Chapter Fourteen
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Chapter Fourteen
"Well?" Jackie prompted her temporary partner.
"Three kids state that they barely know him. One says that he had fallen in with a bad crowd and the last two weren't surprised that he had taken to armed robberies" Marcus Taylor told the female detective with a sigh.
"Similar here, I have a couple of leads of some kids that he was apparently running with that go to school elsewhere, what do you say we grab a coffee and then go to follow them up?" Jackie suggested trying to play nice. Taylor was a good cop and she had no problem with him beyond the fact that he wasn't Danny.
"Sure" he replied with a small smile, he wasn't stupid and he had enough experience to know that a detective's partner was sacred especially when you were talking about Curatola and Reagan.
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"Hey son" Frank greeted as glazed brown orbs finally met his eyes.
"What happened?" the detective asked, his voice croaky.
"You scared us all half to death again" Frank replied, the concern in his eyes taking the sting from his words. "You had taken too many pain killers and it caused your heart to slow down too much" he told his son. Danny closed his eyes against the words, cursing his own stupidity.
"Sorry Dad" he whispered softly, not looking his father in the eye.
"Why didn't you tell us you were hurting so badly?" Frank asked him quietly. Danny looked away at the question.
"Just wanted everything to be normal" he replied, a lone tear streaming from his closed eyes.
"You could have died Danny" Frank whispered, his own emotions getting to him.
"I just wanted the pain to go away" Danny whispered, before he once more lost his battle and sank into the darkness. Frank squeezed his hand concerned that he wasn't just talking about physical pain.
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"I think we have got something sarge" Jackie told her supervisor with a flourish.
"Enlighten me" he told her, perching on the edge of his desk.
"According to the statements we have obtained over the last few days Weston had been hanging out with a gang from Brooklyn. A bunch of misfits by all accounts. Anyways I have tracked down a couple of names" she told him, handing him a computer printout "That one is Max Price, 16 years old and a rap sheet as long as your arm. Previous for grand larceny, assault and grand theft auto" she told him.
"Nice" he commented drily looking through the information that she handed him.
"Then we have Chris Brown, 15 years old and already expelled from two schools. Arrested twice this year so far- both for shop theft" she told him, again handing him a printout. "Finally we have Adam Banks, 17 years old formerly a star quarter back for his junior high school- came off the rails a little bit and since has dropped out of school and been arrested seventeen times" she told him.
"And Weston has fallen in with this crowd?" the sergeant asked her, keen as she was to get this case completely finalised to clear the department of any wrong doing.
"Yes, a beat cop submitted and search form for all four of them three weeks ago- they had nothing on them but he has provided a statement with who was there and what they were doing. It was in the neighbourhood of the first robbery- just two days before it happened so may have been a recon" she finished, pleased that the investigation was finally going in the right direction.
"Bring them in" he instructed, and before the words had completely left his mouth she was out of the door to do just that.
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"Any update?" Erin asked her sister in law as she rushed back into her brother's room directly from work.
"No, he has been for the CT scan, but they have not updated us yet. He's holding his own now" Linda replied gratefully accepting the coffee that the other woman had picked up for her.
"Hello Mrs Reagan" the doctor greeted as he stepped through the door a few moments later. "I have the results of your husband's scan and there is slight inflammation" he told her and she felt tears spring to her eyes at the thought of going through the surgeries again. "Hopefully with careful monitoring and lots of rest surgical intervention will not be required" he told her and she visibly sighed in relief at the words.
"Thank you" she replied, and she meant it. "What about the level of pain that he was in?" she asked.
"It would be consistent with the injury being aggravated by Detective Reagan not taking proper rest and possibly returning to an active lifestyle too soon" he replied. Linda nodded in understanding.
"Don't worry he will rest" she told him, and her tone left no room whatsoever for argument. With a small smile the doctor left the two women to their visit.
"Stubborn idiot" Erin muttered once the doctor had left.
"I could kill him" Linda commented, intent on making sure her husband didn't get aware with it twice.
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"Price has given us details of where Weston may have bought a gun from" Jackie told her temporary partner with a grin. "He reckons that Weston had the pressures of the world on his shoulders, parents expecting big things etc etc" she continued
"My heart bleeds for him" Taylor muttered and Jackie flashed him a grin in reply. "So he was rebelling against pushy parents? Hell of a rebellion going from academic to armed robber" the younger detective stated.
"Welcome to New York!" Jackie replied as they got into the car.
End Chapter Fourteen