Finish The Heart
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When the doctor said he’d be all right, Sam and Maggie sat up on their beds. She looked like she was about to faint but her eyes were dry. He had never seen such a sight. It made him feel guilty for not being there when she needed him most—and that’s saying something because they both knew his job wasn’t exactly one of comfort and compassion.
The doctor had given them a few more instructions before leaving, including a warning: “Don’t let her do any heavy lifting or housework.” But if Maggie felt better than she had in days, he would take the risk. They both wanted to go home today.
And he was sure she wouldn’t mind helping him get it ready for a new owner. He could see the look of determination in her eyes. She’d already started unpacking some dishes she planned to wash.
“What are you doing?” he asked as he walked past her with their bags.
She smiled at his question. “I’m going to finish this room.” Then she added with a laugh, “And I’ll be sure to send out my cleaning crew so that it will sparkle by tomorrow night.”
He grinned back. “Then we’re even.”
But the smile fell from his face when he remembered he couldn’t tell her yet why they were returning to town. Not until he finished the job he’d been hired to do here. He just hoped it wouldn’t take long. After all, he was a good worker and did his job well.
With one last glance around the bedroom, he headed downstairs with two sacks stuffed with clothes and other items they’d left behind.
They hadn’t come prepared to spend more than a few hours in Denver so when he saw that their luggage was gone, he figured Maggie had already taken care of getting their things sent to Kansas City.
He’d told her they should leave their valuables at the bank since the hotel manager had offered to keep them safe while they were away. So they didn’t have anything else to worry about except for their clothes and belongings. He’d gotten rid of everything else.
As they passed through the front entrance, he noticed a man standing outside with another one sitting on the stoop. One stood holding a small paper bag in his hand; the other had a hat under his arm.
Both wore dark blue coats and hats and looked like respectable men. But neither carried themselves with the easy confidence Sam expected from someone who was hired to do work for people. Neither seemed to have the kind of authority that came with being a detective and working for the Pinkerton agency.
They didn’t seem like very competent detectives either. That’s what he would tell them if they asked him later.
But he also knew that when dealing with a stranger you never could be too sure. If it weren’t for the fact that he trusted Maggie completely, he would have insisted on going alone.
“Is Mr. Henshaw inside?” Maggie asked when they got closer to the porch where the two men waited.
“Yes,” the one standing answered. The other nodded, then added, “We’re here to collect your belongings.”
“Our belongings?”
Sam stopped walking and took his coat off.
Maggie quickly followed suit. “Why don’t you just show us in instead?”
The first man gave him a puzzled look. “You don’t want to make an appointment or pay first?”
“No.” They weren’t in a hurry, Sam thought. And if anyone deserved payment for their work, it was Maggie. He turned to her with a frown and asked, “Who is this?”
The second man answered, “That’s me and that’s my partner. We do all the hiring and firing at the agency.” His accent was stronger than the man’s. “Are you Mr. Henshaw?”
“Yes,” he replied, wondering how they knew about the job here. Had they come to talk about it? Or did they have someone else in mind to replace him?
“Then we’ll wait here for you and Mr. Henshaw can show us to our rooms so that we can get started.” With that, the man took his partner’s arm and led him away from the porch, leaving Sam and Maggie staring after them with confused looks on their faces.
The moment they were alone on the porch, she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him toward the door, muttering, “We’ve got to get inside before we miss our chance.” Then she hurried down the steps, opened the door, and held it open for him to pass through.
As soon as they entered the lobby, Sam glanced back at his watch and gasped out loud. He was only ten minutes late! And judging by the expression on Maggie’s face, he was still early. It wasn’t as bad as he feared. He just needed to get to the office so he could call and let them know he was running a little late.
They walked through the lobby with Maggie hurrying ahead to reach the reception desk and pick up her messages. Sam watched the woman’s every move, not wanting to let go of her hand for fear he might lose track of her if she slipped away from him again.
He followed her across the carpeted floor. She stopped at the desk, picked up her papers, and then looked at her watch again. Her jaw dropped and her hands flew to her mouth.
She jumped and spun around, almost hitting him with her elbow as he rushed over to stand next to her. She pointed at her wrist, but the look on her face made him feel like laughing. “What am I supposed to do?” she whispered loudly, glancing frantically around the lobby. “It’s too late to make the train now!”
Sam stared at her with disbelief. How could she forget something like that?
Maggie tried to speak again, but the words stuck in her throat and she shook her head and backed away. “I’m sorry.” She ran off down the hall, and Sam hurried to follow. By the time they reached the stairs at the end of the hall, she was already halfway down the long staircase leading to the main entrance.
Sam raced after her and shouted, “Wait!”
Maggie turned back to look at him. “For what?”
He didn’t answer her question; he couldn’t explain why she had to stop right there. But something in his gut told him that she shouldn’t go past this point. So he stopped, turned around, and followed her down the steps.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he noticed an open door directly across from them. It led to a long hallway with doors on each side and more steps on the far wall. When he stepped into the hallway, he found himself staring at another door just a few feet behind Maggie’s.
A smile crossed his lips. This was perfect. Just as soon as they went inside the room and shut the door, he’d have an excuse to hold her.
“Do you know this place?” Maggie asked.
“I guess.” He hadn’t been in many hotels, but he recalled seeing a similar building during their visit to Chicago. “There should be a phone in there somewhere.”
“So do you know who this house belongs to?”
“No.” But if she wanted to take a peek in the window, he’d help her do it. “Follow me.”
When they reached the door, Sam pushed on the knob. Nothing happened. The door seemed locked from the other side. He reached for the handle and found it stiff—not broken, but frozen in place. As he twisted it, the sound rang throughout the corridor. He jerked his hand away and waited for a reply. But all that came from the room was a deep silence.
“This isn’t good.” Maggie moved away from him and put her ear to the door. After listening for several seconds, she turned to look at him. “It sounds like no one is home.”
He leaned against the wall near the door, wishing he had the same feeling of calmness that Maggie exuded. He was starting to feel panicky. Maybe there really was nothing in the room. That would make everything much easier. All he had to do was walk away.
But when they turned around to leave, a strange sensation hit Sam and he realized there was someone inside. Not in the room. Behind them.
***
Maggie gasped, and instinctively, Sam pulled her closer to the wall as he turned toward her.
His mind raced. Why was it suddenly so quiet here? What was going on?
Then it happened. A shadow appeared on the stairs leading up to the main entrance. They were being watched by two men dressed in black suits. One man wore a hat, but the other did not. Both had dark faces and wore sunglasses, which allowed their eyes to glow red.
Their bodies disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, but Maggie saw the shadows of their weapons and felt the cold metal pressing into her side.
Their footsteps echoed down the staircase as they hurried out of sight. And then a third man walked toward the door, carrying a pistol in his left hand. He opened the door a crack, looked inside, then glanced over to Sam with a wicked smile.
The second he spotted Sam, he fired his gun, and bullets tore through Sam’s arm. Blood was sprayed everywhere. With his free hand, Sam reached for the wound with a scream, and the bullet fell from his hand.
As the gunman reached for his weapon again, Sam grabbed Maggie and threw her aside. Bullets ricocheted off the walls before they slammed into Sam’s body. Pain ripped through his stomach and chest, and he collapsed onto his knees beside Maggie. His whole world was engulfed by darkness, leaving only Maggie and his pain in the spotlight.
“Sam,” she cried. Her arms wrapped around him and pressed him close against her as she buried her head in his chest. “Sam, are you hurt?”
He struggled to answer but found he couldn’t move a muscle. Only his heartbeat. His blood pumped. Everything else seemed frozen in time.
“Sam?” She lifted her head and peered down at him. “Sam? Please say something.”
She stroked her fingers across his face and tried to wipe away some of the blood on his cheek, but she couldn’t reach the wound. “Let me see your arm.”
“It won’t matter,” he whispered. “Nothing will ever heal now.”
He could barely hear her words over the ringing in his ears. But when he heard her ask if he needed her to call for help, he wanted to shout, Yes! Get help!
All he could manage to do was lift his hand and point at the door. “Call for help!” He tried to get up, but another wave of dizziness crashed over him and he had to rest back on the floor. He closed his eyes. “Please,” he said in a whisper.
Maggie didn’t respond. She simply stood there and stared at him with such sorrowful eyes. Then she turned and ran toward the telephone booth, shouting for help. “Police!”
A few moments later, a policeman stepped from the shadows, and Maggie led him down the hall. When they reached the front desk, she pointed to the open doorway and told the clerk to call for an ambulance. While she waited, Sam lay unmoving while the cop kept him covered in his jacket.
“Where did these three men come from?” asked the officer.
Maggie hesitated before answering, obviously afraid of what the news would bring. “I don’t know, sir.”
“Didn’t you see where they came from?”
Her gaze dropped to the floor before she answered. “No, I…”
Suddenly, the office door flew open and a tall, thin woman burst in with a gun in her hand. Sam tried to stand up, but the officer grabbed him and held him in place.
The woman walked slowly toward Sam and lowered her gun. The expression on her face made her seem more like a vulture than a police officer. Her dark hair was pulled back tightly and her eyes glowed as red as fire.
“I’m sorry about this,” she said to the officer. “They must have followed us here.”
“Who… who is that?” asked Maggie, and Sam knew why.
This was no ordinary police officer. It was Mrs. Kline, the one who’d called Maggie to help her search for the missing diamonds. She was here to arrest them all.
***
When the police officer pushed her aside, Maggie rushed to Sam’s side. As she lifted his injured arm, he let out a low moan. His skin was pale and clammy beneath her touch. The blood was drying on his clothes as it seeped through the fabric.
With his blood soaking his shirt, she could tell that half of his wound had already healed. She could feel him trying to sit up, and when he failed, she helped him. His movements were awkward as he leaned on her shoulder, but he managed to rise to his feet. He swayed a bit, and she put her hands on his waist and gently guided him out of the room.
“We’re going outside now,” she told the cop, “to make sure none of those men escape. We can discuss what happens after that when we’ve secured the scene.”
The officer nodded and took off down the corridor, and Maggie brought Sam out into the fresh air. A horse whinnied nearby as Maggie led Sam to a bench along the sidewalk.
The streetlights lit their way and sent pools of light reflecting off the wet pavement as they walked slowly toward the streetlamp.
“Do you need me to drive you to a hospital?” asked Sam when they reached the curb.
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation. She glanced behind her to make sure no one was following. “But first things first, Sam. You have to get to a doctor so they can stitch up your wounds.”
“You can take care of that for me,” Sam offered. “You know how to sew?”
“I think I’ll be fine until a doctor gets here. And I’ll probably need my hands free.” She glanced around. “Come with me.”
As they started down the street again, Sam said, “Mrs. Kline will kill you for helping me.”
“If she catches up to us, then we’ll deal with her later. Right now we have bigger problems.”
When she glanced back, two uniformed officers walked into view. They stopped and talked with the cop who’d been guarding Sam. One of the officers waved his badge and flashed it at Maggie and Sam before continuing on toward the police station.
“What do they want?” asked Sam.
Maggie hesitated before answering, not wanting to alarm him, but he needed to know if she was still in danger. “One of the men you wounded escaped while the others were being taken into custody. He’s wearing black gloves, which makes it hard to spot him in the dark.”
Sam gave her a quick glance as he sat down on a bench. “So it’s just you and me left.”
She shook her head. “I’m not alone. There are other people searching for diamonds. That should give you some peace of mind.”
He frowned but didn’t answer. After a few moments, he said, “Tell me about them.”
“Why? What difference does it make?”
“It might help you find them sooner.”
“Well, there aren’t many places left for them to hide.”
“Then why not start with the ones I found earlier tonight?”
“I thought you wanted me to stay away from there.”
“I do. But you need to talk to someone about what happened today, so that’s where I’ll go. Then maybe I can get a lead that will help us find the missing stones.”
“Fine,” said Sam. “Just remember…”
His voice trailed off as he suddenly slumped forward, and Maggie gasped in shock at the sight of his lifeless body hanging between her arms.
***
“Don’t move!” yelled the officer who had followed them outside.
“Let me go! I need to see how badly Sam is hurt,” Maggie cried as he pulled her up against him.
“Stay right here. Don’t move or speak a word.”
Another man rushed into view, and Maggie knew the police force had doubled in size since the previous night.
Sam groaned, but the officer held tight to his arm and wouldn’t let him move.
“Help!” pleaded Maggie, “someone brings me a blanket.”
A woman carrying a bag hurried by, and a second later came to another woman bearing a bundle of blankets. When the two women set the blankets on the ground beside Sam, the officer released him and turned his attention to the injured man. “Hold still,” he ordered.
“Can you hear me, Sam?” Maggie asked. “Can you talk?”
He opened his eyes a slit, and she realized that he wasn’t completely unconscious as he tried to raise his hand. She gripped it and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“I’ve called for an ambulance,” said the officer.
“Is he alive?” asked Sam, struggling to sit up. “That’s why you brought blankets, isn’t it?”
“He’s breathing, and there doesn’t seem to be any blood loss, so we can assume he’ll be all right. But we’re taking him in to make sure.”
“Where did those other men go?” asked Sam.
“They ran off. The cops are looking for them now.”
Sam looked relieved. “Did they get the diamonds?”
“No,” answered the cop. “Those men don’t have anything that belongs to you.”
Sam sat back on the bench. “I guess I should be glad they didn’t get them. I just wish they hadn’t gotten me instead.”
The officer bent over Sam. “I need your permission to bandage this wound before we take him into the police station.”
“Do it,” said Sam after a moment.
“All right, Mrs. Kline—” began the officer.
“Mrs. Kline? I told you my name’s Maggie, and I’m not married. You know that.”
“Sorry, ma’am. It was just habit—and besides, it’s easier when I’m talking to someone who wants to use my first name.”
“I’m sorry for what I said last night,” said Maggie. “You saved Sam’s life.”
The cop straightened and stared at her, his eyes taking her in. “We’ll put Sam inside the station house, and then I’ll send for Dr. O’Malley.”
The two women who had come for the blankets left after giving her a sympathetic nod. She glanced at Sam lying on the bench next to her and then turned her gaze toward the building.
“I need to check on my mother,” said Maggie, rising from her seat.
“I’ll go with you,” said the policeman. “If you can wait just a few minutes… I think I’ll get my partner to come with me. We’ll be able to keep an eye on things better.”
Maggie nodded. “Thanks for coming out here, Officer. I appreciate it.”
“My pleasure.”
Inside the station house, the two officers led her up the stairs to the second floor. They entered a long hallway that appeared to be used mostly for storage rooms and locked cells.
The room to the side of the hall held a row of jail cells and a metal table with two chairs facing each other across from the entrance. A third guard sat at one end of the table, and a fourth stood in front of another door leading into another room.
As the two officers walked past her, she noticed that they were both staring at the top of her head and her hair, and she wondered what they could possibly see that might interest them enough to comment on it.
They took Sam from her arms and carried him down the narrow hallway and through a doorway that led to a large room with a metal desk and three wooden benches. One of the tables in front of the wall held a stack of file folders, and a man sat behind it reading through them. Two more men occupied the other end of the table, while an older man stood beside the chair where Maggie had been taken.
The two officers laid Sam on the table and covered him with a sheet. One of the officers lifted his feet as if to place them on either side of Sam’s body, but the man sitting at the other end of the table interrupted him. “Leave the feet,” he ordered.
“Are you the doctor?” asked one of the guards, indicating that they should turn away and leave.
“Yes. Dr. O’Malley is my grandfather.” He smiled. “He has the most wonderful stories to tell.”
The younger cop left and returned a moment later with another man wearing a white shirt with a stethoscope around his neck. When the doctor saw Sam, he moved to the table and examined the wound. Maggie watched, fascinated that he made quick work of unwinding Sam’s bloody bandage and washing his hands before he began stitching Sam.
After Dr. O’Malley finished, Sam looked up and gave her an appreciative smile. “Thanks for coming out here today.”
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “It’s nothing. You’re worth it, and I couldn’t help myself. Now, let me see how it looks.”
The stitches glistened against his skin and were still wet, but they didn’t seem to bother Sam. As she examined the wound, Dr. O’Malley came over with an envelope and a small black book. “I’d like to examine Sam, too.”
“Fine,” said the older doctor, turning his attention to Maggie. “What happened?”
“Someone attacked us.”
Dr. O’Malley frowned. “Who would do such a thing?”
Maggie explained about the men who had come riding out to her home that morning and how they had chased her, and then Sam had fallen off his horse and hurt his leg. After she finished, Dr. O’Malley studied Sam’s wound with his stethoscope and then opened his journal.
“Your wound looks clean. I think we’ve done all we can for now.”
Sam tried to sit up and groaned when he couldn’t. The doctor pulled him back down and gently pushed his hand onto his chest. “Don’t move until I’m gone.”
As soon as the door closed behind the doctor, Maggie picked up a file folder and flipped through it. “Do you have any idea who this man is?”
Dr. O’Malley shook his head. “No, I don’t remember seeing anyone like that around here.”
“Well, I was hoping maybe someone else who knew him could shed some light on it for me. Maybe a relative or friend,” she said.
“There’s no reason to get upset, Miss…” His eyes met hers.
“Pendergast.”
“Miss Pendergast… Do you know how old this man is?”
“Not exactly. Fifty? Sixty, perhaps?” She didn’t want to admit that she couldn’t even be sure of his age because of his appearance.
“He certainly doesn’t look fifty years old,” he muttered. “And what is your relationship to this man?”
“I’ve known him since childhood.”
The doctor nodded. “Didn’t think so. I’ll make a copy of these papers, and we’ll send a request to the local sheriff to take a statement from him.”
“Thank you,” said Maggie, handing the folder to one of the cops. It wasn’t much, but it was something to go on with.
While the officer copied the information into a computer, Dr. O’Malley turned to Sam and whispered something to him in a low voice. Sam raised his eyes to meet hers. “I’m sorry about that,” he whispered.
“Why are you apologizing to me?”
“Because I shouldn’t have gotten so excited. This is a big deal for a kid to be doing, and you were just trying to protect yourself and your family, and I acted foolishly.”
“I’m not going to press charges. I’d hate to ruin your career by making it known that you attacked me.”
He grinned sheepishly. “Maybe I did act foolishly, and maybe I’m just an idiot when it comes to women.” He paused and looked away. “But I guess it’s true what they say: All’s fair in love and war.”
The cop who’d been copying Sam’s statement took it back from him and handed it to Maggie. As soon as the cop left, Sam sat up on the edge of the table and grabbed Maggie’s hand. He placed a quick kiss on the knuckles, then let go and slid off the bed. “Let’s get out of here,” he said quietly, looking over at the policeman who stood nearby.
Maggie followed him outside, where he helped her mount a horse. They rode slowly along the road until they were far enough away from town that they could speak freely.
“You really aren’t going to press charges?” asked Maggie.
“It would ruin my reputation as a doctor if word got out that I was responsible for hurting some woman.”
“I didn’t ask for a reward or anything else from you,” said Maggie.
Sam shook his head. “We’re friends, Maggie.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “That’s all I want.”
“Then I hope we can remain friends, and maybe one day we’ll work this out between us.”
“I’m willing to try,” said Maggie. “Just give me time.”
For several hours after their return to the hotel, Sam avoided Maggie. When she knocked on his room, he told her he was tired and went straight to sleep. And when the phone rang, he pretended to be asleep when she came to answer it.
After the third time of being rebuffed, Maggie stopped knocking on the door and simply waited for him to call her. That night, the telephone rang just before midnight, and when he saw the caller ID, Sam answered with an annoyed sigh.
“Hello?”
Maggie spoke quietly, but there was a hint of excitement in her voice. “Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I have something important to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“This is your chance to prove yourself.”
Sam leaned against the wall and listened to her breathing. He felt his body responding to her voice even though he hadn’t heard her words yet. But he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “What do you mean?”
“Remember that you asked me why I became a thief? Why I was forced into it by this organization?”
“Yes.”
“Now you’ll finally find out.”
Her words made his blood boil. He had to control himself lest he shouts at her and risks ruining everything.
“Do you want to hear me out or not?” asked Maggie.
“All right.”
“My father was a respected member of the organization. I knew that if I wanted to be taken seriously, then I needed to show them something special. I began working in different places and stealing more valuable objects to gain notoriety.
I never told anyone how I accomplished these feats because I didn’t want to jeopardize our secret and make things worse for me than they already were.”
“How did your father die?”
“In a gunfight. There was another group involved in the theft, and I didn’t know that he had been betrayed until it was too late.”
“Was his death your fault?”
“No… No, it wasn’t.”
Sam thought she might have meant that someone had tried to kill her father, and he could relate. The only difference was that she hadn’t done any of this willingly; she’d been forced to commit crimes she wouldn’t have considered otherwise.
“I don’t understand what you’re telling me,” he said.
“There was no reason for me to become a thief anymore, and my father’s men were getting nervous that others might figure out the truth about us. They killed my father and framed me for murder. Then they put me behind bars and tortured me until I broke and gave up the location of every stolen item they wanted. It’s a good thing I learned to talk to myself while in jail.”
“They beat you?”
“Yes. I still have the scars on my back where the guards used to hit me whenever I refused to tell them what they wanted to know.” She took a breath. “But now I’m free. I escaped last night, and I’ve come to warn you so that none of you will end up like me.”
“Where are you?”
“On my way home,” said Maggie. “And I think you should join me.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re a man of science, unlike most people who associate with criminals. You’ll see that we’re not the bad guys everyone makes us out to be,” said Maggie. “The only crime committed by us is not sharing information with the world.”
Sam frowned. “If you’re a scientist, then why do you steal artifacts to study? Isn’t that contradictory?”
“Not really. We’re not interested in collecting rare items for themselves. Most of us have a goal and use whatever it takes to reach our objectives. If you look around this room, you’ll see a collection of priceless treasures.”
“You said you stole these objects,” said Sam.
“Some of them belong to the people who owned them originally,” said Maggie. “Others have been given to us by museums and private collectors. Some of those objects are worth millions.”
“So what do you need from me?” asked Sam.
She paused for several seconds before answering. “I believe some of our thieves are looking for something.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, exactly. I can only guess. But I think they’ve found the object and are here in New York searching for it. Or maybe the object has come to them. Whatever happened, I think they’ve figured out something important that they aren’t ready to share.”
“What is it?”
“It’s too dangerous to say over the phone. But I know that if I were you, then I would go to where the object was discovered and try to figure out what’s going on.”
“Where did it happen?”
“I don’t know for sure, but it’s somewhere near Central Park.”
“Why did you choose to tell me first?” asked Sam.
“I wanted to see how trustworthy you were.”
He smiled. “I’m pretty easy to trust.”
“I hope so.”
Sam nodded and waited. When he didn’t say anything else, she asked, “Can I expect you to accompany me?”
“Of course.”
She laughed. “That sounded sarcastic.”
“No. Of course.” He paused. “But first, let me call you back.”
“Fine.”
Sam stepped away from the window and called her cell phone number again, this time leaving a message for her to meet him in Central Park. His heart thudded as he waited for a return call.
After several minutes, Maggie returned his call. “Did you get my message?” she asked.
“Yes, I did.”
“Then I’m coming to see you now.”
“Are you riding?”
“Do you have other plans for tonight?”
“None.”
“Good. Come to the Central Park Zoo when you’re ready.”
Maggie hung up without another word. Sam stared at the empty phone in his hand. What am I doing?
The End