Jake Connelly was living it up, more cocky and reckless than ever. And why not? Thanks to his Dad, pulling strings again on his behalf, he'd just gotten away with murder. Literally, figuratively, any way you wanted to look at it, he'd gotten away with murder. With his sappy father in his corner, he felt he was invincible. The feeling of power it gave him was incredible. The only misgivings he had about the whole affair was that he was missing out on a fine piece of ass. Nicole Wallace, despite being older than him, was quite the lover. He thought he knew all the tricks until she came along; guess it was true was they said about an experienced older woman. Yeah, in a way he would miss her, but she was easily replaced. That bitch cheated on him with that cop. She got what she deserved.
When he thought about that detective, he had to laugh. That bastard was going to pay for what he did, messing around with his woman. His dad would see to that, really put the screws to him.
Jake was drinking and bragging, his two favorite things to do in life other than putting down his father. Tonight he was doing all three, with the encouragement of his equally inebriated friends.
"Can you believe that asshole tried to give me a ticket? Me!" Jake had gotten out of another jam with the police, thanks to his father. Now he was drunk again. He spilled half his drink on himself, then, indicating his half-empty glass, yelled at the bartender. "Hey what's up with you, Jerkoff? Trying to stiff me here?" When the bartender ignored him, Jake yelled again, "I oughta have my old man shut this place down!" His buddies agreed, laughing and making their own comments.
"My old man," Jake slurred, "what a sap. He's so freaking pussy whipped." He took another drink, weaving back and forth. "The only reason I got out of that murder thing is because he's so afraid of my mother…"
"Shut up, Jake," one of his less inebriated friends told him, trying to rein him in, out of earshot of the bartender. But Jake was having nothing of it. He shoved his friend away. " I just wanna say…tell you what I did to… killed… that cheatin' bitch. But I won't right now. Cause I'm too fuckin' drunk…"
The few other patrons of the bar, and the bartender all heard what Jake said, but they all attributed it to the inane ramblings of a drunk. No one connected it to the Nicole Wallace murder.
Mt. Sinai HospitalDefense attorney and friend Joseph Simon arrived at Mt. Sinai Hospital after getting word that his client had finally regained consciousness. He passed Bobby's partner, Alex Eames, who was sitting in the lobby, apparently lost in thought. They had only met once before, a few days ago when Alex had finally contacted and hired him to represent Bobby.
"Ms. Eames," he called to the obviously distracted Alex. "How is he?"
Alex looked up, unaware that he was there. She looked at her watch; she'd been sitting there for quite a while. She shook her head. "He's not…very well."
Joe frowned. "Ah, shit! Is it that head injury? He's not unconscious again?"
"No. He's awake. He's just very…upset…about his situation."
Joe looked at her, questioningly. "Situation?"
"He's been shamed, humiliated. And I don't blame him! He's done nothing but serve the public his entire life. And look how they're treating him! They've got him handcuffed to the bed, like a common criminal! He…he doesn't deserve that." Her eyes were bright with tears that were about to overflow.
Joe sighed. "I had to get him medical treatment immediately," he explained. "That was my first priority. It's the only way—"
"I know," Alex agreed. "It's not your fault. In fact, I should be thanking you. If you hadn't gotten there when you did, and gotten him medical help…" She found it difficult to finish her statement.
"It's just a good thing you got hold of me when you did."
"I was so worried…so worried…" Now the tears came.
Joe felt bad for her. She looked so lost. If he'd known her longer, he would have taken her in his arms to comfort her. But he didn't, so he settled for a comforting hand on both of her shoulders. "Hey, it's okay. He's gonna be all right. Right? Right?"
She finally looked up and smiled, just a tiny smile. "Yeah."
"Don't worry, okay. We'll work this all out."
"Good luck," Alex said. "He kicked me out…"
"Well, he won't kick me out," Joe said confidently. He wouldn't allow it. He did have a certain advantage over Bobby: being handcuffed, Bobby couldn't get to him.
xxx
Joe Simon stopped outside of Bobby's door and knocked. Receiving no answer, he entered the room. Eames was right, Robert Goren at the moment did not seem to be doing very well. He was lying in the bed, barely moving. His right hand was on his forehead. Every once in a while a low groan would escape him.
Bobby looked up. He was shocked to see Joe. He really had no interest in seeing anyone, but figured he had no choice with Joe; there was nothing he could say that would make Joe leave.
"What…what're you doing here?" He struggled to sit up, gasping at the pain that shot from his ribs, while his head throbbed. Joe helped him, and got him settled as comfortably as he could.
"Your girl got a hold of me after you were arrested. I'm sure you don't remember," Joe started. "Well obviously you don't. You were barely conscious when I got to the interrogation room, just in time, apparently. Those bastards were beating the shit out of you. We had to rush you to the hospital; you were unconscious for two days."
"Two days? I was out for two days?"
"Yeah, two long days for your partner. She was pretty worried."
"Where is Alex now?"
"Um, it seems you kicked your girl out. Think she went home."
"First off, she's not my 'girl,' she's my partner. And I did not kick her out. I just wanted some…time, to think this out."
Joe dropped it. "Well, here's a little good news for you. You know those cops, Abrams and Richardson?" As if Bobby could forget. "Well, they're behind bars now. Arrested, and awaiting trial themselves. Of course the dumb bastards still deny everything."
Bobby merely nodded.
"So how are you feeling, Bobby? Truthfully?" Joe asked, noticing Bobby's tightly cuffed wrist, which was bruised and somewhat swollen now from tightness and the constant friction.
"Truthfully? I feel like shit. My head feels like it's splitting, and I can't even begin to describe my guts. And it's difficult to breathe…with the ribs."
"They give you anything for the pain?"
"No. I don't think they're in any hurry either. It's their little way of punishing me. I'm already convicted here, you know." Bobby sounded very bitter.
"Are they mistreating you?"
Bobby thought for a minute. "They're not mistreating me. The thing is, they're barely treating me at all. So far they haven't given me a thing for pain, nobody's talking to me; I don't even know my own condition."
Joe listened, getting angrier all the time. "Listen, I'll fix it with this hospital staff. They'll start treating you right or I'll slap a lawsuit on them, too. But unfortunately that damn cuff's gotta stay on. Now I'm going to go out there and convince them to give you something for pain. And then, Bobby, I want to hear from you exactly how you got yourself into this mess."
Three days laterThanks to Bobby's stay in the hospital, his arraignment was postponed. Just one more in a series of setbacks. Bobby was getting very discouraged; he'd hoped to be out on bail by now. The only visitor Bobby would allow was Joe.
"I've got your arraignment set up for two days from now," Joe announced on one of his visits. "Think you'll be out by then?"
"I don't know," Bobby said angrily. "You'll have to ask my doctors, cause they damn sure aren't telling me anything!"
"What about your pain medicine?" Joe asked. "Are they still giving it to you?"
"They're giving it to me, when they're damn good and ready. Sometimes it takes hours after I ask. The only good thing about this whole affair is that these witches they call nurses are scared to death of me. They stay as far away as possible; guess they think I'm gonna grab one of them and use them to bargain my way out of here." He gave a sarcastic laugh. "That's not to say I haven't thought of it."
"Good to see you haven't lost your sense of humor," Joe replied.
"Yeah, well…"
Just then Joe's cellphone rang.
"Better watch it," Bobby warned. "Next thing you know they'll be confiscating your phone."
Joe laughed, then flipped open his phone. His smile quickly turned to a frown.
"When?" he asked. "Shit." He closed his phone, then turned to Bobby, who was looking at him expectantly.
"What?" Bobby said.
"Those two cops who beat you?" Bobby nodded. "Well, they found them in their cells this morning. They were both dead."
tbc