Steve hit the print button and two copies of the service record came smoothly out of the printer in front of them. Rae picked them up and handed one to Steve, then she went back to her desk and sat down. Slowly she began to read through it.
Jo had worked for the police department in Austin, Texas. She had been a Detective in homicide and a firearms specialist. In the middle of April 1993 she was temporarily re-assigned to assist the police in Waco, Texas. Rae looked over at Steve, his face was completely without expression as he read, but as she watched him it changed, and she guessed that he was reading the same piece she was.
Rae got up and walked over to his desk. "Steve." She hadn't planned to say anything else; she just stood with her hand on his shoulder.
"I need to get out of here, Rae, will you come with me?"
Rae just nodded; she knew that he wouldn't want to wait for her to speak. Steve stood up and they walked slowly out into the sunlight. They went over to Steve's car and he looked at her. "Rae, can you drive me to your place?"
Rae smiled broadly. "Yes." They got in and Rae put her seatbelt on. It was the first time that Steve had let her drive since the accident. She had been out with Texas and Jesse, but this meant a lot to her.
Rae had always been a cautious driver, and Steve watched her carefully, but he couldn't see any difficulties. He had asked her to drive because he didn't think he could concentrate on it himself, but seeing her face he was glad he had suggested it.
They pulled into the parking lot next to Tom and Rae turned the engine off. Then she turned and smiled a big smile. "Thank you. You treat me like you think I'm better, nobody else does."
"Honey, you are better, it's only your speech that shows there was anything wrong. I don't think it'll be long before we're working together again properly. Come on we need to look at the stuff on Jo, and find out some more. Can I use your laptop?"
"Of course."
Once they had made themselves a drink they sat at Rae's table and began to go through Jo's service record once again. There were three pages of it and it ended just after the massacre at Waco in 1993, when she left the service on medical grounds.
"She never said anything to me about being a cop, did she tell you?" Steve looked at Rae who was reading slowly through the pages and making notes in the margin every now and then. She looked up.
"No." Rae paused. "She asked me why I was a cop… she used guns a lot?"
Steve nodded. "Yeah, and in Waco she probably needed to be an expert. It was a very dark moment in our country's history." He shook his head.
"Yeah, I remember." Rae smiled at him, he seemed so sad.
Steve looked at her and realised the importance of what she had just said. "You remember it, really?"
There was a long pause this time, and Steve could see that she was trying very hard with what she wanted to say.
"I thought it was very sad…She must have cried a lot…don't be cross with her."
"I'm not cross with her, Rae, I'm worried sick about her, but I am disappointed that she couldn't tell me." Steve leant over and picked up his cell phone. "I'm just gonna phone Michael and tell him to bring the picture over here."
Rae looked puzzled. "I don't know who he is."
"He's Jo's butler." Steve waited. He knew that in a moment he would get a reaction.
"Oh!"
Steve felt a laugh burst from his lips.
"Wow." Rae's eyes were huge.
"Oh, Rae, I've missed you."
The light moment was almost instantly over. "If she has a butler, she must have lots of money."
"I know, I need to find out if she has, because that could be why she was taken." Steve dialled the number and waited.
Rae got up and wandered over towards the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and took a tin of cat food out. She could hear Steve talking as she put some in the little bowl on the plastic mat by the sink and started to make kissy noises. Kira got up, stretched lazily and arched her back. Then she looked around in a very haughty manner and walked slowly towards the food. Rae smiled indulgently at her, ticked the list on the refrigerator, and then went back to the sofa. "Your tablets are good."
"Yeah, I'd forgotten all about her, and I feel fine. Right Michael is coming over, and we need to get busy, we are way too slow here. Let's look up Walters and Texas and see what we come up with."
Steve didn't look up as he spoke, so he didn't see the reaction Rae had to his words. She got up silently and walked away. He put his information into the search engine and then looked around. He was surprised to see that Rae had moved off.
"Rae, come on we have got to get a move on. Anything could be happening to her."
He turned back to his work; he knew that Rae would reply when she was ready. He watched as the search results came through, there were a few items and he started to go through them. They all seemed to relate to a large cattle ranching and oil producing family.
Everything that Steve read made his head swim. If this really was Jo's family, then she didn't just have a butler, but the ability to buy anything that he could ever imagine. Steve went into the business section of the search engine and put the company name in again. The figures that came up in front of him were mind-boggling. If these were the same Walters's, and Steve was sure they were then Jo was part of one of the wealthiest families in Texas, if not the whole of the United States.
Steve sighed and leant back on the sofa, he realised that Rae hadn't replied to the last thing he had said and he looked round. She was nowhere to be seen. Feeling his anger rising he stood up and headed for the bedroom, which he knew was where she went when she had a problem.
"Rae, don't you want to help me find Jo?" Steve's voice was loud and Rae jumped as he started to speak. There was silence for a moment and then Rae turned to him. He was shocked to see tears on her face and he moved quickly to her side. "Honey, what is it?"
"I'm too slow. You need Martin."
Steve realised what he had said and took her hand. "Rae, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I don't want Martin, he doesn't know Jo like you do, and he doesn't know me. You are the one I want to work with. So, what do you say, partner, will you come back and help me? At your pace, not mine, if I go too fast for you it's only because I am worried about Jo, not mad at you, ok?"
"Ok." Rae stood up, and as she did so they heard the doorbell. Steve walked out to answer it, and Rae came up behind him. She smiled shyly at the man who was standing there, and Steve invited him in.
"Rae, this is Michael, Jo's butler. Michael this is my partner, Detective Reagan Yeager."
Michael held his hand out and smiled. "Good afternoon, madam, I'm pleased to meet you."
Rae's face broke into a huge grin. There was a pause and then she spoke. "You come from England."
"Yes, madam, South London, actually."
There was another pause, and then Steve saw Rae realise that she remembered something. "I used to work in London. I was a policewoman in London." There was another pause and then Rae looked at Steve. "Bad things have happened to you and Jesse since I have been here, and to me, like my hand." She flexed the fingers of her right hand as she spoke.
"They have, honey. I'm sorry, I will talk to you about it, but not right now, ok? "
"You are busy. I will find Jesse." Steve let her go, he knew that she needed to talk to somebody, but so did he; he needed to find out all he could about Jo.
Steve indicated to Michael that he should sit on the sofa, and then he sat opposite him. He got his notebook out and looked at the smartly dressed and obviously worried man sitting in front of him.
"I need you to tell me about Jo. I don't mean the things that she wanted me to know, but the things that she didn't. I know you are very loyal, but she has been kidnapped and we haven't heard anything. I don't know if her parents have or not, so you need to find that out for me, and keep me apprised of anything that they hear before us."
"Yes, Sir. I thought that is what you would want, so I phoned her home before I left. Her parents are both dead, but her younger brother runs the Texas end of the business, and he hadn't heard anything. He has a three man delegation with him from Japan at the moment, but he said that once we hear anything to contact him again, and if you wish it he will fly to Los Angeles immediately."
"The Texas end of the business is still Walters Oil and Walters Ranching isn't it?"
"Yes, Sir. Madam is the chairperson and major stockholder of both companies. As you have probably already worked out, she could quite possibly have been taken for her money; she is an exceptionally wealthy woman. Not that she lets it have any undue influence on her everyday life as you have seen."
"So she could have been kidnapped because of her money. But nobody has heard anything since she was taken. If only Rae could remember what she saw. Michael did you bring a photo?"
"Yes, Sir. I thought that this would be the best one." He held out a picture that he had taken when he had his Saturday morning off. Jo and Steve had been working in the garden and had been sitting enjoying the sunshine on the patio by the pool when the picture had been taken. Jo looked relaxed and happy and it was a beautiful photo.
"Thank you, Michael. That's great. Right, I'm gonna head back to the station, I'll just leave a note for Rae. She has a hospital appointment at three, so she won't be coming back to work today." Steve was writing as he spoke, and then he and Michael left the apartment and Steve locked up.
Rae had knocked at Jesse's door and after a minute he had answered. "Can I come in?"
Jesse really wanted to say no, but he just nodded and opened the door completely.
Rae sat down and thought about what she wanted to say; she wanted to ask him about living in London, and about her hand. Somehow she knew Steve and Jesse had been hurt when she had hurt her hand but she didn't know why. But before that she needed to know something else. "You weren't there when I woke up."
"I know, I couldn't be."
"Why?"
Jesse looked at her. He loved her with all his heart, but he had to speak out now. "I can't do this any more, Rae. I love you, but I can't be with you any more. I'll help you get better, but that's all."
"I am better. It's just my speech." Rae stopped talking. Jesse couldn't look at her and he turned away. Rae moved round and stood in front of him again and put her hands on his shoulders so that he couldn't move. "So, we are finished?"
Jesse nodded and Rae backed away. She opened the door and headed back to her own apartment. She unlocked the door and saw Steve's note stuck on the back of it.
Rae,
I have gone back to the station. I know you have to see Theresa this afternoon, so I will see you tomorrow.
Take care, and keep smiling,
Love
Steve.
She read it through twice and then screwed it up and threw it in the bin. Then she went into her bedroom and changed into her running kit and headed back out of her apartment.
At half past three Mark headed for the phone, he had a smile on his face as he put a call through to the station and asked for Steve.
"Sloan here…Oh, hey, Dad… no we worked at her place this morning, but I left there about an hour ago…no she was at Jesse's…Ok… no nothing, but I'm working on it."
Mark put the phone down and then dialled Jesse's number. "Jesse, it's Mark, is Rae still with you…? No, she didn't turn up…Oh, why was she upset…? Jesse, is there something wrong…? Ok, but I think we may need to talk." Mark hung up and tried Rae's number, he got no reply so he left a message on her machine, and with a worried look on his face went in search of Alex.
"Alex, you are about to finish your shift aren't you? Could you get in your car and go look for Rae? I don't know what has happened, but she hasn't turned up for her meeting with Theresa, she isn't at home or work."
"Of course, I'll go now, if you could cover for me for…" Alex checked his watch, "five minutes?"
"Thank you, Alex, when you find her will you bring her back here?"
Alex nodded and headed towards the exit. It took him just over twenty minutes to get to Rae and Jesse's apartment block and he pulled into the parking lot and looked around. Mark had given him his key and he went into the building. First of all he knocked at Jesse's door.
Jesse looked through his peephole and saw Alex standing outside. He took a deep breath and then opened the door. "Alex, what can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for Rae, she didn't come to see Theresa today, do you know where she is?"
"No, sorry, I don't. Didn't she call or anything?"
"No, look Jesse, could you come with me, two sets of eyes will be better than one?"
"Yeah, ok. I'll just get my jacket."
While he waited Alex checked Rae's apartment, which was empty. Then for the next hour Alex and Jesse scoured the area looking for Rae. As each minute passed Jesse felt closer and closer to despair. He knew that he wouldn't take back what he had said, but he also knew that it was his fault that Rae had disappeared.
Steve put the phone down to his dad and immediately turned his mind back to Jo. He was concerned about Rae, but he knew that his dad would deal with any problems there. As he looked over the information he had got on Jo once again the phone rang.
"Sloan…Mr. Worthington, what can I do for you?" Steve's heart sank; he hadn't even thought to let James Worthington know that Jo had gone missing.
"Do you know where Miss Walters is, Lieutenant, and more to the point what she thinks she is doing?"
"I'm sorry, Sir, I don't understand what you are saying."
"The company bank account has been almost emptied today. We have an account with Provident and Miss Walters withdrew one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars just over an hour ago. I thought I could trust her. That's why I made her a signatory for my accounts, now she appears to have been a snake in the grass, all along."
"Where are you, Mr. Worthington, I am coming straight over."
"I am back in my office, Lieutenant, could you tell me what is going on?" But there was nobody on the other end of the line and a very mystified James Worthington put the phone down.
"Martin you're with me, now!" Steve stormed out of the office and Martin thinking that compliance was probably his best bet followed behind. He didn't get the chance to find out what was happening until he had been in the car for about five minutes.
"Steve, hold on, where are we going, and why?"
"Worthington just called. Jo took almost two hundred thousand dollars out of the company bank account, and I want to know why."
They drew up outside Worthington Laboratories. It looked old and uncared for. Already there were banks of weeds growing up by the building walls and graffiti had been daubed on the front gates. James Worthington was waiting just outside the gates in his car and Steve pulled up along side.
"Lieutenant, I thought that we should go to the bank and discuss this problem there. But first, how is Detective Yeager? I am disappointed to see that she is not back with you."
Steve smiled at this man who always seemed to put other people before himself. "She is much better, thank you. It won't be much longer before she is back with me, she has been working at the precinct, but she isn't quite up to working on the streets yet." Steve paused. "We will follow you, Sir. You have to believe that Jo isn't doing this willingly."
"Well, we will discuss that, Lieutenant." James Worthington's window rose slowly up and he pulled away. Steve turned the car round, and followed him.
Jo was feeling quite pleased with herself. She had got the money that her new friends had asked her for; they had given her the injection that they said she needed, although she couldn't remember why it was necessary. But they had been pleased with her, and she now had another pillow on her bed and a magazine to read.
She sat there thinking about her day. They had gone to the bank and she had walked over to the manager. He was an old man, but she had spoken to him lots of times in the past. She explained that they were starting a new experimentation division and this was to get everything up and running. He had suggested that they go to the cash desk furthest from the door and the cashier had counted out all the money and then it had been put into the briefcase that Joseph had taken with him and he had given her the five dollars for her magazine out of the case later. She looked at her hands and realised that the still had the gloves on that she had worn in the bank. She shrugged, she had nowhere else to put them, so she kept them on.
Steve sat absolutely speechless. Both he and James Worthington were in Mr. Martinez' office watching the bank security tape. He had insisted that Martin stand guard on the door, because he didn't want him to see what was on the tape. They had seen it twice already, but Steve wanted to see it again. He couldn't believe that Jo had stood there, with the man who had attacked Rae and calmly stolen all that money, while Mr. Martinez had had a gun held to his side. He wasn't sure if she had seen the gun, it seemed to him that her accomplice, for that is what he appeared to be, had kept it hidden from her. He needed to speak to his dad. As he had been watching the video he kept thinking about when Alex had been staying in a reality television house and they had been talking about what it was called when kidnap victims relate to their captors. But he couldn't for the life of him think what it was called.
"Lieutenant, I need to know why Miss Walters took all that money. From what I understand, money is one thing she isn't short of." James Worthington was obviously trying to keep his temper under control.
Steve took a deep breath. Oh, so you knew about it did you. She didn't share that little nugget with me. "If you would like to go out to my car, with Detective Robertson, Sir, he will explain as best he can what has happened to Miss Walters."
James Worthington stood up, he opened the door and Steve told Martin what he wanted him to do. As Martin left his post, he saw Steve writing out a receipt for something.
"You contacted Mr. Worthington before you called the police, I am grateful for that. I will need to take this tape with me, Mr. Martinez. I will give you a receipt."
Steve looked at the worried manager sitting opposite him.
"I have seen Miss Walters in this bank many times, Lieutenant, she didn't strike me as anything other than a very nice young woman. Also there was something … unnatural about her behaviour. She seemed to behave as if what she was doing was fine, but the man with her, well you saw the gun." He shuddered as he remembered the feeling of the gun in his ribs.
"Sir, what I am about to tell you is highly confidential…Miss Walters was kidnapped yesterday morning, she was taken away in a green Mercedes, but we haven't received a ransom note, neither has her family in Texas. I'm afraid that I can't tell you any more."
"So, do you think that this could be a case of Stockholm syndrome?"
Steve snapped his fingers. "I was trying to think of that all the time I was watching the video. I don't know, I don't think she has been gone long enough for that. I have to admit I don't know what to think. But I know that she didn't do this willingly, and I am asking you, as a favour to me, because Miss Walters is not only a kidnap victim, but someone I care for very much, to let this robbery stay secret, for forty-eight hours."
Mr. Martinez looked at the young man in front of him. He could see the strain in his face, he had already gone against normal procedure when he contacted James Worthington instead of the police, and for a reason he would never completely understand he nodded. "Forty-eight hours, Lieutenant, then I have to contact my superiors, who will undoubtedly contact the FBI."
"Thank you, Sir, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this. Steve picked up the video and then shook hands with Mr. Martinez. "I will be in touch, Sir." Then he left the bank, hiding the tape under his jacket as he did so.
Martin was standing by the car still talking to Mr. Worthington. "If you hear anything, Sir, could you please contact me on my cell phone. You have the number. If you can't reach me, you can call Detective Yeager, she will be working in the station most mornings."
Steve got into the car without a word and started the engine. Martin just had time to shut the door before he drew away leaving James standing in the parking lot unable to say anything further. Martin was not in that position, "This isn't our case. You know that. Now you may be prepared to get suspended because of your personal involvement but I'm not. If you don't back off I will report you. You were writing a receipt for something, and I don't see anything in your hand, I can only put up with this for so long… Sir."
"Thank you, Detective. I know what I'm doing. If you don't like it I suggest you find yourself another partner. Rae will be back in tomorrow, so I will work with her."
Martin didn't reply. Steve's tone brooked no argument, and he knew that it wouldn't matter what he said, Steve wouldn't move away from this case.
It was just after five o'clock when Jesse and Alex decided to go back to the apartment house in case Rae had returned there.
"You had better go and see if she is in. I'll only make matters worse."
"Jesse, what happened? Do you know why we've lost Rae?"
Jesse took a deep breath. He supposed that his friends would have to know soon. "We broke up. I told her I couldn't be with her any more."
"Jesse! Why would you do that? I thought you wanted to marry her…at least that's what I heard." Alex stopped talking. He didn't usually listen to gossip, but everybody had seen Rae leave the ball, and then when she had been so badly hurt, well, it had started everybody talking.
"I did, Alex. But I can't cope with wondering the whole time whether she will go out in the morning and never come home. Trouble seems to follow her. I can't deal with that any more."
Alex didn't know what to say, so he decided to say nothing. He got out of the car and headed towards Rae's door. He saw Jesse go into his own apartment, and knew that if Rae wasn't home he would have to continue searching on his own.
Alex knocked on the door and waited. He was about to leave when he heard a noise and slowly the door opened. Rae stood there, looking very tearful and his heart went out to her. "Rae, can I come in?"
She nodded her head, and moved out of the way. Alex walked in and shut the door behind him. "Can I use your phone?" Rae nodded again and he moved over to it. He dialled the number for Community General and waited. "Oh, hi, Doctor Sloan please, it's Doctor Martin…Mark, hi, it's Alex…Yeah I'm with her…She was back home by the time we found her…I don't know where she went yet…Yeah…" Alex lowered his voice. "She and Jesse have split up…I'll come back with her in a little while." Alex put the phone down and moved over to where Rae was sitting.
"Rae, look at me." Alex put his hand over hers.
"No." Rae looked purposefully at the floor. Alex took a deep breath and tried again.
"We were all so worried about you, where have you been?"
"Running."
"We need to go and see Mark and Theresa, I think we should go now."
Rae said nothing, she stood up then she turned to him. "Will Jesse be there?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Oh."
Alex didn't know if she was pleased or disappointed. He took her by the hand and they headed down towards his car.
Jo was beginning to feel very ill. She'd had four injections during the day and her head was swimming. She needed to tell her new friends that she didn't feel very well, but every time she tried to stand up and head towards the door it seemed to move away from her. In the end she decided to crawl along the floor, but as she got down there the whole room seemed to tilt and she collapsed to the ground and just lay there.
Although she didn't realise it Jo was being continually watched. As she fell the door opened and Dani Barlow, entered the room, pulling on her gloves as she did so. She felt for a pulse, and laid the back of her hand on Jo's forehead. Then she straightened up and left the room a serene look on her face. Jo Walters wouldn't be much of a threat to her anymore. She was too sick now to be any fun for Donovan.
Soon the room was full of people. Joseph Donovan looked down at her. He had hoped to be able to use her again, but he had a feeling that she wouldn't respond to any more of the medication. They had learnt a lot from her. "Take her to Community General and leave her in the parking lot." Then he turned and left the room. "Oh and leave this with her."
"You mean you're just going to let her go?" Dani looked at this man that she so admired and secretly loved.
"Yeah, she's no longer useful here, but there will be no point to this exercise if we don't will there? Don't worry, sweetie, I will still be here with you." He ran his finger down Dani's cheek and she bathed in his attention.
As Steve walked back into the squad room he heard his name being called.
"Sloan, my office now. Don't take your jacket off." Captain Newman turned as he spoke, but Steve could see that his face was like thunder. He followed his Captain into his office and shut the door.
"Sir… If I could just explain."
"If you need to explain, Lieutenant, then you have done something wrong. Now which part of the fact that Miss Walters's disappearance wasn't your case are you having problems with? You are supposed to be working the murder of two night watchmen. You are also babysitting your new partner, because he hasn't been a detective for very long, and your regular partner because she is recovering from a serious injury, you do not have the authority to go running off on cases that do not concern you."
"Not concern me. Oh, for God's sake, she's my girlfriend, she was kidnapped right under Rae's nose, and we have no idea where she is. Have you found out any of the information that I have? No! Do you have a photo of her to be circulated? No! She is being looked for by incompetents!"
"That is enough, Lieutenant!" Captain Newman was on his feet now, and his voice was tight. "I suggest that you take yourself home, and unless you can control yourself, don't come back in tomorrow. I am sure that Reagan can work with Detective Robertson."
Steve looked at him. He was trying to keep his temper under control. "I will go, but I intend to stay involved, and you can't stop me."
"Lieutenant, you are to keep away from the Walters case, and I will restrict you to desk duty if you don't change your attitude. Please close the door as you leave."
Steve glared at him and left. He made sure that everybody knew he had shut the door and then he left the precinct. He phoned his dad and waited for him to answer.
"Doctor Sloan…Oh, hi Son… Yes she's here now. Could you come over, I think she wants to talk to you."
Steve got in his car and drove quietly to the hospital. His knuckles were white on the wheel, his thoughts whirling, and he purposely took the long way so that he could get himself under control.
Rae and Alex had arrived and were sitting in Theresa's office. Theresa was trying to get Rae to talk to her, but she was having trouble putting her thoughts into words. Alex had told Theresa about Jesse and what Rae had said, and then he had moved to a seat at the back of the room so that he was there in case he was needed.
"Rae look at me, I need to know what has happened since you were here last. We don't have to start with today, but I know you are upset, I need you to tell me what is making you upset, yesterday and today." Theresa knew that she could refer Rae over to Brian Dobson, but they had been getting along so well that she thought she would try to get Rae to cope with what had happened to her over the last few days.
Rae ran her fingers through her hair and then flexed the fingers of her right hand. "I hurt my hand."
"I know you did, but that didn't happen today or yesterday did it? We need to talk about that. What happened yesterday with Jo?"
"She has gone. I don't want to talk about it…I lost her."
"Rae, how did you lose her?"
"The man took her. I let him."
"Rae, tell me what happened."
There was a long pause; Theresa knew there would be. "The car stopped. A man got out. He had a gun. He pushed me and … I hurt my head… then she was gone." Rae put her hand over her mouth for a minute then she began to talk again. "Teesa, he had a rabbit."
Rae still couldn't say her name, and Theresa had no idea why anyone would have a rabbit when they were abducting somebody.
"I must tell Steve, he had a rabbit." Rae looked at Alex and saw him get his cell phone out of his pocket. "I'll do that, you keep talking."
Rae stood up and walked over to the window, she looked out for a minute and Theresa let her gather her thoughts. She knew what Rae had to tell her was going to be difficult. Her words were still limited, as if she had to learn all the meanings again. She had a feeling that Rae was going to have trouble explaining what had happened with Jesse.
Rae turned back round. There were tears in her eyes as she moved back over to Theresa. "Jesse doesn't like me anymore."
"Rae, I'm sure he still likes you. He loves you doesn't he?"
"No. He said no more. Now it's just me."
Alex looked up. "Rae, Steve said thanks. The rabbit was a great help."
Rae smiled at him. "Steve says I'm better."
Theresa smiled and silently thanked the absent Steve Sloan. "You are better, Rae. We only practice your talking and your words, and try to jog your memory; everything else is so much better than it was. I would say that you were better too. Come and sit down now."
"Ok. I want to go back to work. I need to find Texas."
"Do you want me to write a letter for your Captain?"
The smile on Rae's face gave Theresa her answer.
"Thank you Teesa…Threesa." Rae smiled. "One day I will say it."
"Yes you will. Ok, I will get a letter sent to your Captain tonight, but I need you to tell me what happened with Jesse?"
The room went silent once again and as Rae began to form her words there was a tap on the door and Mark came in. Rae smiled at him.
"You're late."
"I know, honey, and I'm sorry, but you keep going."
"Doctor Sloan, we have done very well today, but we are just trying to find out what Jesse said that made her so upset that she went away and didn't tell anybody."
Mark looked at her and smiled. "Don't let me interrupt, you keep talking, Rae."
Rae was having trouble keeping herself from getting too upset. She was getting fed up with crying all the time, when it used to be something she never did. She took a deep breath and tried to say what she meant without sounding like a three year old.
"Jesse said it was too much. He couldn't cope. It was over…I don't want it to be over, I love him." As she spoke she could see a picture in her mind. She was wearing a blue dress and Jesse was holding a small box and saying things that were hurting her.
Mark saw her eyes fill with tears. "What is it, honey, what did you remember?"
"I had a pretty dress on, and he hurt me."
"Who hurt you, Rae?"
"Jesse, he said…" She stopped; repeating what somebody else had said was very hard for her. They used words that she couldn't at the moment and she felt stupid when she said things wrong.
"He said I could stay if I married him…If he doesn't want me anymore I'll have to leave…I don't want to go." The tears flowed down her face, and she stood up. "I don't understand… why do I have to leave? I don't know where to go." Rae was getting very agitated. She was looking around her as if she was about to run for cover. Mark moved over to her and guided her back to her seat.
"Honey, sit down and listen to me. You came to Los Angeles just under a year ago. Steve's partner went to work in London at Scotland Yard, which is where you normally work."
"No, I live here now." Rae interrupted for the first time in almost six months, and Mark in spite of himself smiled at her.
"You were only sent here for twelve months, and that is nearly up. I don't know if you will be able to stay any longer, but I know lots of people, I will find out for you. Maybe we could get them to extend your stay so that you have actually worked twelve months. That would give you some more time for us to try to get you a permanent visa."
"Thank you, Mark."
"Let's go down and wait for Steve, he should be here in a few minutes. That's all right isn't it, Theresa?"
"Yes, I think we are done for today, Rae, but I want you to come back and see me, every Friday. Until you can say Theresa, I will insist that you remain under my care."
Rae realised what she was saying and moved across. "Thank you Theesa. Maybe I won't ever be able to say it." Then she smiled and turned back to Mark and together with Alex they walked back down to the ER.
Steve pulled into the parking lot. The long route meant that it had taken him almost an hour to get to Community General. He parked in the doctor's area and as he walked towards the main entrance he could see what looked like a body lying by the doors. He broke into a run as he saw that it had long brown curly hair. By the time he knelt down and gently turned the body over he knew that he would look into the face of Jo.
Alex and Mark had just signed themselves back in when Steve came running in with Jo in his arms. "Dad, Alex, help me… Oh, God, please, help her."
Alex had a gurney in front of him before he had stopped talking. "Just lay her down gently. Where did you find her?"
"She was lying just outside the doors. She couldn't have been there long, this place is so busy."
"Ok, Rae will take you to the doctor's lounge, I'll be along as soon as I can. Steve, we'll do all we can."
"Rae? Oh, thank God you're all right."
"Shhh. Steve." Rae smiled and took his hand, then she began to walk and he followed her down towards the coffee pot.
Mark and Alex looked at Jo as she lay on the gurney and Alex removed something from her jacket. Her breathing and heart rate were erratic, she responded to the light but they had no idea what was wrong with her. They sent off her blood work and then she was taken down for x-rays and CT scans.
Rae looked over at Steve. "I need to tell you something, don't say anything, just listen."
"Ok, honey, what is it?"
"When I went to see Jesse yesterday, he said we are finished. I don't like being alone, will you help me?"
Steve couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was suddenly very angry with Jesse, but that could wait. "Of course I will, you know that. I guess that's why you ran away, huh? Do you want to talk about it?"
Steve saw her shake her head, and then she sat quietly with her head on his shoulder. After a while he felt her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry."
"About what? You have nothing to be sorry about do you?" He waited. He could tell that she was upset, and words took longer when she was distressed.
"The rabbit. I couldn't remember the rabbit."
"Rae, there are some things you need to know. But first of all, you remembering the rabbit wouldn't have made any difference, we can't find anything out about them, we would have known what group had taken Jo a little earlier, but that is all."
"Do I need to know other things?"
"Yeah, do you remember how you hurt your head?"
"No. I don't know what happened."
"You were attacked, at a funeral." Steve waited; he knew that normally when he prompted her Rae could remember almost everything.
Rae shut her eyes. She tried to see a picture in her mind of a funeral, she remembered crying, and a white flower. "I had a white flower and I cried."
"No, honey, that's the wrong funeral." He paused. "That was the your dad's funeral."
He saw her brush at the tears in her eyes. "I knew he was gone…" She tried again. She saw lots of people rushing at her and then she saw the face of a man with something in his hand. She gasped and Steve pulled her closer to him. "There was a man did he hurt me?"
"Yes, he had a placard."
Rae put her hand up. "What's a pla…placard?"
"A placard is what demonstrators use to put their slogans, their words on."
Rae's face was troubled. "How did he hurt me?"
"He hit you with the wooden post that held his message. He knocked you out; it took you about two days to come round. Everybody was very worried. It was Jo who saved you, by moving you out of the way of those men."
"She's my friend." Rae smiled. Then she looked at Steve and saw that he had sad eyes. "You haven't finished."
"No. Rae, the guy that took Jo, he was the person who hit you. She took some money from a bank and he was with her when she did it. She didn't seem to be being forced to take it."
Rae was very quiet. When she spoke Steve was surprised by the intensity of her words. "No. She is a good girl. She wouldn't. He is a nasty man, he made her do it."
"Rae, we don't know that."
"I do. I don't want to talk about it."
Rae went over and made Steve a coffee, then she got herself a drink of water moved over and sat next to him.
"She loves you. She is nice, she wouldn't hurt you."
"I thought you didn't want to talk about it."
"I don't…but you do."
"Yeah, I do, but there isn't much to say. I don't even know if she is still alive."
"No…she will be."
After that they lapsed into silence, and sat, Steve with his arm around Rae and they got comfort from each other. One waiting for news of her friend, the other to know whether he still had the love of his life. Alex came in every hour just to let them know that they were still working on her, and he gave Steve the badge of a rabbit over a drop of blood that he had found in her clothes. It was almost four hours before Mark came back.
"Dad?" Steve didn't move, he was frightened to.
"She's in the ICU, Steve. She's been x-rayed, and scanned, there's nothing broken, her blood works have just come back, and there are toxins in there, but we have no idea what they are. We have to hope that we can get rid of them. We just have to wait."
"Dad, can we go up to her?"
"Yes, but, Steve, I think that you ought to know that she is still unconscious, and she has shown no signs of coming round."
"Ok. Thanks, Dad."
Steve and Rae walked up to the ICU. Rae looked around, she could feel thoughts in the back of her mind, trying to come through, but she knew that she couldn't let them not yet. She saw Steve pause as they got to the door, and she took his hand and moved him into the room.
"Come on, we can do this together."
She let Steve sit right next to Jo and then she moved a chair over to be next to him. After about thirty minutes Rae touched his arm. "Steve, why did they do this to her?"
"I don't know, but I will find out and when I do, I promise they will suffer like you have and Jo has."
"No, Steve, please…I hate being stupid, don't make anybody else stupid."
"Honey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it quite like that. And you are not stupid!""
After that neither of them spoke, they just sat hand in hand waiting for Jo to come round. When Mark came in to check on his patient at the end of his rounds, he found them, both fast asleep, still together. He knew that neither of them would leave so he sighed and left them to it.