Truth or Lies
Chapter 3
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON DOWN THERE?" The shout of a very angry guard brought most of the men in Bosco's cell out of his cell. The guard who'd let him be attacked jumped to his feet. He'd not expected anyone to come in here until at least another hour had passed.
The 'guards' outside the cell scattered, making haste to vacate the area. Marcus and Angel quickly pulled the zippers on their jumpsuits up and helped the fourth man with his. Bosco lay near naked on the cold floor, semi conscious from his beating. Bloody and bruised he thought he'd never heard such a sweet yell in his life.
"Shit," Marcus peeked out quickly seeing the guard heading down the aisle their way, "Its Jackson! Man he's gonna freak out he thinks we were about to get some off this pig!" Angel and the fourth man quickly dragged Bosco to his feet, pulling on his jumpsuit to redress him. Angel growled, "Don't you worry, pretty boy, this ain't over. Tonight we're gonna finish what we didn't get to start, but we're all gonna finish it don't you worry." Yanking the zipper up just as the guard reached them Angel and the fourth man pushed him down under his bunk onto Angels bunk. Standing quickly in front to conceal him from view, they stood side by side, trying to look as if they were reading a magazine on car repair.
"I asked a damn question!" Jackson growled as he banged the billyclub across the bars of the cell, "I'm waiting..." Jabbing Marcus in the chest he leaned close to the man, "You, you little shit got about two seconds to get to breakfast or I'm gonna see to it you don't get another mealtime today. I know whatever the hell was going on you helped instigate it. NOW MOVE!" Without a backwards look or comment Marcus hauled ass towards the dining hall. The large black man next turned and looked dead straight at Angel, ignoring the other man for the moment.
"Angel, you got a problem in here? Something you want to talk about?" His low tone menacing. He hated the man before him. He understood he'd lost his son, but to kill an officer of the law was too much for Jackson to forgive. Rapidly losing his bravado, Angel shook his head no, croaking out, "Not a thing Officer Jackson, everything's good here." Glancing over at the fourth man, "Right Sean?" Sean gave a false smile to Jackson, "Right Officer Jackson, everything's just great."
"Un huh," Jackson noticed the foot hanging off the lower bunk, then heard a low moan issue from the same area. Moving into the cell now he held his billyclub out towards the two men, "Move." His one word conveying not only his desire of the action they were to take, but what he would do if they disobeyed in the slightest. He didn't interfere in prisoner fights if they were fair and he didn't care if they got together for a little 'bump and grind' as long as both were consenting. But this didn't look anything like fair. He'd seen how many there were outside the cell, and knew that besides Marcus one other had vacated the small room. "Who's that?" Standing now looking down at the prisoner he saw the man had been badly beaten, "What the hell did you apes do?"
"Officer Jackson," Angel spoke up quickly, "He stole from Sean here man. Took his cigarette money. We was just teaching him a lesson about manners that's all." Snickering now that he knew the man on the bed couldn't defend himself, hell he couldn't speak so Angel knew he could fix this, "Course, we might have gotten a bit carried away." Jackson rounded on Angel, "Who is he? You don't have a roommate Angel, and your roommate is in the infirmary Sean."
"Just some scum they brought in last night's all. And he right off hit Sean here in a bit of snatch and grab. Guy must have been high on crack or something, but he's fine now. He said he'd learned his lesson and all." Angel was praying that Boscorelli wouldn't be able to tell Jackson if he pressed the issue further, who he was. Jackson leaned down and peered over Bosco's shoulder, "Son of a bitch Angel, what the hell did you use on him? A damn sledgehammer?"
Just then the guard who'd done this stepped into the cell, "Jackson, leave it be. I was keeping an eye on them. Guy got out of line like Angel said," he was lying of course, and had been standing just out of view to make sure his story was straight with Angels and Sean's. "I already checked on him a little bit ago, he'll be fine, just looks worse than it is. He wakes up and gets cleaned up, he'll be good to go." Watching Jackson take another look at the cop, he added, "Boss called, wants us to make sure everyone gets checked out tomorrow for lice. I told him you'd go talk to Doc about it, get our block scheduled. Hope you don't mind?" Part of his story was true, and part made up on the spot, but he knew Jackson would not question it. It was a monthly job, so shouldn't make him suspicious.
"Yea, ok," Jackson gave Angel and Sean another hard look, "You too get to breakfast or I'll see to it you join Marcus. Speaking of whom, I need to talk to that little bastard about leaving the shower running, and his crap laying all over his cell." Passing the other guard, "You need to 'watch' this shit better. You don't want no prisoner dying on your watch. These scum ain't worth losing your job over." Smiling at him, "Yea, you're right, I'll make sure I stop it sooner next time."
Jackson left them standing there, as the guard moved into the cell. Looking down at Bosco, he asked Angel, "He's still breathing?" Angel smirked, "For now. Maybe he won't be later tonight though." Staring at him, lying again knowing he wouldn't be here after this morning's shift change, "You make sure he isn't, and I'll make sure you get extra in your 'carepackage' this month." The guard then started out the cell, "And get him up in the top bunk, then make sure you clean up your mess. I'll put a note that he's not to be disturbed, Doc's orders."
"Sure thing," Angel and Sean quickly moved to do as told.
Discovery:
"MOVE, MOVE!" Dave pushed the guard out of the way, as he and Ty with Sully directly behind entered the cell. "Jesus," Dave swore as he watched Ty roll Bosco gently over onto his back, "Sweet Mary Mother of God!"
Sully stood at his feet, turning his head he yelled out towards the others, "WHERE THE HELL IS THAT DOCTOR?" Staring at Bosco's beaten and ravaged face he felt sick to his stomach. Glancing at Ty, he saw the younger officer had tears on his face, his mocha skin was ashen, and well imagined his matched his partners right now. Dave was talking to Bosco, but Sully really couldn't believe that the injured officer could hear him.
A gurgling sound came from Bosco as he lay on his back, blood from his wounds still seeping he began to choke on his own secretions. "Roll him," Swersky ordered Ty, "towards us, but be gentle, no telling what these animals did to him." As they did so a long pain racked moan came from Bosco. His hands raising to defend himself , weakly pushing at Ty's hands before dropping to the gray blanket under him. Ty immediately tried to comfort the wounded officer, "Bos, its aright its us man. Sully, and Lieu are with me, they can't hurt you again. Just hang in there Bos, helps coming." Bosco unaware, unable to comprehend his friends voice or words, tried to again push him away, this time a little more desperately, his mind remembering the threats made earlier in the day, he was terrified of what was coming.
Dave moved closer to him, "Bosco. Maurice, don't move son, just be still. The Dr. is coming. We'll get you out of here soon." Dave was so angry he was glad their weapons had been checked at the entrance, or else he wouldn't have been responsible for his actions now. Fighting down his rage as he looked at the renewed terror on Bosco's face Dave without consciously thinking about it reached out and gently pulled Bosco's hand from Ty's wrist, grasping it gently in his. Squeezing softly he hoped to get through to him, knowing now that he wasn't comprehending their words, or Ty's having to hold on to him. Trying to show him he was in no danger, Dave rubbed his thumb soothingly over the back of Bosco's hand, "Easy Maurice, just lay easy son."
Bosco quieted, hearing his name used and feeling the hand in his. Confused still, but sensing finally he might be in no immediate danger. Sully found himself looking at the floor when he saw tears mixing with the blood on Bosco's face. Hearing the low moans and cry's from him as he became slightly more aware of his surroundings now. His gut clenching he worked to maintain his composure, knowing that Ty and Dave were quickly losing theirs. Laying his hand on Dave's shoulder, "Dave, hang in there man. Don't show these bastards they won. Ty you hear me?" Both men nodded, Ty swiping his face clear looked over at Sully, "They're gonna pay Sul. They have to pay for this."
"Damn straight pardner, but, first lets get him taken care of. Need to make sure Bosco's okay, then we get down to business." Sully, Ty and Dave knew a promise had just been made between the two men, Dave spoke next, "Business." Glancing first at Ty then Sully he nodded again, "I'm feeling like conducting some business myself right now. And Sully's right, Boscorelli first, then business."
The Doctor came rushing in to the cell with an orderly following close behind him pulling a gurney. "What the hell happened to him?" At first he didn't recognize the man on the bunk. His face was deeply bruised, swollen beyond identification. Cuts over his eyes and across his nose adding to the mangled look. Lips near twice their normal size, torn and still oozing blood. His jaw had deep blue and white markings, clearly outlining where a set of knuckles had impacted. Additional swelling showed where his jaw met his ear on his left side. The Doctor couldn't yet see his right side as the young black officer moved to let him in, but he imagined it would be the same. He'd seen enough of these beatings to know the men who did them, didn't leave anything untouched. He fully expected to find much additional damage to his ribs and stomach, as well as his back. Looking quickly at his wrists he saw the deep purple finger marks from him being held down and his gut clenched much as Sully's had done only a few minutes earlier, though from a different reason. He knew what a favorite punishment was in this and most prisons, and feared the worst had happened to this prisoner.
"Some of your wonderful guests decided to use him as a punching bag," Dave snarled, "what the hell does it look like?" His patience was at its end as of this second and this Dr. was pushing his buttons already. The man looked like he needed a drink not like he could handle an emergency. He was seriously considering taking control again, and getting an ambulance to take Bosco to a 'real' hospital.
Glancing at the officer the Doctor commented, "I don't know you, are you new here? And yes I know WHAT they did to him, I'm very familiar with the 'punishment' techniques used by the inmates as well as some of the more 'forceful' guards. What I meant is why wasn't he taken directly to the infirmary when this happened?"
"What?" Sully spoke up, cutting Dave off, "Doc he wasn't suppose to BE in here. Took us a damn hour and a half to find him. AFTER we figured out he wasn't in solitary." He sucked in a deep breath, blowing it out hard trying not to lose his temper.
"Well," the Dr. replied, looking again at their uniforms, "this obviously happened early today, some of these injuries are already clotted up." Looking past Bosco's head he saw the soaked blanket and pillow, "Did someone move him?" Turning to the men behind him, "Did you move him?" Ty nodded, trying to explain, "Yea, but we put him on his side..." The Doctor came unglued, "What the hell were you thinking? He could have internal injuries! Damn guards, never know when the hell just to let a prisoner be and call me first!" He was in a rage, pushing Ty aside he told the orderly to help him move the man off the bunk and onto the gurney.
"Do we look like guards?" Swersky bristled, "We're NYPD as is that man you're handling. He was suppose to be in solitary, not general. But some asshole guard put him in here last night. And didn't you see he was hurt when you examined him when he came in? Why the hell he was out of the infirmary should be my question to you Dr.!"
"What?" The Dr. looked into the face of the man they were settling onto the gurney, he gently reached down and pried open one of his eyelids. A sharp gasp escaped him, as he saw the unusual blue he'd noticed the night before, the yellow center a dead giveaway that this was the officer he'd treated. "I didn't know he was in general. He was suppose to go into solitary. I didn't keep him in the infirmary because he should have been by himself. He only had a mild concussion."
"You knew he had a concussion? Doc, when were you going to check on him again?" Ty spoke up shock evident in his voice, "He's been in here since last night and you haven't even checked to see if he was okay once today?" The Dr. looked at him, shook his head, "I have too many patients, and no staff. I can't always get to all of them in a single day." He was pushing as the orderly pulled the gurney out into the aisle. "BUT, I never imagined that Michaels would put him in general. He knew who he was."
The men followed him as they rapidly made their way to the infirmary. Sully and Ty exchanging looks behind Swersky's back. Understanding shared as they committed the name of the guard to memory. Ty stopped a moment, looking down at Angel who was still standing against the wall outside the cell, "You made a big mistake today." His voice low and hard, causing Angel to look down as Ty told the guard, "Find another cell to put this piece of trash in. That one is a crime scene. Lock it down." The guard, seeing the face of the man on the gurney as it had passed nodded at him, and slammed the cell door shut. "Lets go Angel, you're going where that man should have been."
The Infirmary
The Dr. and the orderly moved Bosco as carefully as they could onto the exam table. Swersky, Sully, and Ty hovering nearby. The Dr. told the orderly something quietly, and the others watched as he disappeared a moment onto another small room, to return with a Polaroid camera. They'd seen enough victims of beatings to know what the Dr. was about to do.
Slowly the Dr. snapped one shot after the other of Bosco's injuries as the orderly set up a treatment table with the instruments needed. On another he placed butadiene and cloths for cleaning the man up. A bowl set next to it he filled with sterile water.
Then as the Dr. finished with the pictures of Bosco's face and neck, the orderly drew a gasp from Sully as he placed a small box on the table with the instruments, "Doc? Is that going to be necessary?"
The orderly moved to begin removing the jumpsuit from Bosco as the Dr. responded, "I won't know until I examine him. I hope not, but considering what they did do to him, probably." The Dr. then ignored them as he quickly finished up the pictures for now. Helping the orderly they rolled Bosco to his side as the suit was removed from his shoulders and back. Ty turned away, unable to watch as Bosco's chest and back came into view. Dark bruises covered his chest and sides. Matching ones looking like some macabre modern painting flowed across his middle and lower back. Sharp gasps and grunts of pain accompanied the DR's moving him around. Sully found himself looking at the floor again, his anger renewing itself as the Dr.'s quiet voice instructed his orderly to hold him into place while he snapped more pictures. Finally done, the camera set aside for now, the Dr. began his exam.
Dave watched as he checked his eyes, moving slowly over his face and neck, manipulating his jaw to check for dislocation. Finding none, he then opened his mouth examining his teeth, tongue, and the insides his cheeks for more damage. It was done efficiently but gently, attempting to be thorough without causing more pain for his patient. That was not possible by the sounds Bosco was making at each touch and prod, but he did try. Ty could finally take no more, "Sul," his low desperate groan causing Sully to put his hand on his shoulder. "Ty, why don't you wait outside until he's done." Nodding Ty walked to the door, pausing a moment then stepped out into the hallway.
The orderly/nurse's aid, had begun an IV on Bosco's left arm as the Dr. moved over his face. It was set up and flowing as the Dr. began to give instructions about x-rays. The man moved to get the machine as the Dr. moved to Bosco's chest. Listening to his breathing and heart, he sighed and nodded, "Well, he has good breath sounds on both sides, so no punctured lung. Possible broken ribs. Lets hope none are fractured too badly. Perhaps your moving him didn't cause him any additional problems after all."
His hands now gently prodding Bosco's stomach drew painful gasps from his patient, but he didn't stop until he was satisfied, "Some guarding, but no really serious damage that I can see. We'll watch him of course, but I believe that if he had serious internal injuries they would be showing up now. This happened this morning, not any later." Finally he looked up, his orderly having waited until he was done to move the machine into place, "I'm sorry officers, but you're going to have to join your friend now. We need to get some films of his face, and chest as well as a few other areas. And I need to complete my exam. I don't think your friend would appreciate you're being here for that. When I'm finished you can come back in. He's going to need a number of stitches to close his facial injuries and it could take awhile. We have a plastic surgeon on call, and Frank here has already called her I'm sure. You can wait with him until she gets here."
Sully and Dave reluctantly nodded and left them to finish. Joining Ty in the hallway as the Dr. began to ask for the orderly to help him complete the removing of Bosco's clothing.
Twenty minutes later he came out into the hallway. The three men quickly rushed to hear what he had to say. "Doc?" Sully asked, afraid to actually ask anything of him.
"He has a few cracked ribs, his sternum is bruised badly from a knee to the chest I would imagine. And his left wrist is fractured, again, a knee most likely. His nose is indeed broken, but I was able to set it without much effort. And his right cheekbone has a chip in it. Painful, but easily recovered from. His jaw, well its pretty swollen, he's going to be eating soft foods for a week or so, but, it's not broken. He does need a Dentist. I can get one here tomorrow to look at him. He had one chipped tooth and some gum damage when he came in, now he has a few more. But again, repairable. He's suffering from a concussion, as he was last night, only now its more severe. He's pretty in and out right now, but I did give him something for the pain. Oh and the rape exam..." He paused a moment to take a breath as they froze, Ty had not really looked at the kit Sully had questioned him about earlier. Sully and Dave seemed about ready to jump on the Dr. and run at the same time as they waited for what he was about to say.
"It wasn't necessary," the Dr. sighed, "thank God for that. I can only imagine either a guard discovered them before they could assault him that way, or perhaps he passed out and took their 'fun' away from them. Him being where he was, 'looking like he was simply asleep' tells me that it could have been a guard. Maybe it happened at shift change and they panicked. Whatever it was, he's a lucky young man. He may not feel that way when he wakes tomorrow, but he could have been a lot worse off than he is. He received a severe beating, but someone must have scared them off for them not to have cut him, or even killed him. I made a quick call to the Warden, whom you will notice did NOT follow us here. It wasn't that he wasn't concerned. He was doing some interrogating, and he says someone told them he was a police officer. He thinks it might have been a man named Marcus Howard. But he's still looking into it. You can come in now and wait with him, the surgeon should be here in a little while."
As they entered they saw a white sheet had been placed over Bosco's lower torso, covering him to his feet. His upper half was exposed as the orderly carefully washed the blood and gore from his face and chest. He seemed almost peaceful as the pain medication was doing it's work for him now.
Finding places near him, but not getting in the way, they waited. Each caught up in their thoughts wondering what was Truth and what was Lies about what he'd done, and what had been done to him. Knowing only two people knew the answer to the first question. And vowing to find out who knew the answer to the second.
TBC...
Chapter 3
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON DOWN THERE?" The shout of a very angry guard brought most of the men in Bosco's cell out of his cell. The guard who'd let him be attacked jumped to his feet. He'd not expected anyone to come in here until at least another hour had passed.
The 'guards' outside the cell scattered, making haste to vacate the area. Marcus and Angel quickly pulled the zippers on their jumpsuits up and helped the fourth man with his. Bosco lay near naked on the cold floor, semi conscious from his beating. Bloody and bruised he thought he'd never heard such a sweet yell in his life.
"Shit," Marcus peeked out quickly seeing the guard heading down the aisle their way, "Its Jackson! Man he's gonna freak out he thinks we were about to get some off this pig!" Angel and the fourth man quickly dragged Bosco to his feet, pulling on his jumpsuit to redress him. Angel growled, "Don't you worry, pretty boy, this ain't over. Tonight we're gonna finish what we didn't get to start, but we're all gonna finish it don't you worry." Yanking the zipper up just as the guard reached them Angel and the fourth man pushed him down under his bunk onto Angels bunk. Standing quickly in front to conceal him from view, they stood side by side, trying to look as if they were reading a magazine on car repair.
"I asked a damn question!" Jackson growled as he banged the billyclub across the bars of the cell, "I'm waiting..." Jabbing Marcus in the chest he leaned close to the man, "You, you little shit got about two seconds to get to breakfast or I'm gonna see to it you don't get another mealtime today. I know whatever the hell was going on you helped instigate it. NOW MOVE!" Without a backwards look or comment Marcus hauled ass towards the dining hall. The large black man next turned and looked dead straight at Angel, ignoring the other man for the moment.
"Angel, you got a problem in here? Something you want to talk about?" His low tone menacing. He hated the man before him. He understood he'd lost his son, but to kill an officer of the law was too much for Jackson to forgive. Rapidly losing his bravado, Angel shook his head no, croaking out, "Not a thing Officer Jackson, everything's good here." Glancing over at the fourth man, "Right Sean?" Sean gave a false smile to Jackson, "Right Officer Jackson, everything's just great."
"Un huh," Jackson noticed the foot hanging off the lower bunk, then heard a low moan issue from the same area. Moving into the cell now he held his billyclub out towards the two men, "Move." His one word conveying not only his desire of the action they were to take, but what he would do if they disobeyed in the slightest. He didn't interfere in prisoner fights if they were fair and he didn't care if they got together for a little 'bump and grind' as long as both were consenting. But this didn't look anything like fair. He'd seen how many there were outside the cell, and knew that besides Marcus one other had vacated the small room. "Who's that?" Standing now looking down at the prisoner he saw the man had been badly beaten, "What the hell did you apes do?"
"Officer Jackson," Angel spoke up quickly, "He stole from Sean here man. Took his cigarette money. We was just teaching him a lesson about manners that's all." Snickering now that he knew the man on the bed couldn't defend himself, hell he couldn't speak so Angel knew he could fix this, "Course, we might have gotten a bit carried away." Jackson rounded on Angel, "Who is he? You don't have a roommate Angel, and your roommate is in the infirmary Sean."
"Just some scum they brought in last night's all. And he right off hit Sean here in a bit of snatch and grab. Guy must have been high on crack or something, but he's fine now. He said he'd learned his lesson and all." Angel was praying that Boscorelli wouldn't be able to tell Jackson if he pressed the issue further, who he was. Jackson leaned down and peered over Bosco's shoulder, "Son of a bitch Angel, what the hell did you use on him? A damn sledgehammer?"
Just then the guard who'd done this stepped into the cell, "Jackson, leave it be. I was keeping an eye on them. Guy got out of line like Angel said," he was lying of course, and had been standing just out of view to make sure his story was straight with Angels and Sean's. "I already checked on him a little bit ago, he'll be fine, just looks worse than it is. He wakes up and gets cleaned up, he'll be good to go." Watching Jackson take another look at the cop, he added, "Boss called, wants us to make sure everyone gets checked out tomorrow for lice. I told him you'd go talk to Doc about it, get our block scheduled. Hope you don't mind?" Part of his story was true, and part made up on the spot, but he knew Jackson would not question it. It was a monthly job, so shouldn't make him suspicious.
"Yea, ok," Jackson gave Angel and Sean another hard look, "You too get to breakfast or I'll see to it you join Marcus. Speaking of whom, I need to talk to that little bastard about leaving the shower running, and his crap laying all over his cell." Passing the other guard, "You need to 'watch' this shit better. You don't want no prisoner dying on your watch. These scum ain't worth losing your job over." Smiling at him, "Yea, you're right, I'll make sure I stop it sooner next time."
Jackson left them standing there, as the guard moved into the cell. Looking down at Bosco, he asked Angel, "He's still breathing?" Angel smirked, "For now. Maybe he won't be later tonight though." Staring at him, lying again knowing he wouldn't be here after this morning's shift change, "You make sure he isn't, and I'll make sure you get extra in your 'carepackage' this month." The guard then started out the cell, "And get him up in the top bunk, then make sure you clean up your mess. I'll put a note that he's not to be disturbed, Doc's orders."
"Sure thing," Angel and Sean quickly moved to do as told.
Discovery:
"MOVE, MOVE!" Dave pushed the guard out of the way, as he and Ty with Sully directly behind entered the cell. "Jesus," Dave swore as he watched Ty roll Bosco gently over onto his back, "Sweet Mary Mother of God!"
Sully stood at his feet, turning his head he yelled out towards the others, "WHERE THE HELL IS THAT DOCTOR?" Staring at Bosco's beaten and ravaged face he felt sick to his stomach. Glancing at Ty, he saw the younger officer had tears on his face, his mocha skin was ashen, and well imagined his matched his partners right now. Dave was talking to Bosco, but Sully really couldn't believe that the injured officer could hear him.
A gurgling sound came from Bosco as he lay on his back, blood from his wounds still seeping he began to choke on his own secretions. "Roll him," Swersky ordered Ty, "towards us, but be gentle, no telling what these animals did to him." As they did so a long pain racked moan came from Bosco. His hands raising to defend himself , weakly pushing at Ty's hands before dropping to the gray blanket under him. Ty immediately tried to comfort the wounded officer, "Bos, its aright its us man. Sully, and Lieu are with me, they can't hurt you again. Just hang in there Bos, helps coming." Bosco unaware, unable to comprehend his friends voice or words, tried to again push him away, this time a little more desperately, his mind remembering the threats made earlier in the day, he was terrified of what was coming.
Dave moved closer to him, "Bosco. Maurice, don't move son, just be still. The Dr. is coming. We'll get you out of here soon." Dave was so angry he was glad their weapons had been checked at the entrance, or else he wouldn't have been responsible for his actions now. Fighting down his rage as he looked at the renewed terror on Bosco's face Dave without consciously thinking about it reached out and gently pulled Bosco's hand from Ty's wrist, grasping it gently in his. Squeezing softly he hoped to get through to him, knowing now that he wasn't comprehending their words, or Ty's having to hold on to him. Trying to show him he was in no danger, Dave rubbed his thumb soothingly over the back of Bosco's hand, "Easy Maurice, just lay easy son."
Bosco quieted, hearing his name used and feeling the hand in his. Confused still, but sensing finally he might be in no immediate danger. Sully found himself looking at the floor when he saw tears mixing with the blood on Bosco's face. Hearing the low moans and cry's from him as he became slightly more aware of his surroundings now. His gut clenching he worked to maintain his composure, knowing that Ty and Dave were quickly losing theirs. Laying his hand on Dave's shoulder, "Dave, hang in there man. Don't show these bastards they won. Ty you hear me?" Both men nodded, Ty swiping his face clear looked over at Sully, "They're gonna pay Sul. They have to pay for this."
"Damn straight pardner, but, first lets get him taken care of. Need to make sure Bosco's okay, then we get down to business." Sully, Ty and Dave knew a promise had just been made between the two men, Dave spoke next, "Business." Glancing first at Ty then Sully he nodded again, "I'm feeling like conducting some business myself right now. And Sully's right, Boscorelli first, then business."
The Doctor came rushing in to the cell with an orderly following close behind him pulling a gurney. "What the hell happened to him?" At first he didn't recognize the man on the bunk. His face was deeply bruised, swollen beyond identification. Cuts over his eyes and across his nose adding to the mangled look. Lips near twice their normal size, torn and still oozing blood. His jaw had deep blue and white markings, clearly outlining where a set of knuckles had impacted. Additional swelling showed where his jaw met his ear on his left side. The Doctor couldn't yet see his right side as the young black officer moved to let him in, but he imagined it would be the same. He'd seen enough of these beatings to know the men who did them, didn't leave anything untouched. He fully expected to find much additional damage to his ribs and stomach, as well as his back. Looking quickly at his wrists he saw the deep purple finger marks from him being held down and his gut clenched much as Sully's had done only a few minutes earlier, though from a different reason. He knew what a favorite punishment was in this and most prisons, and feared the worst had happened to this prisoner.
"Some of your wonderful guests decided to use him as a punching bag," Dave snarled, "what the hell does it look like?" His patience was at its end as of this second and this Dr. was pushing his buttons already. The man looked like he needed a drink not like he could handle an emergency. He was seriously considering taking control again, and getting an ambulance to take Bosco to a 'real' hospital.
Glancing at the officer the Doctor commented, "I don't know you, are you new here? And yes I know WHAT they did to him, I'm very familiar with the 'punishment' techniques used by the inmates as well as some of the more 'forceful' guards. What I meant is why wasn't he taken directly to the infirmary when this happened?"
"What?" Sully spoke up, cutting Dave off, "Doc he wasn't suppose to BE in here. Took us a damn hour and a half to find him. AFTER we figured out he wasn't in solitary." He sucked in a deep breath, blowing it out hard trying not to lose his temper.
"Well," the Dr. replied, looking again at their uniforms, "this obviously happened early today, some of these injuries are already clotted up." Looking past Bosco's head he saw the soaked blanket and pillow, "Did someone move him?" Turning to the men behind him, "Did you move him?" Ty nodded, trying to explain, "Yea, but we put him on his side..." The Doctor came unglued, "What the hell were you thinking? He could have internal injuries! Damn guards, never know when the hell just to let a prisoner be and call me first!" He was in a rage, pushing Ty aside he told the orderly to help him move the man off the bunk and onto the gurney.
"Do we look like guards?" Swersky bristled, "We're NYPD as is that man you're handling. He was suppose to be in solitary, not general. But some asshole guard put him in here last night. And didn't you see he was hurt when you examined him when he came in? Why the hell he was out of the infirmary should be my question to you Dr.!"
"What?" The Dr. looked into the face of the man they were settling onto the gurney, he gently reached down and pried open one of his eyelids. A sharp gasp escaped him, as he saw the unusual blue he'd noticed the night before, the yellow center a dead giveaway that this was the officer he'd treated. "I didn't know he was in general. He was suppose to go into solitary. I didn't keep him in the infirmary because he should have been by himself. He only had a mild concussion."
"You knew he had a concussion? Doc, when were you going to check on him again?" Ty spoke up shock evident in his voice, "He's been in here since last night and you haven't even checked to see if he was okay once today?" The Dr. looked at him, shook his head, "I have too many patients, and no staff. I can't always get to all of them in a single day." He was pushing as the orderly pulled the gurney out into the aisle. "BUT, I never imagined that Michaels would put him in general. He knew who he was."
The men followed him as they rapidly made their way to the infirmary. Sully and Ty exchanging looks behind Swersky's back. Understanding shared as they committed the name of the guard to memory. Ty stopped a moment, looking down at Angel who was still standing against the wall outside the cell, "You made a big mistake today." His voice low and hard, causing Angel to look down as Ty told the guard, "Find another cell to put this piece of trash in. That one is a crime scene. Lock it down." The guard, seeing the face of the man on the gurney as it had passed nodded at him, and slammed the cell door shut. "Lets go Angel, you're going where that man should have been."
The Infirmary
The Dr. and the orderly moved Bosco as carefully as they could onto the exam table. Swersky, Sully, and Ty hovering nearby. The Dr. told the orderly something quietly, and the others watched as he disappeared a moment onto another small room, to return with a Polaroid camera. They'd seen enough victims of beatings to know what the Dr. was about to do.
Slowly the Dr. snapped one shot after the other of Bosco's injuries as the orderly set up a treatment table with the instruments needed. On another he placed butadiene and cloths for cleaning the man up. A bowl set next to it he filled with sterile water.
Then as the Dr. finished with the pictures of Bosco's face and neck, the orderly drew a gasp from Sully as he placed a small box on the table with the instruments, "Doc? Is that going to be necessary?"
The orderly moved to begin removing the jumpsuit from Bosco as the Dr. responded, "I won't know until I examine him. I hope not, but considering what they did do to him, probably." The Dr. then ignored them as he quickly finished up the pictures for now. Helping the orderly they rolled Bosco to his side as the suit was removed from his shoulders and back. Ty turned away, unable to watch as Bosco's chest and back came into view. Dark bruises covered his chest and sides. Matching ones looking like some macabre modern painting flowed across his middle and lower back. Sharp gasps and grunts of pain accompanied the DR's moving him around. Sully found himself looking at the floor again, his anger renewing itself as the Dr.'s quiet voice instructed his orderly to hold him into place while he snapped more pictures. Finally done, the camera set aside for now, the Dr. began his exam.
Dave watched as he checked his eyes, moving slowly over his face and neck, manipulating his jaw to check for dislocation. Finding none, he then opened his mouth examining his teeth, tongue, and the insides his cheeks for more damage. It was done efficiently but gently, attempting to be thorough without causing more pain for his patient. That was not possible by the sounds Bosco was making at each touch and prod, but he did try. Ty could finally take no more, "Sul," his low desperate groan causing Sully to put his hand on his shoulder. "Ty, why don't you wait outside until he's done." Nodding Ty walked to the door, pausing a moment then stepped out into the hallway.
The orderly/nurse's aid, had begun an IV on Bosco's left arm as the Dr. moved over his face. It was set up and flowing as the Dr. began to give instructions about x-rays. The man moved to get the machine as the Dr. moved to Bosco's chest. Listening to his breathing and heart, he sighed and nodded, "Well, he has good breath sounds on both sides, so no punctured lung. Possible broken ribs. Lets hope none are fractured too badly. Perhaps your moving him didn't cause him any additional problems after all."
His hands now gently prodding Bosco's stomach drew painful gasps from his patient, but he didn't stop until he was satisfied, "Some guarding, but no really serious damage that I can see. We'll watch him of course, but I believe that if he had serious internal injuries they would be showing up now. This happened this morning, not any later." Finally he looked up, his orderly having waited until he was done to move the machine into place, "I'm sorry officers, but you're going to have to join your friend now. We need to get some films of his face, and chest as well as a few other areas. And I need to complete my exam. I don't think your friend would appreciate you're being here for that. When I'm finished you can come back in. He's going to need a number of stitches to close his facial injuries and it could take awhile. We have a plastic surgeon on call, and Frank here has already called her I'm sure. You can wait with him until she gets here."
Sully and Dave reluctantly nodded and left them to finish. Joining Ty in the hallway as the Dr. began to ask for the orderly to help him complete the removing of Bosco's clothing.
Twenty minutes later he came out into the hallway. The three men quickly rushed to hear what he had to say. "Doc?" Sully asked, afraid to actually ask anything of him.
"He has a few cracked ribs, his sternum is bruised badly from a knee to the chest I would imagine. And his left wrist is fractured, again, a knee most likely. His nose is indeed broken, but I was able to set it without much effort. And his right cheekbone has a chip in it. Painful, but easily recovered from. His jaw, well its pretty swollen, he's going to be eating soft foods for a week or so, but, it's not broken. He does need a Dentist. I can get one here tomorrow to look at him. He had one chipped tooth and some gum damage when he came in, now he has a few more. But again, repairable. He's suffering from a concussion, as he was last night, only now its more severe. He's pretty in and out right now, but I did give him something for the pain. Oh and the rape exam..." He paused a moment to take a breath as they froze, Ty had not really looked at the kit Sully had questioned him about earlier. Sully and Dave seemed about ready to jump on the Dr. and run at the same time as they waited for what he was about to say.
"It wasn't necessary," the Dr. sighed, "thank God for that. I can only imagine either a guard discovered them before they could assault him that way, or perhaps he passed out and took their 'fun' away from them. Him being where he was, 'looking like he was simply asleep' tells me that it could have been a guard. Maybe it happened at shift change and they panicked. Whatever it was, he's a lucky young man. He may not feel that way when he wakes tomorrow, but he could have been a lot worse off than he is. He received a severe beating, but someone must have scared them off for them not to have cut him, or even killed him. I made a quick call to the Warden, whom you will notice did NOT follow us here. It wasn't that he wasn't concerned. He was doing some interrogating, and he says someone told them he was a police officer. He thinks it might have been a man named Marcus Howard. But he's still looking into it. You can come in now and wait with him, the surgeon should be here in a little while."
As they entered they saw a white sheet had been placed over Bosco's lower torso, covering him to his feet. His upper half was exposed as the orderly carefully washed the blood and gore from his face and chest. He seemed almost peaceful as the pain medication was doing it's work for him now.
Finding places near him, but not getting in the way, they waited. Each caught up in their thoughts wondering what was Truth and what was Lies about what he'd done, and what had been done to him. Knowing only two people knew the answer to the first question. And vowing to find out who knew the answer to the second.
TBC...