Early Retirement (An Arturo Nash Novel)

Ch. 6

An eerie quiet filled the intensive care unit of Blake J. Arnold Memorial Hospital. Doctors and nurses rushed about tending to their patients. They crisscrossed each other multiple times but did little more than nod at one another as they passed by. The only other sounds in the ward were the hums of the patients' heart monitors and breathing machines.

Nash and Blanco followed a young, brunette nurse to the bedside of Darren Galdenbaum. Galdenbaum had bandages across his arms and chest as well as an IV drip.

"He can only talk for a short time, doctor's orders. Mr. Galdenbaum needs rest and he can't get it speaking with you." The nurse explained pointing out the patient.

Nash and Blanco walked the rest of way over to Galdenbaum's bed being careful not to disturb any of the other doctors or patients.

"Mr. Galdenbaum I'm Detective Arturo Nash and this is my partner Steve Blanco. What is it exactly that you wanted to tell me?" Nash said.

Galdenbaum breathed deep and with great effort sat up in his bed.

"I want you to catch the monster that killed my wife and children," he said

"We will I promise. Now can you provide us with a description of the man," Nash asked

"He was about 6'3 or 6'4. Short brown hair. Short goatee. He wore a baseball cap," Galdenbaum said.

"That's the best description we've gotten of him," Blanco said.

"If you can remember, what exactly happened at your house this morning?" Nash asked leaning in to listen.

"This guy came to the door. He said he was a computer repairman that Bridget had called to fix her laptop. I believed him. Looking back now I should have known better. Bridget would have told me. She was always organized. Anyway I gave him the computer and left him at the kitchen table. About thirty minutes later he asked if I knew where my wife kept the instructions or something like that. I took him to our home office. I left and when I came back he was going through our stuff. I confronted him and then...then," tears filled in Galdenbaum's eyes.

"It's okay. I understand. My in-laws were murdered two years ago. I have still images of their bodies in my head. I have one last question; do you know what he was looking for?" Nash asked.

"I'm not sure, but I would have gladly given it to him if it would have saved my kids," Galdenbaum said

Galdenbaum lied back down and closed his eyes.

"Thank you so much for your help sir and I'm so sorry for your loss," Nash said.

He and Blanco had turned around to leave when Galdenbaum started speaking again.

"One other thing, I don't know if it matters or not. Bridget was researching some school legend. Apparently it was something she shouldn't have known about because the school threatened to have her removed and her teaching license revoked if she went public with anything she found out. I guess it was supposed to scare her but it didn't work because she kept on going," Galdenbaum said reclining again.

Nash and Blanco looked at each other, thanked Darren Galdenbaum again, and headed to the exit. It was only two flights of stairs, so they decided to walk. As they made their way toward the door leading to the stairwell, Blanco's phone went off.

"Blanco here. Yeah. Okay I'm on my way," Blanco said shutting the cell. "Arty, sorry but I told Ryan in Missing Persons I'd cover his on-call tonight because his wife is having a baby. Apparently some senior citizen went out for a walk and hasn't come back. His nurse is spazzing. Dispatch says I should go check it out," Blanco explained.