And When I Wake
Chapter 10
By the time they reached their destination, the anxiety levels in both SUVs were astronomical. Garcia had attempted to detour them, too late to save them the extra twenty minutes, to the town of Clackamas, where the office of the State of Oregon's Chief Medical Examiner was located.
"I'm sooo sorry," she'd apologized. "Sheriff Taylor just told me there'd been a jurisdictional dispute between Portland and Lane County, so everything was sent to the state medical examiner instead."
It had been Hotch's decision for them to complete the journey to the Children's Hospital first, and then trace Kimura's probable route from there to Clackamas. Being thorough would cost them additional time, but they couldn't risk the chance that whatever had happened to Linda Kimura, had happened en route between the hospital and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
It was after midnight by the time the caravan was headed back out of Portland.
As they entered the town of Clackamas, the occupants of both SUVs were on high alert. Garcia's sleuthing had told them that Dr. Andrea Archer, Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Oregon, had failed to show for a dinner date, and wasn't answering either her cell or office phones. It was looking increasingly like the confrontation had taken place at their current destination.
Hotch prepared his team. "The OSP will meet us there, and will be able to give us access. JJ, Reid, if Kimura's vehicle is present, you'll cover it. Morgan, Rossi, Kate, you'll search the building." As was his usual, Hotch held himself in reserve, to go where he was most needed.
Moments later, they entered the parking lot, sirens silenced, lights dark. The OSP apparently had yet to arrive. But that didn't stop the BAU from beginning to enact their plan. There were only two non-service vehicles in the parking lot. And one of them was the SUV Linda Kimura had been driving.
JJ and Reid exited their vehicle silently and ran, crouching, to the SUV. At a signal from Reid, they simultaneously pulled at doors on opposite sides of the vehicle. Neither opened, indicating that the SUV was locked.
"I don't think she ever came back outside," Reid whispered to JJ.
But he took out his flashlight and did his best to survey the inside of the vehicle anyway. As best either of them could tell, there were no signs of disarray, or struggle. They moved on to the other vehicle, presumably that of the medical examiner, only to discover similar findings. Reid waved an 'all clear' to Hotch just as the OSP made its own silent arrival to the parking lot, and he and JJ made their way over to join the others.
Trooper Washburn of the OSP made short work of identifying who was in charge. He convened briefly with Hotch and then the two divided their teams to approach both the front door and the oversized garage-style service door used by hearses and the coroner's van. The BAU opted for the front, having deduced that Kimura and Archer had probably been approached while they were still meeting. If not, Kimura would most likely have been taken at her vehicle.
Washburn gave Hotch a master key to the building, and the BAU made its way to the main entrance. Under cover of Morgan's gun trained on the door, Kate turned the key in the lock and pulled the handle. The rest of the team filed past her, until Morgan waved her forward. He would bring up the rear.
The building was in near-darkness, most of the hallways lit only by the exit signs hanging at either end. They'd been told that, in sharp contrast to the urban areas most of them were familiar with, most nights, only the receiving bay in the back was staffed, and then only on-call. It wasn't unusual for the building to be nearly deserted at this hour. Nearly deserted. That was the hope of each member of the search party.
Slowly, the team crept forward, clearing a succession of offices. Eventually, they came to a junction with signage that indicated the chief medical examiner's office was to the left, and the labs to the right. Following a hunch, Reid signaled to Hotch that he would cover the office. Hotch nodded, sending Morgan along with the younger man. The rest of the team headed toward the several laboratories that lined the hallway to the right.
There were several more offices to clear before they reached that of the Chief Medical Examiner, and Morgan and Reid alternated doing so. Finally, they were at the large corner office at the end of the hallway. Morgan silently directed Reid to stand back while he opened the door. The BAU's youngest would then proceed into the office space ahead of his senior partner.
Reid felt the tension in his neck and shoulders ratchet up another notch as he moved past Morgan. For the past several hours, he'd been walking an emotional tightrope between wanting to find Kimura and dreading what state she would be in if and when he did so. Every instinct he had told him he was about to find out.
He crept silently past Morgan, arms outstretched, his left hand steadying his right, ready to take the shot that might be necessary to save their lives. The thin red exit light of the hallway gave way to the reflected light of the streetlamps in the parking lot, and Reid let his eyes adjust before moving forward. When he was ready, he extended his right leg…and felt his foot collide with something soft, lying in front of a large oaken-carved desk. Immediately, Reid looked down upon a figure clothed in a white lab coat.
Dr. Archer!
The contact with his foot elicited a reflex contraction of muscle from the form on the floor, alerting Reid that the ME was still alive. He could only hope the same was true of Linda Kimura. As he proceeded cautiously forward, Reid sensed Morgan's movement behind him, then heard his friend whisper.
"There….in front of the bookshelf.."
Reid looked to his left, and suddenly had to fight for breath. It seemed as though his entire body had hit a 'pause' button. On the floor, next to a floor-to-ceiling set of shelves, lay the still, impossibly small, figure of Linda Kimura.
Reid's instinct was to rush to her, but his training held him back. He and Morgan continued through the office and into a small conference area off to the right, all visibly empty. That left only the private lavatory, whose door was closed. Morgan signaled for Reid to turn the knob, and positioned himself to rush through the doorway. On 'three', they carried out their plan, Morgan flooding the small bathroom with his flashlight. It was empty.
Immediately Reid holstered his gun and ran to Kimura, while Morgan saw to Dr. Archer. The younger man raised shaking fingers to his friend's neck and was relieved when he felt a strong carotid pulse. And then frightened when Morgan turned on the office light, and he could see blood pooling under Kimura's head.
"Archer is alive, but unconscious. How is Kimura?" asked Morgan.
Reid's words were clipped. "The same. Morgan, help me. She's bleeding and I need to see how bad it is. Hold her neck steady for me."
Derek Morgan had long since learned to obey his younger colleague in all matters medical, and he did so now. With care, he wrapped his fingers around the back of Kimura's neck and served as a human cervical collar while Reid inspected her occiput.
"She's got a pretty deep laceration, but it doesn't look like her skull is depressed, thank God."
Morgan wasn't fully sure he understood what it meant. "So….a concussion? No skull fracture?"
Reid shook his head. "It could still be fractured. It's just not pressing on her brain."
Morgan had a better view of the rest of Kimura's body, and surveyed it for injury. "She's got a little blood here, on her sleeve, but it might be spatter."
Reid reacted immediately, pushing up the cashmere sweater sleeve. "Might be. But I don't think so. Look."
As they both watched, a new droplet of blood appeared where the one on the sleeve would have been. She was actively bleeding from something.
Thirty minutes later, JJ stood next to Reid as they watched the two physicians being loaded into the back of an ambulance.
"She'll be okay, won't she, Spence?" Concerned that Kimura had not yet regained consciousness.
"She has to be. It doesn't make sense that she would lose her life like this. Not when she has so much more to give."
He couldn't help flashing on another life cut down in its prime, the life of another young woman who'd still had so much more to give. In fact, he was having trouble thinking about anything else.
JJ turned and studied his expression, which ably articulated all the things he hadn't said. She wasn't surprised, because her thoughts had gone in the same direction. She moved closer to him and rubbed his back in support.
"Then she will be." Because, you're right. She has to. "Come on, let's finish up here so we can get to the hospital. We wouldn't want her to wake up to a room full of strangers."
As long as she wakes up, I don't care who's there. Aloud, Reid went along with his best friend.
"You're right. Let's get going."
Once the two teams had agreed that their unsub had left the grounds, Hotch had gotten Garcia to track down and roust the second-in-command for the ME's office. They needed someone to help them recognize anything out of place, anything that might tell them where the unsub had moved about the building. And they needed to interpret the significance of that movement. As JJ and Reid rejoined the others, Trooper Washburn was escorting another female down the hallway.
"This is Dr. Waring. She's the associate chief medical examiner." The OSP member made the introduction, and Hotch introduced the members of his team.
"We need to know where the un…where the person who did this might have gone in the lab. We think he wanted to take samples of blood and spinal fluid from the patients who died at Children's."
"The ones who died of meningitis," clarified Reid.
Dr. Waring looked shaken, and she was. Not so much by being wakened after midnight…..that went with the job….but by having seen the ambulance pulling out of her workplace parking lot. The ambulance carrying her unconscious, seriously injured superior and friend.
"I…." she began. But she was clearly struggling to get her thoughts organized. Kate read her behavior and verbally stepped in.
"I'm sure you want to see about Dr. Archer. We also have a colleague injured in the attack. If you could just maybe help us out here, we can all be on our way to the hospital. I'm sure Dr. Archer would appreciate your being there."
She'd given the associate chief medical examiner the space of time to collect herself….which wasn't lost on Dr. Waring. She cast Kate a grateful look and then proceeded the group down the hallway to the biologicals lab, speaking over her shoulder.
"Of course. I'm sorry. It's just so unexpected. I mean, we get family members who are upset, as you might imagine. And sometimes they aim their anger in the wrong direction. But we've never even suffered the threat of a physical assault."
Hotch had put on his public persona. "I'm sure it comes as a great shock. But we appreciate that you are willing to help us."
They'd reached the lab, where Dr. Waring pulled a set of keys from her pocket, and opened the door. She turned as the others followed her through it.
"I do want to help you. I want to help those poor families, who lost their children so unnecessarily. But, truthfully, I mostly want to find who did this to Andrea. She's got three kids herself!"
"We'll do everything we can, ma'am." Morgan tried to sound optimistic.
Waring had moved directly to a computer terminal, where she logged in with a password, and pulled up several files. She used old-fashioned paper and pencil to record case numbers, and then set about looking for the corresponding specimens in the lab, looking both in a refrigerated unit and in one that seemed to be an incubator. The team's hopes were slowly dashed as Waring went back to the fridge, and then back to the incubator. She rose from the latter, shaking her head.
"I don't see anything. I'm sorry. They're all gone." Then a thought seemed to occur to her, and she moved rapidly across the lab to where several microscopes were set up. She looked through each in succession, and ended up once again by shaking her head.
"I'm sorry. I hoped maybe…. But these are samples of animal tissue. A young teenager was mauled last week, by a mountain lion, sadly enough. The beast left its own evidence behind."
That brought shivers all around, but none had time to dwell on the gruesome image Waring's words had brought.
"Is there anywhere else there might be a sample?" Reid was determined that Kimura wouldn't have been so gravely injured in vain. He wanted to be sure they'd uncovered every possibility before leaving the scene to the evidence team.
Waring shook her head. "I'm sorry, Dr. Reid. We can ask the hospital if they have anything, but it seems like the person who attacked Dr. Archer and Dr. Kimura took everything we held here."
They already knew that the hospital had samples only from the most recent victim. If there was a case to be made about a serial killer, no matter the motivation, they would need to provide solid evidence of a second, and third, case.
Hotch didn't see the need to go through all of that with Dr. Waring. He stepped away to converse with Trooper Washburn, to guide the collection of evidence in the lab and in Dr. Archer's office, and the spaces in between. Then he returned to where his team was still huddled just outside the lab.
"The state will handle the scene. They've agreed to let SSA Roderick assign an agent as liaison. We'll head over to the hospital now."
It seemed like forever, just like it had seemed when he'd been waiting for word about JJ. But, this time, there was no friendly physician stopping in to check on the 'worried waiters' now and again. Because the person who'd done that for Reid, when it was JJ's life hanging in the balance, was the one whose life might be in jeopardy now.
"But, can't you give us anything? Is she awake? In surgery? Anything?" he'd pleaded.
At first, the hospital had been closed-mouthed, citing privacy laws. The fact that the patient was unconscious, without the ability to either grant or deny permission for information to be disclosed, didn't obviate their obligation to be discrete. They would seek out next-of-kin and ask for permission from them.
But then Hotch put on the voice that none of the team ever wanted to hear launched in their own direction. He used it to remind the hospital administrator that Kimura was the victim of a crime, one that the FBI was now investigating, in conjunction with the Oregon State Police. Information could be shared with his team, and it would be.
Reid and JJ were too worried to enjoy the moment, but the others had to suppress smiles. Rossi considered how proud Gideon would be of the man to whom he'd bequeathed their team.
Their access to information conceded, the team members were still stymied by the medical condition of their friend. It would be some time before any of them were granted permission to see her. But they had learned that her CT scan showed no brain injury, although she had sustained a hairline skull fracture, as Reid had feared.
"I didn't even know." He'd said it so softly that JJ, seated next to Reid on a short bench, wasn't sure it was meant to be heard. But she knew how troubled he was, and wanted to help.
"What didn't you know?"
He was leaning forward, forearms on his thighs, and turned his head sideways to look at her. "What?"
Apparently he hadn't been speaking to her. But JJ pursued it anyway. "You said you didn't even know. What were you talking about?"
He turned his head forward again, looking through the window to the night sky. "I didn't even know who her next of kin was. I didn't even know she had a sister, let alone that she lives in San Francisco."
"I didn't either, Spence."
"I know, but…. we've spent time together, working on the mentoring program. And I spent a lot of time with her in the hospital. And, somehow, I've never even asked her about her family."
JJ was so accustomed to Reid's reserved nature that she barely noticed it any more. Especially because it didn't extend to his relationship with her. But, that he was becoming aware of it….that marked a sea change in how he saw himself in relation to the world and the people who shared it with him.
Wow.
Aloud, she tried to console him. "I'm not surprised it didn't come up in the hospital. You two were a little….busy, right? And the same with the mentoring program. You're both focused on the kids. That's as it should be."
He wasn't having it. "But what kind of friend does that make me, JJ?"
She sat back, brows up, barely suppressing a snort. "You're asking me if you're a good friend? Come on, Spence. Don't be so hard on yourself."
He gave her his lopsided smile. "It's different between us. We're…..us."
She smiled, and impulsively gave him a peck on the cheek. "C'mon, 'us'. Let's find some coffee."
Two and a half cups of watery caffeine later, Reid was following a nurse down the hall. Linda Kimura was awake, out of danger, and asking for him. Still, Reid had held back until Hotch appointed him the designated team representative.
"See what she remembers. If she's amnesiac, give it time. Best not to try a cognitive interview until she's more recovered."
Reid nodded, fully in agreement with his unit chief. Kimura had suffered a significant concussion. The less stress on her brain, the better her chances for a full recovery.
The nurse stopped at a doorway on the left side of the hallway, and indicated that Reid should go in. He knocked softly on the open door jamb and smiled when he saw his friend sitting upright in the bed.
"Hi. You look nice."
He was relieved when his words brought a smile. It had become a bit of an inside joke between them, the words he'd first spoken to her when he'd seen her in her hazmat suit, after his anthrax exposure. That she reacted told him she was still in there, intact.
"Thanks. You, on the other hand, look exhausted."
"I've been up all night. At least you got a nap."
She started to giggle, but then winced, putting her hand to the back of her head.
"Ouch. Don't make me do that again, please."
He was instantly contrite. "I'm sorry. I promise not to be funny."
She smiled, and winced again. "I think you should just not be funny. Telling me makes me laugh."
He smiled at her humor, his brown eyes warm, and grateful.
"I'm so glad you're all right. How do you feel?"
She smiled back. "Terrible. But it sounds like there's no major damage. Just my head."
"And your arm."
She was puzzled. "My arm?"
"Yes. You were bleeding from your left arm…right about here." He indicated the spot on his own arm.
Kimura pushed up the flimsy sleeve of her hospital gown to look at her left upper arm. She saw a small spot of blood, and used her right hand to rub it away. Once it was gone, she gasped.
"Oh, my God."
Reid was immediately alarmed. "What?"
"It looks like an injection site!"