Witness in Death

From her uniform pocket, she took out her memo pad and informed Nutrition that Patient K. Stiles, Room 6503, required his midday meal. When the guard started to speak, the nurse held up a hand.

"Just a minute. I want to get this in so they get it up here before midnight. Nutrition's been ru

"That should be up within the hour."

"Whoever brings it has to be cleared," the guard told her.

She gave a little huff of a

The guard nodded, pulled out his communicator.

"He's got cop juice for blood," Peabody commented as they walked down the corridor.

"The juice is still green, but it'll ripen." When her communicator beeped, she dug it out of her pocket. "Dallas."

"Lieutenant. Officer Clark on guard duty, Ke

"I'm one level up and on my way."

"That's good timing." Peabody punched for the elevator, then sighed and followed Eve to the exit door. "I guess we're walking."

"It's one patient level."

"One level equals three flights."

"You'll work off the cookies."

"They're only a fond memory. You figure Stiles is ready to give us some straight talk?"

"I figure he's ready for something." She pushed through the doors to the next level, headed left. "He doesn't know we found Carvell or that we've identified Draco as Carly's father. We'll see how he plays it before we clue him in."

She stopped at the door. "Clark."

"Yes, sir."

"He have any visitors?"

"Not a soul. He was sleeping it off until a few minutes ago. The nurse reported he was awake and asking for you."

"Okay, take a fifteen-minute break."

"Thanks. I can use it."

Eve reached for the door, pushed it open. Then, with a curse, leaped inside. She grabbed Stiles's legs, hauled up and took his weight. "Get him down!"

Peabody was already scrambling onto the bed, fighting with the knot. Clark pounded in behind her.

"I've got him, Lieutenant." He moved in with his wide shoulders and took Stiles's dangling body up another three inches.

He'd hanged himself with a noose fashioned from his own bedsheets.

"He's not breathing," Clark a

"Get a doctor." Face fierce, Eve straddled Stiles, pressed the heels of her hands to his heart and began to pump. "Come on, you son of a bitch. You will breathe." She lowered her mouth to his, forced in air. Pumped.

"Oh my God. Oh my God. Ke

"Keep back! Come on, come on." Sweat began to pour down Eve's face. She heard the sound of ru

"Move aside. Move aside please."

She slid away, pushed to her feet, and watched the medical team work on him.

No pulse. Flat line.

Come back, Eve ordered. Goddamn you, come back.

She watched the slim pressure hypo of adrenaline jab against his chest.

No response.

Small disks were slicked with gel. There were orders to set, to clear, then Stiles's body bucked when the discs shocked his system. The heart line on the monitor stayed blue and blank.

For a second time the disks slapped against him, a second time his body jerked, fell. And now a low beep sounded, and the blue line wavered and went red.

Sinus rhythm. We have a pulse.

At the door, Areena covered her face with her hands.

"Give me his condition."

"He's alive." The doctor, a cool-eyed man with saffron skin, continued to make notes. "There was oxygen deprivation, and some minimal brain damage as a result. If we keep him alive, it's correctable."

"Are you going to keep him alive?"

"That's why we're here." He slipped his memo pad back into the pocket of his lab coat. "His chances are good. Another few minutes dangling there, he wouldn't have had any chance. We've come a long way in medical science, but bringing the dead back to life still eludes us."

"When can I talk to him?"

"I can't say."

"Hazard a guess."

"He may be functional by tomorrow, but until we complete the tests, I can't gauge the exact extent of the brain damage. It may be several days, or weeks, before he's capable of answering any but the most basic of questions. The brain finds ways to bypass damage, to reroute if you will, and we can help that process along. But it takes time."

"I want to know the minute he can talk."

"I'll make sure you're informed. Now, I have patients to see."

"Lieutenant." Clark stepped up. "This is the nurse you wanted to see."

"Ormand," Eve said, reading the ID badge. "Talk to me."

"I had no idea he meant to try self-termination. I wouldn't have believed he was capable of it, physically I mean. He was weak as a baby."

"A man wants to do himself, he finds a way. Nobody's blaming you."

She nodded, relaxed her defensive stance. "I was in there for a routine check of his vitals. He was conscious, and he told me he wanted to confess. I thought he meant to a priest. We get a lot of that, even from patients who aren't Catholic or Egatarian. But he became agitated, and asked for you by name. Said I was to tell you he wanted to confess."

"To what?"

"He didn't say. I thought he killed that other actor. Richard Draco." When Eve didn't respond, the nurse shrugged. "I calmed him down, promised to find you. Then I told the guard after I arranged for the patient's afternoon nutrition. I don't know anything else."

"All right." She dismissed the nurse, turned back to Clark. "I need you to stand by up in the ICU. I'll arrange for a relief in an hour. If there's any change in Stiles's condition before that, I want to know."

"Yes, sir. His own sheets," Clark murmured. "That takes balls."

"It takes something." Eve turned on her heel and strode to the waiting area where Peabody had taken Areena.

"Ke

"They're moving him to Intensive Care."

"I thought he was… when I saw him, I thought…" She sank to her chair again. "Oh, how much more can happen?"

"Eliza Rothchild said tragedies happen in threes."

"Superstition. I've never been overly superstitious, but now… He'll be all right?"

"The doctor seemed optimistic. How did you know Ke

"How? Why, I heard it on the news just this morning. They're saying he was injured while trying to leave the city. That he's the prime suspect in Richard's death. I don't believe that. Not for a moment. I wanted to see him, to tell him that."

"Why don't you believe it?"

"Because Ke

"Sometimes murder's hot-blooded and impulsive."

"You'd know more about that than I. But I know Ke

"Do you know a woman named Anja Carvell?"

"Carvell? I don't think so. Should I? Will they let me see Ke

"I don't know."

"I should try."

Eve got to her feet as Areena rose. "You realize, don't you, that if Ke

Areena shivered, and the faint color in her cheeks faded. "That's only one more reason I know it couldn't have been Ke

"Why is that?"

"He's too much of a gentleman. May I go, Lieutenant?"