ANSWERS AND QUESTIONS – CHAPTER 12
Hobson is insidious. His level of subtlety is astounding. I know he's saved my life on several occasions, but it bothers me more than I can say to admit that I have no idea how many times he's done it. I'm aware of the times that he has called me directly or literally been there to save me, but how many times has he told Winslow or Brigatti to do something. Something innocuous that has a phenomenal impact. When I was younger I was fascinated by the history of World War II, specifically the naval war in the Pacific. It amazed me how many battles turned on small details. Like at Midway; how one patrol plane for the Japanese having a broken radio enabled the Americans to attack in secrecy. One glitch in one plane and the entire battle ends up differently. The US wins at Midway and the entire tide of the war changes, all because of one busted radio. How many times has Hobson saved my life, I wouldn't know where to begin to answer that question. And that is what scares me the most about the guy.
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Gary hated hospitals; one of the things that he hated the most about his calling was his almost constant interaction with hospitals. Not that they weren't necessary or that they didn't do good work, it was just that the people in hospitals asked too many questions, and were never prepared to either listen or take anything on faith. So of course here he was again, praying that neither Brigatti nor Meredith were wheeled in here, praying he wouldn't have to spend days second guessing himself. He was dreading the next day. He knew that Armstrong would never let it go now that he had gotten Gary's promise; maybe he should think about how to present the truth to a detective so cynical that he would rather believe that Gary was some sort of master criminal than a man who just did good things for people. He was so lost in thought that he almost missed Meredith when she came in. Honestly it was easy to do, since most of her head was covered with a bandage. Gary froze, dread filling his insides. He knew that the only way Meredith would have gotten hurt was despite Toni's best efforts; so if Meredith was in a bad way, how bad must Brigatti be. Then he saw her and his heart leapt and died at the same time, 'SHE'S ALIVE' his mind screamed, but God there was so much blood. He tried to go to her, to be with her, but a hand held him back. He tried to shrug it off, but it didn't move, in fact it was soon joined by another. He turned angrily to see that both Paul Armstrong and Marissa were holding on to him. Marissa looked stricken, but Gary was surprised to note that Armstrong didn't look much better.
"Let them work on her Hobson, that's what she needs right now."
Gary slumped, he knew Paul was right, but it didn't feel right, just leaving the woman he loved to the care of others. And that too was a curse of his calling, he was used to doing for others, not the other way around, and being in that position wasn't comfortable.
"Are you alright Gary, I mean physically" Marissa asked.
"Yeah, I'm OK" he mumbled "three busted ribs and a slight concussion, but I'll live."
"How's Brent?"
"Dr. Grant seemed to think he'd be OK, but he wants to keep him here for a day or so, just in case."
Marissa nodded "can you take me to him" she asked taking Gary's arm in hers.
He knew that she was trying to steer him away from Toni and Meredith, and he knew it was the right thing at the time, he just didn't like it.
"I'll keep an eye on her Hobson, don't worry, she's tougher that both of us put together."
Gary looked up, the last thing he had expected was caring or consideration from Armstrong, but something had affected the man, and he looked shaken on a fundamental level. He also realized that Paul needed to be here just as much as Gary did, maybe more so. He was beginning to believe that there were a lot more similarities between himself and Armstrong than either wanted to admit.
Due to the necessity of clearing out the ER, Brent had been moved to a room on the third floor. As calmly as he could, Gary escorted Marissa up there. She chatted, trying to keep the conversation light and away from the two women they both cared about.
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Meredith Carson came too, and the first thing she noticed was a strange man just inches from her face. The light seemed entirely too bright, and all the other color was washed out, just white, and the man's face.
"Am I dead?"
"I certainly hope not" the man replied, "I would be most surprised to find myself suddenly dead without being aware of it."
She started to giggle a bit at the man's turn of phrase, but the instant her head moved a bolt of pain shot through her. "That's not good" she mumbled.
"Well the next time you decide to stop a bullet, you might want to use something other than your head. But then again you're a reporter, and most would maintain that the head is the reporter's least vulnerable spot."
'Great' Meredith thought to herself 'I die and get Eddie the insult angel'. "Where am I?"
"Cook County Hospital, you were in the ER, but I doubt you remember that, now you're in the Neurological Care Unit. I'm Dr. Grant, and I happened to be handy when you decided to grace us with you're presence. Before you ask, you should be fine, there was a little swelling of the brain, but it seems to be receding, unless something serious goes wrong, you should be out of here in two days."
Just as the soothing words were sinking in, Meredith remembered something; her eyes flying open she gasped "where's Toni"?
"Tony, who's that?"
"A friend, I was staying at her place, is she OK?"
"I'm sorry, I only know about you, what's her last name and I'll check with the police."
"Brigatti, detective Antonia Brigatti."
Dr. Grant just nodded and left. Meredith lay back and prayed that she was not the only survivor, because she didn't know if she could handle someone giving their life for hers.
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Paul Armstrong stood and watched while they worked on his partner. He had known Brigatti forfive years now, and she had been his partner for the last three. Having gone over the scene, he couldn't believe the carnage that had taken place, let alone the fact that both the women survived, at least one had, the jury was still out on number two. He wondered what the real story was; why did half the wiseguys in Chicago decide that a detective and a reporter needed to die? He was sure Hobson knew, heck, he was sure that Marissa knew as well, he just hadn't been thinking clearly enough to ask her when she was around. Watching two doctors and three nurses trying to keep your partner alive will do that.
"Excuse me detective."
Paul turned to face a balding doctor with a wry look on his face "can I help you"?
"I hope so; one of my patients was asking about a Detective Brigatti, I was wondering if you knew if she was alright?"
Suddenly unable to speak, Paul just nodded in the direction of the treatment room, his expression eloquently conveying his feelings.
"Oh my, I hope everything turns out fine, I'm sorry to have disturbed you Detective."
He watched the doctor walk away. Idly he wondered who had been concerned, but then realized it was probably the reporter. Part of him wanted to go talk to her, but he knew he wouldn't be able to leave until he knew that Brigatti would be OK.
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Brent was going to be OK. The damage to his eye was minor, and he would heal cleanly with little to no effect on his eyesight. Both Gary and Marissa were thankful for this, if the damage had been more extensive he may have had to give up his dream of acting. But with a little time, he would be back to auditions and shows. The two were leaving his room, when they saw Meredith being wheeled down the hall.
She didn't notice them as she was pushed into her room. Gary and Marissa started in, but Gary stopped short. There, sitting on a chair, was Cat and the paper.
"Gary, what is it?"
"Meredith already has a visitor" Gary answered.
Marissa started to ask who it was, but then Cat mewed and all her questions were answered.
He walked in, and casually picked up the paper and shooed Cat away, hoping the orderly wouldn't notice. Then the two of them walked over to Meredith's bed. This time she saw them.
"Gary, Marissa, God it's good to see you both, how's Brigatti?"
"We don't know, but I think Gary's gonna find out in a second or two."
"Yeah, I saw Cat and the paper when they brought me in here, but I didn't say anything", then she looked up at Gary "well?"
Meredith could tell from the way that Gary's body relaxed that Toni would be OK, Marissa heard the slow exhale of his pent up breath and knew the same thing. "She's gonna be fine" Gary said, she should be outta here in a couple of days. He continued flipping through the paper while the two women talked about the days events; a pretty full day considering it wasn't even noon yet.
Gary interrupted their talk, "Marissa, what exactly did you tell Armstrong?"
Marissa ran down her conversation with Armstrong and her observation that he didn't buy it one bit.
"So he's still running the line that I'm a criminal?"
"Yes, I'd say he is."
"Well, time to deal with that now; Brigatti won't be out of surgery for another three hours, I should be back by the time she's waking up." With that he left the two friends to themselves.
He found Armstrong standing outside one of the treatment rooms near the ER. Paul was staring through the window at Brigatti. "You didn't believe Marissa at all, did you?" Gary asked, making the other man jump.
"If you expect me to believe that load of crap, then you're a lot dumber than you look."
"Come on Armstrong, you're a trained interrogator, you tryin' to tell me that she was lying to you."
"No, I know she believes exactly what she told me, but she only knows what you tell her, and I don't think you've been telling her the truth."
Gary just nodded, "sounds like you're wanting some proof".
"That would be nice."
"Then come with me, I'll show you how this works."
"I'm not leaving here till I know Brigatti's gonna be OK."
"She'll be fine Armstrong, they're gonna take her to surgery in a couple of minutes, she'll be out three hours later and she'll be home three days from now."
"Now how the hell do you know that, talking to the doctors or something?"
"Nope, I read it" Gary said, handing Armstrong the paper. "Now let's go, we don't have all day."
Gary started to leave, Armstrong looked around for a second and then trailed after him, reading the front page article about Brigatti on the way. Once they got to his car, he looked up at Gary, "how could this be real" he asked.
"I don't know" Gary answered, "but it is; come on, we're in a bit of a rush."
Paul got into his car, looking over at the man that had just turned his world on its ear, "where to"?
"The Lincoln Park Zoo, some kid is gonna decide to pet the 'kitties' and climb into the lions cage, it's not gonna end well."
"I believe that" was all Armstrong could say.
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They kept the kid from getting into the cage; Gary decided that having a guy with a badge along helped. For once the parents didn't get bent out of shape thinking that Gary was attacking their child.
"Anything else" Armstrong asked when they got back to the car. He was starting to believe now; he had actually been looking at the article when it changed.
"A drunk driver on Wabash is gonna try driving on the sidewalk to get around a wreck and hit four people."
"How long?"
"Forty five minutes, we've got time."
"So you've been doing this for six years, no wonder everyone in the city has heard of you."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You can walk into any restaurant in the city, and ask if anyone there has heard of a guy named Gary Hobson, and you always get at least one who has, every time."
"And you know this cause you've tried it?"
"Yep, for about six months now, I gotta admit I've tossed a lot of possibilities around for how you end up in the situations you do, but I never would have figured this for the answer" he said, indicating the paper.
"You OK with it?"
"Honestly I'm not sure, it's so far outside what I know to be true that I'm just kind of ignoring how you know what you know and just accepting that you do, for the moment at least. I'm betting I'll have quite a few sleepless nights when the reality sinks in."
"I've been there" Gary acknowledged. "Armstrong, sorry but I've got to ask, do you still think I'm some kind of criminal?"
Paul thought for a moment "let's just say I'm considering the probability that my conclusion was incorrect. Sorry Hobson, but a good cop doesn't discard a theory until he's presented with overwhelming evidence."
Actually Gary was encouraged by this answer, it meant that Armstrong was actually thinking and that was a good thing. They talked about past incidents right up until they found the drunk, weaving up to the accident site.
Armstrong turned on his light and hit the siren and the guy pulled over. Gary watched as Paul checked the driver and called it in. He sat back and relaxed, his day was done; now he wanted to be there for Brigatti. He checked the paper once again, just to make sure that all was well with the world, it was and he relaxed even further. He was still worried about Armstrong's reaction, but there was really nothing he could do about it. Paul got done citing the guy, and had a black and white take him home, when he got back in the car, he asked Gary, "anywhere else?"
"Cook County Hospital"
Paul just nodded; there really wasn't anything else to say.
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Brigatti wasn't sure where she was or what was happening. Everything seemed suffused with a warm glow, but she wasn't sure if her eyes were open or not, and at the moment it didn't seem to matter. She heard murmurs in the background, so she knew people were around somewhere, but finding them didn't seem to be much of a priority either. Suddenly there was a different kind of light, a piercing, bright light, and the voices got louder.
"Detective, Detective can you hear me?"
"I guess I'm alive, huh" she managed to croak out. Her mouth felt like it was full of sand on a hot day. "Can I get some water?"
There was a straw at her lips, and she sucked on it gratefully. She turned to thank the nurse and the words died in her throat. Sitting there holding her left hand was Gary Hobson, at the same time the person she most and least wanted to see.
"Good to have you back, Toni." Was all he could manage, she looked so hurt and vulnerable; it was all he could do to restrain himself from scooping her up in his arms. He leaned close "don't you ever scare me like that again, OK. I'm not as tough as you."
She saw the tears in his eyes, but didn't realize the reason they were there,
"I'm sorry Hobson, I tried to protect her, I'm sorry, sorry…." Her sorrys faded into sobs, and she just lay there with tears running down her face.
Gary understood immediately what she thought, "Toni, Meredith is just fine, she has a concussion, but that's it, you didn't fail at all."
After a moment Brigatti's eyes opened, boring into Gary's; "she's OK" Toni husked out "you're not just saying that, she's really OK".
"Yeah Brigatti, she's really OK, as soon as she can walk down here, I'll have her tell you that herself."
Toni turned back to the doctor "how soon till I'm outta here"?
"Well I'd like to keep you here a week, but since you'd probably go nuts by then, I'll let you out in two days, unless something goes wrong."
"Two days isn't so bad" but then memory kicked in "God, where am I gonna live, my place must look like a battle zone?"
Gary chimed in "you can stay with me as long as you want, I've got room."
Brigatti looked at him, and saw that he was serious, more serious than she had seen him before; and the meaning of his invitation sank in and for a change Toni Brigatti had all the answers she needed.