Something hissing in the distance woke Maddie the next morning; the smell of eggs and pancakes drifted seductively through her room. She still felt drowsy from the drugs the hospital had given her and for a split second she had forgotten about the attack, but remembered when she tried to move. The pain of her ribs hit her first, pulsating like a small electric shock, her face and jaw still bruised and stinging, but the swelling had gone down considerably.
She carefully eased herself up onto her elbows first of all, wincing against the pain with each movement, occasionally as the pain and discomfort became too much. After a few minutes she managed to sit up in her bed and swing her legs out onto the floor. She barrelled her bathrobe around her shoulders, pulling her long auburn hair from underneath, before making her way into the kitchen.
As she got closer to the kitchen the source of the hissing sound she heard became apparent, as she watched Jo standing at the cooker, frying pan in hand.
She was already dressed and ready for what the day had in store for them as she pottered around the kitchen. The radio was softly playing in the background giving regular updates on the traffic, news and weather reports.
Maddie leaned against the door frame and smiled slightly as she watched her mom, as her many bracelets, bangles, necklaces and rings all gently banged off each other; they were all comforting sounds. She held back a laugh when Jo began to absent-mindedly sway in time to the music that was now playing. When Maddie could no longer contain her laughter Jo span round to see her eldest daughter standing in the doorway; it was good to see her laughing after what had happened to her the day before.
'I hope you weren't laughing at me young lady?' Jo said as she approached her, placing her arms around her shoulders and pulling Maddie into a tight-as-I-dare hug. 'How are you feeling?' She added quietly.
'A bit better than I did yesterday.' Maddie replied as she held on tight to her mom.
'Are you in pain? Do you need more pain killers?' Jo asked as she emanated every mothering instinct in her body.
'I'm a little sore but I'll be fine. Nothing your hugs and fry-up won't fix I'm sure.' Maddie replied as she drank in the scent of her mother's perfume.
The scent reminded her of when she was a little girl and when she was hurt or upset, Jo was always there to comfort her. In reality all she wanted to do was to stand in the kitchen and cry, but she didn't want to give the son of a bitch who attacked her the satisfaction. Jo could tell that Maddie wasn't OK, despite the façade she was putting up. But, even as a small child, Maddie was always strong willed and would never cry in front of anyone; she didn't like showing other people her weaknesses, so Jo was the only person whoever got to see that side of her.
To most Maddie might sometimes come across as unfeeling, although she was great at being empathetic to others, she just wasn't very good at accepting it herself. She felt that she'd been hurt too many times in her relatively short life, so she believed that she was better protected if she didn't show her weaknesses.
At that moment their tender moment was interrupted by someone ringing their buzzer.
'I'll get it; you just make sure that our breakfast isn't burning.' Jo said as she kissed her daughter on the head.
Jo lifted the white handset of the intercom system and pressed it to her ear. She answered with her cheery southern accent and waited for the other person to speak.
'Jo it's me.' She heard the male voice say and she instantly recognised the deep tones of her ex-husband's voice.
Without replying she pressed the button that opened the door and waited patiently for him to arrive at her apartment door. After a few minutes she heard the gentle tap on the wood of the door; on the other side stood Russ Josephson.
'I came as fast as I could. How is she?' He asked with concern etched into deep creases on his face.
'I think she's trying to block it all out at the moment, trying to act as if nothing has happened. She'll be glad to see you though.' Jo replied just as Maddie appeared at the sound of her father's voice.
'Dad!' She said as she almost ran to him.
Russ wrapped his arms protectively around his daughter's shoulders and she buried her face into his chest. He rested his chin against the top of her head whilst Jo stroked her hair. For the first time in the last couple of days she felt truly safe and protected now that she had both of her parents with her. When she stepped back Russell placed a hand on each side of her face and examined her intently.
He could feel the anger rising up inside him as he looked at his only daughter. The bruising on her face fuelled his anger, as did the marks and bandages on her arms. Jo could see that he was fit to explode, but she knew that him losing his temper was the last thing Maddie needed, and deep down so did he.
Maddie could see the hurt and anger in her dad's eyes as she looked up at him, and suddenly she felt dirty again. She realised that she didn't like her mom and dad seeing her in the state she was in.
'I'm just going to get a shower.' She said before running off.
After a few seconds of silence Jo turned to her ex-husband. Part of her wanted to go after Maddie, make sure she was alright, but she knew that Maddie just wanted to be alone and that the worst thing she could do was push her.
'Did you have to look at her like that?' Jo said to him angrily, although keeping her tone low, once she was certain Maddie was out of ear-shot.
'Like what?' Russ replied innocently but with a slightly irritated tone.
'You examined her with such disdain and scrutiny…' She began to say before he cut her off.
'I did not look at her with disdain, but you could have warned me as to how bad her injuries are.' He spat back but tried to keep his voice down low.
Although they thought she couldn't hear them, Maddie hovered at the door to the bathroom and listened. She could tell that they were desperately trying not to argue with each other, and she hated that her attacker had done this to them. She shut the door on their gritted voices, turned the shower on to full spray and sat in the bottom of the shower.
She allowed the water to run down her face and body, and found that her tears flowed freely with it. It was the first time since she was attacked that she'd properly allowed herself to cry. As the minutes ebbed away she felt marginally better under the hot spray, feeling her sorrow drip down into the drain. She was beginning to feel a little bit more like her, and could feel that Danville determination, that had gotten her through so much heart ache, return.
Once she felt ready to face the world again she slid open the glass door to the shower, wrapped a towel around her and walked up to the mirror, smearing away the steam with her hand. It was the first time she'd caught sight of herself after the attack, and she barely recognised the person staring back. Although a lot of the swelling had gone down, her left eye was still partially closed and the bruising round it had turned a crimson shade of purple. She could clearly see that the bruising on her neck was hand shaped from where he'd grabbed her. She clutched at her throat and remembered how he'd grabbed her.
In that split second she remembered the scent of his aftershave. She remembered smelling it on him when she came round, but she remembered smelling the same scent when she was in the bar. Realising the significance of her memory she dressed as quickly as she could before going to find her mom.
-CSI: NY-
Mac left the crime lab as soon as Jo had phoned him. After Maddie had told her mom about what she had remembered about her attacker she had immediately phoned him. This development to the case was significant and could have been the breakthrough they needed.
'Where is she?' He asked Jo once she buzzed him into the building.
'She's through in the living room with her dad. The good news is that after having rested she's remembering things a little more clearly than before, but she can't remember who in the bar had the same scent as her attacker.' Jo explained in a hushed whisper as she led him in.
Mac nodded as he followed Jo into the living room where he found Maddie resting on the sofa next to Russ. He sat in the orange and white armchair and faced them both. Maddie drew her breath and sat up to give Mac her un-divided attention.
'How are you feeling today?' He asked her, noting that she'd covered her bruises in a layer of concealer and foundation.
'A lot better than yesterday, thank you.' She replied politely.
'Your mom said that you thought you'd remembered something about your attacker, do you think you can tell me about it?' He said.
Maddie slowly nodded her head before she replied, still trying to remember who in the bar had the same scent.
'The guy was wearing the same aftershave as someone in the bar. I can't remember who it was though, I'm sorry.' She explained, annoyed that she couldn't remember more.
'No that's really helpful Maddie. Is there anything else you can remember? Was he a staff member perhaps?' Mac encouraged, knowing that sometimes a victim just needed gentle prompts or the odd word to trigger a supressed memory.
'I can't be certain but I think it was a member of staff, but we spoke to so many I can't pin point who.' Maddie replied, feeling a little deflated by her lack of recollection.
'That's OK, you've done brilliantly!' Mac said as he stood up and then turned to Jo. 'I'll get Lindsay and Flack to go down to the bar and speak to bar staff.' He explained before he headed out, leaving the family to it.
-CSI: NY-
Lindsay and Flack entered the bar. It was still closed but was getting ready for the lunch time opening. They noticed one barman moving racks of glasses to and from a backroom. He stopped when he saw the two detectives walk in.
'We're closed. Come back in an hour.' He said in a rather unfriendly manner.
They both displayed their badges to the young man, but his demeanour didn't change.
'We're looking for the manager.' Flack said.
'That'd be me.' A female voice said as a woman in her late thirties, appeared from an office area towards the back of the bar.
She was dressed in a snappy suit, red heels and had her long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. She had several folders in her arms and dumped them on one of the nearby tables.
'I'm Detective Flack, this is Officer Munro; we're here about the rape that occurred in the alley in the early hours of yesterday morning.' Flack explained and the older woman genuinely looked saddened by his comment.
'How is the girl? Is she alright?' She asked with concern.
'She's badly beaten but she'll make a full recovery.' Flack replied. 'But what would help her recovery would be to catch her attacker, and to do that we need you full co-operation Miss…'
'Brooker, Diane Brooker; and of course I'll be happy to help any way I can.' Diane replied as she approached the two detectives.
'We need to have a list of all your male employees, especially those working Saturday night.' Flack explained and then looked at her expectantly.
'Yes of course.' She said before disappearing into the office again.
After a short time she reappeared with a list of all the male employees as requested. Lindsay took the list from her and began to read the names.
'Miss Brooker, we have reason to believe that our victim's attacker is one of your employees. Has anyone called in sick or not shown up for work in the last twenty-four hours?' She asked.
'Um, yeah…actually…Karl Adams. He's one of our part-time workers.' Diane replied as her brows furrowed with concern.
'Are all the addresses on the list up to date?' Flack asked as he took the paper from Lindsay's hands and began reading over them himself.
'Yes, as far I am aware.' She replied.
Both detectives nodded their acknowledgements to the manager, said their goodbyes and then walked back to their vehicle, heading back towards the crime lab.
-CSI: NY-
Back at the crime lab Lindsay ran the names of all the employees of the Duo through the police data base. Out of the ten names only three of them came back with criminal convictions, one of them was Karl Adams.
'Mac we may have a lead.' She said as she entered Macs office and he sat up in his chair with interest at her words. 'Karl Adams is one of the employees of the Duo and he is the only one not to have shown up for work yesterday or today. I ran further checks on him and it turns out that he was dishonourably discharged from the Navy after being investigated for rape.'
'Do we know more about the case?' Mac asked, his interest in their suspect growing.
'Well I've asked Flack to do a little more investigating into the background, but what I can tell you is that a female officer on board the USS Sea Hawk reported being raped by Adams and attacked. An investigation was carried out but their findings were inconclusive. They couldn't formally charge him with the crime, but they believed that his conduct was inappropriate so he was discharged.' She explained.
'OK get Danny and Flack and tell them that we're going to bring Karl Adams in for questioning.' Mac said as he stood up from his desk, grabbed his gun and began to put on his jacket.
- CSI: NY-
Several police vehicles pulled up outside the address of Karl Adams. The detectives expected the arrest to be fairly routine, but they had back-up with them just in case. They all congregated on the sidewalk outside the block of apartments where Adams lived.
'OK is everyone ready?' Mac asked as all the officers around him nodded their agreement.
Satisfied with their answer Mac then led the team into the building. They approached apartment number fifty-two on the fifth floor and Mac knocked on the door. They all had their guns draw so that they were to hand if they were required.
'NYPD, open up!' Flack shouted after a few seconds.
On the other side they heard something smash to the floor, which resulted in an immediate response from the detectives. Flack kicked open the door just in time for them to see Adams disappearing out of the window and onto the fire escape. Flack and Danny went after him through the window, whilst Mac led some of the other armed officers up the back stairs.
Adams ran straight to the top of the building onto the rooftop where Danny and Flack lost sight of him. Just as Danny was walking passed some builders waste, his gun still drawn, some of the piping was pushed from the other side and came hurtling toward him. Thankfully he was able to get out of the way before he was hit, but he saw Adams running again whilst he lay on the floor.
After a couple of moments Danny saw a door that led to the back stair fly open and Adams smashed straight into it. Mac appeared a second later looking triumphant, whilst Karl Adams laid on the floor, his nose bloody and looking slightly dazed.