Learning To Trust Again

Walking into the reception area Rebecca didn’t pause to make inquiries. She ignored the surprised looks of the staff on duty doing triage and let herself in through the locked inner door with her staff pass. Finding no one behind the counter inside the doors Rebecca reached over and grabbed the sheet of patients she could see on the desk behind.  Wasting no time, she searched through the names. At the end of the list, last patient in, she found what she was looking for. Dropping the clip board, not bothering to wait and ask permission, Rebecca made her way to the room she knew Todd had been placed in.

Entering the treatment room Rebecca stopped and put her hand to her mouth. Todd’s face was swollen beyond recognition and he had a bandage wrapped around his head. If she didn’t know he had been placed in this room, she wouldn’t have believed it was her little brother lying there. His shirt had been removed and she could see the extensive bruising to his torso. There wasn’t a part of him that wasn’t black and blue and his arms and legs were no better. Being a nurse she thought she was prepared for what she would see but knowing it was Todd, she was shaken.

The nurse working on Todd, taking his blood pressure, lifted her head and with a surprised frown said ‘Bec?’

As the woman spoke Rebecca dragged her gaze away to look at her and pulling her focus back from her brother she cleared her throat. Moving further into the room she said ‘Hannah, hi. How is he?’

Hannah was a petite blonde, who was stronger than her small frame suggested. Still frowning she said ‘do you know him?’

Rebecca nodded and a tear slid down her cheek. As she wiped it away she said in a quiet voice ‘he’s my brother.’

‘On my god’ Hannah said ‘I’m sorry Bec. I didn’t know. He’ll be okay though. His injuries aren’t life threatening although Ian said he would like to see him regain consciousness soon.’

‘What’s the damage’ Rebecca asked, taking a deep breath and pulling herself together.

‘Ian will be back in a minute’ Hannah said ‘he’ll fill you in. How did you find out he was here? The ambo’s gave us a name, we assumed that came from someone at the scene because he had no Id on him. The uniforms that came in with him didn’t have any other details either.’

‘A friend’ Rebecca said not quite truthfully. She didn’t consider Jake a friend nor did she want him as one. ‘He’s a cop. He was called to the scene and recognised Todd. He called to let me know.’

Hannah nodded and turned her attention back to her patient as Dr Ian Nichols entered the room.

Learning To Trust Again

Rebecca had slammed the phone down, not waiting for Jake’s goodbye. She was furious with herself and with him but she had no time to sort through that now. She had to focus on Todd. Tossing aside the covers she leapt out of bed and dragged on some tracksuit pants and a jumper. She didn’t bother with make-up or brushing her hair. Instead she just grabbed a hair tie and pulling her hair into a pony tail walked into the living room.

Stepping into her runners she tied them, her finger moving fast, but without fumbling. In her job she was used to reacting to emergencies, she knew how important it was to keep her cool. So shutting out the fact that this time it was different, that this time it was her brother, she grabbed her bag and phone off the coffee table and was out the door in under five minutes.

She jogged down the stairs to the street and then down the second set beside it that led to the underground car park below her building Rebecca unlocked her car and jumped inside. But for a minute she didn’t move. All of a sudden it struck her that nothing else was moving, nothing had changed. Looking around it seemed surreal to her that here, there was hardly a sound to be heard, everything was quiet and peaceful as it should be at this time of night. And yet not far away her brother had been beaten so badly that now he was being transported to hospital. How was it possible that such an emergency could be occurring for her and yet everything around her remained undisturbed? It didn’t seem right. It felt like there should be some acknowledgement from her surroundings that things were not as they should be. Some change to signify that something in the world besides her was affected. But there just wasn’t and it gave her a strange, hollow feeling of being alone. She shivered.

Then moving her focus back to the situation at hand she placed the key in the ignition and turned it. The car started first go, despite her not having driven it for weeks and she made a mental note to thank her father for encouraging her to spend a little extra and buy a reliable car. She pulled out of the parking space and drove the short distance to work.

Parking in the nearly deserted staff car park, Rebecca hurried into emergency. She passed two ambulances parked near the entrance on her way in and wondered if Todd had been in one of them. Jake hadn’t told her where the attack had happened so she didn’t know how long it would have taken them to arrive. But considering they had agreed to dispatch him to her hospital, they can’t have been too far out of the area and knowing they had a head start on her she thought it was more than likely her brother has been transported in one of them.

Going Home

Part 105

Arriving back at the house boat Margaret headed for the bathroom to wash her hands and after having a drink of water Robert began to wonder where Josh and Grace were. Looking around it doesn’t take him long to discover they weren’t about and just as he was wondering if they too went for a walk he noticed their bedroom door was closed. Smiling as he began to understand Robert walked back into the kitchen and got a beer out of the fridge.

Coming back out of the bathroom Margaret looked at Robert “where’s Josh and Grace?”

Gesturing towards the closed door Robert grinned.

“Oh” Margaret said and she smiled. Then knowing if she was in Grace's place she wouldn’t want to walk out of the bedroom and have to face them straight away she added “well maybe you’d pour me a drink too and we could take them out on the deck.”

“Sounds good to me” Robert said and still smiling, he poured Margaret a glass of wine and followed her outside.

Learning To Trust Again

‘So what have you found out?’ Jake asked Dave.

Turning from talking to the girl Jake had identified earlier as the one with Todd on his birthday, Dave said ‘well it seems there were several witnesses to the attack. Todd and Jemma here’ he said indicating the girl he’d been talking to.

‘Hi Jake’ the girl interrupted in a sweet voice ‘I didn’t know you were a cop.’

Jake ignored her. His eyes remained on Dave.

Dave looked at Jake a little strangely when he didn’t reply to her but after a second he continued ‘well they had just arrived at the club and were waiting to get in when Simon?’ He looked back at a now pouting Jemma for conformation and when she nodded he continued. ‘Simon hit Todd from behind. Todd didn’t even see it coming apparently. Then when he went down this guy sunk the boot in.’

‘And nobody tried to stop him?’

Dave shrugged ‘apparently not.’

Jake scowled and turning to Jemma, he asked ‘what’s this guy’s full name and where can I find him?’

Shrugging Jemma looked him up and down and said with a seductive smile ‘Todd told me you and his sister had broken up.’

Jake glared at her. He was disgusted by her callous attitude to her boyfriend being in hospital. She hadn’t even asked about Todd and her obvious attempts to attract him showed exactly how much she didn’t care.

‘His name and address’ Jake roared.

Jemma place a perfectly manicured nail between her lips and just continued to smile. After a second she said ‘Simon Gleeb, 15 Ford St, Forest Hill.’

 ‘Do you know how he knew you were going to be here?’ Jake said, his anger barely contained.

‘Sure’ Jemma said her smile widening ‘I told him.’

‘You told him?’ Jake said staring at her in disbelief ‘knowing what he’d do?’

‘Well I didn’t expect him to lose it completely’ Jemma replied with another shrug.

Livid now Jake moved closer and stood over her, purposely trying to intimidate her. He said ‘well you had better hope Todd is okay because if he’s not I’ll come looking for you and charge you with reckless endangerment.’

But as Jemma just continued to smile in careless disregard, Jake reconsidered his decision to wait. He said ‘in fact because of your admission, I’d say we can do that anyway.’ Reaching out he grabbed her arm and none too gently, turned her in the direction of the waiting police cars.  Her smile gone now, Jemma looked stunned as he marched her towards the other officers.

As Jake handed her over to Michelle to be cuffed and put in a car he could see the fear in her eyes, but he was unmoved. He knew the charges probably wouldn’t stick but as far as he was concerned she deserved to have the shit scared out of her for provoking the attack on Todd for her own amusement. She hadn’t even asked about how Todd was and she didn’t seem the least bit concerned that her little game had put Todd in the hospital this time. Well if he had anything to do with it, neither of them would be playing that particular game again.

Turning away from Jemma in disgust Jake said in a harsh tone ‘right, we are going after this guy.’

Learning To Trust Again

‘So what have you found out?’ Jake asked Dave.

Turning from talking to the girl Jake had identified earlier as the one with Todd on his birthday, Dave said ‘well it seems there were several witnesses to the attack. Todd and Jemma here’ he said indicating the girl he’d been talking to.

‘Hi Jake’ the girl interrupted in a sweet voice ‘I didn’t know you were a cop.’

Jake ignored her. His eyes remained on Dave.

Dave looked at Jake a little strangely when he didn’t reply to her but after a second he continued ‘well they had just arrived at the club and were waiting to get in when Simon?’ He looked back at a now pouting Jemma for conformation and when she nodded he continued. ‘Simon hit Todd from behind. Todd didn’t even see it coming apparently. Then when he went down this guy sunk the boot in.’

‘And nobody tried to stop him?’

Dave shrugged ‘apparently not.’

Jake scowled and turning to Jemma, he asked ‘what’s this guy’s full name and where can I find him?’

Shrugging Jemma looked him up and down and said with a seductive smile ‘Todd told me you and his sister had broken up.’

Jake glared at her. He was disgusted by her callous attitude to her boyfriend being in hospital. She hadn’t even asked about Todd and her obvious attempts to attract him showed exactly how much she didn’t care.

‘His name and address’ Jake roared.

Jemma place a perfectly manicured nail between her lips and just continued to smile. After a second she said ‘Simon Gleeb, 15 Ford St, Forest Hill.’

 ‘Do you know how he knew you were going to be here?’ Jake said, his anger barely contained.

‘Sure’ Jemma said her smile widening ‘I told him.’

‘You told him?’ Jake said staring at her in disbelief ‘knowing what he’d do?’

‘Well I didn’t expect him to lose it completely’ Jemma replied with another shrug.

Livid now Jake moved closer and stood over her, purposely trying to intimidate her. He said ‘well you had better hope Todd is okay because if he’s not I’ll come looking for you and charge you with reckless endangerment.’

But as Jemma just continued to smile in careless disregard, Jake reconsidered his decision to wait. He said ‘in fact because of your admission, I’d say we can do that anyway.’ Reaching out he grabbed her arm and none too gently, turned her in the direction of the waiting police cars.  Her smile gone now, Jemma looked stunned as he marched her towards the other officers.

As Jake handed her over to Michelle to be cuffed and put in a car he could see the fear in her eyes, but he was unmoved. He knew the charges probably wouldn’t stick but as far as he was concerned she deserved to have the shit scared out of her for provoking the attack on Todd for her own amusement. She hadn’t even asked about how Todd was and she didn’t seem the least bit concerned that her little game had put Todd in the hospital this time. Well if he had anything to do with it, neither of them would be playing that particular game again.

Turning away from Jemma in disgust Jake said in a harsh tone ‘right, we are going after this guy.’