Steve was getting nowhere with his research and felt as if his brain belonged to somebody else. They had tried listing the locations alphabetically, by ownership and even tried to find hidden messages in their telephone numbers. In the end Chapman had screwed his page of notes up and hurled it towards the wastebasket.
"Oh, this is ridiculous. There must be a pattern. He almost has a blueprint for when he carries out his attacks, so surely there is one for where." Chapman ran his hands over his almost crew cut hair and Steve was instantly reminded of Rae.
"Yeah, and let's face it, if there is no pattern the guy could get old and die before we ever work out where he is gonna strike next." Steve was tempted to run his own hands through his hair, but he managed to restrain himself.
"I would have gone with location as the most likely link. I know we did the alphabet thing, and looked at map after map after map. But there must be a reason why he is shooting where he is each time." Chapman opened his pad again and started to write down the locations. There had been a pizzeria, a hair salon, a dress shop, a jewellers a florist and a cab company.
Steve looked at the list and began to think again. He knew Chapman was right, the link was right there in front of them. He must be able to solve it, he was a detective after all. He began to write the locations down on his own piece of paper. Then he concentrated on what he had in front of him. The pizzeria had been called Marco's; the hair salon was called Sophisticuts. The dress shop was called Dolly's Dresses, the jewellers had been called Rings 'n' Things, the florist was Blooms and the cab company Tony's Taxi's. He smiled. "You know maybe they were targeted because apart from the pizzeria they all have awful names!"
"Yeah, I can't see my wife wanting to admit she bought her clothes from a place called Dolly's Dresses!"
Steve began to laugh and then got to his feet as he heard his desk phone begin to ring.
"Sloan here."
Campbell could hear the laughter in Steve's voice as he answered his call and the way it disappeared as he listened to what was said to him.
"What? I'm on my way. Amanda, get on to Jesse, I want him to do the surgery." Steve looked round and Campbell could see that all the enjoyment of the last few minutes had been replaced with something that had robbed his friend and colleague of all his colour and almost the power of speech.
"I … I have to go, my Dad's been … stabbed." With that Steve turned grabbed his jacket and left the precinct. Campbell got up with a sigh and headed over to the Captain's office. He knew Newman was used to Steve going off without a word, but he had a feeling that this time it may be a while before he returned.
Steve screeched into the parking lot and rushed into the ER. Alex was just getting his jacket on and Steve raced up to him.
"Alex, where's my Dad, and Jesse?"
"Steve, your Dad is in trauma one with Doctor Collins, and Jesse is gonna come in when I go over and sit with Rae."
"Sit with Rae? Why does she need …" Steve stopped talking for a moment. "No… No, Alex I don't want to hear that she was anywhere near him when this happened."
"Steve it's worse than even that. Cheryl's out in the parking lot, you didn't see her?"
"No, I wasn't looking. My mind was on other things." Steve's words came out as a bark and he wasn't looking at his young friend as he spoke, but trying to see through the glass of trauma one.
"The patient that Doctor Dobson saw before Rae was found murdered in the parking lot, next to where Rae always parks her car, and Jesse said that Rae got home and collapsed. She said she had seen Mark."
"Oh, God. Alex, I can't believe this. Two attacks one resulting in a murder, and Rae is at both locations." Steve sank down in one of the strategically positioned chairs around the ER hallway and put his head in his hands. Alex crouched down next to him.
"Steve, let me call Jo. She can come and stay with you. I promised Jesse I would go to Rae so that he can leave her and Eliana and come to operate on your dad."
"No, Alex, it's alright, I'll call her." Steve took his cell phone from his pocket and found her number. Suddenly he needed to just hear her voice.
The sound of a phone ringing broke the silence of Jo's household. Michael was sitting at the table in the kitchen working out meals for the next week, ready for his main shopping trip, and Jo was pruning the roses that climbed up an arbour in her garden. "Michael, can you get that? I am standin' on the ladder an' I'd rather not get down."
"Of course, Madam." Michael moved towards the phone and picked up the receiver. "Walters residence… Ah, Lieutenant… Yes, she is here… I will inform her straight away, Sir… and I am sure that she will be right in." The butler replaced the receiver and headed out towards the garden.
Once Steve had spoken with Michael he put his phone away and look up as Alex placed a hand on his shoulder. "Steve, I have to go. Jesse won't leave Rae on her own, so he won't be able to come until I get there."
"Yeah, sure, Alex go, go." Steve watched as Alex left the ER and then he stood up and moved over towards the doorway to the trauma suite where his Dad was lying. He could see the mask that was placed over his face, and he knew they were working hard on him. He had no idea how long he had been standing there when he heard his name and turned round to see that Jo was standing behind him.
"Oh, Jo, thank God you're here." Steve moved over towards her and felt her arms as they pulled him tightly to her.
"Shhh, Honey, where else would I be? How is he?"
"I don't know, nobody has been out to see me yet." As Steve spoke he saw the doors open and Doctor Collins came towards him.
"Lieutenant Sloan, Ma'am?"
"It's Steve, and this is my fiancée Jo Walters. Doctor Collins how is my dad?"
"Not good, but it could have been a lot worse. He was stabbed in the side. It's almost as if he was turning round to face his assailant as he was struck. The main problem is that there has been a lot of tissue and muscle damage. I would say that the knife was turned before it was, or as it was, removed."
Jo felt Steve shudder next to her and she kept her arm around him. "He will have to be operated on won't he, to repair all the damage?"
"Yes, ma'am. Doctor Sloan's son, ah, sorry, your fiancé requested that Doctor Travis do the surgery, and we are just waiting for him to arrive. Your father will be taken to x-ray in a moment, and then he will be prepped for Jesse."
"Is he conscious?" Steve wasn't sure which answer would be the best one to hear.
"Almost, he has been trying to speak, but he hasn't said anything yet. He has lost a lot of blood, and is receiving a transfusion as we speak. He will be put on broad spectrum antibiotics once his surgery is completed because the chance of infection is high."
As Doctor Collins was speaking the doors opened again and Mark was pushed out on a gurney. Steve and Jo turned and were both shocked to see how grey and lifeless he looked. Jo increased the pressure of her arm around Steve and was relieved when he gave her hand a squeeze in return. They moved over to Mark's side as the gurney was stopped for a moment.
Steve placed his hand over that of this father's and realised in that instant all the pain and heartache he had caused him throughout his life. As he stood there Mark's eyes flickered for a second and then as they opened he began to speak. "Who? No… Rae … no please … Rae." Steve couldn't believe what he was hearing, he felt the gurney begin to move and blinking back the tears he leant over and kissed him gently on the forehead before watching him being wheeled away until the elevator doors had shut behind his father and the orderlies, then he turned and buried his head in Jo's shoulder.
Alex arrived at Rae and Jesse's door and waited. They had a doorbell, but nobody ever used it. Because of the security system, and the fact that Rae and Jesse's visitors were always announced over the intercom it meant that the door was always opened the moment anybody arrived.
"Alex, thanks for coming over." Jesse had his jacket on, and his car keys in his hand. He let his friend in and they walked to the bedroom. "She's in here, I sedated her, but only mildly in the end, she was so upset she almost became hysterical."
"Jesse, we don't have time to talk about this right now, because Mark needs you, but we have to discuss it, and soon, ok?"
Jesse just nodded, and he shook hands with his friend, although he wasn't sure why. "Thanks, Alex, I owe you one." Then he turned and left the house.
Once he had checked on Rae, Alex walked down towards the nursery and looked into the room. His goddaughter was fast asleep in her crib, her soft doll in her arms. He stood and just watched her for a long time. He had been so flattered when Rae and Jesse had asked him to be one of Eliana's godparents, and had accepted without hesitation. He remembered back to the day she was born. She had been so tiny, and she was still small, but she had survived, and was a beautiful child. Her baby soft hair was fanned out on her mattress delicately curling into little ringlets. She had a soft giraffe next to her, which looked well loved, and, Alex had to admit with a smile, very well sucked.
Jesse rushed into the OR and began to scrub up almost without drawing breath. He had seen Steve and Jo just for a second in the doctor's lounge when he had put his head round the door to let them know that he had arrived. Amanda had been sitting there with them, and he had been in and out in only a few moments. Now he tried to calm himself down for the task ahead. He knew that he owed his life to Mark, and although not happy with the situation that brought him here, he was determined to repay that favour.
Cheryl walked slowly down the hallway towards the doctor's lounge. She knew that she would find Steve waiting in there for news of his dad, and she really wanted to know how he was too. She opened the door, and wasn't at all surprised to find both Amanda and Jo waiting with him.
"Steve, Amanda, Jo." Cheryl acknowledged her friends. "Has there been any news?"
"No, not yet, but Jesse is operating, and he will come back here as soon as he is finished." Steve's voice was heavy with the emotions he was just containing.
"Jesse? Do you think that's wise?"
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Steve was up on his feet in an instant.
"He's married to the prime suspect in this case. That's what I mean." Cheryl knew that she had information that Steve didn't have yet. "Steve, she was caught on camera in the parking lot attacking Mr. Posner, and then she was seen fleeing the scene at Bob's. There is nothing else I can do, I have to arrest her, and charge her with murder."
Steve thought of what his dad had said and slumped down on the chair. His brain couldn't take in any more. He leant back and shut his eyes. As he did so he felt Jo take hold of his hand and he held it tightly, right now it was the only lifeline he had.
Alex had been playing with Eliana in her nursery for just over an hour, and been in the house for almost three before Rae began to stir. He heard her call out and smiled as he saw Eliana begin to get excited at the sound of her mother's voice. Gently picking the little girl up in his arms he moved towards the noise.
"Jesse, Jess, where are you?" Rae was sat up in bed, her hair was tangled, and she looked as if she needed to be going to sleep not just waking up. She stared at the figure in the doorway, and Alex could tell that she was confused. "Alex, what are you doing here? Where's Jesse?" Rae felt the cold dread grasp at her heart as she realised that her husband wasn't with her.
"Rae, it's all right, he had to go into Community General to operate on Mark. He called me and asked if I would come and stay with you and this little one until he came back. Alex could see all the memories flood back into Rae's mind as he mentioned Mark's name.
"Oh, my God, Mark. Alex, is he all right? What happened to him? I found him, and I got his blood on me, but I don't know what happened"
Alex could see that Rae was getting agitated, so he smiled at her. "Just wait a second, I'll get Eliana's door bouncer from the living room." A moment later Alex was back fixing the contraption to the door frame, he then placed Eliana into it and to the accompaniment of a bouncing spring he began to talk.
"As soon as Amanda heard about Mark she called Steve. We knew first because the paramedics called ahead, and the guy in charge at Bob's today figured that it would be better if Steve heard the news from either Jesse or Amanda so he called the hospital instead of the squad room." Alex paused for a moment as he watched Rae try to take in what he had told her so far. "Steve wanted Jesse to be the one to perform the surgery on his dad, and so Jesse called me and I said I would come and stay with you until he got home. Rae where did you find Mark?"
"He … he was outside Bob's. Not quite at the door, and there was blood, a lot of blood everywhere. I, I got it on my clothes and I knew they would think I had done it, but I didn't even know I was there, I can't remember driving to Bob's, but I was there, and Tom was there, so I must have done, mustn't I?" Rae's words had finally come to a halt after she had run out of breath to speak with.
"You saw Brian this morning didn't you?" Alex didn't want to put words in to her mouth, but he knew through the hospital grapevine that Doctor Dobson had closed down his practice for six months. The fact that she didn't remember getting from the hospital to Bob's worried him more than he could have put into words.
Rae just nodded. Then she began to speak. "Yeah, I did. But I can't go see him any more he isn't going to do it. What will I do without him?"
Alex's heart went out to her, she was so upset and so mixed up right now and there was no doubt in his mind that she needed help. "Honey, I don't know, but I will find somebody for you. I promise you that."
The squeaking of the door bouncer began to get slower and slower, and with a smile that neither of them could withhold they watched as the little girl nodded off to sleep. Her weight meant that the bouncer became a swinger and for a minute or two she was gently swung backwards and forwards. Alex turned back to his patient and placed a hand over hers.
"Rae, what do you remember? After you left Brian I mean."
"I came out and I was early finishing so I went to the ladies room on the fourth floor. I had already called Mark and told him I would be late for lunch."
"Why was that? If you finished early why would you call him and tell him the opposite?"
"Because the guy who goes before me. I don't know his name, but he has way more problems even than me. He came out in a temper, shouting and obviously really upset. Normally the guy never lifts his eyes off the carpet and walks straight into the elevator. I stood up and told him to go back in and sort out his problems and I would wait. He did, and I did too. I called Mark and explained to him and then I just sat there… I was thinking about Helen a bit I think, but I'm not sure. Then the patient came out of the room again, and he was back to his normal self. I went in then."
"What happened when you went into the office?" Alex knew in a minute Rae would want to know why he was asking all these questions, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to answer that.
"He told me he was quitting for six months. I was sad, I'm still sad, for him, for me, but especially for Helen. Then I went to the ladies room like I told you …" Rae stopped talking.
"And then what?"
"And, and then I was at Bob's, and I could see a body on the floor, and I ran up to it and it was Mark's." Rae stopped talking as tears flooded her eyes. She loved Mark like a father, and the sight of him lying there had been a horrific one. "I ran back to Tom and called 911 and then I came home." Rae stopped talking for a minute, relieved to have finished her tale. But then a thought hit her. "Alex, why are you asking me all this?"
Alex was about to tell her, figuring that there was no way around giving her all the information she would require when the sound of the doorbell broke the silence, and waking up with a jolt Eliana began to cry.
Rae got out of bed and picked up her daughter and began to jig her up and down and coo to her. Alex was delighted to see such an interaction between mother and child, especially after Rae had asked Jesse to take her away just the week before. He smiled at the scene in front of him and then went to answer the bell. Guess I was wrong about the bell! He opened the door and felt his heart fall as he saw Cheryl and Martin standing in front of him.
"Doctor Martin, we were told you might be here. May we come in?" It was Cheryl who was doing the talking, which didn't surprise Alex; he knew that she was the senior detective in the partnership, whereas Steve and Rae were almost equal. Rae with her English rank was at the same level as Steve, she had dropped the inspector when she joined the LAPD, but Steve had always treated her as his equal.
"I guess so. Jesse isn't here, he is at the hospital, and Rae is with Eliana in the bedroom. Maybe you would like to take a seat in the living room." Alex wasn't really sure what he should do, but he knew that he couldn't refuse them permission to see Rae. She was awake, and although she had been agitated she was, as he could hear, talking quietly and calmly with her daughter at the moment.
Alex moved quickly from the living room doorway to the bedroom and saw his patient gently playing with her child. "Rae, that was Cheryl and Martin at the door, they want to see you." Alex watched his patient's face for reaction and he could see the terror that flicked up in her eyes.
"About Mark?" Rae looked at Alex and saw him nod his head. "Will you come in with me?"
"Yeah, if you want me to." Alex held his arms out and took Eliana from Rae as she passed her across. Then he followed her into the hallway took the bouncer off the doorframe and carried on towards the living room.
Martin stood up as they entered and Rae could see that he had his notebook out. Cheryl looked Rae in the eye and her heart sank. She just wanted to turn tail and run back to her bedroom, but she knew that that wasn't possible.
"Rae, can you tell me where you were at a quarter to eleven today?" Cheryl's voice was harsh and it was easy to tell that she was already finding the questioning difficult.
"A quarter to eleven? No, no I can't. I don't know where I was. Why?" Rae was puzzled. She had expected to be asked about a later time, when she had found Mark.
"Ok, what is the closest time to that you can remember?"
"I don't know, why do you want to know that? I saw Brian, and then I was at Bob's and Mark was there, and he was bleeding, and I got his blood on me, and I came home, I told you that, didn't I Alex? I told Jesse too." Rae stopped talking, she was scared, and she didn't know what to do. She had been scared many times over the last few years, scared for her life, for her sanity, for Jesse, but now she was scared for something else, she was scared for her freedom.
It was two and a half hours after Jesse had put his head round the doctor's lounge door that he returned. Steve, Jo and Amanda were still all together sitting quietly on the saggy sofa. People had been in and out the entire time they had been there, but none of them had spoken, and to all intents and purposes life had carried on around them. But now, with the reappearance of Jesse they all became instantly animated.
"Jesse, how is he?" It was Steve who managed to speak first.
"He's in the ICU, but mainly because I want to keep an eye on him. He's not a young man, Steve, and this would have been a terrible injury for anyone of any age. I have repaired all the damage to the muscles and the tissue and now it is just a case of complete bed rest for a while, and then a long slow recuperation process. He was stabbed in a part of the body that is involved in almost every movement that we make, and so it will be more prone to the stitches being stretched and the area being used without him even realising it. It might even be that I have him in a wheelchair for a while, so that he can get out of bed without risking bursting his wound open."
"I need to be with him, Jess, can I go up and see him?" Steve had pulled Jo to her feet before remembering about her bruises. He moved her gently into the arms his worry evident in his eyes. "Honey, I am so sorry."
"Ok, I know." Jo's voice came out in gasps, and she took a tight hold of his hand.
Steve realising that Amanda was still sitting there had turned apologetically and helped her up too.
Jesse waited until all three of them were standing before he began to speak again. "Yeah, room 3937, just two people at a time, and I am only saying that because I think you need the reassurance yourself."
Steve managed to raise a smile and then he looked at Amanda. "Do you mind if Jo and I sit with him to start with?"
"No, of course not, I have cases waiting for me downstairs anyway that I must get back too. But I will just come up and see him, only for a minute, that will be all right won't it Jesse?"
"Of course. I wouldn't expect you to want to do anything else. Look guys, I have to get back home, but I will be back in about four hours to check on him, and then again first thing in the morning, and I have alerted the nurses on duty to call me at home, or if it is suddenly life and death, to get hold of Wil or Alex."
"Wil?"
"Collins. Wil Collins, you may not know him Steve, but he operated on your shoulder."
"Oh, right. Yeah, I just didn't know his first name, I spoke to him today." Steve, Jo and Amanda left the doctor's lounge then and headed for the elevator. Jesse found that his feet were following, and he travelled up with them. It would only take a few minutes and he needed to just look in on his friend once again before he headed home.
Mark was lying in his bed, a mask over his face, and he was obviously still sedated. Steve sat in the chair by the side of him, a position so frequently reversed. Amanda moved to the head of the bed and gently moved Mark's hair back, although it really didn't need it. Then she placed a kiss on his forehead.
"Mark, I will be up to see you again in a little while. You just lie still and mend, ok?" She wiped at the tears that were running down her face and then went over to Steve who stood back up. They hugged each other tightly for a minute and then Steve gave her a kiss on the cheek and she turned to go. Jo was standing just inside the door, and they too hugged gently before Amanda headed back towards her lab.
Steve watched as Jo too gave his father a kiss, and then she straightened the already straight bedclothes and he had to smile. What was it with the two of them that they had to be seen to be doing something? Jo tried to pick up the chair that was the other side of the bed and take it over next to Steve, but as she bent forward all her injuries protested and she gasped for air. Steve moved over and carefully took the chair from her, he placed it next to his own, she sat down and taking a hold of his hand they prepared to wait for as long as it took for Mark to come back to them.
Rae looked over towards Tony's chair. She had always called it that, ever since it had arrived from England. It was her chair, nothing had been said, but when she and Jesse were in the living room in the evenings after Eliana had gone to bed she always used that chair. But now Martin was sitting on it, you didn't sit in it, you sat on it, and she knew she couldn't boot him off. Rae moved over and sat where Jesse usually sat, and found that she felt safer and warmer somehow just because of that.
"So you can't tell me where you were at a quarter to eleven?" Cheryl had asked Rae about four times now. She kept coming back to this one question, and Rae was getting more and more confused.
"No, no, I can't. I don't know. I saw Brian and I called Mark and then I was at Bob's. I don't know what else you want me to say." Rae could feel herself getting upset, and she didn't want to cry, not now.
"When you said you got Mark's blood on you, what do you mean?" Cheryl was on her feet now and walking around the room. Rae's eyes never left her, but Alex was watching Rae almost as intently. If he felt that Rae couldn't cope he would stop the interview.
"I had his blood on me. I had a yellow t-shirt on and I got his blood on me." Rae was puzzled, what else could it mean.
"Where is the t-shirt, Rae?" Cheryl was moving over towards the door, where Eliana was bouncing up and down happily. She crouched down in front of the little girl and smiled. "Hi, Sweetie, you are looking more like your mommy by the day." Cheryl turned back and for a moment wished she and Rae were just friends. "She's beautiful, Rae."
"No! Leave her alone!" Rae couldn't believe how threatened she suddenly felt. "Just don't touch her." Rae had moved quickly across the room towards her daughter, she stood between Eliana and Cheryl before beginning to speak about all the terrible happenings again. "I don't know where the t-shirt is, you'll have to ask Jesse. I woke up in bed in a pair of pyjamas."
Alex looked across and realised, rather belatedly that while he had been answering the door Rae had got dressed.
"We need to search your house again, Rae, and I have another search warrant with me." Cheryl turned away from her friend, she felt so hurt by what had happened, and knew that it would turn to anger if she weren't careful.
"Why, why would you need to search the house again? You didn't find anything except the two knives last time. Cheryl, I don't understand what is going on here." Rae's mind was so far removed from the police mode that it was usually in that she couldn't think straight. "I haven't done anything wrong, Cheryl, please you have to believe me."
Jesse pulled in to his drive an hour and a half after he had finished Mark's surgery. He couldn't believe how much working on his friend had drained him. Still now he could go and have a nice bath, play with his daughter and have a quiet evening. He knew that Rae would need some tlc, and he was happy that she would let him be the one to provide it.
As he put his key in the lock and opened the door he could hear Eliana screaming and Alex talking in soothing tones to her. He followed the noises round to the nursery and saw his young friend fastening a diaper and then doing up the babygro chatting to her all the time.
"Honey, shhh, I know you want Mommy, but there was nothing I could do about it. I can't get your dad because his cell phone is turned off, so it's just you and me until Daddy comes home."
"Alex, where's Rae, why isn't she here?" Jesse felt himself go cold all over as he spoke.
"God, Jesse, you frightened the life out of me. I didn't hear you come in." Alex had felt himself jump as Jesse began to talk.
"Alex, where is she, where's Rae?"
"Jesse, Cheryl and Martin took her to the station."
"Cheryl and Martin were here? And Rae saw them, without Mr. Sholte being present? Alex you should have stopped that."
"Mr. Sholte, who is Mr. Sholte?" Alex was feeling more puzzled by the second, and he had an awful feeling that Jesse was about to blame him for everything that had happened.
"Sholte is her lawyer, Alex, why did they take her to the station?" Jesse was shouting now, and his daughter began to cry once again. He felt instantly guilty, and lowered his voice. "Honey, Daddy's sorry, Alex tell me."
Alex took a deep breath. "Jesse, they arrested her. Rae has been charged with three counts of murder and two of attempted murder!"