"I'll go bring the bastard in." (Logan)
Chapter 3
Alex sat at Bobby's side, waiting for him to come around. The waiting was starting to get to her. She felt like she might crawl out of her skin. She took a deep breath and sighed. At least she was with him now. Waiting for him to come out of surgery had been much worse.
Bobby's head moved slightly, so slightly that she thought she imagined it. "Bobby?" Alex asked. She was rewarded when his facial expression changed.
"Bobby, it's all right. You're in the hospital. You're going to be just fine."
He seemed relaxed for a moment, but then started to struggle with something in his mind. Alex thought she knew what was troubling him. "We found his skin in your nails. Logan is picking up Kitchum right now. You did good, Bobby. We got him."
Finally, Bobby managed to open his eyes, though he had trouble focusing. He slowly lifted his left hand, with 2 fingers out.
"There were two of them? Kitchum wasn't alone," she said. Bobby's eyes focused on hers for a moment. "I'll call Logan." She stepped away and dialed her cell phone. "Mike, Bobby woke up. Kitchum had an accomplice. Yeah, I'll tell him." Closing her phone, she returned to Bobby's side. He had drifted back into sleep. She sat down and squeezed his hand. "You're gonna be all right, Bobby."
"Right now, you're about the most hated guy in the city of New York. Stabbing a cop and leaving him for dead. You're lucky you got into this room in one piece." Logan's voice was level and almost sinister.
"That some kind of threat?" Kitchum asked, raising an eyebrow to the detective.
Logan grinned, "Just the truth, plain and simple. And here's another one: You'll be lucky to get back to your cell in one piece, too."
"I ain't sayin' shit without my lawyer."
Logan tucked his thumbs into his pockets. "Fine, that's fine. We've got solid evidence to put you away, anyhow." He walked over, patted the sore spot on Kitchum's neck a little harder than necessary. "This musta hurt, huh?"
Kitchum jumped back. "Ah! Don't touch me, you son of a bitch!"
Logan grinned. "Sorry."
He stepped back toward the door, leaned against it with his arms folded across his chest. "Now, I understand you had an accomplice."
Kitchum's gaze jumped up momentarily.
"Now, maybe, you help me find this guy, recover Detective Goren's weapon, maybe the DA will make some kind of deal with you… otherwise, it's all coming down hard on you. You tried to kill a cop. Every cop, every lawyer, every judge, every prison guard you come across is going to be thinking in the back of their minds how you could have just as easily tried to kill them. They're going to think of friends lost in the line of duty. And they're gonna be looking right at you." Mike straightened up and moved to the door. "You can talk things over with your lawyer."
With that, he walked out of the interrogation room.
"Bobby, you're looking better all the time," Alex smiled at him. They'd finally removed the ventilator, but he was still as pale as a ghost. An oxygen tube stretched under his nose. He was conscious, but just couldn't find the strength to keep his eyes open. He winced and a voiceless gasp escaped his lips.
"You're in pain?" She asked.
He clenched his jaw and waited it out.
"I'll call the nurse," she said, and pushed the button. "He's in pain," she explained as the nurse came in the door.
"Mr. Goren?" the nurse inquired, "Did you want something for the pain?"
Still with his eyes shut, Bobby mouthed a 'yes.' The nurse pushed the button that dispensed morphine into his IV. Almost immediately, the tension in his face lessened.
Deakins was in the doorway. He moved aside to let the nurse leave the room and motioned for Eames. Seeing that Bobby was comfortable again, she walked out into the hall.
"You should get some rest," the Captain said.
"I'm not leaving," she said firmly.
"Okay, okay. There's a room down the hall the nurses said you could use. I can stay with Goren a while… I'll come get you if he asks for you."
Alex looked back at Bobby and frowned. She knew the Captain was right, and even if she stayed in Bobby's room to sleep, she wouldn't sleep well in that vinyl chair with her feet tucked under her.
"He's gonna need a lot of rest the next couple of days. He'll need you more when he's awake, and starting to get around."
She looked back at her friend one more time and then nodded. Deakins watched as the nurse he'd spoken with pointed her toward the empty room down the hall. Then he went in to sit vigil with Bobby.
Alex slid out of her shoes and climbed into the bed. Her mind was racing, reliving the last 24 hours, wondering if she really should leave him to get sleep, wondering if she should tell his mother… she decided to wait and ask Bobby about that. Strangely, she did feel herself drifting off. She remembered telling Bobby about Kitchum's DNA… she was proud of him. Not many people would be able to keep their head after being stabbed like that. He really was extraordinary.
Deakins looked up with concern. Bobby was saying something over and over, but he couldn't quite make out what it was. "Goren, you all right?" he asked tentatively.
Bobby struggled to open his eyes and then tried to tell Deakins again.
Frustrated, Deakins still couldn't get it. He found a notepad on the side table and pulled a pen out of his pocket. He held it for Goren, who wrote without really seeing what he was writing. His handwriting was usually somewhat sloppy, but words written with his eyes half shut at this bizarre angle from a hospital bed… It took Deakins a minute to decipher the handwriting. "Iridescent lavender?" he asked. Bobby scribbled on the paper again. "Buttons." Something clicked. "I'll call Logan," he said.
