"Jake Randolph Origins" drabbles by Christopher

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 249

Jake Randolph Origins #249

We made it out to the cemetery and pulled into the parking lot. Sharkey was to wait at the car while I took a bouquet of roses to his wife's grave that we'd stopped to get on the way. He told me during the drive how to navigate through the huge headstones and mausoleums to the grave. I'd never even met Sharkey's wife. In fact, after we cleared up the business about the gold I never saw him again until he contacted me about the death threats. We'd spoken on the phone a few times, but that was about it...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 248

Jake Randolph Origins #248

Early the next morning I got dressed in Sharkey's clothes, complete with a hat to obscure my face, and went out to the limousine and got in the back. Sharkey, humorously dressed as his own chauffeur, closed my door and then got in the driver's seat. He pulled down the long driveway and out onto the road.

I called out to Sharkey, "Hey, I could get used to this!"

"Dream on, Randolph," Sharkey called back.

Sharkey's men had gone on ahead to the cemetery to spread themselves out and hide in different vantage points.

I sincerely hoped this would work...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 247

Jake Randolph Origins #247

Sharkey said, "I mean, those people are dead anyway. We can use the San Carlos Cemetery. That's where my wife is buried."

I raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure, Sharkey?"

He nodded.

"Okay," I said, "here's how we'll play it. I'm quite sure that whoever is threatening you is monitoring all your movements. So, you'll leave out of here with just your driver and go out to the cemetery
Only it won't be you in the back. It'll be me."

"And I'll be the driver," Sharkey said in a tone that let me know there was no room for debate...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 246

Jake Randolph Origins #246

"I'll be fine, Sharkey. I got careless last time. I can assure you I won't make that mistake again."

Sharkey shook his head, "I still don't like it. How would you even pull it off?"

"Well," I said, "it's obvious that whoever is trying to kill you can't penetrate the security of your home. So if they're going to get you, they'll have to get you out in the open. The trouble is finding a public place that's secluded enough so we minimize the risk of innocent people getting hurt."

Sharkey smiled, "Well, how about the cemetery?"

I smiled back...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 245

Jake Randolph Origins #245

I presented my idea to Sharkey when I got back to his house in Monterey.

"Set me up as an easy target, huh? Damn, Jake. I hired you to keep me alive not to offer aid and assistance to my would-be assassin," he said with more than a little irritation.

"It's okay, Sharkey, because it won't be you. It'll be me."

"Huh?" he asked.

"I'll be posing as you to draw the killer out. Then your men can swoop in."

He shook his head, "It's too dangerous. I don't want you killed any more than I want me killed."

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 244

Jake Randolph Origins #244

On the flight back to Sharkey's house I was watching the blurry landscape moving below the helicopter. I was at a loss as to who it was that was threatening him. As Rebecca quite rightly pointed out, he should have no shortage of people wanting to rub him out. But how many of those would know to use Rivers' name?

I wondered how I was going to get this resolved by the time Sharkey's daughter's wedding came around. The only way to draw the killer out was to set Sharkey up as an easy target.

Maybe that was my answer...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 243

Jake Randolph Origins #243

I walked up the road and didn't look back, although a part of me wanted to stay and help him catch fish. He'd been brought down as far as a man could be. It was a damned shame.

I was lost in thought as I walked back down the road to the gas station. I needed to call a taxi and get back to the airport so Sharkey's pilot could fly me back to Monterey where I could give Sharkey the bad news that the only suspect we had turned out not to be the one we were looking for...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 242

Jake Randolph Origins #242

"The thing is," I said, "someone is using your name to do it."

Rivers looked puzzled, "Mine? Well, I swear, Jake, it's not me."

"Did you hire someone to kill Sharkey?"

He laughed. "Jake, I'm living on disability. I barely have enough money to survive. You think I've got money to hire a damned hit man?"

I put my hand on Rivers' shoulder. "I guess not. Do you need me to get you anything, Lieutenant?"

Rivers smiled. "No, Jake. It was good to see you again."

I nodded. "I wish you all the best, Frank."

I turned and walked away...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 241

Jake Randolph Origins #241

Rivers pulled the hook out of the fish's mouth and dropped it in the bucket.

"If I can catch a few more we can have them for dinner tonight," he said as if I were some old college buddy that dropped in for a visit.

I shook my head, "No, Lieutenant, I can't stay. I just came to see if you were the one that has been threatening Sharkey Russo's life. Clearly you're not."

"No, the only lives I threaten these days are in this pond, Jake. Someone's threatening Russo's life, huh? Well, good luck to whoever that may be."

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 240

Jake Randolph Origins #240

Rivers began reeling again and hooked a fish. I sat in silence while he was fighting for supremacy over the creature.

I felt bad for him. Despite how things wound up after the war, I owed a lot to that man. But it also got me wondering that if he wasn't the one threatening Sharkey who was using his name to do it?

Rivers managed to bring in the fish, a trout, I believe. He asked me to fill the bucket I was sitting on with water, so I flipped it over, bent down over the pier, and filled it...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 239

Jake Randolph Origins #239

He looked like he was being sincere, but this man had fooled me before. When he pulled the rod back and cast it out again I leaned forward and stuck the straightened out hook into the side of his leg. He never even flinched.

He noticed my movement and pulled the hook from his leg.

"Don't believe me, huh, Jake?" he asked as he thrust the hook into the top of his leg several times. I could see blood starting to seep through the fabric of his pants. I grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

"Okay, Lieutenant," I yelled, "enough!"

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 238

Jake Randolph Origins #238

He continued, "So, I lived with worry and with almost constant pain. I found out that my grandmother had left me this property when she died. No one had even told me. So I came here to fix the place up. Every movement was a painful one. I had to take pills to knock me out at night just so I could sleep. Then one morning I woke up and there was no pain. I couldn't believe it. I was happy until I tried to get out of bed. I couldn't move, Jake. The bullet had finally hit its mark."

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 237

Jake Randolph Origins #237

Rivers continued, "After I saw that I shot you I turned to go out the back door of that cantina. Your pal Sharkey shot me in the back. I got to a hospital and got patched up. When I got back to the States I went to see someone and they told me that the bullet was lodged near my spine and it would be too dangerous to try and remove it. But he said that one day it would probably work its way into my spinal column. That's a nice thing to have hanging over your head daily, huh?"

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 236

Jake Randolph Origins #236

Rivers yanked up on the fishing rod, like he'd gotten a nibble from a fish and was trying to set the hook. He must've missed it. He quickly reeled in the line and threw it back out again.

"Believe it or not, Jake, but I never intended to shoot you or kill you. I would've let you go after I got the money from your friend Sharkey. But you pushed him out of the way and took the bullet yourself. That wasn't my fault, nor was it my intention."

"That still doesn't explain how you ended up in a wheelchair."

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 235

Jake Randolph Origins #235

Rivers looked up solemnly, "It's not the latest model but it was all I could afford. At least it's a convertible."

There was an empty silver bucket on the pier, so I flipped it over and sat down on it beside Rivers' wheelchair.

"How did you wind up in this thing, Lieutenant?" I asked as I inconspicuously pulled a hook from Rivers' opened tackle box and began straightening out the end.

"You can thank your old pal Sharkey for that, Jake."

"How so?" I asked, continuing to unbend the fish hook out so it would come to a straight point...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 234

Jake Randolph Origins #234

"Hello, Lieutenant," I said as I approached him.

He pulled the fishing rod back and tossed the line out into the pond. The splashing of the lure created ripples that echoed across the surface of the water like so many years gone by.

I looked down at the wheelchair. I wondered if it was some sort of dodge to deflect away from him actually being the one that was threatening Sharkey. I needed to be sure.

"That's some nice wheels you've got there, Rivers," I said. If he was really confined to that thing that remark would sound very crass...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 233

Jake Randolph Origins #233

The person in the wheelchair sensed someone approaching and turned their head slightly, but didn't turn far enough for me to be able to see their face.

"I wondered how long it would be before you found me," the voice said. It was quiet and soft and the vocal cords had 17 more years on the clock than the last time I heard it, but it was Lieutenant Frank Rivers.

He turned his head to glance at me. He looked so old, about twenty years older than he should've looked. I wondered if I appeared the same way to him...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 232

Jake Randolph Origins #232

I stepped up to the cabin and looked inside to see if there was anyone in there. It was very rustic, not a lot of amenities. A bed was in the corner next to the fireplace. There was a rudimentary kitchen in the other corner. There was a table on the other end of the cabin, but oddly no chairs. And there were two doors on the back wall. One was probably to the bathroom and the other a back exit. Whoever occupied this dwelling definitely wasn't living the good life.

I cautiously started down the boardwalk toward the pier...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 231

Jake Randolph Origins #231

There was a wooden boardwalk that led from the door of the cabin and turned down to the pond, stopping right at the edge of the wooden pier that jutted out over the water.

There was someone in a wheelchair out on the pier with a fishing pole in their hand. They were wearing a big hat, so I couldn't make out any features. Surely Rivers' grandmother wasn't still alive after all these years. Could he have returned here to play caretaker to his elderly grandmother? That didn't seem like his style at all. But it had been 17 years...

Jake Randolph: Origins Pt. 230

Jake Randolph Origins #230

I got out, paying the driver. I told him not to bother hanging around. I didn't know how long I would be, but we passed a gas station a couple of miles back, so I knew I could walk there to use the phone and call another cab.

He took the money, turned the cab around, and sped back down the dusty road.

I turned to look at the scene. It was quite a spectacle; the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains looming large over the small cabin and pond. I could understand why Rivers had fond memories of this place...