Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the Characters of Third Watch.
Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, you guys sure love to worry about Bosco.
"Understanding Steven"
~Chapter Eight~
[The day after Bosco's attack]
Gusler walks into the precinct with a confidence he's never felt here before. He walks straight to the Lieutenant's office and gives the door a rap as he walks in and sits down. Swersky looks up at him a bit surprised.
"Gusler...what can I do for you?"
"I want to get back on patrol as soon as possible...as soon as something comes up. I'll fill in for anyone that's out sick. I can't stand working the desk one more day. What do ya say Lieu?"
"So you enjoyed working on the street, huh? Even with all the problems Martin caused you?"
"Yes sir. I feel my potential is being wasted on a desk. I need to get back out there. I think I can make a difference." He says, looking him straight in the eye.
"Well...I must say...this is a side of you I've never seen Steve. I will check the roster at roll call. If anyone is out, you can fill in. I can't promise you anything, but...I can start looking for a partner for you if you'd like."
"Yes sir. Thank you." He stands and struts out of the office, leaving Lieu a bit shocked at his new attitude.
He enters the locker room, and as he walks by he says hi to everyone. They all look at him a little mystified.
Davis says, "Hey Steve...how's it goen?"
"Davis...I'm good. I feel great today...like a whole new person. How are you?" Stan says with a grin.
"I'm good." he answers looking a little bewildered. The officers share a questioning glance, but continue getting ready for roll call.
"Bosco's late as usual." Sully points out to Faith.
"He's still got a few minutes." No sooner does she say it, when Christopher yells in, "Roll call." Sully chuckles as he walks out.
[Roll call]
"Sullivan."
"Here."
"Davis."
"Yo."
Sector Charlie...fifty six, forty eight...eighteen hundred meal break.
"Yokas."
"Yah."
"Boscorelli." When he gets no answer, he looks up and repeats, "Boscorelli?"
"He's not here yet." Faith says regretfully.
"Is he coming in today?" He turns towards Christopher. "Did he call in?"
"No he did not." He answers grinning.
"Ok then...Yokas...Gusler...sector David...fifty six, forty nine...nineteen hundred meal break. If Boscorelli shows...have him see me. Eyes and ears open out there. We have a backlog, so lets not dally."
Gusler walks up to Faith and says, "I'll get the radios." then he walks off.
She looks at him, baffled, then says to Sully, "I'm gonna kill Bosco. Why the hell can't he get his ass here in time."
"I think he pushed it one too many times. He'd be better off calling in sick now."
"You're right. I'm gonna try calling him." She heads to the desk and calls his home, but gets no answer. She leaves him a message then hangs up and finds Gusler waiting eagerly for her, holding two radios.
"Here...oh, and you can drive." She takes her radio from him, and stares at him as he heads off towards the door. He turns back. "Ya comen?"
"Yah." She says quietly, pondering the new Steve.
They go out on patrol. Steve calls them in as 10-98 and they are told to respond to a MVA. They head to the scene and begin directing traffic when the radio calls out.
'55-David...respond to 1100 block of East River Street.'
"This is 55-David...that location is out of our jurisdiction. Is there a reason you're sending us there?"
'Affirmative. You were requested to this location.'
"10-4 Central." Faith calls out, "Steve...let's go."
"What do ya think this is all about?" he asks a bit nervously. He knows the location is near where he dumped Bosco's car into the river.
"We'll find out." She says, hurrying to the car.
They drive over and pull up at the scene. There are several patrol cars from another precinct, a few detectives, and lots of people gathered, watching a tow truck pull something out of the river. There are divers in the water, bobbing up and down near the line of the wench that is submerged. Faith and Gusler walk over to the edge of the water, just as the object underwater starts to break the surface. It is a car.
Faith walks up to one of the detectives and asks why they were called here. He asks her if she knows Maurice Boscorelli. As she answers him, she realizes the car being dragged to the shore is his blue Mustang.
"Oh sweet Jesus!" she shouts as she runs to the car. "Did someone run the plates?"
The detective follows her and says, "Yes we did. When we realized who it belonged to we notified the five-five. They said they would send someone here."
"They sent me." Sergeant Cruz walks up to them.
Faith gets a sick feeling in her stomach thinking about the fact that Bosco didn't show up for work or call in. She looks inside the car, hoping to not see a body. She feels little relief when there is none, because now they are prying open the trunk.
She watches, trying to keep her composure, as she yells at them to hurry. Her words are now half panicked screams. Gusler walks up to her and says, "Are you alright? Why don't you wait over there. I'll do this. Let me look first."
She pushes him aside. "Hurry! Get it open." she screams.
As they force the trunk open, she grabs Gusler by the coat sleeve. "Please...God...don't let him be in there." she whispers.
The trunk is opened, and it is empty. Faith exhales a cry of relief. She bends over and puts her hands on her knees to tries and regain her composure. She wipes her eyes with her hand, and asks the detective how they knew his car was in the water.
"That bum over there." he says pointing. "He saw someone roll it in the water early this morning. Called the police to see if they would tow it out for him. He thinks it's finders keepers." He calls to her as she walks away, "We already questioned him."
She approaches the guy. "What did you see?"
"She's a beauty ain't she? I couldn't believe someone was trashing it in the river. I get to keep it, right? It's like sunken treasure. I found it..."
"Who did you see? Can you identify the person?"
"I already told them, it was dark...I was pretty far away. It was just some guy. So is it mine?"
She grabs him hard and shakes him. "What did he look like? Was he alone? Was anyone else in the car?"
"Let go of me. I told you it was dark. There was just one guy. He started the car and threw something inside. Then the car shot into the water. I thought it was a shame...a classic car like that."
"Where did this guy go?"
"I don't know. He just walked off...that way." he says pointing.
The detective walks over and says, "Look...I only need one of you helping with this."
Cruz says, "That would be me."
"I was dispatched here." Faith informs her.
"Yah...by me. I wanted to ask you what you knew about Boscorelli...where he may be. That's all. You're done here."
"I don't know where he is." Faith says confused.
"Ok...then you can go."
"I'm not leaving till I know what happened." Faith informs her.
"You have calls to take. This is my job to do. I'll keep you informed officer. You can go now."
Gusler pulls her aside. "We should do a canvas."
"What?" she says annoyed.
"We should canvas the area. If he was carjacked, he may be injured somewhere nearby."
"Yah...right. You're right." she says, trying to wrap her mind around what she should do. "I just gotta...hold on a sec." She runs to their RMP and radios in to central, asking if Bosco had reported or called in yet. The answer is no. She asks if anyone has tried to contact Bosco and she is told they have tried but have been unable to reach him so far. She tells them to contact the hospitals and if they find anything to let her know immediately.
Having no other ideas, she follows Gusler as they walk the river and search the area. She knows this is useless, because if the car had been jacked, they wouldn't have dumped it in the same place they stole it from. After searching for a while in vain, she slaps Gusler in the arm and tells him to come with her.
"We're wasting time. He wouldn't be here where the car was dumped."
Steve follows her to the RMP. "So where are we going?"
"Bosco's place. See if there's any sign of a struggle there. Or anything that will tell us if he even made it home last night. If he didn't...he may have been dumped anywhere along the way from the precinct to his house."
Gusler smiles. "Good idea." He thinks to himself that he is in good hands...now that he is her partner. And at the same time, he feels a little bad for her. This is going to be hard on her.
They drive over to Bosco's apartment and get no answer at the door. Gusler goes and gets the landlord to let them in. Once inside, there is little information. His bed is not made, but she doesn't believe that means he slept in it last night. She can't picture him to be the type that would make his bed every day after waking up. There is a photograph of him leaning against his car on his bedroom mirror. She takes that with her.
She plays his answering machine and hears two messages from the precinct, her message from this afternoon, and two others, one from a girl and the other from a bill collector. Both of them were from the day before. There is a pair of jeans and a t-shirt crumpled on the floor, and she knows it was not the outfit he was wearing yesterday. The clothes he was wearing yesterday are not here, hinting to her that he never made it home last night.
She goes into his kitchen. Gusler follows, not really sure of what she is doing. She opens his refrigerator. "What are you looking for?" Gusler asks confused.
"I don't know...I just..." She pauses and looks into his fridge, then closes the door. "There were eggs and milk in his car. And a loaf of bread."
"What?"
"When they pulled the car out of the water, it had some groceries in the front seat. We have to find where he bought them."
She drives back to the precinct and checks again to see if he has called in, and then she calls the detectives that were on the case. She questions them about the contents of his car, and they confirm that he bought groceries last night. The receipt shows it was at 11:51 pm from Weaver's Deli. Then she finds out from them what time the call was made about the car going into the river. The call was made at 1:02.
Gusler sits across from her at the desk. "So what does that mean? What have we got so far?"
"Ok...he time stamped at 11:15. Then figure 15 minutes to get dressed. He pulled out about 11:30 and went to get groceries at Weaver's Deli. He checked out at 11:51. Then an hour and ten minutes later someone rolls his car into the river." She looks at him sadly. "We got nothen. Anything could have happened in that hour plus. This is useless."
"No...don't give up. Lets drive from the deli to the river and see how long it takes. We can narrow down the time." he tells her.
[Later]
They pull up to the river where just a few hours ago Bosco's car had been pulled out of the water. It took 22 minutes to drive here from the deli. Faith finds the bum that had called in about the car and she questions him further. She finds out that he called in from a bar around the corner. It takes them almost 15 minutes to walk there. So they have roughly 30 minutes to account for. They figure that Bosco must have been dumped out somewhere nearby. Who ever took his car, couldn't have driven him more than 15 minutes away from the river, to stay within that time frame.
They drive for fifteen minutes and note their location. Faith pulls out a map. They make a mark at the spot the car was dumped, then a mark at the location they are now, then make a circle using the car dump off as the center, and their present location as the radius. Slowly they drive all the areas that fall within that circle, searching behind buildings and alley ways. Any one she runs across, she shows them the picture of Bosco's car and asks if anyone saw it the night before. They come up empty.
*****
Bosco wakes to find he is in the dark and very much in pain. He tries to move but his arms are cuffed behind his back and a sharp pain shoots through his shoulder. He moans out loudly and the sound resonates yhrough the empty vat he is laying in. He opens his eyes to the pitch black, and tries to realize where he is and remember what happened.
He moves his leg, and a more severe pain grabs him and he yells out. He knows his leg is broken. The yell makes him cough. His back aches and his chest feels as though it is splitting open, but he can't stop the spasms that are making him cough. In his mouth he gets the metallic taste of blood. He cries out into the dark for help. The empty echo of his voice makes him feel even more alone.
His voice is small and raspy as he yells, "Help! Someone...help me." He grimaces as his chest is seized with more pain. It hurts now when he breathes. He tries to call out again, but he can't inhale enough breath to make a sound. He sees sparkles of light in front of his eyes, and he feels the darkness begin to spin. A wave of nausea sweeps through him and then he looses consciousness.
[Meanwhile]
Cruz has been working with the detectives all day. They search the car but the only clues they find are the groceries with the receipt. They also notice the broken dome light that tells them that someone must have been in his car with him. Cruz speaks to the grocery clerk that was working the night before, and she remembers Bosco, but remembers nothing unusual or any one else who may have been inside or outside of the store at that time. She also checks the hospital for any John Doe patients, and calls his mom, but gets an answering machine. They have run out of leads.
Faith and Gusler searched all day and came up empty too. It is now the end of their shift.
"What do you wanna do?" Gusler asks her.
"About what?" she asks him without averting her eyes from the area she is searching.
"It's eleven o'clock. Shift's over."
"It is?" She gives him a worried look. "How could it be that late...we didn't even get through the map."
"If you want to continue...I'll stay."
"No, Steve. I'll take you back. Lets just finish this street."
"I don't mind...I just think we should let the Lieutenant know what we're doing."
[Back in the abandoned building]
Bosco stirs but doesn't regain full consciousness. As the night gets colder, his body shivers, but not just from the cold, he is also in shock. He has a broken leg and four broken ribs, along with a dislocated shoulder and head trauma from the fall. His lips are stained with dried blood that he had coughed up earlier. His condition is deteriorating quickly.
[55-David is still searching]
Faith and Gusler drive through all the areas surrounding the river. It is now four in the morning, and Faith has no more neighborhoods to drive through. She stops the car, and looking around she says, "Lets search these buildings."
"Now?" Gusler says in a tired voice.
"Why...you got a better idea?" She snaps.
"How about a good nights rest first. We can start again in the morning."
She looks at her watch and realizes the time. "Steve...I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was this late."
"I don't care...I'm just...I'm spent. I think if we start fresh tomorrow we can cover more ground." He puts his hand on her shoulder. "I know how you feel, but...you've done enough for one night."
Reluctantly she agrees. She starts the car and heads back to the precinct.
[Gusler's apartment]
Stan climbs into bed. He is tired but he can't shut his mind off. He sighs out loud, and smiles as he thinks about his day, riding with Faith. Finally. He climbs out of bed and removes the box from his closet. He opens it and takes out Bosco's badge. He grins as he remembers the look on Bosco's face as he fell away out of sight.
The smile fades from his face as he thinks of Faith and what she must be feeling right now. He can't let this drag out too long. The sooner they get past this, the sooner she will except him as a partner and then his life will be good. It will be just what he always hoped it would be.
He lays back on his bed and his mind drifts back to when he got his first job in high school. He was as excited then, as he is now. The interview was really terrifying, but he got through it. And in fact, the boss was really impressed with his grades in school, and after they chatted for a while, he gave Steve the job.
He was now an usher in the local Cinema. It was better than good...it was a great job. He not only got to see all the latest movies, but he could get friends in free and soon he became a bit popular. He knew most of the kids that were being friendly to him were just doing it for the free movies, but they were being nice to him...for the first time ever. And he didn't care why.
It wasn't long before he worked his way up from ticket taker to reel man. He got to sit in the room upstairs, run the previews, start the movie and then all he had to do was make sure that the movie ran with no interruptions. He was important.
He took a shine to one of the girls at the candy counter. Her name was Chrissie. He was working up the nerve to ask her out. He had already talked to her a few times. She was shy, and pretty in a plain sort of way. She was also very good at her job. There was a dance coming up at the school, and Steve had never gone to one, but he was planning to go this time and take her with him as his date.
Then it happened.
It was a Friday night. The eight o'clock showing of Jurassic Park. Steve had started the movie, and there was a knock at the door of the projection room. It was the other workers. They had all come up to hang with him, including Chrissie. He was so proud.
Steve let them in and was really excited. He was feeling like a big shot until one of the guys pulled out a six pack, a pint of Jack Daniels, and a doobie. He told them no...they couldn't party up here. He would get in trouble. After debating it for a while, the other workers ganged up on him. When Chrissie, stuck up for him, they turned on her too.
They locked the two of them in a closet together after removing their clothes, then proceeded to party. No one noticed that the clip holding the reel on the projector was open, and halfway through the movie, it fell off the reel. The movie got stuck on a frame and the heat from the projector melted it.
On the screen in the theatre, the movie suddenly froze, and the audience watched it bubble up until the screen went blank. After several minutes the audience began shouting and throwing things at the screen. By the time the partying employees noticed, the theatre was in an uproar. They all slipped out of the room before the manager burst in and caught Steve and Chrissie, naked in the closet with beer, Jack Daniels, and marijuana.
They were both fired. Chrissie, although she knew it wasn't Steve's fault, never talked to him again. Her parents tried to have him arrested, and the others got off Scott free. And of course, they were both the laughing stock of the senior class.
The only thing that overshadowed Steve's anger at them for ruining the best job he ever had and the popularity he had for the first time, was the embarrassment he felt over humiliating her...his first possible date...by not defending her. That was when Steve first thought about being a cop. So he could defend the abused.
And while Steve thought about it...Stan took an action.
He went into chemistry class early one day, and while he was alone, he substituted black powder, for a non combustible element that two of the boys from the cinema were going to be working with that day in class. When they got to the part of their experiment where they had to heat it up, the whole thing exploded in their faces.
The explosion was much bigger than Stan expected. Both boys and several other students were burned badly, and sprayed with glass from broken beakers. The room nearly caught on fire. Students were running and screaming and the fire alarms went off. It was way out of his control.
Stan ducked out, leaving Steve there in shock, panicking as he watched the other students running and screaming on fire. Steve watched in horror. He couldn't move. He covered his ears from the screams and from the alarms ringing. It got louder and louder. It wouldn't stop.
Suddenly he sits up in bed...shaking and sweating to the sound of his alarm clock.
******
Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, you guys sure love to worry about Bosco.
"Understanding Steven"
~Chapter Eight~
[The day after Bosco's attack]
Gusler walks into the precinct with a confidence he's never felt here before. He walks straight to the Lieutenant's office and gives the door a rap as he walks in and sits down. Swersky looks up at him a bit surprised.
"Gusler...what can I do for you?"
"I want to get back on patrol as soon as possible...as soon as something comes up. I'll fill in for anyone that's out sick. I can't stand working the desk one more day. What do ya say Lieu?"
"So you enjoyed working on the street, huh? Even with all the problems Martin caused you?"
"Yes sir. I feel my potential is being wasted on a desk. I need to get back out there. I think I can make a difference." He says, looking him straight in the eye.
"Well...I must say...this is a side of you I've never seen Steve. I will check the roster at roll call. If anyone is out, you can fill in. I can't promise you anything, but...I can start looking for a partner for you if you'd like."
"Yes sir. Thank you." He stands and struts out of the office, leaving Lieu a bit shocked at his new attitude.
He enters the locker room, and as he walks by he says hi to everyone. They all look at him a little mystified.
Davis says, "Hey Steve...how's it goen?"
"Davis...I'm good. I feel great today...like a whole new person. How are you?" Stan says with a grin.
"I'm good." he answers looking a little bewildered. The officers share a questioning glance, but continue getting ready for roll call.
"Bosco's late as usual." Sully points out to Faith.
"He's still got a few minutes." No sooner does she say it, when Christopher yells in, "Roll call." Sully chuckles as he walks out.
[Roll call]
"Sullivan."
"Here."
"Davis."
"Yo."
Sector Charlie...fifty six, forty eight...eighteen hundred meal break.
"Yokas."
"Yah."
"Boscorelli." When he gets no answer, he looks up and repeats, "Boscorelli?"
"He's not here yet." Faith says regretfully.
"Is he coming in today?" He turns towards Christopher. "Did he call in?"
"No he did not." He answers grinning.
"Ok then...Yokas...Gusler...sector David...fifty six, forty nine...nineteen hundred meal break. If Boscorelli shows...have him see me. Eyes and ears open out there. We have a backlog, so lets not dally."
Gusler walks up to Faith and says, "I'll get the radios." then he walks off.
She looks at him, baffled, then says to Sully, "I'm gonna kill Bosco. Why the hell can't he get his ass here in time."
"I think he pushed it one too many times. He'd be better off calling in sick now."
"You're right. I'm gonna try calling him." She heads to the desk and calls his home, but gets no answer. She leaves him a message then hangs up and finds Gusler waiting eagerly for her, holding two radios.
"Here...oh, and you can drive." She takes her radio from him, and stares at him as he heads off towards the door. He turns back. "Ya comen?"
"Yah." She says quietly, pondering the new Steve.
They go out on patrol. Steve calls them in as 10-98 and they are told to respond to a MVA. They head to the scene and begin directing traffic when the radio calls out.
'55-David...respond to 1100 block of East River Street.'
"This is 55-David...that location is out of our jurisdiction. Is there a reason you're sending us there?"
'Affirmative. You were requested to this location.'
"10-4 Central." Faith calls out, "Steve...let's go."
"What do ya think this is all about?" he asks a bit nervously. He knows the location is near where he dumped Bosco's car into the river.
"We'll find out." She says, hurrying to the car.
They drive over and pull up at the scene. There are several patrol cars from another precinct, a few detectives, and lots of people gathered, watching a tow truck pull something out of the river. There are divers in the water, bobbing up and down near the line of the wench that is submerged. Faith and Gusler walk over to the edge of the water, just as the object underwater starts to break the surface. It is a car.
Faith walks up to one of the detectives and asks why they were called here. He asks her if she knows Maurice Boscorelli. As she answers him, she realizes the car being dragged to the shore is his blue Mustang.
"Oh sweet Jesus!" she shouts as she runs to the car. "Did someone run the plates?"
The detective follows her and says, "Yes we did. When we realized who it belonged to we notified the five-five. They said they would send someone here."
"They sent me." Sergeant Cruz walks up to them.
Faith gets a sick feeling in her stomach thinking about the fact that Bosco didn't show up for work or call in. She looks inside the car, hoping to not see a body. She feels little relief when there is none, because now they are prying open the trunk.
She watches, trying to keep her composure, as she yells at them to hurry. Her words are now half panicked screams. Gusler walks up to her and says, "Are you alright? Why don't you wait over there. I'll do this. Let me look first."
She pushes him aside. "Hurry! Get it open." she screams.
As they force the trunk open, she grabs Gusler by the coat sleeve. "Please...God...don't let him be in there." she whispers.
The trunk is opened, and it is empty. Faith exhales a cry of relief. She bends over and puts her hands on her knees to tries and regain her composure. She wipes her eyes with her hand, and asks the detective how they knew his car was in the water.
"That bum over there." he says pointing. "He saw someone roll it in the water early this morning. Called the police to see if they would tow it out for him. He thinks it's finders keepers." He calls to her as she walks away, "We already questioned him."
She approaches the guy. "What did you see?"
"She's a beauty ain't she? I couldn't believe someone was trashing it in the river. I get to keep it, right? It's like sunken treasure. I found it..."
"Who did you see? Can you identify the person?"
"I already told them, it was dark...I was pretty far away. It was just some guy. So is it mine?"
She grabs him hard and shakes him. "What did he look like? Was he alone? Was anyone else in the car?"
"Let go of me. I told you it was dark. There was just one guy. He started the car and threw something inside. Then the car shot into the water. I thought it was a shame...a classic car like that."
"Where did this guy go?"
"I don't know. He just walked off...that way." he says pointing.
The detective walks over and says, "Look...I only need one of you helping with this."
Cruz says, "That would be me."
"I was dispatched here." Faith informs her.
"Yah...by me. I wanted to ask you what you knew about Boscorelli...where he may be. That's all. You're done here."
"I don't know where he is." Faith says confused.
"Ok...then you can go."
"I'm not leaving till I know what happened." Faith informs her.
"You have calls to take. This is my job to do. I'll keep you informed officer. You can go now."
Gusler pulls her aside. "We should do a canvas."
"What?" she says annoyed.
"We should canvas the area. If he was carjacked, he may be injured somewhere nearby."
"Yah...right. You're right." she says, trying to wrap her mind around what she should do. "I just gotta...hold on a sec." She runs to their RMP and radios in to central, asking if Bosco had reported or called in yet. The answer is no. She asks if anyone has tried to contact Bosco and she is told they have tried but have been unable to reach him so far. She tells them to contact the hospitals and if they find anything to let her know immediately.
Having no other ideas, she follows Gusler as they walk the river and search the area. She knows this is useless, because if the car had been jacked, they wouldn't have dumped it in the same place they stole it from. After searching for a while in vain, she slaps Gusler in the arm and tells him to come with her.
"We're wasting time. He wouldn't be here where the car was dumped."
Steve follows her to the RMP. "So where are we going?"
"Bosco's place. See if there's any sign of a struggle there. Or anything that will tell us if he even made it home last night. If he didn't...he may have been dumped anywhere along the way from the precinct to his house."
Gusler smiles. "Good idea." He thinks to himself that he is in good hands...now that he is her partner. And at the same time, he feels a little bad for her. This is going to be hard on her.
They drive over to Bosco's apartment and get no answer at the door. Gusler goes and gets the landlord to let them in. Once inside, there is little information. His bed is not made, but she doesn't believe that means he slept in it last night. She can't picture him to be the type that would make his bed every day after waking up. There is a photograph of him leaning against his car on his bedroom mirror. She takes that with her.
She plays his answering machine and hears two messages from the precinct, her message from this afternoon, and two others, one from a girl and the other from a bill collector. Both of them were from the day before. There is a pair of jeans and a t-shirt crumpled on the floor, and she knows it was not the outfit he was wearing yesterday. The clothes he was wearing yesterday are not here, hinting to her that he never made it home last night.
She goes into his kitchen. Gusler follows, not really sure of what she is doing. She opens his refrigerator. "What are you looking for?" Gusler asks confused.
"I don't know...I just..." She pauses and looks into his fridge, then closes the door. "There were eggs and milk in his car. And a loaf of bread."
"What?"
"When they pulled the car out of the water, it had some groceries in the front seat. We have to find where he bought them."
She drives back to the precinct and checks again to see if he has called in, and then she calls the detectives that were on the case. She questions them about the contents of his car, and they confirm that he bought groceries last night. The receipt shows it was at 11:51 pm from Weaver's Deli. Then she finds out from them what time the call was made about the car going into the river. The call was made at 1:02.
Gusler sits across from her at the desk. "So what does that mean? What have we got so far?"
"Ok...he time stamped at 11:15. Then figure 15 minutes to get dressed. He pulled out about 11:30 and went to get groceries at Weaver's Deli. He checked out at 11:51. Then an hour and ten minutes later someone rolls his car into the river." She looks at him sadly. "We got nothen. Anything could have happened in that hour plus. This is useless."
"No...don't give up. Lets drive from the deli to the river and see how long it takes. We can narrow down the time." he tells her.
[Later]
They pull up to the river where just a few hours ago Bosco's car had been pulled out of the water. It took 22 minutes to drive here from the deli. Faith finds the bum that had called in about the car and she questions him further. She finds out that he called in from a bar around the corner. It takes them almost 15 minutes to walk there. So they have roughly 30 minutes to account for. They figure that Bosco must have been dumped out somewhere nearby. Who ever took his car, couldn't have driven him more than 15 minutes away from the river, to stay within that time frame.
They drive for fifteen minutes and note their location. Faith pulls out a map. They make a mark at the spot the car was dumped, then a mark at the location they are now, then make a circle using the car dump off as the center, and their present location as the radius. Slowly they drive all the areas that fall within that circle, searching behind buildings and alley ways. Any one she runs across, she shows them the picture of Bosco's car and asks if anyone saw it the night before. They come up empty.
*****
Bosco wakes to find he is in the dark and very much in pain. He tries to move but his arms are cuffed behind his back and a sharp pain shoots through his shoulder. He moans out loudly and the sound resonates yhrough the empty vat he is laying in. He opens his eyes to the pitch black, and tries to realize where he is and remember what happened.
He moves his leg, and a more severe pain grabs him and he yells out. He knows his leg is broken. The yell makes him cough. His back aches and his chest feels as though it is splitting open, but he can't stop the spasms that are making him cough. In his mouth he gets the metallic taste of blood. He cries out into the dark for help. The empty echo of his voice makes him feel even more alone.
His voice is small and raspy as he yells, "Help! Someone...help me." He grimaces as his chest is seized with more pain. It hurts now when he breathes. He tries to call out again, but he can't inhale enough breath to make a sound. He sees sparkles of light in front of his eyes, and he feels the darkness begin to spin. A wave of nausea sweeps through him and then he looses consciousness.
[Meanwhile]
Cruz has been working with the detectives all day. They search the car but the only clues they find are the groceries with the receipt. They also notice the broken dome light that tells them that someone must have been in his car with him. Cruz speaks to the grocery clerk that was working the night before, and she remembers Bosco, but remembers nothing unusual or any one else who may have been inside or outside of the store at that time. She also checks the hospital for any John Doe patients, and calls his mom, but gets an answering machine. They have run out of leads.
Faith and Gusler searched all day and came up empty too. It is now the end of their shift.
"What do you wanna do?" Gusler asks her.
"About what?" she asks him without averting her eyes from the area she is searching.
"It's eleven o'clock. Shift's over."
"It is?" She gives him a worried look. "How could it be that late...we didn't even get through the map."
"If you want to continue...I'll stay."
"No, Steve. I'll take you back. Lets just finish this street."
"I don't mind...I just think we should let the Lieutenant know what we're doing."
[Back in the abandoned building]
Bosco stirs but doesn't regain full consciousness. As the night gets colder, his body shivers, but not just from the cold, he is also in shock. He has a broken leg and four broken ribs, along with a dislocated shoulder and head trauma from the fall. His lips are stained with dried blood that he had coughed up earlier. His condition is deteriorating quickly.
[55-David is still searching]
Faith and Gusler drive through all the areas surrounding the river. It is now four in the morning, and Faith has no more neighborhoods to drive through. She stops the car, and looking around she says, "Lets search these buildings."
"Now?" Gusler says in a tired voice.
"Why...you got a better idea?" She snaps.
"How about a good nights rest first. We can start again in the morning."
She looks at her watch and realizes the time. "Steve...I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was this late."
"I don't care...I'm just...I'm spent. I think if we start fresh tomorrow we can cover more ground." He puts his hand on her shoulder. "I know how you feel, but...you've done enough for one night."
Reluctantly she agrees. She starts the car and heads back to the precinct.
[Gusler's apartment]
Stan climbs into bed. He is tired but he can't shut his mind off. He sighs out loud, and smiles as he thinks about his day, riding with Faith. Finally. He climbs out of bed and removes the box from his closet. He opens it and takes out Bosco's badge. He grins as he remembers the look on Bosco's face as he fell away out of sight.
The smile fades from his face as he thinks of Faith and what she must be feeling right now. He can't let this drag out too long. The sooner they get past this, the sooner she will except him as a partner and then his life will be good. It will be just what he always hoped it would be.
He lays back on his bed and his mind drifts back to when he got his first job in high school. He was as excited then, as he is now. The interview was really terrifying, but he got through it. And in fact, the boss was really impressed with his grades in school, and after they chatted for a while, he gave Steve the job.
He was now an usher in the local Cinema. It was better than good...it was a great job. He not only got to see all the latest movies, but he could get friends in free and soon he became a bit popular. He knew most of the kids that were being friendly to him were just doing it for the free movies, but they were being nice to him...for the first time ever. And he didn't care why.
It wasn't long before he worked his way up from ticket taker to reel man. He got to sit in the room upstairs, run the previews, start the movie and then all he had to do was make sure that the movie ran with no interruptions. He was important.
He took a shine to one of the girls at the candy counter. Her name was Chrissie. He was working up the nerve to ask her out. He had already talked to her a few times. She was shy, and pretty in a plain sort of way. She was also very good at her job. There was a dance coming up at the school, and Steve had never gone to one, but he was planning to go this time and take her with him as his date.
Then it happened.
It was a Friday night. The eight o'clock showing of Jurassic Park. Steve had started the movie, and there was a knock at the door of the projection room. It was the other workers. They had all come up to hang with him, including Chrissie. He was so proud.
Steve let them in and was really excited. He was feeling like a big shot until one of the guys pulled out a six pack, a pint of Jack Daniels, and a doobie. He told them no...they couldn't party up here. He would get in trouble. After debating it for a while, the other workers ganged up on him. When Chrissie, stuck up for him, they turned on her too.
They locked the two of them in a closet together after removing their clothes, then proceeded to party. No one noticed that the clip holding the reel on the projector was open, and halfway through the movie, it fell off the reel. The movie got stuck on a frame and the heat from the projector melted it.
On the screen in the theatre, the movie suddenly froze, and the audience watched it bubble up until the screen went blank. After several minutes the audience began shouting and throwing things at the screen. By the time the partying employees noticed, the theatre was in an uproar. They all slipped out of the room before the manager burst in and caught Steve and Chrissie, naked in the closet with beer, Jack Daniels, and marijuana.
They were both fired. Chrissie, although she knew it wasn't Steve's fault, never talked to him again. Her parents tried to have him arrested, and the others got off Scott free. And of course, they were both the laughing stock of the senior class.
The only thing that overshadowed Steve's anger at them for ruining the best job he ever had and the popularity he had for the first time, was the embarrassment he felt over humiliating her...his first possible date...by not defending her. That was when Steve first thought about being a cop. So he could defend the abused.
And while Steve thought about it...Stan took an action.
He went into chemistry class early one day, and while he was alone, he substituted black powder, for a non combustible element that two of the boys from the cinema were going to be working with that day in class. When they got to the part of their experiment where they had to heat it up, the whole thing exploded in their faces.
The explosion was much bigger than Stan expected. Both boys and several other students were burned badly, and sprayed with glass from broken beakers. The room nearly caught on fire. Students were running and screaming and the fire alarms went off. It was way out of his control.
Stan ducked out, leaving Steve there in shock, panicking as he watched the other students running and screaming on fire. Steve watched in horror. He couldn't move. He covered his ears from the screams and from the alarms ringing. It got louder and louder. It wouldn't stop.
Suddenly he sits up in bed...shaking and sweating to the sound of his alarm clock.
******
