Chapter 9

"Sir?" a young uniformed officer opened Captain Lipshitz's door.

"Don't you knock?" Harry berated the young man.

"I'm sorry, Sir. I thought you would want to know that there's been a report of a gun shot at Sergeant St. John's residence," he said in a shaky voice.

"Damned right I do!" Harry stood up and grabbed his jacket and flew out from behind his desk. He couldn't help but remember that Tom had gone over there and that the ex-spouses were armed. "Drive me over there!" he ordered as more rational thoughts of the flowers occurred to him. He hoped that Tom hadn't walked into something he couldn't handle alone.

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722 Hathaway Court

Tom walked further into Cassy's bedroom, his gun still pointed in front of him. Without stopping by Cassy's prone form on the bed, he opened the closet and then the bathroom in search of intruders. Finding none, he holstered his gun and kneeled down at Cassy's side. Pressing his fingers to her neck he was relieved to find a pulse.

"Cassy." He tried to wake her. Remembering the cloth at the foot of the stairs he realized she must have been drugged.

The police sirens were now right outside.

Cassy groaned.

"Cass, it's Tom, please wake up," he smoothed the hair off of her cheek and noticed a bruise on her cheek.

"Tom," she said hoarsely, her eyes fluttering open.

"Yes, Cass. It's me. The police are here, I'm going to tell them where we are, hang on." Tom, secure in the knowledge that she was all right briefly left her side to direct the officers into the room and to tell them that the rest of the house was empty.

"Should we send the paramedics up?" Officer Benedict asked.

"Yes, and call the coroner," Tom instructed them before turning back to Cassy, hoping to distract her long enough for the paramedics to take her out of the room.

"Tom!" her panicked voice let him know he hadn't succeeded.

"Who is that?" Cassy still obviously dazed grasped at Tom's shirt in her terror.

"Shh," Tom pulled her against him and hid her face from the bloody and obviously dead body that was on the bed next to her. Then the paramedics were there prying her from him.

"She must have been drugged." Tom reluctantly let them take over, but refused to go too far away or to let them shoot her up with anything that would react with whatever was in her system.

"Tom!" Harry's voice barely penetrated his concentration on his partner. "What happened..." Harry's question broke off as he saw the body in the bed from which the paramedics were just moving Cassy.

"My God," Harry gasped and looked at Cassy to confirm that she was all right.

"She was drugged. I found her unconscious next to him," Tom explained quietly so Cassy couldn't hear.

"That didn't happen because of 'a' gunshot," Harry pointed out.

"My gun!" Cassy suddenly gasped. "They took my gun."

"Who Cassy, who did this?" Harry asked his detective.

"I...I don't know...there were two of them, they came up behind me when I got here." Cassy shook her head, unable to put the pieces together.

"Sir, we need to get her to the hospital," one of the paramedics interrupted the questioning.

"We'll talk at the hospital. You behave." Harry said gruffly as he let go of her hand and let the paramedics take her away.

"Why don't you go with her," Harry said absently as he watched the forensics team begin to work with the body.

At Tom's hesitation Harry gave him a push towards the door. "She's frightened and you can interview her."

"I'll call you," Tom said gratefully as he ran out of the room.

"Find out where they're taking her," Harry ordered one of the uniforms waiting with him by the door. He needed to call Frannie. "All right, let's try and get an i.d. on this one, go talk to the neighbors and comb the downstairs." Harry fell into the pattern of work easily. It was his first day back, too.

Tom caught the ambulance just as the doors were about to close. Flashing his badge he evaded questions and hopped in.

"No questions," ordered one of the paramedics that he knew as Tracy warned him as he hooked Cassy up to an IV bag and the other placed some stuff on her chest to hook her up to the heart monitor. Tom nodded dumbly as he reached out for Cassy's hand.

"Is all of this necessary?" he asked uncomfortably.

"I said no questions," Tracy reminded him, then winked. "Most substances used to knock out patients have a side effect of irregular heart beat. Until we know for sure what the substance is and how much was ingested she needs monitoring."

Tom tried to smile encouragingly at Cassy but noticed that her eyes were closed. Panicked he look up at the paramedics.

"She's fine, you can hear for yourself." Tracy turned up the volume on the heart monitor. "Listen, the drug hasn't worn off yet."

Tom nodded dumbly and willed his panic to recede. Cassy's strong, albeit fast, heartbeat filled the back of the ambulance. He closed his eyes and concentrated on her waking up.

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Four Hours Later
Palm Beach Memorial Hospital
Room 421

As the darkness began to recede Cassy became aware of a beating. As she opened her eyes she realized that the beating was the sound of a heart monitor, which corresponded to the pounding in her head.

"Welcome back." She heard someone say.

Instinctively, she turned towards the voice. As the room began to spin she closed her eyes and bit back a groan.

"Dizzy?" the voice ticked off in a business-like manner.

Idly, Cassy wondered where her weapon was. "Oh god! My gun!" She opened her eyes, ignoring the dizziness and the pounding in her head.

"Whoa, calm down. First let's see how you're feeling then I'll let your boss come in and talk to you about police matters. I'm Doctor Sam Dupuis. It seems you have some memory of what happened, do you know why you're here?" he asked.

"Some people were in my house, they drugged me, chloroform I think. After that I have no idea..." Cassy's heart rate sped up as she reached the blank in her memory.

"Shh, you have to relax. We don't think anything happened. I think your partner showed up too soon after they knocked you out. You're correct that it was chloroform, which explains your dizziness and I presume a headache? I thought so. That's also why you're on the heart monitor to make sure that there is no irregular heartbeat. We'd normally keep you on the monitor for only twenty-four hours, but we'd like to keep you on it longer. There's been no harm to your pregnancy, but we want to make sure everything stays all right and you stay as relaxed as possible," Doctor Dupuis explained.

At the word pregnancy the heart monitor's alarm went off.

"Cassandra, you have to relax. We don't want to have to give you any more drugs. Please try and relax." Sam waved away a nurse who had rushed into the room. She obediently left, presumably to calm the fears of anyone in the waiting room.

"You didn't know you were pregnant?" Sam asked gently.

Cassy's eyes were wide with shock as she shook her head.

"I can't be sure without a few more questions, but it seems you're about two months along," Sam explained.

"I can't believe I was so stupid, how could I not know?" Cassy squeezed the blanket between her fists. Her knuckles turned white as she struggled internally to process the shocking news. Her eyes closed as a swirl of competing emotions struggled for supremacy. There was the expected panic, but as she sifted through the emotions she found a couple that surprised her. One of those was happiness. The other was a sense of calm. Despite herself a smile broke out across her face. Biting her lip she opened and her eyes and looked at her amused doctor.

"Do you think you're up to talking to the police? I can put them off if you want," Sam offered.

'Tom!' Cassy suddenly remembered that he would probably be outside with Harry. "No, it's all right. Just give me a few minutes?" she asked as her brow furrowed in confusion.

Should she tell Tom? What would his reaction be?

"White picket fence," she admitted under her breath. But he didn't love her, or if he did they just weren't good for each other. Would a child help them adjust their priorities? Was it too soon to tell him? Cassy knew very well how much Tom wanted children and a family, but they could hardly survive when it was just the two of them. Cassy certainly didn't want her child to be deprived of a father like she was.

"Would I even make a good mother?" Cassy took a deep breath as she tried to grapple with that reality.

Unless something happened, her hand settled on her stomach protectively, Houston was out. Despite her uncertainty a smile settled over her features again.

"A baby," she breathed.

"Cassy?" Harry said hesitantly as he walked into the room. Frannie and Tom were close behind.

Cassy turned towards her friends and partner with a bright smile on her face. As they looked at her strangely she realized it definitely was out of place for the situation as they knew it, but she couldn't suppress it.

"Uh, do they have you on anything?" Harry looked at her over his glasses.

"No!" Cassy said playfully. "Thanks for coming Frannie. Sorry you had to endure what I imagine was another panicked phone call. I'm fine. Other than a headache and all this machinery."

Both Tom and Harry's jaws dropped simultaneously.

Frannie pushed her way past the two men and ambled over to Cassy's bedside. Taking Cassy's hand in her own she leaned down and fixed Cassy with a analytical stare. Seemingly satisfied she stood straight up and gave Cassy a knowing smile. Patting Cassy's hand she turned towards her still confused husband. "Harry, I'll talk with Cassy when you're done questioning her. Harry! Snap out of it," she snapped her fingers in front of his face, startling him back to awareness.

"Sure honey," Harry nodded absently at his departing wife.

"If I had known a little chloroform..." Frannie heard Tom mumble to himself as she left.

"I'd ask how you are..." Harry trailed off, certain that his meaning was obvious.

"You want to ask about what happened." Cassy's smile faded and she looked away. Suddenly she shifted and moved to sit up. The various wires from the EKG were making the effort complicated.

"Should you do that?" Tom suddenly made his presence known.

"I don't see why not?" Cassy avoided looking at him directly.

"Let me ask the nurse," Tom volunteered. A minute later her returned with a male nurse leading the way.

"Ms. St. John can sit up. Let me help you." He leaned over and efficiently assisted her in sitting up, adjusting the bed and ensuring that all lines and wires remained in their proper place.

"Thanks." Cassy smiled at him warmly when he was finished. As he left her line of sight her eyes fixed on Tom's worried expression. She couldn't help laughing. She could imagine how completely confused her was by her unexpectedly chipper mood. As she remembered why she was there, her own humor deflated.

"My alarm was off when I got home. I know I put it on when I left this morning. I pulled out my gun and went in, but they were somehow behind me. Have you found my gun?" Cassy's heart rate audibly increased.

Harry had taken the seat by the bed as Cassy began her short narrative. He placed his hand on her arm to calm her down. "We haven't recovered the gun yet. You said 'they' how many were there?"

"I'm not sure, there was the man, I think it was a man, who was behind me and put the cloth on my mouth and...and held me, and there was a woman. I remember a woman's voice. I didn't see her though. I don't know if there was anyone else. I...who was that man?" Cassy's eyes filled with tears.

Tom silently let out a breath. He had hoped she hadn't seen.

"He's been identified as Brian Wilker, he's a local..."

"Architect." Cassy bit her lip and looked away as she recognized the name of her companion on the flight back from Houston. "I sat next to him on the flight home from Houston."

Tom and Harry shared a glance while Cassy still wasn't looking.

"There were two lilies," she said in a low voice.

"You don't know..." Tom started to contradict her assumption.

"He was in my bed Tom. They left me unconscious and unharmed." Cassy looked at him angrily, but he knew it wasn't directed at him.

"How well did you know this man?" Harry asked.

"I didn't. I sat with him on the flight. He helped me with my bags because I wasn't feeling well..." Cassy trailed off as she realized now why she hadn't felt well on that flight. "He asked for my number. I took his instead and I never spoke to him again. And now he's dead, just because he talked to me once." With worried eyes she looked over at her partner. There was more than a casual meeting and a distant past between them. Her hand settled on her stomach again as she admitted to herself that there was a future as well. If these murders were because of her, then he might be in more danger than anyone else. Him and their unborn and unspoken on child. Her heart rate once again sped up as she continued to study Tom's features. Features she was now admitting she had dearly missed.

"I'll be fine," Tom shrugged off her concern.

"No! I've seen you lying in a parking lot shot in the head once too many times. Harry he needs to be put away until we're sure what this is about," she demanded.

"Cassy, you're the last person to jump to conclusions. We don't know that I'm in danger."

"What happened to your cop hunches? Trust me on this Tom, I know you're in danger. I can feel it!" Cassy's hands balled into fists.

Remembering the strange events surrounding the murder of that former stock car racer's wife and Cassy's revelations about seeing the death of a boy she loved in college, Tom swallowed his objections. At least for as long as Cassy was confined to the hospital and couldn't see where he was.

"And don't think just because I'm stuck in here I won't know what's going on," Cassy stated with uncanny accuracy. "Although I might lost track of days. You wouldn't happen to have a calendar to hang on the wall while I'm here?"

Harry snickered at Cassy's allusion to the local male law enforcement calendar Tom had posed for a few months ago.

Blushing Tom glared at the other officers.

"Cassy's right, you might be a target. You'll work with me on this one and I'll keep an eye on you. And I don't want you staying alone." Harry began laying out his plans.

"I don't want to endanger you and Frannie," Tom objected.

"You're not invited." Harry made a face at Tom. "Until Cassy is out of the hospital you'll stay at the station. After that, Cassy will stay with you. I don't want you alone either," Harry informed the bed ridden woman. "I don't care to hear about any of your personal issues. Until these sickos are put away you're partners and you'll look out for each other. Understand? Good!"

Tom looked from Cassy to Harry and back trying to figure out whether he should be protesting the last order or not. He didn't notice that Cassy was uncharacteristically agreeable herself.

Harry noticed, however, and made a mental note to speak with his wife soon. She would know what was going on with these two.

"I want to know what was found." Cassy interrupted the wandering thoughts of the two men. "Hairs, fibers, fingerprints, my gun," she began to tick off her list.

"How about you get some rest, write out what you can remember and leave the policing to us until you get out of here. I don't want that doctor banning us from here by bringing you work." Tom waved his hand, well familiar with the threats of hospitals and doctors.

"This is about me. Tom, I'm the most qualified to figure out who and what this is about," Cassy pointed out logically. 'And I need to protect you and our child,' she finished to herself. Somewhere during the past ten minutes she had decided it was too soon to tell Tom the news. They had too much to settle before this new factor could get in the way.

"She's right," Harry agreed. "But later. Talk to Frannie and then get some rest. I'll watch your partner."

"Harry ordered me to stay with Tom," Cassy told Frannie ten minutes later.

"He did?" Frannie's eyebrows raised in surprise. She knew her husband was smart, but he was definitely going to be well-rewarded for that stroke of genius she decided. She might even let him cheat on their new diet. Not that he didn't anyway. "So why aren't you standing on your bed and protesting? This morning you were more than happy to never see the man again."

"In this case he's right," Cassy shrugged nonchalantly.

"Ha! That has never stopped you from being stubborn. You want to be with Tom, because of the baby." Frannie crossed her arms and practically dared Cassy to argue with her.

"How did you know?" Cassy didn't waste her energy arguing against Frannie's unearthly abilities to ferret out information in just a glance. At least from her.

"The glow. I'd recognize it anywhere. Since Tom walked out of here on his own power rather than a stretcher I assume you haven't told him. When are you planning to?" Frannie asked hesitantly.

"I want this child Frannie and I won't deprive it of its father...but I...I'm sure Harry told you what Tom said to me. We can't pretend just for the sake of the child, I've lived with parents who were unhappy with each other and I won't do that either. I don't know what to do here. He has a right to know, but I know what his reaction will be..." Cassy's eyes were filled with tears as hopelessness suddenly filled her mind.

"You want him to love you not just because you're pregnant," Frannie voiced Cassy's unspoken and deepest wish. "And you wish that you two could make it work for your own sakes. Not telling him about this isn't the way to rebuild the trust you tow have always had - leaving aside for the moment Tom's patently false words spoken under duress. "You still love him don't you?"

Cassy remained stubbornly silent for a minute as she carefully framed her answer.

"I always have, and it's never been enough," Cassy finally admitted.

"And you two have always only thought of yourselves. Maybe now that there is someone else to think about and protect you'll both grow up. Tell him Cassy. Soon." Frannie squeezed Cassy's hand.

"I know, I've seen those horrible sitcoms too," Cassy rolled her eyes and let out a yawn.

"I'll talk to you later/" Frannie leaned down and kissed Cassy's cheek.

"Be safe," Cassy urged the departing woman.

"My Harry will make sure I am." Frannie glowed as she mentioned her husband.

Cassy hoped someday she would look like that when she spoke about her husband.

End Chapter 9