The Viking Seal

CHAPTER 30 - Blind Determination

"She's a very tough lady," the doctor said as Arny followed him down the hall from Gretta's room. "A little more to the right and she would be in the basement instead of ICU."

"But she's going to be okay? She's alright?"

"In my opinion, yes. But it will be a while, there was a lot of blood lost and the knife was covered in cocaine, which hasn't helped matters."

"When can I see her?"

"That's up to those gentlemen over there."

Arny looked across the waiting room and saw the two RCMP detectives, hands folded patiently in front, watching him. He thanked the doctor and went directly over and said he was ready to answer their questions.

"Very obliging, eh, Tom?" Tom, the bigger of the two, nodded gravely. "We've heard a very interesting tale from some of the others, we're quite anxious to hear your version."

"Where are my friends?"

"Resting comfortably at our station and signing their statements for the record."

Arny lifted his shoulders and smiled. "Okay, so how do we do this?" Tom took his arm and steered him politely toward the elevator bank.

Mel and Stone were sitting in the corner with Captain Eddie who sported a bright white bandage under his cap. They all gave Arny a little wave as he was led past them to the interrogation room, and Stone made a pointing sign, which Arny followed and was surprised to see through the window of another room, Moira, with a policewoman watchdog, handcuffed to a ring on the table.

He'd thought for sure that Gretta had killed her. He knew Parker and Kenny were dead and Declan was under guard in the hospital; Moira seemed almost as indestructible as Gretta.

"In here, sir." Tom steered Arny into a room with a single small table and three chairs. Professor Chester Stilton occupied one of the chairs.

"Hello Arnold, have you seen Gretta? Is she all right?"

"I'm fine thanks, Professor, and no, I haven't seen her yet." He didn't say any more, his animosity toward the head of the Congress still on low boil.

"I've explained to the police all about our operation and under what authority we have been working. The evidence of our discoveries unfortunately rests in their files for the present, so the sooner we get all this cleared up, the sooner we can continue with our research."

Arny looked at the policeman, showing an inquiring shrug. The policeman simply pointed to a chair and asked him to sit. He pushed a yellow legal pad and a pen in front of Arny and told him to write out everything that happened from the very start of their 'operation'. Professor Stilton tried to protest but was advised that only if they asked for a lawyer would Arny be excused from answering questions.

"So get a lawyer," Arny said to Chester.

"Uh- it's a little more complicated than that, Arnold. It would be preferable if we could keep this localized and out of the media as much as possible." Arny snorted disgustedly and began writing.

****

One week later the group was released from house arrest at a local hotel, to attend the funeral of Arvil Baird. Gretta was allowed out of the hospital for the service but could not attend the burial. Chester had lobbied all week on behalf of the Congress, and a few powerful connections intervened to have the group held in the hotel temporarily until more formal approaches could be arranged.

There was no doubt that the Congress had sufficient clout to bury its involvement, but because of Arvil's murder, justice had to be seen to be dispensed.

The service in a small marine chapel in the harbour was a teary event. Arvil's mother and younger sister sat at the front, huddled, and clutching one another as the minister intoned a litany of Arvil's characteristics, and the gap his departure would leave in the community.

Captain Eddie gave a short, complimentary speech and then took a seat with the grieving relatives. Arny spent his time holding tightly to Gretta's hand and pestering her with questions about her condition. When the service ended, he reluctantly stayed with the others while she was returned to hospital.

Moira was being held on the various charges concerning the Congress, but she was also a person of suspicion in the stabbing death of one Isaac McQueen, a local drug dealer. Consequently she was being moved from her cell at the local station to the courthouse for arraignment on the additional charges.

The young policewoman escort was no match for the devious Moira and when she was forced to lean closer to hear Moira's question, due to the damage Gretta caused to her throat, Moira headbutted her and wrestled away her gun and the keys to the handcuffs. She found her way out of the station through a storage room window, and immediately headed for the hospital, revenge foremost in her mind.

Declan sat in a chair by the window of his room. An officer stationed outside the door kept a close eye on him while reading the paper. When the woman marched down the hall and directly up to him, he sat back in surprise, unsure of what was happening.

It was the sharp pain that reached his stomach through the sheet of newspaper that made him start to cry out as he was shoved from the chair through the open doorway and into the room beyond.

"Never one to say die, eh, Moira?" Declan shifted in the chair to face her.

"Only in your case, Declan." She dragged the policeman's body clear of the door and then closed and blocked it with a wedge.

"Am I to assume you are here to clean up a loose end?"

"More than one, Declan." She stepped toward him, anticipating his counter move, and when he sprang from the chair, she leaned to one side and threw a vicious kick into his ribs. Declan grunted and fell across the hospital bed and before he could recover she was on his back pulling the tubes from the intravenous stand tight about his neck. Declan thrashed frantically, but Moira pressed one knee into his back and yanked with all her strength.

He gagged and thrashed, his clawing fingers bunching the sheets until with a long slow gurgle he relaxed, and Moira stood and checked his pulse. She went to the door and made sure nobody was alerted and then she hoisted him into the bed and placed him face down on the pillow. She tucked the policeman's gun in her waistband and slipped out of the room and along to the nurse's station.

"Excuse me. I'm looking for a Miss Lawrence. I'm supposed to do a visual check on her before I report to my insurance company." Moira's voice was raspy and the nurse had to ask her to repeat her request. "She's a client and she's filed for health expenses. I have to just say to my boss that I saw her and what she filed for is true." Moira gave the nurse a 'just doing my job' shrug.

"She's on the floor below now, in recovery. Room four-one-nine." Moira thanked her and headed for the stairway.