A few hours later Pride and LaSalle marched down the hospital corridor towards Brody's room, both silently praying she would be okay. The room itself stuck out like a sore thumb thanks to the presence of two policemen outside the door.
Nodding to the officers the two men entered the room shocked to see the contrast of Brody's bruised and swollen face with the clean, crisp hospital sheets.
"How is she?" Pride asked Loretta trying to contain his anger.
"The important thing is she will be okay."
"But?" Pride pushed.
"But, she has been beaten and I would say the injuries are consistent with torture." Loretta said sadly.
"Torture?" LaSalle asked.
"As well as the obvious signs of being beaten, she had a dislocated shoulder and a broken finger. However, there are several small marks on her body that are consistent with a Taser is Drive Stun mode, or more commonly pain compliance mode."
"Sexual assault?" Pride asked, nearly choking on his words.
"No signs." Loretta answered quickly. "As I said, the important thing is that she will be okay."
"Has she woken yet?" Chris asked.
"She has drifted in and out a few times, but I would not expect her to be fully coherent for another few hours. She is on strong pain meds, which will make her less than coherent for awhile." She paused then asked. "Have you found out who did this?"
"Not yet, but we will." Pride assured her.
"Only right now we have a big pile of nothing to go. No witnesses, Sebastian is not optimistic that any of the prints belong to the perps and we have no idea what they were after." Chris said, his frustration obvious.
"We know more than nothing." Pride pointed out. "We know they were looking for something physical, otherwise they wouldn't have ransacked the house. And that it was small enough to fit in a drawer. My guess is they haven't found it."
"Based on?" Chris questioned.
"Brody is still alive. Whoever did this were professional and brutal, leaving Brody alive is a risk. Only if they think she knows something is it a risk worth taking."
"So either Brody knows something but said nothing, or she knows nothing so said nothing. Either way they think she knows something so is still in danger." Chris summarised.
"Pretty much." Pride said.
"You two look exhausted." Loretta pointed out. "Why don't you get something to eat? I will call if she wakes up." Seeing their reluctance she pressed. "Neither of us are going anywhere and you are no good to her if you can't think."
-00-
When Brody finally woke a couple of hours later she was disorientated and scared as her mind replayed recent and old events. She was pulled from her waking nightmare by Loretta calmly saying.
"Merri, you are in hospital and safe."
"Loretta?" Brody asked, her voice hoarse.
"Have this." The ME said holding a cup with a straw up to Brody's mouth. Loretta waited for Brody to drink before removing the cup and placing it on the small table. "You are going to be fine. You are safe now. I am right here." The ME soothed.
"We all are." Pride added walking into the room.
Brody turned her head slightly and saw Pride and LaSalle approach her.
"Geez Brody, you look like-" LaSalle started only for Pride to warn.
"Christopher."
"Just saying." The younger agent said taking a seat by Brody.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Pride asked.
For a moment Brody closed her eyes and the others thought she was drifting back to sleep. But eventually she said.
"After you dropped me off I remember shutting the front door and hearing something behind me. Before I could do anything I was Tasered and dragged to the kitchen where they tied me to a chair. There were three of them, 5'10'', 6'2'' and 6'4". They were all white males. They all wore masks. None of their accents sounded local. They wanted a package."
"What package?" Pride asked.
"No idea. I tried explaining that, but they didn't believe me."
"What happened then?" Pride asked.
"Every time I didn't tell them they Tasered me. Eventually they got bored and took me to the bathroom where they tried to drown me or freeze me, not entirely sure which. I asked, they didn't appreciate it." When she paused again Pride took her hand and said.
"Take your time."
"When I still didn't tell them what they wanted I was taken back to the kitchen where I was beaten. I managed to scratch one of them, might be DNA under my nails." She said staring down at her hand.
"We've already got samples." Loretta said. When Brody remained silent the other occupants wondered if she was finished. When her eyes were filled with a distant look the trio grew concerned and Pride gently squeezed Brody's hand again as Loretta said.
"Merri? Merri, you still with us?"
"Loretta? Sorry, got lost in thought. Where was I?"
"You scratched one of them." Pride prompted.
"Yeah, he didn't take so well. Ended up popping my shoulder and breaking a finger. Eventually they tied me to the chair again and one of them picked up some bolt cutters, said they were going to cut off a finger. Only they heard something, a car I think. One of them knocked me out then I woke up here."
"And they gave no clues about what the package was?" Pride asked.
"No." Brody replied. "Except they said they knew he had sent it to me."
"He?"
"I don't know. They didn't appreciate me asking." Brody said, struggling to stay awake.
"This have anything to do with your ex?" LaSalle asked.
"James? Doubt it. Not spoken for a while. He didn't say he was sending me anything." Brody replied.
"How about your father?" Pride asked.
"You think this has something to do with his accident?"
"Don't worry about that now, we'll figure out who is behind this." Pride said before adding. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Brody asked confused.
"I shouldn't have left you alone."
"I asked you to. Not your fault."
"We are going to find out who did this." Pride promised. "In the mean time one of us will be right here. Try to get some rest." He then watched as Brody fell to sleep before turning to LaSalle.
"Christopher, talk to Sebastian, find out if he has anything. Find Brody's phone and see if her ex called. Get hold of any CCTV in the neighbourhood and get Patton on it. Try to find our trio. Go learn something."
"On it King." LaSalle said giving a final glance at Body before leaving.
When the door shut Loretta looked at Pride and said. "She was right you know?"
"About what?" Pride asked confused.
"This is not your fault. She needed time alone. Besides even if you had been there, do you think it would have made a difference? They would have used you to get to her."
"I appreciate the council Loretta, but I am responsible. Are you okay staying here with her? There are some things I want to look at."
"Of course." Loretta smiled. "But Dwayne, make sure you get some rest."
TBC
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Next chapter up tomorrow.