AN: Here's another installment from a surprisingly active muse these past couple of days (and my lengthy train rides allowing me the time to sit and type on my phone which thankfully has Microsoft Word!) Once again, special thanks goes out to all my readers out there. Hope you enjoy this one. It was a bit of a tough one to write

Tanith


Chapter 33

Feeling a little too warm for comfort, Steve licked his parched lips and climbed out of the hospital bed, wincing as the movement aggravated the bruising to various parts of his body. The water pitcher on the bedside table was empty and what he really wanted was an ice-cold soda. Buttoning up his shirt, he walked out into the hallway barefooted. The tiled floor was soothing against the warm soles of his feet. From his room, it was just a short stroll to the cafeteria. He dug into his jeans pockets and drew out some loose change but before he reached the counter, he saw a familiar figure sitting all alone in a chair at the far wall. It was Kim Lee. Ignoring his thirst, he walked over to his friend and sat down opposite her at the small table. "Kim?"

The Asian woman looked up, having just noticed Steve's presence. Dark circles formed shadows beneath her puffy, bloodshot eyes.

Steve reached out with his good hand and clasped her cool fingers in his. "How's Dave?"

Kim shook her head slowly. Fresh tears leaked out of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. "He's in a coma. He will not wake up. Oh, Steve! I call out his name but he does not hear me! The doctor thinks I should sign these forms but I do not understand."

It was then, that Steve saw a few sheets of paper lying in front of her. He picked them up with his injured hand, ignoring the sharp pain the movement caused. The forms were rather complex but Steve was able to discern that they were for permitting the hospital to shut down the life support machinery that kept Dave alive. He tried to swallow but his mouth was too dry. "No, you don't have to sign these right now if you don't want to," Steve croaked. He scrunched up the papers, causing the pain in his hand to heighten but it was nothing compared to the ache in his heart. How dare they give up on Dave? He thought angrily. Steve reached across the table and gave Kim's hand a reassuring squeeze. "He's gonna be okay. Where's Christina?"

"A nurse took her to get some ice cream. She will be back soon."

"I promise, whoever did this to your family is not going to get away with it," Steve solemnly vowed.

Kim nodded and wiped away the tears. They sat in silence for some time before Steve excused himself to buy a cool drink. When he returned, Kim was no longer alone. A nurse had appeared with Christina. Steve decided it was his cue to give the mother and child some time to themselves. Feeling like he needed to do something useful, he made his way over to the payphone and used his last quarter to call Bill at the office.


Jeannie felt angry and annoyed that even after she and her father had patched things up, things didn't seem to have improved between them. He was still treating her like a child instead of a young woman. A young woman capable of making up her own mind. She decided to unpack her bag. Not that there was a great deal to unpack but it was nice to think that someday soon she would be sharing this room with someone special. She walked over to the closet to hang her bath robe when she noticed a shoe box was sticking halfway out of the top shelving. Reaching up, she tried to push it further inward but something was lodged behind the box and it refused to budge. Instead, the box rebounded against the obstacle behind it and fell into her arms. The lid flew to the floor, revealing its contents to Jeannie's utter shock. Inside the box was a hand gun, a few bullets, a closed switchblade and a pair of brass knuckles. While she hated the thought of ever carrying a gun or a knife herself, the most unsettling item in the box at that moment was the brass knuckles.

"The...uh...guy wore brass knuckles so er...he did a number on me."

Steve's words echoed in her head. Whoever had attacked him wore this weapon. Irene had also just told her that Steve still had feelings for her. Could it be that Whitney suspected the same thing and gotten so jealous that he lashed out with his fists? Was he capable of such a brutal act of violence? Jeannie wished she could answer those questions herself but she couldn't. On the one hand, she wanted to believe Whitney was incapable of hurting another human being but an incident in their senior year of high school came rushing back to her. Whitney did hit another boy for kissing her. The boy, Tommy Baker, was drunk and he had grabbed Jeannie, mistaking her for his girlfriend. They had all just finished watching a college football game and were heading home when it happened. Whitney had hit Tommy so hard that he lost his two front teeth and was almost knocked unconscious. George Holden paid for Tommy's very expensive dental bill to avoid a law suit and all legal charges against his son was subsequently dropped. Whitney's heart may have been in the right place but Jeannie felt he acted using excessive force. Tommy was not a big guy by comparison. Whitney could easily have pried him away without any harm done. While Jeannie did not condone such behavior, it was the only time she had seen Whitney lose his temper and she had forgiven him after he had apologized profusely. To this day, she never told her father. She wasn't sure if Mike would have let Whitney off the hook.

Looking down anxiously at Whitney's collection of weapons, Jeannie knew she had to confront him and she hoped that he would put her doubts to rest by giving her a reasonable explanation as to why he was in possession of the offending items. It wasn't just their relationship at stake anymore, but Jeannie's faith in someone she placed her complete trust in.


The phone on Mike's desk rang for the umpteenth time since he got back to the office earlier that day and each time it did, he had expected to hear either Jeannie's voice or Steve's on the other line.

"It's me, Mike," Irene greeted urgently. "I thought you oughta know Francis Callahan's car was just fished out of the bay."

"Any sign of Callahan?" Mike asked, although he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"We'll have to wait for the coroner's report to confirm this but it looks like his body was in the driver's seat and Johnnie Rosco in the passenger side. They're in the advance stages of decomposition but I could still make out the tattoos on Sid's arm and Rosco has a distinguished set of rings on his left hand. We can safely rule out robbery since both their wallets and some cash are also on them," Irene reported.

"Any idea what the cause of death might be?"

"Sorry, Mike, that's a negative. The windows of the car were left open and the bodies were strapped into their seats. Sea life has been feeding on them, not to mention they've been submerged for maybe a couple of days so it's too difficult to tell. At this stage, I'm not ruling out foul play," Irene relayed.

"Where are you now? I'll meet you," Mike said, nestling the phone between his ear and shoulder as he rummaged his desk for a piece of paper and pen. He quickly scribbled down the address that Irene gave then ended the call. Grabbing his coat and fedora, the lieutenant hurried out of his office, calling out for Lessing to follow suit.