Chapter 7
Jo met Don at the scene of the mugging, she was surprised to see Don there as the detective.
"Officer Jones served with my old man, and he's the Director's father." Don explained and immediately she understood why she'd been called, senior CSI and more impartial than Danny or Lindsey. "Beanie's at the hospital, he's still not stable."
"She's having the week from hell." Jo observed starting to take photos of the scene. She couldn't begin to imagine how her colleague was feeling; the blood on the floor didn't fill Jo with much hope for the condition of Officer Jones.
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A little after 4am the doctor's told Mac that Ernie was stable enough to go in and process, Beanie went in with him, her CSI trained eyes scanning her father's beaten body and her ears listening to what the doctor was telling her. It wasn't looking good for her father, only time would tell what the outcome would be. Beanie hadn't realised that Mac had gone until Vaughn came in and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"He'll be ok." Vaughn said although he didn't sound too confident, just by looking at his father in law Vaughn could tell he was in a bad state.
"I've seen hundreds of victims beaten, but this is too much." Beanie said tears streaming down her cheeks as her husband pulled her into his arms. After a few moments Beanie stepped away from her husband telling him to go home and sort the kids out, he could let them know Ernie was in hospital but not how bad.
"Honey I'm not leaving you." Vaughn replied, he could see how fragile his wife was and didn't want to leave her on her own as outside of him and the kids she was on her own family wise. "I'll call Alden and he can get the others ready for school, and I'll call my mother to get her to help." Vaughn offered before telling her there was no way he would leave her on her own.
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"Tell me again why we're handling a mugging when there are so many other more serious crimes waiting to be solved." Danny said with an angry sigh going through the evidence Jo had given him.
"The victim is Officer Ernie Jones, father of the Director." Mac replied walking into the room. "Ernie is also one of NYPD's longest serving officers, and I'm doing this for a friend." Mac gave Danny a look that told him to drop it.
"But I got a point though." Danny said to Lindsey once Mac had left the room, all she did was roll her eyes at her husband in response. Lindsey, like Jo had been able to put herself in Beanie's shoes and imagine what the elder woman must be going through, and Lindsey was more than happy to help the Director out.
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Alden arrived at the hospital after the younger Monteagle children had gone to school. "I said you both got called into work." Alden said giving his mother a much needed hug before patting his father on the shoulder. "How is he doing?" Vaughn said stable but Beanie didn't reply; she just sat there with a steady stream of tears falling from her eyes. "Mum, why don't you go home, Dad and I can stay here." Alden suggested seeing how fragile his mother was, she responded by saying she wasn't planning on going anywhere until he was awake, she was all he had.
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"CCTV footage has managed to capture everything and we've managed to piece together a picture of what the suspect looks like." Jo announced walking into Mac's office a few hours later. "Any news from the hospital?" She asked taking a seat across from the older man.
"There's been an improvement in his vitals but he's still not woken up." Mac replied. "According to Vaughn Beanie is refusing to leave her father's side." Mac added knowing that the Director wouldn't be leaving the hospital until her father had woken up.
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6pm Ernie started to come around to the delight of Beanie who hadn't left his side all day, Vaughn had gone home to sort out the children but Alden remained with his mother.
"Pop its ok, I'm here." Beanie said grabbing hold of her father's hand, relief evident in her voice, she quickly sent Alden to get someone. The old man struggled to get up but Beanie stopped him, "Pop calm down, you've been mugged and need to keep still." At that Ernie nodded, his face lit up when his eldest grandson came into the room flanked by a doctor.
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"I don't remember anything, I was on my way home and then next thing I know I'm here and my daughter looks like she hasn't slept in a week." Ernie said to Don as he gave his statement, Don gave Beanie a knowing look, she did look exhausted.
"Well it's been a tough week Pop, Son accused of murder and father violently attacked," She sighed rubbing her hands over her face; she needed sleep but doubted she'd be getting much, she was dreading what state the house would be in with Vaughn cooking.
"I know," Ernie sighed taking hold of his daughter's hand, "and I'm glad you're here." He smiled through his oxygen mask. "So which CSI's are on the case?" Ernie asked with interest, he nodded at Mac's name and started to close his eyes.
"I'll get my old man to pop in and see him tomorrow." Don whispered to Beanie before saying his goodbyes leaving Beanie to drift off in the chair beside her father's bed.
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Danny tried to get his head around it, how could a mild mannered police officer at the end of his career, with nothing but good reports, working hour after hour for almost 40 years be the father of the rich director of the lab. To him it just didn't make any sense at all, so in the name of researching for the case i.e. looking into the family's background in case there was any vendetta against them he decided to delve further. Two hours later all he'd found was Beanie's history from when she'd gotten married, the only dependent and next of kin for Officer Jones had been his daughter. There was nothing spectacular in his history aside from the fact that he'd been 17 when Beanie had been born, and that he'd never been married. As he was about to call in a few favours to get more information they got a break in the mugging from an eye witness.
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It was approaching midnight when Mac ventured into the hospital, he had a feeling Beanie would still be there and he was right, she wanted to make sure her only parent was safe. Ernie was awake watching his daughter sleeping in a very uncomfortable chair; he nodded at Mac and motioned for him to poke the Director.
"What's up?" Beanie asked with a yawn, her neck was very stiff and her back was aching a little. She looked at her father thinking it had been him waking her up for some reason, then she spotted Mac.
"We got the attacker, eyewitness came forward and we found your father's wallet on the suspect, full confession, it was an opportunist mugging." Mac explained and both father and daughter let out a sigh of relief.
"So Beanie can go home and sleep?" Ernie asked feeling like he could sleep safe without the need for his daughter to be there to protect him. "To look after my wonderful grandchildren and bring them to see me tomorrow?" Mac nodded in response and Ernie smiled. "Well then Detective Taylor could you be so kind as to escort her out of the building?" Mac laughed and Beanie went to object but a look from her father soon stopped her so she did as she was told.
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