Part Four

Tom pulled his Mustang into Cassy's driveway, silently cursing to himself. 'Dammit St. John, what the hell are you trying to pull here?' As he stood at the front door ringing the bell, his irritation grew. "Come on answer the damn door already," he mumbled to no one in particular. After several minutes, his anger changed to concern. Maybe those pills and wine had done more than just make her sleepy. He retrieved the spare key she had hidden and let himself in. Once inside, he punched in the alarm code and went to look for his partner. "Cassy, you in here? Harry's really steamed; he's been trying to call for hours. Cass, you awake yet?" Receiving no response, he proceeded to search the first floor.

By the time he reached the kitchen, he had still found no sign of Cassy. The report lay on the counter exactly where he had left it the night before and the coffee sat brewed in the pot untouched. He called out for her again, "Cassy, it's nearly 10 o'clock. Harry says he's gonna have us both walkin' a beat by lunch if we don't get him the report within the hour." Again there was no response. Tom was beginning to feel that something was very wrong here. His hand on his gun, he made his way to the stairs and cautiously climbed to the second floor. He stood in front of Cassy's bedroom door for a moment trying to detect any sound or movement on the other side. His breath caught in his throat at the sound of the alarm still ringing. Tom reached out and slowly turned the knob. Gently pushing the door open, he cautiously stepped into the room.

His heart jumped into his throat at the sight of his partner, bruised and bloodied, lying bound on the bed. The caring ex-husband in him wanted to rush straight over and make certain she was still breathing. His detective's instincts overpowered the urge and he pulled his weapon from its holster. He proceeded to make certain the room was secure. Finding no one else, Tom ran to the bed to check for a pulse. As the strong and steady beat met his fingers, he felt weak in the knees with relief. He knew he needed to secure the rest of the second floor, and assuring himself that Cassy would be fine for those few more minutes he did so. Finding no sign of anyone else in the house, he reached into his pocket for his cell phone. Hands shaking, he called for an ambulance for Cassy, then dialed Harry's number and explained his partner's absence. He asked Harry to send a team to go over the house.

Tom walked over to the nightstand and noticed the empty wineglass that hadn't been there the night before when he'd helped her to bed. The satin pajamas she had been wearing lay crumpled in a heap on the floor next to the bed. Tom carefully sat next to Cassy to wait for the ambulance. He didn't want her to be alone if she regained consciousness. He carefully removed the handcuffs and blindfold. His voice was a mere whisper as he tried to rouse her by chiding, "Time to wake up now St. John." When he received no response, he thought to himself 'What the hell happened here, Partner? How the hell did somebody get in without setting off the alarm?' He had not noticed any obvious signs of tampering when he'd arrived.

Tom spoke to her again, this time in a louder voice. "Come on Cass, please wake up! You're scaring the shit out of me here." At the sound of sirens pulling up to the house, his voice broke as he spoke to her. "Be right back, Partner. Gotta go let help in. You're gonna be okay now. I'm coming right back, okay?" He took one last look at her before racing down the stairs. He felt the bile rise in his throat.

Harry was the first one through the door, demanding immediate answers from his still-shaken detective. "All right, Ryan. Was she. . .I mean did he. . .I mean. . ." He turned around and without waiting for an answer to his question, he bellowed out the door "Get those paramedics in here pronto! She needs medical attention right now!" He wasn't ready yet to face the answer to the question he'd been unable to ask.

Harry again turned his attention back to Tom. Taking in the pallor of Tom's face, he asked "You gonna be okay? You're lookin' a little green around the gills."

Tom started back to the stairs. "I'm fine. I have to be fine. I gotta get back to Cassy now." Tom's knees came close to giving out several times during the climb back to the second floor. Harry was following close on his heels.

Tom paused briefly at the door to Cassy's bedroom to take a deep breath and gather his courage. Harry narrowly avoided running into him. 'Oh God this must be bad if he can't just walk right into the room. Please just be okay, Cassy. Please.' Harry followed Tom on into the room and paled instantly at the scene before him. "What the hell is that on her stomach?"

"It appears to be some sort of nursery rhyme. It says "'Georgie Georgie kissed the girls and made them cry.' This guy is really sick." Tom felt his stomach churn again at the thought of what Cassy must have gone through.

Harry turned to the team of technicians who had made their way up the stairs with the paramedics. "Hurry up and get those pictures! She needs medical attention now!"

It seemed like hours, but scarcely a minute had passed before pictures were snapped and the paramedics started to work. Tom and Harry stood silently watching as Cassy was placed on the gurney and taken out to the waiting ambulance. She was still not conscious. Harry turned his attention to Tom. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"You gonna tell me what's wrong with you? This is more than just what happened to your partner. You were still sound asleep at 9:30 this morning when a repairman was supposed to be coming. And why did it take you more than 15 rings before you picked up the phone?" Harry wasn't going to be brushed off easily.

"Nothing. I just had a hard time waking up this morning. I missed dinner last night and I only had time for a quick glass of juice this morning. So my stomach's a little queasy, that's all. Period. End of story." He stole a glance at Harry to see if the captain was buying his excuse. He wasn't.

"So what time did you leave here last night?" The captain abruptly changed the subject. "How did someone get in here without setting off that alarm? You sure Cassy set the system when you left?"

Tom sighed and started his explanation of the previous night's events. "Cassy was already in bed when I left. I personally reset the system before I left. It was right around midnight."

Harry's head tilted slightly down and he looked at Tom across the top of his glasses. "And just why was Cassy in bed before you left? Something going on here I should know about?" Accusation sounded in the captain's voice.

"What...Good God Harry! NO! Cassy just...umm...maybe I better start at the beginning."

"Yes, maybe you had better do just that." Harry concurred, still peering out over top of his glasses.

"Okay. Cass was supposed to get dinner at a deli near the dentist's. She forgot and stopped for Chinese instead, which I just had for lunch. I didn't want it again for dinner, so we decided to skip eating and get right to the report. She offered me a glass of wine, and had one herself along with some sort of painkiller from the dentist. She had a couple more glasses while we worked and when we finished the report she needed a little help getting upstairs to bed. When I left her she was pretty out of it, but she was still in her pajamas. That wineglass wasn't in here either. I went downstairs, re-checked the report, and got her coffee ready to go for this morning. I figured she'd need it after mixing pills and wine on an empty stomach. Then I reset the system and left."

Harry turned to a technician. "Bag that glass and the bottle. Send it for testing. Judging by the stains on that pillow, it was probably forced on her so I'd guess that it was spiked." He turned his attention back to Tom. "You said you had a glass of that stuff, too?"

Tom shrugged. "It might not even be the same stuff. And it probably wouldn't have been spiked until he broke in after I left anyway."

Harry wasn't going to let it go. "If he got around the alarm after you left without leaving a trace, he could have done it just as easily before. You felt okay when you left here last night?"

Tom still wasn't giving in. "I was just tired. I got a little drowsy on the way home so I decided not to stop for a bite to eat, and that's all. I put in a lot of hours in the past couple of days you know."

The Captain wasn't going to be put off. "Get yourself down to the hospital for a blood test. I wanna know if this guy was in here before last night or not. Besides you know you wanna get down there to check on your partner."

Tom had to admit he was anxious to get to Cassy. He just wasn't wild about a date with a needle. "All right. I'll go. If you think it will help get this creep, I'll get the damn blood test."

"Good. Let's get out of here and let these guys finish up." Harry motioned for Tom to accompany him downstairs. " By the way, where's that finished report? The DA's gonna be screaming bloody murder if it isn't in his office today. I'll take care of that while you get the blood test. I'll meet you at the hospital. You okay to drive?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Report's on the counter over here," Tom said as they reached the kitchen. He handed Harry the report and reached over to turn off the coffeepot. "Guess I'll see you at the hospital." Tom disappeared out the door and slowly headed to his car.

Harry followed his detective, still concerned. "Ryan, wait. I don't want you driving. Johnson, you take Ryan here over to the hospital," he instructed the nearest uniformed officer.

Tom was about to protest when Harry interrupted. "I'm not gonna let the department get sued if you have an accident on the way over there. If your test shows drugs in your system we won't have a leg to stand on defending ourselves." Tom didn't protest, but shot his captain a murderous glare. He then followed Officer Johnson to a waiting car.

Harry stood for a moment watching the patrol car pull out and head for the hospital. 'Wonder how Cassy's doing by now?' he thought. 'Get this damn report taken care of so you can go find out,' he admonished himself. He turned and headed to his own car, trying to figure out how his best team would be able to overcome this one.

End Part Four

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------