The Music in the Painting

 

In the lounge Mac met up with Walt.

"How’s the boy?" Walt asked.

"Oh I think he’s just fine, bit of a pounder but the Darvon will take care of that. He seemed in good spirits and I think he may have a new friend in Doc. Vermeer’s boy; sharp kid too."

"Oh hey Walt," he continued. "Before we almost shot Leonard you had something to talk about; and remind me to probe the D.A. about the legality of listening to that whole tape.  So what did you have on your mind?" 

"Oh yeah," said Walt. "this young Metro guy; McGinnis I think, comes up and tells me he saw a reflection at the top of the building north of the museum. He’s another Jarhead, former Recon with good instincts I think."

"I suggested an interdepartmental investigation so we hopped in the car and tooled over to the back side of the building to have a look."

"The custodian said there had been a phone crew on the roof earlier today. The kid suggested we take a look because most phone lines come into commercial buildings through a vault in the street. I asked the custodian to check with his boss and ask if they had any work scheduled that would have put people on the roof and we’d check with him before we left."

"We headed upstairs and found no one on the roof but the door had been propped open a couple inches by a rolled up brochure, one of those freebies the hotels hand out."

"We bagged that and found a pile of butts on the south wall. Somebody had been there for quite a while probably watching the goings on at the museum."

"I’m guessing they’ve abandoned any plans on tonight unless they’re changing tactics and are going after the truck," explained Walt at length.

"So which hotel was the brochure from?" asked Mac.

"The Evergreen chain, if three hotels make for a chain. I’m thinking we should get a unit over to each of those and run every plate in the parking lot, if we get a not on file or a stolen back on a plate on a vehicle we might have our crew’s roost."

"Oh and the building manager confirmed that all phone lines come from the vault to a utility room on the ground floor." 

"We’re missing something though Walt, if they’re still doing surveillance on the target, what are they after? The Vermeers are high profile but they’d be hard to move. Plus they belong to a foreign government, which would mean the State Department and the FBI would get involved. Are these guys doing a steal to order job? I just don’t think the Vermeers are the target."

"Let’s give Dr. Fluke a call and see what the next exhibit is going to be. Maybe that will give us an inkling of what this bunch is up to," reasoned Mac. 

"I wonder what Jack got from Jocko?" 

"Jocko was there?!" exclaimed Walt.

"Crap!"  Mac growled, "That god damned Leonard, I never got a chance to tell you what was going on inside."

Mac brought Walt up to speed with the events in the museum.

"So Jocko’s a P.I. for Cons now eh," spat Walt.    

"Not anymore," said a voice.

"Hi Captain Mac," said another much younger voice. 

"Hi Litton, Hi Jack," replied Mac. Eying Litton he saw the boy was in discomfort and said, "Restroom door is behind me son." 

"Thanks, but how did you know?" asked Litton.

"I’ve raised a lot of boys; I know that dance you’re doing," Mac smiled. 

"So Jack, what’s this about Jocko?"  Mac asked. 

"He’s under a sheet at Central Receiving's ER. His heart quit on him. But he did have a couple of things to say beforehand. He said the number one and two of the crew were staying at a Pine tree Inn but we haven’t found a listing for one. Also he said their work car is a sixty-one’ Chevy police package painted tan but he didn’t know the plate."

It was Walt who spoke next, "Maybe he meant the Evergreen Hotel. Did McGinnis fill you in on what we found in the building overlooking the museum?"

 "McGinnis?   Bentley told me something about a pile of butts but didn’t mention McGinnis," Jack fumed.

"Better to get it from the horse’s mouth than the other end," Walt said flatly.

Then he filled Jack in about what was found earlier.

"Damn that Bentley, well I was going to hustle him down to San Pedro division anyway. He just doesn’t seem to get the ethos of this team." Jack growled.

"Well for what it’s worth coming from me", said Walt "that McGinnis kid is singing from the hymnal."

  "Actually Walt, it means a lot, especially coming from you. You’re not exactly free with words of praise. I’m going to have McGinnis work with me and Rheinhart will start grooming a newbie. And don’t be overly concerned for Bentley, he’ll be in uniform but he’ll get his stripes. He’ll think it’s a promotion if I do it right. Maybe he can make a dent in the gang problem down there."      

"Let’s get some guys out to canvas the hotels Walt and maybe sit on the car if we find it," said Mac

"Jack, we’ll let you know if anything breaks and we can decide what to do from there," continued Mac.

"Sounds good to me, uh anything else," replied Jack

"Well yeah, if you’re headed back to Newton, you could save me some windshield time taking Walt down to city hall to get his car," said Mac.

"Can do, anytime you’re ready Walt," said Jack.

"That was good work on the hotel, Walt; I think it will bear fruit," Mac said.

"So Litton, what do you say about going up and checking out with our Bobby and then you and I can get some lunch?"

"I’d like that a lot," said Litton "and lunch sounds pretty good too."                              

In his hospital room, the orderly had stayed long enough to get Bobby undressed and into a gown.

Drew had asked him to leave the gurney so he could catch a nap without messing up the other bed.

 Bobby asked Drew if he could help him to the toilet, he wasn’t sure he was steady enough yet because he had gotten a bit dizzy in the X-ray room when they had him move from the gurney to the table.

"Okay, but you’ll need to sit," Drew said. "Well I’ve never tried this particular function standing before, so I can live with that." Both boys laughed at this.

Once Bobby was back in bed Drew asked him if he wanted anything to eat. "Not at the moment, maybe some water though?" Then he continued, "I messed up your lunch date with your Mom didn’t I?"

"Don’t sweat it, it happens a lot. I mean it’s not something we can control, but at least we were together. We were going over to Clifton’s Cafeteria; it’s one of our favorite places." 

"Doesn’t your Dad go too?"

After a long silence Drew said, "My Dad died. I don’t really want to talk about him now. Maybe later when we know each other better okay?"

"Sorry I didn’t mean to…oh crap, sorry anyway."

"It’s okay, just later." 

Bobby had settled back into the bed and turned on his right side to face Drew, who had turned towards Bobby. Drew gazed at him with his sparkling eyes, Bobby was about to speak when he noticed Drew’s eyes were closing drowsily. He decided it could wait.

The door to the room swung open slowly and his Grandfather peeked in. "I have someone to see you Bobby," he said quietly, noticing the boy sleeping on the gurney. Mac turned to Litton and put two fingers to his lips and Litton nodded. They entered the room together and Litton scampered over to Bobby’s bedside, being careful not to bump the gurney or disturb Drew. Mac went to the other side of the bed, where he leaned over and kissed his grandson on the cheek.

"Where do you think you’re going?" Bobby asked, as his grandfather stood again. "Get back here."

Mac leaned in again and Bobby gave him a reciprocal kiss on the cheek and then said, "It’s like kissing a hedgehog, Grampa, you need a shave," he smiled up at his Grandfather. 

"Hi Litton," Bobby said quietly. 

Litton’s eye’s had become large and rather damp as he said, "I’m glad you’re feeling better, I was really worried." 

"Thank you Litton," Bobby said warmly, "so you liked the Seurat paintings then?"

"Oh yes!" Litton cried. "I never saw anything like that before, I can’t say how, I don’t know the words to say what it meant to me, but I can talk to people now and see the rest of the world besides my numbers," Litton said haltingly.

"You know people say I’m brilliant and stuff cos I can do math that they need a machine for but, you made me see that my numbers relate to the real world and not just the topology in my head," finished Litton.

"Oh I don’t know Litton," said Bobby "you seem to be doing okay with words at the moment." 

"But I have so much more I want to say about math and how it relates to art and music and everything," Litton said urgently. "I have to learn a whole new vocabulary just to deal with this um, I don’t know… "

"Epiphany?" offered Bobby. 

"Yes" said Litton simply, and then "Can I give you a kiss too?"

Bobby nodded and Litton gave him a quick smooch on the forehead and said, "I love you Bobby, you’re like a big brother to me, you never gave up on me."

"Thank you Litton, I look at you as a little brother even though we’re about the same age. I’m glad the trip to the museum helped you and I love you too."

Litton beamed with delight, now that he knew Bobby was okay he could relax. "I’m going to go sit over there so your Grampa can talk with you."

Bobby watched Litton walk to the chair by the door and sit. Litton seemed deep in thought when Bobby turned to his Grampa.

"He’s an interesting little fellow, that boy."

Mac filled Bobby in about events at the museum and how Litton had helped them with the note book and other things. "He’s very observant," stated Mac. "He told me that people think he’s not paying attention but he notices everything and that everything people do forms a pattern that he can see and use to predict future outcomes. His words," said Mac.

Before Bobby could reply the door swung open again and Dr. Vermeer entered. "Hello everyone," she said cheerfully. "I just got a look at the wet films and there is no hint of fracture. That means Bobby can go home in the morning if he shows no signs of concussion before then. Dr. Voss will come by in the morning and do the assessment since I’m flying to a conference for the weekend."

She looked over at her sleeping son and her eye’s softened, "I hate to wake him but I have to get him over to my Aunt’s house, he’s not looking forward to it either."

"Perhaps he could come home with us," offered Mac. I’ve been given to understand we don’t live too far apart. My nephew David will be there if I’m called away."

Carol looked at Bobby who was grinning like the Cheshire cat. "You know, that would be a solution to a lot of problems and maybe make up for missing our lunch date. If you’re serious I’d be happy to take you up on it." 

"Most certainly," said Mac. "We’d be happy to have him."

"Would you mind stopping by our home so he can grab some clothes? He dressed so nicely for me today but they won’t do for the whole weekend."

"Can he stay with me here tonight?" asked Bobby.

"I think we’d have a hard time getting him to leave at this point, especially since he doesn’t have to go to Westchester now. He can just go home with you in the morning," said Carol. I’ll let him sleep a while and tell him before I leave."

She looked over to Bobby to say something more but exhaustion and the lack of pain had taken their toll and he was out cold. 

"What conference are you going to?" asked Mac.

"It’s about head-trauma; it’s up in Seattle in that big conference facility by the Space Needle." Why do you ask? " Carol replied.

"You’ll want to look for Katey while you’re up there; she’s staying at a hotel on Elliot bay, I’ll make sure you have the number before I leave." 

"That’s wonderful!" She said a bit loudly, causing her son to change position on the gurney. "She’s there already?" 

"She went up a day early to stop in at our son Liam’s place to see Shelly and the grandbairns," Mac said as he copied the hotel information from his note book to the back of one of his cards. "This is everything you need to get in touch with Katey once you’re in town. Plus our number if you should want to speak to your son while you’re traveling." 

"If?!" smiled Carol and took the card. Carol looked at the boy sitting on the other side of the room, she watched while eyes closed he appeared to play an invisible accordion. "Who is that?" she asked.

"That’s Litton, he’s one of Bobby’s school mates and he was a great deal of help to us today, the twiddling fingers means he’s working a rather complex mathematical problem. I’m afraid he’s a bit of a genius," replied Mac "I need to feed him and run him back to the school."

"You can use the Staff cafeteria if you like."

"No thank you; I’m taking him to Chaim’s across the street. I’ll see if I can get the lad hooked on borscht."   

"Well I’m going to take advantage of the extra time to shower and change. Maybe just once I won’t have to make the car service wait. You boys be careful and I’ll see you when I get back," she said and headed out into the hall at a sprightly pace.

"Well Litton, are you ready to go?" The boy’s eyes opened and he stopped moving his fingers and instead placed his hands in a position of prayer.

"Yes sir I am, I can pick this up later." With that he was on his feet and at Mac’s side and the two went out the door, Mac looked back to view the two sleeping forms and smiled.

Carol returned after an hour and roused Drew just enough to tell him about the change in plans. He hugged her neck fiercely and promptly drifted back to sleep.