Chapter 29
Elliot had taken Scott to get fresh air outside while Olivia was talking with Detective Klass in the veterinary office waiting room. The woman was a mess and understandably so. Betty was still in surgery and she had lost a lot of blood. The FDNY had gotten Betty to the vet as quickly as possible but given Betty's old war wounds, there was concern that her scarring could cause trouble.
"I was supposed to be taking care of Betty. I made a promise to Jared," Klass said through her tears.
"Hey, Betty was doing her job. She saw a weapon and protected you and everyone else in that room. On the way over here, I radioed for a patrol car to pick up Carol and bring her here. You need family here and Carol shouldn't hear about this from the news," Olivia told her. Klass shook her head. She hadn't wanted to put Carol through that but the Captain was right. The worst thing would be Carol not hearing about everything from her directly.
"Dylan is dead, isn't he?" Klass asked.
"We're still sorting out how but yes, he didn't make it," Olivia told her.
"What is that going to do to the case? Caitlin isn't going to go free, is she?" Klass wanted to know.
"Hey, you don't worry about that. Let me worry about that. You worry about Betty," Olivia said. That's when Elliot and Scott came back into the waiting room with Carol. The older woman rushed over as Klass stood up and the two hugged. Elliot and Olivia backed away so they could talk.
"So how bad is it?" Olivia asked him in a low tone.
"Scott said that the paramedics did all they could to stop the bleeding, but they don't work on animals normally. The paramedics told him that Betty was awake the whole time and looking at Detective Klass the whole way. The dog has no fear," Elliot whispered to her.
"Serving in a war zone will do that," Olivia figured.
"Betty knew her job was done but she didn't just quit," he confirmed.
"How long has it been since the surgery started?" She asked.
"Longer than anyone would like – almost two hours now," Elliot said. Olivia heaved a sigh. That wasn't helping her with the thoughts going through her head. She hoped there would be good news soon.
"I need your side of the story Detective Rollins. Why were you here since you're on maternity leave?" Captain Curry asked. The two were still inside Detective Klass' apartment.
"I'm here because I wanted to be here. A colleague was in danger from a rapist who she put in prison a long time ago. Her neighbor was assaulted and now can't have children because this guy was more worried about protecting himself than actually being a good human being. He stabbed her dog after he picked the lock on her front door. I can see no reason why I shouldn't be here. My maternity leave only has one week left on it," Rollins wasn't going to let her Captain take any sort of fall for this.
"Did your Captain ask you to be here?" Curry gave her a look.
"No," Rollins said.
"Did Detective Klass ask you to be here?" Curry wanted to know.
"No, but she was grateful to have me here," Rollins said.
"You realize that if your bullet killed Dylan, you could be in serious trouble. You're on leave and you used your weapon. The alarm app was installed on your phone," Curry was staring her down, but Rollins refused to budge.
"He broke into the apartment of a decorated NYPD officer, stabbed her NYPD dog, and you're going to worry about whether I shot him, or Bruno shot him?" The blonde gave her a look.
"Look, I'm not going to argue that our intruder was violating many laws, but you made yourself part of an active operation while on leave," Curry said.
"I had my physical three days ago. I was cleared to come back to work – the only reason I hadn't is because my son deserves to have me for the full amount of time the NYPD allows. I called to let my Captain know I had been physically cleared and she brought me up to speed on the case. I showed up at TARU and told them I was helping out. That's it," Rollins told her. The truth of the matter was, Curry had no wish to jam the blonde up, but she had to make sure that it was all on the up and up.
"You better hope that the bullet that killed Dylan was Bruno's. In the meantime, I suggest you go home to your family. I'll be in touch," the Captain told her. Rollins nodded and exited the apartment. Her phone alerted her to a new message and she quickly pulled it out of her pocket. After she read it, she heaved a sigh and then went back inside the apartment.
"Betty is out of surgery but it's going to be a long night of waiting and seeing," she said.
"Then we'll all hope for a brighter morning," Curry said.
To Be Continued…