'Is there anyone on the scene, protecting any evidence?'

'We called for uniforms, the dispatcher said someone named Watkins from the Twelfth would be there in five and she would have back-up eight after that,' Jayla said. 'To my knowledge, they're there waiting for you to talk to them.'

Beckett shook her head, looked at the desk nurse who had returned. 'Nurse where is Sarah Ritter being treated? Who is her attending physician?'

'The attending is Cannell, and she is right across the hallway in Trauma Room Two.'

'Thank you.'

Without a second thought, Beckett dialed Watkins up, told her to get to the school and preserve the scene as best as she could. The moment she hung up, she burst into the trauma room and paled only a moment when she saw the girl she'd interviewed not even a week before. She was lying on the gurney wit ha tube down her throat, shock-paddle contacts against her chest while her face remained a ghastly shade somehwere between fuchsia and puce. She waited until the woman clearly in charge of the room glanced up, caught her eye.

'This is no place for non-medical personnel, get the fuck out of here,' she barked, then softened slightly when Beckett held up her badge. 'You're investigating the case?'

'In a manner of speaking. I need the contents of her stomach, whatever you pumped out of her.'

'Castro, get the detective what she needs,' Cannell ordered one of the people on her team. 'Detective, wait outside, I'll have one of my people speak to you directly after the family.'

'One other thing, Doctor.'

'What?'

'The patient's best friend, Ashley Archer, she made the nine-one-one call. She's been staying with the Ritters almost a week, and they are virtually the only family she has.'

'We'll keep her up to date was well.'

Satisfied with this, Beckett stepped out and headed back to the waiting room where she found Adam and Ashley, zeroed in.

'I have no medical news to report,' she told them, anticipating their question, 'but Cannell said she'll keep you in the loop, Ashley. Adam, I need a word in private a moment.'

'I'll be right back, Ashley,' Adam reassured the shaken young lady and they used the privacy of the crowd to mask their words. 'What's going on?'

'I need you to go to the school. Watkins is there on scene with some other uniforms.'

'Kate are you sure? I have a good rapport with Ashley.'

'I need you there,' Beckett insisted and Adam nodded.

'Alright.'

He walked back over to the spot where Ashley sat ramrod straight in her chair and staring out the window. 'Ashley, Detective Beckett needs me to go to the school to collect any evidence from the attack on your friend.'

'Of course. You're staying right Beckett?'

'Yes, Ashley,' Beckett reassured her and Ashley's eyes filled up, spilled over once more. She'd seen the same thing happen with Jojo when she got overtired, and it struck her suddenly how maternal she felt towards this girl. She pulled her close, wrapping an arm around her shoulders; some woudl bash her for the contact and say she was blurring the lines of professionalism, but the hell with them, Beckett wasn't a robot. 'Yes, I'm staying, I need to talk to Sarah's parents and her doctors once things settle down a little more.'

'Her parents are over here.'

Ashley stood up and walked down the hallway a little towards the same waiting lounge Beckett had used more than once. On the single small sofa were Dean and Georgette Ritter, both looking numb and trying very hard not to break down.

'Dean? Georgie?'

Ashley said their names softly, and both looked up in tandem; Georgette was in her feet in an instant and getting right in Beckett's face. But rather than the onslaught of berating she'd anticipate, the woman all but collapsed in her arms.

'You find who did this to my bebe,' she wept bitterly, 'you find who hurt her, hurt all of us who love her and need her here with us.'

'We have a suspect, and Detective Brennan has gone to the school with my top uniformed officers. I am here to speak with you, Sarah's doctors, and Sarah herself when she is able to talk to me.'

'She is strong,' Georgie said firmly, 'but she'll need rest, she'll need quiet. Ashley, my dove, here.'

Beckett watched in fascination as Georgette went to the couch and pulled out her debit card from her stylish Chanel pocketbook. 'Go to the stores she likes, get her favourite book, her tea. Oh, she will need her Stuffibar from home as well. And something to eat for us all so you don't go crazy with worry.'

'Sure, Georgie.'

'Ashley.' Georgette put a hand to the girl's cheek. 'I know you. You work best when you have things to do, people to care for. This is me giving you those things, not pushing you out.'

'I know.'

The woman pulled her daughter's friend in for a kiss on each cheek, then thought better of it. 'I could use some fresh air myself. I will walk you to the subway.'

They left and Beckett looked at Dean, who finally let the tears come. 'They love Sarah so much,' he said in a hoarse voice. 'Sarah's mother died when Sarah was four of cancer, and Sarah just adored Georgie from square one. Georgie, she can't have kids of her own so they fill those holes in each other's lives and they came to love each other out of it. I love my wife but every day I see Sarah and can't help thinking of Colette and...if I lost that last little bit of her, if I lost Sarah-'

'Don't think like that,' Beckett ordered him gently. 'Sarah needs you to be strong, so do Ashley and Georgie. All of you need each other.'

'I know, I know.'

'Why don't you tell me about Ashley's phone call, go from there.'

'I was at work, I'm an attorney for the New York office of Whalen-Wyatt. My assistant said Ashley was on the phone and nearly hysterical so I patched through the call and...and then things get a little fuzzy after hearing her say the paramedics were coming for Sarah because she was having a reaction.' Dean sighed, rose. 'I think I called Georgie, or my assistant did and I got a car to bring e here right away. We met the ambulance and my...my little girl was nearly purple in the face but I heard the paramedics say she was unconscious but breathing. Then Georgie and Ashley got here and it goes blurry again until you were here.'

He turned back to Beckett. 'My daughter's a good girl, she's an honours student and volunteers with Ashely at the shelter, she tutors the younger students in French and German. She's not a priss but she's not a wild child either. Who would do this to her?'

'Someone with a big secret to keep,' Beckett replied quietly. 'Like you said, Sarah's smart and I'm betting when she wakes up and talks to us, she'll say that the person she thinks poisoned Wayne Hill is the same person who poisoned her because she figured out who it was that did it.'

'That's-'

'Cold and disturbing, I know, but sir, you should also know that Detective Brennan and I believe we know who did it too.' She paused, rose to face him as an equal. 'I have three children myself, one whom I met similar to Georgie and Sarah, and she's mine as much as the ones from my body. I would do anything to keep her safe if she was sick or scared or in pain like I know Sarah must have been but I know she would also want to catch the rat bastard that made her sick and scared and in pain and strangle him with her bare hands.'

'I like the sound of her,' Dean said on a gruff chuckle.

'That's why I know as much you want Sarah to rest and sleep it off once the doctors are finished treating her in the here and now you'll support her when she says she wants to talk to me as a cop, because I see so much of my husband and my daughter in you and Sarah.'

Dean opened his mouth to reply when Cannell stepped in, tugged off her scrub cap. 'She's stable and she'll need rest but you can see her in an hour or two.'