Note: The characters do not belong to me. The plot is situated in the first season, shortly after the introduction of Jack.
Tru was in the office on a Saturday night and getting
ready to go home as Jack wheeled another body into the exam room. When
she saw the body being wheeled in, she sat down her jacket and went into
the exam room.
--- "I got this one," said Jack, dressed in his usual
white lab coat. "You can go home, Tru." Tru started for the office to get
her things but something held her back. "You need to stay," said Jack.
"I understand the feeling." Then he unzipped the body bag. "Amanda Cartwright.
17 years old. Found dead in an alley behind University Hospital. She has
marks around her neck. It appears as if she's been strangled. The police
looked for blood on her fingernails and teeth or foreign hairevidence
of a strugglebut she'd been cleaned."
--- "Looks like a clean girl," said Tru. "Who'd wanna
kill her? A jealous ex-boyfriend."
--- "I don't know," said Jack. Tru started double-checking
for evidence. "Tru, go home."
--- Tru went over to the sink to wash her hands and
then opened the office door when she heard a female voice, "Tru, help me."
The next thing Tru knew, she was waking up on her couch. Her TV was
on. There was only snow on the screen. She went to reach for the remote
and felt a pain in her back. "Ow," she grumbled. I have got to get into
bed before I go to sleep, she thought to herself. Then she turned off the
TV. The next thing she did was pick up her cell phone and dial. "Hi, Davis."
There was a pause. "Today's one of those days. I need you to find everything
you can on an Amanda Cartwright." There was another pause. "I'll see you
in an hour. Bye." Then she hung up.
--- An hour later, Tru arrived at the morgue. Davis
had been waiting for her. "Hi Tru. All I could find was her address. Here
it is." He handed her a sheet of paper.
--- "Thanks, Davis. I'll head right over there." Tru
picked up her phone and dialed Harrison. As she opened the door, she heard
a familiar ring tone. As she looked up, she saw him in front of her. Harrison
looked down at his phone. "It's me."
--- "Tru," said Harrison. "I need to borrow $100. I'll
have it back this afternoon with 100 interest. This horse race is a sure
thing."
--- "Harry," said Tru. "I need to borrow your car
and
the answer's no because that horse race is not a sure thing. It never is.
And don't borrow money from a loan shark. I do not enjoy getting phone
calls just when I get to work saying I need to pick you up because your
leg has been dislocated."
--- Harrison handed his keys to Tru. "Oh," he replied.
"A do-over day."
--- "Yes," said Tru. "See ya." Then she went to Amanda's
address. It turned out to be a residential home. Just after Tru parked,
Amanda and a woman came out of the house. They appeared to be in a slight
hurry. They got in the car. The woman got into the driver's side Amanda
got into the passenger's side. Then the car pulled away. Tru followed them.
They ended up parking at University Hospital. Tru parked a few cars behind.
Amanda and the woman went in. Tru followed a distance behind. They went
to the third floor and walked up to the receptionist's desk.
--- "Hi," said the woman. "My daughter has an-
appointment. Amanda Cartwright.
--- "Yes," he said. "Here it is. Please take a seat
and a nurse will be out shortly."
--- Upon hearing that, Tru went into the locker room
and borrowed a nurse's uniform. She went to the desk and grabbed Amanda's
paperwork. She walked out by the receptionist's desk and called, "Amanda
Cartwright." Amanda walked towards Tru, followed by her mother. "Are you
Amanda's mother?" said Tru.
--- "Yes," said the woman.
--- "I have some paperwork for you to fill out. Please
take a seat and fill it out," said Tru, handing her some papers. She went
back to where she had been sitting to fill them out. "Follow me," she said
to Amanda. When Tru got to the exam room, she closed the door. "It says
here that your mom made this appointment because she suspects you have
an eating disorder. It says she's hardly seen you eat anything in the past
two weeks. Do you have an eating disorder."
--- "No," said Amanda. "You see, my mom is a vegetarian.
She raised me as a vegetarian but I'm no longer one. I can't stand the
stuff she expects me to eat so I just don't eat at home anymore. I'd tell
her this but, in her mind, people who eat meat are the lowest scum on earth."
--- Tru recorded this all on the nurse paperwork. "Now
I gotta weigh you."
--- "Okay," said Amanda. While lifting up her pant legs,
saying, "Look, no ankle weights or anything." Then she stood on the balance.
Tru finally balanced it at 60 kg. "I wish it were more. Look at me! I don't
look healthy. I look emaciated."
--- "Well, you certainly don't seem to have an eating
disorder to me. The doctor will be in shortly." While Amanda was waiting
for the doctor, her mother entered the room. The exchange with the doctor
went much the same as the one with Tru.
--- Of course, Amanda's mother did learn that she was
eating meat and she was not the least bit pleased. In fact, she scolded
her daughter as if the act of eating meat was a hate crime against animals.
"How can you do such a heinous thing," she cried, "harming your fellow
citizens of the world ?"
--- "Mom, come on!" replied Amanda. "Most people eat
animals and even animals eat other animals. We're all part of the food
chain." Amanda's mother was speechless. She was just so angry at her daughter,
wondering how she could turn to such "medieval", such "hillbilly" behavior
after such a good upbringing. After the elevator door closed, she went
to hit the button for ground floor. But something made her hit the button
for the basement instead. She knew just what she'd do, something she should've
done 17½ years ago. During her pregnancy, she had bad feelings about
this kid. But her boyfriend's mother convinced her to keep the baby. Now,
she said under her breath, I'm going to perform the abortion I should've
had performed 17½ years ago. When the elevator doors opened, they
both stepped out. Once the doors closed, Amanda's mother put her hand around
her daughter's neck, squeezing tightly.
--- "Let her go," said a voice. It was a security guard,
accompanied by Tru. Reluctantly, Amanda's mother let go because she was
out numbered. The security guard handcuffed Amanda's mother and took her
away to the security office, to call the police.
--- "Thank you," said Amanda. "You saved my life. But
how'd you know?"
--- "Well," said Tru. "There are just some people who
like to think that they're more civilized and more open-minded than everyone
else but in reality they're some of the most close-minded and dogmatic
people in the world." Then the police arrived.
--- After it was all over, Tru went back to the morgue
to tell Davis all about what had happened.
