The scene when they arrived was utter chaos.
Cell service on the way up had been spotty at best, especially once they'd passed Saratoga Springs, so there had been no word since Lenin had gotten the text giving them the exact address and the name of the guy who lived there. Jamie knew that it was likely just due to the poor reception, but a part of his mind couldn't help wondering if it had anything to do with this friend of Lenin's wanting to give them the bad news in person. What could he say, he wasn't much of an optimist these days.
After about twenty minutes bumping down a barely maintained access road through dense woods, they finally saw signs of life. There were two police cars blocking the road ahead, with a clearing just beyond that. And on the edge of the clearing, where Jamie could see people buzzing in and around it, was the cabin that Bello had mentioned. Maybe there had been some truth to his words after all, given the fact that there was a lot more activity going on than there would be if they hadn't found anything.
Jamie also noticed that the state police weren't the only members of law enforcement there. He could see several local police as well, mainly keeping a perimeter, although there were some sheriff's deputies speaking with what looked like CSU techs further in. Beyond the cars blocking the road, there were several vans, one of which proclaimed to be Crime Scene, while the other one read Medical Examiner.
He felt his heart drop to his feet. They wouldn't have an ME out here if there wasn't a body. Which meant that he had been kindling that little flame of hope for the past six hours for nothing. Just to snuff it out once again.
Lenin seemed to notice the vans at the same time he did and follow Jamie's thoughts. He did his best to dissuade him. "Hey, don't go down that road, Reagan. They could just be here as a precaution. Greg always did tend to err on the side of being overprepared."
Jamie swallowed and said nothing as they came to a stop in front of the cars blocking the rest of the road. He knew Lenin was trying to be positive for his sake, but as far as he was concerned, someone needed to be realistic. And Bello had never actually said Eddie was alive, the more he thought about it. Implied it, sure. But he had only said she was alive when he last saw her a year ago. Anything could've happened since then.
They climbed out of the car, drawing the attention of two local cops standing near the vehicles blocking the way forward. Both looked confused by their presence, which was fair enough, given how remote their current location was.
"Sorry fellas, road's closed. Police business."
Lenin pulled his badge out of his pocket as they approached. "Detective Lenin and Sergeant Reagan with the NYPD."
The one who had just spoken gave them a doubtful glance. "A little out of your jurisdiction, all the way up here, aren't you?"
Lenin placed his badge back in his pocket while Jamie remained silent, watching the activity behind the two other men in the clearing. "Actually, not as much as you would think. It was our info that tipped the State Police off to this place right here. Ask Captain Wolfe, he's expecting us."
Another doubtful look as one of the men stepped away, talking into his radio. His partner was giving them the once over, still looking skeptical while they waited.
Eventually, the other man came back. "Sorry, can't let you through. Captain Wolfe left a while ago to follow up on something, isn't back yet. He left a couple of people behind so he'd stay in the loop, we're looking for them now to see if they know anything about this. Until then, you two have to wait here."
Jamie couldn't decide if this was a blessing in disguise or more torture. If she really was gone and it was keeping him from seeing her remains, maybe it was a good thing. But, on the tiniest chance that wasn't the case, he wanted to know. He couldn't stay in this limbo any longer.
Fortunately, they weren't waiting long. Not five minutes later, a woman was coming around the corner of the cabin, making a beeline for them. She wore a jacket that indicated she was State Police, so at least that was something. She looked tired, like she was already done with the day.
She came to a stop between the two local LEOs who they had initially run into. "You two Lenin and Reagan from the NYPD?"
Lenin nodded. "That would be us. I don't know if he would have mentioned anything, but Captain Wolfe- "
She cut Lenin off before he could finish his sentence. "Yes, yes, the captain left me in charge. Lieutenant Mathews. He told me to be expecting you. Said he tried to call, but it kept going straight to voicemail."
Lenin grimaced. "Yeah, reception was in and out once we got past Saratoga Springs."
Mathews shrugged. "It's been known to happen." She jerked her head at the two local guys who were still standing there. "I've got this, you two give us a minute, okay?" It sounded less like a request and more like an order.
The two men nodded and headed away down the tree line towards the other side of the clearing.
Once they were a decent distance away, Mathews turned back to Jamie and Lenin. "Sorry about that. We called in local support once Captain Wolfe and the rest of the team got a potential location on the perp. He had me stay behind since he figured you two would come here first."
Lenin frowned. "Do you know if they have him in custody?"
Mathews shook her head. "Haven't heard anything back yet, so as far as I'm aware my orders are the same as when they left. And they start with the fact that you two aren't staying here." She started trying to shoo them back towards the car.
That snapped Jamie out of it. He had waited so long, come all this way, to find out what had happened to Eddie. He wasn't about to leave without getting his answers. "Wait."
Mathews frowned. "What?"
He fixed his gaze on the house and the flurry of activity going on around it. "What exactly did you find in there? Is the medical examiner here for her?"
The woman's gaze softened. "Oh. You're her husband, I take it. No, the ME isn't here for her body, although I can see why you'd think that. The cadaver dogs alerted to something on the north side of the house. We just uncovered the body a little bit ago, but I assure you, it's not your wife."
Jamie turned his look onto her. "How do you know that? She could be so badly decomposed by now that you wouldn't be able to ID her just by looking at it. It's been a year."
Mathews shook her head. "For starters, the ME's preliminary guess is that the remains we found belongs to an older woman, at least sixty, if not more. And secondly, I know with absolute certainty that it isn't your wife because I watched her walk out of that building and into an ambulance."
As soon as the words left her mouth, it felt like everything froze for Jamie. What Lieutenant Mathews had just said sounded like Eddie was alive. Alive.
Fortunately, Lenin picked up where Jamie had left off gaping. "Where is Officer Janko then? Obviously not here."
Mathews rolled her eyes. "No, she isn't, she's at the nearest hospital in Malone, about ten minutes away. The captain tried calling you to redirect you there, but like I said, he couldn't get through. That's where I'm trying to take you two. We just need to take your vehicle."
The world snapped back into motion and Jamie tore his gaze away from Mathews, his mind only focused on one thing. Getting to Eddie. Seeing her, holding her, letting her know that it was okay. That he was never going to let her go ever again, he would do everything in his power to make sure that happened. He started walking back towards the car without a word, practically sprinting.
Jamie heard Mathews behind him. "There we go, now you got the idea. Let's get going, detective. I'll update you on the way."
The drive to the hospital seemed to take forever to Jamie. On the way, Lieutenant Mathews explained a little of what they had found upon arriving, although Jamie only heard half of it, his mind focused only on getting to Eddie.
She explained that they hadn't found the guy who lived in the cabin, so they had been conducting a more thorough sweep of the scene when the cadaver dogs had alerted outside, and they had located a root cellar inside. Mathews said she had been the first one to go down, not expecting to find anything, and had been surprised when her eyes adjusted to the dim light and she found Eddie staring back at her, holding a broken bottle in front of her like a weapon to defend herself.
"It took us almost forty minutes to convince her to put the bottle down and understand we weren't there to hurt her. But she walked out of that place under her own power. After the captain couldn't get a hold of you, he instructed me to wait for the two of you to arrive, then you and I- "she nodded at Jamie, "would go to the hospital and Detective Lenin here was to meet him at the local jail, where he'll bring you more up to speed than I can."
Lenin nodded, his eyes focused on the road. "That sounds good, but why's he having you stay at the hospital?"
"Security," came the reply.
Jamie had been only half listening, but as he saw the sign for town approaching, he spoke. "How was she when you found her?"
He sensed the wave of pity that came from where Mathews was sitting in the backseat and knew that it was going to be bad. "It wasn't good. I'll spare you all the details, but let's just say that with the amount of blood on her, I'm a bit surprised she was able to walk out of there under her own power."
Jamie let that sink in. He knew that Eddie would almost certainly not be the same person she had been before, but this, this sounded like it was something much worse. He didn't even want to try to imagine what the bastard had done to her. For now, all that mattered was seeing her.
They pulled up to the small local hospital, right in front of the emergency department doors. Jamie clambered out of the car in a rush, not saying a word to Lenin or Mathews as he practically tripped over his own feet in an effort to get inside faster. He faintly heard Lenin call out to keep him updated, but it barely registered. All that mattered was seeing Eddie, getting to her.
As soon as he was through the doors, he located the reception desk and rushed towards it. Fortunately, they weren't all that busy and the only person there was the receptionist.
Jamie heard the doors slide open again behind him but ignored it. "I'm looking for my wife, Eddie Janko? She was just brought here a little while ago?"
The receptionist searched something up on her computer before giving him an odd look. "I'm sorry, it doesn't appear that we have anyone here under that name."
Jamie's head spun. How could she not be here? This was where Mathews had said she had been sent. "Are you sure? She would've just come in an hour or so ago. They said she was covered in blood. Please, I need to see her."
The woman gave him a concerned look. "I'm sorry sir, but I don't have anyone under that name listed in our records."
This couldn't be happening, Jamie couldn't lose her, not again. Not when he'd only just gotten her back.
Mathews must have followed him in, because she stepped forward beside him at the counter, flashing her badge. "Lieutenant Mathews, State Police. We sent her here in a bus an hour ago, they told us this was where they were taking her. Are you saying she isn't here?"
The receptionist shook her head. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I don't know what to tell you. I don't have anyone listed under that name here at the hospital."
Jamie was on the verge of losing it, something that Mathews seemed to pick up on. She tried another route. "Okay, well did you receive a Jane Doe into the ER within the last hour and a half? Back looked like it was covered in blood? I spent over forty minutes talking her out of that place, she better damn well be here."
The woman glanced between them. "Let me have one of the nurses working back there come talk to you. If she was a direct admit as a Jane Doe, it would've bypassed me entirely. They could've just not updated the system yet, if that was the case."
The receptionist stood up, heading through the doors back to the treatment area. Jamie placed his head in his hands on the counter, fighting back panic. He hadn't even considered the fact that they might've listed her as a Jane Doe. But not knowing if she was even here, now that he knew she was alive, was killing him.
Mathews placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump. "Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm certain they would've brought her here. And if not, I'm going to personally skin those paramedics. But while we wait for her to come back with someone who might know some more, do you have a picture with Eddie?"
Jamie nodded mutely. He was a little curious why Mathews wanted to know, but that was low on his totem pole of problems right now.
"Good. Pull one up on your phone. It's obviously not going to be an exact match to what she looks like now, but if we can show them a picture of her, it might help if they brought her in as a Jane Doe. I doubt they have a lot of admits given the area and population, especially Jane Does, but it's worth a shot. HIPAA laws can also be tricky, so if they can verify you are who you say you are if she can't for whatever reason, that would also help."
Jamie nodded and pulled out his phone from his pocket. He flipped through the pictures until he found one of them from a few months before Eddie had disappeared. She had insisted that they take a selfie in Washington Park for some reason, but it had turned out surprisingly well.
The doors behind the desk swung open, causing Jamie to look up. The receptionist was back, this time accompanied by a woman wearing green scrubs.
The woman in scrubs glanced between Jamie and Mathews as the receptionist sat back down. "I'm Teri, the charge nurse. Are you two the ones asking about a Jane Doe?"
Jamie nodded, as did Mathews. She spoke. "Yes, I was the officer on scene when she was recovered, and I was told that they were bringing her here. This is her husband, Jamie Reagan." She nudged him. "He's got a picture of her pulled up on his phone if that might help."
The nurse gave a nod and Jamie held out the image. She studied it for a few seconds before taking a step back and looking at Mathews. "What was the name of the ambulance service that you sent in?"
Mathews gave Jamie a look of reassurance. "Patient Care Transport. The medic that I spoke with was Shania."
The charge nurse nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Alright, just wanted to confirm. We did receive a Jane Doe who somewhat resembles the woman you're looking for. The medics that brought her in did say that you would be following up, but I needed to confirm. Come with me."
She stepped through the doors back to their patient care area, Jamie right on her heels. The nurse led them past a couple of drawn curtains, but overall, the ER appeared to be fairly empty. She stopped at the curtain drawn around the last bed at the end.
Jamie was practically vibrating with tension. The nurse pulled back the curtain and ushered him in, Mathews indicating she would wait outside.
Eddie was lying on her front, asleep. She'd lost weight, obviously, and had deep bags under her eyes, but Jamie was more concerned about the scars he could see peeking out from underneath the hospital gown. They must have cleaned her up a bit when she first got here, as she didn't look as bad as Mathews had led him to fear, so at least that was something. She was alive, that was all that mattered. Eddie was alive.
Jamie sank to his knees so that he could be face-level with her, reaching out and slowly brushing a strand of hair out of her face, tracing the outline of her forehead with his thumb. He could feel tears running down his own cheeks, but that was insignificant as far as he was concerned. All that mattered was Eddie.
The nurse that had brought them back spoke after a few seconds. "We had to sedate her after she got in. The paramedics said she was okay for the most part on the way here, but once she arrived and we started trying to examine her, she became agitated and was lashing out at staff. Understandable, given the extent of her injuries, but we couldn't help her if she wouldn't let us touch her, so we had to sedate her to prevent her from harming herself or the staff."
Jamie nodded, his eyes fixed on Eddie's sleeping face. "How bad are her injuries?"
The nurse hesitated, as if debating how she wanted to tell him. "Her back is the worst of them. There's old and new scar tissue there, as if someone was just constantly cutting it with something sharp. Some of the wounds appear to be infected, so she'll likely need surgery to go in and clean it out. I can't imagine the pain they cause her just by moving around. Some of them are quite deep."
Jamie gave another nod, rubbing his thumb along Eddie's hairline. She gave no response, although he thought he saw her move into the motion just a bit.
"Her left wrist also appears to have been broken recently, although we can't be certain about the timing. There's a variety of other cuts and scars that appear to be somewhat older and I've got a SANE on the way. I imagine the psychological wounds run much deeper; we just haven't been able to evaluate them yet due to her agitation and the need to sedate her."
Jamie frowned as he processed what she had just said. "What's a SANE?"
A sigh came. "Sexual assault nurse examiner. There was evidence of sexual assault when she came in and she mentioned something along those lines at first. She did agree to see one before she got more agitated, and we had to sedate her."
Jamie felt like he was going to be sick. He stared at Eddie's peaceful face, unable to imagine the kinds of horrors she must have gone through, all because of a few rotten apples.
The nurse spoke again from where she was now checking the IV lines that Eddie was connected to. "We're a small hospital, critical access if you will. We don't have the kinds of specialists or services that she's going to need, especially to debride the wounds on her back. The SANE will be here in a little bit, but the rest of her injuries we can mostly just stabilize until she can be transferred to a hospital with more resources. I imagine she would want to be somewhere close to home?"
Jamie nodded and when he spoke, his voice came out hoarse and raspy. "Yeah. We're from the city. If you could see if she can go somewhere around there, that'd be great."
The nurse nodded and spoke again, the tone of her voice gentle. "Just so you know, we might need to keep her sedated for the time that she's up here, especially if we try to wean her down and she's still agitated. But I'll let the doc know where to put out the transfer requests to and we'll update her chart."
She picked up a plastic bag from the corner of the room. "This is what she had on when she arrived. Told EMS that it was evidence, so we should make sure to give it to the police. Only your wife and I have touched it since she arrived, and that was only so I could put it in this bag. Do you want the officer outside to take it?"
Jamie nodded once again. "Yeah. I think that would be best. They're running things right now."
The nurse gave him a sad smile. "I'll do that now then. Just so you're aware, when the SANE arrives, I'm going to have to ask that you step out of the room while she conducts the exam. Until then though, you can stay here with her." She pulled the curtain back and disappeared back outside.
Jamie stayed crouched by Eddie's head, where he had been since coming inside, and just studied her face. He still couldn't believe that she was alive, even though the possibility had been floating around his mind ever since Bello had implied it earlier this morning.
God. It had only been this morning that they had received the information that had led them to her. For once, Jamie was thankful for Bello's willingness to save his own skin. It had given him his Eddie back, even though it was only physically. They would learn to live with the rest of it, but she was here, alive, and that was all that mattered right now.
He'd missed her, God had he missed her. Jamie hadn't even realized how much it had been hurting until now, until he had seen her gorgeous face again. How gray his life had become without Eddie in it. And he knew that it wouldn't be the same when she woke up, knew that it would be a long road to recovery, but that didn't matter. He would gladly help her every step of the way if it meant that Eddie would get to be herself again.
There was a knock on the wall and Jamie ripped his eyes away from Eddie's face just enough to see who it was. He didn't recognize the woman standing at the edge of the curtain, but she gave him a kind smile and asked if he would step out for a little bit, introducing herself as the SANE.
Jamie gave her a brief nod, pressing a soft kiss to Eddie's forehead before doing as instructed.
Outside, Mathews was waiting for him. She gave him a knowing look. "The nurse gave me a brief update, said that they're looking at transferring her to a hospital that's better equipped down in the city. I assume you're going to go with her when they find a bed?"
Jamie ran his hand through his hair, eyes locked on the curtain that was currently hiding Eddie from sight. "Yeah, if they let me. I don't know what the rules are for sure, but since I rode up with Lenin, I don't have a way back if they don't."
Mathews nodded and followed his gaze. "Why don't you give him a call, let him know what's going on? That way he at least knows, and he can give you an update on what they know so far, as I'd imagine he's found Captain Wolfe by now."
Jamie let out a sigh of agreement. "I suppose. Will you get me if she finishes or if they have an update?"
"Of course."
Jamie nodded and headed out the doors to the waiting area to call Lenin. He wanted to stay where Eddie was in his sight, where he would be able to hear if she woke up, but he knew that it would be better to make the call out in the waiting room. There were still a few other patients in the ER.
He pulled his phone out and dialed Lenin. It rang a few times before picking up.
"Lenin."
Jamie swallowed. "Hey, uh, it's Jamie Reagan."
He heard the other man pause whatever he was doing on the other end of the line. "Reagan! How're things going there? How's Eddie?"
Jamie looked out the window. "They had to sedate her when she got here apparently, said she was getting really agitated and wouldn't let the staff near her. Almost hit one of them, so they had to sedate her before she hurt herself or anyone else. She's still out right now, but they had her as a Jane Doe."
Lenin let out a sigh from the other end of the line. "Unfortunately, that's not surprising based on what Captain Wolfe told me about their retrieval of her. He said she was real jumpy, especially when there were three of them down there at first. Mathews called Wolfe with an update on her condition, but she said the nurse was giving you a more complete overview. Anything important?"
"Uh, kinda. They said that some of her injuries are too severe for them to do a good job treating, so they're looking to transfer her down to the city as soon as they can find a place to take her. I'm hoping to go with her if they'll let me."
Jamie got the distinct impression that Lenin was nodding on the other end of the line. "I think that's a great idea for both of you. Especially if they try to wean her off sedation, it might be good if you were there."
Jamie blinked, remembering something he had been meaning to ask when he called Lenin. "Mathews said on the way here that her boss and the rest of her team were hunting down the guy that did this to Eddie. Did they find him?"
Lenin hesitated on the other end of the line before responding. "Yeah. They got him. He was at work; Wolfe and his team arrested him without much problem. They've got him in a cell here at the local sheriff's office for now. I'm going to go in with Wolfe to talk to him soon, but the bosses are still sorting out jurisdiction, so they're holding us back right now."
Jamie frowned. "The bosses?"
"Yeah, well, the ones at the State Police. I still haven't technically reported everything up the chain of command yet. Figured I'd wait until we knew what was going on with Eddie before I did so. But it's sounding like they might take Ivers and allow us to use evidence from the scene for additional charges on Bello and Murphey as accomplices."
Jamie nodded. "That sounds decent. When were you going to notify 1PP?"
Lenin paused again. "Technically, like I said, I should've yesterday as soon as we worked out that deal. But it's not like we have a pressing time frame for it. I was thinking once they have the transfer for her to the city arranged, I'd call it in."
Jamie sighed. "That sounds fair enough. Thank you, Lenin. For everything."
"Don't mention it. You just focus on your girl, and I'll talk to you later." Lenin hung up with a click.
Jamie shoved his phone back in his pocket and walked back towards where Eddie was. As he approached, Mathews shook her head, indicating that the SANE hadn't come out yet, so he stopped outside and stood next to where she was seated on a stool.
They sat in silence for a little while before Mathews spoke. "I could tell she was a fighter as soon as I got down there. Your wife. I mean, she had to be scared out of her mind, she was convinced that we were sent by the guys that took her to kill her, but she wasn't going to go down without a fight. Even though we could've easily done so if we wanted to. She just had this broken glass bottle as a weapon, and we had guns. It wouldn't have been a fair fight, but she swore as soon as we got her talking that she wasn't going to go down easy again."
Jamie gave a sad smile as he studied the tile floor beneath his feet. "That sounds like Eddie. Always a fighter. I've had to talk her out of more situations than I can remember where she was ready to go in guns blazing without thinking of the consequences."
Mathews let out a soft laugh. "That sounds about right, from what I saw. But it took me a lot longer than it should've for me to realize that there was more going on down there than just her not wanting to go down without a fight. She was protecting this baby. I didn't even notice it until we'd talked her down and she went to retrieve it instead of making for the exit."
Jamie frowned. A baby? Where would Eddie have gotten a baby? He knew that there was no way it could've been their baby, he was almost certain she would've lost that one with what happened in the warehouse. Maybe it was one that this Ivers guy had kidnapped or something.
Mathews continued, ignoring Jamie's silence. "The kid was real sick, which I think is why I finally got her to agree to drop the bottle and leave. I told her we could get her medical help and that seemed to be what sealed the deal for her. Makes sense too, because I talked to that nurse to see how the baby was doing and she said that when they took it away from your wife, that was what set her off and was why they eventually had to sedate her. Of course, it couldn't be helped, the kid was struggling to breathe, but I think it was more of an unwillingness to trust strangers."
Jamie bobbed his head a little bit. "Yeah, that sounds like Eddie. She's like an overprotective mama bear, as my brother once said."
Mathews smiled. "Well, that would make sense I suppose. They had to intubate the baby for a little bit just because they were so concerned about the airway, the nurse said, but otherwise they're running a DNA test at the moment to see if it was reported as a missing child somewhere and is in the system."
That was good, although if Eddie had responded so viscerally to the medical staff trying to help the kid, Jamie wondered what would happen when the parents came to be reunited. She had almost certainly bonded with it, so being forced to let it go would kill her.
The curtain rattled open a little bit and the woman from earlier stepped out. She tugged it closed behind her and gave Jamie another kind smile. "I'm all done, you're free to go back in with her. I pulled a chair up to the bedside, so you aren't kneeling on the ground."
Jamie gave her a faint smile of thanks and stood up to go back inside. Mathews remained seated.
"Go ahead. I'm here on guard duty, I'll let you know if anything critical comes up."
He nodded and ducked back inside.
Eddie was still unconscious, lying on her stomach. True to her word, the nurse that had just left had pulled a hospital chair up to the side of her bed where Jamie had been crouched previously. He took a seat and gently picked up her hand, making sure not to disturb any of the medical tubing that was connected to it.
Jamie pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles, faintly noticing the fading bruises on them. If he got five minutes alone with this Ivers guy, he'd make him regret the day he'd been born.
He studied Eddie's face, which looked somewhat peaceful and relaxed from the sedatives, and gently tucked her hair behind her ear, as it had fallen forward into her face again. "It's going to be okay, Ed. You're the strongest person I've ever known. If anyone can get through this, it's you, and I'll do whatever you need me to to make sure that it happens."
Sid Gormley let out a groan as his phone rang yet again. There had been issues up and down the department all day and apparently, they all required his intervention. Unfortunately, most were relatively minor things and could've been dealt with before reaching his office, but that was the way things went sometimes.
He picked up the phone from the receiver, praying that this wasn't another petty call. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to take much more. "Lieutenant Gormley."
The voice on the other end of the line was a little staticky, but he could still hear it pretty well. "Lieutenant, this is Detective Eric Lenin out of the two-nine. I was calling about a case I'm working."
Gormley rolled his eyes. Of course. "All due respect detective, but that sounds like something that I think you would be reporting to your sergeant, or the Chief of Ds if it was major. What warrants a call to me?"
There was more static, but the voice didn't cut out. "Sir, I'm calling because we've made a major breakthrough in the case regarding Officer Janko from last year."
Oh. Gormley sat up straight and started rummaging around his desk for a piece of scratch paper and a pen. That was definitely something he was probably going to need to tell the boss about later. "What've you found?"
He managed to find an old schedule that Baker had given him and a pen that still had ink as Lenin started talking. "The DA's Office made a deal with Ryan Bello yesterday. He said he'd give us Janko's location, among other things, if we agreed to make his protective custody mandatory. He was scheduled to go into general population Friday morning and knew he wouldn't last long. We met with him this morning and he spoke with Sergeant Reagan."
Gormley paused from his scribbling. "He spoke to Jamie Reagan?"
"Yes, it was part of the deal. Sergeant Reagan agreed to it before it was included, just so we're clear. He gave us a location up near Saint Regis Falls, about a six hour drive or so upstate. Reagan and I headed up here immediately after speaking to Bello. Since we were so far away, I had a buddy who runs a SWAT team with the State Police head to the location as well, since he was based out of Albany, which is a bit closer."
Great, so that meant he was probably going to be dealing with them in this now too. Another problem he could deal with later. "Okay, did you or this friend of yours with the State Police find anything?"
"Yes sir. They've successfully recovered Officer Janko."
Gormley froze from where he had been jotting notes down. "What do you mean, recovered? Like, found a body, or what?"
"Lieutenant, Eddie Janko is alive."
Gormley almost snapped the pen in half in shock. If you had asked him how the Janko case was going to turn out at any point in the last year, her being alive was not an answer he would've given. Ever. It wasn't even something he would've considered.
Lenin continued when Gormley didn't say anything. "She's being transferred to a hospital down there right now. They had to sedate her at the local hospital to protect her and the staff, but she's headed down now with Sergeant Reagan. They left about two hours ago in a bus, and it sounds like Janko's going straight to surgery when she arrives. State Police arrested the man who was holding her this morning at his job after they recovered her, a Tyler Ivers."
He paused. "I know I should've reported this up the chain of command as soon as things started last night, but I didn't think it was right to do that when we didn't really know what we were looking at. It could've all been a bust. That's on me."
Gormley let out a snort. "You think?! We're going to have a chat about that later. For now, I've got bigger fish to fry. What hospital are they sending her to?"
"Uptown. She's on strict confidentiality status, so if the Commissioner wants to go, it might be best to contact Jamie Reagan to see how to go about doing so," Lenin said.
Gormley scribbled down the name of the hospital. "What's her status? I mean it obviously can't be good if she's being sent to surgery, but if they didn't fly her down it can't be too bad either, right?"
The man on the other end of the line paused. "I can't say for sure, sir. I wasn't at the hospital. I dropped Sergeant Reagan off there with a member of the State Police and then went to the local station to speak with the officer in charge and get a better idea of what went down. What I do know is that it sounds like she was beat up pretty bad when they got to her. Took them over forty minutes to convince her they weren't there to kill her and to come out of where she was."
Gormley jotted that tidbit of information down. Good enough, he imagined the boss would prefer to get the information from Jamie anyways. "Alright, I'll reach out to Reagan then. Thanks for getting around to letting us know, detective. We'll be in touch."
There was a sound of affirmation from the other end of the line and Gormley hung up. Well, this certainly shook up what he'd had planned for the remainder of the day.
First things first, he needed to notify his boss. He grabbed the notes he had just scribbled down and headed up to the Commissioner's office. As it always seemed to do when he was in a rush, it felt like the ride up took forever.
The doors dinged open on the fourteenth floor and Gormley stepped out, making a beeline for the Commissioner's doors. As he approached, he remembered that it probably wouldn't be great to just barge in there, so he detoured to Baker's desk just to the right of the doors. She was sitting there working on what looked like some paperwork.
Gormley stopped in front of her desk and gestured at the doors. "Is he available?"
Baker glanced up at him and shook her head. "No, he's not here. He's in a meeting with the mayor, then he'll likely head home for the day."
He internally swore. This was something that was best delivered in person, not over the phone. Maybe he'd get the others' take on it then, since the boss wasn't around. See how they thought he should approach things. "Are you and Garrett free for a bit?"
She gave him an odd look. "Sid, it's almost the end of the workday. Once I finish this up, I was planning on going home. And I don't keep track of Garrett, I just know when he's supposed to be up here. Sometimes he'll pop up randomly, but that's about it."
Gormley scratched at the back of his neck. "Well, do you want to go down to his office with me and see if he's there? I kinda want to run something by you guys before I talk to the boss, since he isn't here."
Baker gave him another confused look, but the expression on his face must have conveyed the seriousness of the situation, because she nodded. "Okay, fine. It must be important this late in the day."
Gormley tilted his head. "You could say that."
Baker stood up and put away the paperwork she had been working on and locked her computer. "Lead the way."
They went down to the thirteenth floor. Fortunately, Garrett was still in his office.
Gormley knocked on his door frame. "You busy?"
Garrett responded without looking up from what he was reading. "It depends on what you need."
Gormley stepped into the office, glancing around as he took a seat in one of the chairs in front of the other man's desk. Baker followed him in, shutting the door behind them before taking the other chair.
Garrett glanced up as Gormley sat down. "Go ahead, make yourself at home." He glanced over at Baker as she shut the door. "Something must be going on for both of you to be here. What is it?"
Baker shrugged her shoulders as he looked at her. "Don't ask me. Sid here was looking for the Commissioner and when I told him he won't be back until tomorrow, said he wanted to run something by the both of us before telling Frank."
Garrett turned his confused gaze over to Gormley and shook his head. "Care to elaborate then?"
Gormley shifted in his chair a bit, uncertain how to open. "Alright, just so we're clear, nothing I'm about to say leaves this room. After this, I guess I'm going to have to tell the boss, but otherwise it's confidential for the time being."
Baker and Garrett both nodded, looking somewhat concerned. Baker was the one who spoke. "Of course. What's this about?"
Gormley glanced between his two counterparts. "I just got a call from a detective about a case he's working that led him upstate."
Garrett raised an eyebrow. "Sorry if I'm wrong, but what about that warrants the secrecy?"
Baker chimed in. "Yeah, and why would he call you about it? That's not really normal procedure."
Gormley spread his hands. "That's what I said at first. But then he told me that he was working Eddie Janko's disappearance, and they found her this morning."
Both Baker and Garrett's expressions turned to shock, much like his own had when he had first received the news. Baker glanced at the two men in the room before locking in on Gormley. "Oh my God. Does Jamie know? How did they even find her?"
Garrett tacked on. "And how bad is it?"
Gormley sighed, figuring it was best to just answer all the questions at once. "Apparently the DA's Office cut a deal with Ryan Bello last night in exchange for him giving them information on her location. Jamie and the lead detective met with him at the prison early this morning to get the info."
Garrett cut in. "Wait a minute, Jamie talked to him?"
He shrugged. "Apparently so. It was a part of the deal, the kid agreed to go do it. Once they had a location, the lead detective and Jamie headed out to it, but it was something like six hours upstate, so Detective Lenin called a buddy of his with the State Police who's based in Albany to go check it out, since he was closer. Apparently once they got to the spot, they found Officer Janko, but it took them over forty minutes to get her out of wherever she was."
Baker looked horrified. "Was it really that bad?"
Gormley nodded. "Apparently so. Once they got her out, they sent her to a local hospital, where she had to be sedated. State SWAT then got a lead and arrested the guy who was holding her, some guy named Tyler Ivers."
Garrett gave him a look. "What do you mean, they sent her to a local hospital? She's dead, isn't she? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's the assumption we've all been working under for that case."
Gormley grimaced. "Well, it would appear that we were mistaken on that front. Janko's alive. She's being transferred to a hospital down here as we speak. Not doing great, but not terrible either was all I got for her status, other than the fact that she thought State Police were there to finish the job for the Templar. Jamie's been with her since he got up there."
The shock on his two counterparts' faces was reminiscent of what he imagined the look on his own face had been when Lenin called him earlier.
Baker finally spoke. "Well, that's one way to bury the lead. I see why you wanted to talk to the boss so bad then."
"Yeah, I kind of figured it was more of an in-person thing, but if he's already gone for the day, I'll have to call him."
Garrett seemed to get over his shock. "You said this is confidential? So, there shouldn't be anyone publishing anything about it?"
Gormley shrugged again. "As far as I know. Sounded like the only people who know right now besides us, Jamie Reagan, and the lead detective are the State Police and maybe local LEOs. Lenin sounded like he was keeping them on a tight leash though."
Garrett looked somewhat relieved. "That's good, at least. Gives us some time to figure out what's going on before the media descends like we all know they will."
Baker had developed a calculating look on her face that made Gormley nervous. "What hospital is she headed to?"
"Uptown. They left about two hours ago, Lenin said, so they probably won't get there until after nine would be my guess. He said Janko's supposed to go straight to surgery as soon as she gets there too, and she's on confidential status, so we'd probably need to contact Jamie if the boss wants to go see her. Hospitals are real jumpy about that."
She nodded. "Fair enough. It would probably be best for the Commissioner to go in the morning anyway. I'll reach out to Jamie, see what needs to be done or if he feels comfortable having him come in. I'll let Frank know when I get an answer and clear his schedule."
Gormley nodded. "That's probably a good move. No telling how the kid is doing right now."
The three of them sat in silence for a few moments before he spoke again. "What time was the boss' meeting with the mayor supposed to get done, Abigail?"
She frowned, trying to remember off the top of her head. "Well, it's just past five now, so I'd imagine they're done by now."
He nodded. No time like the present then. Gormley stood up. "Guess I better give him a call and let him know then."
Baker and Garrett both nodded, giving him faintly encouraging smiles, likely still reeling in shock from his reveal. Baker stood up with him to head back to her desk. "I'll call Jamie when I get back, get everything sorted. Let him know I'll send him the details once I get them figured out.
Gormley gave her a nod of thanks and held the door for her as they both headed out, waving goodbye to Garrett in the process. They parted and went their separate ways at the elevators to get started on their new tasks.
He shut his door as he stepped into his office. Gormley sank down into his chair and stared at the notes he had written down from his call with Lenin, preparing himself for the upcoming conversation. This wasn't going to be easy, but he would gladly be delivering the news that they had found Janko alive over the recovery of her remains.
Gormley shook his head and leaned forward to pick up his phone. Might as well get it over with. He dialed the Commissioner's number and listened to it ring twice before it picked up.
"Commissioner Reagan."
"Hey, Boss, it's Sid. Listen…"
Sorry about the delay, I this chapter was getting too long, so I had to split it up into two halves, then I got sick so I couldn't finish it for a hot minute. I hope you guys enjoy!