What T Didn't Know - Part 7

Happy February, faithful Friday fiction fans,

(How's that for an alliteration?)

We got snow this week! Like real snow that stuck and actually was deep enough to cover the grass! First we had a thin layer of sleet, then it changed to snow and snowed almost all morning on Wednesday. Right after lunch my best friend and I went out for a walk in the snow. She took pictures. How's this for a picture?

Then we walked back to her house (just a block from mine) and we built a small fire and roasted marshmallows and ate s'mores. We've been wanting to have s'mores in the snow, and it was good because it was also February which means we got this month's s'mores in too.

Tomorrow is the Widows' Valentine Luncheon. We set up and decorate today. The roads are mostly clear, but there's still snow in the yards. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and in the 40s, so I'm hoping and praying all the widows will be able to make it.

Writing has sort of happened. It's rather slow this week, but I'm making myself write at least 100 words each day. I may have to switch to some of my other stories until the "secret project" gets rolling. But don't worry, I think I counted about 5 other stories that are started. ;)

And here you go. I wonder how many of you just skipped this first part to get to the story and then came back to this later. Don't worry, I won't be upset if you did. You only have one more part after today.

What T Didn’t Know

Part 7

    Dr. Hall quickly filled the officers in and then added, “Tommy just remembered why someone would want to kill him, but I want to move him to a warmer room.”
    “That would be good. I want a few of my men to start searching. Bruce here says there’s a gun on the ground. I don’t want whoever it is to come back for it.” The sergeant issued orders and took a look at the bed.
    “Daniel,” Nurse Wilson said, coming back, “the room is ready upstairs.”
    “Thanks, Nellie. Sergeant, do you want to follow us while I move Tommy to a new room?”
    “Yep.”
     Dr. Hall stooped over the boy who lay shaking on the soft carpet. “All right. Tommy, I know this isn’t going to be pleasant, but you’ll feel better after we get you back in bed.”
    Tommy bit his lip to keep back his cry of pain as the doctor gently lifted him and carried him from the room.
    It was several minutes after Tommy had been laid in the new bed upstairs, covered with warm blankets and given a spoonful of medicine before the pain subsided enough for Tommy to be able to think.
    “Can you talk now, son?” Dr. Hall asked softly.
    Tommy frowned in pain. “What’s today?”
    “December thirtieth,” Dr. Hall answered, his fingers once again on Tommy’s pulse.
    “Then there’s still time ta stop ‘em.”
    “Stop them? Stop who, Tommy?”
    “Begin at the beginnin’, laddie, so’s it’ll all make sense to me,” the officer said.
    Swallowing a bit of the drink the doctor held to his lips, Tommy stroked his dog’s head. “I was takin’ shelter in a doorway of an abandoned building on the east side from that sleet we had that mornin’. I heard voices. I looked out an’ seen two men. One was in a fancy car an’ the other was on foot. The wind blew their words right to me an’ I couldn’t help hearin’.” His hand dropped over the side of the bed and found Diego’s head as he fell silent.
    “What did you hear, Tommy?”
    “They were plannin’ on robbin’ the Vandermark’s house on New Year’s Eve when the family was gone to a party.”
    “How were they going to do that?” The policeman looked skeptical.
    “The man on foot works for the Vandermarks. He was going to let the other man in.” Tommy shivered a little and Dr. Hall rose.
    “Let me get another blanket.”
    This was done quickly, and Tommy relaxed a little. “It was a wager.”
    “What was?” The sergeant scratched his head.
    Tommy frowned a little. Couldn’t this man understand? Why hadn’t Officer Joe come in to ask questions?
    “Go on, Tommy,” Dr. Hall’s voice was low. “Tell us everything you know.”
    “The man in the car said he had a wager with several friends that he could rob the house and get away with it. Said it’d be the perfect crime.”
    “Couldn’t be a perfect crime if the other man knew about it,” muttered the sergeant. “Do you know who the other man was? The one in the car.”
    Tommy nodded and immediately wished he hadn’t, for his head started to throb again. “It . . . was . . . Edward Stratamyer.”
    “The father?” Disbelief filled the sergeant’s face.
    “No, the son.”
    “And after you heard all this, what happened?”
    It was easy for Tommy to hear the skepticism in the policeman’s voice. “I waited till after they were gone, but it weren’t long enough, I guess. They had moved off, out of my sight but they stopped to talk again, an’ when I left the doorway . . . they saw me.”
    “Where were you goin’?”
    “The police.”
    Dr. Hall picked up the story. “So they saw you and must have realized you had heard them, right?”
    “Yes,” Tommy whispered. He didn’t want to remember the threats he’d received or the beating he had gotten.
    “They must have taken you to the alley where you were found and dumped you to die.”
    “But why try and kill me now?” That was the part Tommy didn’t understand.
    “You haven’t seen the papers, son. They had a big headline about you and how you had been found. There has been something almost every day about you and how you don’t remember what happened. No doubt these two men have read that and decided that they needed to make sure you never remembered.”
    Tommy lay silent. He had never dreamed as he sat shivering in the icy doorway that the men who had been planning a robbery would try to kill him twice. He was just a newspaper boy. And why would someone who came from a family with as much wealth and influence as the Stratamyers want to rob another wealthy family anyway? Didn’t that young man know the Bible said not to steal? It was all very puzzling.
    “The only thing to do,” the sergeant said, after standing up and pacing to the window and back, “is for Tommy to die.”
    Tommy gasped and turned startled eyes on the doctor. No, surely his new friend wouldn’t allow that!
    “Relax, son,” Dr. Hall said. “Just in the papers. If they print a headline about the shooting and say that you are dead, I think Edward Stratamyer will go on with his plan and the police can catch him.”
    “Oh.” Tommy closed his eyes again. Right then he didn’t care if the playboy son of the great Mr. Stratamyer got caught by the police or not, the only thing he wanted was to be left alone to sleep.

*

    “Tommy.”
    Sleepily Tommy made a sound in his throat but couldn’t get his eyes open. They were too heavy, and he didn’t want to wake up. It had been late before the police had left, and Dr. Hall had given him something to help him sleep.
    “Tommy.” A hand rested lightly on his good arm. “Come on, Tommy, wake up.”
    “Go ‘way,” he muttered without moving.

Did you read the story first?

Have you ever felt like Tommy when someone woke you?

Did you enjoy any snow this week?