CHAPTER TWO

“Margaret, get Sparky on the phone!” Peter called out as he came back down stair and sat at his desk.”

“Got Him Boss.”

“Sparky, what is taking you guys so long, you should have been back by now! What? Look, I really need you, the car, and all the equipment back here! My hands are really tied, and things are really heating up. No, I do not have the time to explain. You and Becky wrap that case up now and get back here. What? I don’t care, If they want to complain on the quality of the job, I will take that up with them later!”

Peter slammed down the phone and stormed out of the office.

After he left, Margaret called Becky and expressed her concern over the way Peter was acting.

Peter drove to Pops shop.

“What’s broken this time?” Pop asked after letting Peter in.

“Nothing,” Peter said and plopped down on a nearby chair.

“That’s a lie.” Pop said firmly.

“What?”

“It appears that you are.” Pops replied as he wiped his hands and sat on a pile of steam pipes.

“Maybe you are right. Broken, in the sense that I can’t seem to solve or move forward in this case without all the inventions that you have made for me.”

“I see,” Pops said as he rubbed his chin.

“I used to think that my work was 90% me and 10% your equipment. I have been deceiving myself. Those percentages ought to be reversed.” Peter lamented.

“So, you came here so I could give you some sort of circuit implants to make you see, better, hear better, and think better?” Pops asked.

“I wish it was that easy.” Peter said.

“This is why I like my job. I never have an electro-equalizer, or a radio-locator, or even my most advanced A.I.’s tell me how sorry they feel for themselves.”

Peter gave him a dirty look.

“Look Peter, you took down 24 of Detroit’s dirtiest cops, along with a few city officials if I remember correctly, before you and I really got going. After that it was still another year before Sparky was at his full potential. If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times, ‘Equipment is only as good as it’s operator.’ Now you can sit around here and pout all you want, but I have work to do.” Pops stood up and went back to running one of his steam operated presses.

“You always know what to say Pops.” Is all Peter said as he let himself out. When he got back to the office, he spent the rest of the afternoon making phone calls. At the end of the day, before Margaret left, Peter told her that tomorrow he did not want to be disturbed, and when he left the office later that day, that he would not be back before she left so for her to lock up.

It took some heavy handedness, but Peter got the Lieutenant to post an officer at Walters hospital room door. His phone calls paid off and with the information he was finally able to get out of Walter, he knew what it was he had to do. Just before he left the office that afternoon, he made one more phone call to arrange a meeting. The meeting place took him by surprise, but the reason given for that location seemed to explain it some.

“Okay Margaret, I am out for today, I will see you in the morning.”

As he was leaving Bobby came in the door.

“Oh hi Mr. James’

“Hi Bobby, bye Bobbie.” Peter said.

“Mr. James, did you get a new car?”

“What? Oh, no, I rented it while Sparky and Becky are out of town.”

“Oh, it is really nice.”

“Right, later you two.” Peter said and shut the door.

When Peter arrived at the address, he noticed that there were no dock workers around.

“Hum, that’s interesting.”

He went up to the office door and knocked. The man he was supposed to meet opened the door and let him in.

Becky had loaned her car to Margaret while she and Sparky were gone. It was Friday, so after Margaret had locked up the offices, she and Bobby took the longer way home, which went by the docks. Bobby loved looking at all the boats. As they made the turn onto Harbor Street, bobby called out.

“Look Sis, that is Mr. James car.”

Margaret had learned a long time ago not to argue with what Bobbie stated as fact when it came to any kind of vehicle.

“Yes, Bobby he said he had an appointment this afternoon.”

“Why does it have a busted window, it didn’t when I saw it earlier.”

“I am not sure, but he is in a dangerous business,” Margaret said in a nervous tone.

“We should see if he is okay” Bobby insisted.

Margaret reluctantly turned the car around and pulled next to Peters.

Bobby jumped out before Margaret could grab him.

“Someone wrecked the whole inside.” Bobby said then ran towards the warehouse office.

“Bobbie stop, Mr. James will not like you interrupting his…”

“Sparky, he is our only link to sorting this whole thing out, I need to be here when he comes out of this. You have to recharge each night, plus someone has to keep the business going for now. Please tell Margaret to pack me the things I will need to stay here for a while.” Becky said in a serious tone,

Sparky wanted to argue, but knew he would never win, plus many of the things she said made sense.

“Okay but remember our communication link will not work inside this hosptail room, so we will need to set up scheduled check in times,” Sparky stated, and Becky agreed.

As Sparky was about to leave, Lieutenant Brown came in.

“Any change in his condition?” He asked.

“We just got here.” Sparky stated.

“I’ll tell you straight up if it had been any other man, we would not be here in the hospital talking. Sparky, I will send you as much as I have on this, but believe me, our biggest hope is his recovery,”

Sparky and the Lieutenant left together. Becky went back to looking at Peters chart.

“Who are you?” A Doctor asked abruptly as he came in the door. He snatched the chart out of Becky’s hand.

“Are you, his wife?”

“He is not married.”

“Girlfriend, sister, cousin, related to him in any way.”

“No to all of the above, if it is any concern of yours.”

The doctor went over and got in Becky’s face. I am Doctor Frances, and this man is constantly of the edge of dying,”

“And by the looks of his chart, you are speeding that along!” Becky replied in the same strong tone.

“Look, Miss, I have been practicing medicine longer then you have been alive and…”

“And from what I can tell, all your practicing has done nothing to further your knowledge.”

“Get out of here, or I will have you thrown out!”

Becky smiled.

“I would love to see you try.” She said with such a dark stare that the Doctor huffed  and left.

Margaret arrived a few hours later with Becky’s suit case.

“How is he,” she asked.

“Still recovering. Has any new cases come in?”

“There has been a few calls, but Sparky has said to put them off a week, he wants to check out a few things that Lieutenant Brown had sent over.” Margaret told her.

“Are you and Bobby doing alright?”

“We are recovering. Bobby is amazing, he wants to talk to Sparky tomorrow. I am sure that even though he was just as terrified as I was, he noticed some things that he wants to tell Sparky, in order to help.” Margaret said,

“At this point I am sure we could use all the help we can get, Did Sparky also ask you to tell him about any phone calls of client visits up to the time he was attacked.?” Becky asked.

“He said he would be needing all that plus any other information I could give him on the scene of the crime, but he wanted to go over the police records first.”

“Okay, Thanks for bring me this, and I will keep in touch,”

The two embraced and Margaret left.

Becky had to make her stand to one other Doctor, and two nurses, but by the end of the night, no other hospital personnel would try to make her leave.

She knew how vital it was to get whatever information that he was able to recall, as soon as he could talk, She also knew that at this point, it would take more than a team of wild horses to get her to leave his side.