AN - Hello! This idea had been stuck in my head for a week now, so I had to get it out and here it is. This is another short story, just a few (less than five) chapters. I'm still working on the next (maybe final or semifinal) chapter of 'Once in a Blue Moon' and 'Into the Dark' wont be long after that, I promise. Well, here's the first chapter, and I've already written the second chapter, but all in good time. Have fun. Enjoy. Leave a review. I love to read your comments. /K.
The Blue Zone
Chapter ONE) Thursday, 8.45 am, New York County Supreme Court
"How strong is your case, Erin? I mean, if he doesn't show, then what?" the burly DA investigator, Anthony Abetemarco, asked the tense woman before him. Erin with her attaché in one hand and a stack of files in the other shrugged and sighed.
"He's my star witness, Anthony," Erin Reagan-Boyle replied anxiously. "If he doesn't show, my whole case is resting on circumstantial evidence," she continued. "At best," she added, just to spell it out.
"Call him again, hell, call everybody. He's got fifteen minutes until the judge bangs that gavel and then we're rolling," Anthony replied and looked around in the court room.
"He should've been here forty-five minutes ago, so I could run him through the details one last time. It's not like him to be late. He knows how important his statement is for the case," Erin said as she juggled the files to her other hand and fished out her phone from the attaché. Anthony once again glanced around the room and seeing how quickly it was filling up, he knew this case would blow up big if the opportunity came.
"I'll go look out front, just in case," the investigator told her and she nodded with the phone to her ear. Erin started to make her way through the people as she listened to the familiar voicemail for the umpteenth time that morning. She pushed through the swing door and dumped all of her precious work on the table in front of her while she shrugged off her jacket, still with the phone pressed to her ear. Angrily, she disconnected the call and tossed the phone on the table and threw her coat on the back of the chair. She scanned the growing crowd behind her and her eyes came to rest on a familiar face in the middle. Once again, Erin pushed through the crowd and reached for the blonde, who was looking for an empty seat.
"Erin, hi, nice to see you," Eddie greeted, as she spun around to the taller woman.
"Do you know where Jamie is?" Erin asked, skipping the pleasantries. Eddie knitted her eyebrows together and a look of confusion changed her face.
"What do you mean? Isn't he here yet?" Eddie asked, suddenly affected by the worry in Erin's face as she shook her head no.
"I've been calling him for an hour and I can't get a hold of him," Erin explained and Eddie pulled out her phone. Maybe she had missed a call from her partner or a text, or something.
"That's weird, he's never late," Eddie replied.
"He, off all people, knows better, than to be late for court. He went to Harvard, for crying out loud," Erin said, doing a good job of containing her boiled up anger towards her youngest brother.
"What about your case? Don't you have evidence and proof to lock him up with?" Eddie asked and Erin shook her head again.
"I have it, but without Jamie statement, it's not concrete," the taller woman replied and pressed her fingers to her temples. "I'll call Danny, maybe he knows something," she continued and headed back to the table, with Eddie in tow.
"I'll go check out his place, maybe he just overslept," Eddie said, even though she knew her partner well enough to say that he would never do that.
"Thank you. Text me when you get there," Erin replied as she speed dialed her older brother. The blonde disappeared from view and Erin caught herself tapping her foot to the floor, impatiently and crossed her arms.
"Reagan," came the response after the second ring.
"Danny, have you heard from Jamie today?" Erin asked, jumping right at the question. Her brother hesitated, probably aware of the tinge in her voice.
"No, shouldn't he be in court, closing your case?" Danny asked, his voice just as serious as her own.
"He hasn't shown up. But his partner was here and now she's going to check out his apartment," Erin answered as the door in the room opened and a man in a prison jumpsuit was escorted in, leg restraints and handcuffs tied to the belt around his waist.
"I'll see what I can do. Have you tried dad?" Danny asked and tore her focus from the man in orange back to the phone call.
"No, he was my next call. Thanks, Danny," she said and ended the call.
Thursday, 6.30 am, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Midtown
"Male, thirties, strong vitals, unresponsive to pain, possible head-trauma," the seasoned medic announced, as they wheeled into the ER. His partner, the twenty-something younger kid, an overeager newbie, continued the update.
"Found in an alley, near a diner, hasn't been conscious. No wallet, phone or any kind of ID on him. Bruised lips, split eyebrow and defensive wounds on his knuckles. Blood is dry, though, could have been there most of the night," the younger man said to the people around the gurney. The crowd consisted of two doctors and three nurses.
"Let's get CT and X-ray of his head, just in case," the most senior doctor ordered and continued. "Get an IV going with saline… wait a minute…" he continued and paused for a moment when checking the pupils on his newest patient.
"Does anybody see any track marks?" he asked the people around the gurney and they all started looking for a pin pricks.
"He doesn't look like the typical junkie," one of the nurses mentioned as she took in the nicely cut hair and the almost freshly looking clothes.
"Got one," the older one of the medics interrupted and turned the patients head to the left, exposing the right side of the neck.
"Strange place to shoot up, if you were using," another nurse chimed in as they all roamed above the unconscious body.
"Let's run a blood test for the usual suspects, stat," the doctor ordered and they all started milling around, being useful.
More than two and a half hours later the night shift had been replaced by the day shift and new faces were buzzing around the emergency room when one of the younger doctors walked into the cubicle of curtains surrounding the John Doe. Most weeks, he would be one of the few to put in more than eighty hours at the hospital, but it didn't show on him, just yet. More staff had passed by, as to see if the unconscious man looked familiar to anyone, but no one had remembered the face. The police wanted to be updated, as soon as the man woke up, so they could ask him about the assault, but they hadn't actually sent someone down there to babysit him, spending men and time to wait for him to wake up, yet. Only glancing at the patients face, he grabbed the sheet at the end of the bed and looked through the reports. Any second now, the blood test would come back, the doctor thought, and ran through a routine check of the patient. When finished he took a step back and squinted his eyes. A darker bruise had formed on the top of the left cheekbone and the swollen lip had subsided a little bit. A few seconds into his squinting stare, realization dawned upon him and he spun around and rushed through the door.
"Matt, the John Doe… he's a cop, I'm sure of it," he called out to the man in charge of the ER, who was currently on the phone in the other end of the room.