Chapter 35
Kelly groaned as the alarm went off.
He could seriously kill Hollywood for planning his wedding on a night when Black Watch had to work the next day.
He'd only had about six hours of sleep...and he'd had a few too many at the bar.
But at least three quarters of the company was in the same boat he was.
He reached out and smacked the alarm clock, trying to connect with the snooze bar. Once he found it he sat up, groaning again as he did.
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Veronica wondered what time it was. She had been on the bathroom floor all night. She hadn't dared to turn on the light for fear Trey might see it under the door. At least in the dark he'd left her alone. The air in the tiny room was so stale it was choking her...but she hadn't dared run the fan. And her mouth was parched...she had dried blood on her face and in her hair...and her left eye was swollen shut. But again, she didn't dare turn on the water.
This was what being locked in a dungeon...or a cellar...or falling into a deep pit must feel like. If she wasn't so terrified and if she wasn't in pain...she might use this in a story. But right now make-believe was the farthest thing from her mind.
The light was beginning to come through the frosted window. Any moment, Trey would be getting up to go to the firehouse. He'd have to open the door...he'd have to use the bathroom and shower. What would he do?
There was a time when she would have fantasized that he'd look at her...see what he'd done...and felt immediately remorseful. He'd help her up, tenderly clean her wounds...maybe he'd even call in and take her to the hospital, where he'd sit at her bedside and beg for her forgiveness.
But now she knew better.
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The shower didn't do much to help him wake up...and he'd swallowed down a couple of Aleve for his headache. There was nothing left to do but go downstairs.
Alyssa had coffee ready.
What was it Hermann said every time she came to the firehouse with something to eat?
'God bless that woman...'
"Morning..." he growled, as he took his coffee and sat down at the table.
Alyssa came up behind him and began to massage his neck and shoulders.
"Ohhhhh..." Kelly groaned as she hit just the right spot. "That feels so good."
"You gonna be okay today?" she asked softly.
"I don't really have a choice." he said. "I'm a little short on leave time...and we said we wanted to take the kids to Cedar Pointe next month."
They had done a big vacation at the beginning of April...when they went to the Bahamas...but he wanted to get away at least once during the summer. And the amusement park over in Ohio looked like it had something for everyone. They were planning to go with Joey and EmmaLynn and the kids...so everybody would have plenty of company and each couple might even get a night to themselves. That was the current plan, anyway.
Hopefully it would be an easy shift.
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"What's the game plan around here?"
"Jose is taking the boys to Great America..." Lyssa said.
Jose Vargas had been retired for about fifteen years after he breathed in toxic fumes on the job...and it had lead to the discovery of COPD. It had ended his career...but as long as he took care of himself it didn't slow him down. He was always over, helping Kelly with projects...and taking Andy and Jesse to camp when Kelly had to work...or taking them to ball games...bowling...and their annual kick-off to summer, a trip to Great America.
"And Mouch is taking the girls to that new exhibit at the Children's Museum."
As much as he loved Andy and Jesse, Mouch had a real soft spot for Maggie and Lexi. He was taking them to an exhibit called "The Streets of Yester-year"...where they had built city "blocks" of about three to four "buildings" each to represent different periods in history...the seventeen hundreds, the eighteen hundreds, early nineteen hundreds...the forties and the fifties... the seventies and eighties...right up to today. There were about ten "blocks" in total. And the kids could go in and interact with actors...stack the pretend goods, work the machines, make pretend ice cream sodas...whatever. Maggie would probably love it.
"So you've got the place to yourself..." Kelly teased. "You're prob'ly gonna stuff yourself on chocolates, read trashy romance books...watch soap-operas..."
Like Lyssa had ever done any of that stuff...
"Oh...damn...you figured it out..." she teased right back.
He looked over at the clock...
"I gotta go, Babe." he told her...his voice heavy with regret.
Alyssa stepped back to let him get up...and when he did, he turned around and took her in his arms.
"You know...after looking at my wife last night...all dressed up..." he said as he looked deeply into her eyes, and softly traced one finger down her cheek. "Havin' to spend the next twenty-four hours with a bunch 'a sweaty firefighters...that's cruel and unusual punishment."
"Sweaty firefighters can have a certain charm..." Lyssa told him with a wicked gleam in her eye. "Especially one in particular..."
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The sun was up now.
It had to be close to seven...maybe even past.
Veronica pressed her ear to the bathroom door, straining to catch some sound...anything to tell her what Trey was doing.
She thought she heard movement...water running. Whatever it was he was being unnaturally quiet.
Finally, she heard the front door...she was certain of it. But what if it was a trick? What if Trey called in sick or something...and was just laying in wait?
Veronica drew a trembling breath...telling herself to get it together. She had to think clearly if she was going to get herself out of this. She knew no one was coming to help her. The other apartment on their floor was empty...had been for months and months. The two tenants who lived on two...one was a man who drove a truck, so he was gone at all sorts of crazy hours. The other was a woman who was starting her own restaurant...and she might as well live there.
The first floor was occupied by an old woman who never went anywhere...she never even opened the door. And the last apartment was the super's...and he was usually drunk.
She began counting...slowly. She'd count to six hundred...that would be ten minutes. If she didn't hear anything after ten minutes, she'd come out. One...two...three...four...five...six...
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The team got through roll call...and set about getting squared away for the rest of the shift.
All the men were moving at half speed...Casey, Mills...Hermann...Clarke. Everyone had had a little too much fun the night before.
The men of Station 51 weren't about to let all that top shelf liquor go to waste.
Wilson seemed unnaturally quiet. Even though everyone was still giving him the cold shoulder, he usually tried to engage them. More of those 'Daddy issues'...'did you see what I did?'. Or else he was bitching and moaning about something or another.
Whatever it was...it was getting old. In fact...it had long past its expiration date.
Severide couldn't help but notice...the marks on his face. Three distinct parallel lines, and the hint of a fourth. Kelly knew what those marks were from. He'd been gouged by someone's nails before.
What had happened to the Candidate? Did it have something to do with Veronica? Had she finally fought back? And what had he done to her?
He also noticed Wilson was keeping his right hand hidden from view. Why? Was something wrong with it? Maybe he was trying to hide bruised knuckles...like from a fight?
Severide caught the Candidate's eye...and the hard look he saw sent a chill right down his spine.
He pushed himself up out of his chair to go find Casey. And the two of them would get to the bottom of whatever this was.
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"Truck 81...Ambulance 61...Squad 3...traffic accident...Clark and Narragansett..."
There was a collective groan as the men ran to get into their gear and on the trucks.
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Five hundred ninety seven...five hundred ninety eight...five hundred ninety nine...six hundred.
Veronica took another breath...to gather her courage. Then she popped the lock and grabbed the doorknob with her left hand. Her right was useless...her wrist was swollen and her fingers were numb.
She turned the knob...nothing. Nothing happened. She pulled on the door, but it didn't budge. She pulled with all her might...even bracing her right arm against the door frame. But it was no use. She was trapped.
She ran to the sink and tore frantically trough the medicine cabinet and the storage space underneath...trying to find something...anything...she could use to help her get out. But there was nothing there. Nothing at all.
Think...she told herself...think.
She turned on the cold water and gulped down four cups of water...then soaked a hand towel in the water and wrapped it around her wrist.
The cold brought some relief...it felt good anyway...but she needed a lot more than a cold compress.
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Now that her thirst was abated, she was a little more focused.
The door was out. Whatever Trey had jammed in there was holding fast. The odds of someone hearing her if she screamed were slim to none. She had to get out of the bathroom. She had to get out. If Trey came back...and she was still alive...he'd kill her for sure. She knew that. He'd kill her if for no other reason than to show that he held the absolute power over her.
There was only one way out.
The window.
She clambered into the huge claw foot tub. The window was nailed shut. Trey had driven two long, heavy nails into the lower edges of the narrow window...three months ago when he had turned the apartment into her prison.
Had it really been that long? Had it really been that long since she'd seen or talked to another human being? God...what had happened to her? How had she turned into this? How? Why?
Stop it...she told herself. Panicking wouldn't get her out of there.
She went back to the medicine cabinet to look for something heavy...to no avail. A can of shaving cream was the heaviest thing she found...and that sure as hell wouldn't break the glass.
It was hopeless.
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She sank down in the tub and drew her knees up tight. It hurt her stomach and her ribs where he had kicked her...but she didn't care. What did it matter?
She thought of the contents of the medicine cabinet again. Mouthwash...aspirin...Motrin...vitamins. Allergy tablets. Would all that stuff together be enough of a lethal cocktail to kill her? If she took everything in the medicine cabinet would she go to sleep and never wake up?
If she did, what would he do with her? Would he call the police? Or would he do what he'd always threatened...put her out with the trash. Would they discover who she was? And track down her family?
She thought of her mom and dad...and her brother and sister...her grandma. Would they ever know? Would they ever even find out she was dead? Or would she end up in a pauper's grave...with no record of who she was?
But suddenly she remembered something...something Trey had obviously never noticed...or he had forgotten about.
Veronica scrambled out of the tub and over to the sink. She pulled open the doors below and started yanking out the extra toilet paper, the extra shampoo and soap...the toilet bowl cleaner. Finally, she reached though to the very back of the cabinet and her left hand closed around the hard, cold metal of a crescent wrench.
She lifted the heavy tool and drew it to her. It was old and a little rusty. It had been there a long time...since before she had moved in. She suspected it had been left behind by the previous tenants...maybe even the ones before that.
It didn't matter who it belonged to...it was hers now. And it was going to get her out of here!
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Squad 3 pulled up on the scene of the accident.
Standard fare...three cars. The southbound car had t-boned an eastbound car, pinning the passengers in. Then another car had hit the eastbound one, compacting it and wedging it in tight.
The truck guys were already moving from vehicle to vehicle, assessing the condition of the passengers.
"Hey! Severide!" Casey called out. "Over here!"
Kelly ran over to the passenger side of an old Chevy sedan. The must have been eight people crammed in there...mostly young kids, ranging from young teens to toddlers. There was a woman...Kelly guessed she was the mom...with her head at an odd angle and a kid in her lap screaming bloody murder.
"Agonal breathing in the female..." Casey told him. "The kid's right leg's pinned."
Great. They were gonna have to start in the middle.
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"Clarke!" he yelled. "Mills! K-12's! Peel back this top!"
He stuck his head in the window.
"How 'bout you guys?" he asked the kids in the back. "Anybody hurt?"
About four of them started talking at once.
"My foot's stuck under the seat!" a boy about Andy and Jesse's age said.
"My arm's hurt...and my body!" another said from across the seat.
"Jada's not talkin!" a little girl said.
Kelly looked.
There was a girl...maybe eight or nine...staring straight ahead...not moving...nothing.
"Jada!" he said loudly. "Can you hear me?"
The girl started to shake.
"She's doin' it again!" the other girl cried out.
"She's got epilepsy." the oldest boy said. "She has seizures almost every day."
"Has she had any since the accident?" Severide asked.
"This'll be three..."
Shit!
"Shay! Dawson!" He yelled. "We got an epileptic kid havin' a grand mal seizure!"
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Severide ran around to the driver's side and yanked the door open.
Damn thing almost fell off! This hunk 'a junk probably wasn't even street legal...and if they didn't work fast it would be end of this family.
The driver...a man in his maybe early thirties...was dazed and bleeding from a head wound.
"Hey!" Kelly yelled at him. "We're gonna get you outta here."
"Chest..." the man said weakly. "Chest hurts like a bitch..."
Kelly put his hand on the victim's chest wall.
"Aaahhh..." the man gasped.
Crunchy feeling...massive injury.
What else could go wrong over here?
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Shay came up beside him.
"Whaddya got?" she asked.
"Flail chest...head wound...probably internal injuries."
In other words, nothing good.
"We got it." Leslie told him.
Clarke and Mills were cutting through the metal on either side of the windshield.
"We got it, Lieutenant..." Mills yelled.
Severide jumped in there and the three plus Tony began to peel back the top of the car...just like a sardine can.
In the distance Kelly could hear more sirens coming. Reinforcements...extra ambos...he hoped it was enough. They had three critically injured in this car alone. He had no idea what was going on in the other two.
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Veronica stepped back into the tub and heaved the heavy wrench into the window. And even though she was expecting it, she screamed when the glass shattered. Shards went flying in every direction...outside, raining down into the alley way...in the tub with her. She knocked the jagged pieces away as best she could...and stepped carefully over to the window sill.
She stuck her head out, and got her first glimpse of the outside since...she didn't know. Too long.
To her right was the fire escape. Technically it was outside the bedroom...but if she leaned out the bathroom window and really stretched, she could touch it. And that's what she had to do.
Ignoring her broken wrist...she stretched out and her finger tips were just able to skim the metal rail. Biting her lip against the pain, she forced her fingers to curl around the bar and grab hold.
Gathering her courage she got the rest of her up onto the sill. The tub was slick...and she knew she had cut her bare feet on the glass. But that couldn't matter...she only had this one chance.
Pushing off the sill with her left foot as hard as she could, she grabbed the metal rail of the fire escape and pulled herself up so her left arm was over the top. She quickly shifted her grip and inch by inch she pulled and pulled...adjusted...and pulled again.
It seemed like forever...her feet dangling three stories above the alley...but it was prob'ly just a minute or two. Veronica grunted and groaned from the pain and the exertion but she managed somehow to pull herself over the rail and tumbled head first onto the fire escape.
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She lay there for a minute...pain paralyzing her...then she looked up at the sky. She was out. She was free.
She took a deep breath and using her left hand hauled herself to her feet. She leaned heavily against the rail as she walked around to the ladder. She'd have to drop it from the third floor down to the second...and she grabbed a rung. It was heavy...and she couldn't move it with just the one hand. So again, steeling herself against the pain she grabbed hold with her right hand as well and was able to lift the ladder from its latched position and drop it to the lower level.
She climbed down slowly, carefully. Besides her wrist...she was dizzy. That's what happened when you were forced to stay awake for days...not able to take in proper nutrition...and living in a state of constant terror.
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Veronica's bloody feet touched down on the second level, and she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass. What she saw caused her to gasp...it was that frightening. She was gaunt and she knew she was pale. Her left eye was indeed swollen shut and her cheek puffed out like she was storing nuts for the winter. Her jaw hung slack...that was the most tolerable position and her hair was a fright.
Her blouse was torn and tattered and her jeans were ripped down the right thigh.
She looked like something out of a horror film.
She debated trying to get into one of the apartments. Maybe there was someone home...someone that would call 911. But she didn't really know anyone...she didn't know if she could trust them.
There was only one person she knew would help her...and she had to get there.
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The last ambulance pulled away from the scene with the last victim.
What a morning...between the three cars there were thirteen people...ten of whom were injured.
Hadn't anybody ever heard of seatbelts?
The flatbeds arrived to haul away the cars...and the cops would look 'em over to see if there were any mechanical issues that had figured into the crash. But most likely it was a combination of stupidity and 'me first'.
And Severide had caught a whiff of alcohol on the dad's breath from the overcrowded Chevy.
They were cleaning up...so traffic could get moving again...when Casey came up to Kelly.
"Just heard over the radio...that mom didn't make it. She died en route to Stroger."
Kelly sucked in his breath. Not the thing you wanted to hear on a Sunday morning.
And now seven kids were motherless.
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Casey turned to go.
"Hey..." Kelly said to him. "What's Wilson doin'?"
"Sweepin' up, why?"
Kelly looked around to make sure no one was listening.
"Did you get a load 'a his face? Those scratches? And back at the house...he was hidin' his right hand." Severide said in a low voice. "I think somethin' went down with Veronica."
"Like what?"
"I dunno...but we should maybe go check on her." Kelly told him. "Or send somebody."
Casey was silent for a moment...then he nodded affirmatively.
"All right." he said. "As soon as we get back, you and me'll take a ride."
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Veronica hit the ground and crumpled to the pavement.
She had made it...made it down three stories on the fire escape...and she was in the alley behind her building. She hadn't been outside in months...not even to take out the trash. That was one chore Trey took upon himself to do...even though he bitched and made horrible comments about how someone like him shouldn't be handling the trash. But he was too afraid she might run away. Why, she wasn't sure. It's not like he loved her and couldn't live without her. Now she realized it was either that he needed to beat up on her, physically and emotionally in order to build himself up into whatever twisted image he had made. Or he was afraid she'd go to the police and he'd get in trouble.
She pushed herself to her feet and looked around to get her bearings. Then she started down the alley.
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There was no one on the side street as she wobbled and weaved...just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. She made her way toward Irving Park...and then she'd cross over. She'd take Meade to Byron...and then...
Then what?
She'd just show up at Alyssa and Kelly's door? What would happen when the kids saw her? Wait...what day was it? Would they be there? Would they be frightened by her horrible appearance? What would Alyssa say?
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Once she got onto the main street there were people. Some stopped and stared...some got the hell out of her way.
A man came up to her and grabbed her arm.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "Do you need help?"
Veronica looked at him, her eyes wide with fear. She didn't know him...
No...she shook her head.
She just wanted to get to Alyssa and Kelly's house. She wasn't far...
She pulled her arm from the stranger and continued to walk down Irving Park Road...
She staggered into the street...and she heard some car horns. She didn't have the light...but she couldn't stop moving. She had to keep going. If she stopped, she'd fall down. One foot in front of the other...one foot in front of the other. That's what she kept telling herself.
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Squad 3 pulled into Station 51.
Severide jumped down from his seat and shrugged off his coat. God that thing was a bitch in the summer. After two and a half...actually closer to three hours outside in full gear, he was dripping in sweat. One look around...and he sure wasn't the only one.
He shoved his pants down until he could step out of them. Then he followed twenty other sweaty firefighters to the locker room to shower.
And then he and Casey would take a little field trip.
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Who could be ringing the doorbell? Alyssa wondered as she came from the laundry room.
Most people they knew came around the back...and the door was usually opened...at least during the day when the kids were running in and out.
She opened the front door...and when she saw who was there...she gasped and jumped back.
But she quickly recovered from the shock.
"Oh my God! Veronica!" she cried. "What'd that bastard do to you?"
Veronica's voice sounded strange...her words weren't forming quite right.
"Lyssa...help me? Please help me?"
Alyssa held out her arms to the girl and brought her inside.
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Kelly had just finished getting dressed and he grabbed his keys from the top shelf of his locker. Just as his hand closed around them, his phone went off.
Forever...It's forever...this time I know it, there's no doubt in my mind...
"Lyssa?" he said. "What's goin' on?"
He listened to what she had to say...and he could feel the blood draining from his face.
"I'm on my way..." he said, before he ended the call.
Everybody stopped what they were doing and stared at him as he grabbed his keys and ran out the door.