Officer in Action - 23
A night-shift taxi driver took June Hartsfield to a quiet, empty hospital, her tacky dress and designer handbag giving away her lifestyle. Upon entering Good Samaritan, she found the lobby deserted, despite it only being nine in the morning. The deserted fourth floor was ominous, with silent, empty rooms and no night staff.
June's tense and alert, her husband Colm supposedly in room D. She finds the door ajar and sees Colm, but the other man is missing. She questions the Sister at the nurses' station, whose cold demeanor hints at a strict adherence to rules. After questioning, the Sister reveals that the other patient, Mr. Bishop, had passed away that afternoon, and the remaining patients had been moved to the lower floors due to a power outage caused by a suspected tremor.
June makes a hasty decision. She wraps Colm's face in bandages – a shoddy job – and changes his room's name from Bishop to Hartsfield. After smashing the lightbulb in the hallway and dumping the broken glass in a trashcan, she calls the police, warning of an impending attack on her and her husband.
Minutes later, an Oldsmobile pulls up, and June, heart pounding, draws a revolver as the silhouette of a hat-wearing figure peers at her from the car. Time seems to stand still as they both stare each other down, but the Oldsmobile drives off before June can fire. She abandons the gun in a flowerbed and stands outside smoking.
Soon, a police siren cuts through the night as officers swarm the hospital, looking for the suspected attacker. June, despite her ordeal, manages to keep her cool and tell the detectives her story. She doesn't name Branda, her accomplice, but promises to provide DNA evidence to put Elmer V. Jackson away for a long time if they keep her and Colm safe.
Detectives Lacey and Carruthers, realizing that Barclay, another suspect, is dead, agree to hold June in custody for her own safety. Lacey asks to be dropped off at Bronson Canyon before they head to the nearest lady jail. The enigma of Bronson Canyon is left hanging, adding an intriguing edge to the narrative.
- June's interest in movies and health-and-wellness, reflected in her choice of a tacky dress and designer handbag, contrasted sharply with the silent, empty rooms of Good Samaritan Hospital.
- The general news about the power outage caused by a suspected tremor, which resulted in the shifting of patients to lower floors, seemed inconsequential to June in her frantic quest for safety.
- In the realm of crime-and-justice, June made a bold move to protect her husband Colm, dressing him up to impersonate another patient and staging a false attack scenario, thereby involving the police in their circumstances.
- In the realms of mental-health and relationships, June's actions were questionable, even more so when she hid her accomplice Branda, raising concerns about her level of stress and decision-making abilities.
- The sports metaphor of the game of cat-and-mouse played between June and the hooded figure in the Oldsmobile, who seemed to disappear just as quickly as they appeared, added an element of suspense and tension to the narrative.
