chapter 73

word count: 2207

trudy’s story had been incoherent at best.. as john hung up the phone he realized he really knew no more now than he did when trudy had originally screamed into the phone, “ these bastards have fucking arrested me again!!”

he had caught bits and pieces.. new albany county jail, battery on a police officer, drunk and disorderly, possible operating a motor vehicle while under the influence,, but that is where any semblance to logic had slipped away.. 

why had she been at the police station? what business did she have driving there in that condition?? why had she attacked the officer,, and who was the officer in question?? although his head was swimming with questions,, regardless of their answers,, john had already made a firm decision.. trudy was gonna have to sit this one out.. 

she had been arrested twice in as many weeks,, and this time she evidently didn’t have a cop in her pocket to get her out,, or she would never have called him.. john couldn’t help but wonder if that latino detective that had been the latest visible object of trudy’s affections had played a part in any of this.. 

“poor bastard.” john said,, as he stepped back into buzz’s room to collect the boys.. 

“ok guys,, what do you say we leave detective miller, here, alone to get a little rest.. he is gonna need plenty of that before he is well enough to come home.”

without further ado, elliot and adam made a beeline toward the door. 

“adam!” buzz called out as the boys slipped silently behind the drawn privacy curtain.. 

adam stopped and looked back at his father, “don’t forget what we talked about.. ok son?? i meant every word of it.. i promise, it’s gonna be different now.. just you and me..” buzz forced a worried smile, as adam promptly turned away and walked out of the room without so much as a nod of his head.. 

“don’t you worry yourself about the little guy, you have enough to worry about."  john tried to assure buzz,, who lay back on his pillow,, a look of defeat washing over his already pale face.. “he’s gonna be just fine.. this will all work its way out.. it has to..”

buzz exhaled loudly.. “ god i hope so.. i am a changed man, john, i tell you,, a changed man.. i just hope adam isn’t so far gone that he will never give me a chance to prove it..”

“he’s a kid, detective, i mean, buzz,, their resilient.. they bounce back.”. john said,, not at all sure he was telling the truth,, but knowing it was what buzz needed to hear right now.. 

john stepped to the side of the bed and extended his hand, “it was my pleasure to really meet you this time around. i just wish it had been under better circumstances..”

“eh,” started buzz, ‘i’m just glad we’ve got them back safe and sound..” 

as john turned to walk out of the room,, buzz called out behind him, “and john,, thank you. thank you and your wife for keeping an eye on adam  for me until i am out of this god awful place.. hey,  i owe you one..”

“our pleasure!!” john sang out as he exited the room with a forced smile and a wave..

as he walked out of the room, the words “i owe you one” struck john as funny,, knowing as he did that he had no intention of calling in that favor to get trudy released from jail. nope this time she had made her bed and she was going to sleep in it..

and if the truth be told,, john hoped she would be sleeping in it for quite some time.. 

the boys were waiting impatiently at the doors of the elevator.. they were clearly ready to go.. 

“anyone up for a cone from the dairy queen?” john asked as he approached the sullen looking boys,, hoping the promise of ice cream would bring a smile to their faces.. 

“nah.” they replied in unison.

“we just wanna go home.” elliot stated,, as he looked to adam,, and received a positive nod of approval.. 

they rode the elevator in silence.. in fact they rode the whole way home in silence,, despite johns best efforts to engage the boys in snippets of conversation.. alas,, he gave up,, and just left them to their solitude.. as in silence, he pondered how he was going to break the news to trudy,, that he had no intention of posting her bond,, no intention of bringing her home any time soon.. 

***

the news of jake leichtenstein's demise while in transport, spread swiftly through the precinct.. hank was knuckles deep in the autopsy and forensic reports on the remains of brenda simmons,, when he first caught wind of it.. 

“what was that??” he asked the desk clerk,, when he overheard a piece of conversation between the clerk and some young uniform that had eagerly approached the desk and was relating his version of  the chaos that had surrounded leichtenstien’s lifeless arrival  in the booking lot.

“sounds like a perp offed himself in the back seat of bettencourt’s vehicle while in transit.. perp  by the name of leichtenstein.. you’re bettencourt’s partner aren’t you?? you work on that case?” 

hanks answer was inaudible,, as he grabbed up the autopsy and forensic files and took off toward the door..

“hey, wait a minute,, you gotta sign those out!!” the young desk clerk called out behind him..  hank made an about face,, heeding his call mainly because he couldn’t afford a screw up like that on his first day back on the job.. two quick illegible scribbles later,, he was off like a shot.. 

on his way down the elevator headed for the booking department, which was housed in the bowels of the city works building, hank was able to catch a few more details,, something about an irate woman that had assaulted bettencourt in the squad room,, while he was doing the paperwork on leichtenstine’s untimely demise?? what woman?? a friend of leichtenstein’s?? in all the time they had had him on the radar,, they had never observed him in the company of a woman,, and god knows there was no way that crazy lady from weston that had beat him to a pulp had been released, was there?? had she perhaps escaped and come after him to finish up where she had left off?? what the fuck was going on here??

hank hopped off the elevator at the first floor squad room instead of taking it all the way to the basement.. the tension in the room was palpable.. he spied gil bent over a keyboard at the far end of the room and weaved his way in gil’s general direction.. 

“what the hell is going on?” hank called out as he approached the desk where gil was seated.

“what a fucking day!!” gil exclaimed. “somehow on the way over here from weston,, leichtenstein managed to slip the handcuffs up and over,, and fucking choked himself to death!!! i still can’t fucking believe it..” gil, clearly exasperated paused briefly, and then continued.

“then we finally get the body cleared out of the frickin’ booking lot,, and i come in here to do the paperwork on it,, and fucking trudy comes flying in here like a drunken banshee,, and jumps on me for no fucking reason!!”

“what the fuck was she doing here??” hank queried,, none of this making any sense at all.. 

“i have no clue.. no fucking clue..” gil”s voice  trailed off.. 

it was then that hank noticed the good looking young uniform seated across the desk from gil.. she met his glance with a warm smile and stood up to make his acquaintance.. 

“detective bower, i presume. officer simone, weston pd “ she introduced herself, “i accompanied detective bettencourt on the transport..” she extended her hand,, which hank grasped and shook firmly.. 

hank pulled up a chair,, straddled it backward and said, “good to meet you simone..”  he said curtly..

“can we start at the beginning here gil?? what the hell happened??”

gil reiterated the chain of events,, beginning at weston memorial,, and working his way forward to the point where trudy lunged at him over the desk in a drunken stupor,, screaming something about “you filthy bastard!!”

hank took it all in.. none of it made any real sense,, but then again a lot of the things that had happened over the course of the last couple of months had made no sense.. 

“fuck!” he exclaimed as gil conclude and threw his head back in frustration.. 

“alright,” hank surmised. “lets just start at square one.. you do the paperwork on the fucking  leichtenstien fiasco,, and i am gonna get see if i can’t gather some intel on what the hell that hunt woman was up doing here.. “

hank pushed the chair forward,, and stood up to leave..

“officer,” hank extended his hand once again to simone,, “ good to meet you.”

“the pleasure is all mine.” she returned his handshake and nodded her good byes.

“and you,"  hank turned to address gil, “ you just take it easy.. make sure to dot your ‘i’s’ and cross your ‘t’s’.. don’t leave any room for speculation.. i got your back on this man..  it’ll all work out.”

“yeah, right.” gil responded perfunctorily,, clearly too distracted by the events of the day to process any pleasantries at this point in the game.. 

“i’m gonna go look into this whole trudy thing, and see if i can’t make some sense out of it all..”

“yeah, right.” was once again, all gil could come up with to say in response. he didn’t even look up as hank turned and headed for the elevator..

***

as soon as john opened the front door, the boys whisked themselves away, up the stairs,, and loudly slammed the door to elliot’s bedroom..  john heard the distinct thump of back packs hitting the floor,, and then it was silent.. 

he took a seat on the couch,, not quite sure if he felt relieved to be home,, or scared of what inevitably lie ahead.. his plate was full.. too full.. not only did he have two disgruntled boys to keep tabs on,, and try to talk some degree of sense into,, but now he was going to have an irate trudy to deal with as well, once she figured out that he had no intention of convening in her most recent  run in with the police..

‘best to just turn the ringer off on the phone.’ john thought to himself  as he strode into the kitchen to do just that.. he then grabbed his cell to oust the ring tone on that as well,, as the thought occurred to him to call lisa.. worst case scenario,, he could tell her about the strange events of the day,, and get her input.. best case scenario,, she would come over,, and they would have the chance to pick up where they had left off,, wrapped up in each other’s arms,,  hungry lips meeting lustful tongues,, bodies pressed tightly against the wall of this very kitchen.. 

***

no sooner had the door slammed and the back packs hit the floor,, elliot was in the drawer of his desk pulling out a single edge razor blade,, and drawing it comfortingly along the soft flesh of his inner arm..

adam looked on,, watching the tension quickly drain from elliot’s face,, as the thick line of bright red blood followed the razors edge along the width of his arm.. 

somehow the razor blade wasn’t nearly as intimidating as the knife he had seen elliot use so many times before.. somehow it didn’t look so dangerous.. in fact,, much to his own surprise,, adam found himself drawn to not only the ease with which the blade slipped along elliot’s flesh,, leaving a trail of fresh crimson blood behind it,, but to the unmistakable sense of calm that seemed to come over elliot as he watched the ruby liquid fill the razors path,, and trickle silently down his outstretched arm.. .. 

“gimme that thing.” adam more demanded than asked permission.. 

elliot handed over the blade,, still mesmerized by the sight of his own blood as it washed away all the cares of the day,, and eased him into a trance like state of near oblivion.. 

adam took the blade,, and ran it unsuccessfully over his own arm.. he tried again,, this time applying a little more pressure.. he saw the glint of his own blood as he drew the blade firmly across his forearm. 

he took a seat on the edge of the bed,, and drew the blade yet again against his tender pale flesh.. he could feel the knots in his stomach miraculously unraveling.. he felt like he could breath for the first time since he had sat at his father’s bedside and allowed him to purge the depths of his guilty conscience,, all the while begging  for adam’s forgiveness..

all of that was behind him now,, as he drifted into a warm safe place,, a place he had never been to before,, but was sure he would be revisiting.. soon..