Cop Hunch

Part 7

Within a half-hour from Cassy's call, Erin had arrived at the hospital. Her hair was disheveled and it was obvious from her red, swollen eyes that she had been crying. When she walked into the waiting room, she looked around and saw a pretty blonde woman and an older man sitting in the corner. She recognized the woman as Cassy. Tom had several pictures of the two of them in his apartment. She presumed that the man next to her was Tom's captain. Erin was shocked to see Cassy covered in blood. She had never seen that much blood on any one before. Feeling sick to her stomach, she realized it was Tom's blood.

Cassy saw Erin immediately, and even though she had never met her before, knew that she was the woman Tom was falling in love with. "Erin?"

Harry's attention was directed at the new arrival. He and Cassy rose to greet her.

"Hi, you must be Cassy." The two women shook hands. Cassy placed her hand on Harry's arm. "This is Captain Harry Lipschitz." Harry shook Erin's hand. He had a fatherly look and Erin immediately understood why Tom had said he liked the man.

"How's Tom? Has the doctor been in to talk to you yet?"

As if on cue, a man in surgical scrubs came into the waiting room. Harry, Cassy and Erin all turned at his arrival. Before any could speak, the doctor beat them to the punch. "I'm Dr. Miller. You are all here for Mr. Ryan?"

The three nodded in unison. "Mr. Ryan is hanging in there. He lost a lot of blood in transit, but we have his blood pressure stabilized now. He has a partially collapsed right lung and a broken scapula and two cracked ribs. We're getting ready to take him into surgery to repair the lung and shoulder."

"He's going to be alright, though." Cassy stated, not wanting to hear any differently.

"He's doing well under the circumstances. But there is a danger. His body has been through a lot, we can only hope that he continues to hold his own." The doctor shrugged, "We're going to do our best to pull him through, I can promise you that."

"It wasn't the response Cassy wanted to hear. She wanted so much to hear that Tom would be fine…that the surgery was just standard procedure. Instead, she heard the doubt in the doctor's voice. Tom could still die.

Harry, on the other hand, smiled at the doctor. "Thank you for everything that you're doing for Tom." Harry reached forward to shake the doctor's hand.

"You're welcome." The doctor walked off and then paused, turning back to the group, "the surgery could take awhile, probably four hours. We'll have to go into the shoulder and chest." Dr. Miller looked at his watch, it was almost midnight. "You may want to go home and come back early in the morning."

"No, Doc," Harry said with a smile, "we're staying right here until Tom's out of surgery. None of us would be able to sleep until we knew that he was okay."

The doctor smiled back and nodded, "I understand," he paused for a moment before exiting the room, then shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, mumbling to himself, "I don't even know why I bother telling people to go home…they never do…might as well be talking to myself."

Dr. Miller's departure from the Waiting Room announced Frannie's arrival. Frannie, with packages in her arms, went directly to her husband. Harry could see that Frannie was scared. He took the sacks from Frannie, handing them to Cassy. He held his wife close, whispering words of comfort. Cassy peaked into the sacks and saw a pair of sweats and tennis shoes. "Are these for me, Frannie?"

"Oh yes, honey. Harry said you needed a change of clothing." Frannie looked at Cassy's appearance for the first time, saw the dark brown color of dried blood spread across her sweatshirt and jeans. Frannie's face turned white. "Oh my…" Frannie's voice choked for a moment, "Is that all from Tom?" Cassy nodded and Harry held his wife again. Frannie could no longer hold back her tears. She sobbed into his shoulder.

Cassy left Erin and the grieving couple to find the restroom. Standing in front of the lavatory, she looked into the mirror. Her eyes were red from the tears she was fighting. Her ruined shirt had Tom's blood covering the entire front. The jeans, similarly ruined, had blood stains down the thighs and the knees. She stripped herself of the clothing. The blood stains had soaked through to her skin. She decided upon a quick sponge bath. As she was drying herself off, her mind went back to the night's events. Anger welled up in her. She hated not knowing why Tom was shot. She was furious at him for even being out there in the first place. Tom knew better than to pursue a suspect by himself. Hell, he just gave me that lecture two weeks ago. How could he have forgotten so soon. Wasn't he listening to what he was telling me. Cassy slipped on the sweats and tennis shoes. She dried her face and returned to the waiting room.

When she walked in, she found Harry and Frannie sitting near the coffee pot, talking. Erin, sat quietly in the opposite corner, staring out the window into the night. Cassy had never had an opportunity to meet Erin. She only knew what Tom had told her. She approached the attractive brunette. "I wanted to thank you for helping me find Tom tonight." Cassy sat in the chair next to Erin. "If you hadn't found that map we wouldn't have rescued Tom in time."

Her gaze did not leave the window. "I can't believe this is happening. Just a few hours ago, Tom and I were…" Erin's voice trailed off. "What happened to him?"

"We're not really sure. We're still trying to piece together the events. All we know is that after he left Johnson's house he went out to the construction site. The woman who we think killed Derrick Johnson must have shot him…twice. She also killed Carol Johnson."

Erin had a look of surprise on her face. "Tom said that he thought Carol Johnson was involved in her husband's disappearance. Was he wrong?"

"We really don't know. Harry has a couple of detectives interrogating Pamela Harper now. Maybe she'll tell us what happened. Otherwise, we'll just have to wait until Tom can tell us himself." Erin didn't respond. "Hey, I've known Tom for a long time. He's definitely a fighter and stubborn. He won't lose this battle. He'll be okay…you'll see."

"Stubborn, huh. Guess I haven't seen that side of him yet," Erin smiled.

"When that Scottish-Irish blood gets going he can be stubborn as a mule." Cassy paused, memories of the past rushing back. "I remember one time after we were married, he wanted to…" Cassy stopped, realizing that stories of Tom and Cassy's married life were probably not of interest to Erin. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bore you with old memories."

Erin, still smiling at Cassy, patted her on the arm. "It's okay. Tom has told me all about you two."

"He has?" Cassy was suddenly uncomfortable. "And you're still talking to me?"

Erin chuckled. "I'd bet that you would be surprised about what he said."

"I can imagine it wasn't flattering…" Cassy was suddenly having trouble making eye contact with Erin.

"Not all of it, but overall I know he still cares a lot about you."

"What did he…no, never mind. We've been through so much together that I'm not sure it matters what happened when we were married, or what he thought about our divorce. Besides, I wouldn't want Tom to be upset with you for divulging his secrets." The smile returned to Cassy's face.

In the time she had spent with Tom, Erin had found it evident that Tom and Cassy had a communication problem when it came to talking about their relationship. Tom had told Erin about the marriage a couple of weeks before, after he and Cassy had been in a heated argument. They had been following a suspect for eight hours. The suspect had spotted them, fired upon the team and then decided to make a run for it, leading them on a chase through several abandoned buildings. Cassy had wanted to separate and told Tom (actually Tom had said that she "ordered" him) to take a route that would lead to the back of the buildings, so that they could trap the suspect between them. Tom refused, knowing that separating would only increase the chance of one of them being shot. The suspect obviously knew the layout of the buildings better than the detectives, he was armed and there was no back-up. The shooter could pick off either or both of them with relative ease. He refused to leave her. The suspect had escaped and hadn't been seen since. Cassy was furious with Tom for not trying to cut off the suspect's escape. Tom knew that leaving Cassy would be dangerous and against procedure. That didn't matter to her. The suspect was gone and so was their case.

When Erin had heard about the dispute, she immediately pieced together the real problem between the pair. Tom was mad because Cassy had tried to tell him what to do…Cassy was mad because Tom didn't follow her directions. Erin had also known that their past relationship probably had more to do with the argument than anything else. The two definitely needed some help in the communication area when it came to dealing with their failed marriage.

Erin decided that Cassy needed to hear what Tom thought about their marriage…about their divorce. Maybe with that knowledge, Cassy would be willing to let go of her feelings and the partners could make some progress. Of course, Erin had also realized that she was probably psychoanalyzing herself out of a wonderful relationship with Tom. But she knew that she had to take that chance. She loved Tom too much to allow these things to be kept silent.

"He said that you were a wonderful person. That a part of him would always be in love with you. That you are his best friend and always will be." Erin paused for a moment, wanting to put her thoughts in order and observe Cassy's reaction. At the mention of the word "love," Erin saw Cassy flinch slightly. "He said that after the divorce he was very bitter. He was mad at you for leaving him and being able to walk away so easily…mad at himself because he hadn't tried hard enough to keep you…that he had lost his best friend…and that he was afraid that you didn't care as much about him as he did you. He said that he had nightmares about the marriage ending…about losing you forever." Erin looked at Cassy again. She was staring straight ahead. Erin was sure that part of her words were hurting Cassy, but they were words she needed to hear. "He said that every time he saw you after the divorce all the anger would come back. But the best thing that happened to him was to be able to be your partner again, because it allowed him to release the anger. He was able to see you as his best friend again, not as his ex-wife."

Cassy sat quietly. She looked at Harry and Frannie, sitting against the opposite wall. Frannie was leaning against Harry's chest, his arm around her shoulders. They were whispering to each other. That's what being married and in love is all about. Being able to totally rely on the other…being able to let go of your emotions without any fear that they will be used against you. Cassy had never been able to do that. If there was one thing she had learned from living with her mother it was to stay in control of her emotions, her love, her life. No matter how much she thought she had loved Tom, she had never been able to let go of the control…to rely completely upon him. Every time she tried to lose herself in Tom, she heard her mother's voice in the dark recesses of her mind, You can't trust men, Cassy. They say they love you, but they lie. They don't know how. They're only after one thing. When they get it, they're gone. Even though Cassy knew that Tom wanted to love her, there was always a part of her that would hold back, that wouldn't surrender to his love. Pushing Tom away and seeing the pain in his eyes had caused such guilt in Cassy that it was easier to leave him and escape the guilt, than to stay and deal with the conflicting emotions she felt.

She wiped unshed tears from her eyes and turned to Erin. "Thank you. Tom won't tell me these things himself. He doesn't want to say anything that might hurt my feelings or make me feel guilty. Sometimes, it's like he's trying to tip-toe around me. It's funny…we could always argue until we were blue in the face about a case, but we could never discuss our emotions…at least not honestly. I was always hiding mine and he was saying only the things that he thought I wanted to hear." Cassy looked into Erin's eyes. "You know, you're pretty insightful. How'd you get so good at this?"

"I've had a lot of practice. When you're my age and single, you get to date a lot of divorced men." Both chuckled. "You get a lot of experience diagnosing their problems after awhile."

Erin put an arm around Cassy. At long last, Cassy let go of her fear for Tom and broke down crying on Erin's shoulder.

During the night, officers from the precinct had stopped by the hospital to be updated on Tom's condition. Unfortunately, there was no news. Dr. Miller was still operating. Harry was periodically updated on the interrogation of Pamela Harper. The Assistant District Attorney had been called in and a deal had been struck. If Pamela Harper gave a full confession as to her involvement in the deaths of Derrick and Carol Johnson and the shooting of Thomas Ryan, the D.A.'s office wouldn't press for the death penalty. Taking her attorney's advice, she had decided it was in her best interest to give a full confession. The officer relaying the message to Harry said he would have to read the statement himself…it was too unbelievable to try to repeat over the phone.

At 4:15 in the morning, Dr. Miller, still wearing his surgical scrubs, entered the waiting room to find four people dozing. He smiled to himself…"And they said they wouldn't be able to sleep until the patient was out of surgery…"

Harry heard the movement of the doctor and woke first. His motion woke Frannie. Dr. Miller sat down next to the couple. Cassy and Erin, now awake, joined the three.

"Thought you would all like to know that Mr. Ryan is out of surgery. Everything is looking real good. He's still in critical condition, but stable."

"Thank God," Frannie voiced, echoing all their thoughts.

"He's going to be pretty sore for awhile. It's going to take a few weeks before he's 100%, but there is no reason to not expect a full recovery."

"When can we see him?" Erin asked.

"He's in Recovery right now. We'll be moving him to ICU for monitoring over the next 12 hours. When the nurses get him settled you'll be able to see him. ICU is on the fourth floor. If you want to go the Waiting Room up there, the nurses will come and get you when we have him transferred." The doctor stood. "If everything goes as well as the surgery, he should be in a private room by this evening."

"Thank you for everything you've done, Dr. Miller," Cassy finally found her voice.

"My pleasure. I'm just grateful things went as well as they did." The doctor started to leave, then paused a moment, a twinkle in his eye, "Makes me look good when I have cooperative patients like Mr. Ryan." He chuckled and left the room.

Harry turned to his wife, Cassy and Erin. The four ended up in a group hug, giving thanks for Tom's condition.

When they separated, Harry turned to Cassy. "I'm going down to the station to see what the interrogation of Ms. Harper revealed."

"I want to be here when Tom wakes up," Cassy requested. "I need to talk to him about what happened…and about some other things." Erin smiled, knowing what Cassy was referring to.

Her boss agreed it was a good idea. He, too, was curious about what had possessed Tom to take on a killer at the construction site, without back-up. To be sure, when Tom was back on his feet again, Harry would have him riding a desk and doing paperwork for a month. He gave Frannie a kiss and Cassy a hug. Nodding to Erin, he left the Waiting Room to return to the police station.

The three women moved to the fourth floor Waiting Room to await news of when they could see Tom. Within thirty minutes, a nurse entered the room and advised them they could visit Tom, but only for a few minutes.

They followed the nurse to a small glass cubicle in ICU. Cassy had been a visitor to the hospital enough times to know what to expect. She wasn't shocked to see Tom hooked to several machines monitoring his heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels. IV drips had been inserted into the back of his left hand. Drainage bags had been attached to the shoulder and chest wounds. She looked at the pale and lifeless face of her partner. Despite hearing the steady beep of the heart monitor, she couldn't help but approach his side and place a hand on the side of his face to ensure he was still alive. The warmth of his skin comforted her, even though there was no response from him to her touch. Erin stood behind Cassy, laying a hand on Tom's left arm. Frannie stood at the foot of the bed. No one spoke for a long while.

Finally, Erin broke the silence. "He looks bad. I didn't expect all of this equipment."

"I know what you mean." Frannie said from behind. "It makes him look helpless."

"He's alive…that’s all that counts right now." Cassy's hand continued to caress her partner's face, smoothing his hair.

A nurse entered the room from behind them. "Mr. Ryan will be asleep for awhile, probably until mid-morning. He's doing fine right now. Why don't you all go home and get some sleep. Come back later. You'll feel better after getting some rest."

"I just want to be here when he wakes up," Cassy insisted.

"I promise you, he won't be waking up for a few hours. When he does wake up he is going to need all of your support. You can only give him that support after you have given yourself proper rest," the nurse admonished.

Frannie, using her best "motherly" voice, said "She's right, Honey. We all need to get some sleep. Tom will be fine. I'll take you home."

Frannie's voice broke through and Cassy relented. She leaned over Tom's prone body and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She whispered in his ear, "You take care of yourself while I'm gone. When I get back, we're going to have a long talk…I love you."

Erin, hearing Cassy's words, smiled to herself. Cassy squeezed past her and left the room. Erin moved to Tom and leaned over, similarly giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Hope you're not mad at me for talking to Cassy…" she chuckled slightly, "but you should have known that I couldn't sit back and not say anything. Love you." She headed for the door, stealing a parting glance at her lover's still form before she left.