Bless the Broken Road Ch. 04

"Time to face the music, Jess. You belong here for LT. Let me handle this."

Hoss approached the officers just as they were about to go into the ER doors.

"Officers, I can explain what is going on if you will allow me."

"Who are you?"

"I was one of the guys at the farm who helped release a woman held captive by her husband, and where the two girls were later found to also be held captive."

"What? Wait. There were more than two victims? What farm?"

"Her farm." Hoss said pointing to Jessie. "She was being held there, also."

"Held by who?"

"Her husband and his buddies."

"Where is her husband now?"

"Uh... still at the farm."

"Where is her farm?"

"Hold on. Jess? What's the address for your farm?"

"32405 Chalk Hill Rd." she said.

Turning to the officers Hoss said "That's Carroll County."

"Hold on." Speaking into his lapel mike he radioed "Unit 3402."

"3402 go," the dispatcher said.

"3402, we have a third victim. Contact Carroll County Sheriff's Department. Advise them Code 22, 32405 Chalk Hill Rd. Subjects may still be at that location."

"Copy 3402."

Hoss spoke up. "Uh, they are definitely still there."

"How do you know?"

"Because they're dead."

The officer's eyes grew wide.

"What happened?"

"We shot them."

The officer looked at Hoss for a moment, then over to his partner, who looked as evenly confused.

"Unit 3402."

"3402 go."

"Can you send backup down here? Also step up 445's response."

"Copy, 3402."

"Jason, go back and see what is going in with the other victims. I want to stay here and get more info from this guy," the cop said to his partner.

As Hoss and the cop spoke, two plain-clothes detectives walked in, followed by three more uniformed officers. They were all gathering around Hoss and the officer asking him questions. Jessie sensed that they might fear that Hoss was going to be a problem. She stood and walked over to them, pushing her way through the cop huddle, and wrapped her arms around Hoss' arm. She stood beside this huge man, and it was meant to be a message, given in the only way she knew how, that he was not a threat.

"This is Jessie. She is the third victim. Although we didn't know the other two girls were there until after we rescued her." Hoss said.

"So your husband kidnapped you. From where?" the initial officer asked Jessie.

"My boyfriend's house."

"Your boyfriend's house? You have a husband and a boyfriend?"

"I'm in the middle of a divorce."

"Okay. Where is your boyfriend's house?"

"Outside Newcomerstown. There are probably two dead guys in the house."

The police officer was beside himself with the revelations coming in like they were. "Who are they? And how do you know they are dead?"

"They were with my husband when they kidnapped me, and I shot them."

"Oh shit." Turning to one of the other uniformed officers, he said. "We have another scene. Notify Tuscarawas County Sherriff."

She gave him the address.

"And where is your boyfriend now?"

"He is in there (pointing to the ER) with severe head injuries. He was hit in the head with a baseball bat, and then shot in the head."

"By who?"

"My husband."

"And where did this happen?"

"At my farm."

"And your husband is dead?"

Before Hoss could stop her, Jessie said "Yes, I shot him."

"YOU shot him?"

"I thought that guy shot him."

"No. I shot Jack and Tim. I don't know who Hoss shot."

"Who is Tim?"

"A friend of my husband's who hit my boyfriend in the head with the bat."

"So, you shot how many people?"

"Four, I guess."

Turning to Hoss, he said "So who did you shoot?"

"Two guys acting as snipers on the ridge east of the house."

"Two guys? Only two? Anyone else?"

"No. Just two. I don't know who Brett shot."

"Who's Brett?"

Just then there was a commotion behind the ER door. Everyone in the lobby stopped talking and turned to look toward the door.

A woman was yelling and as the ER doors open up, her voice became very loud.

Walking backward, with his arms raised, palms facing outward in a resigning fashion to indicate he was not trying to be confrontational, Brett was backing out of the door and away from a very angry ER nurse who appeared to want to stab him with her finger.

"The girls are being examined and they are safe. If you don't get your ass out... into the... waiting..."

The nurse's voice trailed off as she saw four uniformed police officers, two plain-clothes detectives, and one very large man with a woman clinging to his arm, all standing there looking at her. Brett saw the look on her face, stopped and turned his head. He looked up to the ceiling and muttered under his breath "Shit!"

"That's Brett," Hoss said.

Turning around, Brett dropped his arms and said. "Oh, hey. Hi, guys. Did I miss something?"

The waiting room was still silent. The detective closest to Brett pointed at him, and with his index finger, indicated that Brett should join the party. As Brett walked up to the group, the outside doors opened and in walked Gene Simmons, followed closely by Kevin Byler.

"I didn't realize you would come down. I only wanted to let you know what happened to LT. But it's a real clusterfuck now and I'm glad you're here." Hoss said to Gene.

"Who are you two?" one of the detectives asked.

"My name is Gene Simmons. I'm an attorney with Williams Transport."

"So what are you doing here?" the detective asked.

"I'm his attorney." Gene said pointing at Hoss.

"Kevin? What are you doing here?" Jessie asked.

"He's with me," Hoss said to Gene as he pointed at Brett.

"Hi, Mrs. Masterson. How are you? I have no idea why I'm here. Gene called me and told me to 'git my ass down here as soon as I could'." Kevin said in his best Gene imitation.

"I'm his attorney, too." Gene quickly added pointing to Brett.

"What? How do you know Gene?"

"The day that Mr. Martin came to see me, he offered me a job. It was a few days later that I accepted the offer." Kevin said.

The detective looked at Jessie. "Are either of these two your attorney?"

Both Gene and Kevin answered 'yes' simultaneously.

"And are either of you two the attorney for the other victims involved in this?" the detective asked.

"What other victims?" Gene asked.

Jessie thought to herself that Rob never told her he offered Kevin a job. She remembered how she jumped him at the door when he returned from the meeting because of the phone call from Kevin. 'Why didn't he say anything about that?' she thought. She now felt somewhat bad about jumping Rob the way that she did... even though he deserved it for embarrassing her like that! How could he not tell her?

Looking at Brett, the uniformed officer asked Brett "Did you shoot anyone?"

"You don't have to answer that!" Gene replied quickly.

Brett glanced quickly at Hoss for some indication of what to do, because he missed whatever happened while he was in the ER. Hoss said, "Go ahead and tell them."

"There were two guys on the north rise. They were spread apart a bit, not a team. But they were both armed. I ghosted them both." Brett blew his exhale out through his lips in a sign of resignation.

"I'd ask you to radio this in but I'm not sure how to explain all this," the detective said to the initial responding officer.

"Unit 3402."

"3402 go."

"Advise Carroll County there are multiple 404's at that location."

"Oh, tell them to be careful where they step. There is a meth lab in a white building to the northeast of the house." Hoss added.

"Jesus Christ. Okay. 3402."

"3402 go."

"Also advise Carroll County to have hazmat respond. There is a drug lab on site."

"3402 copy."

"I lost count of how many bodies. Was anyone else keeping track?" the officer asked, looking around to the others standing there.

"I think six" one of the uniformed officers said.

"Okay, look." The detective said. "We need to sort this out somewhere other than this waiting room." Looking at Jessie he said "Ma'am. Have you been examined by a physician yet?"

"No. I'm okay. Just knocked around a little." Jessie said.

"All right. I advise you to get checked out just in case." Looking at Hoss and Brett he said, "You two need to come to the station with us for further questioning. Looking at the first uniformed officer he said "Is someone getting a statement from the two women in the ER?"

"Yes. Jason is in there."

"Okay, tell him to get this woman's statement when he is finished in there."

"Sergeant, do you want these two cuffed?" one of the officer's asked.

The Sergeant looked at both men. Both had admitted to shooting someone, or more than someone, but they gave no indication that they were a flight risk. Just the opposite. They seemed willing to comply and work with the officers. Not exactly the behavior you would expect from murderous criminals.

"No. No need. But if they give you any problems, don't hesitate to shoot them. Seems to be the thing to do around here," the detective said dryly.

The sergeant walked out followed by the remaining entourage of suspects/witnesses, one attorney and the remaining uniformed officers. Kevin stayed behind to ask Jessie if she wanted or needed him to stay with her. She was worried about Hoss and Brett, and felt they needed all the help they could get at the moment. She told him to go to the police station, she would be in the ER and wasn't going anywhere.

When everyone was gone, Jessie found a couch to sit on off in a corner where she could be alone. Now she had much more to worry about than Rob, although she was incredibly worried for him. She began feeling that all of this was her fault. She and her lousy marriage had caused so many good people so much pain. She wouldn't allow herself to think that Rob would die. Hoss and Brett could end up in prison. Eight people were dead, two young girls were kidnapped, and she was well aware of what they probably had endured.

It all revolved around her and her actions and decisions. The weight of the guilt she piled on herself was enormous.

Before too long, a doctor came out and began looking around the waiting room. Jessie jumped up and ran over to him.

"Are you looking for someone with Rob... with the head injury?"

"Yes. Are you his wife, or a family member?"

"I'm his, um, fiancée. Can you tell me how he is doing?" She thought fiancée would get her farther than girlfriend, and she wanted to be as close to him and what was going on with him as she could.

"Do you have Power of Attorney for the patient?"

When he said that, her heart almost stopped.

"No. His parents live in Florida and maybe they have it, but I don't know who else might have it. Why? What's going on?"

"Follow me. We need to talk in private." The doctor led her down a hallway opposite of the nurse's station desk to a small meeting room. Inside, he told her that Rob's injuries were very serious.

"He has massive trauma to his skull. The medical term is TBI - Traumatic Brain Injury. Both sides of his head have broken fragments of bone. That actually may have helped him to survive to this point because it allowed the brain to swell when it needed to. However, with head trauma this severe, there are far more unanswered questions about what will happen. The next 48 to 72 hours are critical to determining if he survives. It would be best if we had the closest family member here or someone with power of attorney for the patient in case hard decisions need to be made."

"What are his chances of surviving this?"

"I'll be honest, I think very slim. His skull is shattered. I have no idea how badly injured his brain is. There is blood in the cerebral fluid and it shows up on the CT scan, but no concrete evidence whether the blood came from outside or inside his brain. We will be doing an MRI soon to look deeper into the brain, but for the moment, we are trying to keep him alive, first and foremost. Whatever damage there is has already been done. "

Jessie broke down and started crying.

"Do what you can to get a family member here as fast as you can. I'm sorry."

The doctor didn't seem convinced that Rob was going to make it. Jessie had no contact information for Rob's parents. She thought maybe Hoss might know, but he was likely not able to use his phone. She had Kevin's number and knew he was going to be at the police station, so she called him. She explained the situation and asked if he could somehow get word to Hoss. He said he would try and would let her know, either way.

Jessie went back out to the waiting room. She tried to get comfortable, but waiting rooms aren't meant for that. She thought back to how Rob and she had met. She was running from Jack and hit a pothole in the road very hard, hard enough to flatten her tire. She was so scared, and then mad, that she jumped out of the car and started kicking the flat tire and screaming at it. When she heard a man's voice behind her, she knew it wasn't Jack. This guy sounded calm.

She spun around to see who it was and was startled because he looked so handsome, although that wasn't exactly where her mind was. He was tall, almost a foot taller than she was. He looked to be in very good shape. He definitely had muscles, but not like a bodybuilder. His short-sleeved shirt showed a tattoo on his left forearm and both arms appeared to have some scars on them His chest was big, shoulders broad, and he had that male-model V-pattern from his shoulders to his waist.

She kept telling him to leave. Looking back, she couldn't believe that she told him that. Where would she be now if he had listened to her? She knew that if Jack saw him with her, he would probably kill them both. When Jack arrived, things became a blur. She thought they would die and she gave up and curled up in a ball. She worried about what would happen to her kids. How she missed Greg.

Then, she looked up and saw Rob kneeling down in front of her. His hand reaching out for her. She didn't understand. Where was Jack? Rob had gotten rid of him. She was stunned. Someone who could make Jack afraid, and now he was being gentle with her, helping her stand up. My God, she was in awe of him. Then he took her for coffee, of all things.

They went to the busiest place in town. Everybody saw them. That made her fairly uncomfortable since everyone knew Jack. She knew this wouldn't sit well with him. Then Tim in the parking lot with his bat. She was happy she broke a couple of his ribs. He deserved much more than that.

At the motel, Rob never once tried anything with her. He was a perfect gentleman. She couldn't believe it. She didn't know there were any guys like that left in the world.

Jessie's phone rang and it was Kevin. Hoss had been given permission to contact Rob's parents and they were flying up as soon as possible. They should be there, hopefully, in about 10 hours. He also told her that because of the multiple crime scenes and the drug lab, the FBI and DEA had been called in. She told him she had no new news about Rob.

A few hours later, the doctor came back out. He said the MRI showed no damage deep in his brain. His spine and spinal cord looked normal, at least so far.

"How did he injure himself? I've never seen a skull broken as badly as his. Plus the severe gash on the left side of his head." The doctor asked.

Jessie told the doctor about the ball bat and then Jack shooting him in the head.

"Well that explains a lot. He is in critical condition, but alive. That is about all I can say about his condition. He will be going up to ICU soon. He can only have visitors for 15 minutes at a time. There is a more comfortable waiting room there. Were you able to contact his family?"

Jessie said Rob's parents should be here in a few hours, but didn't know if they have power of attorney over Rob.

"Okay. Make sure they stop at the nurse's station to check in before they visit the patient so we know they are here and we can get contact information for them."

Jessie went back to the waiting room and slumped into a seat. She hadn't felt this kind of despair since before meeting Rob, and now, he may die because of her. Why didn't Rob leave her when she told him to? He would not be near death if he had. Her mother, then her father, then her first husband... all dead. And now, she may lose Rob. She couldn't deal with this shit. If she lost him, what would she do?

Hoss and Brett would likely go to prison. She'd ruined their lives. She knew Hoss wasn't married and had no kids, but she had no idea if Brett had any. What if he had a family? God she just ruined all their lives! And for what? What made her so important that these people would go to such lengths and endanger themselves?

It was too much to deal with and her mind was going numb trying to process it all. She just wanted it to all go away. She wanted everything to be like it had been before. She was so tired. Jessie closed her eyes hoping to rest for a moment.

The doctor woke her, telling her that they had placed Rob in a medically induced coma to stop any chance of him moving and doing further damage to his brain, and also to give his body a fighting chance to heal. When Jessie asked how long he would be in the coma, the doctor said "As long as it takes. Only the patient can tell us that. He is still in critical condition, but he is alive.

"What are his chances of recovery now?"

"There is no way to guess. If he survives, physically he could make a complete recovery. However, mentally, that is a complete toss of the dice. Worst case scenario, he might never regain consciousness. Right now there is brain activity, so that is a good sign. If he regains his consciousness, he may or may not regain his complete mental faculties. He might have permanent memory loss. We just don't know enough about the brain to hazard a guess. We can only wait and see what happens."

Jessie asked if she could see him. The doctor said she could in a little while, but at the moment it was still busy in his room. About two hours later, a nurse came to Jessie and asked her if she was with Robert Martin. She jumped up and said yes. The nurse asked if anyone else was here with her and Jessie said no, not at the moment. The nurse said she could go see Rob for about 15 minutes, but she needed to explain what was going on with him. She wanted to warn Jessie of what she was going to see. She might not recognize him because his face was swollen and dark from bruising, his head was wrapped and he was on a ventilator. Jessie nodded her head, hoping she was prepared for what he was going to look like, but there was no way she wasn't going in there. The nurse walked Jessie back to Rob's room and said she would be right outside if Jessie needed anything.

Jessie took a deep breath and opened the door. When she approached Rob's bed, her knees buckled and she got sick to her stomach. It really didn't look like Rob at all. What little of his face was exposed was so swollen and dark purple and black, as well as the tube making him breathe, that she didn't recognize him. There were tubes and wires coming from everywhere on him, and beeps and tones coming from several machines all around behind him. Tears were forcing their way out as she looked at him. She knew what happened wasn't her fault, but if it wasn't for her, Rob would not be like this. There was nothing she could do to help him. She felt so useless.

Jessie reached down and took his hand. That was how she finally knew it was him. That was the hand she had held so often. It felt comfortable and reassuring. She stroked his hand and spoke to him. She had no idea if he could hear her. She'd heard the stories that sometimes the patients recall conversations that happened around them when they were unconscious, or remember people talking to them, so she had nothing to lose. She told him how much she loved him and that she would be there when he woke up. After about 15 minutes, the nurse poked her head in the door and said, unfortunately, time was up. Jessie went to the waiting area, sat down and tried to call Hoss to update him.