A/N: Thanks for all the encouraging reviews, they keep me writing instead of watching TV, answering email, paying bills, prowling for boys…
Disclaimer: The witchblade etc.. belongs to TopCow etc…
Chapter 5: Tests
Detective Jake McCarty flashed his badge to the perimeter officer and then stepped over the hazard tape to enter the crime scene.
"Nine days straight McCarty must be some sorta record" remarked Officer Barclay who was standing by the wall waiting for him.
"I don't think so Barclay" Jake answered" I think you mighta went for twelve back in 87'
"That so? Well it's better than snow I guess, right?"
"Where's the body?" Jake asked
"Just through here." He led Jake into an alley. "The owners of the coffee shop next door found 'em while they were putting out the trash." Jake kneeled by the body as Officer Barclay whistled. "Talk about your eye opener huh?"
The body was nude, and devoid of any markings. No bruising or lacerations, except of course that his eyes were missing. The autopsy would no doubt reveal the cause of death to be a blunt force trauma to the head..
"So how many does this make Detective 7? 8?"
"Nine," Jake answered standing up slowly, "looks like someone might be goin' after some sorta record after all."
Sara awoke on the couch alone. It was still raining, she could hear it against the windows. It was early she figured as she strained to see the clock on the wall, just past 6.00. She glanced quickly around the room but Ian was nowhere to be found, and his side of the couch was cold. 'So he had left' she thought angrily 'even though he said he would stay'.
"Typical!" she said aloud. "When I don't want you around you won't leave me alone, but when I actually need you you're.."
"Waiting in the shadows lady Sara" said Ian quietly from somewhere behind her. Sara propped herself up to look over the back of the couch and there he was leaning quietly against it. "You need only look behind you Sara, I will always be there."
"Morning" she said rather sheepishly. "I don't suppose you slept all that well."
He had his gloves on again she noticed, though his coat was still off and folded neatly on the floor beside him. He looked up at her. "For the short time that I did sleep Sara, it was quite pleasant."
Something passed in front of his eyes just then, though she wasn't quite sure what it was, heat she'd say if she was to hazard a guess. Extreme heat. She lowered herself back on to the couch in an attempt to escape his gaze. "I'm glad..Ian." she said laying her head against the arm of the couch.
"And you Sara, did you sleep well?"
Sara flashed back to a very vivid dream, and blushed. "Yes, I slept very well. Thank you…for staying with me."
"There are few things Sara I would not do for you" Ian replied.
"Ya," she said softly, "I'm starting to gather that ."
Jake finished his coffee and yawned excessively, before heading down to see Vicky. He hated early mornings, 'why couldn't these psycho's do their killing during regular business hours?' he thought wearily. It wasn't difficult to see how all this had finally gotten to Pez, she'd been here a lot longer than he had and he already felt like he was perpetually sleepwalking. 'Still,' he thought, 'if he'd been asked to place a bet, he'd of bet against her cracking, the woman was like the energizer bunny, she just wouldn't go down. Or least so he'd thought. He checked his reflection in the glass before he entered the medical examiner's room. It wasn't like he had a crush on Vicky or anything, but there was nothing wrong with being told you were cute.
"You son of a bitch," Vicky said through gritted teeth as Jake entered the office.
"Hey now Vicky, that's not happiness to see me." Jake said looking all wounded.
"No it isn't McCarty, it's the attitude of a person whose been working for 18 hours straight and just wants to go home and get some shut eye." She rubbed her temples as if to reinforce her point. "You could have waited" she said impatiently, "Kilby's on in an hour."
"Ya well, I guess I just wanted your special touch" Jake said and flashed her a 100 watt smile. Vicky pouted and led McCarty into the examining room. "It's the downside of being one of the good guys Vic, lot's of over time, little pay."
"Right" she said turning on the light over the examining table. They both looked down at the body. "You were right obviously, it's the same M.O as the others. No external markings, besides the eyes which seemed to have been burned out with some extreme heat source, no bruising, no cuts, nada. I haven't received the tox screen back yet but I'm betting it's negative."
"So we're back to square one, we've got nothing."
"Not exactly," Vicky said moving the light so that it shone near the victim's heel.
"What's that? " asked Jake.
"Paint" said Vicky, "Ordinary house paint, in an ordinary brown, give me another half hour and I'll give you the brand and factory number."
"What am I supposed to do with house paint Vicky?"
"How should I know McCarty, I'm a doctor not a detective, that's your job." She shooed him out of the room. "Go..hunt…detect."
As Jake got to the door he turned around and said "You've been waiting to use that doctor line for a while now haven't you?"
"You have no idea" Vicky said grinning, "Now scoot."
Sara handed Ian a cup of coffee from across the table and then poured one for herself. He waited she noticed till she had taken a sip first before he had tasted it. Probably some training instilled by that psycho boss of his…the head dog always eats first and such.
"He isn't missing you?" she asked tentatively.
Ian shook his head. "Not exactly" he replied "he does not rise before 7, he will not know I am absent till shortly after that."
Sara frowned. "It's a leash Ian," she said suddenly. He looked at her strangely not sure of what she meant.
"This discipline and fear he holds over you."
"Perhaps" answered Ian "but I fear it is unbreakable."
"You can't really mean that, I mean you are your own man. Aren't you?" she asked hesitantly.
Ian paused before answering. "Yes, I suppose…somehow…" he took his time before finishing, "but I am also very much my father's son. He is the man who has raised, trained and looked out for me, I am nothing but what he has created." Sara placed her hand on his shoulder and Ian bowed his head. Dealing with the compassionate side of Sara was as difficult as dealing with her when she was cold. He was at a constant indecision of what to say and what to do. At least when she was angry he could be relatively sure of what to expect. A glare, a frown or quick retort. "Freak" echoed in Ian's mind and he quickly stood up.
"I suppose you should go" she said "it's almost 7." He nodded and put on his coat as he headed toward the window. "You know you could use the door Nottingham" she called over to him.
"I would not like to leave Officer Creedy with a complex about his ability to do his job."
She looked over towards the stairs, she'd forgotten all about the posted guard. "Well do you want an umbrell-?" she stopped as she looked back realizing he was already gone.
'One day out and I'm back in the box', she thought. The nurse placed the electrodes on her temples, then gave her a reassuring smile before she left. Sara stared around the brightly lit room. 'Well they better have a way to dim those lights, if they expect me to be able to sleep,' she thought angrily looking at her reflection in the two way mirrors that surrounded the room. She was getting antsy, and so was the witchblade. If the tingling sensation growing on her wrist was any indication, the blade didn't like being cooped up in confined spaces either. She stepped over to the examining table they had the nerve to call a bed and hoisted herself up on to it. 'Beds weren't 4 feet of the ground, and they usually didn't come equipped with straps' she noted, fingering the buckles on the edge of the table. Still she had no choice Dante had made that very clear.
"I really don't give a damn what you think Petzinni, just 'cause we were able to keep the sleepwalking part out of the papers doesn't mean I've forgotten. People get stressed out sure, but it ain't normal to take down an intersection when you do." Sara glared at him, not quite sure what to say that wouldn't get her canned on the spot. "You're a police officer babe," he ground out, "your supposed to be saving lives, not taking them." Sara felt like she'd been punched in the gut, she bit her lip to keep from screaming. "You pass this sleep evaluation and what ever other psych tests they set up for you and we'll talk about getting you reinstated, till then I don't want to see your face, or hear your name…" He began to walk away from her. "No references, jokes, limericks, or inferences to you at all."
'Son of a bitch,' Sara thought. 'He would have loved to have fired her on the spot. But that would mean admitting that she had done something wrong, that it might have been more then an accident. An over-worked under-paid detective driven to the brink of insanity by her job. She almost smiled at the thought. The only thing Dante cared more about than his own ass, was his departments. She'd be reinstated, when she passed all the tests.' The witchblade glowed on her wrist, and she was suddenly filled with an overwhelming fear. 'At least she hoped she pass.'