CURIOSITY PART IV

LAPD Headquarters—7.30am

Steve walked into LAPD headquarters the next morning still very tired. He was still shocked over the news last night and in need of a lot more coffee. He rubbed his eyes as he walked in and prepared to sit down at his desk when his captain called him in. Without a choice, we went inside and sat down heavily in front of his captain's desk. "Man, Sloan, you look wiped out. What were you doing last night?" Steve didn't answer so his captain left it at that. "I knew you're upset and everything. It's natural. But I suppose you want to take Jesse Travis's case, right?"

Steve looked up. "Yes, I do."

His captain cringed at the determination in his voice. "I don't think if that's such a good idea, Sloan. Like your father's job, personal involvement in a case is not a good idea. I was thinking about pulling you off the case."

Steve stood up. "No, I want to take this case, Captain. I'm going to take this case." He didn't let his captain carry on. "I made a promise to myself and to my friends that I'd find out who hurt Jesse Travis and put him behind where he belongs—the bars! Now I don't know if you share my enthusiasm to help someone who has helped us in cases as well but I'm positive that I want to do this one."

His captain sighed and shook his head. "There's no way I can persuade you, is there, Sloan."

Steve shook his head and said a stern, "No."

Captain nodded. "All right, Sloan, you take Travis' case, Find out who did this but I want thorough posting whenever you can." Steve nodded and turned away. "And Sloan, if I hear one word of police brutality and harassment from you, you're off the case." Steve nodded and walked out of the door, slamming it behind him. He was annoyed and tired and eager to start something on this case. He wandered over to his desk and glanced at the few notes and the report Kyle James had left on his desk the day before after leaving. Steve read through it more thoroughly afterwards. It revealed nothing that he already didn't know.

Steve eventually found that he couldn't work. He couldn't work knowing that Jesse was so ill and his father and Amanda were round the hospital unable to do anything but keep their minds of it by working. For once, Steve could use one of his dad's bright ideas in solving the case. He needed somewhere to start and he couldn't think of it. Giving up from sitting at his desk forty-five minutes later, he got up and went to his car to drive down to the hospital.

When he walked in, he couldn't see either Amanda or his father. There were plenty of other nurses wandering around, doing their own things. Steve stood and thought for a few minutes, thinking about where his father could be when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped and turned round. "Oh, Norman, hi, how's it going."

Norman bowed his head and shook it like someone at a funeral. "Not good, I'm afraid."

"What's up?" Steve asked distractedly.

Norman looked up at him and followed him as he started walking off. "You know. The whole hospital has been talking about it! I have to doctors leaving and now Jesse! One of the best hard working interns and I'm about to lose him."

Steve stopped and turned around. "What do you mean, lose him?"

Normal stopped abruptly and began to stutter. "Well, well…I…err…people have been saying Jesse isn't going to make it. Pete said himself he didn't think that Jesse was ever going to wake up again and that he was as good as dead. He said that they couldn't keep him on life support forever when other patients need the materials and…and we just haven't got the money to keep everything going."

Steve looked down at him harshly. "Are you saying you wouldn't pull in a few extra bucks to keep Jesse alive and give him a chance."

Normal shifted a little bit. "Well, have you seen the tax accounts and with my financial problems I don't think we'd be able. Space has been running wild round the hospital ever since the fire accident. There is hardly any room in the hospital. I constantly have threats that this hospital could close."

Steve shook his head and looked down. "How can you think about that. This is Jesse! You've known him for ages and you know he's the best intern. You said yourself. You know that he'd be able to pull through despite anything and you wouldn't be prepared to give him that chance?" Steve cried in disbelief.

Normal shuffled even more uncomfortably. "I suppose so, yes."

"Good. Where's my father?"

"Oh, I think I saw him down with Amanda in the pathology labs," Norman said, trying to be helpful. Steve left him to his own business and found Mark and Amanda by the pathology labs. Amanda was trying to finish some reports to try and take her mind off things. She put them aside when Steve came in.

"Found anything?" she asked.

Steve had to smile at her insistence. "I wish cases were solved within a night as well but I've barely started. There's nothing to go on. I need some help where to start as well." He clenched his hand onto a fist and banged it lightly against the cold steel table. "I've been allowed to do the case and I don't even know where to start! It must be because it's Jesse. But there's nothing solid to go on at the moment. I can't find a single bit of evidence in a report or anywhere…"

"No witnesses as well," Mark offered unhelpful.

Steve threw up his hands. "Where should I start?"

Amanda threw down a file. "How about his current girlfriend? I can't remember her name but they've been going out for some time. What if Jesse told her something or she knew something? You know how Jesse is around women…confides in them more than us."

Steve nodded. "It would help to know her name."

Amanda shook her head. "I can't remember but I know where she lives. Jesse made me drop him off there after work one day when his car broke down so I can show you the way. Besides, my shift doesn't start till midday, I can go, can't I, Mark?"

Mark nodded. "Sure."

Amanda went off with Steve. She directed him from what she remembered to the house that Jesse's girlfriend lived in. She also remembered along the way that her name was Haley Johnson. Steve parked the car in front of a large two-storey house not far away from his father's beach house. It was a whitewashed house with a very neat garden. An expensive red Porsche was parked out in the front drive and from the open garage in front of it there was a Ferrari. Amanda raised her eyebrows at the cars. "I think in this case, Haley would be supporting Jesse and not the other way round." Steve smiled and walked up to the front door, rapping onto it a few times.

There seemed no sound from inside. Steve rapped again and eventually got impatient. "Mrs. Johnson, this is LAPD, open the door please."

There was the sound of a chain scraping and the door opened a little bit to reveal a woman with long blond wet hair. She wore a bathrobe covered over here. "LAPD?" she asked. "I'm sorry, I was in the shower. I would have come down sooner…"

Steve looked embarrassed. "Sorry," he said.

Haley opened the door wide, revealing her slim blonde form captured in the ankle long silk robe. She ventured them inside. Amanda smiled and let Steve go in first, making him feel even more uncomfortable. Steve stepped inside the large house. "Please, come into the living room." She looked at Amanda and smiled again. "And you are…"

Amanda held out her hand. "Amanda Bentley…county medical examiner."

Haley turned to look at Steve. "Has something bad happened?" she asked worriedly. Her smile was practically erased. Amanda thought she looked genuinely worried.

"Well, it has kind off. It's about Jesse."

Haley paused and her smile was wiped off. "Jesse? Is he all right? Tell me what happened." Amanda looked at her and found something that couldn't be quite placed. She had always been someone who could decipher someone's personality. Haley seemed genuine in her concern but there was just something about her attitude. Jesse was always telling everyone how wonderful Haley was. Amanda was beginning to wonder. But what bugged her most was that Haley did seem very worried. She was either a good actress or telling the truth.

"Well, yesterday Jesse was found in an alley. He was very badly beaten up and was admitted to hospital. He's…he's not in a coma."

Haley didn't say anything for a few moments. Her eyes welled up for a moment but she managed to push it aside and wipe them away quickly. "Is…is he going to be all right?" she asked her voice on the edge of breaking.

Steve shrugged. "That's yet to say."

"Oh God," Haley said and sat down the couch. She buried her head in her hands and muttered for a moment. "Bastard," she said.

"What?" Steve asked.

Haley jumped and looked at him, saying, "Sorry, nothing." She ran her hands through her hair and took a deep breath. "So…why have you come to me about it." She looked at them then stood up. "No! You don't think I have anything to do with Jesse's attack, do you, that's just…"

"We're not, Miss Johnson," Steve assured here. "We just want to ask some questions. We're trying to find out who did this to Jesse. We need to know if he was doing anything strange lately. Did he tell you anything or did you see anything that could help us figure out why someone would want to do this."

Haley thought for a moment. "N-no, he didn't really tell me anything like that. Jesse told me things at the hospital and things like that. He never told me about anything strange or any of the cases he had been solving with his friends…Steve and Mark Sloan and…" she looked at Amanda. "Amanda Bentley." She turned back to Steve. "Are you Mark Sloan?"

"No, I'm Steve."

"Oh yes, Mark Sloan is the doctor," Haley reminded herself. She took another shuddered breath and wiped her eyes with her fingers. "I'm sorry, I'm not usually the one to break down like this. But some…someone jerk actually left Jesse out in alley way beaten up like that?" A tear escaped from her eyes and slid down her cheek. She caught it quickly and turned around. "Can I see him at the hospital."

Steve was suddenly very sympathetic towards her. "Of course you can. If you go to Community General and ask for Mark Sloan, he'd be glad to help you."

Haley let out a shuddered breath from trying to keep her crying in. "Thanks."

Amanda, who had been wandering around the lavish living room, stopped and looked at some of the photographs there. There were several of herself, some of Jesse some with Haley and some without and quite a few of a man with an olive complexion and found in a business suit with almost all of them. She picked one of the photos up, which consisted of this man and Haley herself. "Who's this one?"

Haley turned to look at Amanda and then at the photograph. "Oh, that's my ex-boyfriend."

"You have pictures of your ex-boyfriend here?" Amanda asked surprised.

Haley smiled and sniffed. "Maybe some love never dies. Jesse says it's not a problem as long as he's somewhere there."

Amanda laughed and put the photo down. "Sounds like Jesse."

Haley turned around. "Anyway, he's long gone now. Last time I knew, he was in Nevada or somewhere like that." Amanda nodded and turned round, looking at Steve. He thought it was time to leave so they left Haley alone, saying that she was free to come to the hospital whenever she wanted to visit Jesse. Back in the car, Steve sat back and thought again with his head against the seat. He was having trouble adjusting to the facts again. Things were not moving as quickly as planned.

"What do you think?" he asked Amanda.

"Me?" Amanda thought frowning. "Well, I thought she was forthright and honest. I think she was genuinely upset over Jesse's condition. But there's just something—something—that keeps telling me that she knew about what happened to Jesse, just not about her condition."

Steve shrugged. "Well, we can't be accusing her of that. Do you think she was telling the truth when she said she didn't know anyone that would hurt Jesse?"

Amanda nodded. "I think so. Jesse is not the sort of person who goes telling someone if he's in danger or not. Knowing Jesse he would probably try and live it out on his own for a while. I think we can overrule Haley. She seems good to Jesse and Jesse was happy with her. Like I said, Jesse tried to do something by himself until the last minute."

Steve sighed. "That last minute ticked awfully fast for Jesse...but probably not as long as last night did for him"

Haley Johnson's House—10.23am

Haley watched Lieutenant Sloan and Amanda Bentley leave her house and drive off up the road. Then she turned round and buried her face in her hands, feeling safe in the comfort of her home that everything was all right. But deep inside herself she knew what everything was not all right. Everything was going wrong and she knew that a lot of it was her fault. The horrible feeling of guilt welled up inside her stomach and she tried hard to not let the tears fall. "Oh, God, Jesse, I'm so sorry. I never knew it would go this far. I never thought it would happen to you."

"Well, it did," someone said and Haley jumped up from her seat in shock. She pulled her robe round her even more when she saw the thin middle aged man enter the room. He walked through the back door. "You're not having second thoughts about what you have done are you?"

Haley shook her head. "I just never thought you'd hurt him that bad."

He shrugged uncaringly. "He was very difficult and we only had a night." He came over to her and stroked her cheek softly. "You did what Marcus asked you and everything is well. Day is dead and…"

Haley snapped her head round, forcing his hand away from her face. "Carlos, you are one hell of a jerk, you know that. Get off me." She took a step back. "Marcus would not be pleased if I told him you were doing this to me. Go away and leave me alone. You've hurt Jesse, you've killed Day, that's all you've ever been good at—hurting people."

Carlos laughed. "Aw, you are too soft. You have to be tough to survive in this world." His smile was erased. "You have to be tough if you wish to survive with Marcus. You can see how brutal he can be. You saw what he did to Day and what he's done to your precious Jesse Travis. Tell me, did he really make you feel that good, that much better than Marcus…?"

Haley's eyes blazed with anger. She turned round and slapped Carlos in the face. "Shut up, you jerk."

Carlos put a hand to his face, this time he was blazing with anger. "I advise you not to do that again, Haley. I'd better warn you, like Marcus asked me to before that cop came over, don't do anything to jeopardize what Marcus has just destroyed. He got rid of Day and he hurt Jesse, a lot of it in front of your eyes. If you spill everything we may go in and hurt Jesse even more. Or even worse, you could become like Marcus' three other girlfriends…"

Haley nodded and watched Carlos go out of the door. Carlos gave a lot of threats and she was scared. She cried, wishing Jesse would make it out.