Short Story Fiction, Inspector Pascal Mysteries 1000 # 12

Precisely 1000-word Fiction Mystery-Adventures of
Inspector Pascal and Sergeant Braque

INSPECTOR PASCAL MYSTERIES 1000
#12  Harmless by T.K. Naliaka ©2016-2023

Appalled, Inspector Durant turned to him. “Pascal!  He only had a flute!  Why did you shoot him?”

Lady Gayle screamed as she ran to Neophytos’s body.  As she cradled Neophytos’s head on her lap, with tear-filled eyes she accused Pascal, “Why?? He was harmless!! You’re a horrid, brutal monster!!”

Durant ordered his officers to pull her away from the body.  She pushed away from them and pointed at Pascal, “Murderer!  You just wanted him dead!  He was a genius!  When you couldn’t prove anything, you decided to kill him anyway!”

Sergeant Braque stepped forward and stretched his arm out to keep her away from Pascal.  “Madame…”

She angrily cried. “Why are you protecting him?  There was no reason to kill Neophytos!  He was unarmed!”

Durant spoke up. “Lady Gayle, this is not the place for this! There will be a police inquiry and review board.  I assure you that Inspector Pascal’s actions will be subjected to the highest scrutiny!”

She gestured with disgust. “Look at him!  He knows he was wrong!”

They all turned to Pascal, standing silently staring at Neophytos’s body, with his gun in his right hand lowered at his side and his left hand over his heart.  Durant gestured irritably. “Sergeant Braque, stand down!  Sergeant Sanders, relieve Inspector Pascal of his weapon!”

Sergeant Braque reluctantly stepped aside.  Sanders shouldered past him to Pascal, “Sir, your weapon, please.”  When Pascal didn’t comply, Sanders loosened the safety loop and cautiously rested his hand on his own holstered service pistol and repeated it more firmly, “Sir, your weapon!”

They stared at Pascal, puzzled, then with rising unease.  His head sank lower, his left hand slid down, then his pistol fell from his grip and thudded to the floor.  Braque lunged forward, shoving Sanders aside and caught Pascal as he collapsed.

“Sir!” Shocked, Braque laid Pascal on the floor.  Pascal was completely limp, his face was pale, his hazel eyes were half-lidded and unseeing.

Durant crouched next to him. “What’s going on?”

Braque was disbelieving. “He fainted!” As Braque tugged to loosen Pascal’s tie and unbutton his collar, his hand caught on something sticking out of Pascal’s shirt.

Durant frowned. “What’s that, a fishing fly?”

Braque frowned.  The little bundle of feathers was surrounded by a small blot of bright red, stark against the white of Pascal’s shirt.  He pulled it out and held it up. “It’s some kind of…”  Braque gasped, then he quickly tore open Pascal's shirt to expose the small, bleeding skin puncture.  Aghast, he looked back at Neophytos’s body, the long reed pipes… then down at Pascal’s greying face. “Dear God!  He was shot with a poisoned dart!”  He pressed his fingers against Pascal’s wrist, then to his neck.  Braque looked up at Durant. “His pulse is racing!”

Durant scrambled to his feet. “Sergeant Sanders, help Sergeant Braque!  Officer Kowalski, call the paramedics!  Get the medical kit from the vehicles!”

Durant pointed at Lady Gayle. “She’s dangerous! Handcuff her!  She’s under arrest!”

Two officers grabbed her arms before she could move.  She writhed as they snapped the cuffs on her wrists. “You have no right to do this!”

Durant held up the dart so they could all see it. “Search the body - search her!  Take extreme caution! They are poison-tipped!”

“Sir!”

Durant ran to the officer crouching beside the body.  He pointed to Neophytos’ closed fist, then with a gloved hand eased the fingers apart. They all saw the feathers.  The officer exclaimed. “He has a handful of them!”

“Sir!”

The arresting officers called Durant back. “She had this in her pocket!” They held up a small box and opened it for Durant.

His jaw clenched angrily as he looked at the darts, then at Lady Gayle.  “Harmless was he!”

“Inspector Durant!  Inspector Pascal stopped breathing!  Sgt. Braque has started artificial respiration!”

Durant turned to Lady Gayle and demanded. “What did Neophytos use?”

Contemptuously, she sneered at him, “Eye for an eye.”

Durant went back to Pascal.  As Braque blew air into him, Pascal’s chest would rise slightly, then fall.  Sanders looked up, “Sir! It’s so strange!  His heart is beating, but he can’t breathe or move!”

Durant frowned. “Might be curare… it paralyzes the muscles, but not the heart.  The hospital could confirm.”

Sergeant Braque glanced up. “We have to keep his respiration going! Will it wear off?”

Durant replied. “I think it does, but I don’t know how long it takes.”

Officer Kowalski was there a moment later with the medical kit.  Sanders quickly connected the tubing for the oxygen tank as Kowalski knelt at Pascal’s head, tipped it back and carefully inserted the airway tube.  A few seconds later Braque was easily pumping in pure oxygen; after several moments, Pascal's skin tone became more normal and less grey.

Seven minutes later two people ran in, a police officer followed by a woman in a blue surgical shirt and pants.  She knelt by Pascal and told Braque, “Antidote!”  Sanders quickly cut back Pascal’s sleeve and tightened the rubber tube around Pascal’s arm as the doctor lifted out the syringe from her kit.  A moment later, she injected it into Pascal’s vein, then loosened the rubber tube.

Braque glanced over, “How long?”

“A few minutes…”  She waved to the paramedics crowding in the door. “We need to attach the monitors!”

A half hour later, Sgt. Braque looked down.  Pascal’s nose and mouth were covered by the oxygen mask and his eyes were closed.  Pascal’s right hand was rising up, brushing against Braque’s arm. Braque quickly clasped it, “Sir? Can you hear me?”

After a long moment, Pascal slowly nodded.

Durant squeezed Pascal’s arm, “Inspector! You’re going to be all right!”

Pascal’s chest rose and fell with a deep sigh.  His eyes opened woozily. 

Durant leaned closer, “Pascal.”

Pascal’s head rolled towards him. He blinked wanly, trying to focus.

“I owe you an apology.” Durant shook his head bitterly. “He had enough darts in his hand to kill us all!”

Pascal closed his eyes and nodded.    T.K. Naliaka ©2016-2023 All rights reserved