08 Closing in on Targets
The transfer of Jo from her private suite to a room in Obstetrics went smoothly, and Rae, keeping out of the way, made sure that Steve was ok from a distance. As the bed had been wheeled from the first room he had let go of Rae's hand and moved across to where he could, instead, hold the hand of his wife.
"Steve? I … I don't want to go, why can't I stay here?" He knew that all the arrangements had been explained to Jo, but he just smiled and ran a finger down her face.
"Honey, this is a general room, you need to be monitored by staff who are used to dealing with this type of situation every day. It won't be for long."
The elevator doors opened and slowly the bed was pushed in, leaving Steve standing in the hallway.
"Steve." Her voice was tremulous, and his heart almost stopped as he heard the fear contained in just that one word.
"I'll be right there; I'm taking the next car." The doors closed on his words and he swallowed hard as, silently, he watched the lights count down the floors before punching the button to call it back feeling as if he were the loneliest man on earth.
ooo
The morning newspaper had shocked him; his fear was so all encompassing that he thought he might pass out. They were far closer to him than he had ever expected them to get, and now, now that his picture was everywhere, that stupid janitor would have the cops all over this place in a city minute.
He didn't know what to do, the panic, which was an almost continual companion of Matthew, was now getting to Dominic as well and, stopping only to make himself a cup of strong black coffee, the killer sat at the kitchen table and tried to work out what his next step should be. One or two things he knew had to be done, one was simple but necessary, and the other was an idea he had been playing with for a few weeks.
When he'd had to disappear, go to Colorado for a while, Dominic had been traumatized because he had to leave his treasures behind. A plan formed in his mind as he drove through Florida with a small case of new treasures to look at and enjoy, and now, he figured, was as good a time as any to put it into action.
Each ritual, although essentially the same, showed up little differences, peculiarities, that didn't occur in the other killings. Sometimes it was just the particular set of clothes that the woman had worn or, in the case of Lucy in San Francisco, hadn't worn. For her all he had was a dress and a pair of shoes. As she removed her clothing, on the sand that night, he had seen her naked body, immediately devoid of any underwear, and even now, after there had been more victims, that thought aroused him.
For Lucy, then, he would take just a piece of her dress. The reminders he needed being served by that beautiful garment. For others, well, all of them had different things that helped him recall their final night together, he could take all or a small piece of each. The hair of course, their wonderful hair, that wasn't so hard either. He would carefully remove a little from each of the tresses, refasten them with their names attached and have all he needed in one suitcase.
Excited by the prospect of the work ahead, but knowing that he had to move with speed and efficiency Dominic-Matthew drained his coffee mug and made his way to the closed door of the third bedroom.
ooo
Rae had left Steve at the doorway of his wife's new room and once she had kissed him gently on the cheek and told him to call her, she had spoken briefly to Mark and then walked back to the elevator sensing that her presence in Texas's room wouldn't be welcome for a while. There had been a female doctor speaking with her friend, and Rae had felt a little intimidated by her. Jesse was on duty in the ER and so, wondering if she could count it as work, she had made her way there prior to leaving the building.
The doors opened and, as Rae stepped out, she saw a janitor washing down an area of floor just in front of the nurses' station and she watched quietly for a moment before speaking.
"Hi, Leonid, how's it going?" The man stood up, smiling as he did so.
"Well, Detective Yeager, for Leonid, it is going very well." The once homeless Russian, whose life had turned around for him since he found a Red Rose Killing victim, leant his mop against the wall to shake Rae's hand. "I see Detective's hubsand every day, he very nice to Leonid. And Doctor Sloan, he got me this job in the hopstipl, he say Leonid very good worker." The man beamed, and Rae wondered whether it was the compliment or the rapidly improving English that caused it.
"Good, I'm really glad. So far you are the only good thing to come out of this awful case." Rae was about to move off in search of her husband when she realised that the Russian had something more to say.
"I moof, into halfway house, only one other person. Leonid invite friends?" The smile was gone now, and in its place a look of worried anxiety.
"That would be wonderful. Call the station or … hold on." Rae reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out one of her cards. "You can reach me on any of these numbers." The smile was back as Leonid took the small rectangular object.
"Da, da. Leonid do that. Have house heating for new apartment." Rae smiled, not wanting to correct his English and embarrass him, but also wanting to laugh at the slightly incorrect usage.
"See you later, take care." With a wave of her hand Rae made her way on down the hallway, her smile broader now it couldn't be seen, and looked into the doctors' lounge. Jesse was sitting in there nursing a cup of coffee, and Alex was sat on the sofa staring off into space.
"Hi, Guys." Rae moved up next to Jesse and gently kissed him on the lips. He smiled as he broke the embrace, and then held her tight for a moment, the worry he felt for Steve and Jo being transferred into a need to show his affection for his wife.
"Hey, beautiful," he watched her smile broaden as he spoke, "did you see her?"
"Yeah, but I didn't speak to her, there was a very officious looking doctor there, not at all as friendly as the ones I'm used to." Rae gently touched his cheek with her fingers as she spoke.
"Ah, that would be Tabitha, officious describes her perfectly!" Jesse's smile was broad now even though he was still worried, somehow seeing Rae unexpectedly was cheering him enormously. He indicated the chair next to him but Rae shook her head.
"In a minute, Honey." She moved across towards the sofa, speaking as she did so. "Hi, Alex, I was hoping to see you." Rae suddenly realised that the young doctor could help her.
Alex jumped as she spoke and Rae and Jesse could tell he had no idea she was even in the room. "What? Oh, hi, Rae. Sorry, I didn't see you there."
"Alex, are you alright?" Rae was instantly concerned, sitting next to her younger friend and physician.
"What?" Again Alex seemed distracted, and Rae, even more worried now, took his hand into her own.
"Alex, whatever's wrong, is there anything I can do?" Rae looked up to see that Jesse had moved across the room as well.
"Do? What, oh, no, no. I … I just have a lot on my mind right now." Alex tried to pull himself together and, as he did so, saw the concerned face of his other friend in front of him. "Oh, hi, Jess."
"Alex, I've been in here for ten minutes." Now Jesse was troubled too, and reached over automatically to take his friend's pulse.
For a moment Alex let him continue but then shook his arm away. "Jesse! Look, guys, I appreciate it, but I just have something on my mind. It's nothing serious, and its certainly not health related, ok?"
"Well, if you're sure." Rae paused a moment but knew that she had to continue, "Look, Alex, I'm sorry to burden you with more stuff, but I need you to come see a film we have at the station. It relates to Nadine's killing."
Rae knew that she needed to say nothing more; she also knew instinctively what the response would be.
"Of course. I finish in …" Alex looked at his watch and then blushed. "I finished half an hour ago. Guess I was off with the fairies, huh?"
"Well, in that case, can you drive over? I'll leave now, and see you there."
"My car's in the shop, for its service, I came with Mark. I'll go see him and meet you in the parking lot, if that's ok." Alex stood up, smiled at both Rae and Jesse and, without waiting for a reply, left the room and his two anxious companions behind.
"What was that all about?" Rae looked at her husband, and saw him shake his head.
"I have no idea. But whatever he has on his mind it's big, that's for sure."
"I'll have a chat with him at the station, and I'll see you later. What time do you think you'll finish?"
"About three, maybe four. Depends on how busy we are. I wanna be here for Steve, too." Jesse's face clouded as he mentioned his friend's name.
"I asked him to call me when he knew what was happening, and I'll do the same, I'll ring you before I leave, maybe we can have barbeque or something if you're free."
With a smile Rae kissed her husband once more and then walked back along the hallway no longer seeing her surroundings, back in police mode and concentrating fully on what she needed to do, knowing instinctively where to go. She had already shown Dominic's picture to Cheryl and she would need to show Leonid as well as the staff at Bob's; the Russian though had disappeared and so she filed that task away as her mind began working out what order to do things in and, as the elevator doors opened, she smiled at a uniformed officer as he let her into the car before exiting it himself.
ooo
Susan was at the nurses' desk, she had been on duty for a little over five minutes and already she was bored. As she stood there she saw that English woman leave the doctors' lounge and tried not to stare. It was clear though that the detective was deep in thought, and so curiosity won out and Susan looked at her long and hard.
What did Jesse see in her? He had usually gone for blonde women, not too tall, slim, but blonde. This Rae Yeager was small, smaller than Jesse anyway, but she had brown hair and brown eyes. She was also a very strong selfish woman, or so Susan had heard, far more interested in her career than her family. But sooner or later, sooner, if she had her way, Jesse would see that he was with the wrong person, and they would be back together again, just as they were meant to be. They could be a couple, and maybe even a family, the little girls were just so cute, she would happily look after them too.
"Excuse me, Ma'am." The voice startled her, and Susan realised that the focus of her imaginings had disappeared and in her place was a tall, dark haired, uniformed police officer.
"Yes, what can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for Miss Susan Hilliard."
"That … that's me. What do you want?" Her heart was suddenly beating hard in her chest, and Susan wished she were still in her daydream.
ooo
"Lieutenant Sloan, I realise that you are an anxious first-time father, but we can't have you in the room right now, this is moms and doctors only."
Steve tried not to glare at the doctor in front of him, but knew he wasn't being at all successful. "So tell me something. I've been standing in the hallway for over thirty minutes; I just want to know how she is."
"Lieutenant, your wife is very sick, I am trying right now to ascertain just how sick. All the time you keep me talking out here in your hallway, I can't do that, now can I?"
"No, Ma'am." Steve moved back, letting the woman leave and wondered why she had been able to make him feel like a six-year-old easier than anyone had since, well, since he was a six-year-old.
"Steve." He felt a hand on his arm and looked into the face of Alex's girlfriend Shannon. "Come and sit, I don't need to be in there right now, we can wait together." Shannon Farley had been assigned to care for Jo, and both Steve and his wife had been grateful for the familiar face. Silently he nodded, not trusting himself to speak and with a long backwards glance at Jo he let Shannon lead him to a bank of comfortable chairs just a little further along the hallway.
"Now, Mrs Sloan, let me go through this with you again, and then we can bring in that nervous young man before he wears through the carpeting." Doctor Tabitha Isherwood sat down in the chair next to the bed, and was extremely concerned when there didn't appear to be any response from her patient except for a tear as it made its way down her cheek.
She knew who Jo Sloan was and although she rarely worked with her patient's father-in-law, Tabitha respected him enormously. The head of internal medicine had requested that he be present when the baby was born and she had no problem with that, the problem Tabitha had was a feeling that she would be calling on him sooner rather than later.
Shannon had put the Doppler pick-up belt back onto Jo after she had helped settle her into her new room and Doctor Isherwood had the previous day's figures on her clipboard. The blood pressure readings concerned her greatly but she was still hopeful that she could reduce them with medication although so far that didn't seem to be happening. The pregnancy was only at the start of its third trimester, and Tabitha knew that the longer they could keep the child inside its mother the greater its chance of survival, however, she also knew that the pre-eclampsia that Mrs Sloan was suffering from could easily kill both her and her child.
ooo
Alex had watched the video three times now, and was feeling very awkward about what he was seeing. Rae had stayed with him while he ran through it the first time, but had been called away to speak on the phone and so now he was alone with just the tape, a cup of rapidly cooling coffee and a desk-bound cop keeping an eye on him from a distance for company.
Putting the video to play frame by frame he watched for a full face shot of the man he now knew as Dominic and finally was able to just stare at the features of the person he had seen at Bob's.
The problem he was having was that Alex knew he was looking at the face of a killer, that his identification would be one of the ones used to possibly convict this man, and no matter what he had done, that made him feel very uncomfortable.
"Alex, I'm sorry about that, so, what do you think?" Rae came back into the room and sat down at the table next to her friend. "Can you ID him for me?"
There was a long uncomfortable pause, and for a minute Rae wondered whether Alex had disappeared into himself again. "Alex?"
"Rae, I'm sorry, give me a minute."
Rae felt the anticipation crash around her and for a moment all she could do was nod her head. She had thought that identifying the guy from the video would be a breeze, but when she had shown the film to Cheryl she had been unable to identify him.
"How do you mean you're not sure?" The amazement had come out in her voice and she had looked away.
"Rae, I'm sorry, ok?" Cheryl had sounded defensive and Rae had nodded her head as she listened. "I want this guy just as much as you do. But I can't put my hand on my heart and say that's him. From the back, yeah, I thought you had him, I thought I would be able to say take me to a judge, that's our man, but from the front, when he turned around, that certainty disappeared."
She hadn't been able to get any more from Cheryl, and realised just how vital to their investigation Alex's identification, if he made one, would be.
"Alex?" Rae knew she was pushing him, but she needed to know.
He took a deep breath, he was a law-abiding citizen, and this was his duty. He may have sworn to save lives, and would effectively be ending one by his actions now, but Dominic whatever-his-name-was had killed endless defenceless women, he needed to be stopped, and if he could help that happen then he had to speak up.
"It's him."
Rae let out a breath and for a moment the feelings of success almost enveloped her but finally she spoke. "You're sure, you would swear to that in court?"
"Yes, I would. I have to say I don't want to, but I would." Alex looked back at the screen again, at the still shot of a young man, probably only about eight years older than he was, and shuddered.
"Alex, are you ok?" Rae turned her chair slightly so that she was facing her friend and then reached over and pressed the off button on the remotes for the TV and video.
"Yeah, I didn't sleep well last night, haven't for a few nights, and this, well, it's a responsibility isn't it? I … it scares me, Rae …he scares me."
Rae suddenly realised just how young Alex actually was. He was her doctor and she trusted him absolutely, but that trust belied his youth, and she reached over and gently squeezed his arm.
"Would you like me to run you home?"
"Could you? I … I wouldn't mind having a chat with you … if you have the time." Relief had flared in his eyes as Rae had spoken and with a smile she nodded her head.
"No problem. Let me get my jacket."
Rae stood up and made her way to the door before looking back at her friend and hoping that she could help him with whatever was on his mind.
ooo
The test results, which Tabitha Isherwood held in her hands at the nurses' station in Obstetrics, depressed her mood and she let out a heavy sigh. She had wanted to wait, to give the Sloans' baby a chance to develop some more, but she knew for certain now that chance could kill it and so, reluctantly, she was about to go speak with her patient and deliver what she knew would be bad news.
The medication that Mrs Sloan had been taking, 10 mg IV of Hydralazine, was the first line of defence for pre-eclampsia, but it wasn't making enough of a difference for Tabitha to feel happy about continuing with it. One of the side effects was headaches and she knew that Jo had had an almost constant one since she had started taking it the previous day. As she reached the doorway Doctor Isherwood paused to let Shannon Farley leave the room. The young nurse smiled at the doctor, knowing instinctively what was to happen.
"Would you like me to get in touch with Doctor Sloan?"
"Yes please, Shannon, that would be a great help, thank you."
As the raven-haired nurse left on her errand Tabitha stepped into the room and saw the terror flit across her patient's face.
"Doctor?" Steve's voice was hard and edgy, he wasn't used to being unable to protect his wife and he didn't like it. He wasn't used to dealing with unfamiliar doctors either, and that also put him on the defensive.
"Lieutenant, if you would sit down, I need to speak with you and your wife." There was no doubting the seriousness of her tone and Steve, pushing the fear down only minimally, did as he was told.
ooo
Rae looked at the mountain of mail and messages on her desk and groaned. The photo of Dominic had been in the papers that morning, and now she was inundated with sightings, requests for interviews, e-mails and telephone notes from anxious parents and, right on the top of the pile, just to make her day, a memo to go see the Chief at her earliest convenience.
Rae had driven Alex home to the beach and stayed with him for a little while, having a cup of tea and a bagel to stave off her hunger pangs. She smiled now as she thought about him and his problem. As she had listened to him all she had wanted to do was hug him, the prospect of good news in her depressing day more than welcome.
If she was honest Rae hadn't expected such a huge response to her publicity drive, and certainly not so quickly. While she had been clearing out unwanted documents from her computer the previous morning, she had found the letters Texas had given her from an ancestor of hers and they had fired her curiosity. If her day had been quiet she had planned to begin reading them through again, somehow, though, she had a feeling that she wouldn't get to them again for at least a few days.
Running her fingers through her hair Rae pondered, as she often did before a visit with the Chief, the sensibility of taking a drink with her, and, as she often did, decided against it. Realising that she was just putting off the inevitable she picked up the file on her desk, which had the information she had collated so far in it, and left the squad room.
Margaret was sitting at her desk in the outside office to the Chief's inner sanctum and she smiled as Rae entered her room.
"Good morning, Detective, if you would just wait a moment or two, he's busy right now."
Rae nodded, she should have called, but her mind wasn't functioning quite correctly yet, and, thankful for the extra few moments to gather herself, she sat quietly.
ooo
The revulsion he felt surprised him, it had always been a thrill, the end to a perfect evening, to slit a woman's throat and watch the blood spurt, flow and then ebb. But somehow, with a man, it had been totally different and he had left the area shaken and sickened to his stomach. Still, it had been necessary, and a job well done; now he was home free.
ooo
The discussion with Doctor Isherwood had ended prematurely, when Jo, whether from the stress of it all, or just by coincidence, Steve wasn't sure, had begun to convulse again and, barking orders, Tabitha had removed him from the room and told him to go wait in the relatives area of Obstetrics.
Shannon had been back at the nurses' station as Steve had staggered from the room, the look of shock and total helplessness on his face almost breaking her heart.
"Steve, come with me, I'm off duty in a half hour, we can wait together."
He had nodded mutely, but then suddenly spoke, "Dad."
"I went and got him, he's on stand by." She smiled as the Tannoy suddenly blared into life around them.
"Doctor Sloan to the OR STAT, Doctor Mark Sloan to the OR STAT."
"There you go, that's taken care of! Steve, Jo really is in the best of hands; Tabitha Isherwood is an excellent doctor." Shannon meant what she said, her initial stay in Obstetrics when she had been a student nurse had shown her the area she herself wished to specialise in, and she had been working full time in the department for the past month.
Jesse was just changing into clean street clothes when he heard Mark's name being called. Knowing instinctively that his friend and mentor wouldn't be available for anyone but Steve and Jo today he made his own way towards the Obstetrics department hoping to see Steve and reassure him.
The room number with Jo's name against it was 3974, but the sound of barked instructions drew him that way almost without him realising it, and he watched from a safe distance as Jo was wheeled out and away in one direction as a woman he knew was Doctor Isherwood walked towards him.
"Doctor?" Her tone was brusque but not unpleasant and Jesse smiled.
"I was looking for Lieutenant Sloan, thought I would stay with him. I'm guessing you're taking Mrs Sloan to surgery."
For a moment Tabitha just looked at the young man in front of her, but then realisation dawned. This young man, a protégé of Mark Sloan, and an extremely accomplished ER doctor from what she had heard, was also a close friend of the police officer.
"Yes, I'm taking her to surgery, and her husband was instructed to wait in the relatives' area just down the hallway. Once his wife is prepped and ready I will send a nurse for him."
"Thank you. I'll go sit with him until you're ready. He's not used to waiting anywhere other than the doctors' lounge in the ER." Jesse had a feeling that right now Steve would prefer familiar surroundings to somewhere alien to him.
Tabitha smiled, that was something else she had heard, that the Lieutenant, although not a familiar face in her department, was well known in the Emergency Room. "Very good, Doctor, and thank you."
The two colleagues parted company and Jesse continued down the hallway, remembering the times when Rae had been in the hospital to give birth to their two daughters, the first time had been an emergency and Jesse could understand a little of how Steve would be feeling; the second time, well, both he and Rae had thought Anneya was never going to be born! His memories had taken him to the doorway to the relatives' waiting area and he glanced in to see his friend sitting, looking more lost and bewildered than he could ever remember.
"Steve."
"Jess." The greeting was almost a plea and Jesse, grateful that it was Shannon in the room, pulled his friend into a hug, hoping that he could help him but knowing that in the end it would be down to swift intervention and not a little luck.
Shannon looked at the two men and then averted her eyes. She knew how close they were, had seen them both on and off duty together and loved them both. Slowly a smile crossed her face; she was the new girl, the latest addition to their close-knit family, and the fact that they could show their affection for each other in her presence warmed her heart.
Since she had begun going out with Alex she had, slowly been accepted by Steve and Jo as well as Jesse and Rae. She knew how important both men were to Alex, as well as Rae, his first patient, and probably one of his most regular ones. The days she had spent with all of her boyfriend's friends had been happy and relaxed, and gradually she had begun to realise that they weren't just Alex's friends, they were hers too, and that she was accepted for herself, not who she was going out with, and it was a nice feeling, a very nice feeling indeed.
ooo
Jo lay looking up at the ceiling and tried to bring her overwhelming fear under control. She remembered nothing of what had happened when she lost David, the pre-eclampsia coming on so strongly and suddenly that she had been, so she understood, whisked straight into the OR where, in order for her to stay alive, her son had been delivered far too early. He hadn't survived, and the fear of that happening again, of her losing another child caused so much terror to strike her heart that she was unable to do anything, not even cry, all she could manage was to lie totally still and try to ignore the tendrils of sleep, or worse, which were threatening her.
"Now, Mrs. Sloan, we're ready to get started. I know that you haven't had time to discuss your birth requirements with your main healthcare provider yet." Tabitha's voice sounded a little put out, and Jo wasn't really sure what to say.
"Which would be me, and we have discussed it a little, but not written anything down. Hi, Sweetie, I am so sorry about this." Mark took Jo's hand into his own and then the tears did start.
"Mark, please, Mark, save our baby."
"Honey, that's the plan, but you have to come first, you know that." The pain he saw in his daughter-in-law's eyes was almost too much for him, knowing as he did that it would be reflected in his son's eyes also, but there was more there than that, and for a moment he looked hard at her and his worry increased, but, as of yet, he didn't know what else, exactly, he was worried about.
"I would recommend a spinal … epidural?" Tabitha saw a look of confusion and then enlightenment, and then Jo nodded a spark returning to her eyes.
"Steve could be here then, right? Mark, I want Steve to see his baby being born. He … he may never have that chance again." Her voice was hushed, and a little slurred as she felt her hand being squeezed tightly.
"He can be here, but I would suggest him being at the blunt end, he's not too good with this type of thing. Get Amanda to tell you about when we delivered quads in her bedroom."
Jo stared at him as she felt rather than saw another person enter the room.
"Hi, my name is Scott Jacobs, I'm gonna give you your anaesthetic. It doesn't say on your notes, so what'll it be?" The young man was almost a tall Jesse. He had an open, smiling face, and even though he was wearing a surgical cap like everyone else, Mark could see a wayward lock of blond hair peeping out. "I would recommend a nice, run of the mill, epidural, followed by a long nap and twenty years of worry, that do you?"
"Yes, please."
"Ok, let's go then." Tabitha looked around, "Nurse, if you would be so kind as to send a message for Mr. Sloan, he's in the Obs waiting area."
"Yes, Doctor." The nurse disappeared out into the main area beyond the double doors, and, as they swung shut, an air of tempered urgency settled on the OR. Mark moved up to what he had called the blunt end and made sure that he was in Jo's eye line, while Tabitha began going over the figures on the monitors, knowing that the couple of minutes it would take the Lieutenant to get scrubbed up were about all they had to spare.
ooo
Amanda placed the files she had made up on the Red Rose Killings on her desk and tried to drag her mind back from thinking about Jo and Steve. The grapevine at Community General was alive and working well; she had heard that Jo was on her way to the OR almost before the elevator doors had closed behind her bed. She would go see her friend later, but now, while the path lab was quiet, she wanted to go over everything she had collated so far on Dominic Little.
The picture in the paper had given form to a ghostly apparition, someone who had terrorised the city but had no real identity. Now, not only did they know who he was, they knew what he looked like, and Amanda was hopeful that Rae and Steve would be able to close the case and lay it and the victims to rest.
Ron had gone over the profile numerous times since Rae had asked for his help; his frustration as strong as everyone else's involved as they had been continually unable to close it out. That morning, as they shared a leisurely breakfast, after their two sons had caught the school bus, the conversation had turned to the case, and as she sipped on her third coffee of the day Amanda thought back.
"You know, all the time this guy kept himself hidden, no one had any idea what he looked like, and now, now we have this up-to-date picture almost without trying." Amanda had shaken her head as she looked closely at the newspaper picture.
"Sometimes it goes like that. I know Steve contacted NCIC, the passport office, all sorts of places, but nowhere had current information, and all the time it was gonna be waiting at a place he half owns!" Ron too had shaken his head as he finished speaking.
Amanda knew that Ron was very unsure about the money that Jo and therefore Steve had. Not that it affected him outwardly in any way; it was just that it made him feel awkward. He didn't seem to feel that way about her money, for which she would be eternally grateful.
"Yeah, well, these things happen, as you say, but now everyone needs to get behind them, make sure that there are no goofs or foul ups, we have no reason not to catch this guy and make sure he gets the justice he deserves." Her tone had been hard and deliberate, errors were not an option.
Amanda took the final swig of her coffee and thought over again what she had said, no goofs or foul ups. There were so many different agencies working on this case in one way or another that it was always possible that something could go wrong. She just had to make sure that the coroner's office was squeaky clean.
As she picked up the top folder, which contained the details on the very first Red Rose killing that she had attended her phone rang and, with a sigh, she replaced the file and took hold of a pencil instead.
"Amanda Bentley." Her face grew grave as she listened, and then, having made a few notes as to where she was actually going, Amanda hung up the phone and left her office.
ooo
Steve held on to his wife's hand and tried to watch what his dad and Doctor Isherwood were doing. As soon as he had arrived it had been action stations and, as he sat by his wife's side, Mark had moved down to assist in the surgery. Jo was laying quietly, the blue screen separating her from what was going on a little further down her body. He however, if he stood up, could see, if not understand, what was happening.
"Darlin'?" Jo felt him tighten his grasp on her hand and looked up at him, "What's happenin' … did … somethin' …?" Her voice was a little distant and sing songy, and as it tailed off Mark, looking up, spoke urgently.
"Talk to her, tell her what's going on, keep her with us, Steve."
The scalpel slit through his wife's skin as easily as a hot knife through butter and, as his father turned his gaze from him, he suppressed a shudder and nodded, the fear lodged in his chest making his heartbeat sound like a drum in his ears. There was no reaction from his wife though and he spoke incredulously.
"You didn't feel that?" His amazement was apparent in his voice.
"No, no, I didn't, what should I have felt?" If Jo was honest what she was feeling was very, very strange. It would be so easy to close her eyes, let the world slip away, forget about everything and fall into the darkness and she knew that if Steve weren't holding on to her hand she would do just that.
"They … God, Jo, they just opened you up!" The shock of seeing the incision being made stripped Steve of his ability to censor his words and he saw his dad look up sharply and stare at him. Jo didn't seem to notice however, and answered in the same distant voice as before.
"Oh, that's nice." His words were pulling her, keeping here where she knew she should stay, but the darkness was also calling her.
"That means our baby is almost here, Honey, just a few more minutes, and we'll know if we have a boy or a girl, we can finally share those names, huh?"
His words sounded far more cheerful, more optimistic, than he actually was, but the enforced jollity didn't seem to be working, somehow he knew that his wife was moving away from him, and he tightened his grip on her hand. Steve heard another voice speaking to him and he looked up, tearing his eyes away from the beautiful, peaceful face of his wife.
"Ok, the water has been broken, not a lot in there by the looks of it. Keep talking, Lieutenant, keep talking, there's only one step left to take now, just one step." Tabitha's voice was insistent and Steve, nodding his head again, began to speak once more.
"Jo, Honey, did you hear Doctor Isherwood? One more step, our baby is almost here."
"Mmmm, what? That's good." Again the darkness beckoned, and again she hesitated, feeling a pulling, but this time in her belly, not painful, not even uncomfortable, just a slight pulling and then it was gone. She felt her hand being squeezed tightly and then the pressure was released, and finally, set free at last, she let the darkness overwhelm her, drifting away from those all around her, unable to hold on long enough to hear her baby as it entered the world and took its first tentative breath.