Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 22:05:16 -0800 (PST)
From: Farrell Mc Nulty <brendanchenowith@yahoo.com>
Subject: Detectives Log - Chapter Forty - Holy Hero Worship

MIKE AND EDDIE SPOT TWO BELLHOPS IN A CLOSET IN THEIR SUITE, HANDCUFFED,
CHAINED WITH LEG IRONS, THEIR ARMS TIED TO THEIR BODIES WITH FISHING
WIRE, THEIR LEGS TIED TOGETHER WITH IT, TOO. EDDIE CALLS FOR A LOCKSMITH
TO COME IN AND UNDO THE CUFFS AND LEG IRONS AND WE PICK UP THE STORY FROM
THERE.

Holy crap, the boys are moanin' and bleedin' and best we can do is get a
locksmith up here. We try takin' 'em out of the closet, slowly, but upon
touch, they scream in pain. "Maybe ya oughta sit in here while we wait.
But lemme get these gags off your mouths in the meantime." I introduce me
and Eddie and tell 'em they're among friends, and all, and ask 'em what
happened. One of 'em catches his breath, and says, "a picture tells a
thousand words. They took some pics and threw 'em in here." Me-n-Eddie
look and see a few photos on the closet floor. Holy Jesse James, they
were both shot in the back. "Oh, so that's why it hurt so bad when we
lifted ya". "Yeah, you don't know the half of it" "That's why we're
askin' stuff, son." "Oh, oh yeah. Anyway, we were just makin' the rounds
in the hallways and all, when we felt something at our backs and told to
come here, not saying a word to anyone." The other bellhop chimes in, "we
get in here, they tell us to take our uniforms off and to turn around,
and we hear the gun go off and we both went down. It hurt so bad we
couldn't even move, we just fell over. I hope we ain't paralyzed." Eddie
offers to do whatever to make 'em more comfortable, like give 'em some
water or something, which they accept. We look at the photos and sure
enough, there's some snaps of them gettin' shot and being forced to look
in the camera as they screamed. Finally we hear, "someone call for a
locksmith?" and we yell that we're in here. The guy comes in and sees
what's goin' on. "Holy smoke, what happened here? You guys into some
role-playin' or somethin'?" Eddie and the guys get a little pissed off at
this, but I explain that we're detectives and we found 'em like this,
they were taken hostage by some sickos that stole their uniforms. "Oh,
sorry, didn't mean to presume. It's just that ya see a lot of stuff in my
line of work." "Funny, so do we." So, he gets to undoin' the cuffs and
me-n-Eddie step aside to assess this whole thing. "What's the deal with
the pics?", Eddie wondered. "They want the two of us to know who's doin'
it. They want to deal with me-n-you." "Gosh, they don't even know us."
"They remember what we did to 'em at the beach and they wanna get even.
They ain't gotta know we're dicks. That ain't important to 'em. Guess we
gotta call 911 after all. They gotta get them backs of theirs checked."
"Right" and Eddie goes and calls the paramedics. The locksmith does his
thing and even cuts the fishin' wire. We thank 'im and pay 'im for his
time. The boys sit still, instantly rubbin' their arms after their hands
were free. Eddie says, "hey, ya know, we got some breakfast here, ya want
a little somethin'?" One of the bellhops laughs, "naw - thanks but no
thanks - we eat that stuff all the time, we're a little sick of it."
"Yeah, I ain't got much of an appetite with my back bein' all busted."
"Hey, uh, can ya help us up, maybe if we walk around a little." "Ya sure
that's a good idea, there?" Eddie whispers to me, "Mike, dontcha do the
same thing when you're knocked down - walk outta the room and not get
carried? Maybe they're made of the same stuff." Ya know, he was right.
So, Eddie grabs one and I grab the other. They both holler when they get
on their feet at first, but keep chantin' to themselves, "I can do this -
not so bad - I can do this". They take a few steps over to the bed and
sit down on it. "We make our livin' on our feet - we got a thing about
lyin' down on the job." I gotta give 'em credit - they are made of the
same stuff as me-n-Eddie. The paramedics come in, treat their wounds as
good as they can. Before they take off, they say, "by the way, you guys
are our heroes - we read a lot about you online." "Yeah, you guys are
cool, if you can take a shot in the back and get back on your feet, so
can we." Jeez, I can't believe it - a fan club. How 'bout that. So,
they're on their way and the two of us decide to canvas the area, askin'
anyone 'round here if they saw anything. There was a gardener outside. We
think he oughtta have seen somethin', bein' outside and all. We go up to
'im "did you see a couple of guys out here with duffel bags by any
chance?" "dressed like bellhops?" and he kept goin' on about how he
didn't see nothin', he just works here, and all that. Pretty frustratin'.
"Now, please I very busy, I must work" He was actin' like we thought he
did somethin'. Eddie looks at me and whispers, "I got an idea. I hate to
do this, but maybe..." and he flashes his badge real fast and says he's
from immigration, and that his cooperation might cut 'im a break. "All
right, all right, I tell you. I did see two bellhops lugging some bags
into one of the courtesy trucks we have here. I didn't think anything
about it then." We start to beat it, "okay, thanks." "Wait, do I get to
stay here? I have a family." Eddie snaps his fingers and points to 'im,
"Sure thing" and we make our next plan of action, go back inside to
management and report that their bellhops were shot and taken hostage and
that one of their courtesy vans was ripped off and get what the license
plate numbers are - seein' if we can track these bastards. "We gotta call
the cops and put the word out, check all the courtesy vans, they can have
this all wrapped up in no time." "No way. This is our baby. We're the
guys that really gotta put these bastards down. After what the cops did
to Oscar - can't get over that. I gotta make this right. Seein' as this
didn't happen too long ago, they can't have gotten too far, but then
Miami Beach is a pretty big city, a lot of miles can be covered like
that." "We can cover a lotta miles, too, Boss-Man." I laughed when he
called me that. "Uh, Eddie, we're married now, why do ya still call me
that?" "I'll never, ever forget that you took a real chance on me. You're
a great detective and you're someone I can really learn from. We're
married but I still worship you, you're still my hero and you always will
be. Inside I'll always be that boy who dreamed of bein' your sidekick. It
got me through life and it's what made me fall in love with you." He gave
me a peck on the lips and grinned, "now let's go bust some bellhop
balls".

We were off. Seein' as the hotel doesn't have very many courtesy vans, it
oughta bring us real close to rescuin' the Hernandez boys. Just 'cuz this
is gonna be a simple case, don't mean it's easy. The horrors that follow
- I wouldn't wish that on my sworn enemy.