Part 17
Back to Story Menu
"Not enough work to suit you, Sweet Cakes?" Kermit asked. "I'm sure the captain would be happy to increase our workload if you repeat yourself just a little bit louder."
"No, it's not that." She grinned. "Peter hasn't so much as slammed a door in days. This takes a little getting used to."
"Don't think he's sick, do you?" Kermit grinned back at her.
"Nah, probably just some new meditation technique his father's taught him." She added thoughtfully, "This new friend of his sure hasn't hurt any either, though. Hey, you guys remember when Paul told us to look out for Peter and try to teach him something about women?" Skalany recalled the words of their former captain fondly, looking sad at the same time.
"Yeah," said Jody. "He hasn't made either job very easy."
Skalany sighed. "Do you think we'll ever see Paul again?"
Kermit's face was expressionless. "I wouldn't be all that surprised if he just showed up on our doorstep one day. Mercenaries are like bad pennies; they just turn up. Hey, where's the gang meeting tonight? Chandler's is closed down for remodeling."
"Think I heard Peter say something about telling Kacie to meet him and us at the Agrippa Club. Man, we haven't been there in forever," Jody commented.
"Loud music, smoke, and loud people," Skalany snickered. "Sounds like our kind of place."
"What's our kind of place?" asked Peter as he breezed by.
"The Agrippa," Skalany told him. "I heard they've fixed it up real nice since somebody shot the place up a while back."
Peter's face reddened as the others laughed. "That was a long time ago." He paused thoughtfully, shaking his head with a grin. "Man, did I ever hear it from Paul on that one." His smile faded. "I sure do miss him."
"Any word from him lately?" asked Jody.
Peter shook his head. "Not since the call he made to Carolyn the day Katie Ann was born." He stared off unseeingly as he reflected. "My father says Paul will be back when he has faced all his demons."
"Your father is a very wise man," Kermit observed, and then strolled away toward his office whistling tunelessly.
The second pitcher of beer was just being poured when a familiar sultry voice declared, "As I live and breathe, if it isn't Peter Caine and the gang from the precinct!"
Eyes turned to see Tyler Smith standing by their table, eying Peter with a measuring look.
"Tyler, hey, sit down and join us."
She chose to ignore the chair Kermit held out and rounded the table to sit beside Peter instead. "Still hanging out here?" Tyler smiled around at them all. Her makeup was flawless, as usual, and she wore a dress that clung to what curves it didn't expose. She rested a hand on Peter's knee, and even though she had included everyone in her question, it was obvious her focus was on her ex-lover.
Kermit leaned over and spoke in Skalany's ear. "The tigress is on the hunt tonight."
Mary Margaret kept a nervous eye on the front entrance. "I've got a bad feeling about this, Kermit. There's a disaster in the making. I don't know what, and I don't know how, but there's a big one coming."
As the music changed, Tyler grabbed Peter by the hand. "Dance?" Peter allowed himself to be led away, and they disappeared into the moving crowd.
From time to time the couple could be seen through gaps in the dancing throng, Tyler running a hand through Peter's hair and pulling his head close so she could talk in his ear. They came back to the table frequently for a brief rest and a sip or two of drink before returning to the dance floor.
Skalany and Jody excused themselves to the restroom and held a quick conference.
Jody ran a brush through her hair as Skalany paced restlessly.
"What the hell is he doing?" the blonde hissed. "He told Kacie to meet us here tonight and she's going to walk in any minute."
Skalany kept pacing and agreed. "I feel like I'm watching a bad accident that you know is going to happen and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."
Jody gave her hair one last brush stroke and stuffed the brush into her purse. "Well, let's get back out there and see what we can do about damage control."
They rejoined the party and noticed that Peter and his partner were still out on the dance floor. Skalany caught Kermit's eye and he shook his head and shrugged. Caine sat silently, drinking from his water glass and watching Peter with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Hi everybody." Kacie rushed up breathlessly. "Man, I had to park a mile away before I could find a space." She looked around and asked, "Where's Peter?"
Skalany involuntarily shot a look out onto the dance floor.
Kacie smiling and joked, "What? Did he forget he told me to meet you guys here?" At that moment, the crowd on the dance floor parted and it was as if a spotlight shone on the couple locked in an embrace. Tyler nibbled Peter's ear as he nuzzled her neck. Their bodies pressed tighter together, lips meeting in a long and smoldering kiss.
Kacie's smile froze as she stood and stared. Face flaming, she gasped, "Oh." The color drained completely away from her face. "Oh. I must not have heard him right." She recoiled a few steps and then looked wildly about, seeking a way of escape. "I -- this was a mistake." She backed away from the scene, unable to take her eyes from Peter and Tyler, who were still locked together in a passionate embrace.
In her backward retreat, Kacie bumped into a waitress carrying a tray of drinks. The contact was enough to bring her to her senses, and she turned and fled up the stairs, coat and purse dropping unnoticed as she fled.
"I can't sit here and watch any more of this," Jody said in disgust. "Blake, can I hitch a ride home?"
"Sure," he said. "I think my lungs are full enough of secondhand smoke for one evening." The two left together.
Skalany watched Caine, who suddenly stiffened and stared off into the distance.
"I must go," he announced, and hurried out, bending over to pick up Kacie's belongings as he exited.
Mary Margaret's face reddened in irritation as she watched him disappear. "Kermit, how about a ride for an old friend? If I don't get out of here now, I am going to commit justifiable homicide."
"And I would be an accessory, my love," Kermit growled. "It's a little too hot in here for my taste."
A few minutes later, the band finished their set, and Peter and Tyler wandered back to the table. Peter didn't know whether to be relieved or irritated that his friends and father had left without saying anything.
Tyler quickly changed his indecision by sliding her hands into his back pockets and molding his lower body to hers. Biting at his earlobe with her teeth, she murmured huskily, "Let's get out of here. It's been too long for us, Peter."
Bright spots of light danced in front of her eyes and she felt her legs buckle. Her assailant pushed her the rest of the way to the ground, ripping open her shirt and groping her breasts as he straddled her. Too dazed to resist, she was only dimly aware of a sound of rushing air and a resounding whomp just before the man crumpled on top of her in an unconscious heap.
Kacie screamed and shoved the dead weight off herself, screaming again as a pair of hands reached for her. A familiar face came into focus and she immediately threw her arms around his neck. "Caine! Oh, Caine!"
He held her tightly and said soothingly, "It is all right. You are safe now."
A man's head popped out of a window two floors above them. "What the hell is going on down there?" he bellowed.
Caine peered up at him. "A young woman has been attacked. You must call the police." The window slammed shut again.
Kacie trembled in Caine's arms.
"Did he harm you?" the priest asked gently.
"N-n-o," she quavered. "He-he hit me and-and tore my shirt. He-he touched me, but-but then you came." She shuddered and burrowed deeper into his arms. "I was so scared."
Sirens wailing from a distance grew closer. In a matter of moments two squad cars screeched to a halt and uniformed officers came running onto the scene. Kacie's attacker was taken away in handcuffs while Caine gave a statement to an officer. Another officer wrapped Kacie in a blanket and seated her in a squad car.
Caine gestured in Kacie's direction. "She must see a doctor. I have no car."
"No problem, sir. We'll have you at County General in a few minutes."
Caine sat quietly in the waiting room outside the ER. Kacie's coat was folded neatly beside him, and he held her purse in his hands while he solemnly observed the doctors and nurses passing by.
A young doctor stopped in front of him. "Are you Caine?"
"Yes."
"Would you come with me, please?" The doctor's voice reflected his exasperation. "Maybe you can talk some sense into my patient." He continued speaking as they walked along the corridor and into an examination room. "She insists on going home. I want to keep her overnight for observation, but she says she'll leave AMA if I don't release her."
"AMA?"
"Against medical advice."
When they entered the room, Kacie was sitting up on the side of the table holding an ice pack over her left eye. There was an angry bruise forming on her right cheek. Chalk-faced and trembling, she kept repeating, "I want to go home. Just let me go home."
Caine caught the eye of the attending physician. "Perhaps if I were to stay with her and care for her?" he suggested quietly.
Kacie dropped down the ice pack to reveal an eye almost completely swollen shut. "Caine, please take me home. I don't need to stay here. I just want to go home," she begged.
The doctor growled in frustration. "Well, there doesn't appear to be a concussion, and nothing is broken." His frown deepened. "I still don't like this, but as long as someone stays with you." To Caine he said, "Just watch her through the night, and if there's any change in her condition, I want to see her immediately."
Kacie signed the necessary release papers with a hand shaking so badly her signature was nearly illegible. Caine helped her on with her coat and kept a supportive arm around her waist as they walked to the door.
"There's money for a cab in my purse," she told him tonelessly. "I need to get my car, too."
"As you wish."
Caine helped Kacie get out of the cab when they arrived at her car, and she fumbled in her purse for her keys. Finally locating them, she attempted to unlock the door, but kept missing the lock with her key as her hand shook.
Caine gently closed his hand over hers and took away the keys. "I will drive." He didn't have a driver's license and had little experience in driving, but he knew it would still be safer for them both if he were at the wheel.
Kacie didn't argue with him; she just climbed into her seat and huddled next to the door shivering wordlessly.
Standing outside the door to her apartment, Kacie once again fumbled in vain to find the correct key. Caine studied the doorknob closely before gently shouldering her aside and rubbing both hands together, then simply turning the knob without benefit of key.
Once inside, Kacie stood looking around dazedly. Caine helped her off with her coat and led her over to the couch, where he wrapped her snugly in an afghan. She sat a few moments, teeth chattering, and suddenly started to gag. "I think...I'm going...to throw up." Clamping a hand over her mouth, she fought her way out of the afghan and fled to the bathroom.
Caine waited for a short time in the living room before following her. He listened outside the bathroom door, and when he didn't hear anything, knocked and entered without waiting for a response.
Kacie sat on the floor in the small space between the tub and the toilet. One hand was still holding back her hair from her face and the other arm rested on the edge of the bowl her forehead leaned against.
"Are you all right?" he asked softly.
"I need to take a shower. I feel so dirty."
He helped her to her feet and she moved stiffly around her bedroom, gathering what articles she needed from various drawers. Then she disappeared back into the bathroom.
Caine exited the bedroom and started searching through his bag as he walked toward the kitchen to start heating some water.
Kacie emerged from her bedroom some time later, wrapped securely in a thick terry cloth robe. Her battered face was pinched and drawn, making the bruises stand out in glaring contrast to her pale skin. After cloaking herself in the afghan once again, she cowered on the couch. "I just can't get warm."
Caine brought her a steaming cup of liquid.
"What is it?" she asked dispiritedly.
"Some herbs. They will help you to sleep." She drank obediently, and after she had finished it all, he took the cup from her and set it down, taking her cold hands in his large warm ones.
"Thank you for helping me tonight."
"You were very foolish to be out wandering."
"I know," she said listlessly. "I wasn't thinking. It's just that..." Her lips started to crimp and she fought against the emotions that were struggling for release. "Every time I close my eyes I see...I see..." She gave up and cried helplessly in long ropy sobs.
Caine held her close and let her cry. After she exhausted herself with weeping, she rested silently in his arms, an occasional shudder running through her body. Her head became a dead weight on his shoulder, and he looked down to see that his herbs had done their work. Lifting her easily, he carried her to her bedroom, putting her into the bed and tucking her in as if she were a child.
He sat on the floor beside the bed to keep a watch through the night, holding at bay the dragons that might attack her dreams.
Peter, Thanks for last night. Just what I needed to
give me an edge for my audition today. Look me up
sometime when you're in New York.
Tyler
He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, rereading the note twice before crumpling it up and throwing it in the direction of the wastebasket. He stared at the floor unseeingly. {How come what seemed so right last night seems so wrong this morning? Jesus, I meant nothing more to her than an easy lay.}
Flicking a glance at his clock, he saw that his alarm had been turned off. "Great. Now I'll be late to work on top of everything else. Perfect. Ju-u-st perfect."
He got up and quickly showered and shaved. {God, and to think once I was crazy about her. The sex between us was always spectacular, but this morning I just feel...used.} He dressed quickly, still absorbed in his thoughts as he headed for work.
Peter trod heavily up the stairs to the squad room, still brooding. Expecting to be razzed by his friends about his tardiness, he was surprised when no one said a word. Relieved, he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down to work at his desk. After awhile, it came to him that not only had no one harassed him, no one was speaking to him at all.
He let his gaze wander around the room and saw that the door to Kermit's office was closed. Skalany was not at her usual desk, but working at one on the other side of the room. He wandered over to her and was about to start a conversation, when she leveled a black look at him.
"Don't start with me, Peter Caine. I'm not in the mood to deal with you today." She left him with jaw agape while she got up and headed over to Kermit's door. Making a sharp rat-a-tat on the windowpane, she disappeared inside.
Peter scratched the back of his head in puzzlement and started for his own desk. He met Jody coming out of an interrogation room. "Jody, what...?"
She brushed past him. "Not now, Peter. I'm busy."
He stood stock still a moment and then strode over to where Blake sat tinkering with his latest electronic gadget. "Well?" he demanded of the electronics expert.
"Well, what?" replied Blake absentmindedly, preoccupied with the delicate wiring he was working on.
"Aren't you going to blow me off, too?"
"Should I?"
"How should I know?" Peter snapped. "Everyone else around here is acting like I have the plague."
Skalany emerged from Kermit's office and started to stride past Peter until he grabbed her arm. She gave him a withering look and he immediately drew his hand back. "What's biting you today, Skalany?"
"What's biting me?" she repeated. "Why should anything be biting me today? Oh, could it be that my evening out didn't exactly end the way I had planned?"
"What are you talking about?"
"That was quite a show you and Tyler put on last night, Peter. I've seen people doing less than that get a room! Didn't care who saw you, either, did you?"
Peter flushed angrily. "What do you mean by that?"
"She means you two made for quite a floor show," Jody chimed in scornfully.
"What are you guys so mad about?" Peter said defensively. "My personal life is my own damn business!"
"Ah, but Peter, my boy, when you drag the rest of us along, it becomes our business," Kermit interjected as he walked up. "Really bad form to dump on a friend, old chap."
Peter glared at them in frustration. "I feel lousy enough this morning. I don't need this shit on top of it. What the hell are you all talking about?"
Jody looked at him in exasperation. Hands on her hips, she demanded coldly, "Do you have any idea what Kacie must have felt like when she saw the way you and Tyler were groping each other?"
"Kacie?" Peter looked dumbfounded. "What does Kacie have to do with any of this?"
"She was there. You told her to meet you and us there, remember?" Skalany's eyes blazed. "You want to pick up women, that's your business, Peter, but it's pretty crummy to invite another woman there first and then let her come and watch."
"Kacie was there just long enough to see you and Tyler doing your dirty dancing imitation, and then she took off," Kermit said soberly.
"Then your father went after her," complained Skalany. "Boy, you sure know how to break up a party."
"For Christ's sake!" Peter exploded. "You guys make it sound like I was cheating on my wife last night. Kacie is just a friend. There's nothing more than that between us. Why should she care..."
Captain Simms stepped out of her office with a report form in her hand. "Were any of you aware of this?" She indicated the paper in her hand.
"What is it?" asked Kermit.
"This is an incident report filed last night that says--" She started to read: "--Katherine Christine McConnell was the victim of an assault and attempted rape last night about 11 p.m. in the alley next to 48th and Hennepin."
"What?!" A collective horrified gasp rose from the gathered detectives.
"What the hell would she be doing in that part of the city?" Skalany wondered out loud. "Even the muggers avoid that area!"
"It also says here that one Kwai Chang Caine subdued the assailant and assisted the victim." She stopped as she realized that no one had answered her question. "None of you knew about this?"
"Not until now," Kermit admitted.
"Attempted rape?" Peter forced out through numb lips. "You-you-you said 'attempted' rape?"
Simms quickly scanned the report. "Says here the perp hit her a couple of times and tore her blouse, but that Caine came along and disabled the perp before anything more could happen. She was taken to County General for evaluation."
"I'll call the hospital," Skalany said, picking up the phone on her desk and making the call.
Peter hadn't moved and stood with a look of shock and horror on his face. The last rape case he had worked rose unbidden to his mind, and he suddenly saw Kacie's face superimposed over the victim's. His knees slowly gave way, and he slumped into his chair, staring numbly at Skalany, who reported, "They said they examined her last night and then sent her home. Caine stayed with her."
"She was nearly..." Peter sucked in a breath sharply. "She could have been..." He couldn't make himself finish the sentence.
Skalany quickly tried another number. After it rang several times she advised them, "No answer at her apartment. Maybe Caine took her home with him."
"I've gotta go talk to her," Peter stated hoarsely.
"I'll drive you," said Kermit.
"No, I'll..."
"Look, Kid," Kermit said matter-of-factly. "You're shaking so bad right now, I wouldn't let you drive across the street. Don't argue with me. You're riding in the Kermitmobile. Let's go."