Chapter Twenty six
The next morning when Dolly awoke it was five thirty in the morning. She got out of the chair and went to the bed. She laid her hand on her husband’s hand he opened his eyes and said, “Hi sweetie.”
Dolly threw her arms around him and started crying. Her body was racked with sobs.
“Hey, hey, hey, what’s the matter?”
“I thought I lost you Oliver.”
“I’m fine Dolly, fit-as-a-fiddle. Am I in a hospital?”
Dolly continued to sob. She was blotting her eyes with tissue, but it was a losing cause, the tears were welling faster than she could wipe them away. She choked through her sobs, “How do you feel Oliver?”
“I feel great, please stop crying. I think I’m disoriented Dolly. What day is this?”
When she told him he said, “Jesus Dolly, what happened?”
“You had a stroke. I’ll explain it all when we get home. I need to go call Rick. I’ll be right back.”
“Why are you calling Rick? Aren’t they in Michigan?”
“No dear, they’re here. I’ll explain later, but I have to go now. I’ll be right back.”
Dolly had decided not to say any more right now. She wanted to wait and see what the doctor had to say and find out if there was going to be any problem about getting him released soon. She had still been skeptical about what the Moore’s had told her but she was now starting to think it just might be true. There was no doubt in her mind that Oliver was very near death when Rick laid his hand on his arm. If everything they told her was true she could certainly see the need for secrecy. There was so much to try to grasp that she couldn’t quite control her mind. It seemed to be going in a hundred directions at the same time. She tried her best to calm down, thinking this is no time for me to come unglued.
Rick was standing on the front porch with Sarah and John watching the spectacle next door. They all moved a little ways back on the porch when the shooting started and Sarah grabbed Ricks arm. When Rick’s Lincoln smashed through the gate, Sarah grasped Rick’s arm even tighter.
“Not the gate!”
Rick said, “It’s just a gate Sarah.”
“I loved that gate.”
Just then, his phone rang. Dolly had managed to calm down somewhat and was able to explain Ollie’s condition with out breaking down. Rick explained what was going on at home, but when he realized she wasn’t grasping much of what he was saying he just told her that he and Sarah would be there soon and hung up. The excitement was about over next door. The few that hadn’t joined in the pursuit show was just milling around the yard or stringing “crime scene” tape.
Rick went over what Dolly had told him while they ate breakfast.
Driving out of the neighborhood, Rick slowed the car as they passed the commotion where Sean had driven his Lincoln into the canal. He didn’t see any sign of either his car or Sean and although curious about what happened he kept going. He felt that there were more important things to worry about right now, than what happened to Sean.
When Rick and Sarah arrived at the Seven Rivers Hospital Dolly was talking to the doctor trying her best to get him to release her husband. He was adamant that he stay another day and refused to sign a release form. As soon as he left the room Rick said to Dolly, “Get his clothes and get him dressed. I’ll bring the car around. Oliver started to protest but Rick cut him off.
“Oliver you have no concept of what is happening right now. We will explain as soon as possible but for right now you have to do as you’re told.’
“I’m not doing a Goddamn thing until some…”
“Goddamn it Oliver, for once in your life just shut your mouth and do as you’re told.”
“Oliver had rarely been spoken to in that manor by anyone and certainly never by his wife. He was so taken aback that he had no reply, but when Dolly handed him his clothes
he started to get dressed, seemingly unaware that Rick and Sarah were in the room.
A short stocky nurse ran down the hall toward them and caught up just as the reached the front door. She placed herself between Oliver and the door and panted out in a extremely stern voice, “You can’t leave the hospital. Your doctor has not released you. Please return to your room at once or I‘ll have to call security. Dolly stepped between the nurse and her husband, looked down at her nametag and said, “Look Miss Goodman, I don’t like your uppity attitude. I don’t know where you think you are but the last time I looked this was still the USA and it was still a free country. You can’t hold my husband against his will and if you try it your going to get your ass sued off.”
Miss Goodman was not used to being confronted by someone that was unimpressed with her authority and was at a loss as how to handle it. She finally stammered out, “But… but, but, you at least have to sign a self release form.”
.“I don’t think we have to sign anything but if it will make you happy we will. Oliver you get in the car. I’ll go sign her silly form and be right back.”
After the nurse and Dolly had gone and Rick and Ollie had gotten in the car, Ollie said, “What the hell is going on here?”
Rick thought, this isn’t going well at all.
“Ollie, you’re not going to believe what I tell you, but in a very short time it will be apparent. I’m going to give you the Readers Digest version. You had a massive stroke. The doctors made it clear to Dolly that you were not going to survive. She called Sarah, and Sarah asked me to save your life. So I did.” As Ollie started to interrupt Rick held up his hand, “But that’s not all I did, I also gave you back your youth. The youth part will take a week or so, but believe me it will happen. We couldn’t leave you in the hospital. Your survival is hard enough for them to accept, there’s no way to explain you getting fifty years younger.”
Ollie looked at Rick as if he had just grown another head.
“Have you lost your mind? Apparently I had a stroke; I wake a day later and the world has gone mad. My wife is acting like a complete stranger and you are spewing drivel that only an idiot would believe. ”
“It was two days later, oh never mind. I can see I’m wasting my breath here. You will find out soon enough.”
Dolly came out the front door. Rick saw her, got out and opened the door for her.
“Dolly this man has gone totally insane. He thinks he healed me and that I’m going to morph into some kind of pimple faced kid, and what the hell’s with this cloak and dagger escape? I would have been released tomorrow and if the Doc thought I should stay, maybe I should have.”
“Rick did save your life. As for the other, I don’t know, but if they say it’s true I’m starting to think it must be. Oliver you were dying. Two days ago, I had no hope and then Rick came and touched you and you were instantly better and very soon you were completely healed. I don’t understand it either but that is what happened, hard as it may be to believe that‘s what happened.”
On the way back to their house, Rick filled them in the best he could without mentioning the ball. He didn’t know if Dolly had seen it or not or realized what it meant if she had. For now, he would rather that she believed he had the power himself since the less people that new about the ball the better. Back at the house they gathered around the dining room table and Rick said,
“I haven’t got it all figured out yet but, I think we will have to get a death certificate for Ollie. I don’t know anything about Canadian law but I doubt that you can sell your property without Ollie’s okay and I assure you by the time you find a buyer no one will believe that Ollie is Ollie. Ollie you’re already starting to look younger. He explained that Dolly was going to have to go back to London and take care of selling their property and closing out their accounts.
“Now here is one that you are going to need to trust me on. You need to sell me your house. Just as soon as you get new identities I’ll sell it back to you for what you sold it to me for.”
“Goddamn it Rick this is starting to smell like a scam.”
“Ollie, you stop that this minute. Rick’s already saved your life and he is going to a great deal of trouble for us.”
“You’re really buying this bullshit Dolly? Moreover, what is this crap about selling our London property? I have no intention of selling our house or any thing else.”
“Then you will lose it. Two weeks from now, you’re going to look about nineteen. No one is going to believe you’re who you say you are. I guess you could prove it with science being what it is today, but if you do you will have destroyed my life in the process. This is not bullshit Ollie and you are going to realize that soon enough. Dolly already knows because she saw you after the stroke. By tomorrow, you’ll know. By the way have you lost your fillings?”
“What fillings?”
“The fillings in your teeth.”
“I don’t have any teeth. I have false teeth and come to think of it they’re not fitting very well this morning.”
“That’s because you’re getting new teeth. Go look in the mirror. By tomorrow, you’ll have a complete set and while you’re looking in the mirror look at your head. You’re starting to get hair.”
Ollie came back from the bathroom fifteen minutes later. He had a set of false teeth in his hand and a stunned look on his face.
“It’s true…I’m getting teeth…I’m getting hair. I just can’t believe this is happening. How old did you say you were Rick?”
Rick called the chief to see if they could get back in their house.
“The crime lab’s still working in there Rick, my best guess would be late tonight, or maybe tomorrow morning. I’ll give you a call on your cell when they’re done. In the meantime, we’d like you to come down to the station. We have some questions we need to clear up.”
“I’ll be right there Chief.”
As he hung up, he thought about the other people that had come out of his house that morning and wondered what they told the police. He figured his best bet was to deny everything. There was no way they could have any hard evidence. Moreover, if Proudfoot was dumb enough to tell them about New Mexico it should be easy to laugh off. He certainly didn’t think the police would take a story like that serious. When he arrived at the station, he was offered coffee and ushered into the Chief’s office. The Chief was behind his desk and the detectives were sitting on a couch drinking sodas.
Williams said, “I can’t see how you people can drink coffee in this heat.”
Rick replied, “What heat, it’s a little chilly today, don’t you think Chief?”
“Just about right, I’d say?” The chief countered.
Rick took a seat in front of the desk and sat his coffee cup down on the edge. What with all the other coffee cup rings, he didn’t bother looking for a coaster. When he was settled Williams said, “Rick, you saw the people that came out of your house this morning, how well did you know them?”
“Total strangers.”
“We know you knew one of them, Sean Proudfoot.”
“Never heard of him. Did he say he knows me?”
“We haven’t got him, but his buddy says he knows you.”
“His buddy’s wrong.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re not being totally honest with me Rick?”
“I don’t know Mark. Maybe it’s just your detective’s penchant for distrust of your fellow man.”
“What about the ball Rick.”
That one got to him. He couldn’t keep from hesitating for a beat, but he didn’t stutter.
“What ball is that Mark.”
“The one they almost killed your boy for and drove half way across country for. I think you know what I’m talking about Rick.”
“Nope, can’t say as I do.”
After Rick left, Mark turned to the Chief and said, “That question about the ball got to him. He’s lying to us. I don’t know why but I intend to find out. What did you manage to find out about him?”
“The Moore’s moved to Crystal River from Tallahassee two years ago and Rick opened a real estate office. Sarah is unemployed. They own the home they live in plus considerable acreage north of town. Each property is worth a considerable amount. These are definitely not poor folk. They are also raising a dependant nephew. We couldn’t find any record of them prior to Tallahassee. Everyone we talked to spoke very highly of both Rick and Sarah even those he does business with. That kid of theirs is a parent’s dream come true. He has never so much as had a parking ticket. His scholastic record is next to perfect and he’s going to U of M on a football scholarship. I understand he has good hands and can run like the wind. As far as I know they don’t attend church, they drink in moderation and are kind to animals and small children. There is no record of misdoing but then there isn’t much of a record at all. It’s like they just dropped out of the sky three years ago.
Detective Williams said, “Yeah, they’re a genuine Beaver Cleaver family.”
The Chief looked at him and said, “Isn’t it possible that these people are exactly what they seem to be, just genuinely nice folks.”
“Mark said, There aint a motherfucker in the world that nice.”
Otis said, “I’m afraid I’ve got to agree with my partner on that one. Besides, he lied about the ball.”
The Chief said, “It crossed my mind that they could be in the witness protection program. That would account for a lot.”
“Well, Brown retorted, if that’s the case we never will find out. The FBI is about as chatty as carp.”