Colt Crawford - Chapter 5 (Thursday)

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Chapter 5 (Thursday)

Colt tried to make sure that his lunch at Aldo’s with Samantha’s parents was as brief as possible, although he was not very successful. No matter what he did to change the subject, Ron and Debbie Woods could not be stopped from telling stories about their wonderful daughter. Colt got the feeling that they wanted him to know that he had saved an extraordinary life.

Samantha had been her high school valedictorian and went on to study at Stanford where she received a degree in finance. She then went to law school back east and eventually became a tax attorney. Now, as an accomplished professional, she was on the fast track to the top at her L.A. Law firm. She had everything going for her: good looks, smarts, an outgoing personality. She was even an avid runner and, to top things off, she taught Sunday School for the five-year-olds at her church. Colt took it all in with a grain of salt, after all her parents had to have been a little biased. Nonetheless, there was a small part of himself that was intrigued by what she might be.

It was close to 2:00 by the time Colt got out out of the restaurant and walked the block and a half back to the BMW. He would need well over two hours to make the drive to L.A on a good day, but given his timing, he was going to hit traffic. He considered leaving anyway, but the dislike that he harbored for crowded freeways won out and he decided to head south later that night after the traffic had cleared. With a slight lull in his day, he called up Detective Malone to see if she had made any progress at the hospital.

“The only person she could think of who might have wanted to hurt her was one of her clients who got stuck with a nasty fine from the IRS for skipping out on his taxes,” Krissy Malone said as she filled Colt in on the details of her discussion with Samantha. “When I get back to the PD, I’ll run him and see what pops up. Why don’t you meet me there and we can go chat with him this afternoon,” she added.

Although Colt’s day had been very busy, he found himself using his brief spare minutes pondering life. He had left everything behind less than 24 hours earlier in hopes of finding a new meaning, yet here he was doing the same thing he had always done, just in a different town. Was this his meaning? Was he meant to solve crimes? Colt thought about these questions and more as his sharp mind analyzed each aspect of the last day and a half. Despite the fact that he was doing what he had been trained to do, there had to be more.

He glanced over at the passenger seat of his expensive luxury car. When it came to fine taste, Colt was a picky as anyone. His desire for the best permeated every aspect of his being. His business was well-known for doing top quality work and Colt would not have it any other way. His car, his clothes, his house; it was all exquisite, at least in his mind. So what was wrong with him?

The empty seat looked back at Colt as if to give him the unspoken answer. “You are alone.” No words had to be spoken, but the message was clear. The passenger seat in Colt’s car had not been used in the nine months that he had owned the car. He was alone and had been alone his whole adult life.

He thought more as he made the quiet drive to the police station. Could Krissy Malone be the reason fate had sent him on that late night run? He parked the car and headed back to Krissy’s office. When he got there, she was sitting in front of her computer clicking through some information.

“Here’s what I have on the disgruntled tax evader,” she began as if Colt had been by her side the whole time. “Other than a history of tax problems, he’s clean.”

“Tax problems could drive someone to do things they might not otherwise do,” Colt said. “Debt is a powerful force.”

“Let’s go talk to him,” Krissy said as she stood by the printer waiting for the rap sheet to work its way through the machine and into her hand. “He’s a yacht broker down at the harbor.”

Without even thinking, Colt said, “I’ll drive.”

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Results -

In the next chapter Colt and Krissy are going to drive down to L.A. To talk to Creighton. How eventful should this drive be? Use the voting buttons to the right to let me know.

A) Their car is run off the freeway in an attempt to keep them from reaching Creighton. - 14%
B) They get stuck in traffic and have to spend hours talking. (Please don’t make me write that!) -14%
C) The drive is uneventful, but drama unfolds at the hospital as they try to talk to Creighton. - 71%