Another Deception (11 page)

“Then how did you come to be at Sang-mi’s house when this happened and do you know why Jacks would be here in the city with his wife?”

    Before she said anything, the look on her face spoke volumes.

“Apparently, you don’t know that Sang-mi passed away a few days ago. They came for the funeral.”

     He shook his head.

“I am sorry. She was a unique woman. She was not that old though. What was the cause of death?”

     Anna gave a pleasant little laugh just thinking of Sang-mi and age or as most who knew her, ageless, for she had that quality about her.  

“Sang-mi would have never been old, even though she turned sixty-nine two weeks ago. They said it was a massive heart attack. Thank God she didn’t linger and suffer!”

     Frank, listening to the conversation up to this point without participating, never took things at face value.

     He asked,

“Did she have heart problems?”

“She did take some kind of medicine for her heart but she never complained about health issues and seemed to be healthy enough. The doctors said it is not unusual for someone with high stress to have a massive heart attack even without prior heart related problems.”

“What was the source of her stress, the restaurant?”

“Good gracious no! That place was such a joy for her…and me too. Why, if it were stressful, we would have never stayed with it for all these years. Sang-mi spent a lot of time helping those less fortunate over past Dale Street. If you know that part of town then you know how bad it is. That is most likely where the stress came in, her worrying about this one and that one, always helping people. Not that she ever confided that part of her life to me. She did not and just as well for she knew my nerves never were as good as hers and me ten years younger!”

    The two men looked at each other and passed a look that Anna missed or just did not stop to consider that in her chattering there could be some interesting tidbits for them. They encouraged her by asking more questions and inserting comments as they migrated to the snack room and found some coffee. After an hour and Jacks still was not awake, Cranford decided he wanted to see where the hit and run took place. He asked Anna if it would be okay to
take a look
around Sang-mi’s house too.

“Of course, I don’t mind and I am sure that Sang-mi would want you to find the person who would do such a thing. Anything I can do to help. You know I never expected her to leave that house to me. She always told me that the restaurant was mine if something happened to her first, but the house was a surprise.”

     “I take it her children didn’t mind.”

    He knew Sang-mi had children though he never met any of them, but then his communication with Sang-mi was limited at best. “I wouldn’t think they would as I am the only living aunt they have and they all were like my own. Besides, Sang-mi invested heavily in real estate over the years and they all were very happy with their inheritance. She was a great businessperson and made us both wealthy with her wisdom. I think she just knew I had more of an emotional value as far as the restaurant goes and the house, who knows? I certainly did not expect it left to me. It is
way too
big and I am perfectly happy where I am, but I will never get rid of the house and she knew it. I think that is why she did it because it was important to her to keep it.”

“I see.
Frank, you coming?”

    Cranford raised his brows at Frank who considered it for a minute but was thinking about Jacks’ involvement with the people he and Cranford were tailing. He was curious as to why they found Jacks so interesting. He had a feeling he knew the answer but he could be wrong.

    Having studied every circumstance surrounding Jacks and the rooftop experience, he wanted to hang around until the man woke up. There were questions he believed Jacks could answer. In turn, he might be able to answer some that Jacks may have.

“If you don’t mind doing that on your own, I think I would like to wait this out here. He has to wake up sometimes. I would like to talk to him.”

    Cranford agreed.

“Good idea.”

    Anna was happy to hear the younger man was staying. She needed to go back to Sang-mi’s herself. She hesitantly turned to Cranford. The man was intimidating, but it would save her the trouble of taking a cab back for she had been far too upset to drive to the hospital. She took in his solid robust build and the strength his face showed and decided the intimidation would be worth the ride.

“Would you mind giving me a lift then, since we are both going to the same place?”

“Not at all.
Frank, call me when he does wake up. I want to see him.”

    They were walking back towards the room and saw a nurse leaving. Speeding up so he could catch her, Frank stopped her and asked,

“Is he awake?”

     The woman was in her forties with dark brown hair and no nonsense look about her.

“Are you family?”

“No, I am not but this should get me any information without any trouble.”

     He flashed his badge and she was immediately cooperative.

“Certainly, but no, he is still out.”

“Man. You guys gave him one hellofa shot there!”

     The nurse frowned and looked at the chart she was holding.

“Shot?
There has been no shot given to him since he got to this floor. Maybe they gave him one downstairs before bringing him up. I will check.”

     Cranford and Anna had caught up to them and Anna protested,

“No, I was here and saw them give him the shot. He was trying to find his wife and that other nurse said it would calm him down!”

“No ma’am, I have been on duty ever since they brought him up and would have been the only RN here to administer a shot. Are you certain you saw someone give him a shot?”

“Yes, I am! She was tall and blond and young…yes, she was real young.”

“There is no one on this floor with that description. Surely you are mistaken.”

“No I am not, I remember it clearly!”

     A heavy sigh came from the nurse. A security breach was so very serious and she would need to call down and have them send someone up and she would need to get the doctor on this case up too so he could examine the patient……

“Okay, I just took his vitals and everything looked good a few minutes ago but I’m sure the doctor will want to order blood word done to see what was given to him. If you want, you all can wait in his room or down in the waiting room. Security will want to talk with you.”

     She turned back toward the nurse’s station while the three started walking the other way toward Jack’s room. Once to the door, Frank encouraged the other two to go ahead on.

“I will stay and answer any questions. You think it could have been a student nurse?”  

    Anna shook her head at him, insisting that a student nurse
would not be allowed
to give shots unsupervised and he shrugged but said nothing back as he already knew this.    

    Cranford was ready to go.
There was nothing they could do
and he really wanted to go to Sang-mi’s before it got dark. He reminded Frank to call when Jacks woke up. He left with Anna who was more than ready to get home after the stop at
Sang-mi’s
.  

    She was not at all sure what she would do with the house, which was now hers.  Sang-mi knew she would never live there and wished she had given her a heads up before doing it. Whatever the reason, she did know she was expected to keep it or it would have just been combined with the other properties to be sold and divided amongst the children.    

   She and Cranford indulged in idle chitchat during the drive to Sang-mi’s, avoiding anything unpleasant. Cranford felt he needed to gain her trust before she would open up to him about anything having to do with the mysterious side of Sang-mi. He glanced over at the woman from time to time as they talked and wondered why she had never remarried. From an earlier remark, she was around sixty and that meant she had been a widow now for almost forty years. It also meant she had to have been a kid when she married. He looked over at her again and shook his head, for she was still a pretty woman who did not look her age. One minute he was thinking that it was none of his business and the next he was blurting out,

“Why in the world have you never remarried? I mean, look at you, you are a beautiful woman now and forty years ago you must have been so young. You know you can just tell me it is none of my business and it will be all right. Maybe you just loved him so much you felt you would be betraying him.” 

     Anna smiled, but was not bothered by the question she was asked more often than any
other
.

“You’re right, it is none of your business, but I will tell you that it was not because I would have felt bad had I. Rory was a kid and my first boyfriend. We married for the wrong reasons with neither of us ready for such a serious relationship. He cheated and we fought constantly. It was never good. Within a year, we separated and when he left for his second tour in Nam, he was living with some woman from the Bronx though we never divorced. We were still married when he
was killed
in a raid. No, dear Detective Cranford, I can tell you that the year I was married was the worst possible of my life! Not one I ever wanted to repeat and not exactly what you thought you would hear, right?”

     Anna laughed, but the laughter was not heartfelt, rather the sort which could easily turn into a sob. She turned her head away from his intimidating eyes and was relieved to see that they were at the end of the ride to
Sang-mi’s
. By the time she hopped out of the car, she had her emotions in check, produced the key, and realized she had not even thought to lock the door in her hurry to get out of there and follow the ambulance to the hospital.

     She opened the door and they walked in to find the place turned upside down. Cranford pulled his gun from his jacket and motioned for her to stay back as he searched the whole house to make sure no one was in it. When he came back to the front room, Anna was trying to right the smaller pieces of furniture and he stopped her.

“Anna, do not touch anything else! I have called for forensics and they will want to check for prints. Maybe you did not forget to lock the door after all. Who else has a key?”

     Anna’s nerves begin to show and he led her to the foyer and sat her on a cushioned seat while they waited.

“I have no idea! Beside Jacks and her children, there is me and, oh, I don’t know!”

“It is okay. When the uniforms get here, I am taking you back to your place. There is no need for you to be here and we will figure it all out. Just if you do think of something…anything or anyone who would do this or what they might have been looking for, you need to tell me immediately.”

     Anna nodded and kept shaking her head. As far as she knew, Sang-mi had no enemies.

“Maybe it was just a robbery. Sang-mi acquired all sorts of valuable collectables over the years and I have a list from the will if that will help.”

    He nodded,

“It will. You can give it to me when we take you home. Somehow though, I have a feeling Sang-mi had something of worth to someone and it was not a Ming vase.”

     It was true. Before he stopped her, she had picked up a painting from the floor, which was worth a lot of money.

     Cranford also noted several objects, which could bring a fair amount of money throughout the house. No, whoever did this was looking for something specific. Something Sang-mi had that they wanted badly. It was causing Cranford to wonder how deep she may have been involved in her extracurricular activities she was so secretive
about
.

     Uniformed cops arrived along with a team of forensic people and after talking a few minutes with them privately, Cranford and Anna left. She was glad to get out of the commotion and was having one of her occasional panic attacks. She kept apologizing, but Cranford assured her that he understood. She had endured a trying time with Sang-mi’s death and now the dramatic events of today were a bit much for anyone. He delivered her to her apartment over the restaurant, insisting on checking out her place to make sure it
had not been tampered with
.

   When he felt she was safe, he told her that he would come by and check on her later. Meanwhile, he asked that she just give him the list of Sang-mi’s belongings then and to try to think of anything she may have heard Sang-mi say, which would shed some light on the break in. Then he returned to Sang-mi’s house. When he was done there, he went back to the hospital where he found Frank still waiting for Jacks to wake up. Dwight arrived shortly after him and he relayed everything going on at Sang-mi’s house to them both with both agreeing that there was more to her death than was known.

     Frank in turn explained what the doctor told him about the shot Jacks
had been given
. It was an experimental drug, not approved by the FDA, which given in a high dosage causes memory loss and in some cases could put patients into irreversible comas. In Jacks case, he was not in a coma but in a deep sleep and would come out of it in time. The damage it may have done to his memory however could not be determined until he was awake.