Colt Crawford - Chapter 6 (Thursday)

Today is voting day. I tried hard to get to the drama at the hospital that we voted on last week, but it took a while to get Colt out of Santa Barbara. (He's kind of a slowpoke.) I hope you can all wait until next week to find out what the drama is. As a little token, I'm giving you the chance to vote on it at the end. Enjoy!

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The church was an old brick building that had been constructed in the 1920s and had been maintained in its original condition for the most part. The pews were long and wooden, the carpet a deep crimson. It was not a large building, but it could comfortably accommodate 120 people. Colt estimated that there were about 80 worshippers at the 8:00 service. According to the church bulletin he had received when he walked in, there was a Sunday school hour at 9:30, then another service after that.

To say he was uncomfortable was an understatement. At least the guy on stage who played the guitar told the crowd when to stand up or sit down, so Colt wasn’t put on the spot, but the whole church setting was not something to which Colt was accustomed. He nervously pretended to leaf through the bulletin, reading a word every now and then, but not really digesting any of it.

As the pastor got up on the stage and started preaching, Colt struggled with a sense of inner conflict. He felt uncomfortable and awkward in the church and wanted to leave, yet there was something inside him that compelled him to stay. There was something strangely inviting about the little place where people came together on Sunday morning to hear God’s word.

As the sermon progressed, Colt listened, but didn’t really understand. He must have missed the context. The preacher was reading from somewhere in the Bible in a book called James. Colt made a note to look that up in the free hotel Bible when he got back to his room that night. As a detective, he always wanted to know the big picture.

Just over an hour after it all started, the guy with the guitar was back on stage for one last song. The congregation stood and Colt dutifully followed. As the music faded away, the crowd started filing out, smiling and shaking hands with each other as they left. Was this really Los Angeles? Colt wondered to himself. No one ever appeared genuinely happy in this town, yet these people were different.

“You ready to head over to the hospital?” Krissy asked after shaking another hand in the foyer.

“It’s why we came,” Colt said. “Might as well go.”

As predicted, the visiting hours didn’t officially begin until 10:00, but with a flash of her badge, Krissy was able to get the senior citizen volunteer at the information desk to overlook the fact that it was only 9:45. The old woman pointed down the hall toward a bank of elevators and indicated where they would find Creighton.

Together Colt and Krissy followed her directions and made it to the third floor. There they made a right and and followed the signs to room 3104. The door was open and the light was on, so Colt gently knocked as they entered.

Creighton was sitting up in his bed, staring at a Sunday morning political talk show, slowly picking at his breakfast. He appeared well-rested and healthy. Apparently the damage done by the pills was mitigated by the highly trained emergency responders. Just before he introduced himself, Colt realized that he had seen this man somewhere before. He couldn’t place it, but there was a familiarity about him that Colt recognized.

“Excuse me for a minute,” he said as Krissy began asking questions. Colt stepped out into the hallway and made a quick phone call. Given that it was Sunday morning, it took a few minutes to convince Charlie to do him another favor, but once Colt explained it, his good friend was on board. He wouldn’t even have to leave his house. He could access the files at the office remotely and then e-mail Colt what he found.

Colt returned to the room to find Krissy jotting down a few notes as Creighton recounted what had obviously become a rehearsed story about him being tired of being alone. There was clearly something that Creighton was hiding and Colt was determined to figure it out.

As they stepped out of room 3104 and into the hallway, Colt’s phone indicated that an e-mail had arrived. He looked down at the screen and opened the message. “I knew it,” Colt said as he stared at the the picture Charlie had sent him.


---Results---

With Colt’s newfound information, he and Krissy are going to go back and confront Creighton again. When they get there which of the following scenarios should they encounter? (See voting buttons to the right at the top of the page.)

A) Creighton has left the hospital against medical advice - 34%
B) Creighton has gone into cardiac arrest and Colt and Krissy are turned away - 16%
C) Colt finds another piece of evidence linking Creighton to Samantha - 50%