The Tower

Chapter 27

Jade drove his car onto the curb directly in front of the hospital's lobby entrance. As he stormed through the sliding glass doors, he flashed his badge and shouted at the lady in the reception booth, "If you tow that car, I'll arrest you." A silence fell over the lobby and lingered even after the elevator doors had closed behind him.

The trauma unit was on the second floor. Jade had been there many times before to interview witnesses and suspects, so he knew the drill. The first person who tried to stop him was the woman at the front desk, but she was new on the job, and not quite clear on patients' legal rights.

Jade faced her, slamming his badge down on the counter. He leaned forward on both hands, his eyes focused on hers. "I need to see a kid who got brought in here this morning from the hostage situation. Immediately."

The woman cleared her throat nervously, her hand hovering in front of her nose. Jade knew he had her.

"I'm sorry, visiting hours are-"

"I'm not a visitor, I'm an FBI agent. And I need to talk to this child immediately. We need her in order to apprehend a murderer and child molester. Unless you want to be personally responsible for wasting my time while this suspect flees, Ms."-his emerald eyes lowered to her name tag-"Doren, then I suggest you don't jerk me off any longer and tell me the room number."

She gasped. "Well… I… There's two… children. A little boy-but he's in deep posttraumatic shock and not speaking. The girl is eleven." She paused and her eyes flicked around nervously to locate her superiors. Finding nobody to bail her out, she surrendered. "She's in room two-twelve."

Jade was gone, running down the corridor. Ms. Doren stood up abruptly, knocking over a pencil holder. The pencils rolled across her desk and fell to the floor, chattering like rainfall.

"She's very fragile right now," she called after him. "You can't just-"

Realizing that Jade was not listening, she sank back into her chair and paged a physician.

When the door to her room flew open, Leah sat up in bed, drawing the blanket protectively around her chest and up under her chin. Her eyes regarded Jade with fear and suspicion. She was shaking violently.

"It's all right. It's fine. I'm on your side." Jade flipped out his badge and flashed it at her. Crossing to her bed, he stood over her for a moment, then gripped her shoulders firmly. She continued to shiver.

"Don't be afraid. I need to know what happened."

Her bottom lip quivered, and tears began to roll down her cheeks.

Jade let go of her shoulders and sat on the edge of the bed, swearing softly.

A team of doctors burst into the room, knocking the charts from the back of the door. The largest doctor stepped forward. He wore wire-frame glasses and had a decent physique. The other doctors crowded behind him.

"Who are you, the intimidation factor?"

"I'm Dr. Levinson. I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room immediately or I'll call security."

"Now maybe they lied to me in training, but I always thought the FBI took precedence over the security team at St. Mary's. And I'd suggest you stand back a little. I don't like your posture."

The doctor stepped back. "Sir, you cannot be in here right now. This patient has just undergone a horrible experience. The last thing she needs is offensive external stimuli."

"I haven't even begun to get offensive," Jade said. "But try me."

The doctor shook his head nervously. "Not that kind of… that's not what I meant." He paused, assessing the situation, trying to figure out the best tactic to follow.

Jade ran his thumb across his lip. "Look, Dr. Levinwhatever. I'm pursuing the most dangerous-"

"Sir, look at the girl."

Jade looked over at her. The tears were flowing, and her face was swollen. He noticed the red marks around her wrist, the only part of her body exposed from under the blanket. His breath started to come harder as he felt the anger flooding his veins.

"Please," Dr. Levinson said.

The door opened behind them and Travers pushed her way through the team of white coats cowering behind Dr. Levinson. Leah began to sob.

Travers's badge hung from the pocket of her white blouse, and her blonde hair was down across her shoulders. She was dressed more femininely than Jade had seen her before. She saw Leah and her jaw tightened. "Marlow. Outside. Now."

Jade looked at the doctors and then at Travers. He could tell she was somewhere between livid and incensed. Impressive. He opened his mouth to say something, then changed his mind. Quietly, he got up and followed her out of the room.

The minute they turned the corner, Travers spun to face Jade, pressing her finger into his chest.

"Did you see that girl, Marlow? You scared the shit out of her. Your tactics are fine for harassing adult suspects, but they don't work on small children who are victims. VICTIMS! This girl found both her parents dead."

Jade's jaw shifted over and he bit his cheek. "First of all, take your finger off me. Second, you didn't tell me her parents got iced. I would have been more-"

"More what?! Like you can be more anything. The doctors are furious, the girl is probably too scared to talk now. Great piece of work, Marlow."

She was right. He should have proceeded more gently if he wanted to get the kid to talk, and he knew it. She unbuttoned the top of her shirt and pulled it in the back so it shifted on her shoulders. "Well, I'm handling this now. I'll deal with the girl. What do you need me to ask her?"

She unbuttoned her cuffs and rolled her sleeves up, then took her badge from her shirt pocket and slid it in her back pants pocket.

Jade paused for a minute, then answered very seriously. "I need to know how they responded. The kids. What they said. And ask her if.. ask her if he explained what he was doing as he did it. If he gave them any insight into his rationale. He'd want to, I think. He'd want them to know, to understand."

The rage behind Travers's eyes subsided. She nodded and turned to go, but Jade caught her arm.

"You look good," he said.

"Well, thank you, Jade," she said sarcastically. "That's what I'm here for."

"Don't flatter yourself. I mean you look good. Maternal and caring. Perfect for the kid. Smart move."

"Oh. Thanks. I try to go for that Nancy Reagan look." She turned and walked away.