21

The next morning, John was waiting for Roy in the locker room at work, and accosted him as soon as he entered the room. "What the hell was that last night, hmmm? What were you playing at, sneaking off with my wife, hey?" He was so angry he pushed Roy against the lockers.

Roy pushed him back. "What the hell are YOU talking about?"

Johnny put a fist into Roy's face. "Just give me a reason, Roy."

Roy smacked his hand away and yelled back at John, "I'm not the one who's been ignoring his wife! I'm not the one who left her alone and went to carry on with another woman in front of her!"

"You are so full of it, Roy! I can't believe I never saw it before!" They were making so much noise that Mike and Chet came into the locker room to see what on earth was going on. Both men were glaring at each other, and breathing heavily.

Captain Stanley strode into the room. "Gage. De Soto. My office. NOW."

Hank sat down at his desk. "Will someone please tell me what is going on? What was all that in the locker room just now? C'mon Roy, Johnny, this isn't like you." Roy and Johnny just stood there, refusing to look at each other. Cap Stanley smacked his desk top. "Enough of this. De Soto, you talk." Roy's fists were clenched. He had never been so angry at his partner in his whole life. To treat Jane like this, and then to accuse him of doing something shady!

Roy took a deep breath. "Johnny has been neglecting Jane and last night at the ball, she couldn't take it anymore."

Johnny interrupted him. "I've been neglecting Jane? Where'd you get that dumb idea? I'm home every chance I get! You were off in some dark room cuddling my wife the minute my back was turned!"

Captain Stanley held up his hands. "Slow down here, boys. Let's try and sort this out." Johnny started to speak, but Cap just pointed his finger at him. "Ah!" He turned to Roy. "Roy, did you go off with Jane alone last night?"

"Yes, Cap, I did, but it was all Johnny's fault."

"How the heck do you figure that, Roy?" Johnny yelled at him. "I was talking with a friend, and the next thing I know, you're walking off with Jane as if you're the one's who married to her! And aren't you glad that Joanne wasn't there last night!"

"Joanne wouldn't have a problem with what I did, you idiot! I didn't do anything except comfort a friend who was hurting from the callous treatment her jerk of a husband was giving her!"

"Okay, okay, that's enough, both of you! Johnny, Roy, you two have been partners for many years. And you are going to continue to be partners, so you better work this out." Hank held up his hand. "I don't care how you do it, just do it. And fast. This station works as a team at all times, and don't either of you forget it. Our lives may depend on it. So get out of my office, and stop yelling at each other. I mean it!" He pointed his finger again at each of them in turn, and nodded his head emphatically. Roy and Johnny left the office and Roy went back into the locker room to get changed. He was not looking forward to working this shift at all.

The guys had just finished cleaning up the kitchen when the station phone rang. Marco answered the phone. "It's for you, John."

Johnny stomped over to the phone and said, "Hello?... Cheryl! No, no, everything's fine. I'm sorry I took off like that last night, but I had to go, um, deal with something." He glanced over at Roy, who was glaring at him again. "Listen, I'm sorry, but I gotta go, okay?" He lowered his voice. "And, um, I don't think it's a good idea for you to call me at the station any more."

Cheryl sounded amused. "Did you get in big trouble last night? Or did your wife decide that the grass is greener on the other side of the squad?" Johnny almost gasped. He hadn't realized how poisonous Cheryl could be. He decided he needed to do something about the situation, but the person he normally would ask for advice was currently not talking to him, or more accurately, only yelling at him when they did communicate.

"I really got to go. Bye." He hung up, and for the first time wondered if there wasn't some truth to Roy's version of the story. He looked over at Roy, and had opened his mouth to talk to him when the alarm bell rang, and they headed to the squad for a call.

"Squad 51; woman down, West 219th Street and Monela Avenue, on the corner. Ambulance has been dispatched." "Squad 51, 10-4. KMG 365."

When they got to the street corner, there was a small group of people trying to help a woman on the ground. Broken grocery bags and food were scattered around her. She was slightly overweight, and in her mid fifties. The paramedics asked people to stand back and Johnny helped the woman lie back down so he could check her more thoroughly. She seemed to be in a lot of discomfort regarding her feet and legs. "They won't hold me up! I can't feel them at all!" the woman wailed to Roy, grabbing at his arm.

"We're gonna take good care of you, ma'am; don't worry now." Johnny wrote down the woman's vital signs, and Roy started feeling her lower legs. "A lot of redness here, Johnny. Swelling and poor circulation." He said to the woman, "I'm going to take off your shoes and socks so we can get a better look at what's going on, okay?" She nodded, biting her lower lip. "What's your name?" he asked kindly as he gently removed her left shoe and sock. "Johnny," he said quietly, and his partner looked over at him and then down at the woman's foot. Several of her toes were tinged a dark bruised green color. "Clarece Franks," the woman responded, trying to wiggle her toes.

John asked her, "Did you have any injury to your foot recently, ma'am?" She shook her head.

"No, but I had some trouble with my toe nails a couple of weeks ago."

Roy asked, "Are you by chance taking insulin on a regular basis?" and she nodded. "Usually twice a day, morning and evening."

Johnny sighed as he turned back to the biophone. "Rampart, we have a female, insulin dependent diabetic, with no pain sensation in either foot. She is unable to stand. She reports difficulties with her toenails a couple of weeks ago. Left foot, possible necrosis visible for several toes, with redness and swelling to the knee."

Roy interrupted him. "Both feet, Johnny."

"Rampart, same presentation on the right foot also." The ambulance pulled up, and the woman made an attempt to rise, but Johnny gently held her down. "You'll be going on a stretcher, Mrs. Franks."

"What about my groceries?"

"I think we'll have to leave them, sorry about that." As he gathered up their equipment, he said quietly in an aside to Roy, "And that's the last walk to the grocery store she'll ever take."

"Yeah, the last walk anywhere."

On their way back from Rampart, Johnny took a deep breath and started to talk. "Roy…"

Roy looked at him with narrowed eyes. "I don't want to fight with you in the squad because it's dangerous, so maybe we should wait till we get back to the station before you say anything, okay?"

Johnny said "Hmm," seeing the wisdom of Roy's statement.

When they pulled in to the barn, Johnny put his hand out to stop Roy getting out of the squad. "Can we talk in here? I don't want the guys to overhear any more than they already have about this."

Roy let go of the door handle. He folded his arms and said curtly, "Sure, that's fair. So, talk."

"Um, Roy, I think you may be right about the way I've been treating Jane lately."

Roy snorted and rolled his eyes. "Amazing!"

"Seriously, though, Roy, I don't know why, but I didn't see it until just before when Cheryl called the station. That girl is seriously bad news!"

"Yeah, and?"

"I really screwed up, didn't I?"

Roy relented his hard attitude. "I don't think so. But you do believe me when I say that there was nothing between me and Jane? Johnny, she's like a sister to me! A little sister, who needed someone to hold her hand when she was hurt. And I swear to you, that's all that happened last night. Really."

"I believe you, Roy. Heck, I would have done the same thing if you'd been treating Joanne like that."

"Except I never would."

"Guess not. Nobody would ever come on to you like that and make you forget yourself."

"Uh, I don't know that nobody would ever come on to me…"

"Yeah, right, Roy. In your dreams," Johnny gave a laugh, his good humor restored.

"No…"

Johnny clapped his hand on his partner's shoulder. "I owe you big time, Roy. It woke me up when I saw you leave with Jane and then found you two alone like that." Roy started to say something, but John interrupted him before he could get a word out.

"No, it could have been someone else comforting her." He winced. "I can see how I thought what I did, and I can see how you thought what you did. It's okay, man. And when I get home tomorrow morning, I'm going to spend some real time with Jane and let her know she's still my girl."

"Well, that's great. I'm glad to hear it. And now can we get out of this squad? I have other things I'd like to do."

"Sure, Roy. And thanks."

"No problem."

Captain Stanley was waiting for them in the doorway of his office. "Everything okay?"

"It's fine, Cap," said Roy.

"Good, good. That's what I want to hear. Keep it that way." He turned back into his office and went to sit down at his desk again.