Left or Right?
Chapter 6 - Cold
After a few seconds Jack felt a strong pulse beating slowly beneath Mickey's skin. He sighed with relief.
As Roger radioed for an ambulance, Jack and Callum carefully lifted Mickey down from the wall and onto a blanket which had been taken out of the back of an police car.
"Mickey, can you open your eyes?" Callum called, kneeling beside Mickey's unconscious figure.
Mickey's eye lids flickered slightly and remained open for a second or two before closing again.
"No, keep your eyes open, mate. Tell me where it hurts?" Callum continued.
"Head." He gasped. "I'd , I, I weird." His voice was quiet and slurred forcing Callum to lean over to hear him.
Mickey shifted anxiously, trying to move away from their touch. "Lie still, Mickey." Jack said placing a restraining hand on his shoulder.
"No." Mickey gasped. "Let me go. Leave me. My head." Mickey muttered trying to push Jack away. Mickey tried to sit up but flopped back down as a flash of pain shot through his head. He hit his head on the ground as he thrashed around, it clear distress.
Jack slid his hand under Mickey's head to prevent further damage, he took off his jacket, folded it and placed it between Mickey's head and the cold concrete.
Finally a siren sounded and a rapid response vehicle pulled up beside the river bank.
"What happened?" The paramedic had asked before he had even got out of the car and grabbed a bag from the back seat.
"He hit his head earlier and was unconscious for a few seconds. He got himself checked out but he's had a headache which has got worse and he's being acting strangely. He started to lose consciousness about five minutes ago." Jack said quickly.
"What's his name?" The paramedic asked as he knelt down.
"Mickey Webb." Jack answered.
"Mickey can you hear me?" He said into one ear. "Can you open your eyes?"
Mickey's eyes flickered.
"Can you tell me where it hurts?" Mickey lifted his hand and placed it against his head, his movements were shaky and uncoordinated.
"Ok, Mickey, you're going to be fine." The paramedic took a small torch and shone it into each of Mickey's eyes in turn. He dropped the torch a second later as Mickey began having a seizure.
The paramedic carefully protected Mickey's head while talking soothingly to his patient. "It's ok, Mickey, everything's going to be fine. Just stay calm." After a few minutes the seizure still hadn't passed.
"Can you take over from me and protect his head?" He asked Jack. Jack nodded and slid over.
The paramedic opened his bag and injected Mickey with a benzodiazepine which slowly reduced the seizure until Mickey lay still again.
"There we go Mickey, all over." The paramedic said reassuringly as an ambulance joined the collection of emergency vehicles lined up along the road.
"This is Mickey Webb." The first paramedic began as the new two got out of the ambulance. "He received a head injury earlier today and had lost consciousness for a few minutes. He has since been suffering from headaches and unusual behaviour. He started to lose consciousness about fifteen minutes ago. He has had a seizure which lasted for six minutes and ceased after I gave him lorazepam. He has unequal pupils and a GCS of 9. Pulse 65, resps 8."
"Alright Mickey," the first paramedic began as the other two pulled the trolley out of the ambulance, "we're going to lift you onto a stretcher and then get you to hospital, alright?"
"Mmm." Mickey sighed. The paramedic wasn't sure if his patient had any awareness of what was going on around him.
"On the count of three, one, two, three." They lifted him onto the trolley and quickly placed it in the back of the ambulance. One paramedic jumped in and sat down beside him monitoring him constantly.
"Do you want to go wiv him?" Said the other to Jack who immediately jumped in the back. The door was slammed shut and within a second they had pulled away, siren blaring, lights flashing.
"Do you know his date of birth?" The paramedic asked Jack.
"Yeah, sixteenth of February 1976." Jack replied straightaway.
"Has he got any medical conditions?"
"No."
"Any medication?"
"Don't think so."
"Right. Put your foot on it, his pulse and GCS is dropping." He shouted. "Mickey, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?"
Mickey didn't open his eyes so the paramedic squeezed Mickey's finger between his thumb and forefinger.
Mickey moaned slightly and moved away. "GCS is now six." He called out.
They reached the hospital and Mickey was quickly taken out of the ambulance.
"This is Mickey Webb. He's thirty two. He received a head injury earlier today and lost consciousness for two minutes. He's had headaches and began losing consciousness thirty minutes ago. He has a seizure which lasted for six minutes and ended after he was given lorazepam. His pupils are uneven. His GCS was nine at the scene, now down to six. Pulse is sixty, resps eight. He has no known medical conditions and is on no known medication." Jack was held back as they went into resusc and allowed himself to be guided into a relatives room.
Jack jumped, jolted from his thoughts, as the door opened. He stood up anxiously as a grave, weary looking doctor entered. He wasn't sure how long he had been sat there.
"Mr Meadows, please sit down." The doctor said indicating the chair as he sank into an opposite one. "I'm afraid I have bad news. When Mr Webb was brought in he was suffering from a serious head injury caused by a blow earlier today. That injury caused bleeding and swelling within your colleagues brain which led to the pressure in his brain increasing. We did everything we could to reduce the swelling and stop the bleed but I'm afraid the injury was too severe and his heart stopped about thirty minutes ago. We tried to resuscitate him but he died a few moments ago. I'm very sorry."
Jack sat in stunned silence, he was unable to process the information that he had just been given, he didn't want to. "Mickey's dead?"
"Yes." The doctor nodded. "We need to contact his family, do you know how we can contact them?"
"He's got a brother, I'll speak to him."
"Would you like to see him?"
Jack blinked trying to focus on the doctor. "Yes, please."
"If you wait here, I'll have a nurse come and get you in a few minutes."
Jack nodded. He knew that he should contact the Superintendant but he couldn't think of that now, couldn't think of anything except that Mickey was dead, his officer, his colleague, his friend was gone. After all he had been through, after Delaney, Liz, Kate and his Mum, one bang to the head during a routine enquiry had been enough. After everything he had been through, it was all over. Mickey Webb was dead.
Jack followed the nurse into the resusc. "I'm afraid we had to leave all the tube and wires in for the coroner."
Jack didn't reply. Without any conscious thought he walked dazed towards the body, unable to really comprehend that it was Mickey.
But the figure in front of him was Mickey, nothing could change that. He was not just pale, he was white, his mouth was obscured slightly by the tube that was, had been, helping him breath. Jack could now see the swelling on the side of his head, he could see the bruise beneath Mickey's blond hair.
Jack's chest hurt, like it had when he'd had a heart attack but he knew there was no physical cause for the pain now. "Mickey?" He whispered. He held Mickey's hand gently on his own, it was freezing and deadly still. There was no life beneath it, nothing but everlasting emptiness.
"Was he in any pain?" Jack asked the nurse.
"By the time he got to the hospital he was in a very deep coma, he'd have felt nothing."
Jack stood there in silence staring at Mickey. "Is there someone I can contact for you Mr Meadows?" The nurse said a few minutes later, breaking Jack from his reverie.
"No. I have to go back to the station. I'll contact his brother." Jack said and walked out of the hospital without another word.
Jack couldn't actually remember the drive back to the station, he suddenly found himself sat in the car park staring at nothing. All he could think was that Mickey had died, his life was over.
Eventually, he got out of the car and hurried through the station. He didn't want anyone to stop him and ask how Mickey was. So he ignored everyone until he got to the Superintendent's office. He stood outside and took a deep breath, Heaton was in there writing something, oblivious of Jack stood outside.
Jack hesitated, unable to go in. As if he sensed it, Heaton looked up and saw Jack's grave face looking through the door. His slight smile dropped and he motioned for Jack to come in. He stood as Jack opened the door and shut it again behind him.
"How is he?" Heaton asked although he could guess the answer from Jack's expression.
Jack's shook his head. "He," Jack stopped and took a deep breath, "he didn't make it, the doctor said he had a serious head injury."
Heaton lent on the edge of his desk. "I'm sorry, Jack." He said after a minute. "I know you and DC Webb had worked closely together for several years."
"Yeah, we had."
"I'll contact his family."
"It's just his brother." Jack muttered. "I'd like to do it if you don't mind, Sir, I've met his brother once before."
"Ok. I'll contact the Borough Commander and ask Inspector Gold to tell the relief. Will you inform CID?"
"Yes Sir." Jack said and left the office as Heaton picked up the phone.
As he entered the CID office Sam looked up from the file she was reading. "Guv, how's Mickey?" She asked.
"Can you all gather 'round a second." Jack replied. "I've just come from the hospital. Mickey's sustained a head injury earlier today and that caused a bleed on his brain, his heart stopped and they did everything they could to resuscitate him but he died at about four thirty." He said it in a rush, hoping that it would be easier
"But the FME said he was fine." Kezia said, she felt guilty, she should have made him go to hospital, she should have done something.
"I know I'm sure there will be an enquiry into how it happened but right now we need to get the evidence together for the Andrews case for MIT. I think we should hand the case onto them."
"Yes Guv." Everyone murmured.
"Sam can I have a word?" Jack said as he made his way into his office, she followed him.
"I need to contact Mickey's brother. Can you get everything together for MIT."
"Yes, Guv." Sam left the room and Jack sat down at his desk.
He sat with his head in his hands for several minutes but he had to get on with his task however unpleasant. Mickey's only family needed to know that he had died. He opened Mickey's file on his computer and found the right number. He took a deep breath to get the courage to dial it.
It rang several times before a man answered.
"Can I speak to Mr Webb please?" Jack said, hoping to sound professional because he certainly wasn't feeling it.
"Speakin'."
"My name's Detective Chief Inspector Jack Meadows, we met at your mother's funeral." Jack said.
"Oh, yeah, you're Mickey's boss." He said the memory of that day five years ago coming back to him.
"Yes I am."
"Is something wrong? Is Mickey alright?"
"Mickey was involved in an incident earlier today and received a head injury. He collapsed this afternoon and we took his to hospital but I'm afraid he died at four thirty."
"Oh." Mickey's brother replied. Jack could hear him sit down with a bump.
"I'm very sorry."
"Thank you." He paused. "I'm going to get into the car and come to London." He said.
"Alright. Come to Sun Hill Police Station in Canley and I'll take you to the hospital." Jack said.
"I'll be about an hour." He said and hung up.
Jack sat in his office for a long time trying to process what had happened today. It was just a normal investigation. After everything Mickey had been through, he had been beaten up countless times, threatened with knives and guns, blown up and raped and yet a seemingly small bang to the head and that was it, over. It was such a waste of a life, things had been so hard for Mickey but they were starting to look up again. And now it was over. Such a stupid senseless act of violence.
Jack didn't know what to do with himself, he couldn't leave his office, he didn't want anything to do with the case which had killed the man who felt more like family than a colleague.
But eventually his phone rang to tell him that a Christopher Webb was in the front office for him. He dragged himself out of his office and downstairs to meet Mickey's brother.
"I'm Jack Meadows." Jack said extending his hand to the man who looked like a slightly older version of Mickey.
"Chris Webb."
Jack drove him to the hospital in silence.
"Mickey?" Chris had murmured reaching for Mickey's hand in much the same way as Jack had done several hours earlier.
Jack stood at the back of the room to give him some space, he watched Chris as he stood there. He knew Mickey and Chris hadn't been close but Mickey had never said why, and Jack had never asked.
"I'm sorry I haven't been there for you, bruv." Chris was muttering. "'Specially since Mum died. Too wrapped up in me own grief I s'pose. Always meant to call but I just figured that you'd gone on wiv your life. Fought we had all the time in the world, you know how it is, but now it's too late. I'm sorry." He stroked Mickey's hair back. "What 'appened?" He said to Jack.
"Mickey was investigating an abduction. He went to a suspects house and went round the back to have a look in the windows and the suspect came up behind him and hit him. He was unconscious for about a minute, he wouldn't go to hospital so I made him get checked out by the forensic medical examiner who said he was ok. But later he collapsed, we called an ambulance but his heart stopped at the hospital. They did everything they could but they couldn't resuscitate him. The doctor reckons that his brain had swollen and was bleeding as a result of the head injury, that caused a pressure to build up inside his skull. They did everything they could to reduce the swelling but it caused his heart to stop and they couldn't get it to start again."
"Right." Chris said. "And the guy who hit him?"
"He escaped, we're still looking for him. We're handing the case over to the Murder Investigation Team because the man that had been abducted turned up dead just before Mickey collapsed. Mickey used to work with them, they'll pull out all the stops to find the man who attacked him."
"Good."
"Is there anyone I can call for you?"
"Nah. Can't believe he's gone, first Mum, then Mickey."
"I'm sorry, I wish there was something I could've done."
"Mickey always spoke very highly of you, whenever we got in contact, he respected you an' you were there for 'im when Mum died. I know that meant a lot to 'im." Chris said.
"Mickey and I had worked very closely over the years, we'd become good friends."
"I'm glad someone was there for him. I should've been but fings were always difficult. We were close when we were kids, really close, then dad left an' fings got complicated. Then he went away to join the police an' we never really sorted it out. I meant to when Mum died but we were both grieving. I tried to call him loads a couple of months later but he never answered an' after a while I s'pose I gave up."
"Mickey went through some tough times after your Mum died."
"I should've been there for him. Should've got through it together. I let him down." Chris replied.
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