Part 32
The supply cart slowly rumbled down the ICU hallway until its driver paused to rearrange the contents. Dr. Morris' voice drifted into the corridor as he paused at the door of the ICU room to give the nurse inside some final instructions. The figure standing by the cart glowered at the doctor's final words. "Yes, I know she's very concerned. I'm planning on speaking with Sergeant St. John right now."
Minutes later, an alarm sounded in another room and the nurse who had been tending to Tom Ryan scurried out of his room to investigate. The cart driver gleefully smiled and quietly slipped unnoticed into the injured detective's room.
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Cassy placed her nearly empty coffee cup on the table in front of her and checked her watch. It had been nearly twenty-four hours since Tom had been brought up to the ICU. Dr. Morris had dismissed her from her partner's room nearly twenty minutes ago and she was worried. The nurse assured her it was just a routine exam, but refused to discuss the persistent fever that was still plaguing Tom--or the fact that they had been forced to sedate him a second time to prevent him from fighting the respirator. "The doctor will speak with you when he's through with his examination. I'm sure he will be happy to address any concerns you might have at that time," she insisted. Her tone was polite, but clearly patronizing; Cassy was not at all pleased.
She stood and carefully stretched before slowly circling the perimeter of the deserted waiting room once again. Though the bruises from Stein's attack had nearly faded, some of the soreness in her stomach muscles lingered. Cassy paused to once more shuffle through the stack of magazines on a table in the corner and again found nothing to her liking. "Damn! I hate this waiting!" she protested as she slammed them back down.
"I'm quite certain that the families and friends of most all our patients feel exactly the same way." Cassy started at the sound of the doctor's voice and turned to find him standing in the doorway. "Come to think of it, the patients aren't usually too thrilled about it either," he added with a crooked grin.
The detective couldn't suppress a slight chuckle. "No, I don't imagine that they would be." Cassy quickly pulled her gaze away from the doctor's and moved toward the chair where she had left her coffee cup. 'God, he looks so much like Tom when he smiles like that.' She noted that Dr. Morris was a good three inches shorter than her partner and his hair was an almost white shade of blonde, but that crooked boyish grin was a dead ringer for her ex-husband's. Slightly shaken, she sank into the chair.
"Are you all right, Sergeant?" The concern in his voice served as yet another reminder of her injured partner.
After quickly pulling herself together, Cassy nodded and raised her eyes to meet the doctor's. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. Now why don't you tell me about my partner?"
The doctor's expression turned serious and Cassy's stomach lurched as she noted the solemn look. "He's stable. We removed the pulma-vac, but he's still on the respirator and I anticipate him being on that for another 24 hours." Dr. Morris paused to allow Cassy to digest the information and form her questions.
"What exactly is a pulma-vac? It is good news that he's off of it?" she queried as much as stated.
"The pulma-vac drains fluid from the lung, and yes, it's good that he's off of it." The doctor gave her another crooked smile and again Cassy had to look away.
"What if he keeps trying to fight the respirator? Is it safe to keep sedating him like that? And what about his fever? It doesn't seem like it's going down at all." She recovered enough to look him in the eye as he answered.
The doctor shifted uncomfortably before speaking. "Yes, we will have to continue to sedate him if he keeps fighting it. Obviously, we'd prefer not to, but there should be no problems from the drugs we are using." Cassy waited for his answer to her question about his fever, but Dr. Morris remained silent.
"What about the infection? You didn't answer my question about his fever," she accused.
The surgeon took a deep breath before answering her. " The antibiotic we started when he was brought in isn't working to our satisfaction. I've ordered a blood test to help us determine the exact nature of the infection." Again, Dr. Morris fell silent.
Cassy quickly tired of his seeming unwillingness to discuss the subject. "You mean it isn't working. Period," she corrected.
Dr. Morris sighed. "What's happening with your partner is not at all uncommon. The antibiotic initially kept the fever from rising, but it didn't bring it down as expected. The latest reading was up nearly half a degree, so we're running a test to help us find a more effective one. Please don't read too much into this," he cautioned. "We'll have the results in a couple of days and, in the meantime, we'll do our best to keep his fever down."
Cassy pushed him for more. "So you're saying that you aren't concerned about this?"
Dr. Morris shook his head. "It would be more accurate to say I'm not overly alarmed by it. I have to be concerned about any development that might lead to a setback; I wouldn't be doing my job if I weren't." He reached for her hand and gave her another reassuring smile. When Cassy again turned her head away, the doctor pulled his hand back and apologized. "I'm sorry, Sergeant. I seem to be making you uncomfortable and I assure you, that was not my intention."
Cassy turned back to face him. "No, please don't apologize. It's not you; it's me. I'm just tired and worried about my partner." She forced a smile and continued. "I'm the one who should apologize to you. I haven't even thanked you for taking such excellent care of Tom." Cassy extended her hand to the doctor and smiled, genuinely this time. When Dr. Morris took her hand and returned the smile, Cassy forced herself not to look away.
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The oppressive heat was again the first thing that Tom noticed when awareness returned. As the strange noises of the medical machinery registered in his brain, his heart rate quickened. Buzzing noises soon joined the hum and hiss of the machines, but his mind was too fuzzy to discern what was causing any of the sounds. After a momentary struggle, he finally managed to open one eye; the other remained firmly swollen shut. Colors swirled and ran together before finally settling into fuzzy blotches. The injured detective tried in vain to turn his head to get a better view of his surroundings as one of the blobs of color began to move. Tom tried unsuccessfully to bring his hand up and rub his eyes to clear his vision.
He blinked several times and then kept his eye closed momentarily before slowly reopening it. The blotches of color now had more distinct shapes, though they were still fuzzy. As Tom attempted to speak, he became aware of the tube in his mouth and fought to keep from panicking. The moving blob of color came closer and he felt a hand gently skim the side of his face. The buzzing noises finally registered in his brain to be a voice, attempting to gently calm and soothe him. "Don't be frightened, Tommy. You're in the hospital and they're going to make you well again. I promise they will."
Panic blossomed into full-blown terror as Tom's vision cleared enough to reveal the figure standing over him. At the same instant, recognition of the voice's owner dawned and Tom's mind screamed for his limbs to move, to no avail. The hand persisted in caressing his cheek as the alarm on the respirator sounded loudly, nearly drowning out the voice that continued to croon in his ear. "No, Tommy, please don't fight it. You need to let the respirator breathe for you for now. Please don't be frightened of it. You'll only need it for a little while longer. They'll take it away soon, I promise. Shhh, now. You have to quit fighting so the alarm will stop."
Terror continued its reign and was quickly joined by the feeling of total helplessness as Tom's desperate attempts to struggle failed, the drugs forcing him to remain totally motionless. He tried again unsuccessfully to speak as the hand moved from his cheek to stroke his shoulder and upper arm. The moaning sound that resulted served to encourage the intruder to continue his one-sided conversation.
"I know they won't like my being here, but I just had to see how you were doing for myself. As soon as you're well, we can go away together. Just like I promised. I told you I always keep my promises. I have everything ready for you...for us to..." Doctor Leonard's voice broke off suddenly at the sound of movement in the hall.
The doctor's voice was urgent as he spoke again. "I have to go now, my sweet Tommy. Don't worry, though. I won't be far away. I'll be waiting patiently for you to get well. Just do what the doctors tell you and you'll be out of here in no time at all." With that, the man leaned over to gently kiss the paralyzed patient farewell. Tears slipped down the injured detective's cheeks as the scene brought back memories of his captivity. "Please, Tommy. Don't cry. I promise I won't leave you for long, but I have to go now. If they catch me here, they won't understand. Not like you do. Good bye for now, my love."
As he leaned over for one final kiss, the nurse's voice sounded in the doorway. "What the hell is going on here, orderly? You have no authorization to be in this patient's room!" As the man straightened and started toward her, the nurse recognized him from the photo that the police had posted at the nurses' station and screamed in terror. Roughly shoving her aside, he bolted from the room and down the corridor.
As Dr. Leonard rounded the corner where the bank of elevators was located, he heard the unmistakable ping of the doors opening. Without pausing, he rushed the couple disembarking and knocked the woman to the ground. The doctor turned to face the stunned pair as he punched the button for the lobby. The doors slid shut to the sound of the man's voice yelling, "Stop, Leonard! You won't make it out of this hospital." The doctor just grinned as the elevator descended.
Back on the third floor, Harry Lipschitz turned to his wife, who lay sprawled on the floor. "Oh, God, Frannie! Are you all right?"
To Part 33