CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

"Oh god," Jessie muttered to herself as she dashed over and hit the "up" button.

The doors to one elevator opened immediately and she leapt in, pushing the button for the fifth floor. A young man in a white coat stepped in too and reached out to push the button for the third floor.

"Nope," Jessie barked. "We're going to five first. You can get three on the way back down."

"What are you talking about?" the man demanded before extending his hand closer to the button.

Jessie reached out, snagged his hand, and twisted his wrist backward, making him drop to his knees in pain.

"You"ll wait, or I"ll break your wrist, got it?"

He nodded, his eyes watering. Still, she kept him in that position until the doors opened on her floor.

"Thanks, Doc," she said, releasing his hand and stepping out into the hall, "you understand—police business."

He grunted something unintelligible as the door closed behind her. She hurried over to the nearest nurses' station.

"Where is Ash Pierce being held?" she demanded, holding up her ID. "I'm with LAPD."

The two nurses at the station looked startled, but one, older and apparently less inclined to get into an argument with law enforcement, pointed down the hall to the left.

"Room 522," she said.

"Thanks," Jessie said, dashing in that direction.

She pushed through a pair of double doors, went down a long hallway and then, following the room number listings on the wall signs, made a right. That's when she saw her.

Kat was about twenty paces ahead of her, peering through a small window for a closed set of doors marked with a sign reading, "Secure Area: medical and law enforcement personnel only." Jessie noted that her right hand was shoved deep in her jacket, clearly intended to hide the gun she was holding.

"Kat," she said in what she hoped was a normal speaking voice.

Her friend spun around, the gun still in her pocket but protruding forward prominently. She looked emotionally untethered. Her dirty blonde hair was all over the place, and parts of it appeared to be matted with blood. So were her clothes. Her eyes were as intense as Jessie had ever seen them.

"Hey, Jessie," she replied, her voice flat and emotionless.

"What are you doing?" Jessie asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Righting a wrong," Kat answered simply.

"I get that," Jessie said, moving toward her friend, "but we can't be sure that she's behind this. And even if she is, if you do that, the prosecutors won't view it as justified homicide. They'll view it as murder."

"I don't care," Kat told her.

Jessie nodded.

"I don't blame you," she replied. "If I was in your situation, I'd feel the same way. But remember, there are officers in there guarding her. They're not just going to let you take her out. What are you going to do, shoot them too in order to get to her? Those are innocent people doing their jobs."

That seemed to give Kat pause, if only briefly. She was about to reply when the doors were pushed open by a tall, black-haired officer. He looked startled by the two of them.

"What are you doing here?" he asked sternly. "This is a secure area."

Jessie saw Kat tense up and decided to jump in first.

"It's all right, officer," she said, holding up her ID. "I'm Jessie Hunt with Homicide Special Section. I wanted to check on the status of Ash Pierce. There was a recent murder, and we"re here to make sure she wasn't involved in some way."

Jessie noticed Kat flinch at the word "murder." The officer looked briefly confused before finally replying.

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Hunt," he said. "I'm a big fan of HSS. But it would be pretty hard for Pierce to be involved in any kind of crime right now."

"Why is that?"

"Because she only just got out of major neck surgery a few hours ago. She was under anesthesia, and she's been groggy ever since. In fact, she's out like a light right now."

"When was the surgery?" Jessie asked.

"It started at three and ended around seven."

"Where was she prior to that?" Kat asked, speaking for the first time.

The officer looked like he wanted to ask who she was, but apparently decided that if she was with Jessie, he would give her the benefit of the doubt.

"As usual, she was in her room, under armed guard," he answered.

"And then?" Kat demanded.

"Then in surgery prep, under armed guard," he told her, then expounded, sounding slightly offended. "Her surgery was performed with two officers in the room along with the medical staff, and while she was in recovery, she was under armed guard. Like I said, she's back in her room now, still under armed guard."

"You're sure she was never unsupervised?" Kat pressed.

"Considering that I was one of the officers watching her during most of her conscious hours, I'm pretty confident," he said. "I'm only just getting off my shift now."

"What about her phone access?" Kat asked. "Does anyone listen in on her calls?"

"She doesn't have any phone access, ma'am. There's not even one in her room. In addition, all of her personal communications are strictly supervised," he explained, before turning back to Jessie. "Can I ask what murder you think she was involved in?"

Kat flinched again at the word "murder."

"I'd rather not get into the details right now, officer, but you've been very helpful," Jessie replied quietly.

"Of course," he said, eyeing Kat cautiously, "but I'm still going to have to ask both of you to leave this area. I'm happy to escort you back to the general waiting room if you like."

"Kat?" Jessie said expectantly, hoping that was all she'd have to do.

Her friend looked back at her, then at the young officer. She didn't speak. The officer waited, shifting nervously from one foot to the other. He seemed on the verge of saying something else when Kat finally spoke.

"Okay," she muttered quietly, then turned and shuffled down the hall to Jessie, who wrapped an arm around her and led her back in the direction of the nurses' station and then to the small waiting area beyond it.

"Are you planning to wait here?" the officer said. "I can ask one of the doctors to come out and answer any additional questions you might have."

"That's okay," Jessie told him, pushing the elevator button. "I think we'll just go back down to the lobby level."

"All right," the officer said, seeming to sense that there was much more going on here than he could possibly understand. "I hope everything works out."

"Thank you," Jessie said as a pair of elevator doors opened. They got in, and Jessie pushed the button for the lobby. Once the doors closed, Kat looked up at Jessie.

"Thank you for stopping me," she said softly.

"Of course," Jessie replied. "What can I do for you?"

Kat stared at her with lost, helpless eyes.

"Mitch is dead," she whispered.

"I know, sweetie," Jessie whispered back. "I'm so sorry."

Kat shivered violently, as if the truth of what had happened was at first consuming her, and then passing through her system. Tears filled her eyes, and her whole body appeared to hiccup violently. Then she leaned over, wrapped her arms around Jessie and pressed her face into her shoulder. Her sobs made them both shake, though she didn't make a sound.

Jessie didn't speak. She simply hugged her friend back.

She didn't know what else to do.