AFTERMATH part 1
DS John Boulton could hear the muffled voices. He was feeling dazed, his vision was blurred and his head hurt like hell. He couldn't move, he had crap in his mouth. Sand or dirt or something.
Someone was leaning over him, a shadow in the half light.
"Are you alright...can you hear me...?"
It was cold.
He felt a hand on his arm and other voices and shouts in the foreground before there was nothing he could see but darkness.
XXX
DS Claire Stanton opened her eyes. She was still lying in bed she and John had shared an hour or so ago. She sat herself up and looked down to the empty John shaped space beside her. Where was he? Why hadn't she just gone and followed him.
What did Beech want? Why had he called really? Was it about Bazinni?
She tried John again...voicemail.
She threw it down and got up and dressed and that's when the phone rang, she stooped and grabbed it off the bedclothes and stuck it to her ear, "John? Err...Gov? What? WHAT?"
XXX
DS Don Beech was shaking. He had killed him, he had killed him! He had returned home and showered. He scrubbed himself clean and towelled himself dry until his skin was red raw.
He lowered the blinds in the bedroom and sat there in the half light. Traffic noise muffled from outside.
He could see John's face...his face as he forced his head down and down smashing it over the concrete.
His hand was over his mouth...it had to be done...he had to be silenced...he knew too much now.
His mobile sung to life on the bedside unit and he grabbed it and saw that it was DCI Meadows.
This was it...this was the call that was going to be the start of it...
He answered, his voice gruff so he coughed to clear it, "Yeah..."
It wasn't what he was expecting, "What? How...I mean...", he swallowed down trying to clear his head and paced about the room, "...is he errrrrr...?"
He dropped the phone...John Boulton was alive!
XXX
At St. Hughes hospital, Claire Stanton saw DCI Meadows waiting at the entrance doors as he made further calls.
He looked up at her in mid flow and asked, "Claire? What are you doing here?"
Claire really didn't know what to say. "Errrrrr...I was worried about John...is he?"
"He's in emergency surgery...I've been told it's touch and go...he has sustained severe head injuries..."
Claire pulled her hair back and felt awkward for being there, "has his..."
"I've contacted his next of kin"
She backed off and nodded trying to act normal, "I'll get to work then...the relief must be all shocked"
"Yeah..."
Claire didn't go back. She sat in her car and cried. This was all Beech's doing, it had to be. And he was out there knowing what he had done.
Did Beech mean to KILL John? John's survived so will he try again...
She was out of her depth now...too emotionally involved, she couldn't do this anymore.
Claire had to hang around for ages at the hospital car park until Jack Meadows left. When she got back to the Emergency department the nurses had said that John was still in the operating theatre.
Jim Carver was coming around the corner with a carton of machine coffee in his grasp and caught sight of her.
He spotted her sitting in one of the plastic seats.
Claire looked up.
"He's still in theatre...I didn't think anybody else would be here", told Carver.
"I know", Claire said shaking her head and standing. What excuse could she use for her being there?
Both of them looked at one another and it felt a bit awkward at first. Carver thought it best to break the ice, "...Sarge, I didn't know you and him were that close?"
Claire could have broken down on the spot, "We were...", she was trying so hard to hold back the tears that threatened to fall, "...we were friends"
Jim took her hand with his free hand and they stood there looking at each-other, "You were more than that...they were saying that John was happier than usual of late...it's because of you, isn't it?"
"We...yeah...we were seeing one another...what's your excuse for being here"
"I've known John for years...we've had our ups and downs, but he was good to me in C.I.D..."
Claire nodded and they sat down waiting for what ever news that was going to come their way...
XXX
Some body else was waiting too. Don Beech was in his car. He was dithering whether to go into the hospital and ask about Boulton's condition. Was he at deaths door? It was going to get very bad for him if Boulton recovered. He needed to know what was going on.
He stepped out of his car and saw a car that was familiar to him. It was Claire Stanton's vehicle. She was here...she would be being John's bride to be. How much did she know about all of this...
XXX
Claire Stanton & Jim Carver sat and it seemed like an age. The corridor was lightening as dawn drove in.
John Boulton was wheeled back to the recovery suite, Claire stood, "Is he alright..?"
He didn't look alright...there was tubes up his nose and down his throat.
"We didn't expect that last bleed...and with the other complications, it's going to be a rough few hours for him", said the theatre nurse.
Carver frowned, "Complications...?"
The nurse turned at the door, "We are waiting for his family, before he is transferred to the spinal unit at St. Thomas"
Claire and Jim looked at one another, it sounded bad.
"Why don't you two both go and get some rest...", suggested the nurse.
Jim shook hid head, "No...I said I'd wait and I will...not to at least his family gets here"
"...and I'm not going anywhere...", added Claire.
Both of them looked through the window to John on the bed. He was still hooked up to the machines.
"He looks bad", whispered Claire, there was cracked concern in her voice.
"He's a fighter...", but he looked at her, "...but there's something wrong with him...they were muttering something about spinal scans...something about how his head injury could have effected his spine..."
Claire gasped, she closed her eyes and felt herself drift away...somewhere where the sun was still shining and there was a sweet glimmer of hope...
XXX
Don Beech was witness to this. He could see Claire and Jim Carver in the recovery suite watching over John. He needed to know what was going on.
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