A/N: WARNING! I know I have it written right below with this being Rated M. But in this chapter, they look at the pictures from the report. I detail Kat's injuries.
Disclaimer: All characters that you recognize belong to Janet Evanovich. Couple of OCs will be present in this story.
Rated M, this story will have depictions of sexual violence, physical violence, crude language, and possible smut. If any of this offends you, please avoid this story.
There may be spoilers from the novels 1-18.
Chapter 12
October 20, 1350 CST
Bobby's POV
It took just over an hour for the artist to finish Kat's tattoo. Watching with Sally, I'm amazed at how she relaxed she was through it. She kept up conversation with us by telling us about her other tattoos and what they mean or why she got them. She actually lifted up her top so we could see the phoenix on her ribs.
Her skin was so soft and creamy looking. It took a lot to focus on the tattoo and not the fact that she had lifted her top up to the bottom of her bra, which was peeking out from where she had lifted the top to. Not OK Brown, focus on what she's showing you and not her chest, you pervert.
Forcing my eyes to focus lower to her ribcage, I looked at the tattoo. Not normally one for them, well, that was until I met Kat, I was shocked to find the tattoo beautiful. It started in the front on her right ribs with most of the body and one wing, but the other wraps around her back. It was in a multitude of oranges, reds and yellows, and the bird looked like it was on fire. Spectacular.
Now, we're back in Kat's car, and I'm watching her lean forward to peel off the bandage Jer had put on to cover the tattoo. I give her a questioning look and am about to lecture her on removing the bandage.
"Health regulations. It doesn't actually need to be covered." She answers me before I can go off on a tangent and begins driving us back to her place.
Five minutes into the drive, I hear Sally snoring in the backseat. Kat grins.
"Yeah, like he didn't get enough sleep…" I grumble.
"Wow, kinda grumpy huh? Did you not get enough sleep?" She jokes with me, and I give her a glare. Seeing it, she chuckles.
"I can manage without a lot of sleep, but with only two hours, the day's starting to get to me." I decide to explain, and she glances in my direction smiling.
"Well, you could take a nap too ya know."
"Ranger would hand me my ass if I fell asleep on the job." I joke, and her smile falters slightly.
"Oh! I didn't think about you being on duty, sorry. You'd rather be resting, huh?" Before I have a chance to correct her, she continues, "You know how Ranger said I'd only be allowed to go out with guards?"
"Yes."
"Do I get to pick the guards? Or are they just assigned to me?"
"Normally, it's a schedule that's written up by someone on the Core Team. But if you're really happy with one of the guys in particular, or if a guy makes you uncomfortable, let me now, and I'll make sure it's shown in the schedule." I tell her.
"Oh OK, so if I'm really comfortable with Steph but not with Cal, for example, you'll assign her on my detail over him?" She theorizes.
"Are you uncomfortable around Cal?"
"Oh, no, he's fine. I haven't actually talked to him much yet, just used him as an example. Really, I've only talked to you for any length of time, even more so than Sally." She admits to me.
"Well, you'll have plenty of time to talk with Sally when we get back to Trenton. I think we forgot to tell you, but so you're at ease, Sally'll be on site. He'll be in my apartment."
"Really? I thought he had his own place?"
"He does, but he thought having him nearby would make you feel more relaxed." I reply sincerely. She glances at me briefly but doesn't say anything for a few minutes.
"You guys don't have to do that, I'll been fine." She mumbles. Reaching over, I place my hand on top of hers. When she doesn't flinch away, I feel my chest slightly puff up at her comfort around me.
"I don't mind and neither does he." I tell her, patting her hand and then reluctantly bringing mine back to my lap. It feels like it's on fire from where it touched her skin.
"You say that now, but when you come back after a long day's work, and you see us monopolizing your TV, or playing games in your living room, just remember you said that you 'don't mind'." She says playfully.
"And just how often should I expect you over?" I ask, my voice huskier than it should be, and Kat looks over at me, tilting her head in question, hearing the change in my voice. Clearing my throat, feigning it being sore, I use all of my control to not blush in embarrassment.
"Hmm, I guess kinda often, if that's OK? When the boys are doing homework, I'll probably come over and hang out, so I'm not bored. They're weird and it has to be silent for them to do their homework. I don't really thrive in silence, so…"
"Well, you're welcome over anytime." I reply, my voice back in its normal range. Thank fuck. Remember Brown, you are not hitting on Kat yet. You are NOT hitting on Kat yet. The smart side of my brain chastises me.
Luckily, we pull up to her house so I don't have to worry about acting inappropriately around her. Once she stops the car, I quickly step, scanning the area. I listen as Kat wakes up Sally and Steph.
"Five more minutes." I hear Steph mumble and Kat walks around to my side to open up Steph's door for her. So much not having to worry about proximity. I think to myself, watching Kat lean into the car and pulling on Steph's arm, getting her out of the car. The three of them walk up to the house in front of me, and I take the moment to surreptitiously glance down at Kat's butt. I can't even see it because of how the skirt lays on her, but I know that it's there, and I feel guilty as hell for staring, for already wanting her a little too unhealthily. What the hell is wrong with me? Hearing a small cough, my eyes jump up, and I see Steph glaring at me, anger flashing in her eyes. I shrug apologetically at her, hoping she thinks I'm checking her out. But, by the narrowing of her eyes, my hopes wither.
When we enter the house, I hear a stampede, as Ezra and Zeke rush their aunt.
"Ooo, can we see it, can we see it? Please can we see it?" They beg, and I hear another voice adding itself to the mix as Lester walks into the room.
"Yeah, let's take a look at this new ink!"
Raising the hem of her skirt slightly, her nephews and Lester sit down on the floor to examine it. Looking around for the others, I see Ranger and Bomber off to the side for some heavy lovesick staring.
The passion that they have towards each other causes a stab of jealousy to strike quickly in my chest. I want that… Thinking about romance brings Kat front and center to my mind and my attention focuses on her completely.
I should not be thinking of her like that. Stealing another glance at her, I watch her show Lester and her nephews the tattoo. They're asking questions, and as sappy as it sounds, hearing her talk is causing a smile to threaten my face. Pushing it back, guilt rips through my body, stronger and more intense than the jealousy previously.
I'm already feeling bad about finding her attractive because of the attack, but she's Tank's ex-girlfriend too and it should put her off limits to me, but I can't seem to help myself. At least I know she's not interested in him, after hearing her and Steph's conversation. So, I just have to be patient while she heals. And then hopefully … what? Make a move on her? Sweep her off her feet and be a suitor? Really Brown, she hasn't given ANY indication that she's even interested in you.
"OK dudes, we need to start packing." Kat begins, causing me to snap out of my internal struggles. They both stare up at her from the floor with Cheshire grins.
"We're done!"
"You're done packing?"
"Yep!"
"How?"
"We took our clothes and put them in boxes you left us. Then, we took our toys and put them in boxes you left us, and then-" Ezra says, but Kat interrupts him.
"OK, I know how to pack, smartass. Rephrase: did you make sure you packed everything you'll need. Remember, we may still be in Jersey in the spring, so you need to make sure you didn't just pack winter stuff."
"Lester helped them." Ranger explains, as he and Steph join us.
"I would've packed you up too, but for some reason, Ranger told me not to." Lester jokes and rolls his eyes. Kat laughs.
"Thank you, Ranger." Kat sighs out in mock relief. Before Lester has a chance to take offense, Kat looks at him. "And thank you for helping the boys. That was so awesome, and you really didn't have to do that." With that, Kat starts to make her way to her bedroom.
"Kat, can I come in while you pack, I want to talk to you about your binder." Ranger begins, and Kat gives him a quizzical look. "I want to go over a couple of the reports, the pictures and your injuries." He explains.
"Is it necessary?"
"I'm sorry?" Ranger replies back, eyebrow raising adding to his question.
"Well, I'm all healed up, so do we have to talk about those?" Before allowing Ranger to answer, Kat turns her attention to her nephews, who are watching the back and forth between the two of them.
"Ezra, Zeke, did you guys pack the photo albums?" Their eyes go wide at that and run off down to the basement, I'm guessing to get those.
"Sorry, they know I got hurt, but not to the extent. I'd really rather not talk about it in front of them." She explains. Ranger, not one to be side tracked motions for her to sit on the couch, where he follows with Steph. Instead of sitting next to them, Kat once again takes the foot rest. The others sit, but I lean up near Cthulhu's tank.
"It may help to talk about it." Steph starts up, but Kat raises her hands to stop her.
"I do talk about it with a shrink. And Bobby gave me a recommendation, so I'll still be talking about it with a shrink in Trenton. I just don't see how it will help you catch him. And, I hate talking to a doctor about it, let alone in a group. So, that's why I asked. Do you need the information on my injuries to find the guy?"
"No, but when we find the recording of the attack, we'll have to watch it for clues." Ranger answers and Kat nods.
"And I get that, but I just don't see how you'll get any clues from the injuries or the reports. It's not like they were taken on location. I was in a hospital. So, all you see are the umm, bruises and umm…and, err, other stuff too…I just don't …I don't want to talk about it."
With that, Kat continues down the hall to her room. I look after her, wanting to follow, but Sally gets up first and heads after. I hear him knock on the door and then silence as he enters her room.
"I want to look over everything with you all, because, you need to see it." Ranger warns, motioning all of us to follow him into her kitchen.
On the island is the binder. He opens it up to the first report, and we circle around the island.
The police report states the basics, most of which we've already gathered from talking with Kat, but when Lester takes a sharp breath with an expletive immediately following, my eyes lock onto his and see that his are brewing with anger.
"What the fuck!"
I rush my eyes back down to the report. And then I see what's caused his fury.
While the cops agree that she was raped, they don't buy the story of it being recorded or that she was forced to watch the other rapes during her abduction. In the report, the officer actually wrote that, 'this sounds too much like a plot in a D movie.'
"I was wondering why she wasn't getting help from the cops instead…now I know." Cal spits out, looking at the report in disgust. Woody's nodding his agreement, and Bomber looks sick.
"How could they not believe her?" Steph whispers, still staring intently down at the report.
"Think about how hard this case is going to be for us with our sources to solve. Now think about a police station, under staffed and underpaid. Maybe it's easier to think that it's a lie." Woody says, attempting to play devil's advocate, but Ranger shakes his head at him.
"Shouldn't matter. As soon as Kat mentioned other women, they should've investigated further. They shouldn't have dismissed her. And had the police done their job, this would've been transferred to the FBI as soon as it was found out that the other women were in different states."
All of us nod our heads in agreement at Ranger. Kat's been living in fear for two months, and if the cops who had 'investigated' her rape had done their jobs, they may have already caught the bastard. But, they didn't. Still shaking my head in disgust at that thought, I watch as Ranger moves to flip the page, but then pauses.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo OoOoOoOoOoOo
"The next pages are graphic. They're pictures of her injuries, as well as a report outlining each one from the hospital…Babe, maybe you should step out?" Stephanie glares at him and squares her shoulders.
"I can handle this." She stubbornly says, and if to prove it, flips the page for us and then quickly gasps in horror.
She's not the only one whose shock is vocalized. The image in front of us is a full body picture of Kat lying on a hospital bed. Her face is bruised and her lips are fat and bloody. One eye is swollen shut. Around her tee-shirt's neckline, there are black ugly bruises, and a large hand mark perfectly imprinted there. Her arms show the same handprints, but in different shades of bruising. The rest of her body is covered with a sheet, so we're unable to see the rest of the damage.
Kat looks so fragile. Attempting to not look at the bruising, I see the terror in her eyes, their pale blue looking gray, and having now met Kat, I see with startling clarity how far she's come in two months. Although yesterday she showed some of her fear, in this picture, there's nothing but terror and tears.
Ranger quickly turns to the next page; and the image there is worse. It's of Kat's torso with a towel covering her breasts. She has multiple dark bruises blotching over the entire area.
"Holy shit…" Steph breathes out, and looks away with tears and mascara running down her face. I know that my blank face is precariously close to dissolving, as I feel my blood beginning to boil at the images I'm seeing. Looking at my friends, I see they all have tension around their mouths and eyes, but I know their anger is simmering below the surface, as well.
The following pages are still of her torso, close up shots of the individual bruises, most seem to be caused by hands. I can tell that the ones across her ribs aren't though. They're darker than the other bruises, almost black and cylindrical in shape. Before turning the page again, Ranger once again pauses.
"The next pages are bad, Babe. If you need to leave, go ahead. You're not weak. This is tough to look at for all of us, but for a woman, I know it's worse." He soothingly says, with his hand now resting on hers.
Steph, tears still rushing from her eyes, starts sobbing loudly, and moves to snuggle into Ranger's side for comfort. He wraps his arms around her and hugs tightly.
"I have to stay."
"Babe."
"No, Ranger. I have to. I'm fine, let's just get this over with. But Kat's right, why do we need to see these?" Steph asks, looking up at him.
"So, we know how bad to make him suffer before we eliminate him." Ranger coldly replies, and Steph stiffens in his arms, but then immediately relaxes, nodding her agreement.
Ranger gives us a couple more moments to collect ourselves, and then he turns to the next image. Before I can stop myself, "This fucker is dead." comes out of my mouth in a harsh whisper. I can feel everyone's eyes on me, but I don't look away from the photograph.
It's of Kat's hips and thighs. The bastard's paw prints are visible in purple and blue on her hips, where he gripped her tightly during the rape. And, although that's making me see red, making me want to kill him, my body begging for that chance as it coils at the thought, it's the marks on her thighs that had caused me to blurt out my response to the image.
On her thighs, close, too close to her where her panty ends, are burns, near perfectly circles, and I know exactly what caused those. The bastard put out cigarettes on her thighs. I can't wait to pull the trigger. But not before I burn him with something. Maybe a cigar or a car lighter. Something bigger, something that will hurt worse.
Still staring at the picture, someone shakes my shoulder, breaking my concentration. It's Lester, and he's trying to talk to me. Finally focusing on him, I see relief in his face.
"Damn man, I know it's bad, but you've got to calm down."
"Brown, can you handle this? Or do you need to step out?" Ranger questions, almost harshly, and I change my focus to him.
"I'm fine."
"Don't lie. You don't look fine."
My blank face isn't up, I realize. Walling up my emotions, I click it into place, masking the rage and hatred I have for this bastard. Ranger gives me a piercing gaze, searching for weakness, but, my blank face holds and he nods slightly at me.
"The other pictures after this are of her legs. They're just bruised for the most part, and I think we've had enough visuals for the day." Ranger states, still focusing his eyes on me. Continuing, he adds, "The next are hospital reports that list out Kat's injuries. I wanted Brown to look them over, but if you're not up to it-"
"I am." I interrupt, and we look over the reports. I try to think of the report as just a patient to make it easier. It doesn't work, because every sentence is bringing those photographs back into my mind.
The bruises on her face were caused by his hands and fists, as were the ones on her neck. Kat explained to the police that he would choke her during the rape or when she didn't answer him. The dark bruises across her ribs were caused by a pipe and it broke two of her ribs. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. That's now my internal mantra.
Moving on, I read that her left arm had both a dislocated shoulder and a broken wrist caused by being tied up and twisted when he began attacking her backside. I quickly look up and glare at Ranger.
"Why didn't we see the photographs of her back?" I accuse.
"Because it's more bruising, and honestly Brown, I don't think you can handle it anymore. And Steph, no offense Babe, but I know you don't want those visuals either. We've seen enough. Now, keep reading."
So I do. After they catalogued the damage to her top half, the nurse began on her bottom. The burns of course I saw, but the need for vaginal stitches was not visible in the photographs. I cringe when I read that, but I keep myself in check. I'm going to kill him. I remind myself, and I'm instantly more at ease.
I finish around the same time as Lester at reading the report, but we wait for Steph, Cal, and Woody to catch up. Ranger still has his attention on me, but it shifts to Stephanie when she gasps. She must be to the stitches.
She looks up and catches my staring, and she wipes her eyes on the back of her hands.
"Oh my God, what she went through…this bastard needs castrated with a dull rusty knife." Steph coldly states, but her eyes are blazing with anger. We all nod in agreement.
Standing around the island in silence, taking in what we have read, I hear footsteps before Sally makes his way into the kitchen.
"Hey guys." He starts quietly, and I peer over in his direction. Stephanie actually jumps at his voice.
"Kat's done packing and is downstairs with the boys. Just thought you should know." He mentions. Looking down at my watch, I notice that it's 1630.
"Let's get dinner together." Steph says, and we all stare at her in shock. What she says next, shocks me more. "Bobby, you can help."
"Oh no, Bomber, I'm worse than you in the kitchen!" I say, backing away, attempting to get out of the kitchen, and possibly make my way down to the basement. Steph extracts herself from Ranger's arms and puts her hands on her hips.
"I'm not that bad! I just don't like doing it. But I am, and you're helping. End of story."
Lowering my head in defeat, I walk back to her, muttering, "If we all get food poisoning, better blame her, not me." The guys halfheartedly laugh, but the atmosphere is still tense from what we just read and viewed.
Ranger grabs up the binder, closing it, and takes it out of the kitchen. Lester, Cal, Woody and Sally look around, not knowing what to do.
"Shoo, we don't need your help." Steph says, literally pushing them out of the room. Once they're gone, she narrows her eyes at me, and then marches up, stopping in front of me.
"Bobby. We need to talk." She hisses.
I knew she saw who I was really staring at...shit...
