Read Online Flashback by Ted Wood - Free Book Online Page B

this about?' The owner stretched up to his full five-foot-six and snarled at me. 'You can't come into my motel and start laying down the law. This is a free country.'  
    'You've got a kid in unit three who's o.d.'d. The OPP are sending a man. Don't disturb anything in there, please, or you're in deep trouble. I'm taking him to hospital.'  
    He had more to say but I didn't listen. I drove over to the unit and opened the rear door of the car.
    The kid was fighting fit again but almost helpless. He still tried punching up at me with his free hand, aiming for my groin but I got hold of his arm and levered him on to his free leg and hopped him out to the car. It was a tussle getting him into the seat and he lay there smashing at the door with his free foot as I locked him in. Sam jumped into the front seat and I pulled off the lot and out to the highway, laying rubber up to the hospital.  
    A doctor and a couple of uniformed policemen were waiting for me and we got the kid out and laid him on a gurney while the doctor checked his eyes and then sponged his neck and gave him a shot.  
    It didn't take at once but by the time we reached the treatment room he was drowsy.
    'What's he taken?' the doctor demanded.
    'PCP, judging by the way he's acting. This was in his room.' I took the plastic bag out of my shirt pocket and gave it to him. He glanced at it, narrowing his eyes.  
    'Hard to say but you could be right. I'll need at least one man to stay with him. There's no knowing when he'll start fighting again.'  
    'We'll stay.' One of the Parry Sound men unlocked my handcuffs and gave them back to me. 'Pretty neat,' he said approvingly. 'Hand and foot together through the belt. Never seen that done.'  
    The doctor was sounding the boy's chest with a stethoscope. 'His heart's going like sixty.' He unclipped the earpieces and looked at me. 'How did you stop him?'  
    'I hit him in the solar plexus with the butt of my stick. I hope I haven't ruptured anything.'
    'I hope so too,' the doctor said. 'I'll run some tests. Who is he anyway?'
    'Goes by the name Eric Hanson. I want to talk to him when he comes down. Would that be possible?'
    'Six hours at least, I'd say.' The doctor picked up the phone. 'Doctor Syme, Treatment Room Two. Can I have a restraint trolley here, please.' He hung up and looked at me levelly. 'What can you tell me about him that might help?'  
    'He was in a motel room. Looked like he'd eaten fried chicken and been drinking beer. He was alone when I found him, listening to loud rap music. He came to the door and went berserk.'  
    The doctor nodded. 'OK. Is he under arrest for anything?'
    'Yes, assault police, namely me. And possession of drugs, namely that white powder I showed you. On top of which I want to talk to him about a homicide that occurred at Murphy's Harbour.'  
    The doctor whistled. 'He's been a busy boy. OK. I'll check him out, see what he's taken, see if you injured him. Then I'll sedate him. Are you staying here?'  
    'My wife's upstairs waiting to deliver a baby. I'll be up with her until that happens.' He nodded at me and I finished up the story. 'I don't have jurisdiction in Parry Sound but these officers will handle the arrest for me.'  
    'Fine.' He nodded briskly. 'I'll know where to find you if anything happens.'
    I thanked him and went outside to make sure Sam was comfortable, letting him out of the car to mark out a territory for him so he could get out of the car window as he wanted. Then I patted him on the head and said, 'Wish us luck,' and went upstairs to Fred's floor.  
    I was just in time. The nurse told me that she had been put on a Pit drip, which I knew meant they were inducing labour. 'She'll be fine,' she said cheerfully. 'Are you one of the Lamaze fathers?'  
    I confessed and she said, 'When did you eat last?'
    'What's that got to do with anything?'
    She shook her head and reached under the counter for a lunch bag. 'Here. I've got a sandwich. Eat