Getting there
part 3
Jim woke up with a start, he couldn't move, he felt like he was glued to the bed. What the? Ok what had happened? He felt like he'd slept for days. He rolled over and realised he was still in his clothes. His bruises and stitches still ached. He felt very thirsty and hungry.
Daylight.
Day time? Already? What time was it for Christ's sake?
He lay there trying to piece together what he'd been doing. He remembered getting the groceries, and then coming home. He came upstairs to change into looser clothes as his hip and leg were sore. His watch had fallen on the floor and when he'd painfully knelt down to get it he'd spotted the foot locker under the bed.
What next? A beer or two would help wouldn't it? Opening the locker, that is, besides if they were going to Benning he needed some names and contacts. He had some phoning to do didn't he?
Opening the box, fortified with the beers at his side, he'd been unprepared for the smell and the touch of the photos, the cloth badges, beret, and all the other stuff in there. Jim was buffeted by memories, good and bad. It took him back and he couldn't stop it. Like a runaway train screaming through a long dark tunnel he went with it.
There was a voice talking to him, a conversation. Then, nothing. Sayonara Jim.
He closed his eyes and lay quietly. Sandburg was up and about, on the phone. He tuned it out to be polite. No use just lying here forever. Move out soldier. "Yeah, yeah." he grumbled at himself as he got up. He spotted the water and pills Blair had left. He greedily drank the water and decided he didn't feel bad enough for any Tylenol. He undressed to his boxers before grabbing his robe. He tied it up as he went down the stairs. He yawned. A shower would be good right now.
Blair was pacing up and down, phone to his ear, other hand waving articulately as he spoke.
"No, I don't think I'm being at all unreasonable. Yes, you should issue a recall notice at once. " he listened for a while.
"Of course I'm not making it up. Talk to the Environmental health, the standards people. They've been looking into complaints for the past three weeks. Then there's the local hospital," a pause- he glared at the phone.
"Yeah, the same to you pal." he tossed the phone onto the table and stood hands on hips frustrated. Jim watched, wondering what was going on.
"What's up?" asked Jim. Blair whirled round, a smile on his face.
"Well you are apparently. You want a coffee? Feeling ok?"
"I feel… upright. A hot shower, then breakfast" replied Jim yawning again.
"Um Jim, do you have any idea what time it is? I've had lunch!"
"What!"
Later as Jim sat with his coffee and ate a very late breakfast/lunch, he sensed Blair watching him again. He knew he should tell him what had happened when he was looking at his Army stuff.
"About yesterday…" he began as Blair said at the same moment,
"About that beer…" they laughed. Blair gestured to Jim to say 'you first.'
"I saw Simon, told him physically I'm healing fine, but that we're going to go to Fort Benning. And that I hoped it would help me resolve some of these …issues. Then I can get back to Major Crimes."
"Yes, I got a call from him. He's concerned for you."
"I went and cleared some paperwork on my desk. I managed to get an appointment with the counsellor at the PD. I know I said I didn't want to talk to anybody, that you and I… and then I thought it was unfair to dump it all on you. Simon rightly pointed out that the PD sees similar cases. It'd be in the system somewhere."
"Jim, that's ok. I'm just glad you're talking at all. You know I'm here whenever you want."
"I didn't want to feel like I was a freaky mad cop. I need to get over this, so I can go back to doing what I want to be doing, should be doing. Simon offered to help too."
"What did you talk about? Or is that why you bought the beer? Not your usual stuff by the way." commented Blair.
"Um, we went through me chasing the perp and getting hit by the car. He had documentation from the hospital. I told him about the blood and the oil…"
"Okay. Did it help?"
"Each time I think about it or say it- it doesn't sound quite so bizarre. It's an imprinted memory. Like you said- smell and sound can be tightly meshed with memory. It's powerful stuff. I just didn't know it was going to come back and slap me in the face so hard. It still is. I think maybe it always will."
"We just have to let it out of the box a piece at a time, so it's not so painful then!"
"Hmm."
"What happened with the beer and the locker, man? The gun in your hand-you had me going there for a moment."
"Oh, that."
"Yes that."
"I guess because we'd been talking about the Army and things it was on my mind anyway. And I knew I needed to look for some information for Fort Benning. I drank the beer and walked around thinking about it all for a while. Then I opened the locker." Jim stopped.
"And?" prompted Blair.
"I got run over by a train."
"Pardon?"
"I don't know how else to describe it. I opened the locker and, God, it was weird. I was back in the barracks, I was in a jungle. I was playing cards with everyone I ever knew. I was everywhere and nowhere. It sucked me in. I could feel it pulling. I didn't want to; it was like I had no choice! It was good and bad. Shove it back in the box! I can't get the lid back on! Never go back!"
"Jim? It's alright. Just sit down for a minute."
Jim was brought back to the loft by his Guide's calming voice and the smell of coffee.
"I hate this, Chief!" he said angrily as he sat back down, unaware he'd got up and started pacing.
"We'll deal with it, alright?"
"Tell me about the beer." asked Jim suddenly
"It's under control. Just don't buy that brand again- ever. Why did you pick it in the first place?"
"Would you believe me if I said, it was on special offer?"
"Well, bargain hunting almost put you in a coma, man"
"What!"
"It was bad beer. It had been contaminated at the bottling plant. The company were a little slow issuing a recall notice."
"Why? I thought they tested. "
"They do, it's just that this time a severely PO'd employee changed the results hoping to get back at the company. Maybe he even tampered with the stuff in the first place. Don't know what with. It's under investigation."
"Ouch."
"Yes."
"So it's not just me, then?"
"No, I phoned the ER, checked with the brewery. I asked Simon to do some background checks for me."
"Sounds like you did all the right things, Sandburg. I'm impressed, thanks."
"Most people seemed to shut down after a few more beers than you and then they'd be like zombies for the next day."
"Anybody really hurt themselves?"
"A few accidents driving to work, falling asleep at work…so far no one has died. But…"
"Right. I guess that's why you were hassling them on the phone."
"Turns out this isn't the first time it's happened, so they might get shut down. It's been taken over by the authorities now. Your beer bottles are evidence, man! The men in suits have already been for them."
"Guess I'll have to give a statement. Great."
"Well we were lucky this time. You do realise that we helped uncover a crime and partially solved it without even trying. See it's not just me that's a trouble magnet!"
"You did the spade work, remember. I was counting sheep."
"Yes but, I learned it from you in the first place."
"Yeah. So you did, Darwin."
When the phone rang Jim reached round and picked it up. He looked at Blair after the first question. After a few minutes he put the phone down.
"That was the FBI; they're coming over to take my statement- about the beer. Turns out they are curious as to why I was affected so badly. They're still running tests on the beer to see if it's different from the other contaminated batches. It might be a bigger problem than they thought."
"Told you that they'd already been and picked the beer up. I told them you must have reacted badly to it. They've phoned twice this morning wanting to know if you were ok and when could you talk to them. I told them it wasn't what you normally bought, which is why I suspicious about the beer and not something else. Taking your meds as well won't have helped."