PART 4
'O'Malley's face fell and he winced, quietly he said '****! ****! ****!' Then louder he said 'Cool it, you guys, no time for celebrating, cool it, we have a visitor.' The cops around the room saw the haggard looking woman in the rumpled red skirt suit and immediately found something really important to do, preferably in another part of the station. Captain Mowbray said 'I'd better get my guys and head back to Baltimore, I'll call you to get a report on how the case is going.' O'Malley walked him to the stairs and as he came up to the woman Mowbray said 'I'm sorry for what happened to your daughter, Ma'm, I'm just glad we were able to catch 'em.' Helen acknowledged him with a tight nod before turning to O'Malley. 'Chip' she said.
'Helen' he answered. 'Look Helen, I'm sorry we were celebrating just then but in this game a win is a win and we take the breaks when they come. We meant no disrespect to you or your daughter, you know that, right?'
Helen sighed. 'Yes Chip, I know... it's just...' She stopped for a moment. 'You got them, you're sure it's them?' Chip nodded then he said 'We were lucky the camera was rolling when they went off on each other, with all these witnesses it counts as a confession and no one can say we forced them to say anything.'
'I saw what you did... at least the Mother saw what you did and thanks you, the Officer of the Court saw nothing. Can we talk, maybe somewhere... less public? Bring Mr. Thompson, I'd like to thank him.' O'Malley waved Kevin over and led them toward the lounge. Kevin noticed Helen's other daughter, Quinn, had been standing a few steps down the stairs listening, but she came on up and followed her Mom.
Kevin asked 'How is she? How's Daria?'
'Still in surgery, they'll page me if there's any news. Chip... I overheard one of your people at the hospital on the radio talking about how they had made an arrest and were bringing the suspects here. I had to come, it was better than wearing a hole in the carpet in the hospital waiting room...
I also had to take away a certain someone who was making a disgrace of herself' she added, with a hard look at Quinn who folded her arms tightly around herself and turned her back.
'Wow, that's a long time to be in surgery.'
'Yes Chip, I know, apparently that... he cut through her intestine and into her spleen, her abdomen was just a bag of blood when they brought her to the ER.'
'Damn' Chip said softly, then 'What can I do for you here?'
'I need to see them, I need to see their faces.'
'No way Helen, you know there's no way I'm gonna let you in a room with them, besides it's against protocol and could compromise the case, you KNOW that.'
'I don't need to be in the room with them I just NEED to see their faces. Please Chip, for old time's sake if nothing else, don't make me start waking people up and calling in favors.'
O'Malley sighed and after a few moments said 'I'll put them in separate interrogation rooms. You can look at them through the one-way glass, you're not getting in the room with them and a female officer's gonna have to frisk you beforehand, will you agree to that?'
'Yes Chip, and thank you.'
'Sure. How's your husband taking it? I suppose he's keeping vigil at the hospital?'
Helen's lips trembled as she answered 'He... they let us see her for a moment when they brought her up from the ER to the operating theater... her face... Jake collapsed... Doctor Philips said it was a mild heart attack... he had one before but I think it... just broke his heart to see his little girl...' Tears were streaming down Helen's face now as she fought to maintain her iron facade and she was shaking. O'Malley took pity on her and started out of the lounge.
'Gimme ten minutes, I'll come back to you, stay here, please?' She nodded assent.
'Gawd, Mom, why'd you drag me here? I should be at the hospital...'
In a very low voice Helen answered 'You know why, you made me ashamed of you the way you went off at poor Jane like that, she didn't deserve to have you yelling at her in the state she was in. Trent looked like he was about to thump you and I wouldn't have blamed him.'
Kevin stayed back and kept quiet. He saw how Mrs. Morgendorffer's face was chalky white with two ugly red blotches on her cheekbones, she looked at least ten years older than when he'd last seen her and she looked frighteningly angry and only barely in control. Quinn continued to whine.
'But it was her fault! If she hadn't been such a ho and gone off with some guy and left Daria walking home on her own...'
Suddenly Helen had her face an inch away from Quinn's. Through clenched teeth she said 'Listen to me, you little twit. Jane just did what you've done a hundred times, I was the one who had to go and fetch that weeping willow Stacy when you dumped her at the Feldmans and her Mom was out of town, YOU were supposed to bring her home. Did you forget that? Now IF Daria survives she's going to need Jane more than ever.'
'What do you mean? Of course she's going to be all right... isn't she... Mom? Daria can't die...'
'Doctor Philips told me they lost her twice, once in the ambulance and once in the ER. The second time they only barely got her heart going again. Of course she can die. Weren't you listening in the hospital? She only has a thirty percent chance of surviving the surgery. Then there's a very high risk of infection, both from the stab wound and from the...' she swallowed a couple of times before she could say the word 'rape.'
'Then if she survives all that she lost so much blood that there's a high risk of organ damage, particularly to the heart... and her brain.' She stopped again and suppressed a sob. After a full minute she continued in an even more deadly voice 'So IF she lives, and that's a very big IF, she will need her friend. She will need her friend more than she needs me, her Mother, God help me, and certainly more than she needs her 'cousin', do you understand me, Quinn?'
Quinn nodded, her hands clamped to her mouth. Helen went on 'Did you think I didn't know? Did you think I was deaf when your snotty little friends were bad-mouthing her in her own home? Do you doubt that I know where that attitude started? You've been denying she was your sister since you were ten! Well let me tell you what you're going to do, no matter what happens you are going to find Jane and you are going to get on your pretty little knees and beg her to forgive you and swear to her that you will do your utmost to make it up to your sister and believe me Missy, you had better pray that all those times you wished you were an only child don't come true because God might forgive you but I WON'T.' Helen stalked out of the room. Quinn stood for a moment in shocked silence then, like a puppet who's strings had been cut she collapsed to the floor and started to weep like a lost soul.
Kevin realized he was breathing heavily and shivering after this exchange between mother and daughter. Once again he had no idea what to do. He cast about him looking for inspiration and then spotted a woolen blanket folded up on the back of the couch. He fetched it and wrapped Quinn in it, picking up her slight form easily and carrying her to the couch where he laid her down gently.
He was standing there scratching his head when a voice behind him said 'Kevin!'
He jumped with fright at this voice, trembling he turned and said 'Ms. Li?'
The Principal was well turned out in her usual gray business suit but looked as if she hadn't slept. Kevin knew that feeling, this night seemed to have gone on forever and he wanted his bed.
'Kevin I was listening in on my police scanner and heard most of what happened tonight, Detective Sergeant O'Malley and I have known each other for a long time but he only gave me some bare facts, and it's one of my students!' She added indignantly. 'He did tell me that you're quite the hero and saved Ms. Morgendorffer's life! Tell me all! I must know!'
'Ehh, Ms. Li... maybe we shouldn't...' Kevin indicated the sobbing red haired girl on the couch.
Much quieter Ms. Li asked 'Is that Quinn, the poor thing, she must be very upset. Have you heard how Daria is?' As best he could Kevin recounted what Mrs. Morgendorffer had said. Ms. Li listened attentively, asking for clarification occasionally, Kevin did his best to answer but he hadn't understood everything he'd heard. He noticed Ms. Li was close to tears when he mentioned the possibility of brain damage. 'Is it true you fought those men off?'
'Oh no Ms. Li, I woulda fought but cops came along Dega Street and they thought I called them coz I said I did and they ran off.'
'You were going to fight them on your own? That's wonderful Kevin, you bring honor to the school on the field and off it! We must have a special assembly... maybe an award is in order...'
'Ms. LI!' Kevin interrupted her babbling. 'You can't celebrate after what happened to Daria!'
Li looked at him as if she'd been struck. 'Oh my God, Kevin. What was I thinking? Of course you're right. I just feel so useless, I HAVE to do something... I mean she's my best student and she's such an independent thinker... such a great mind... what if we lose her, Kevin? I've never lost a student... not in nine years as principal... well except through illness and one car accident but not in the school. I have the best safety record of any public school in the State... in the Country almost... I try and I try to keep them all safe and they fight me at every turn and I just don't want to lose anyone...'
She was openly weeping now. Kevin was stupefied, he would not have believed it could happen, everyone thought Ms. Li was like a Terminator... or... or... Hitler or somebody... but here she was as human as anyone... and he STILL didn't know what to do. He tore some paper towels from a dispenser by the sink and offered them to her, she accepted gratefully and dabbed at her eyes then blew her nose with a noise like a fart. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling.
From outside the door he heard Helen and O'Malley talking as they came back.
'...still taking a hell of a risk, Chip, why take a chance like that?'
'I'll be honest with you Helen, we have Mulligan for the rape charge three ways from Sunday, between DNA and Kevin's testimony we're gonna send him away til he's old enough for a pension if we get the right judge. The problem is Penrose. We know he was the one who stabbed your daughter but we don't have the knife, it's in a ditch or something along the road from here to the Susquehanna River. His clothes are clean according to the arrest report and where your daughter kicked him she didn't break skin so we can't even pull his DNA off of her boots.
You've met Kevin, he's a good kid but put him on the witness stand and any half-assed trial lawyer's gonna talk rings around him and make him look like a retard, maybe even have him declared incompetent.' Kevin flushed red at this comment and hung his head in shame, Ms. Li took his hand in both of hers and squeezed it reassuringly. O'Malley was still talking 'With what we had Penrose walks, the most we could have done is hand him over to NYPD for their murder charge and even that's a crapshoot, he could walk there too. These guys are shrimp but they have connections, if our case isn't bulletproof they'll throw a heavy hitter in to defend them and then you're gonna have them calling your daughter a hooker who was into rough sex... Now at least they'll write them off and we can get a conviction in Maryland and AFTER that term we release Penrose to New York. I think it was worth the risk in those circumstances, don't you?'
'When you put it like that I have to say you did the right thing... though if Daria doesn't make it they're not walking anywhere those pieces of bastarding ****!'
'Now Helen, don't go talking like that, especially in here.'
'Don't try and tell a Mother what she can or cannot do if someone hurts her child!' She answered fiercely.
'As a Father I hear you... I don't approve but I understand... as an Officer of the Law I heard nothing.'
'Thanks Chip, for everything... I...' She was interrupted by a beep, beep, beep. 'That's my pager... it's the hospital... damn Eric I have a mobile phone but I can only use it to phone work...'
'Use my phone... and Helen... they're paging you, not me, that's good, right?'
Ms. Li opened the door of the lounge but didn't go out, instead she stood inside the doorway as she watched Helen go to Chip's desk and pick up the phone. Kevin stood behind her where he could see and was surprised when Ms. Li took a packet of cigarettes out of her bag and lit one. He moved back a pace to avoid the smoke, waving it away from his face. She whispered 'Sorry Kevin, but I need to steady my nerves, this could be good news... or very bad.'
The entire room was silent as Helen made her call, she identified herself, waited while she was put through to the right person and then said 'Hello Doctor Philips, what can you tell me?'
For a few minutes she just listened, making occasional hmn hmn noises to show she was listening, then she seemed to slump down in her seat and very quietly said 'Thank you Doctor' and hung up.
She turned to the room, realizing everyone was waiting for her to speak so she raised her voice and said 'She's alive... she's out of surgery and resting, she's still at high risk but out of immediate danger... she'll be in the Intensive Care Unit for... actually I don't know for how long but they wheeled her next to her Father and she was able to squeeze his hand... so there's hope... Thank you all... for your concern and your hard work... thank you.' The people in the room, being human and not knowing what else to do, gave her a polite round of applause. Kevin realized he'd been holding his breath while she spoke and let it out in a rush. He became aware that Quinn had roused herself and was standing at his shoulder, still sniffling but looking a lot happier. He was surprised at how many freckles she had, she musta kept them covered up with make-up, he thought they were kinda cute but it did make her look much younger, almost like a little kid. Helen came toward them.
'Angela! What are you doing here?'
'Helen... I had to come... I didn't want to bother you at the hospital... I thought Detective Sergeant O'Malley could tell me what happened, I didn't know you'd be here too. At least the news is good... I'm so glad Helen... I mean, of course I'm not glad she was attacked...'
'It's ok Angela, I know what you meant, I appreciate your concern... ehhm.. could I have one of those?'
'Of course, I didn't know you smoked.'
'I don't. I quit eighteen years ago when I decided to try and get pregnant... Quinn! What...?'
'I don't smoke either Mom.' Quinn answered as she took a cigarette and expertly lit it and blew out a cloud of smoke, clasping her elbow with her free hand.
Helen ignored this, for the moment, and said to Li 'You didn't have to go to so much trouble Angela, I mean, for a student...'
'No Helen, you're wrong. I DID have to come and it was no trouble... you see I don't have any children and, at the same time, I have thousands of them...'
'Mister Chips?' Helen asked, with a wan smile.
'My favorite book, one of the reasons I became a teacher... like him I love them all.'
A book? Kevin knew they weren't discussing a brand of potato chips but why would someone name a book after a snack? He was glad he was not a brain. That reminded him though. 'Eh... excuse me Ms. Li?'
'Yes Kevin.'
'The detective... Mr. O'Malley? He was talking to me earlier and he said he thought maybe I have the disslec... disslex...?'
'Dyslexia? I'm sure you have been tested for that, Kevin.'
Kevin was shaking his head 'No Ma'am, I never did a reading test like he said and he said his daughter has it but she can read good now.'
'Manson! Dammit! Kevin, you make sure to come to my office first thing Monday morning and we'll do the assessment again, OK?'
'Yes Ma'am, I will.'
Helen came over to him, stubbing out her cigarette on the way. 'Kevin, I never got around to thanking you for what you did, you saved her life, you know that don't you? You have a right to be proud.'
'Thanks Mrs. M. But I just wish I coulda gotten there sooner... maybe saved her from everything, you know?'
'I know.'
Just then O'Malley came over to them with the uniformed officer Kevin had seen earlier with Kendall. 'Kevin' he said 'Officer Cooper here's gonna bring you to your house on his way home OK?
Helen, I'll drive you and your daughter back to the hospital now myself, ready to go? Angela, why don't you go on home, you have your own car here don't you?'
'Yes I do but I just want a word with Helen before she leaves, a couple of minutes, tops.'
Kevin went to leave with the officers when he found himself being grabbed in a tight hug by Helen who kissed his cheek and whispered 'Thank you' in his ear. As she let go Quinn grabbed him and kissed his other cheek, then released him and said quietly 'See you Monday.'
Kevin walked with Cooper and O'Malley through the squad room towards the stairs. Halfway along O'Malley stopped and leaned in to talk quietly to a detective. 'Make sure Li leaves the building, Harry. I don't trust her, she's a security freak and I wouldn't put it past her to do a Jack Ruby on our guests of honor.'
Kevin wondered who Jack Ruby was, must be on some show he didn't watch, sounded like a cool name for a detective though. At the stairs O'Malley stopped him and offered his hand. 'Thanks again for everything Kevin, you did real good tonight, start to finish. You gonna bring home the State Championship to Lawndale?'
'Sure am sir, sure am.'
'Well, I'll be there cheering a real goddam hero, son, that's you.'
'Thanks sir... could I ask...?'
'Whaddya need?'
'Could you give me a call or leave a message at my house if there's any news of Daria? I don't wanna bother Mrs. M. and the hospital aren't gonna tell me anything.'
'I'll do that for you son, you have my promise, I'll be wanting to know myself. I'd like to meet that girl someday, she sounds like a good kid too. G'night Kevin... or I should say Good Morning... anyhow, goodbye.'
As they drove away from the station Kevin noticed it was almost eight a.m. He'd been awake pretty much all night and he was bushed but he felt he had to talk to somebody, somebody who'd listen to him. She was sick but she was always up early anyway, doing her yoga and stuff. He asked the officer, who'd let him sit in the front again and told Kevin to call him Scoop, if they could go by Crewe Neck instead and he said sure, it was on the way.
The security guard knew both the officer and Kevin so he waved them on through. Kevin felt a bit shaky and spacy as he walked up to Brittany Taylor's door, the world felt weird. He rang the doorbell and waited. After a minute it was opened by Brittany's bratty little brother who didn't speak to Kevin just turned into the house and yelled 'Brittany! It's Captain Moron!' Kevin wished someday he could practice spear tackles on the little **** but he kept his temper as he waited.
Brittany came down the stairs in her yoga clothes. Damn she looked good in yoga pants! She looked good in most anything but yoga pants... even with her face all puffy and her nose all red she looked beautiful. 'Kevvie! What are you doing here, do you know what time it is? I hope you're not expecting anything, I'm still sick you know, mister!'
'Hey Britt, you look good, I need to talk to you.'
Brittany had seen the patrol car drive away from her bedroom window. 'Did you get busted again? What did you do? Are you in trouble?'
'No Britt, I'm not in trouble... but something happened... I need to talk to you.'
'If you're gonna confess to going out with Angie again then you can...'
'Please Brittany... please.'
She looked at him, then looked closer as he kept his gaze steady on her face. Her eyes skipped from one of his eyes to the other and back. 'Kevvie...? What...? You'd better come in, I'll give you some breakfast, tell me what happened.'
She pulled the door open wide to let him in. 'After the party I was on my own downtown and I felt like a burger or something so I was walking down Dega Street...' he began as she shut the door. The door closed with a loud clunk just as the early morning sun broke through the clouds and glinted gold off the brass fittings.
It was the start of a brand new day.
THE END
