Suffer Little Children
Thursday
By six o'clock the next morning Steve was in the shower downstairs, Rae was telling herself that she should be in the shower upstairs, and Mark was heading for the coffee pot. The day was overcast, in fact as Rae looked out of the window, she thought, maybe I bought this with me after all, still it's the right weather for today, and she turned towards the bathroom.
She didn't linger in the shower; she needed to get her thoughts and her notes in order before she sat down with Steve to go over what they had so far. Nice as the very end of her evening had been, she had missed out on what she called her thinking time, normally about 15 minutes after she turned off the light, when she just let all her thoughts run together, it was amazing what you could sort out that way, and at the moment she needed all the help she could get!
Rae headed out towards the kitchen, with her suit hanging over her arm. She had chosen a white shirt to go with the suit, mainly because it was quite new, and she hadn't worn it to her Dad's funeral. Mark smiled at her, "Are you OK this morning sweetie? You sounded so upset last night."
"Yes thanks Mark; I found a carnation in the pocket of my jacket. The last time I wore this suit was at my father's funeral. I hadn't realised it was in there, and it just knocked me for six." Mark smiled at Rae, and she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned around and saw Steve smiling down at her. "Steve, thank you so much for calling Jesse last night, that was so thoughtful."
"Hey, it was nothing, although I must admit I didn't realise just how much you were going to need him!"
Rae smiled and went into the kitchen, as she passed by the work surface she saw her 'To Do List' from the day before, she decided to cross off 'buy car' and picked it up. As she looked at it her eyes grew as wide as saucers, written on the piece of paper was 'No. 2. Get Singing Lessons – Please!' Rae knew the writing, she had filed enough of it away to recognise it for the rest of her life. She looked up "You were downstairs, when I was singing – and I use the term loosely – oh my!" Rae was speechless. She was turning crimson, she could feel it creep up her face.
Steve said nothing; he just smiled at her, and picked up a cup of coffee. There were all sorts of wise cracks going round in his mind, but he knew from the look on Rae's face that now was not the time.
She picked up a piece of toast and turned towards the door, "I have to go and buy some flowers on my way to work, so I will meet you there, OK?" Rae picked up her bag and her suit and waving over her shoulder with her breakfast she gratefully left the house.
Steve's eyes followed her out. "I get the impression that there is a lot to Ms Yeager, and I think we are all going to enjoy finding out what it all is. Well I had better be going, I'll see you tonight Dad, have a good day."
Steve went back down to his apartment and picked up his dark suit. He wasn't sure yet if he would go to the funeral, he got the feeling that the invitation had only been extended to Rae, but it was better to have the suit with him, just in case. He took one last look around the room and as he turned to face the door, caught site of himself in the mirror, they needed a break in this case, he was looking older by the minute.
Shrugging into his jacket Steve walked out to his car. He hung his suit in the back and climbed in. He started the engine, pulled away and waited to join the traffic. As he drove along it seemed to Steve that everybody he saw somehow reminded him of the case, he saw mothers taking their children to school, either holding tightly to their hands, or watching them as they ran ahead. He smiled, knowing that Rae would just stand still and wait for her child to come back to her, he had a feeling that it would never occur either to her or her offspring that this would not happen, hey even he had come back! He slowed down as a school bus pulled out of a side road and kids of various ages stuck their tongue's out, or waved, or worse.
Steve turned off the freeway, and his thoughts began to form around how he wanted the day to proceed. He and Rae needed to sit down, without any interruptions and sort out what they had so far. They hadn't checked the report that had come in from Mrs. Morris; they would need to do that before they went to interview her. They needed to get in touch with Hana's school, but they had purposely left that until after the funeral, Steve was sure that there would be members of the teaching staff there, and he wanted Rae to see how they reacted. They had also left Hana's friends until after the funeral, but not for the same reason. It would be traumatic enough for them to know that their friend was going to be buried without having to worry about the police as well. Hopefully by the time they saw them, probably tomorrow or Sunday they would have at least got the trauma of this morning out of the way.
Steve's thoughts had taken him right into the police parking lot. He stopped in his regular spot and headed for the main doors. He saw a very red car out of the corner of his eye, but thought nothing of it.
"Morning Lieutenant," said the Desk Sergeant, as he entered the building.
"Morning Bob, is Detective Yeager in yet?"
"Yep, beat you by about 5 minutes, friendly lady isn't she? Do you know how Cheryl's getting on in London?" They had both known the Desk Sergeant for many years.
"I imagine she's doing fine, I must admit this case hasn't given me much time to contact her, but I will do. Rae's a good cop, but I miss Cheryl." Steve headed for the stairs. As he walked through the door he could see that she was concentrating on the paper she held in her hand. She pushed her free hand through her hair and then made a few notes on the pad in front of her.
"Good morning Rae, long time no see." Steve smiled as he moved towards his desk. Rae had used the previous five minutes to send the email she had promised to Dion and his classmates. Steve looked down, it was Thursday; so it had only been two clear days since they had tackled the filing, why was it then that he was having trouble seeing his desktop already? He glanced over to Rae and saw that Cheryl's desk was still tidy. "Have you been putting all the paperwork on my desk Detective?"
"No, I just keep mine neat and tidy. I promised Cheryl that I would keep her desk clear, and I always try to keep my promises."
Well, I think I will join you at your desk, and we can go over what we know. What time are you planning to leave for the funeral?"
"Well, it starts at 10.00 am. I wasn't planning to get there more than a few minutes before hand. I don't think I look like a cop, but everybody always seems to pick me out, so I'm hoping I can just slide in at the back and hope nobody notices."
"I want you to see, if you can, what kind of reaction the adults at the funeral have. We know that it wasn't the parents, but it could be somebody that Hana knew. Tomorrow we can go and get a list of her friends from her mother; we can compare it to a list from Tommy's mother and see if any names stand out. They went to the same school, maybe they were friends."
Steve was rolling now, he didn't know why this case was taking a while to gel, maybe it was because Amanda couldn't give them a positive I.D. on the type of weapon used or maybe it was because he still hadn't gotten used to working with Rae, nor she with him, let's face it, they had only been together about half an hour when the call came in. Not ideal, in fact considering the fact that a week ago neither of them had known the other one existed they weren't doing too badly. Steve shook himself mentally and carried on.
"Mrs Miller, we need to go and see her this afternoon. I think we should go and see Terry's mom first and then we can go on from there. What do you think?"
It seemed as if Rae had been reading this thoughts. "I think that considering we have only known each other about 4 days we aren't doing too badly. I felt I was pushing against the tide yesterday, but we do have to take this slowly. There are a lot of fragile people involved in this and we have to tread really carefully." Rae paused. "I also think that I need to go and get changed and make my way to Hana's funeral. I'll go back to the house if they ask me to, but not for long and I'll come back here if you don't mind so that I can change out of the suit before we head off again. I should be back by 1.00 pm. Would you mind phoning Mrs. Tennant, I suppose that's her name, or has she re-married, so that she knows that we're coming, and if you get the time could you get some more of that gunk for the teeth."
Steve slammed his palm down on the table, Rae for the third time in two days nearly jumped out of her skin, she had no idea what she had said to make Steve so angry, perhaps he didn't do the phoning, maybe Cheryl did. "What did I say Sir? I'm sorry if I offended you."
"I knew I forgot something when I was questioning Terry's Dad, I just couldn't think what it was. We didn't do his teeth!"
"Hey, I forgot to ask which school Hana went too. This case has got us both spooked. We're both working with a new partner, one of whom can't get to the front gate without directions and we know that we have been doing this for four days and haven't got as far as we want to with it. Stop knocking yourself out Lieutenant, we will solve this."
Rae got up from the desk. Picked up all her pieces of paper, tapped them neatly into a rectangle and placed them in the filing tray. They she picked up her suit and headed for the ladies room. Steve stared after her then he went back to his desk and picked up the phone.
"Mark Sloan here, oh, hi Steve, what can I do for you?" Mark listened for a moment, "Yeah, OK I'll meet you in Amanda's lab then, and I'll bring Jesse, you know it'll be impossible for me to keep him away."
Steve waited until Rae returned to the squad room. As she walked across the room he realised why Mrs Marlow wanted Rae to be at the funeral. Steve was aware that she was psyched up and ready to go. She was standing erect, and looked a good inch taller than she had before. Her hair was neatly combed; he guessed that there would be no fingers raking through it for a while. But mostly she looked efficient and approachable, she looked like somebody that you could trust with your problems and that was what Susan Marlow needed right now, what she'd seen the first time she'd met Rae as she walked across the ER. She returned to her desk, picked up a cone of paper that held some freesias, took a deep breath of their beautiful scent, turned to Steve smiled slightly and left the office.
Steve picked up his jacket and started out of the squad room, then he turned back to his desk, picked up the papers he had been writing on, and put them in his filing tray. He turned once again and left.
From his office across the hall, the Chief looked out at his squad room and smiled to himself.
Steve arrived at Community General about the same time as Rae arrived at the Church; he went down to Amanda's lab and walked in. Mark and Jesse were there as well, as was Alex, "Hey Steve, ah, how is Rae this morning?"
"Better Jess, thanks for coming over last night. I didn't know what was going to happen but she was glad that you were there, and so was I." Steve smiled at his friend, and realised that he wouldn't have been able to deal with the situation as Jesse had, because he was sure that Rae wouldn't have opened up to him, not yet any way.
Alex smiled at Jesse, "So, are you seeing her again tonight then?" At that moment the tannoy blared.
"Dr. Alex Martin to the ER, Dr. Alex Martin to the ER."
"Hey, later guys."
"Yeah, see you Alex" Steve raised his hand as the young man left the room.
Jess smiled. "I sure hope so, but I thought I'd better let her get this morning out of the way before I asked her."
Steve grinned, "Sensitivity thy name is Travis"
Mark cleared his throat. "What did you want to see us about son?"
"Well, I needed the autopsy report on Terry Tennant, but it's more than that. It's this case it's moving too slowly; because of its nature we have to tread carefully. Not only do we have grieving families, but also the friends of the victims are all about 9 or 10 years old. We wanted to wait until the funeral was over to talk to them, but then we had another victim, which made it more urgent, there will be another funeral next week, I don't still want to be waiting when that one takes place. Am I making any sense?"
"Surprisingly, yes." It was Amanda who spoke. "I've had this case going around in my head too. I didn't want to talk about it when Rae came to dinner, it's a terrible case to have to start with, and she seemed to relax as the evening went on. But when I let myself go over what you had I kept coming up against things that would slow everybody down, the same things you said."
Steve felt a little better.
"Son, you can't go about this case in the same way as you would an ordinary murder case. Even the fact that it seems that you have a serial killer on your hands has to take a back seat to the fact that there are innocent children involved here. You have a couple of complete sets of teeth marks on both bodies. They were definitely killed by the same person. That's as good as a fingerprint. Once Hana's funeral is over I have a feeling that this case will speed up a good bit."
"And if not, I can always find you a coupla extra shifts at Bob's." said Jesse with a smile.
Steve smiled back. "Thanks guys, I knew that you would re-direct me again. I'm missing Cheryl too. I like Rae, don't get me wrong, but Cheryl and I have worked together for so long, and on cases like this, well you need that."
"Steve, why don't you email Cheryl? I'm sure that Rae won't have a problem with that and she may be able to help even from all those miles away." Mark looked at his son. His eyes were gentle. He knew Steve had been missing Cheryl. He had often hoped that their relationship would move on to something stronger, but if she was going to be away for 12 months then he guessed that wouldn't happen now.
Steve was suddenly energised. "Hey I will. Oh, before I go, can I have a couple of those dental kits again? It'll save me keep having to come back here."
"Oh and what is wrong with coming here then, do you get better company elsewhere?" Jesse was trying to sound serious, but he wasn't doing a very good job of it. "Steve, will you tell Rae that I'll phone her about 6.00 pm?"
Steve nodded as he turned to leave the room. "Bye guys, and thanks again." He smiled as he walked along the corridor. That was another thing that had been wrong. He didn't usually leave it 4 days before filling in his friends on his cases and asking their opinion. Rae doesn't need babysitting he thought. I have to carry on as usual, and it will all fall into place again. He got into the elevator and headed for the canteen. He wasn't sure if Terry's dad would be at work, but it was a convenient place to start.
Mr. Tennant was sitting at a table on his break when he entered, he stared straight at Steve as he walked across the room. Steve stood by his table, hoping to be invited to sit. When no invitation was forthcoming, he placed his hands on the surface and began to speak. "I hope that you will forgive the intrusion Mr. Tennant, but I need to speak to you further, and to get some additional information from you."
"Sure, what do you want to know?"
Steve could tell that he was going to get no voluntary information from this man. He couldn't understand what the problem was. OK, bad choice of words, he thought, he has a problem I can't begin to comprehend, but why doesn't he want to help us – he's almost hindering us.
"I don't wish to upset you any more than you already are" Steve realised that he sounded hollow, he had to try to feel some empathy for this man, "Your son was bitten before he was killed, we need to take a mould of your teeth, so that we can eliminate you from our enquiries. I have the kit, I can do it here, probably in one of the trauma rooms upstairs, so that you have some privacy Mr. Tennant, I'm sorry I don't know your first name."
"Lee, OK then, lets get it over and done with, I have to be back in the kitchen in five minutes." Mr. Tennant headed for the elevator with Steve following along behind him. He realised that he had balled both his hands into fists. He consciously tried to relax as he entered the elevator and pressed the button, come on Sloan, you don't have to like the guy, just do your job.
Steve led the way out of the elevator and headed towards Trauma Two, when he realised where the Lieutenant was going Lee Tennant stopped walking. "No, not that one. He died in there, my only child died in there!"
Steve did a double take, and turned and entered Trauma One, luckily it was quiet and he had a choice of rooms. He didn't know how to take this man who seemed so unfeeling, and then said something like that, but then everybody dealt with tragedy in different ways, he had no idea how he would cope with something like this happening to him.
Mr. Tennant sat down on the bed and Steve began once again to undertake the unpleasant procedure. I'll never underestimate the dentist again. He felt guilty about thinking like that, but he knew that it was what helped keep him sane.
As Lee Tennant went back down to the canteen and a large black coffee no doubt thought Steve, he headed towards Amanda's lab with his grey goo. Once he had handed it over and picked up Terry's autopsy report he would go back to his desk and try to prepare to go and meet another grieving mother.
Across town, Rae had left her car, she'd suddenly felt guilty that it was such a bright colour, and had tried to park it in between two big cars so that nobody would notice it. Then she headed for the church. As she walked in Susan Marlow spotted her, in fact it looked as if she had been waiting for her.
"Detective Yeager, thank you so much for coming. We just heard that another child has been killed, is that true?"
Rae nodded her head. "We will get the person who has done this, but now is not the time to talk about it. I'll just slide in at the back, I don't want to embarrass or upset anyone by my presence."
"Nonsense, I won't hear of it," then Susan Marlow lowered her voice, "I was hoping that you could help me out a little." When Rae nodded she continued "Could you please sit with my husband's mother? I know it's an imposition, but I just can't deal with her right now."
"Of course, just point her out, if you'll introduce her to me, it'll be my pleasure to help."
Rae was directed down the aisle of the church and a woman of about 75 was indicated. She was dressed from head to foot in severe, starched black, with an almost regal amount of black lace on her hat. Rae slid in next to the woman and her daughter in law touched the woman on the arm. "Mother, this is Detective Reagan Yeager, she is the Detective in charge of finding Hana's killer. Oh Steve would love that one, thought Rae. Detective this is Mary Marlow, George's mother." She was surprised at how together Susan Marlow was. Poor woman must be taking something strong to get her through today. She turned to greet the woman next to her.
"Hello, I'm sorry we're meeting like this, I hope you don't feel that I'm intruding on your grief." Rae had no real idea what to say to this woman.
"You know, she was my only grand daughter. I didn't see much of her; in fact I hadn't seen her since her eighth birthday. I haven't been well, and my son, George, he is always so busy you know, Susan she has her committees, and the children to look after." The woman tried to stifle a sob. Rae put her arm around the woman's shoulders and hoped it was the right thing to do. She could understand why Susan Marlow was finding this so difficult. She was holding herself together, but she couldn't do it for somebody else. You know they should have people to do this sort of thing at funerals. She didn't know why she was thinking like that. She gave herself a mental shake and turned to face the old lady sitting next to her, quietly crying.
"You know grandma's are special people. It doesn't matter how often a child sees them, as long as they know they are there somewhere, it makes them feel good." As she said it she thought of her own mother, I wonder how long it is since the children went to see her, or their other grandmother for that matter.
"And George, what was he thinking?" Mary Marlow carried on as if Rae hadn't spoken. "Just when Susan and Josh need him to be strong for them, he lets them down, I can't believe I've lived long enough to see a day like this for our family."
Rae took a breath, and was just about to reply when the organ started to play. As she turned round Rae saw a small white coffin being carried down the length of the church and the air around her began to fill with sobs.
The service was not very long. Hana's homeroom teacher Ms Howard spoke a few words about her pupil, Josh read a few pages from one of her favourite books, the choir from her school sang 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' and not long after that it was over.
Rae walked out of the church with Mary Marlow, and spotted Josh. She walked over to him and said quietly "Josh, could you talk to your grandmother for a little while?" and then she headed over to where the schoolteacher was standing.
Rae extended her hand and said "Ms Howard, that must have been very difficult for you."
The woman in front of her was tall, and quite thin Rae couldn't help comparing her outfit to that of Hana's grandmother. She knew that Ms Howard was quite young, early 40's probably, but all that flowing black chiffon, still, each to her own she thought. The teacher had a firm handshake, and Rae was sure that she had an equally firm presence in the classroom. "You know it must almost be like loosing a member of your extended family when something terrible like this happens."
The teacher nodded and said quietly, "Yes, I never in my life thought I would have to do that. I was honoured to be asked of course, but I hope I never have to go through it again but I may have to now that Terry has been murdered as well. I was his teacher for a while, when he needed extra help with his reading!"
Rae was almost speechless Hana and Terry had shared a teacher, at least for a while. Rae tried to compose herself a little. "I'm sorry to bring this up at this time, but my name is Detective Yeager, would it be convenient if my partner and myself were to come into school tomorrow and speak with you?"
Ms Howard looked a little taken aback, but she recovered quickly. "Yes, yes of course, you could come either before school starts, or just after break when I have a free period."
Having made this arrangement, Rae went back over to Mrs. Marlow who was still talking to Josh. Rae nodded at them and carried on walking until she spied George and Susan. She walked up to them and smiled at them both. "I am glad you're up and about Mr. Marlow, how are you feeling?"
"Not too bad. Detective. We weren't sure if you would have time to come back to the house or not, so we have made up a list of Hana's friends. We thought you would probably want to speak to them. She was friendly with a lot of children, but she only had three really close friends. We've put her best friend at the top, and then the other two names underneath, she wasn't like some little girls, she kept the same friends, some girls seem to change friends almost hourly." George smiled a small smile. Rae took the list from him and glanced down at it. They had just save her from what she had thought might be an awkward moment. There were three girl's names on the piece of paper, her daughter was the same, boys were just something to be tolerated, and certainly not liked! Give her a few years, no I don't want to go there!
"Thank you so much, this will be a great help. No I won't come to the house if you don't mind. I would like to get this back to Lieutenant Sloan right away. You both have our number, if you think of anything, or if you just want to talk, please don't hesitate to call. If there's no answer we'll get back to you."
Rae smiled once more and then she turned to leave the church. She suddenly realised that she was still holding the flowers she had bought. She went back to Susan Marlow and said, "Could you please place these on Hana's grave for me? Tell her I'm working very hard for her." Suddenly Rae knew that she had to leave. She didn't wait to hear if Susan replied she just started walking. She tried not to run, but really she just wanted to bolt out of the place and into the safety of her little red car.
She sat gasping for air, trying to control her breathing, yoga, think yoga, come on girl, pull yourself together. She had left the church, but she had parked up again the first chance she had. Slowly she calmed herself down and got ready to go back to the station to meet up with Steve. Before she pulled back out into the traffic she got her phone out cell phone, think cell phone, and called Jesse's number.
"Hi, this is Jesse Travis, I can't take your call at …… hello, hello," Jesse's voice suddenly cut over the message.
"Jess? It's Rae,"
"Hey, I was just thinking about you, did the funeral finish yet?"
"Yes, I'm just on my way back to meet up with Steve, listen, I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you doing anything this evening?"
"No, why, what did you have in mind?" Rae could hear the smile in Jesse's voice, and in spite of herself found herself smiling in response.
"Something different, something to get me away from this. I know, I have always wanted to go to a drive-in movie, could we do that?"
Jesse laughed out loud, "Wow, I haven't been to one of those for ages! Right it's a date, I will pick you up at 7.00pm from the Beach House, we can get popcorn and soda and pretend we're 18 again!"
"Bye Jess, and thanks". Rae felt better as she put her phone away again. She smiled to herself as she headed back to the precinct and the matter at hand.
Steve was just pouring himself another cup of coffee when Rae entered the room. She smiled at him, put a packet of sandwiches down on her desk, picked up her jeans and shirt and headed for the ladies room. She felt that she couldn't wait another minute to get out of the suit. 10 minutes later the transformation had been reversed, and Rae was back in street mode. Her jeans and light blue t-shirt felt much more comfortable and she sat down at her desk and looked over at her partner.
"How did it go?" asked Steve, concern etched on his face, "I guess not too well, by the speed you got out of that suit."
Handsome, perceptive, and still single. Stop it, Rae, focus! "I was fine, until I knew I could leave, and then I just couldn't get out of there fast enough. I did meet Hana's teacher though, quite a nice woman, but I would think she would intimidate the children. She was Terry Tennant's teacher as well, just for a while, because he had problems with his reading." Rae concentrated on her sandwiches as Steve reacted to that piece of information, which he obviously hadn't heard before.
"At last, something's moving. When are we seeing the teacher?"
"I arranged it for tomorrow morning, she has a free period after break. Do you know when break is? I didn't like to show my ignorance. It was 10.45 at my daughter's school." Rae stood up. "Let's go and see Terry's Mum, I would hate to have to keep on waiting knowing the police were going to turn up sometime. Lets get it over for all of us."
Steve smiled at her and said, your car, or mine? I haven't seen yours yet, what's it like?"
"Well we can go in mine if you like, are we going to come back here, after seeing Mrs. Miller? Only I've got a date tonight, 7.00 ish." Rae smiled at Steve, wondering what he would think of her car.
"Would that be with a certain vertically challenged Doctor?"
Rae gasped and then laughed. "I bet you wouldn't say that to his face."
Steve laughed, "No, it would go straight over it!" Laughing together the two detectives left the building and headed towards the parking lot. Steve let Rae take the lead, as he had no idea what car she had bought. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Rae take out her keys to open the door of a, well he didn't know what.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me! Sorry Rae, it's a two car trip, I am not turning up in that, that, overgrown tomato!"
"Hey that's it," Rae didn't seem at all insulted. "I'd been wondering what to call it. I shall call my car Tom, and if you don't want to travel in it that's fine by me," and she turned to get into Tom. Turning back towards Steve she smiled and said quietly, "Could you lead the way Lieutenant?"
Steve nodded and headed back towards his nice quiet silver grey car. He left the parking lot and smiled at least I'll know she's still behind me.
The little convoy didn't take long to get to the house of Terry Tennant. Rae looked at the front of the house. It wasn't as meticulously cared for at the Marlow property, but it was obvious that the person living here tried her best with the garden and the paintwork. Suddenly there was a loud shout and the sound of breaking glass. Rae flung herself behind her car. She heard Steve call out. "What the … hold it, Police." He had his gun out, but he wasn't chasing anyone. Rae crept around the back of the two vehicles and looked at the damage to Steve's car.
"What happened?"
Steve spun round as he holstered his gun. "Someone just threw a rock through my window. I don't believe it, I wasn't even doing anything, and if they're going to ruin a car, why didn't they aim at your tomato?"
"I shall pretend you didn't say that, I guess mine doesn't look like a police car. So now what do we do?"
"I'll have to phone this in. I can't leave it out here like this. Look you go in and interview Mrs. Tennant, I guess we'll have to go to Mrs. Miller's house in your car together after all. Oh my day just keeps getting better and better!"
Rae decided that silence would probably her best bet. She collected her things out of the car, smiled at Steve and as she walked up the path she said over her shoulder. "See you later partner. Come in when they have towed your car," she couldn't resist adding "Oh, and look after Tom for me!"
Rae rang the doorbell and waited. She could hear movement inside, then a voice called out, "Who is it?"
"It's the police Mrs. Tennant, please could I come in? I need to speak to you privately."
"It's open, just come straight in."
The room that Rae entered was dark, mainly because the curtains were tightly drawn. Rae smiled down at the woman sitting on a dark brown chair. "Hi, my name is Detective Yeager, I'm sorry to intrude on your grief, but I really need to ask you some questions." Rae looked around the room. It was difficult to get her bearings. There wasn't much furniture in the room, just a couple of chairs, a dining table and a T.V., which was on, although Rae guessed that Mrs. Tennant had not been watching it, it just provided background noise.
"Weren't there going to be two of you? I spoke to a man on the phone." Mrs Tennant spoke in a flat voice.
"Lieutenant Sloan, he's outside, somebody threw a rock through his car window, he's waiting for the tow truck."
"Oh." Rae knew that Mrs. Tennant wasn't really interested.
Mrs. Tennant was a large woman. She filled the chair; she was wearing a pair of blue overalls and a striped shirt. When she stood up she towered over Rae. She had bleached blonde hair, which was scrapped back into a clip. Rae gestured for her to sit back down. She felt more comfortable that way, more in control of the situation.
"Mrs. Tennant, I know that this is a very hard time for you, but I really need to get some information from you. I know that Terry went to St. Mary's. Did he know a little girl called Hana Marlow?"
"Hana, yes, he knew her, they weren't close friends, but she came to his last party, that would be when he was 8, I couldn't afford one the past two years. They want so much don't they, and everything is so expensive. He got a Gameboy from his Dad last week. He was thrilled with it. When you are an only child it can get a bit lonely."
Rae felt her heart sink a little lower. This woman would be completely on her own now. No husband and no child. Life stank.
"Do you think I could take a look at his room?" Rae knew there would be no diary or notes in this room, boys just didn't do that sort of thing, but maybe something would give them a clue about what was going on.
"Sure, follow me." The room was at the top of the stairs. Mrs Tennant had no hesitation in going in. "I've spent most of my time in here actually, since I got the news. I can smell him in here. It's like it's all waiting for him to come back. I know he isn't going to, but in here I can pretend."
Rae looked around the room and considered how the two mothers were coping in completely different ways with the same tragedy. The room was a typical boys room. There were pictures of wrestlers on the walls, a Gameboy poster stuck on the back of the door. The bed was unmade, a dark blue duvet was crumpled up at the foot of it and there was a curling peanut butter sandwich and a can of soft drink on the bedside cabinet. "Would it be alright if I just looked through Terry's things? I'll leave them as I find them?"
Mrs. Tennant just nodded and sat on the bed. It was obvious she wasn't going to leave Rae to do this on her own. Once again she went through the futile exercise of checking drawers, cupboards and, once Mrs. Tennant had been persuaded to move, under the mattress. All she found was a hand made birthday card for his Mum, which made the woman shake for a few minutes, but it was clear that she would not cry in front of a stranger, especially one who was going through her son's things. There was nothing out of place here, apart maybe the light blue teddy on the windowsill.
They moved back down stairs again, and Rae was just taking a deep breath to start turning the conversation towards the dental imprint she needed when there was a knock at the door. Rae looked towards Mrs. Tennant who nodded. Rae opened the door to see Steve standing there.
"Hi, has your car gone?"
Steve nodded. He held his hand out to the woman who was sitting back in the chair. It was obvious to him that she was suffering from shock, but she took his hand and let hers be shaken. "Sir, this is Mrs Tennant. Mrs Tennant, Lieutenant Sloan."
Rae continued where she had left off before Steve came in. "Thank you for letting me see Terry's bedroom, Mrs. Tennant. I'm sorry to distress you further, but we need to take a copy of your teeth."
The woman sat bolt upright in her chair. "Whatever for?"
"There were bite marks on your sons body and…" Rae didn't get a chance to finish the sentence. The woman was out of the chair in a flash. She grabbed Rae by the shoulders, and propelled her backwards across the room. Rae felt her head connect with the wall as she saw Steve surge towards them. The room went slowly black as she felt herself fall to the ground.
Steve couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Mrs. Tennant!" he shouted as he rushed towards her. He saw Rae slam into the wall and fall as he reached the grieving mother and tried to prize her off his partner. "Mrs Tennant!" he shouted again.
As suddenly as it had started the attack was over and Mrs Tennant sank back into her chair, put her head in her hands and started to cry. "I didn't kill my boy, I loved him, he was all I cared about in the whole world."
"Mrs. Tennant, Detective Yeager needed your teeth imprint so that you could be eliminated from our enquiries, no other reason." Steve was kneeling down by Rae now. He saw her eyelids flutter and she tried to move. "Rae, Rae, don't move, I'll call 911."
"No Steve, take me to Jesse, please." She tried to get up, but her legs weren't responding to commands. She felt Steve put his arm around her and guide her into a standing position. As she tried to straighten up the room swam and she heard Steve speak to Mrs. Tennant once more, his voice tightly controlled.
"I'll send an officer around later, Mrs. Tennant, to get those imprints. Could you also give him a list of Terry's close friends? Don't worry we'll see ourselves out."
Rae felt herself being gently directed towards the front door. As she stepped through it, the light seemed incredibly bright, and all of a sudden she knew she was about to lose her lunch. She mumbled something and turned from Steve just in time to direct her aim towards the gutter. Then once again she felt Steve as he eased her into her car. He got into the driver's seat and grunted. He moved the seat back and turned to Rae.
"Rae, can you hear me?" his voice was gentle and full of concern. "I need the keys."
Rae pulled them out of her pocket and handed them over. "Of course, I know you only did that, so that I would have to drive this monstrosity." Rae didn't answer, and he called out more urgently. "Rae! Rae! Come on stay with me, don't go to sleep, not until Jesse has looked you over. Come on partner talk to me. What did you find out?"
"I don't know." The gaps between the words worried Steve, but at least she was talking. "She is very shocked. Doesn't understand why it happened neither do I." Rae stopped talking and her head lolled back.
"Rae! Rae! Detective!" There was no response. Steve put his foot down; Rae had no blue light to put on the roof yet, and he knew he needed to get her to Community General as soon as he could. He turned over what had happened as he drove. It was all so fast. One minute the woman had been sitting in the chair, the next it was over. He should have seen it, but he had just come into the room and hadn't had time to gauge the situation. Still he owed Rae an apology, when she was conscious to hear it.
He pulled into the hospital parking lot. The attendant smiled at him when he entered, "Nice car Lieutenant." Steve glared. He got out of the car, ran round to the passenger door, opened it and picked Rae up gently. He ran as fast as he could, without hurting her any more, for the main building.
Alex was just crossing the E.R. when Steve arrived. "Alex, quick take her from me!"
"What? Steve! I'll get a gurney." Alex turned to the nurse on the reception desk. "Get Dr's Travis and Sloan down here STAT." He turned back to Rae and started to push her into a trauma suite.
Jesse was just finishing his coffee when he heard the tannoy spring to life. "Dr's Travis and Sloan to the ER STAT, Dr's Travis and Sloan to the ER STAT." He leapt to his feet and saw Mark heading in the same direction.
"What's happening, why do they want both of us, it's not Steve is it?" Mark looked worried as they jogged down the corridor, but he let out a sigh of relief as he saw Steve standing by the reception desk talking on the phone. Steve put the receiver down, as he turned he saw his father and his best friend, he moved towards Jesse.
"Jesse, it's Rae, she was attacked by Terry Tennant's mother when she tried to take a dental imprint. I'm pretty sure that she has a concussion. She blacked out for a minute or so when it happened, and she vomited as well. She came round for a little bit, but I lost her in the car, and she hasn't come round again."
Jesse went straight in to where he could see Alex checking Rae's vital signs. He took over as he entered the room. Steve and Mark looked in through the window. It seemed to them that Rae was still out cold.
A few minutes later, the gurney was wheeled past them. Jesse paused a moment to fill them in. "She's still out of it. I'm going to get the x-ray done, and then I'll admit her. I'll keep you guys informed."
Steve turned to his father. I'm going down to see Amanda, I'll tell her what has happened. If she comes back will you let me know?"
"You know I will son."
Steve headed down the corridor. It wasn't far to Amanda's lab and his feet knew the way without any input from his brain. Without really realising it, Steve arrived at Amanda's desk. She looked up and smiled "Steve, what brings you here?"
"Rae was just attacked by Terry Tennant's mother! She's in x-ray, and unconscious. I guess I just needed something to do other than wait in a corridor."
"Steve, she'll be OK. You know how Jesse feels about her; he'll take good care of her. Come on, why don't we go up to the Doctor's Lounge. I could do with a break, and we'll all work better when we know how Rae is."
Steve headed back the way he had just come and sat with his Dad and Amanda while they waited for news. Steve told them what had happened to Rae, to his car and what he thought of Rae's new acquisition, and then the room sank into a companionable silence. After a few moments Mark turned to Steve and said, "Do you think that Mrs. Tennant killed her son?"
"No, Dad I don't. He was all she had, she's divorced from his father, and Terry was her only child." He shuddered. "I hope she didn't do it anyway." They all lapsed back into silence at that thought. They had all seen some terrible and desperate things in their time, but to do that to your own child. No, it had to be somebody else.
Jesse came back into the room. "Hey guys. Rae is awake. I've had her admitted overnight. She has a slight concussion, but apart from a headache she should be fine."
"Can I go and see her Jess? I owe her an apology." Steve stood up.
"Sure, but just for a few minutes OK, she needs to sleep. She's in room 305"
Steve knocked lightly on the door of Rae's room and went in. Rae was lying back on the pillows, her eyes closed. He sat down in the chair and looked at her. How could he have let this happen? She had only been with him for four days for goodness sake. Thank heavens it wasn't worse.
Rae moved in the bed and opened her eyes. She smiled up at Steve and tried to sit up. "Hey, don't move," said Steve quietly. "Just stay where you are, or I'll get in trouble with Jesse."
Rae nodded, then grimaced. "Ooh, I shouldn't have done that. Sir, I'm so sorry about this."
"You're sorry? It was my fault. I came in to apologise to you. Rae, I just couldn't stop her. She moved so fast. He rubbed his hand over his eyes. "What would've happened if she'd had a gun?"
"She didn't, so don't even go there. I'll be fine in the morning." Rae shifted position again. "I just need to get a bit of sleep, and you need to shift the guilt by going to visit Mrs. Miller - in Tom!" She smiled at him again. Steve put his hands up in defeat and got up from the chair.
"I tell you what, I'll go and see Mrs. Miller on the understanding that you stay here and get some rest. I'll come by in the morning at about 9.30, hopefully I can pick you up and we can go and visit the teacher together. How does that sound?"
Rae smiled a sleepy smile and said "Fine partner, see you tomorrow." Steve had the impression that she was asleep before he left the room.
He returned to the Doctor's Lounge and found that although his Dad and Amanda had returned to their posts, Jesse was still in there. He was writing up a patient's records, probably Rae's. "Just the man I wanted to see," he said as Steve entered the room. "Could you make sure that Rae is covered by the LAPD insurance?"
That was a thought that hadn't crossed his mind. "Sure, first thing in the morning. I'm going to interview the lady that found Terry's body now, and I'm going to come back here tomorrow morning and hopefully Rae can be discharged by about 9.30. We have a 10.45 appointment with the teacher." As Steve started to leave he paused. "Hey didn't you and Rae have a date tonight?"
"Yeah, great timing eh? Still at least I know where she'll be when I finish my shift at 6.00 pm. See you buddy, take care."
Steve headed back to the parking lot, looked in disbelief at the car he had to drive, sighed and got in the driver's seat. As he drove out to Mary Miller's house he found himself quite enjoying driving the little car, not that Rae will ever know he thought. After parking by the small bungalow, Steve knocked at a bright green front door and waited.
The door opened a little bit, and he could see a security chain glint in the sun. He held up his police ID to the gap "I'm Lieutenant Sloan, ma'am, I'm here to speak to you about Terry Tennant."
He heard the chain slip back and the door opened to reveal a very small, white haired lady, she stood extremely straight and her eyes were bright. She held out her hand to Steve and he shook it. "Come in young man. I have been waiting for you for over an hour!"
"I'm sorry, but I got held up on other police business." Well that's a great start. "I'll get right down to it then, if you don't mind."
"I wish you would."
"Yes right," Steve looked down as he felt something touch his shoe. A small Yorkshire terrier was sitting by his feet. It had a red bow in its hair. You would go real well in Rae's car. Steve looked up again and said "I know it must have been an awful experience for you when you found the little boy's body, but could you just run through what happened again for me?"
"Yes, the lady officer who brought me home said that somebody else would come to go over my statement with me. I was walking Jethro,"
"Sorry, who?" Jethro, she can't have said Jethro.
"Don't interrupt young man and you'll get all the information you need! As I said, I was walking Jethro, my dog, and I had just taken him off his leash when he started barking and growling at the blue dumpster that is situated by the corner of the green." She held up her hand. "The green is that square of land you can just see out of my front window. I went straight over, because he never growls. As I got closer I could see what looked like a pair of sneakers," Mrs. Miller paused and took a deep breath. "I thought they'd just been left there, and I was going to put them in the dumpster, but as I got closer I could see that there were feet … and legs. Then I saw that it was Terry."
Her breathing was getting short now, and Steve had a feeling he might be heading back to Community General sooner than he would like if he didn't do something.
"Mrs. Miller, take a slow deep breath, and stop talking for a while. Calm yourself down, I'll make you a cup of tea, and we can continue this after that." Steve stood up and walked over to the old lady. He put his hand on hers and said, "Slowly, in and out, that's it. This is a very difficult thing you're doing today. We'll take it at your pace." Steve kept his voice low, as he had seen Rae do with Susan Marlow. Slowly Mrs Miller began to get control again. "Now I'll go into your kitchen and make you that tea. You just sit here quietly for a few minutes. But, call me if you need me, or if you feel panicky again, OK?" Mrs. Miller nodded her head and Steve made his way to the kitchen that he could see through the living room door.
As he made the drinks he tried to imagine what it must be like to find the body of a child, and then to realise that you know that child. He shuddered. Terrible, terrible. Steve took two cups out of the cupboard and made a pot of tea. He saw a tea cosy on the side and put that on the pot. He smiled, his Aunt Dora had a tea cosy, but he didn't think he knew anybody else who did.
Steve walked back into the lounge. Mrs Miller had her head back on the sofa and her eyes shut, but she opened them the moment she heard Steve and smiled a watery smile. "Thank you Lieutenant, I'm sorry for my momentary lack of control, it won't happen again." She picked up her cup of tea and took a sip.
"Is there anybody I can call for you Mrs. Miller, so that you won't be alone?"
"No Lieutenant, I'll be alright once I've told my tale to you. Please let me continue." She took a deep breath. "I put my hand by his mouth and I could feel his breath faintly on it. I don't have a cell phone, not like all these youngsters, I didn't think I needed one. I keep thinking maybe if I'd had one, if I hadn't had to go over to the phone booth at the other side of the park maybe Terry would still be alive."
"No Mrs. Miller, there was nothing you could have done, nothing anybody could have done."
She nodded, but Steve knew she wasn't convinced, he wouldn't be either. "Anyway I went back and waited with him until the police and ambulance came. I didn't want him to be alone, who knows, maybe he even knew I was there, just for a minute."
Steve stood up and put his empty cup back on the tray, he picked up her cup as well and headed back to the kitchen, so that he could wash up the dirty things. Mrs Miller followed him out, picked up a small towel and dried the things as he washed them.
"Did you see anybody hanging around the area while you were there, or before you knew what had happened?"
"No." She shook her head ruefully. "I've gone over it and over it. The green was deserted, just like it is most days when we go there. I'm not a very sociable person Lieutenant, I pick my time to go out carefully, it was a quiet time of day."
"How did you know Terry and his Dad?"
"They used to live right by me when they first got married, when Terry arrived the place got a bit cramped for them and they started to save so that they could move somewhere bigger. It took them 5 years to save and another six months to split up. I guess that when they didn't have a joint goal anymore they found they didn't have anything else either. Lee kept in touch with me, but Marie didn't. He paid his alimony until Terry was 8½ but then he lost his job, and he couldn't afford it any more. After that his wife just stopped all contact between him and the boy. It broke Lee's heart, but he didn't want to hurt his son so he stayed away, just sent Christmas and birthday presents and kept his distance."
Steve emptied the dirty water down the sink and turned back to Mrs Miller.
"What type of boy was Terry?"
"Well, I hadn't really seen all that much of him lately, occasionally when his Dad did get to take him out they would come over here. I used to see him on his way home from school in the evenings sometimes too. If he saw me he always waved. He told me once that he liked having me as a friend." Mrs Miller sighed, folded the towel in her hands and carried on. "He was a happy boy, confident and quite smart. Not clever, clever, but streetwise, I think they call it. He could be mouthy if he didn't like you, but he was never rude to me."
"I have to go now, but if you think of anything else, no matter how small, please contact me on this number, Steve handed her a card. If I'm not there somebody will take a message, or you can reach me on my cell phone. Thank you Mrs Miller, you have been very helpful."
"Oh I do hope so Lieutenant, I do hope so. If you see Lee, please ask him to call me. I know if I ring it will be the wrong time." She walked Steve to the door, and he could see her standing there lost in thought as he drove off.
Steve headed back to the precinct. He needed to write up what he had just learnt, and he had to tell the Chief about Rae and find out about the insurance. That will go down well, I can just hear him, four days Sloan, she's been with you four days and you have gotten her hospitalized already." He decided to do the report first and then face the Chief, who knew, with any luck he would have gone home before he had a chance to see him.
But Steve's luck just wasn't holding that day, first Rae, then driving a bright red tomato and now the Chief was waiting for Steve as he entered the squad room.
"Sloan, my office, now!"
"Yes Sir."
Steve stood awkwardly in the doorway. "Sit down Lieutenant, I think you have quite a bit to tell me."
Half an hour later Steve was still telling. "Mrs Miller gave me some valuable insight into Terry's personality Sir. I'm hoping that we can find out the same type of information about Hana tomorrow."
"We Sloan, we, just where is the other half of your double act?"
"I called it in Sir, as soon as I'd got her to the hospital."
"I know you did Sloan, but she is a special case, you didn't think you should contact me personally as well?"
Actually Steve hadn't thought that. He mumbled and shook his head. Surprisingly the Chief let it go. "OK, will she be back on her feet tomorrow? I understand from Dr. Travis that it is just a mild concussion."
Steve looked up, surprised. "You called the hospital Sir?"
"Yes, Lieutenant I did. Occasionally I do have officers other than you in that place, and I always make it my business to find out how they are at least once a day. I also sorted out the insurance query that Dr. Travis had."
Steve got up and looked at his boss. "Can I go now Sir? I want to write this up before it all leaves my head. We have to meet with the teacher tomorrow morning and we'll try to see all of Hana's friends on Saturday or Sunday while they have their parents with them."
"Yes off you go. Good work Lieutenant, I am sure that the slow and softly softly approach will work, even though it is now two murders instead of one."
Steve nodded and headed back to his desk. He had to admit it made for much better working conditions when he could actually see across it. He grabbed a coffee and began to write his report. He glanced up at the clock, 6.15, already. He wondered how Rae was. He picked up the phone and punched in the familiar numbers.
"Dr. Sloan."
"Dad it's me. I'm back at the station; I'll be here for a while typing up my report. I just wondered how Rae was doing."
"Fine son. She woke up from her sleep at about 5.00 pm and said she felt much better. You know that Rae and Jesse were supposed to be going to the drive in tonight right?"
"I knew they had a date but not there they were going. Still there will be other nights."
"Well, Jesse took off early at about 5.30 pm and he just got back. He had an extra large bucket of popcorn, enough soda to float a boat and a pile of videos. He also had a toy car. So I guess he's trying to re-create the date here."
"Oh boy, he has got it bad hasn't he!" Steve chuckled. Actually he was really glad that Jesse felt that way, he liked them both, and he knew they would be good for each other. "See you later Dad."
"Yeah, bye son." Mark closed his phone and smiled at the thought of Jesse heading upstairs clutching all his goodies.
The indoor drive-in was just getting started in room 305. Jesse had put the car on the bedside table. The popcorn was on the bed between them and the first video was in the player. They had a can of soda each and Rae had her head on his shoulder. It doesn't get much better than this he thought and looked down at Rae's hair and sighed contentedly.
Rae looked up and smiled. "Thank you so much Jess. I was feeling pretty disappointed about not being able to go out when you came in with all this. So, what's the first film?"
"Well, just in case you were feeling homesick, I got "An American Werewolf In London. What, what?" Jesse spluttered as he saw the horrified look on Rae's face.
"Is that because you think I'm a werewolf, or because you think I miss the Tower of London and Big Ben?"
"The latter, the latter honest!" Jess looked concerned, until he saw the smile in Rae's eyes, then he made himself comfortable on the pillows, Rae snuggled closer to him and he pressed 'play' on the remote control.
Mark passed the room about 40 minutes later, to see Rae with her hand over her mouth while Jesse was pointing at the screen. Then he saw Rae smile and Jesse laugh. Looks like they're having a great time he thought as he went on down the corridor to check on a patient of his own. By the time he came back, he could see that neither Jesse nor Rae was at all interested in the film any more.
Inside the room Rae pulled back from Jesse's embrace and smiled at him. "Shouldn't we draw that blind?" she asked. "What if somebody looks in? I am supposed to be ill you know!"
Jesse got up and closed the blind, took the video out of the machine and put it in its case. "In London we have to wind them back to the beginning before we take them back."
"Oh yeah right, sorry." Jesse took the video back out of its case and put it in the machine, then he pressed rewind and turned to the bed.
"How are you feeling Rae, do you have a headache or anything now you've watched the film for a while?" Jess slipped back into doctor mode as he saw Rae run her hand across her brow.
"A bit Jess, but not enough to end the evening, I feel much better the closer you get to me. So come back over here and make me feel special again."
Jess got back on the bed next to Rae and he felt himself being pulled close to her once more. Her tongue probed deep into his mouth and he responded enthusiastically. He gasped as he felt Rae's hands pull his shirt out from the back of his pants and then she let her fingers gently run over his back. He moved his lips away from Rae's and started to kiss her on the neck and behind her ears. He heard her groan and he began to run his fingers through her hair. Suddenly Rae let out a yelp and moved away from him.
"Rae what is it? Are you OK?"
"I'm sorry Jess, I think you just found where my head hit the wall today. It was just painful for a moment that's all. There's no need for you to stop what you were doing." She leant over to start again, but Jesse put his hands on her shoulders.
"Yes there is. I should have known better. I know I'm off duty, but I shouldn't have forgotten that you are in here as a patient. I want you to go to sleep now. I know that Steve wants me to be able to discharge you in the morning, so doctors orders, sleep Detective Yeager."
"Only if I get a goodnight kiss from the cutest doctor in the room." Rae smiled up at him and he sat back on the bed so that he could gather her gently up into his arms. He was careful not to put his hands near the back of her head, but the kiss itself was neither gentle nor careful. As he pushed his tongue into her mouth he pulled her as close to him as he could and let himself float in her arms. The kiss seemed to go on for eternity, and yet take no time at all.
Rae looked up at him and said breathlessly, "Goodnight Dr. Travis, I hope my treatment will continue really soon."
Jesse was suddenly embarrassed. He kissed her lightly on the forehead and said; "I'll see you in the morning Detective, sleep well."
Rae smiled contently, and turned over as the moon shone in through the window. Jesse watched as she shut her eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep. He left the room and headed down to the parking lot. He would be back in the morning, and he had no doubt that he would be able to discharge her. Thank goodness it hadn't been more serious than a bump on the head. He knew what being a cop was like; he'd had to operate on Steve more times than he cared to remember. It could've been so much worse, and even though he'd only known her for under a week, he knew his life would've been much emptier without her in it.