Chapter 10
A/N Sorry guys real life got in the way again and had me busy. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll update again real soon.
"Ok...Lee, What's your address. LEE LOOK AT ME. Where do you live?."
The officers brash tone brought Lee back to face him. He was finding it hard to concentrate such was the noise and confusion all around him. Many others were put sitting on chairs around the many desks and what little information they would volunteer was typed up. Many more waited to be processed. It was getting late and the temperature in the station was starting to rise. Scuffles broke out between those arrested and the officers.
Lee's arms were beginning to ache as they were tied behind his back. He sat in a straight backed chair across from Officer Henry Malloy. The officer sighed heavily and tried again.
"Come on, you don't want to be sitting at this desk all night tell me where you live," Officer Malloy asked in a calmer tone.
But Lee couldn't answer, he simply didn't know.
One of the drug addicts from his trailer shuffled over.
"I know'd where he lives, I know'd this dude, yeah best fren..." he began to mumble incoherently.
"Why don't you take a seat over there," Officer Malloy snapped at him.
"Trying ta help..." he shrugged.
"I said get over there. Barney, can't you do something?"
Barney the station orderly shrugged. "The cells are all full, it's crazy in here tonight, must be a full moon or something."
Officer Malloy looked over at Lee and huffed. "See what I have to put up with, now come on. Your first name is Lee, we need your last name and your address."
Barney shuffled over with a cup of coffee for the officer.
"Thanks," Officer Malloy took a noisy slug of the hot beverage and laid it down on a pile of papers.
"I think he's mentally deficient," Barney said, looking over at Lee.
Officer Malloy gave a heavy sigh, "I know that, question is what do we do with him. He doesn't seem to know who he is and I don't get the impression that he's bluffing."
Barney shrugged, "he came in with the other junkies. He was ripping off local department stores with them for the last two weeks. Between them they netted a tidy sum."
"Barney, get him something to eat and put him down in the cells with the rest of them. Try and find one which is not over crowded. I suspect we have a case of diminished responsibility here."
Barney was about to carry out this order when Officer Malloy noticed someone hovering near his desk.
"What!" he barked.
"Hello gentlemen, my name is Dr Robert Neugent. I work at St Mary's hospital." Bob quickly handed them a card.
Officer Malloy looked at it and frowned as Barney tried to look over his shoulder.
"What's this about?" he barked, losing patience.
"It's about this man Lee, I have been following his case and I suspect that he has a serious head injury."
Officer Malloy inspected the little card again.
"Is that right, so if I were to ring up St Mary's hospital they would know all about you. Is that what you're telling me."
"It is," Bob nodded with the arrogance of a qualified doctor.
"Hmm!" Officer Malloy looked over at Lee. He was staring down at the desk as if in a world of his own.
"He had a head injury you say,"
"A suspected head injury, we'd need to run some tests."
Officer Malloy shook his head. "It can't be done, he's in police custody due to be charged for petty theft. We were about to take him down to the cells. I can see to it that the station doctor gives him the once over when he comes in on Monday."
Bob nodded at that. "Ok, I'll leave the matter in your hands then. But if his condition deteriorates overnight call 911."
Officer Malloy seemed to nod and frown all at the same time. "what do you mean deteriorates?" he asked.
"If he becomes confused or listless, if he vomits or becomes dizzy or disorientated. if you see any of those signs call 911."
Officer Malloy reached over his desk as he spotted the head of the department heading toward his office.
"Captain, Captain, I need you over here a minute."
~o~
The next morning even before he had his first cup of coffee Bob was called into the office of the chief medical officer. He grimaced to himself as he headed down the dreaded coridor. He knew what this was about.
"Are you out of your mind, you take a man out of police custody siting the name of this hospital as your reference and you base this all on a hunch. May I remind you Dr Neugent that you are still on active probation."
"Yes sir, I am aware of that,"
"I hope you are. This hospital has a good reputation, the last thing we need is mavericks running amok and taking matters into their own hands. All I'm saying is you should have contacted me first."
"And what would have happened if I did Sir," Bob asked
"Your concerns for this man would have been noted. The case would have gone up to the board for review, relevant paper work would have been put in place, due process."
"And while we were going the route of due process Lee could have died in a prison cell."
"Oh I see you're on first name basis with him, Dr Neugent, you really should..."
"He doesn't know his last name."
"I see... well we'll talk about this later. Right now I have a meeting with the board. Our patrons want to know exactly how last years fund raising money was spent. It didn't come out of their miserable pockets that's for damn sure."
Bob was dismissed soon after. He knew it was not the end of the matter. He would face some disciplinary action over this but for now he put that out of his head. He was met in the corridor by his colleague and friend Jackson Millar.
"You were right," he said, handing over a large folio to his friend.
"He has a hair line fracture to his skull. Kate thinks that there was intracranial bleeding but it may have stopped on its own. Otherwise he'd be dead by now."
Bob took the folio case from his friend and took out the X-rays to have a look.
"I knew it," he muttered. "Where is he now Jacko?"
"They took him up to the sixth floor. he's not too happy. I suggest we post a special carer to him, make sure he doesn't head off into the night."
"I'll take care of it, thanks Jacko."
"No problem buddy, he's a nice dude I see where you were going with that."
Bob gave him back the xrays and headed towards the lift.
~o~
Lee stood in the corner of the room. A young carer was trying to coax him to eat, he hadn't touched his lunch tray.
"Hi Lee," Bob sat down on the bed. "I know the food is terrible," he smiled. "All the bullet eggs and tapioca pudding you can eat."
"I should go back," Lee stumbled over his words. "Deek will be mad,"
"I think your friend Deek has more to worry him Lee, he and his friends were picked up by the feds."
"I should...be there too. He'll get mad, might come here. He might hit...people," lee ran a hand over a bruise on his right arm as he spoke.
Bob went to him. He could clearly see finger marks within the bruise.
"Lee look at me, he's not coming here, he's not going to hurt you again."
Lee did look at him but his eyes were full of fear.
"Why...am I here Bob. I don't...belong,"
"You belong to someone pal, we have to find that someone."
That next weekend Dotty brought Amanda down to her sisters log cabin in Iowa for the forth of July celebrations. The boys were away in summer camp and Dotty felt it was an ideal time to take her daughter away for a well needed break.
That evening the family huddled around a small fire roasting marshmallows and watching the fireworks light up the night sky. They all cheered with each impressive burst of color. Amanda cheered too but then she suddenly remembered. She walked forward as if to get a better look but she was remembering last July. She was out on a case with Lee and she couldn't hear his instructions such was the noise of fireworks overhead. They both ended up laughing about it as nothing had gone right that day. Now standing alone looking out at the night sky she couldn't stop the flow of tears that streamed down her face.