Let Us Give Thanks
Part Four
By Gator_xx
The day that Paul Jr. was laid to rest was the first day that the weather had been pleasant for a long time. Beautiful blue skies and sunshine, too pretty a day for a funeral, especially the funeral of a child.
After a few minutes in the box , it was pretty obvious to anyone that Paul Falsone would never have hurt his son. Today at the funeral home Paul was a picture of the deepest grief. The detectives milled uneasily around the mourners and relatives. Already there had been ugly words and veiled threats exchanged between Paul and Janine and their relatives. "Now that Janine," thought Gee as he furrowed his brow, "She was one cool customer. Except for her outbursts at Paul, she had remained almost emotionless at the funeral."
All the work of the day before had netted the squad very little to go on. Only thing they had turned up was a big life insurance policy on Paul Jr. with Janine as the sole beneficiary and the fact that her husband, Randy Dodson had a long history with the police in several states. Randy had done time for a variety of crimes, from driving his pick-up truck thru the front wall of a house to steal the valuable antiques inside to poking out the eyes of a tourist in the Shenandoah National Park , merely because the man had been disrespectful to his mother. He had myriad fishing, hunting and juvenile violations as well. Randy and Janine were still refusing to give any statement. And forensics failed to turn up> anything new except that the boy had been wiped down by the killer and the baseball bat and other items used were also wiped down.
Randy had a thin, furtive face with shifty eyes, a real country goat transplanted to the city. Randy was born and raised in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and his crimes were spread between Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Janine and her new husband were looking more and more likely as suspects.
"This funeral duty never gets any easier", Meldrick muttered out the side of his mouth to Terri Stivers as he loosened his tie. Frown lines etched Terri's face as she turned to face Lewis, "Yeah, even tougher when it's a kid too.", she said as she took off her jacket. The detectives were all preparing to call it a day , typing up reports and tying up loose ends before leaving.
Suddenly Gee threw open the door to his office and bellowed into the squad room, "Everyone in my office, NOW!" Sweat beads appeared on his forehead and the veins in Gees neck were bulging. The crew rapidly filed into Gees office and crowded around his television set just in time to see the Dodson's on the screen. Janine, Randy and their attorney started out by accusing the Baltimore police dept of harassing and trying to railroad the couple in the murder of their son. "There is a vicious child killer out there and they sit and do nothing while your children are in danger of the SAME THING happening to them!" Janine wailed into the microphone. Snorts and chortles of disgust came from the group. "Who is she kidding!" Munch said as he pointed at the screen, "She probably whacked the kid herself just to piss off Paul." "Pathetic! Can't believe Falsone was ever married to that cow" Laura said.
The press conference concluded with another attack on the police, calling for all citizens of Baltimore to call the Mayors office and the Chief of Police to demand that the true killer be found. While the other detectives were arguing among themselves about the best way to solve the case, Frank slipped out the door unnoticed.
*************
Tim could hear angry voices raised in the hall outside his door. His mother was arguing with Dr. Kinneman about his new therapist, Anne Hall. Poor Dr. K kept trying to get Mrs. Bayliss to lower her voice and come into his office to talk this out but Mom just kept getting louder. Tim's mother had accidentally walked into the room during Anne's visit yesterday and had witnessed Anne with her hands laid on Tims shoulder, her eyes closed, whispering over him. It took her a moment or two to realize that the therapist was praying over her son. And there was the rub, mom thought that it was bad medicine, she was looking for the pills to make Timmy better.
"Mrs. Bayliss," Dr Kinneman intoned as they walked down the hall to his office, "I would be the first to admit that Anne Hall's methods are unusual and unorthodox, but we only call her in when the case is as severe as your son's. We have found that many times, when someone fails to respond to traditional treatments that she can help. Children and even adults that have been sexually abused respond to her method of building trust before attempting treatment. She has a busy practice in Annapolis and quite frankly, your son was lucky to get her. Already we have seen that he is more alert when she is with him. He is showing other subtle signs that he is gradually coming out of his catatonia. Leave her to do her work and you may find that you will have your son back."
While Dr. Kinneman was settling down Mrs. Bayliss, Frank slipped into Tims room and sat in a chair near the bed. "Tim, Oh My God, its been too long, " Frank whispered to the still form on the bed. Frank's eyes were shining like he was struggling not to cry. "I never got the chance to tell you how much you meant to me. You were right, I never say please or thank you, but I would give anything to speak to you one more time. I was an asshole for not keeping in touch after quitting the force. I just couldn't handle my feelings."
Mrs. Bayliss entered the room and Frank straightened up and went back to his cold facade once again. "Mrs. Bayliss, how are you?" he inquired as he prepared to leave. "Frank, thank you for visiting Tim. I'm sure he is glad to see you." she said. As Frank made excuses and a hasty retreat, he could see a tiny tear slipping from the corner of Tim's right eye.
************
Meldrick manned the bar as usual that night. Not many people haunting the Waterfront that night, just Kellerman drunk on the floor as always and Terri nursing a drink at the bar. Blues playing on the jukebox and couple of fellows hustling pool in the back, typical night. Terri and Lewis had been engaging in some light banter tonight, almost flirting. Munch was somewhere around, checking into wither Lewis was taking care of his investment. Stan and Gee came in the front door with long faces.
"Wassup Gee?" Lewis asked as he wiped down the countertop. "Lewis, we just had a call about a distraught drunk and disorderly down on Federal Hill. It's Falsone, he's rambling and talking about his boy's death and threatening to kill himself. You're closer to him than most of the unit, I would like you to go with the uniforms and try to talk some sense to him." Meldrick paused and considered his worst nightmare, another detective ending his own life. "I'll go with you, Meldrick," Terri said as she slipped on her jacket.
Meldrick and Terri arrived at Federal Hill together. Lewis stepped from the Cavalier with a growing sense of dread. Falsone was up at the top of the hill with a half-empty whiskey bottle in one hand and his service revolver in the other. Even from this distance, they could see that Paul was weeping hard, tears running all down his face. "I kilt mah kid" he sobbed between pulls on the bottle, "Janine is right, its my fault.. if I hadn't gunned down Ryland, none of dis wudda happn'd. Dat Ryland creep wuz stalkn Laura and I whacked em...."
"Easy, man, put down the gun and lets talk" Lewis said as he eased near the drunken man. "Tell Laura I luv her" and with that he put the barrel of his gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger........................