Vendetta
Part 4
As promised, Tom had been moved to a private room within an hour, a guard placed at his door. Cassy now sat at her partner's side, watching him sleep. Thankfully, he was not on life support equipment. She'd seen that too many times. No, this time the room was quiet, with only the hushed sound of her partner's breathing.
She reached out and placed a hand on his chest, feeling it rise with each of his breaths. The steady rhythm of his heart created a warm self-assurance that Tom was going to be okay. The doctor had told her that, but she had yet to feel it. The energy pulsing from his chest to her hand did more to provide that comfort than any doctor's prognosis.
"Jeremy's here. He's with his father," she whispered, sure that Tom couldn't hear her, but wanting to communicate with him just the same.
"He's scared. . .and confused. He doesn't understand what's happened." Cassy paused as her hand slid from her partner's chest to his hand. "I don't understand what happened, either."
She held his hand, gently massaging it, "You did it to me again." Her stroking of his palm was slow and methodical, "You scared the shit out of me."
His eyes remained closed, his breathing still steady, "You told me that you were going to stay home and watch the game this weekend. I'm pretty sure you never mentioned going out and getting yourself shot. I think I would have remembered that." She laid his hand down and brought her hand to his face, "When Harry called me and told me you had been hurt in a shoot out, I. . ." her voice broke, "I knew that this time. . ." she stopped, looking at his gentle, sleeping face and wiped away the unshed tears that had gathered in her eyes. "Never mind. I don't want to think about that anymore." She took a deep breath and moved her hand back to his chest, "You're here. . .you're fine." But Fred's not, she thought to herself. And Jeremy's not, she added.
Cassy left word with the ICCU staff that Jeremy should come to her partner's room as soon as he was done visiting his father. She was concerned about the kid. He was by himself and had no one to lean on. She didn't know a lot about his family life; only what Tom had told her. It was clear that Tom was one of the few people, other than his father that he had in his life.
Cassy remembered back to when Tom had met Jeremy over three years ago. Fred had been involved in a counterfeit check scam. Tom had worked the case during a brief stint in the fraud unit, after he and Cassy were married.
Jeremy was a senior in high school with no future. Tom had seen him playing football with kids from the neighborhood on a back lot and determined immediately that the kid was a natural at the game. With guidance, Tom was able to steer Jeremy in the right direction and to a scholarship at Florida State. Of course, this resulted in the separation of father and son, as Fred came to the erroneous determination that involvement in his son's life would be a detriment to his future. Fred would not answer the letters Jeremy sent to him in prison. He wouldn't return the phone calls. He refused the visits. No matter how hard Tom worked to convince Fred to change his mind, the father refused to allow his son to be close.
Jeremy maintained a 'stiff upper lip' during this time, knowing that what his father did was done out of love. Tom was always amazed that Jeremy never seemed to blame Tom for having taken his father away from him, both emotionally and physically.
Tom spent a lot of time worrying about Jeremy's future. He knew the kid was hurting and so he became a big brother to Jeremy, watching him play in scrimmages, attending the occasional FSU game when he had the chance. But Tom wasn't Fred, and Fred was the person Jeremy really needed.
Cassy looked back down at her partner, "What happened, Tom," she whispered again, frustrated by her lack of knowledge about the circumstances which had resulted in her partner and Jeremy's father being hospitalized.
Harry's head was pounding. He took off his glasses and squinted at the ballistics report. It said that Fred and Tom were shot with two different guns. On top of that, one of the unknown D.B.s was shot with Tom's gun, the other by the same gun that shot Fred. Frankly, Harry couldn't make heads or tails of the whole deal. He had no choice but to await word from Cassy that Tom was awake. Only then would he have the complete story. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, praying that rest would alleviate the pain in his head.
The phone rang, startling Harry. He sat up quickly and grabbed the handset on the second ring, "Lipschitz."
"Captain, it's Cassy. Tom's waking up. The doctor's in with him now, but I think I'm going to be able to talk with him in a little bit."
Harry glanced at his watch, "I'll be down there in 15 minutes. Wait for me. After reading this ballistics report, I want to hear this story for myself."
As promised, Harry joined Cassy in the hospital waiting room fifteen minutes later. "Cassy, is the doctor finished with him yet?"
"She came out a little while ago. Said that he was in some pain, but that everything looked good. She was going to give him some painkillers. They are going to make him pretty drowsy, so if we want to talk to him we'd better do it quick." Cassy stood from her position on the couch and headed to the door. "So what did Ballistics say?"
Harry followed her down the hallway to Tom's room, "Fred and Tom were shot with two different guns. However, the gun used to shoot Fred was the same one used to kill one of the DB's. Tom's gun was used on the other."
"At least he got a shot in," Cassy muttered, somewhat vindictively.
The door to Tom's room was cracked open and Cassy gently pushed it wider to find Dr. Powers standing by Tom's side. "Is it okay if we come in?" Cassy whispered to the doctor. She smiled and motioned them in, "Come on in. He's awake, but we just gave him something to help him sleep. He'll probably be able to stay with you for about, oh," she glanced at her watch, "twenty minutes at best." She turned back to her patient, "Sgt. Ryan, you have some company."
With a smile, she closed the file and exited the room, leaving Cassy and Harry to deal with Tom. He looked exhausted, the signs of pain etched in his face. He weakly lifted his hand and gave a half wave.
Cassy smiled, discovering for the first time since arriving at the hospital that her tension had left her body. "Hey there, Partner. Decided to play dodge the bullet, again, huh. When are you going to learn that you're no good at that game?" She approached the bedside and grabbed his hand lovingly. Harry followed behind, a similar look of relief on his face.
Tom nodded sheepishly, "Would you. . ." his voice was rough, the words strained, "would you believe me. . .if I said it wasn’t. . .my fault?"
"We've heard that one before," Harry said from behind Cassy.
"How bad is it?" Cassy asked, stroking Tom's hand slowly.
Tom shrugged, "Not too bad. Could've been worse from what the doctor says." His face turned suddenly serious, "Dr. Powers says that Fred is bad; that they don't think he's going to make it."
Cassy shook her head, "Jeremy's been with him ICCU since this afternoon. He refuses to leave his side."
"I want to see him. . .I need to talk to him. . .tell him what happened," Tom spoke in between grimaces as he attempted to shift his position on the hospital bed. Cassy reached down to assist him, maneuvering him carefully.
"So what did happened?" Harry asked, wanting to get the explanation as soon as possible.
Tom closed his eyes, trying to put in order the events of that afternoon. He took a deep breath, gathering his strength, "Fred called me. Wanted me to come to the shop. He found cocaine in the gas tank of the Jaguar. He didn't know what else to do when he found it, so he called me. I called Narcotics. A few minutes later, these four guys showed up, took the cocaine and. . ." he paused, taking another centering breath, "and the shot Fred."
"And you, evidently," Harry completed. Tom nodded.
Before Tom could continue, the door to his room opened and Dr. Powers walked in, face drawn with worry. Tom took one look at her face and knew what she was about to say; the words were in her eyes. She started to open her mouth, but he found his voice first, "Fred's dead, isn't he." The doctor was silent for a moment and then nodded.
Tom dropped his head back onto the pillow and closed his eyes. "Damn it," he muttered.
To Part 5