The Greatest of These by Greg Wendleton (booksvooks txt) 📕

for potential examination by the police. The ER doctor walked into the treatment room and began ordering blood work and a tube to pump his stomach. What they pumped out of his system was not a pretty site. It looked like meat and raw seafood that likely had spoiled. His blood alcohol content was .42, dangerously high. He must have consumed a liter or more of alcohol within a twenty-four-hour period. His prognosis was bleak.

The Medivac chopper landed at the Hana Emergency Helipad and Captain Tommy Pang jumped down from his seat beside the pilot. He made his way over to the patrol vehicle where Chad and Jamie were resting.

Tommy opened the back driver’s side door and said, “Hey haole, I’ve come to rescue you and your beautiful bride.”

The Wilhites couldn’t help but smile as the EMT pulled up along side the Captain and began to help them out of the Jeep. He gave Jamie and then Chad a quick once over before guiding Jamie, while the Captain guided Chad, over to and into the helicopter. They were both buckled into their seats, with apologies from the EMT, as he noticed the slightest flinch from Jamie.

“It’s just for your safety, pretty lady. I’m going to start an IV to help get you hydrated, okay?”

Jamie nodded her head and gently smiled at the attentive technician. As he continued with his task, the Captain had a conversation with Garret, the Chief and the FBI agent. After a few minutes of back-and-forth, the conversation broke up and Captain Pang returned to the helicopter and climbed into the passenger seat. He gave the pilot some instructions and they were soon airborne and headed to Maui Health in Wailuku. There they would receive quality care from an experienced trauma team.

While they took flight, the young EMT started an IV on Chad and then began to monitor their vital signs and transmit the data to the Emergency Room staff at Maui Health. Thirty minutes later, when they landed at the hospital, two teams were standing by. The teams rushed to the helicopter and carefully helped their patients out of the chopper and onto the waiting gurneys. In less than two minutes, both Chad and Jamie were in treatment rooms and being attended to by the experienced professionals.

Captain Pang sent the Medivac and his EMT back to Kula while he entered the Emergency Room to await word on the health of the Wilhites, and the arrival of Special Agent Presley and Garret Cooper. It would be a little while before they arrived since they had to land at Kahului Airport and drop Jeff, the Enterprise representative, off at the rental company’s office. They would then make the short drive to the hospital.

The medical teams were thorough and took longer than Captain Pang anticipated. Special Agent Presley and I arrived and entered the ER waiting area before the doctors came out to update us. The additional wait wasn’t very long as a tall, lean doctor came from behind the double doors a few minutes later.

“Good afternoon gentlemen, I’m Doctor Talbot, they are both resting comfortably and are going to be just fine. There is bruising and lacerations where they were restrained. But there are no broken bones or internal injuries. They are dehydrated, but that is being remedied, and they are sore from being restrained in a seated position for so long. We are running a tox screen to determine what they were injected with, but it seems to have worn off. We will want to keep them here overnight to monitor them and get their strength back up. Do you have any questions?”

Special Agent Presley was first to speak. “When can I ask them some questions?”

“I’d prefer you wait until this evening, at least. Tomorrow would be better.”

“The sooner we can ask them about the men who took them, the sooner we can get to work on solving this crime.”

“I understand your desire to resolve this situation. Let me monitor them for the next hour or two and then we’ll make a decision about talking to them. Does that sound fair?”

A nod from the FBI agent was enough.

Doctor Talbot turned from the three of us and walked back through the double doors to attend to his patients.

Captain Pang looked at us and said, “My ride back to the station house is waiting for me outside, so, I will leave you gentlemen to solve this mystery.”

I was first to respond this time, and said, “Thank you for your help, Captain, I can never repay you or thank you enough.”

“No worries, haole. You take care of them and bring them to see me before they leave the island.”

“I will. Mahalo and Aloha.”

The Captain smiled, turned and exited the Emergency Room.

With a deep inhale and prolonged exhale, I turned to the Special Agent and confessed, “I have a lot of explaining to do.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

In Hana, at the local treatment center the doctor and staff continued their efforts to save the life of Archibald Patterson, also known as Jones. The identification he had in his wallet claimed his name was Daniel Imhoff, of Fort Worth, Texas. His stomach had been pumped, but the seriously high blook alcohol level was still a major concern. His chances of survival with a BAC over .40 were not good to start with. Couple that with the food poisoning and lack of non-alcoholic fluid intake and his odds diminished even further. All they could do now was wait to see if the IV and other measures they had taken were enough to save his life.

Earlier that day the attentive, Paia police officer, noticed the White Nissan Maxima with tag KZE 527, still parked in the lot across from Rock and Brews. Acting in a professional manner he pulled his cruiser behind the parked car and called in his discovery. While standing guard he noticed a smashed hypodermic needle in the vacant spot to the right of the Nissan. He picked up his