Race With a Heart
Chapter 134: To Solve the Case

Chapter 134: To Solve the Case

As soon as the nurse left Steve’s room, Kevin Moore got up from the cushioned chair he was sitting in and walked over to her with a brisk stride.

"How is Paxton?" He asked.

The young woman gave him a scolding look.

"Nobody told you that a patient after surgery and so much blood loss should be calm? They don’t teach you anything in this police force? " she snapped at him.

"Sorry," Kevin muttered, though it wasn’t his fault. However, he felt responsible. "But he’ll be fine, right?"

"Luckily," the nurse was still angry.

"Has he calmed down yet?" Moore inquired.

"Mostly yes," she announced.

"Thank you," said Kevin as he headed for the patient’s room.

"Wait a minute!" an indignant woman called after him. "It’s not allowed there, please stop! Security!"

Kevin didn’t listen, however, and burst into Steve’s room.

"I know you’re pissed off, but for your and Martin’s sake, talk to me!" he called out to Paxton before the nurse’s hands and the VIP security staff grabbed him.

"Leave him alone," Steve said wearily.

"Mr. Paxton, you should rest," the nurse admonished.

"I want to close this topic, then I can rest," he announced. As the nurse hesitated yet, Steve added, smiling gently, "If I don’t talk to them, I won’t be able to clear my mind."

"Okay," the woman succumbed to his persuasion, but she shook her finger on Moore, "If the same thing happens again, I will notify the head physician!"

"I promise it won’t happen again," he assured.

The nurse and security guards left, but each shot the "policeman" hostile, full of warnings look. Kevin knew that if he didn’t behave himself, he would regret it.

Moore looked at Paxton and noticed that the driver was very pale and that his eyes seemed to recede slightly into the skull. He must have been very tired. Kevin must have appreciated that Steve wanted to talk to him while in this state.

"Thank you," he turned to the driver, "and I’m sorry. Lieutenant Sullivan is your fan, so the mere thought of you being a suspect in a murder had thrown him off guard. He’s a really good cop and doesn’t usually act that way. "

Paxton wanted to get up on the pillows. Moore ran over to help him. The driver glared at him, but didn’t shake a helping hand.

"Who knows," he asked, "about Martin?"

"Only me," admitted Kevin. "The police have yet to dig on this topic. I know because I’m Jack’s partner, and as you know, I know Martin. "

"I’m not used to talking to strangers about this," Paxton confessed. "But since you know about us ..."

"I don’t know if you chose to come out or not, but until you did, it would be better if Martin didn’t get mixed up ..."

"I know," Steve interrupted nervously. "That’s why I’m talking to you."

Moore nodded and sat down on the stool he had sat on previously. He didn’t do it because his legs ached, just to keep his eyes level with Paxton’s. He didn’t want to give the impression that he was looking down on him.

"We’re seeing each other for the first time today," Kevin announced, "so you don’t know me and I don’t know how much you’ve heard about me. I’ve heard a lot about you. "

"Jack is a talker," Steve muttered.

"But he thinks well of you. I know your beginnings with Martin weren’t the best and I know you care about each other, so I understand that the threat from Rita was a lot of stress for you at that point. "

Steve nodded.

"I was ready to pay any money," he admitted. "If she had proof, I was willing to give her whatever she asked for. "

"You doubted she had the evidence. Why?"

"I don’t remember," Steve confessed helplessly, and looking into his face, Kevin was able to believe him.

Moore was a criminal psychologist, not a mentalist from some serial, and he knew perfectly well that all these memory palaces had little to do with reality. The enormous stress could have caused an event to be etched into someone’s mind to form a woodcut matrix, but it might as well not have recorded the event. It was a simple defense mechanism.

Most often, however, people just didn’t bother to remember. In the era of widely available information, remembering was a neglected skill. People might remember the overall impression, but the details just eluded them.

"She," Steve continued, "She was so arrogant. Confident. As if she surely knew I would pay her. When I asked for the evidence, she mentioned something about the recording but said she couldn’t show it to me. Then I figured she was bluffing and put a little pressure on her. "

"Do you know how she found out about you and Martin?"

"No," admitted Steve, resigned. "I was wondering who might have given her this information and all I could think of was someone from the stable. Me and Martin ... we weren’t too careful. "

"I understand," Moore nodded. "My colleagues will question drivers ..."

"No!" Paxton objected. "In the stable, they can’t know that me and Martin ..."

"Relax, we’re looking for someone who’s been seeing Rita. We suspect it’s a driver from Fergus Stables. I guess it’s not you. I’m sure it wasn’t Jack, so the only one left is ... "

"Don" Steve said the name as if he had something unpleasant in his mouth. "Why am I not surprised?"

***

When Jack showed up at the Fergus Stables, he learned a very interesting fact.

"The police are just questioning Don. They want to talk to you too. "

"Police?" he asked surprised. "What happened? An accident? "

"Something more serious. They are detectives. "

"I thought they had finished their investigation of the attempted murder of Steve," Lambert muttered to himself. At least that’s what Kevin made him understand. But maybe something else was discovered during the investigation and it was incidents on the track? Ha! That would be good news.

"Where are they?"

"Karl lent them his office."

"I thought he wasn’t there."

"Because he’s not here, but there are phones."

"Right," laughed Jack. "I guess I’ll go say hi to the policemen. Tell Abe that I will have good news for him on the matter we discussed yesterday. I’ll tell him the details when I’m done with the cops. "

"Sure thing!"

Most people, no matter how innocent and clean like a white spring flower, are subconsciously afraid of contacting the police. The police are power and authority, and even if someone respects policemen, they are aware that these people can make their life very difficult. But Jack wasn’t scared at all, he just felt excited. If they came to inquire about what happened on the track (and Kevin had warned that it might happen) Lambert could only rejoice. Finally, someone will take care of this annoying and dangerous problem!

A young policeman stood outside the door to Karl’s office. Jack recognized him as a new addition to the city Kevin had mentioned. The driver saw him at the hospital when Steve was undergoing emergency surgery. This confirmed Jack’s suspicions that the case had something to do with Paxton.

The young detective just finished talking and noticed Jack approaching. The men looked each other in the eye, and Lambert got the impression that he had a sincere and kind man in front of him. It is a pity for such people to work in the police, where they come into contact with the greatest scum in the world and witness the most horrible acts.

"Jack Lambert?" the policeman asked. "I am Paul Denning" showed Jack his police badge. "Me and my friend would like to ask you a few questions ..."

"Have you started a formal investigation into the incidents on the track?" Jack asked excitedly.

"Incidents? Are you referring to these Paxton problems that the media is talking about? I’m afraid I’m not a fan of the sport, but I heard they were all considered normal incidents on the track. "

"I know the sport inside out, and if anything was normal in these incidents, I am the Emperor of China. But since you didn’t come in this case ... "

The policeman looked at the office door. Perhaps he was wondering if he could work without his partner. Apparently he thought so, because he took a picture of a young woman from his pocket and turned to Jack.

"Do you recognize her?"

Lambert looked closely at the girl’s face.

"No. I’ve never seen her. "

"Are you sure?" Jack felt the cop’s gaze upon him. It’s Rita. She worked as a stripper. She worked as a prostitute. "

Jack snorted.

"I’m not interested," he announced. "I am gay in a happy, lasting relationship. I am not interested in prostitutes, even male ones. I could watch the striptease, but only by a man. "Jack gave the policeman a wide, bright smile.

His blunt statement for a moment left the young policeman off guard.

"Sorry," he announced and also smiled. "We have information that Rita may have obtained some information from one of the drivers in this stable, so we’re investigating the clue."

"Okay, no problem. But why don’t you ask this girl? "

"Unfortunately, she is dead. It is her death that we are investigating. "