Chapter 2


Bosco walked in through the automatic doors of the ER just as Doc and Carlos were pushing their gurney out.

"Hey, Doc, did you guys bring Terri in?" Bosco asked.

"Yeah, they've just finished moving her to a private room on the third floor," Doc answered. "Room 316."

"Just so you know," Carlos added. "She did hit her head, so she might be kind of-" he whistled and circled a finger on the side of his head.

"The doctor said you could go in when you got here," Doc added, throwing Carlos a look.

"Is Yokas in with her?" Bosco asked.

"She was going to wash up first," Doc said. "I'm sure she'll be up shortly."

Bosco nodded. He looked down the hall toward the elevators, and then back at Doc and Carlos. "Thanks, Doc."

"No problem," Doc answered. "We'll see you later."

Carlos cleared his throat. "She needed seven stitches above her right eye and it's completely swollen shut. She's going to have a pretty good shiner when the swelling goes down."

Bosco nodded and clenched his jaw. "Yeah, thanks."

"You bet," Carlos said.

"Take care," Doc said, and they both turned and left.

Bosco turned and walked down the hall to the elevators. Once on the third floor, he quickly located Terri's room. The door was open so walked in. Terri was lying in her bed, a bandage covering most of her right eye. Her left eye was closed.

Bosco felt the anger rise in his chest. How could something like this happen? If he'd been working today, the man they arrested would have a few bruises of his own. He slowly walked over to her bedside.

Terri stirred a bit and then her left eye opened. She smiled weakly when she recognized him. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," Bosco said.

"By the look on your face, Boz, I'd have to guess it looks almost as terrible as it feels."

Bosco smiled. "It hurts that bad, huh?"

"Watch it, Maurice. Crack in my skull or not, I can still kick your ass."

Bosco's smile faded. "I'm just glad you're all right."

"Yeah?" She asked, touched by the emotion he was displaying.

Bosco nodded, not trusting himself to answer.

"Well at least you're feeling bad for me," Terri said. "I just can't shake the fact that I ended up in the hospital over something as stupid as this."

"So, how are you feeling? Really?" Bosco asked.

"Well, they've got me on some pretty good drugs, for a myriad of things, so I can't feel much of anything," Terri said motioning to the IV in her hand. "Although, there is a needle poking through my skin. Can't say that I like that very much."

He pulled a chair over next to the bed and sat down. "So any word on how long you'll be here?"

Terri sighed. "The doctor wants to keep me here overnight. I guess I fainted because my blood sugar got too low or something, and they want to try to get it regulated before they'll let me go."

"Blood sugar? That's like a diabetic thing, right?"

"I guess, but I'm not diabetic." She closed her eyes and scratched the bandage covering the cut on her forehead. "And, because I lost consciousness for more than five minutes, they need to watch and make sure that I don't have some kind of brain injury, or something. So no rest for the weary."

Bosco smiled. "'Because you lost consciousness?' You sure it's not just 'cause they spent five minutes in the same room with you that they think you've got something wrong with your brain?"

Terri feigned shock. "How dare you. I'd teach you a lesson in manners, if I didn't think they'd keep me here longer."

"All right." Bosco raised his hands. "Sorry. That was a cheap shot. So, what can I do to help keep you awake?"

Terri smiled. "I can think of a few things."


Faith finished cleaning the blood off her face and arms before she leaned over the sink and splashed cold water on her face. She'd taken off her shirt, scrubbed most of the blood out, and laid it across a bench to dry.

"Officer Yokas?"

Faith looked up into the mirror and saw a nurse's reflection. "Yeah?"

"Lieutenant Swersky is here."

Faith grabbed a towel and quickly dried her face. She turned so she was facing the nurse. "Thanks."

"There should be a clean pair of scrubs in the cupboard over there, if you need them."

"Thank you."

The nurse smiled and left.

Faith walked over to the cupboard and opened it. She pulled out a turquoise blue set of scrubs and set them down on the bench next to her uniform. As she was pulling the top over her head, her cell phone rang. She quickly fished it out of her pants pocket and answered it. "Hello."

"That was quite a nasty little spill your partner took today, wasn't it?"

Faith felt her heart skip a beat. "What?"

"She needs to keep from sticking herself in bad situations. It might be much worse next time."

"Who is this?"

The line clicked, and then went dead. Faith was still staring down at her phone when Swersky came in a few minutes later.


Officers John Sullivan and Tyrone Davis, Jr. walked into Terri's hospital room and found Bosco and Terri very involved in a serious card game. Davis was carrying a plastic grocery bag in one hand.

"What is going on in here?" Davis asked with a grin on his face.

"Terri's kickin' my ass at gin," Bosco said without looking up from his cards. "I already owe her $14.75, and this hand isn't any better."

"Gin?" Davis asked. "I thought that was an old person game."

"Bite your tongue, young man," Terri said with a smile. "My father taught me this game when I was a kid."

"How do you lose money playing gin?" Davis asked.

"You play a penny a point and a dollar a game," Sully answered. He smiled at the look both Davis and Bosco gave him. "Terri might have taken a few dollars from me in the past." He turned to Terri. "How are you feeling?"

Terri shrugged. "Besides the headache that's twice the size of Texas, the nurses coming in every 30 minutes to make sure I'm not in a coma, the drug cocktail pumping into me and the overnight stay at the hospital I've been awarded, I'm feeling pretty swell, thanks."

"Well, we're glad you're okay," Sully said.

"Yeah," Davis added. "When we heard Yokas's 1O-13 over the radio-" he let his sentence hang.

"What's in the bag?" Bosco asked.

Davis smiled mischievously. "Well, Sully and I thought we'd smuggle in some contraband for our injured comrade." He opened the bag wide enough to reveal a bag of sunflower seeds, a box of Little Debbie oatmeal crème pies and a six-pack of Mountain Dew. "We thought you might like some comfort food."

"I may've just fallen in love with you two," Terri said setting down her cards and taking the bag from Davis.

"You just brought stuff for her?" Bosco complained.

Sully ignored him and said, "We also got a copy of the surveillance tape from the manager."

Terri heard the heaviness in his voice. The bag was set aside and Terri pointed to the TV in the corner. "You may need to find a VCR."

"They've got one in the nurse's lounge," Bosco said. "I'll go get it." He set down his cards, making sure that they mixed with Terri's cards. "Oops. Guess we'll have to start this hand over."

As he left the room, Davis and Sully walked over to the side of Terri's bed.

"So what's on the tape?" Terri asked.

Sully and Davis exchanged a quick look that was not lost on Terri.

"What?" Terri asked.

"It's nothing, really," Sully said. He forced a smile. "We're just glad you're alright."

Terri knew there was more too it, but she also knew if Sully was holding something back, he was doing so with good reason. She decided to let it go. She opened a crème pie and took a big bite. She leaned back in her pillow and smiled up at them. "My heroes."

"Of course," Sully said with a shrug.

"So, Davis do you know how to play poker?" she asked. "Or is that an old people game too?"

Davis sat down in Bosco's chair. "Poker? Bring it on, sista." He started shuffling the cards.

Sully caught Terri's eye and gave her a small wink. "Should we make things interesting? Play dealer's choice, with a dollar ante and no cap on raises?"

"We should keep things friendly," Terri suggested, playing along. "Make it a quarter ante instead."

"What?" Davis asked. "Is a dollar too steep for you?"

"No, but it might be too steep for you," Sully said. "I've played cards with Terri before, remember?"

"I don't know, Sully," Terri said. "They've got me on some pretty good meds here and I'm not sure how they'll affect me. The kid might have a chance."

Davis rubbed his hands together. "All right. Shuffle up and deal."


"Faith?"

Faith had been thinking about the phone call and hadn't realized Lieutenant Swersky had asked her a question. "Sorry, Lieu. What did you say?"

Lieutenant Swersky, as the commanding officer of the Fifty-Fifth precinct, was required to report on any injuries sustained by the officers under his command while they were on duty. Sometimes, that job included telling families that their spouses, parents or children wouldn't be coming home. Thankfully, this was not one of those times. Still, he understood that it was hard to focus after something like this.

"I asked if you rode in the ambulance with Terri."

"Yeah, I did."

"Then your RMP is still at the scene?"

Faith shook her head. "Sully and Davis were over to the scene and they said they'd take care of it. We arrested the guy that started all this. He was still in the back."

"I'm sure it's been taken care of then." Swersky smiled. "Why don't you go up and see how Terri's doing."

Faith nodded. "Are you coming up?"

"I just came from there. Sully and Davis are up there now. They were asking about you."

"Yeah, I just needed to change and a get a few things squared away."

Swersky nodded. He knew Yokas needed processing time. He patted her on the shoulder. "Terri's gunna be fine. Go up and see her. She needs to see you, and know you're alright too."

Faith nodded. "Yeah. I'm on my way."

"Okay, well, I'm glad you're okay. Take it easy, okay?"

Faith nodded and watched Swersky leave. She gathered her uniform and put it in the locker with Terri's things before she closed it and locked it. On the elevator ride to the third floor, she ran everything through her head once more. She wasn't sure if she was ready to see Terri yet, so rather than going straight to Terri's room, she went down the opposite hall to the nurse's lounge and sat down on the couch. She sighed loudly and put her head in her hands.

"Faith?"

Faith nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked up. Bosco was standing over by the TV, staring at her.

"Bosco. Hey. I didn't see you there."

"Apparently. What's up?"

Faith opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't find the words.

"What wrong?" Bosco asked. He took a step toward her. "Faith?"

It all came out in a rush. She started with a quick run through of what happened at the store, the wait for the ambulance, what Carlos said about the insurance money, and washing Terri's blood out of her uniform. She told him about the call she'd received and how she didn't know what to tell Terri, or even if she should tell Terri at all. Once it was all out, she felt oddly deflated, yet slightly relieved that she didn't have to carry this around alone. She looked at Bosco. "So, what do you think?"

Bosco had stopped listening as soon as she'd told him about the phone call. He had received a similar call, at his home, not more than an hour ago. The call had angered him. He thought someone was out there, playing a sick little mind game with him. However, once he called Faith to confirm the caller's story, his anger turned to frustration and fear. If there was someone out there who could orchestrate such an elaborate accident sending Terri to the hospital, what else was this person capable of and how long would it be before they found out?

"Boz?"

Bosco looked at Faith, realizing he'd been lost in his thoughts. "Sorry, what?

"Do you think I should tell her about the phone call?"

Bosco shrugged and did his best to display indifference. "It was probably someone trying to yank your chain. Let's just play this one by ear," he said. He knew this decision could - and most likely would - backfire on him, but he would cross that bridge when he got there. Right now, he just wanted to keep everyone calm and safe. "She needs a little more time to rest before she starts worrying about something like this."

Faith nodded, accepting his explanation without hesitation. "So what were you coming in here for?"

Bosco had to think for a moment before he remembered. He pointed toward the VCR and TV. "Davis and Sully got the surveillance tape from the store. We were going to watch it to see if there's anything on it to explain her fall." Even as the words came out of his mouth, he had a gut feeling there would be. As he slowly unhooked the VCR from the TV, he realized that watching the tape would more than likely confirm his fears that someone had indeed planned this whole situation.

Faith watched in silence as Bosco unhooked the various cords. He seemed more calm than he would usually be in these circumstances. He had certainly sounded very agitated on the phone when he'd called her to see what was going on. Now, on the other hand, he was almost too composed. For Bosco, anyway. She shrugged it off. He was probably just relieved that Terri wasn't injured too badly and that he was here now and able to feel like he was doing something.

They were walking down the hall to Terri's room when Faith asked, "How did you find out about Terri's accident?"

Her question caught him off guard for a split second, but he quickly recovered. "I heard your 10-13 over the radio."

"What radio? You were off duty today."

"I have a scanner that I listen to when I'm off work, so if anything interesting goes down, I'll be in the loop."

Faith nodded, satisfied with his answer. As they approached Terri's room, Faith steeled herself, putting on a brave front and leaving her worries about the phone call behind her. She opened the door and held it for Bosco.

"Hey, Faith," Terri said, as she took a ten dollar bill from Davis. "I was wondering where you were."

"I was talking to Swersky downstairs." Faith ignored the look she could feel Bosco giving her and quickly shifted the focus away from herself. "Davis, are you playing poker with Terri?" Faith asked, a grin playing around the corners of her mouth. "Don't you know any better?"

"Apparently not," Davis answered.

"He wasn't doing too bad either," Terri said. "Until the second hand, that is."

"Terri let Davis win the first hand, so on the second hand, he thought he'd call her bluff with a bluff and lost," Sully explained. "It's been down hill from there."

"I wasn't bluffing," Davis declared. "I had a pair of threes."

Bosco was hooking the VCR up to the TV, but he looked over at Davis and shook his head. "You should've just left the ante at a quarter, man."

"How'd you know we started at a quarter?" Davis asked.

"Because she did the same thing to me, but my mistake cost me thirty bucks and dinner."

"How do you expect me to live my comfortable lifestyle if I can't have a few of you suckers supplement my income from time to time?" Terri asked with a smile.

"And what is this?" Faith asked pointing to a small pile of sunflower shells and cellophane wrappers and two empty Mountain Dew cans.

"It's to help with the pain," Terri admitted in an over-the-top weak voice, as she gently tapped her temple.

"Uh huh," Faith said with a smile.

"'Kay, we're set up," Bosco said.

Sully pulled the tape out of the plastic bag and handed it to Bosco.

Bosco pushed the tape into the VCR and pushed play. The angle of the camera was such that it overlooked the entire store, from one of the back corners. It had a view of the entrance and the cashier, but had only a partial view of all of the isles. All, except one. The last one. The one Terri had become quite familiar with. The camera had a full unobstructed view of this isle, almost as if this was supposed to be the main focal point of the camera.

The screen showed Davis standing in the far right of the frame, looking up into the camera. He was midway back in the store, standing outside the back room that contained the manager's office and, apparently the surveillance equipment because a few seconds later the image turned to the black and white snow of a blank tape.

"Rewind the tape to just before Faith and I get there," Terri said.

Bosco rewound the tape about thirty minutes worth. They watched images flash by in high speed reverse. When he saw Faith and Terri enter the store (or exit the store backward) he pushed play.

Terri sat forward a bit in her bed, watching the scene unfold and hoping that she didn't see something she should've done differently. There was no sound and the images were black and white and slightly grainy, but Terri couldn't take her eyes from the screen. The black and white images of Faith and herself disappeared into the back room. A minute or two later, the kid in the hoodie ran out, followed almost immediately by Faith.

They all watched as the man shoved his shoulder hard into Faith's chest. As Faith stumbled into the cereal display, Terri exited the back room and instantly took off after the man. Terri watched as she caught up and tackled the man. She anticipated the punch he delivered to her side and she winced subconsciously as it happened on the screen.

"He hit you pretty hard," Sully said. "Did you get that looked at?"

Terri waved off his question. "Bastard got in a lucky punch." She went back to watching just as she and Faith pulled the man to his feet and escorted him out of the store.

"You should still get it looked at," Sully said. "You never know."

Terri looked at Sully. She thought he was just being concerned, but then again, it was an odd thing to bring up, seeing how she was in the hospital for a head injury and getting all the looking at she could handle.

Bosco poked her in the spot where she'd been punched, bringing her thoughts back to the dull ache in her side.

Terri pulled away in pain and held her arm tightly against her side. She balled up her fist and shot him a withering look.

"He's right, you know," Bosco said, quietly.

Terri opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Davis.

"Look," Davis said, pointing at the screen.

Terri turned her attention back to the TV. She watched as her image came back into the view of the camera and started down the last isle. She was walking directly at the camera.

Everyone in the room was watching this scene unfold for the first time and they watched in silence.

They all watched as Terri swayed a bit, paused, swayed again and grabbed a shelf. She stood there motionless for a moment before attempting another step. In the back ground, Faith appeared and held up her hands. Terri motioned toward Faith with an outstretched hand. A split second later, Terri's body seemed to slacken and she crumpled, falling sideways. As she fell, they saw her strike her head on one of the metal shelves before landing face down on the floor.

Without realizing it, Terri's hand stole to her forehead and she gently rubbed the bandage covering the three-inch cut above her eye.

"Is that all from me?" Terri asked to no one in particular. She was shocked at the amount of blood that as pooling around her head.

No one answered. There were no words. Sully had thought almost that exact thing when he'd first looked down at the pool of blood. Now that he was seeing it happen, the same twisted feeling returned to his stomach.

On the screen, Faith ran to Terri's side and turned her over. She held a hand over the wound on Terri's forehead as she pulled the radio to her mouth with the other.

For the next four minutes no one spoke as they watched the screen. Faith and Terri were both almost motionless. Faith kept her one hand over the wound while she brought the other under Terri's chin and onto the opposite side of her face, cradling Terri's head in the crook of her arm. A small crowd of curious shoppers gathered to watch the show.

Faith thought back to how that four minutes of tape actually had felt like an eternity. The helplessness she'd felt waiting for help to arrive - watching the blood seep up between her fingers and trickle down into a pool on the floor and looking down at Terri's face, watching as it grew paler and paler – was a feeling that she never wanted to feel again, much less even think about.

On the screen, Doc and Carlos ran into frame and quickly went to work. Carlos put a c-collar on her neck while Doc checked her vitals. They lifted Terri onto the gurney and wheeled her out of the store with Faith right beside them, holding Terri's motionless hand.

The spell seemed to break and everyone in the room started breathing again. Terri decided it was up to her to break the somberness in the room.

"So, do we send this to World's Wildest Police Videos, or to America's Funniest Videos?"

There was no laughter. Faith felt sick. She shook her head and turned to leave the room.

"Faith," Terri called after her, but to no avail. Without a word, Faith opened the door and left the room, letting the door close softly behind her.

Terri stared at the closed door for a moment. She realized that she hadn't really considered how Faith was feeling about this whole situation. "She thinks this is her fault." It wasn't a question.

Bosco didn't respond. He knew there was more on Faith's mind than guilt.

"I'll go make sure she's all right," Bosco said, as he went after Faith.

"Bosco?" Terri asked. She had seen the look on his face. There was something he wasn't telling her. "What's going on?"

Bosco held up a hand with the index finger slightly extended, then left after Faith.

Terri stared at the closed door for a moment, before turning to Sully and Davis. "Well, I guess I know how to clear a room."

Sully and Davis just looked at each other.

Terri threw up her hands in exasperation. "Not you guys too!"

"There's something you should know," Sully said. "About what happened at the store." He looked at Terri, unsure of what exactly he was going to tell her, and how.

"Okay," Terri said. She leaned back in her pillows and folded her arms across her chest. "I'm listening."