Chapter 36
Kelly stepped up to the desk.
"Yeah...a friend of mine was brought in?" he said. "Veronica Tabor?"
The clerk punched a couple buttons on her computer.
"Trauma One."
Trauma?
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Severide jogged down the hall and hit the switch plate to open the double doors.
The moment he stepped into the ER he saw his wife, standing outside the closed door to the Trauma Room, hugging herself to keep from coming apart.
"Lyssa!"
The moment she heard his voice, she flew into his arms.
Kelly hugged her tight...tangling his fingers in her hair...pulling her as close as he could.
"Thank God you're here..." she whispered.
"What the hell happened?"
She had been so upset when she called him...all he could make out was 'Veronica' and 'hospital'.
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Now he led her over to two chairs against the wall, out of the way. She was shaky as she took a seat and Kelly knelt down in front of her.
He took her hand in his and with the pad of his thumb he rubbed gentle circles across the back.
"Now...tell me." he said.
Lyssa drew a ragged breath...and tried to collect her thoughts.
Since the minute Veronica showed up, she'd been running on auto-pilot. She hadn't even gotten an explanation...she put her arms around the girl, and led her through the dining room...out to the kitchen...stopped to grab a couple ice packs and towels...her purse...and she hustled Veronica out the back door into the car.
She'd driven to the ER...and called Kelly on the way.
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"I don't really know..." she said. "I was doin' laundry...and the doorbell rang...and it was Veronica."
She looked up at her husband, tears in her eyes.
"Honey...she looked horrible...all skin and bones...she was covered in blood. Her wrist is broken...I'm sure her jaw is too. Her eye was swollen shut. Her clothes were torn to pieces...she had a huge chunk of her hair torn out!"
Kelly slowly got to his feet and then he sat down beside his wife.
He draped his arm around her shoulders...completely in shock. On the one hand, he was glad Veronica was out...that she was someplace safe. But what Alyssa was describing...
His blood boiled with anger...his stomach churned...and he was ready to go back to 51 and tear the sonofabitch limb from limb. Let him see what it's like to be the victim...
Alyssa must have read his mind.
"Kelly...we need to let the police handle this. We tried it the other way...but now he's gone too far."
She was right.
Wilson hadn't changed...he was never gonna change.
They had to stop him so he couldn't do this ever again...to anyone.
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A doctor stepped out of the room and into the hall and Kelly and Alyssa got to their feet.
"Are you here for Veronica?" the doctor asked.
"Yeah...I'm Kelly Severide...and this is my wife Alyssa."
"I'm Dr. West, Chief Resident. Do you know if she's got any family?"
"She does...but I don't know how to contact them." Alyssa began.
"She lived in our house for three months." Kelly interrupted. "She's family to us."
Alyssa nodded in agreement.
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"What'd he do to her?" she asked.
"Do you know who did this?" Dr. West asked. "We haven't been able to get much out of her."
"Yeah." Kelly said. "Her boyfriend. His name's Trey Wilson...he's a Candidate at Station 51, where I work."
The doctor wiped his hand down his face.
What had happened to this woman was brutal. He'd seen people shot...stabbed...burned. He'd seen people come in in pieces after a car wreck. But it was these kind of cases...where someone had beaten another person with their bare hands...stood toe to toe with them...looked them in the eyes...and their weapons were their fists.
"Do you think she'll press charges?" he asked.
"We'll see to it." Kelly said. "This isn't the first time he's hit her...but I guarantee, it's the last."
"Doctor...please." Alyssa said. "What's wrong with her?"
Dr. West shook his head slowly.
It was a long list.
"Your friend's in bad shape." he said finally. "She has multiple fractures...radius and the ulna...left mandible...that's the lower jaw."
"I know..." Alyssa said. "Go on."
"She has what's called a blow-out fracture of the left orbit...that's..."
"I know." Alyssa said again.
It was all too familiar.
She felt Kelly stiffen beside her.
"She's got two broken ribs...and there's evidence of healed fractures as well." the doctor said. "She's also suffering from malnutrition...dehydration...we're going to admit her."
Alyssa and Kelly both felt sick.
"Can we see her?" he asked.
Dr. West nodded his consent, and Kelly and Alyssa stepped warily into the Trauma Room.
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Veronica looked like she was asleep...and if it wasn't for the beeping of the heart monitor, Kelly would have thought she was dead.
It was worse than he thought.
He heard his wife let out a choked, tortured sound...and he immediately wrapped her in a tight hug.
"Shhh..."he whispered. "It's okay."
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The two approached the cot.
"Veronica?" Alyssa said in a trembling voice. "Veronica? It's Alyssa and Kelly..."
Slowly, Veronica opened her right eye, and struggled to focus on her friends standing in front of her. She felt numb. Between the pain killers that had been pushed into her...and finally, finally letting go of the tension...coming out of 'survival' mode...she was floating away.
"Hi..." she whispered weakly.
Tears were welling up in Alyssa's eyes...and Kelly's too.
This was too much...he thought. Wilson was going to pay for this...one way or another.
"Veronica..." Lyssa said. "We have to call the police."
The girl drew in a sharp breath...and winced in pain.
"There's no other way."Alyssa told her. "And you can do this. You can. You're strong."
But Veronica wasn't so sure.
"Stay with me?" she mumbled.
"We're not goin' anywhere." Kelly assured her.
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Even though it hurt to talk...and it hurt to hear it...Veronica told them the whole story. Everything that had happened since she had left their house and gone back to Trey.
When she was ready, Kelly went outside and approached Dr. West, who was sitting at the nurse's station.
"She wants to talk to the cops." Kelly said. "She's ready to press charges."
Dr. West grabbed the phone.
He wanted to make the call before his patient changed her mind.
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They moved Veronica to another treatment room...somewhere a little quieter...with a little more privacy. And a little while later there was a knock on the door.
Dr. West came in with a Chicago Police Officer.
"Veronica...this is Officer Stephanie Diamante. She'd like to talk to you for a bit if that's okay."
"Can my friends stay with me?" Veronica asked.
Officer Diamante smiled gently.
"Of course." she replied. "Whatever makes you feel the most comfortable."
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Kelly felt Alyssa breathe a sigh of relief.
Officer Diamante had an easy, gentle look about her, she had a soft voice, and kind eyes.
He remembered when the police had actually come to take Alyssa's statement...all those years ago. They had sent two male officers...a younger guy who wasn't so bad...but the senior officer was from the old school...and you could tell he was at least partially blaming her for what had happened.
Kelly had stayed in the room...holding onto Lyssa's hand even though the senior officer tried repeatedly to get him out. They had had words...and Severide was about three seconds from doing something that probably would have gotten him arrested. Only the sight of Alyssa...looking so terrified and so vulnerable...had kept him in check. She needed him...and he wouldn't have left her at that moment for all the money in the world.
He could tell that's what his wife was thinking about too.
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"Why don't you tell me a little about you first?" Officer Diamante said, taking a seat on a stool and sliding close to Veronica's bedside. "Take your time...and if you're getting tired we can take a break."
She took out her phone.
"Do you mind if I record this?" she asked. "That way I don't have to stop and take notes...we can just talk."
Veronica nodded slowly.
The young officer was quickly winning her trust.
The story tumbled out...agonizing piece by piece...and it was about as painful to listen to as it probably was for Veronica to tell it.
Just to think that she had been locked in that apartment...padlocked no less. It was like something out of horror film...and Kelly was sick to think that this had been going on...when Wilson was right there in front of him...and he hadn't had a clue.
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Alyssa tightened her grip around him...both for him as well as for herself.
But the last part was the worst.
"He came out of the bedroom..." Veronica said in a tired voice.
Talking all this time was painful...but once she started, the words poured out of her, like water rushing over a dam. She couldn't stop.
"He found my suitcase...with all the notebooks..."
"What notebooks?" Officer Diamante asked.
"All the notebooks I kept." she said. "All the stories I wrote. He got rid of my computer...so I wouldn't have any distractions."
She shifted on the bed...grimacing in pain as she did.
"Trey said he was the only thing I should be thinking about...that he was my whole world...and every thought I had should be him. How could I please him? What did I have to do to meet his every need? How could I make myself into his perfect servant?"
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Kelly turned around and walked out.
He didn't want to. He wanted to be there for Veronica...and for Alyssa...who was having as hard a time as he was stomaching this...this...narcissistic bullshit. But if he didn't get out of there...and get some control...Kelly knew he was gonna hit something.
At least until he could get back to the firehouse and hit someone.
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Veronica saw Kelly leave...and for a minute she panicked.
What if he didn't believe her?
But then she looked at Alyssa ...and saw the tears running down her friend's cheeks. And she knew Lyssa believed her...knew she was telling the truth. Lyssa had known what kind of man Trey was all along.
She took a slow, deep breath...as deep as she could...and went on.
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"But you can't just turn your mind off...you can't just stop thinking...so I bought notebooks...at the dollar store...on sale at Walgreens...whenever I could get some money out of Trey...and I wrote my stories out long-hand. I wrote dozens of 'em...and I had almost a hundred notebooks full.
"And when he found 'em...he dragged the whole thing into the living room and he dumped 'em on the floor. He was screaming..."How could you? How could you do this to me?"...Like it was all about him...everything's gotta be all about him!"
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Kelly slipped back into the room again...a little more in control now.
Just in time to hear about the grand finale.
"He started to tear up the notebooks...and I just snapped. It was like he was tearing me apart...like he was destroying me! All these months...whenever Trey hit me...I just...kinda floated off someplace else...and it was like he was doing it to someone else. But those stories...those are me! And I couldn't float away!"
"So what did you do, Veronica?" Officer Diamante asked softly.
This was the hardest part about her job...but it was the reason she became a cop in the first place.
"I just snapped...I scratched his face..."
So that explained the gouges...Severide thought.
"And then what happened?" Officer Diamante said.
"That's when he grabbed my arms...but I managed to pull one away...and he had a hold of my right arm...and he was bending it...and I felt the bones breaking!"
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Alyssa put her hands to her face...covering it so Veronica couldn't see.
Veronica had to tell the story...she had to get it all out so they could arrest Trey and throw him in the deepest, darkest hole they could find...to make him pay for what he had done. She couldn't see what this was doing to Alyssa...that it was forcing her to relive the night she was attacked.
Kelly could see...he knew...and he crossed the room to take Lyssa in his arms again.
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"And then what?" Officer Diamante prompted.
"Then he hit me...and threw me on the floor. He kicked me...over and over...he kicked me...and he ripped my hair out...it was finally growing back...and he just tore it out with his bare hands!"
Her breath was coming hard and fast...and her eyes...well, her right eye anyway was wild with fear.
"He smacked me across the face with the notebook...the spiral...it cut me...and he asked if I thought I was better than him...because I went to college."
Officer Diamante reached out to her...and gently covered Veronica's left hand with her right.
This girl had been through hell.
It never failed to blow her mind how these men...in the loosest possible connotation of the word...could be so built up with self-importance...only to cover up their own sense of self loathing.
Veronica was better than this guy...Trey...she was worth a thousand of him.
Now she just had to get to a place where she could believe it. And this was the first step.
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"I called him a coward..." she whispered..."And he kicked me in the teeth...literally..."
"How did you get away?"
"I managed to crawl into the bathroom...I crawled in there and I locked the door...I thought he'd break it down...but he didn't. I stayed in there all night...and when I thought he was gone I tried to get out...but he'd jammed the door.
"So I broke the window...and I climbed down the fire escape! Then I walked to Alyssa and Kelly's house."
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She'd walked a little over a mile...ten blocks...injured and bleeding...with no shoes on. She had crossed a major city street...four lanes of traffic...to get to the Severide's.
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Shortly after Veronica had finished her statement, a resident and two nurses came to take her upstairs.
Alyssa stroked the girl's head while they waited for the elevator.
"I'll be up in just a few minutes." she told her friend.
Veronica nodded...and Kelly and Lyssa watched the elevator doors close.
Then they turned to Officer Diamante.
"So what happens now?" Kelly asked.
The young officer linked her thumbs over her belt...and looked up at Severide.
"I go back to the precinct, and I'll write up the complaint. Then I will personally hand it to my captain...and stand there till he signs it. And once he does...I'll be over to arrest the sonofabitch."
Severide nodded.
"Sounds good." he said. "He'll be down at the firehouse...and twenty firefighters'll make sure he's ready and waitin' for you."
Officer Diamante smiled.
"I shouldn't say this...but I'm gonna really enjoy puttin' this guy in handcuffs."
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Severide knocked on the door to Chief Boden's office.
"Enter!"
Kelly opened the door and stepped inside.
"Chief..."
"You better have a damn good reason for runnin' out like that." Boden said.
"Oh...I do. Believe me." Severide told him as he pulled a chair back. "You're gonna wanna sit down for this.
Boden took his seat behind his desk...an uneasy feeling washing over him.
The tension at the house was reaching a point where something was going to have to happen...and it wasn't gonna be pretty. It had been that way ever since the lieutenants had uncovered Wilson's deep, dark secret. But since they'd lost Capp...a damn good firefighter...a brother...and the Candidate had come back from his medical furlough...the situation had become almost untenable.
It was no way to have to work...the job was stressful enough.
And even though the men had reluctantly agreed that they should keep Wilson around...if for no other reason than to keep an eye on him...Boden had put in a call to the top brass as soon as they got back from moppin' up that car accident. He wanted that SOB out of his house.
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"What's goin' on?" the Chief asked.
"I think we better get Casey in here." Severide said.
Boden sighed and reached for his phone.
"Connie...could you page Lieutenant Casey please? Ask him to report to my office."
He hung up.
"Can you give me a preview, at least?" he said.
"Wilson."
That was all that needed to be said.
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Casey joined them in the office and Severide got down to business.
"I'm sorry I just took off like that, Chief..."he said. "Lyssa called me...and Veronica showed up at our house. She was all bloody...her wrist was broken...her jaw...eye swollen shut. Her clothes were torn to pieces...she didn't have any shoes!"
Boden gripped the arms of his chair till his knuckles turned white.
Forget transferring Wilson...he was done. And Boden was gonna make good on that promise to kick him to the curb.
"Anyway..." Severide continued. "Lyssa rushed the girl over to Lakeshore...and she called me."
He took a deep breath.
"Chief...it was worse...worse that I could have imagined." he said. "He locked her in their apartment...padlocked the door from the outside. Nailed the windows shut! This'd been goin on for months! And last night...he beat her up...and she managed to get into the bathroom. He jimmied the door somehow from the outside...and she had to break a window and climb three stories down the fire escape."
"My God..." Casey said in utter disbelief.
Kelly nodded.
"The hospital...they called the cops...and Veronica made a statement. And Officer Diamante...that's the cop who took it...she's comin' down to pick him up as soon as the captain signs the order. We just gotta keep an eye on him till she gets here."
"With pleasure." Casey told him.
"You two go get him...I'm gonna call the brass." Boden said, reaching for the phone again.
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The two Lieutenants went out to the common room...the whole team was there...except for Wilson.
"Where is he?" Severide asked.
"Who knows?" Hermann said.
"Who cares?" Cruz added.
"I'll go find 'im." Casey said. "You bring 'em up to speed."
And Casey went off in search of there soon to be dismissed Candidate.
Make that soon to be arrested.
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"What's goin on?" Hermann asked.
"The cops are comin' to arrest him." Severide said. "He beat Veronica last night...broke her wrist, her jaw...ribs...eye socket...she's in the hospital right now. But it gets even better. He's been holdin' her prisoner for months...lockin' her in their apartment from the outside. She had to break a window and climb down the fire escape to get over to my house."
"You're shittin' us." Clarke said.
"I wish to God I was..." Severide told him. "I wish to God I was."
"That no-good sonofabitch..." Hermann muttered.
But those words weren't nearly strong enough...
"What're we gonna do?" Cruz wanted to know.
"We're gonna hold him here..." Severide said. "We're gonna keep him right here till the cops get here."
"What if we get a call?" Otis asked.
"Boden's handling it." Severide said.
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Wilson knew something was wrong the minute he saw Lieutenant Casey walkin' toward him...and when he said the men wanted to see him in the common room, every instinct the Candidate had was to run.
But he walked in front of Casey...and as soon as he stepped in to the room, Cruz and Hermann blocked the door.
Clarke and Mills were blocking the door to the locker room...and a couple of the Engine guys were blocking the door that led to the office.
"What's goin' on?" Wilson asked warily.
Severide shook his head.
"Nothin'...just hangin' out..."
"Yeah...just shootin' the shit..." Hermann added. "So you were sayin', Lieutenant...Lyssa had a visitor this mornin'?"
"Yeah...someone she hadn't seen in months and months." Kelly said.
Wilson felt the blood drain from his face.
They were talking about Veronica. She'd gotten out somehow...how?
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"So...how's those anger management classes goin', Wilson?" Otis asked. "They goin' good? You learnin' anything?"
"None of your damn business." Wilson said...uneasiness creeping into his voice. "That stuff's supposed to be confidential."
"Only if you're actually goin' to 'em." Mills spat at him. "When you lie through your teeth...all bets're off!"
"I don't know what the fuck you're talkin' about."
"Give it up." Severide snapped. "Veronica's in the hospital...and they called the cops! She told 'em everything! Everything!"
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The words hung in the air...
And suddenly Wilson bolted for the door!
Cruz and Hermann stood their ground...and a couple more Engine guys moved in to back them up.
Wilson backed up again...into the center of the room and turned around slowly...sizing up his chances against Mills and Clarke...and the Engine guys.
Tony and the new Squad guy...Newhouse...stepped in front of the office door to add a little more muscle.
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Apparently realizing he was trapped...Wilson crumpled onto a chair.
"Okay...okay...I admit it!" he said...voice quivering...tears threatening to break loose any moment. "I'm sick! I can't help myself! I just...I love her so much! But then this...this...rage...comes...and I can't stop it! It's like I'm watchin' someone else...and I'm paralyzed!"
All around the room...men rolled their eyes. No one was buying that crap...not even for a minute!
"You guys..." Wilson cried. "You gotta help me! I can't stop myself! I'm sick! I'm sick!"
"Well...that's the first truthful thing I heard come outta your mouth." Hermann said. "That you're sick!"
"What about the part where you kept her locked up like an animal?" Severide asked sarcastically. "And withheld food? She's suffering from malnutrition! Was that part of your sickness?!"
"You're just a sadistic sonofabitch." Clarke said.
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Then it was like somebody threw a switch.
Wilson jumped to his feet and turned on Severide.
"This is all your fault!" he screamed. "If you woulda just minded your own goddamn business...none of this would have happened! But no...you had to go and interfere in my private life! You and that goddamn meddling bitc..."
Kelly rushed at the Candidate...and before anyone could move Severide laid him flat with one punch.
He dropped down, one knee on Wilson's chest...fist drawn back, ready to let him have it again.
"You shut your mouth!" he yelled. "You don't talk about my wife! I told you once...I'll make you regret the day you were ever born!"
Casey grabbed Severide from behind and pulled him off the Candidate.
"Take a walk..." he said under his breath. "Cool off..."
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Wilson scrambled to his feet as Kelly stalked out of the common room.
"You all saw that!" he yelled. "Are you gonna let him get away with that? With hitting a fellow firefighter?"
He looked around.
"Are you all just gonna stand there?"
"I'll take a shot at 'im..." Clarke said, squaring his shoulders and taking a step forward.
"Hey...I got seniority!" Hermann called out.
"Oh...let me..." Mills cut in. "Please..."
"No...this goes according to rank." Casey decided, crossing his arms over his chest. "And the line forms to the right."
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Outside Station 51, Severide paced back and forth...opening and closing his right hand...trying to slow his heart rate and get his blood pressure back down to normal.
He'd never seen anything like it...the guy flip-floppin' all over the place...angry one minute...bawlin' the next.
But when he opened up his mouth about Alyssa...
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He heard sirens...and seconds later two squad cars pulled into the drive.
Officer Diamante got out of the first car...and a tall, African American officer got out of the driver's seat.
"Lieutenant..." Diamante said.
"He's inside." Severide told her.
Diamante nodded and headed into the firehouse, her partner and another male/female team right behind her.
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About three minutes later...she and her partner walked Wilson out, hands behind his back...straight to the squad car.
Kelly could hear her reading him his rights.
"You have the right to remain silent...anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney...and to have that attorney present during questioning...
She opened the rear passenger door...and her partner shoved Wilson's head down and put him in the car.
The team followed the cops out the door...and they all watched as the cop shut the door and went around to the driver's side.
Officer Diamante opened the passenger door...and she just nodded to Severide and the rest of the team before she got into the car.