To Part 8
Back to Story Menu
The band took a break, and Kacie sat down next to Peter breathlessly. "Whew!" she commented, fanning herself with her hands. "It's hot out there!" She drank thirstily from her glass of Coke and enthused, "I don't remember the last time I danced like this."
Peter put his arm around the back of her chair and slid it closer. "While you're busy being the belle of the ball, you just remember who you are going home with."
"Not to worry, Pardner," she drawled with an exaggerated Western accent. "It's part of the Code of the West that yuh go home with the one what brung yuh." She gave him a kiss and sipped some more of her soda.
Glancing at Eppy, she saw that the number of straws had risen to eight or nine, and he was starting to look at her with the same glassy eyes that he had a few nights ago at Chandler's. She looked away from him, but was uncomfortably aware of his attentions just the same. She had been around people who had more than enough to drink before, and was always uneasy around their uninhibited, sometimes crude, behavior.
She could still remember all too well the night that she and her brother, Kevin, had ended up at the same party. One of the local college football jocks had been drunk and obnoxious and tried to force himself on her. After Kevin had punched the guy out, he had yelled at her most of the way home for allowing herself to get into such a predicament by being around a 'bunch of drunks' anyway. At the time, she had thought it wise not to bring up the fact that HE had been there, too, mostly because she had been so thankful that he had protected her.
Returning to the present, she realized that the band had started to play again, and also that Epstein had spoken to her. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"I said, hey, Mrs. C., the band is playing our song." He drained his glass and set it down with a thump. "Would you do me the honor of dancin' with me?"
She shrank back and started to demur, "Oh, I don't know. I'm kinda tired. I was thinking of seeing if Peter..."
"Go ahead, Honey," Peter encouraged her. "You've danced with everyone else at the table. If you're tired, we'll go home after you dance with Eppy."
Kacie's first instinct was still to decline, but seeing the hopeful look in Peter's eye, and remembering her promise to try and be a little more cordial to Eppy, she shrugged. "Well. All right then. Just one more dance." She allowed Eppy to take her by the hand and lead her out onto the floor. The band struck up a new beat, and she thought to herself grimly, {Just my luck, a slow dance}.
She found herself being led away from their table to the opposite side of the room, and then being held uncomfortably close by her partner. Eppy's movements were unsteady and awkward His grip around her waist pulled her tighter, and she cringed from touching him any more than she had to. The hand on her waist dropped lower to caress her buttocks, and she immediately shoved it away.
Eppy leaned forward to speak in her ear. "You are such a fox. Petey is one lucky guy to have you around warming the sheets with him at night."
Kacie's face reddened angrily and she fought to free herself. "Let me go. This dance is over. You're drunk!" she hissed furiously. {Stupid, stupid, stupid, to EVER have agreed to dance with this creep!} She twisted in his grip, looking around frantically for Peter.
"I might be," he agreed cheerily, with a wicked glimmer in his eye. "But I still know what I'd like to do with a woman who looks like you." His hands started to roam over her body as he groped at her.
She was fighting him in earnest now, and at last escaped from his grasp, surprised and frightened at how strong he was. Slapping his face, she snapped, "Keep your filthy paws off of me!"
She turned to walk away from him, but he yanked her arm abruptly to pull her back, and savagely smashed her in the face with his fist. She was sent flying through the air into a recently vacated table, causing it and several nearby chairs to overturn with her as she fell and lay motionless.
Several women screamed and the band abruptly stopped playing. Epstein slipped on the litter of spilled drinks and broken glass from the upset table and fell heavily, striking his head hard on the floor.
Peter had been chatting with his father and sipping
his beer when the upheaval broke out on the dance
floor. He automatically got up to investigate, along
with Strenlich, Kermit, and the other officers. As they
moved the dancers out of their way to get to the
source of the disturbance, Peter scanned the crowd
for Kacie and was surprised when he had trouble
locating her.
His head was still on a swivel when it snapped around at Skalany's horrified gasp. "Oh, my God. What happened here?"
He took one look at the scene and felt as though someone had suddenly punched him in the stomach. A table had been overturned, breaking the glasses and bottles that had been sitting there. Kacie lay motionless, sprawled face down in the midst of the wreckage of glass shards and patches of spilled water, booze, and beer. Epstein lay a few feet away, a lump the size of a goose egg rising on the side of his head. Peter roughly shouldered aside the last few spectators in his way and fell to his knees beside his wife, heedless of the glass. "Kacie? Honey? Can you hear me?"
When she didn't respond, he carefully rolled her onto her back and thought for a moment he would vomit at the sight of her blood-covered face. There was a triangular flap of skin gaping above her right eye, and he could see the white of the skull exposed underneath the blood that poured from the opening. A steady stream of blood flowed from her nose. A collective gasp came from a few in the crowd of curious onlookers who pressed in more closely to view the gory sight.
"All right, get back! Get back! This isn't a floor show!" shouted Kermit angrily, and authoritatively gestured away the crowd.
"I'll call an ambulance," Jody offered and quickly went to the phones.
"Did anyone see what happened here?" Skalany inquired, and then went to a couple who beckoned to her.
Peter felt lightheaded as he saw the wound on Kacie's face bleeding profusely. He looked around wildly for something to use to staunch the flow of blood. Seeing nothing, he placed the heel of his hand against the wound, using the flap of skin as a temporary seal. Caine appeared at his side, and Peter begged hoarsely, "Pop, help her!"
The bartender vaulted over the counter top with some clean towels in his hand. He gave them to Caine, who deftly folded one towel and commanded, "Peter, remove your hand." The priest placed the towel over the cut, and the blood immediately saturated it. He added the second towel while continuing to apply steady pressure.
Peter took in everything from somewhere outside himself -- seeing, yet not focusing, hearing, but not comprehending -- as he stared at the bright red that stained his trembling hands.
Skalany reported to Kermit, "This couple over here said that Kacie and Eppy were dancing and that he started getting a little 'handy' and she fought him off and slapped him. Then he grabbed her and popped her in the face. When she fell, the table went with her, and she must have landed on a piece of the broken glass."
The words finally registered in Peter's numbed brain, and he stared up at Skalany. "They-they said that Eppy? Hit Kacie?" He switched his gaze to the fallen man, who was beginning to show signs of rousing. "Eppy...hit...Kacie?" He had no idea how his countenance was transforming from white-faced shock to uncontrollable rage. "HE...did this to her?"
With a roar, he threw himself in the direction of Epstein, and it took the combined efforts of Kermit, Blake, and Strenlich to pull him off. "Peter! Settle down!" Kermit yelled in his ear as he struggled. "He's passed out drunk. The witnesses said he lost his balance and fell down as soon as he took the swing. He hit his head when he landed."
Peter lunged at Epstein again, needing to DO something, anything, to release his fear and anger.
"Peter, the guy is dead drunk!" Kermit shouted at him, trying to get his attention. Finally Kermit grabbed a handful of Peter's hair and jerked, hard. "Peter! He's drunk." When their eyes finally met, and Kermit knew he was getting through, he repeated more softly, "He was drunk, Peter. Falling down drunk. Now, let it go!"
"Peter." Caine's voice was soft but insistent. "Kay Cee is waking up."
Peter knelt at Kacie's side and took her hand in his. His father had been able to wipe most of the blood from her face and neck, and the sight was not quite as grisly as it had been. Her nose had stopped bleeding, but was rapidly swelling. Her eyelids started to flutter, and small cries of pain came from her throat. "Peter?" She gripped his hand tightly and moaned. "My face, what's the matter with my face? And my eye? It hurts! Oh, it hurts!"
"Just lie still, Sweetheart. An ambulance is on the way," he soothed, stroking her hair and inwardly flinching as he felt the stickiness of her blood on his fingers.
"He hit me. He hit me, and it hurts. I can't open my eyes, Peter! What's wrong with my eyes?" She clenched his hand so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Peter was glad to feel the pain lancing through his fingers, glad to feel something besides a sick sensation of disillusionment about his friend, and anger at himself for failing to protect his wife from harm.
The ambulance crew arrived and took over Kacie's care, swiftly checking vital signs and asking Caine questions about the first aid procedures he had used. One of them also checked Epstein, and announced that he would also be taken to the hospital and checked for concussion and possible alcohol poisoning.
As the patients were being transported, a couple of uniformed officers came into the bar in response to the 9-1-1 call. Peter had left with Kacie, and the remaining detectives filled in the officers about what had transpired.
One of the officers asked Caine, "Will your son or his wife be filing assault charges in this case?"
Caine shrugged one shoulder and answered, "I do not know."
"We'll check with them later," Kermit interjected. "If the Caines want something done, we'll take care of it down at our precinct."
Skalany touched Caine's shoulder and asked, "Do you want to ride to the hospital with Jody and me?"
"Yes. Peter needs us there. Thank you for your offer, Mary Margaret."
"I'll meet you guys there," Kermit told them. "There's something I need to take care of first."