigelows escape from the wooded compound had not gone
unnoticed.. in fact what neither algernon nor the doctor had realized was that
big rudy and the rainman had been following their every move,, completely
undetected..
immediately upon entering the makeshift triage room after
hearing the all too familiar thunk of bodies hitting the floor,, they had
witnessed the doctor making his way across the lawns,, and into a stand of
trees just beyond. anticipating the doctors return they had given orders to the
grounds security to abandon their post at the front gates long enough to allow
the doctor to believe he had made a successful get away,, even before they knew for sure that it was
his intention to do so..
the two of them had laid in wait in an unmarked white cargo
van,, and then followed the doctor, as he followed the pink edsel to the bus
terminal. although neither of them knew who algie was,, or how exactly he was
connected,, they looked on from a safe distance as algie entered the terminal,
and then exited the parking lot in his edsel,, with the doctor in heated
pursuit right behind him.. not only had they witnessed the accident,, but they had
also looked on, from their vantage point well above the auto traffic, as the
doctor convinced algie, at gunpoint, to turn the diamond over to him..
when the doctor caught a cab,, they had continued to follow
at a safe distance.. knowing as they did that the doctor would have no choice
but to make a quick getaway, they were not at all surprised when the taxi
entered into the departures entrance at the new albany international airport..
they brought the van to a stop in an ‘unloading only’ zone
along the curb at the airport,, and both took off on foot.. keeping their
massive presence a secret at this point was no longer an option,, as there was
no way the two smartly dressed hulks were going to blend into the crowd..
as the doctor entered the automated doors of the airport, and fell into line at
the united ticket counter,, the rainman and big ray split up,, one entering
through the double doors just to the left of the doctor and the other through
the entrance directly to his right..
by the time the doctor noticed their presence,, he was
sandwiched in between two groups of european tourists deep inside the labyrinth
of the velvet ropes that maintained order in the ticket counter line.. he looked on in panic big ray and the
rainman closed in.. a look of unavoidable surrender overtook the doctors once
overconfident demeanor as it became evident,, there was nowhere to run..
***
as winifred placed a call to buzz in his hospital room and
notified him of the most unfortunate turn of events,, algie simultaneously took
a call from the 45th st precinct house..
his face went visibly pale,, as he concentrated his full
attentions on the voice on the other end of the line..
winifred looked on,, rightfully fearing the worst,, as she
watched algie’s visibly shattered countenance slump into a forlorn heap on the
edge of the bed..
“it’s priscilla,” algie informed her in a strained tone of
voice as he silently clicked his cell phone closed..
“i am afraid they have positively identified what is left of
her remains…”
Hope springs eternal, yes?
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