AN: Thank you all for your reviews, they are so appreciated. If you have read my stories, you know I pick on JJ. I plan on updating this story pretty quickly and will try and get it established before I return to work. I also wanted to thank everyone for your support.
Matt Kindred stood outside the emergency room, sipping from his now stone cold cup of coffee. He had received a call from a patrol officer alerting him to a homicide. When Matt had asked where the body was, he was shocked to hear that the vic was at the hospital. Apparently, still alive. He had bristled a bit, hating the rookie for waking him in the middle of the night for a case that wasn't even his territory. He was a homicide detective not some lame ass general detective. But then the rookie had redeemed himself when he told Matt that the doctors didn't think she'd live and by her condition alone, it was easy to tell something had happened.
"Look detective, I aint no doctor, but from what I saw- that woman is your crime scene. She is in horrific shape." He paused. "We took some photos, we'll send 'em over."
Matt's interest had peaked. He hadn't had a good homicide in a few months and when the pictures arrived to his phone, his stomach dropped. The rookie was right. This wasn't a homicide case; but it would be in a matter of hours. He had called the rookie back and ordered him to stay with the victim, at least until he could get there.
Kissing his sleeping wife goodbye, he had dressed in jeans and sweater before calling his partner. That was half an hour ago, and now, Matt stood waiting for Clyde to arrive. They had been partners for a bit over two years now and it had not been sunshine and rainbows. There was something off about Clyde and as much as he tried, Matt could not put his finger on it. They had never been friends but didn't despise one another; they tolerated each other's company. What mattered was that they solved cases and they were damn good at that. That was what mattered. That was what counted.
"C'mon Clyde." Matt groaned as he looked at his watch. Clyde was running late. Again. Matt was growing tired of it and while he did not like to cause conflict, this was getting to the point that it was interfering with his work. "Damn." He shook his head and gave up on his partner before walking into the emergency room. His victim couldn't wait.
The ER was empty, something he rarely saw. "Excuse me," Matt walked up to the security desk. "Detective Kindred, I got a call about a hom… a victim."
"Say no more, detective." The elderly guard stood up and motioned for him to follow him. "She's in a bad way, doctors wont leave her side. Poor thing. Beautiful girl." He paused outside a trauma room door and held the door open. "Detective, she's only been here for a few hours and already has this hospital wrapped around her fingers. Get whoever did this…"
Matt nodded and walked into the room. "Doctor?" He asked, looking at the woman in front of him.
She looked up immediately at him and then saw his badge. "Detective, I didn't think they'd send someone over for a while…"
"This came in as a priority." He walked closer his eyes taking in what he was seeing. The pictures didn't do any justice. "Matt Kindred, im a homicide detective." He stuck out his hand for the doctor.
Calleigh took it, "Dr. Calleigh Lucas, I am one of the ER physicians." She paused and Matt looked down. "Homicide?"
Matt nodded. "Unless you think she may…"
"No. She won't. It'll take a miracle. What can I help you with?" Calleigh's voice dropped ever so slightly.
"Can you tell me what happened? How she got here? Her condition? Anything that can help me? Nothing is insignificant. " He spoke softly, kindly. He could tell this doctor was attached to this patient.
"I don't have much. One of our nurses found her outside near the dumpster; like someone had tried to throw her…." She paused and took a deep breath. "Like someone had tried to throw her away." As she finished her sentence, the room doors swung open and Ross walked in, carrying a plastic bag and two cups of what Matt assumed to be coffee. "This is my husband, his is one of the trauma surgeons here." Calleigh introduced the two men. "Ross, this is Detective Matt Kindred." The two men shook hands and Calleigh continued on as Ross went and checked on their patient.
"And nobody saw anything?" It didn't surprise him- people didn't come forward unless a reward was offered.
"Not that we have heard about. We think she was out there for at least an hour before she was found. She was severely hypothermic. She was found right behind the dumpster; the only reason she was found was because our nurse was cleaning out her car and needed the dumpster." Ross explained.
"Lucky for that." Matt replied, looking at his watch and wondering where the hell his partner was. "Do you mind if I take a look at her?" He asked looking straight at the doctors. "I won't hurt her. I want to see if we can figure out who she is."
Calleigh nodded and handed Matt a pair of plastic gloves. "Don't move her, if you need to see something, ask one of us." She directed, pushing the nurse call button. Her patient was so critically injured and ill, it would take a team to roll her if the detective needed.
Matt looked down at the woman. "Does she have any identifying information? Can you tell me her eye color? Hair color?"
"Blue eyes, blonde hair. When we brought her in, she weighed about 88 pounds; we don't think she is any taller then 5'5. We think she's in her thirties, no older then that." Ross explained, taking sip of his coffee.
The detective nodded again, racking his brain for any missing persons cases in the last month from the area. Nothing came to mind and he continued to look over the woman. She was covered in bruises, all in various stages of healing. "Can we get prints?"
Calleigh bit her lip, and reached down and gently turned over the woman's fingertips. Matt immediately looked away. "Son of a bitch…" He needed to find something, anything to figure out who this woman was. "Was a rape kit done?" He didn't need to know if she was raped, he needed to know who had done this. It was almost guaranteed that it had happened especially with the injuries she had.
"She isn't stable enough.."
"We need the evidence," Matt countered.
"I can guarantee you, whoever did this, left their DNA all over her. If you are asking me if she was sexually assaulted, I can tell you she was based on the injuries she had. She hasn't been bathed since she arrived, look under her fingernails, her hair, but we aren't doing a rape kit right now." Ross explained, protectively standing in front of the woman.
Matt nodded. "I need everything off of her you can give me. My partner should be here soon and we will photograph her injures and see if we can get a hit off of anything. Crime scene will come in and examine her for any trace evidence…" his voice fell away as he looked back down at the woman. "Did you notice if she had any tattoos?"
Calleigh shook her head, "I actually didn't pay attention to that; we can look." Together, and with the help of a few nurses, Calleigh and Ross slowly examined their patient for any tattoos, looking hard underneath all of the bruises.
"Wait. Stop." Matt called, leaning down as the nurses had rolled the woman onto her side. "There is something underneath the neck brace. Is there anyway we can look underneath it?"
"She has a spinal fracture, detective. We cannot risk it." Ross said softly, walking over to stand next to the detective. He bent down and gently moved the woman's hair away, without moving her neck. "Well look at that." Ross whispered, grabbing his pen light and shining it on the skin. "Anne, can you get me a warm cloth, please?" He requested of the nurse. "Thank you, lets see what this is." Ross said, gently rubbing the dirt away from the neck.
And there it was. There stood a bright red mark; a red circle with two letter carved in; the letters intertwining with one another. "Whatcha see, doc?" Matt asked, tilting his head to see the mark.
"Its not a tattoo, I can tell you that. It's a burn and pretty recent. Id say within the last two or three days." He paused again. "It's infected already…"
Matt closed his eyes and crossed his arms, thinking of what it could mean. "Its not a burn or a tattoo." He said softly. "It's a branding. Whoever did this, marked her as theirs." He looked down at his watch again, where the hell was his partner?
"Doctors, excuse me," he stepped out of the room and dialed his partner. The phone went straight to voicemail. "Damn it, Clyde. The shit is gonna hit the fan with this case. Get your ass over here now…" he was about to go on when he heard a voice behind him.
"Chill Kindred, I'm here." Clyde Spain waltzed over, his eyes bloodshot. Again.
"You're drunk." Matt breathed.
"No. I was drunk. Now, I am just hungover. Where's the body?" He yawned, not bothering to cover his mouth.
"In the trauma bay, she's still alive. Somehow."
Clyde's whispered. "Then why the hell are we here?" He threw his hands in the air. "I'm going back to bed."
"She wont survive, Clyde. It will be a homicide."
"Then call me when shes a goner." He stopped and stared at his partner. "Look- pass the case off to general if its just an assault. If not, and you are certain shes going to die, lets take it."
Matt bit the inside of his lip. "She wont survive, Clyde. "
Clyde took a deep breath and threw his hands in the air "Fine, lets go see."
Matt nodded and motioned for Clyde to follow and back through the trauma room doors.
"Doctors, this is my partner, Clyde Spain…" Matt said, introducing his partner to the doctor.
Clyde didn't say anything but walked over to the woman and bent down, his caressing her hair. "Well shit, what are we going to do with you?" He stood up and crossed his arms looking over her. After a moment, he asked the doctors to provide any DNA they had. "Look Matt, I'll run it to the lab. Give me a few hours, let me see if anything comes up."
Matt nodded. Clyde was an ass, there was no doubt about it. But he was a damn good detective and that was what this woman needed. With the help of the medical staff, Clyde collected what he needed and said his goodbye before leaving his card with Calleigh. "Call me when she dies."