At Last – Part 7
Last Time:
An hour later Nora is primping in front of the mirror fixing her hair and her makeup. She smiles in anticipation of meeting Bo. As she gets to the door, Sam comes up behind her and slams the door shut.
SAM: Just where do you think you’re going?
NORA: I was just going out for a walk. I’m too wired to sleep and I thought a walk would relax me.
SAM: At midnight? Come on Nora. You were going to meet Bo.
NORA: Sam….
SAM: What about Matthew? Doesn’t he deserve parents that love him? Don’t you think we need to make a life together for his sake?
Bo is pacing around the park entrance waiting for Nora when his phone rings.
BO: Buchanan.
NORA: Bo…it’s me. I can’t make it tonight.
BO (sad): Mind if I ask why?
NORA (tears forming in her eyes): My family needs me. I have to think about what is best for Matthew. Goodnight Bo.
BO: Goodnight Red.
******************************
A couple of days Bo stops by Nora’s house to drop off some of the clothes she left at his garret. Nora leads Bo to the couch in the living room.
BO: How are you?
NORA: I’m okay.
BO: No more weird calls or letters.
NORA: Nope nothing suspicious.
BO: You will tell me if something like that happens won’t you?
NORA: I promise…I won’t keep it a secret.
BO: Thank you. Where’s Matt?
NORA: He and Sam are spending a couple of days together.
BO: Good. They need to do that.
NORA: Have you found out any more info on my case?
BO: Not yet. We just keep running into one brick wall after another. (pausing as he looks at her) Are you hungry?
NORA (surprised): Hungry?
BO (smiling): Yea...as in, want to go to lunch with me?
NORA (smiling): Chili dogs?
BO: I can do chili dogs.
NORA (getting up off the couch and hugging him quickly): I’m glad you’re still my friend.
BO: I will always be your friend. Whether you want me to be or not.
As Nora opens the front door shots ring out. Bo pushes her onto the floor and covers her with his body. They hear the squeal of tires as the car speeds away. Bo pulls Nora into his arms and rocks her back and forth as she sits and cries.
BO: Are you okay?
NORA: I think so. Are you okay?
BO: Yea…I’m fine. Let me call Antonio and get him over here.
Bo pulls out his cell phone as Nora wraps her arms around Bo and he holds her tight. He tells Antonio to get to Nora’s ASAP. Bo slowly helps Nora stand up and leads her to the couch. She collapses on the couch and he pulls her close again. He kisses her gently on the forehead.
NORA (crying): I’m okay. I’m okay.
BO: Shhhh I’m here. Nobody’s going to hurt you.
Antonio and Tim arrive a few minutes later.
ANTONIO: What happened Commissioner?
BO: Somebody took some shots at Nora. I want the neighborhood scoured. Get the slugs pulled out of the wall out there and get them to the lab. We have to find this guy NOW.
ANTONIO: We’re on it Bo.
Pretty soon almost the whole police force is at Nora’s house or in her neighborhood. Unfortunately they can’t find much. Bo tells them to call it a night and they’ll start fresh in the morning.
BO (to Nora): Why don’t you go upstairs and go to bed? You’re exhausted.
NORA: I’ll never be able to sleep.
BO: Sure you will. I’ll be right down here sleeping on your couch. Nobody is going to get to you. I’ll make sure of that.
NORA: You don’t have to do that Bo. I’ll be fine alone.
BO: But if you’re alone you’ll just sit here and not sleep. You need some rest. Now go upstairs and get into bed. I’ll lock up and make sure everything is secure.
Nora pulls Bo into a tight hug.
NORA (crying): Thank you so much for being here tonight. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here.
The next morning Bo is awake before Nora so he fixes breakfast. Nora slowly wakes up when she smells the coffee brewing. She smiles at the thought of Bo making her breakfast. She throws on her robe and heads down to the kitchen. Bo is sitting at the table reading the paper. He smiles when he sees her. ‘Man…is she gorgeous in the morning.’
BO: Hey Red….how’d you sleep?
NORA: Not great but at least I slept a little bit. Thanks again for staying.
BO: Any time. You want some breakfast? I’ll cook.
NORA: Bacon and eggs?
BO (smiling): Anything you want.
Bo starts to make breakfast as Nora picks up the paper and scans the headlines.
NORA: I see I’ve made the front page. Do you have any real information?
BO: Not yet. I just called Antonio but they don’t have any real information on the slugs yet. I should know more later today. What do you have on your agenda today?
NORA: Kay and I are going over to the office. The construction crew finished up a couple of days ago and we want to get settled. It’s been awful working out of that rented space.
BO: Good. Maybe I’ll tag along.
NORA (smiling): Bo…you don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine.
BO: Maybe but it will give me a chance to talk to Kay again to see if she has any kind of clue as to what’s going on.
After breakfast Bo follows Nora to her office. Everything is freshly painted and you would never be able to tell that there had been a fire there six weeks ago. Kay was already hard at work (isn’t she the BEST) unloading files.
BO: Kay, do you remember those threatening letters that Nora got?
KAY: Barely. Nora wouldn’t let me spend too much time worrying about them.
NORA: That was a huge mistake in retrospect.
BO: Hey…what’s done is done. Do you remember anything about them?
KAY: I remember that there were three of them. They were all the same handwriting. I remember one of them talking about that Nora was supposed to take the fall for him. That he had gone to all this trouble to set her up.
NORA: I remember that too. I couldn’t figure out who it could be. I still don’t.
BO: What else?
KAY: I remember one of the letters talking about a blue car and trucks and a bridge. It was so incoherent and it didn’t make any sense.
BO: Oh god. I know who it is!
NORA: Who??
BO: Think Nora….someone in your past who set you up when you were driving a blue car over a bridge and he was driving a truck.
NORA: Oh no….Jack Tucker.
BO: The one and only.
Bo grabs his cell phone and confirms with Antonio that Tucker had been released from prison three months ago. He had not reported into his parole officer and had gone MIA soon after being released. Bo ordered an APB put out on Tucker.
BO: I need to get into the office to see if I can find Tucker. I want you two to lock this door behind me when I leave. No one comes in here unless you know them.
NORA: No one should be coming by except maybe a delivery person or two. I haven’t told any of my clients that we’re open for business yet.
BO: Good. I will be back here as soon as I can.
Bo leaves and heads to the office where he meets with Antonio and Tim. Nora and Kay continue to unpack….grateful for the distraction of work to keep their minds off of Jack Tucker. About an hour later Bo is in his car driving back to Nora’s office when he hears a call on the police radio that Tucker has been spotted walking about 2 blocks away from Nora’s office. Bo tells his officers to apprehend him but as soon as they approach him, Tucker takes off and the cops lose him. Bo puts the pedal to the metal and gets to Nora’s office building just as Tucker is about to walk into the building. A couple of officers arrive a few seconds later.
BO (pulling his gun): Jack…just put your hands in the air and turn around.
Jack turns around and has a gun in his hand.
TUCKER: She has to pay Buchanan. It was all her fault. She should have been the one in prison the past eight years.
BO: Jack, you were the one that forced Sarah and I off that bridge. Nora was no where near the accident.
JACK: But I worked so hard setting her up. At just the right time I remembered the blue car with the license plate that started with MA. You two were so easy. But then she had to go and figure it out. She made all those calls about my drinking. I’ve been plotting this revenge for a long time and no one is going to stop me.
Bo points his gun at Tucker.
BO: Jack…don’t make me do this. Just put the gun down and put your hands on your head.
TUCKER: Or else what? You’ll shoot me? Fine…shoot me. There is no way that I’ll go back to that prison.
Tucker aims his gun at Bo and fires at the same time as Bo and the police officers. Both Jack and Bo fall to the ground at the same time.
To be continued…….
|
|
|
|