As the sunsets over the windswept marshes, a car door shuts violently, sending the marshland's bird population off and over the diver, "Bloody hell!" Crescendos over the suffocating wetlands.
It takes mere seconds for DS Healy to compose himself and make sure there are no witnesses. An electronic trill sounds and Healy whips out his mobile. "Hello."
The young Detective Sergeant takes several long strides in hopes to improve the signal.
"Hello?"
"-ealy?" Crackles over the mobile.
"Ma'am is that you?" "Ma'am I went back to the crime scene, where are you?"
"Healy -et out of -er!"
"Ma'am the signals rubbish I'll call back once I leave here."
Ending the call, Healy pockets the mobile, gazing around the untamed mud and grass plane, he starts trudging back to the car, looking down to zip up his bomber jacket, Healy falls flat in a shallow pool of marsh water, his boot knotted in reeds.
Healy pushes his hands into the mud, raising his chest out of the water and hisses in pain as he turns over, ankle still tangled in reeds, he jumps in surprise, a figure standing not two meters from him.
As the figure stands there, staring at him, Healy is able to make out the face, "Mrs. Clough?"
"What are you doing here, shouldn't you be at the station?"
"Ma'am?"
As the confused Detective Sergeant resumes pulling at the reeds knotted around his boot, the woman's blank face contorts into a psychotic rage, her body starts shaking and a sleek fileting knife slides out of her jacket sleeve. Healy freezes in his escape attempt, and Mrs. Clough charges with a bloodcurdling scream at the prone, mud-covered man.
The woman rushes forward, closing the distance between the two in milliseconds. As the knife arcs down towards the Sergeant's neck, he violently twists himself around and the descending knife misses his neck only to plunge into D.S. Healy's thigh.
The woman quickly rips it out. Her once psychotically twisted face goes blank and she walks off into the twilight lit marsh, leaving Healy bleeding in the mud.
The Detective Sergeant, now laying on his back, looks down in pure shock to see blood pumping out of the stab wound at an alarming rate. The initial adrenaline leaving his system is quickly being replaced by shock.
Healy's body finally responds to his command as he sits up and attempts to wrap his hands around his gushing thigh, blood slowing ever so slightly. He looks next to him to see his mobile lying just next to a muddy pool.
The young D. S. grunts in frustration,
"Of all the bloody days not to wear a tie."
Healy lets go of his leg and strips off his jacket and double knots it around his upper leg.
Healy finishes tying off his jacket and lays on his side.
"Bollocks!" he curses.
His heart is pounding in his chest so loud it almost echoes throughout the plains. Getting a hold of himself, Healy curses himself "Slow your breathing, slow you heart, to slow the blood flow."
He repeats the first aid advice taught to him years ago… something he never thought would come in handy.
The ringing mobile lies a yard from the injured man and manages to lean towards the device and retrieve it.
He doesn't feel the dirt on his face when he places the dirty electronic next to his ear when he answers but says nothing as he continues to bring his breathing under his control. An agitated voice comes out of the earpiece.
"Aiden?! Are you there?"
Healy almost laughs at his boss's voice "you never use my first name."
"Healy?"
It was only now that Healy realized he spoke out loud, and he's also realizing how much his leg is starting to throb, not just the wound itself, but all the way down to his toes.
"It must be the lack of blood..." the DS says casually… so casually he's actually scaring himself, he should probably sound more proper since he's on the phone with the Inspector…
"Pet, you have to talk to me." Vera's voice pleaded through the mobile's speaker.
The pain and his boss's voice bring him back to reality.
"Ma'am… Sh… she stabbed me..." Healy can hear the panic in his voice and feel his heart starting to beat faster, whether from panic or loss of blood he cannot tell.
There's a commotion happening on the other side of the mobile, multiple voices overlap. Mens and womens.
"Healy?" asks an older, gruff scottish(welsh?) voice, Kenny Lockhart.
"Kenny, where's the boss?"
The DS's head is starting to spin; another symptom he's not sure is coming from the fear or that his blood is still sluggishly spurting out of his leg running over the already soaked trouser leg.
"She's right here, she wanted to drive." Kenny states flatly, leading Aiden to visualize his Boss driving her old beast of a Land Rover with the pedal all the way to the floor, He chuckles.
"Lad are you still at the crime scene on the moors?"
Healy feels the need to answer but a fog is descending on him not just a mental but a physical or what he thought was real at least unable to see through the think cloud and a noise like a swarm of bees starting in his ears a new panic overtakes the DS "oh god"
"Lad what is it, are you still there?" Kenny demands.
Healys words slurring together he manages "I think.. I think I'm g... gonna..." and The young DS never heard the panicked pleas coming out of the mobile.
All he could feel was a chill colder than any winter day he's ever experienced before he attempts to open his eyes but they feel like they're weighing down what seems like minutes. Healy manages to pry his own eyes open enough to see through a blurry vision of the twilight lite plain.
:
Trying to recall what happens he remembers.
The mobile!
Looking around desperately in the low light he finds it sitting on his chest still clutched in his now numb hand.
Without much thought he once again puts the mud caked mobile to his ear again and thickly asks "'allo?"
"lad?" a familiar scottish accent questions followed by the yelling of his boss in the background "Healy if you pass out again I'm gonna whack you upside you bloody head" the worry and panicked her voice.
"mmsorry." healy slurs
"it's alright lad just keep talking where are you? Are you still at the crime scene?" Kenny asks try to coax a response from the DS healy weakly smile the situation seems so dire now he doesn't feel much emotionally or physically just numbness looking up at the evening sky he can see the first stars of the night peaking through.
A throb starts again in his leg interrupting his dreamy state.
"Healy?!" the voice over the phone's mic had been calling him but it didn't register in his increasingly foggy brain "Aiden please stay on the line" his bosses voice pleads with him.
Healy once again starts shivering weakly reaching to wipe his brow he can feel the sweat coating his face knowing from training that shock and blood loss is setting in at an alarming rate and if he just keeps sitting here he might be alive by the time his team finds him.
Healy forces himself to his knees sending fresh waves of pain from his twisted ankle and wounded thigh and another trickle of blood runs dons his pant let it's the only warm feeling the DS can feel still in the mud and reeds he drags the mobile to his ear "I'm gonna go to the car" he mumbles
"No Healy, stay there if you're hurt, don't move, we're almost there!"
Desperation take over logic "if I don't move I'm gonna fall asleep" Healy slurs into the phones mic he using every last outs of willpower he has the young DS stands painfully on his injured legs as they lead with him to stay where he his he makes his way through the broken reeds and tramples ground from which he came to be in this mess.
DS Aiden Healy couldn't be sure how long he stumble along but it felt like an entirety and to complicate matters his vision once again swimmed in and out of focus then he saw a lights.
Healy couldn't decide if they were the proverbial lights at the end of the tunnel of the other kind the one all biblical references he every read were about the end of life lights people talked about seeing.
Logic and hope reappeared in the dark of the night as the lights split into two, headlights and the heavy rumble of the land rovers engine Cut through the darkness he was still a ways in the moors but he could still see thru his unstable visions and hear through the ringing in his ears the solid metal door creak and slam shut.
The desperate voices of Kenny and his boss calling him relief flooded him as the the light from a torch hit him and his legs finally gave in next and he was suddenly lying facedown on the muddied ground breathing in the musky wet surface and the dull thumping of boots running reached him.
The feeling of hands grabbing him but through the numbness of his body the hands roll him onto his back gently but their gentleness does nothing to stop the pulse of pain from the bloody wound which causes him to whimper but warm motherly hands on his face bring a feeling of comfort even with the pain.
"come on luv look at me" the voice coaxes female Healy tries and pull away from the gently prodding trying to rouse him edge of sleep was all he wants a deep sleep without the use of pills his sinking thoughts are brushed away as a light tapping on his cheek forces his consciousness to surface his eyes flutter slowly open His bosses voice cuts through the buzzing in his ears "come on son, show me those pretty brown eyes of yours"
barely able to keep his eyes open as his vision takes a moment to bring the faces over him into focus the grizzled face of Kenny Lockhart and worried face of Vera it only starts to register that Kenny is supporting him in a semi sitting position and the boss is cupping his face and tapping his face to wake him up
"Hello lad" a relieved smile appears on her face in the dim torch lit light. Healy weakly tries to talk
"ma'am…" "Mrs. Clough s… she…"
lacking the energy to complete what he's desperate to tell them Kenny interrupts him "we know lad uniform found her wandering down the road." the boss moves the torch from his face to his bloody leg
"Oh what did she do to ya?" Vera asks aloud "give us your tie Kenny." she orders and Kenny removes it and gives to her the jostling forces another moan from the DS
"I'm sorry pet but it has to be done" the boss states as she deftly wraps the ties around the bomber jacket and tightens it cause Healy to sit bolt upright "Jesus Christ!" sobs Aiden, Kenny bear hugs the DS to stop him from interfering with the dressing
"s'all right laddie"
Once she's done with the dressing she stands above him, torch in hand "that'll keep ya till we get to hospital."
Kenny releases him from his grasp and repositioning his hand under Healys arms
"ready lad up ya get" Kenny didn't give Healy a second to prepare for the shift in gravity.
Even in the dark Aiden can see the black spot in his vision and vera could see what little color he had drain away and his legs threaten to go out from under him luckily Kenny hadn't let go then he shifts the Healy's arm over his shoulder and supports the sergeants weight while vera Stanhope takes Healys other arm and while lighting the path back to the Land Rover with the torch.
The few agonizing minutes feels like a lifetime not made anything easier by the low pained grunts from DS Healy who by the time they reach the Land Rover could not support any of his weight.
"To the back Kenny'' Vera instructs and the pair maneuver the man between them there once at the boot of the Rover Vera slips from under Healys arm and grasps the handle on the back door and pries it open "Ma'am!" Kenny calls
alarmed and Vera whips around turning the torch full on the two Aidens leg had finally given out and Kenny had him grasped in his arms while Healy whimpered at the new angle his leg was at Vera manages to get herself in the back of her vehicle shoving aside the various items in the back
"Give'em here Kenny" shifting the younger man to face him Kenny then leans Aiden back to Veras waiting arms at the feeling Healy panics and grabs the the door edge to keep himself from falling "it's alright Pet come here"
Realizing he's not falling Healy tries his best to heave himself over the boots door frame once he's nearly in he catches his ankle on the corner forcing him to hsi in pain "what is it? Vera asks
"My ankle its twisted " healy manages
"oh today just wasn't you day hm Lad?"
Kenny goes to the drivers side and pulls himself in he goes to puts it in gear and heads back
In the rearview mirror he can see his boss holding the DS in her arms she looks up to his eyes in the mirror.
"Drive like your life depends on it Kenny" Locking his eyes back on the road "Yes, ma'am and accelerate the Rover as fast as it can go on the rural winding road.
In the back Vera wraps her arms around Healy he shifts and his eyes flutter open "it so cold…"
Vera Grabs the old and worn wool blanket she keeps for cold mornings drives and tucks it around the boy then gently brushes his hair back from his forehead as his eyes shut and he turns his head into the warms of her hand "Healy don't fall asleep" "I'm tired boss please I just want to sleep"
"I'm sorry Pet but you have to try and stay with me" he moans in protest she presses her hand into the pulse on his neck thats beating rapidly but weak she casts her eyes to the rearview mirror seeing the concerned eyes in his bosses eyes worries Kenny they were running out of time
:
At an thirty minutes driven in a of forty five was minute journey was all thanks to Kenny heavy foot forcing the old Rover to drive like it hasn't driven before the town line if visible along with the ambulance waiting for them at the pulloff Kenny rolls the vehicle to the pull off and into the emergency vehicles flood lights.
"Over in the back" calls out Kenny deep heavily brough voice making the paramedics jump to their feet faster than most and rush towards the Rover.
Throwing open the door reveals Healy still in his Boss's arms, his eyes fluttering in the torch light and shivering despite the blankets wrapped around him. the medics who with Kennys help ease out the DS who gasps in pain once his leg is moved for the first time since the car started without his permission or choice he's moved and placed on a gurney he winces in the bright light and tried to bring a hand up to block the light but its forced down as a strap his placed across his arms, chest and legs.
With his thoughts jumbled he starts to panic and try harder to bring his restrained arms up a new voice sounds "he's fighting us"
"Healy, Aiden, listen to me they're trying to help you" the strong voice of his boss stills him "Ma'am" weakly "we're going to the hospital alright" she reassures him.
They loaded him into the ambulance Vera looked at Kenny "would you look after the car love?" Kenny nods and adds "it will need Petrol" Vera looks past him "oh good thanks" and she makes her way to the ambulance who shuts its doors and spurs off to the city hospital
:
The ride to hospital by the kilometer an hour was fast but the time in the ambulance seems to have slowed to a crawl while DCI Vera Stanhope looked on to her unconscious DS who lay strapped to a transport bed while the medics attended to the bloodied leg wound and put in an IV to the main vein on the inside of his elbow looking at him as he was he was a deadly shade of pale.
The paramedics chatter escaped her as she watched the young DS for a moment. The medics moved. She reached out and took his still hand. It was cold to the touch, tears welled in her eyes with so many emotions swirling inside when the driver called back that they were nearly at the hospital.
:
Several hours had passed since Vera Stanhope had arrived at the hospital accompanying her Seargent the news told to her was there was no permanent damage he was very weak from blood loss and hypothermia but ironically the cold kept him from bleeding to death and after several treatments of warm saline IVs Healy's color was already better.
She sat uncomfortably in the hospital's guest chair she's pulled next to the bed so she could better watch over Aidan.
It was now the early hours of the morning she'd drained the tea Kenny had given her in a foam cup and tossed it into the trash can and rose to leave when a low moan emitted from the bed where her sergeant lay she looked to find him shifting slightly his eyes closed but still grimacing in pain she gently lay a hand on his own now warm hand and lightly swept back the hair from his forehead
"Ma'am.. where?" he whispered so weakly she barely heard it shushing him and ran her hand down his cheek "your safe now" she whispered to him he quieted and fell back to sleep.
After a moment she stood "your home now lad."
she felt immense pride looking down on Healy, if you'd told her when he took over the position of her Sergeant she'd have another man she'd regard as friend and dare anyone say a son Vera Stanhope would have disagreed, but after everything they've been through he'd won a place in her small circle of close friendships and she'd always look after him.