"Hey Roy"
"Hey yourself" replied Gage's partner, Roy De Soto.
"How'd that ah...meeting go with Kirk's teacher?" Gage asked, hoping it wasn't as serious as it had sounded when Roy first told him that Roy's son, Kirk, teacher wanted to speak with Joanne and Roy.
"Not that good" De Soto sat down on the bench. Gage looked at his partner with concern. "Seems him and his friends have been sneaking off during lunch and turning up late for class. She also said that he and his friends had been a little disruptive in class".
"Did you speak to Kirk?" asked Gage.
"Yes. He said he sometimes is talking so much with his friends that they don't notice that they have walked out of bounds and since none of them have a watch, they lose track of time" he shrugged showing he didn't quite believe the explanation.
"I guess it's not unrealistic to think boys of his age can be a bit absent minded about time and their surroundings" said Gage, hoping his partner hadn't been too hard on Kirk.
"I had a talk with him and told him that he had to be a bit more responsible. I also took him to the mall and bought him a watch that had an alarm. We set the alarm five minutes before the end of lunch" De Soto got up and closed his locker.
"Far out...What a good idea" Gage was clearly impressed. "I guess it pays not to jump to conclusions huh?"
"That's true" declared De Soto. "How was your temp partner?"
"Ok, it was Patrick Healy from station 43 C shift" stated Gage.
"How did he seem?" asked De Soto.
"Alright I guess...something didn't seem right all shift"
"Maybe you just missed me Junior" smiled De Soto.
"Oh and Brackett wants to see me first chance we get"
"Why?" asked De Soto looking puzzled.
"I don't know" shrugged Gage.
"Maybe he's not impressed about you not getting checked out after your little accident" injected Chet Kelly.
"Chet!" Gage was annoyed; he had no intention of mentioning the accident to Roy. "It was nothing Roy...just a minor mishap is all" Gage turned around to leave.
"Mishap" Kelly scoffed. Gage glared at Kelly and shook his head. He wanted Kelly to just drop it. "He acted goofy, even more than usual, all afternoon. I'm telling you Roy, GOOFY" Kelly's eyes were wide looking at Gage. Kelly had mentioned the accident and Gage's behaviour to Roy through concern.
"Should I be worried about anything?" asked De Soto.
"No" said Gage defensively, shrugging his shoulders. In the pit of his stomach there was a knot of concern.
Something hadn't seemed quite right during his previous shift but he couldn't put his finger on it.
They made their way to Rampart for supplies. Gage found Brackett in his office.
Brackett looked up when Gage knocked. "Take a seat Gage" Gage sat down in front of Brackett's desk. The use of his surname when Brackett addressed him did not go unnoticed. Gage immediately had a bad feeling about this meeting.
Brackett got straight to the point, Gage admired that about the man "I went over one of my interns files from your last shift. The OD victim. It concerned me that he had to order a higher dosage of diazepam for the patient on route."
"The victim was clearly still agitated in the ambulance. " Gage looked perplexed at Brackett. Brackett didn't commit himself to further dialogue, he was trying to read Gage's reactions.
"Why are you concerned?" asked Gage.
"Because the toxicology report showed lower levels of the drug than I would have anticipated."
"Could the drugs that were already in his system have countered the diazepam?" asked Gage.
"Yes that's possible but highly unlikely" stated Brackett. "I spoke to Healy yesterday, he mentioned you seemed a bit slow to react to his requests and that if he didn't know any better, he thought you had been drinking or taking something" Brackett waited for the explosion.
"What! Look Doc, Phil was in that ambulance with me. He saw me inject the victim and he immediately calmed down" responded Gage.
"Yes but he can't verify the dosage" retorted Brackett.
"If I didn't give him the correct dosage our supplies would be out" countered Gage.
"Not if you injected the remaining dosage into yourself"
"Are you saying "I'm on drugs?" semi shouted Gage, pointing to his chest. "I'm not the only one who injected. Healy did the first one. Are you accusing him too?" Gage was dumbfounded. Never in his life had he been accused of such a thing.
Brackett frowned "He said you handled both injections"
Gage was shaking his head, "He's wrong Doc. Healy injected the first dosage on scene and I did the second one on route" stated Gage.
"Well then you won't object to a blood test then. Although it's more than twenty-four hours it's still less than forty-eight hours, so there would most likely be traces of the drug in your bloodstream"
"If I'm a drug addict Doctor, which I am not." coldly said Gage. He was annoyed with himself for being so rude to his friend, but he couldn't help but be disappointed with Brackett's accusations.
"I'm sorry but I'm obliged to fully investigate" Brackett sighed "I also have to search your body for injection sites."
"Did you do the same with Healy?" asked Gage.
"No but I will. I'll call him in to undergo the same tests and examination." replied Brackett.
They made their way to treatment room 4. Dr Early was paged to join them as a witness. Gage removed all his clothing and Brackett started his examination. The needle mark was quickly located under his arm" To say Gage was shocked was an understatement.