To Know A Man

Part 5

The sunlight of the early morning dawn penetrated the window of the waiting room. Frannie had fallen asleep, curled up securely in Tom's left arm. Cassy had finally dozed, using Tom's right shoulder as a pillow. The man in the middle closed his eyes, wishing that he could drift away, but his thoughts about Harry wouldn't leave him.

Frannie had held up admirably during the questioning about the evening's events. Her story matched Tom and Cassy's. No one had seen anything. The only thing they had heard, other than the gunshot, was the sound of Harry's shout warning them down.

Ellen and Vic had finished questioning the three by 4:30 and had decided to go back to the crime scene to see if any other clues had been discovered. While both Tom and Cassy wanted to find out first hand what was going on there, neither could leave Frannie. So both had decided that until Harry was out of danger they would stay by the woman's side.

The nurse had updated them on Harry's status right after O'Malley and Gibson had left. He was holding his own in surgery, but it appeared that there had been more internal damage than originally predicted. Since that announcement, nothing more had been revealed.

Tom glanced up at the waiting room clock. It was 6:30. Four agonizingly long hours had passed since the shooting, and nothing more was known now than had been known then. In fact, the only thing they all knew for sure was that an evening, which had started out as a celebration of Harry's birth, had ended in tragedy.

was the only question that kept repeating itself over and over in Tom's mind. Harry hadn't worked in the field for months. That meant the chance of the shooter being someone who was currently being investigated by the department was a remote possibility at best.

Unfortunately, the alternative was that someone from Harry's past was seeking revenge. Harry had been a cop for over thirty years. A police officer could make a lot of enemies during that time. There would be no way to cover every possible suspect.

Tom leaned his head back against the couch. He had the urge to shift his long body to a more comfortable position, but he did not want to wake his partner or his captain's wife. So he tried to ignore the joints which were sending signals of discomfort to his brain. He recalled the details of his latest conversations with Harry, trying to remember anything that might lead to the gunman. But there was nothing. In fact, things had been relatively quiet at the station lately. Granted, crime had not stopped completely in Palm Beach, but it certainly looked like it had been taking a vacation.

"Are you here for Mr. Lipschitz," the voice broke through Tom's thoughts. Opening his eyes he found himself looking into the dark eyes of a stranger in green surgical scrubs. "I'm Dr. Klinger. Are Mr. Lipschitz's family?"

Tom straightened up, his movement waking Cassy and Frannie. "What?. . .Who?" Frannie looked around, disoriented. She then made eye contact with the doctor, "Harry?"

"Are you Mrs. Lipschitz?" The surgeon asked as he pulled up the nearby chair.

Frannie nodded silently. Cassy wiped the sleep from her eyes, stifling a yawn. Tom leaned towards the doctor, "How's Harry?"

"Mr. Lipschitz is in Recovery. We'll be moving him to ICU in an hour."

"But how's my Harry?" Frannie asked again, insistently.

The doctor reached out a hand and took Frannie's in his, "He came through the surgery like a real trooper. There was quite a bit of damage in his chest from the bullet's pathway."

"He's going to be okay?" Frannie asked hopefully.

The doctor took a deep breath, "He's stable."

"Can I see him?" Frannie's eyes pleaded.

"Not right now, I'm sorry. But when we move him to ICU, I'll let you visit him for a short time."

Tom looked at the doctor, his eyes narrowing suspiciously, "What aren't you telling us?"

The doctor gave him a grim smile, which caused Frannie to grab desperately for Tom's hand. "Your husband suffered quite a bit of damage. We decided to repair what we could and close him up. We didn't want to risk him destabilizing in surgery. His body is just too weak to take that kind of shock."

"Meaning?" Cassy pressed.

"Meaning that we have left the bullet in him."

"What?" the three gasped, almost in unison.

"We want him to have a chance to recover from the first surgery before going back in. We intend to try to get the bullet out tomorrow."

Frannie's face paled. She tried fighting the tears, but lost the battle. Wet streams ran down her cheeks. She buried her face into Tom's chest and the younger man wrapped his arm around her bringing her into a hug.

"I know this is a scary thing for you, Mrs. Lipschitz. But we felt it was best for your husband to wait."

"What about infection. . .or if the bullet moves?" Cassy asked, not trying to hide her worry.

"Well, we have him on high levels of antibiotics to fight any infection and we are keeping him sedated to prevent his movement," the doctor answered, trying to keep his words factual. "If all goes as planned, we'll operate tomorrow morning and the bullet will be out by lunch time."

"And if all doesn't go well?" Tom whispered the question.

The doctor was silent for a moment. Frannie lifted her head when she didn't hear an immediate response, "I won't lie to you, Mrs. Lipschitz. Your husband was seriously injured. Now we are doing the best we can to pull him through this, but there is a chance that something could go wrong."

"He could die. . ." Frannie completed, her words drifting off.

The doctor closed his eyes for a beat then looked at the woman, "Yes. He could die."

Frannie buried her face in Tom's chest once again. The young detective pulled her close and could feel her tears soaking his shirt. She lifted her head and looked at the doctor, "Please, can I see my husband."

"In a little bit," the doctor answered.

"No. . .now." Frannie insisted. "You don't understand. Hes. . .Harry and I have been together our entire adult lives. He needs me. I need him. Please don't keep us apart now." The tears fell down her cheeks.

The doctor looked into the woman's red eyes, looked down at his hands and then nodded. "It breaks every rule of Recovery, but okay. I'll take you to him."

Frannie's face turned from despair to hope in a matter of seconds. "Thank you." She rose quickly to her feet and reached a hand out to the doctor. "Thank you very much."

Dr. Klinger nodded and escorted the woman from the room. Before leaving the doorway, Frannie turned back to Tom and Cassy, "I'll be back here in a little bit. Harry needs me now."

Cassy smiled slightly and nodded to the woman, watching her walk away. Tom, however, did not react. Cassy tilted her head and placed a gentle hand on Tom's arm, "You okay?"

There was no response from her partner. She moved in front of him and looked up into his face, "You okay. . ." Her quick intake of breath took her by surprise as she found she was looking into Tom's red-rimmed eyes.

"Tom?" Cassy asked, bringing a hand to her ex-husband's face.

"I'm okay, Cass." He raised his hand to take hers in his. "I just can't believe that this is happening to Harry and Frannie."

Cassy pulled him back to the couch and sat heavily on the center cushion, dragging him down to her left side. "I know what you mean. But we're going to find out who did this to him. There have to be some clues out there as to who did it."

"Well, if there are any, we haven't found them." Vic Gibson and Ellen O'Malley stood in the doorway of the waiting room. Vic's lower voice continued, "We've checked every inch of the crime scene, but nothing has popped up."

"How's Captain Lipschitz?" Ellen asked, taking a chair across from Tom. Her partner sat next to her on the other side of a small table.

"He just got out of surgery. They said that there was extensive damage to his chest. They didn't remove the bullet because he was too weak. They're going to try to take it out tomorrow," Cassy answered.

Ellen shook her head, "Damn it. I was hoping that he would be conscious so that we could talk to him about the shooting. . .maybe he could give us a lead."

Vic continued his partner's thought, directing his question at Tom and Cassy. "Do you think he saw something that might help us?"

Tom shrugged his shoulders, "Don't know. He might have. He definitely knew there was a gunman out there before the shot was fired."

"How?" Vic pressed.

Tom shook his head, "I don't know. Could have seen the shooter, I guess."

Cassy perked up beside him, "Or could have seen the gun. . .or a laser sight."

"Aimed at him?" Vic frowned.

Ellen completed his thought, pointing at Tom and Cassy "Or at one of them."

Tom's face matched Vic's frown, "What are you saying?"

Ellen leaned forward, "Maybe the captain wasn't the target. Maybe the bullet was meant for one of you."

End Part 5