Bobby POV
I don't know what it is about Sunday nights, but it seems to be our most active night for call-outs.
Although I'm not sure this exactly counts as work.
It is, but it isn't. There are six of us standing on the Whitestone bridge where less than an hour ago, Cecilia's car was forced over the edge.
And for the record, I have to say that she's a real fighter. After the nearly fifty-foot fall, she managed to escape the vehicle and swim to safety.
"How is she?" Alex asked the paramedic when we arrived on-scene. Cecilia was already loaded in the back of the ambulance, but had apparently refused to go anywhere until her boyfriend and his detective friends arrived, and it looked like we were the first, although I half expect Mulder to arrive on foot at any moment, since waiting for Lupo to pick him up is probably killing him.
"Obvious broken right tibia. Right wrist is a maybe. Vitals are good, and she's awake and lucid, but I can't rule out internal injuries," he responded. "We need to get going."
"Five more minutes," I said as I rounded the back of the rig.
"Bobby," Cecilia said, looking grateful at the sight of a friendly face. "And Alex. Thanks for…thanks."
"Mulder should be here in another minute. Lupo's bringing him," I told her as I looked her over, taking note of the myriad of cuts and scratches on her face and arms. "When he gets here, you have to let them take you to the hospital."
"I will," she promised. "I just wanted to tell you what I remember, while it's still fresh, you know?"
Alex smiled at her and moved closer, picking up her uninjured hand.
"We're listening," she encouraged.
"It was black, with a big engine, like a v-8. It had a hood scoop on the front, like a sixties hot rod."
"So you noticed it behind you before it ran you off the road?"
"It caught up to me just before the bridge, and then was riding my ass. I kept wondering why he wouldn't just go around."
"He?"
"Oh, I'm saying he, but I don't know," she admitted, and I'm glad she said that because there's no way she saw the driver, in the dark, through the headlights, so it makes what she does say more plausible. Not that she'd lie on purpose, but sometimes people tend to unknowingly fill in blanks with assumptions.
"He rammed me a few times, pretty hard. He'll have front end damage. That helps you, right?"
Assuming the car isn't abandoned somewhere…and assuming it wasn't stolen to begin with.
"That helps," Alex assured her soothingly, breaking through my pessimistic thought process.
"Definitely," I agreed quickly. "Nice work."
"Thanks," she responded, smiling a little and then wincing as she closed her eyes and let out a slow, shaky breath.
I glanced down at her leg, where it's strapped into a brace and her jeans are cut away and there's quite a bit of blood, and then I looked at her wrist, swollen and misshapen, and in spite of the medic's hesitancy to call it a break, it seems obvious to me.
And yet she's worrying about details and catching the perp rather than herself.
I reached down and patted her good leg, saying gently, "Just relax, Cecilia. You did great."
And then we could hear Mulder calling out her name, and her attention shifted to the open rear doors. I moved out of the way just as he rounded the corner.
"Cilia, thank God," he said as he hopped in the back. He looked like he wanted to hug her, but wasn't sure where to touch her that wouldn't hurt her, so Alex nodded towards the hand she'd been holding and then got out of his way as he took over her spot.
"I'm okay," she assured him, her voice once again strong and sure.
"Impressive," Alex said quietly to me as we headed for the bridge.
"I was thinking she reminds me of you," I admitted.
We both paused as Lupo and Connie hustled to catch up to us, and then I saw Mike and Carolyn's car rolling in, so we suspended the dialogue until they joined us, too, which is where we are now, on the bridge.
"What are we thinking?" Mike asked, after Alex and I brought the others up to speed on Cecilia's condition. "Accident? Or intentional?"
"She said he bumped her several times. Hard to believe that would be accidental, even if the driver was intoxicated," I pointed out.
"And her father is Giovanni Pirelli. That's a hard fact to overlook," Alex said.
"But it's been more than a month since she and Mulder hacked him. Do we really think he even knows about her?"
"Maybe he's always known," I suggested. "Maybe the mother kept him in the loop."
"I doubt that," Carolyn replied. "If she went as far as to use someone else's ID in the hospital, then she wasn't sharing information with her Mafioso one-night stand."
Alex nodded her agreement, and my gaze shifted down to the river, where Cecilia's car is somewhere at the bottom.
"She was complaining about her car the other day," Lupo said quietly, his focus following mine. "She said she had to be the only person in the world who still has crank-down windows."
"They probably saved her life," Connie said. "Power windows would've shorted out, and she could've been stuck inside."
"Which I'm guessing was the idea," Mike mused. "Okay, so…now what? Who else did you call?"
He turned to Lupo as he asked the question, but Lupo shrugged.
"Just you guys. I probably wouldn't have even called you, but I wasn't sure how bad it would be, and I didn't want to be investigating if Mulder needed me because…well, in case she didn't make it," he managed to say.
I can tell he and Connie are both really shaken by this, even though none of us knows Cecilia all that well, but surely it's due to their affection for Mulder. And Lupo, like me and Mike, is probably putting himself in Mulder's shoes, projecting how he'd feel if this happened to Connie. God knows the scenario ran through my mind, with Alex. And we've come close enough to something like this for it to be an easy image to conjure up. Too many close calls. Too many brushes with death.
"Not Bernard?" I asked, surprised that he didn't touch base with his partner.
"Yeah, um…I didn't want him to leave Lauren alone. Although I guess she would've come with him to something like this," he added belatedly, as if it just occurred to him that she would've come, without a doubt.
"So she really pulled the plug on the Flowers' search?" Mike asked.
"It was taking its toll," Lupo stated vaguely. "Anyway, yeah, so I figured since I wasn't calling B, I'd call you." He nodded at me and then added with a smartass half-smile, "And I know how Logan hates to be left out, when it comes to late night call-outs."
"Damn straight," Mike agreed with a grin, and then he put his hand on Lupo's shoulder and said, "Sounds like she's going to be fine, but why don't you guys head over to the hospital to be with Mulder."
"And keep us posted," Alex said as we all hugged them goodbye, and then it was down to just the four of us.
"We need to call the chief," Carolyn said. "And not just for business. Liz will want to know."
"Liz will want to drive like a maniac to the hospital and then bark orders at everyone until she's sure Cecilia's properly taken care of," Mike elaborated, causing all of us to chuckle at the image, knowing he's exactly right, but after our light moment, Alex exhaled a long breath as she shook her head.
"She should be dead," she said quietly. "Going off the bridge, into the river, in the dark…I don't know how she's not dead."
"And since she's not, then we better hurry the hell up and figure out the who and why, before they take another run at her."
"I just don't get it," Carolyn murmured. "She doesn't even live here. Who knew she was visiting Mulder? I mean, even if we're thinking Pirelli, then why would he try the hit here, when he lives in the same city with her?"
"To throw off suspicion?" I tossed out. "Her mother lives in the city."
"So you think she's the one who tried to kill her?" Alex asked me. "Or just that he did it here to make it look like it was Vanessa? And just because Vanessa doesn't want to be her mother doesn't mean she'd try to kill her."
"I know, but…I honestly have no idea," I admitted. "How much do we really know about Cecilia?"
"Not nearly enough," Mike agreed. "Growing up in the system, computers for a living…she could've amassed a few enemies."
"She's a quiet, sweet, almost thirty year old woman who lives alone with her dog," Alex countered. "You really think she has enemies? The kind who might try to kill her?"
Mike shrugged at her, because none of us has the answer.
"She met Mulder a month or so ago. She's been hanging out with some of us," I pointed out.
"And God knows everybody and their brother wants to off us," Mike said sarcastically, once again smiling just a little.
"No, he might be onto something," Carolyn said. "Mulder's working for the FBI now. In a month's time, he certainly could've pissed off the wrong criminal. And if anyone was watching him, they would've seen Cecilia, would've seen her leave his place…"
"It's possible," Alex admitted, then she looked at her watch, surely taking note of the late hour, before nodding to Carolyn and saying encouragingly, "Call the chief."
"Me? Why me?"
"Because it was your idea."
"To call our boss to tell him we're all out working a case that isn't a Major Case?" she retorted. "I think that should've been on all of our minds."
"But you said it out loud."
"You're his favorite."
"Are you kidding me?" Alex laughed, while Mike and I stood back and enjoyed the friendly bickering, the release of tension and stress through the back-and-forth.
"No, she's right," Mike said. "Of all of us, you're the only one he never disliked."
"Oh my God," she said with a roll of her eyes as she pulled out her phone.
Funny thing is, it's an old argument that has no merit anymore. It's not like calling Ross is going to create any friction. More likely, he'll put Liz in a car and drop her at the hospital and then he'll come out here himself to assist. As chiefs go, he's the best one yet. And of course, I honestly like the man. All of us do.
"I'll do it," I said as I plucked her phone from her hand.
She looked at me in surprise, a small smile on her face, and then she said smartly, "Dear Diary…today, Bobby willingly called the boss…"
"Ha ha," I deflected, and then because I can, I leaned over and stole a quick kiss before dialing the number.
"Breaking the Goren rule," Mike admonished. "Let me talk to the boss."
I turned away from him, keeping the phone from his grasp, just as Ross answered.
"You must have ESP, Mrs. Goren," he said, clearly not having been awakened by the ringing of his phone.
"It's actually Mr. Eames," I joked, and then I suddenly felt bad for joking, considering where we are, and yet…why shouldn't we be happy? Like we said, it's a miracle that she wasn't killed, so we should celebrate in the fact that she only has a broken leg.
Of course, then it hit me what he said about ESP, but before I could ask, he responded.
"Uh oh," he groaned. "Bobby Goren, calling me on a Sunday night. This can't be good."
"It's not," I agreed, and then I added in a rambling manner, "I mean, it could be worse, and it's surprising it's not worse, but it's still not great, although…"
"Give me the damn phone, Bobby," Alex said, grabbing onto my arm to pull my hand down to within her reach, and then she took her phone from me and spoke to Ross, quickly and efficiently giving him all of the particulars.
"He said something about ESP," I told her quietly as she listened to his response, so then she asked him about it, and then she mouthed case to me.
"You guys are on call tonight?" Mike asked me.
I nodded in response, and after another moment, Alex handed her phone to Carolyn.
"He wants them to work it," she said to me while Carolyn talked to Ross. "A body washed up in Coney Island Creek Park. He's having the officers hold the scene until we get there."
"Okay," I said, turning once more to look at the river, because as usual, I hate walking away during the middle of something, and yet I'm not going to put up a fuss about it. Ross wouldn't ask us to take the new murder if it weren't important, and I certainly trust Mike and Carolyn to get the job done here.
"And Bobby," she added, reaching out to touch my arm, calling my focus back to her. "There's no ID on the victim, but she had your card in her pocket."
TBC...
Next Up: Lupo