Providence Ch. 04

Mari's head swam and she felt dizzy. They hadn't even removed the remaining sheets from the rest of the bodies, but judging from the sizes, she already knew who they were. She didn't have time to protest, though, as the diener removed the second sheet.

Her breath caught in her throat and out came a strangled cry she didn't recognize. She turned her head and stared at Don, whose jaw was clenched so tight she feared his teeth would shatter in his mouth.

She realized the sound came from her and the medical examiner stared at her expectantly.

He cleared his throat. "Ma'am, this is a young male, we're estimating around four or five years of age. Can you identify him?"

"That's... that's... his name is Lucas. He's four years old," said Mari.

Again, no tears. She could barely get the words out as she tried to circumvent the increasing lump in her throat. "Open the next one. I want to get this over with," she demanded, with resolve in her voice.

The medical examiner nodded to the diener and off came the last sheet. A sob threatened to come out of Mari's throat as she saw the mangled body of her little girl.

"That's... that's... Elise. She's one and a half, that's, that's my baby," she choked out, and before anyone could stop her, she closed the distance between her and the metal tables.

She ran to Elise, picking her up from the table and moved to Lucas, picking up his limp body before putting all of their combined weight on Kenzo's body. She piled all of them on him and held on tightly, barely breathing as the dam burst inside her.

"NOOO!!! What is happening? Kenzo!!! No baby, you've gotta come back to me, Kenz! Our babies are here with you, please come back to me! Lucas and Elise are here, baby, please God, bring them back to me! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry I wasn't there, I'm so sorry... GOD, PLEASE! PLEASE, GOD, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE --"

Mari felt two strong arms wrap around her, lift her up, and move her away from the table and out of the room.

"NO! Let me fucking go! My whole family is in there, I need to be in there! Let me the fuck go!"

She growled, and the sound sounded so inhumane to Don that he almost dropped her. Liza desperately tried to calm her down to no avail, and Don was getting serious scratch marks on his face, his arms, anywhere that Mari could scratch or bite.

The medical examiner motioned for the sheriffs to help, and they assisted Don before they took over. It was no use, as the woman thrashed around so badly it was not enough for three people to restrain her.

Somewhere a voice called out, "Code GRAY to the morgue, code GRAY to the morgue, code GRAY STAT!" A few moments later, two orderlies rushed through the hallway.

A nurse ran behind them and the medical examiner yelled, "Lorazepam, you have it?" The nurse, seeing the commotion in front of her, spun around and ran the other direction, returning moments later with a syringe of the sedative.

She hesitated, seeing a woman flailing wildly, barely being contained by two officers, two male orderlies, and another man, while another woman was hurriedly talking on the phone. She ran to them, tried to find purchase on a flailing arm, missed, and tried again.

This time, the needle found its mark and she plunged the sedative fully. "Jesus, lady, calm down!" she thought, stepping back and waiting for it to take effect.

"Did you get it?" yelled the orderly. She nodded, and in about two minutes, Mari hesitated and everyone loosed their grip on her. She blinked, closed her eyes, then slumped against Officer Hadley.

-----------------

"Rachel, are you by Aaron? Listen, there's been an accident. No, yes, we're fine, but it's Kenzo. He and the kids were in a car accident, they got hit by a drunk driver. Rach... it's bad, really bad. They didn't make it," Liza sobbed.

She had to continue. She hated this part.

"Mari called us to help her identify the bodies in the hospital, and well, she lost it. We had to sedate her because Don, two orderlies, and two officers couldn't contain her... Could you tell Aaron? Yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah, just... it's so bad, Rach.

The kids, oh my god, I won't be able to get that picture out of my head... Yeah, that's up to you, I know Aaron's got to preach tomorrow. I called Kevin already, and you were my next call. Kevin said he'd talk to Ben and George too... Ok, yeah, yeah, I'm ok, but Don is scratched up pretty bad... Yeah... No, can't say I blame her... Yeah, ok, I'll talk to you soon and keep you updated. Ok, bye," Liza hung up the phone and turned to Don.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, but that girl sure can fight when she wants to. Can't say I blame her, though. Glad she's getting to rest," said Don, wincing as he touched the bandage on his face.

Both of them settled on the bench outside the room where they kept Mari, still unconscious and sedated. Don had argued with the staff about placing her in handcuffs, noting that she'd put up an even bigger fight once she came to and realized she was restrained.

Officer Greene stayed with them while Officer Hadley searched for coffee. "This is gonna be a long night," Hadley thought, running his hand through his hair.

The woman had a lot of fight in her, and he didn't see that spark diminish even as the sedative took effect. He hoped he wouldn't have to restrain her when she came to.

She's had enough for tonight, and it's far from over, he thought.

As he came back from the cafeteria, he glanced at the clock. Damn, only midnight. Today felt like two whole days ago. He could remember screeching to a stop with Greene in the squad car behind him. As he walked out of his car, static crackled on his radio and Greene's voice came through.

"Jesus, Hadley, are you seeing this? What a mess," she said.

"Copy, Greene. I don't like the looks of it. Call for backup. Get EMTs here, ASAP."

He'd been on the sheriff circuit for twelve years and seen his fair share of wrecks and chases, but he always dreaded the wrecks. He could already tell this was going to be one of those nights. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted movement. A man in a red zip-up hoodie stumbled out of his BMW, puked by his rear tire, then attempted to stand up. He fell on his knees, then crawled towards the SUV.

Hadley ran over to him, thinking he was injured, but before he could reach him the man puked again. He could smell the alcohol from where he was standing.

Damn, he thought. He smells like the fuckin' bar.

Hadley checked him over, noting no visible injuries. "Greene, I got him. Go check on that SUV," he motioned to his colleague.

Greene nodded, then jogged over to the overturned car. Shit, she thought.

Her eyes widened when she saw a car seat with a passenger still strapped inside. "Shit! Hadley, there's a baby in here!" she yelled.

Hadley, hearing her, left the man, now slumped by his car. He sprinted over to her and ran around the other side. "Greene, there's two of them," he said. "Did you call for assistance, yet?"

"Yeah, ETA is two minutes!" she answered.

Hadley looked at the door damage on his side and tried to yank the door open, but it was crushed to the point where it was impossible to open. They'd have to cut the frame to get them out, and he had no tools for it.

"Fuck, where are they? We need to get them out!" he yelled.

He ran to the driver's side where Greene was trying to open the passenger door to no avail. "Sir! Sir! Can you hear me? Sir, wake up! Can you hear me?" Hadley yelled to the driver.

Shit, he thought. He's gone.

He saw the driver upside down with little shards of glass embedded in him from his head to his torso. Blood trickled from his head. Then, a siren. Then one more. Another one. Soon, the night sky lit up with red and blue lights.

"Greene, it's no use. Set up a perimeter and re-direct traffic. We'll have the local PD take over traffic soon," he ordered.

Greene stood up from her position and looked at him. There were tears threatening to fall from her eyes and her lips trembled, betraying that steely look she tried to give him. She nodded her assent and turned to walk, but before she did, she looked at him and said, "Hadley, I hate this shit."

He looked at her and nodded. "Me too."

It was thirteen long minutes before they could get the frame cut. These damn Subarus, Greene thought.

She'd only seen this once before, and she marveled at the frame strength of these cars, but tonight she was annoyed at them. She couldn't wait long enough to get those children out of their car seats, even though she knew, with a sinking feeling, that they were already too late.

We were too late even when we pulled up, she thought.

Finally, they were able to pry one child out.

Jeez, he's probably not even five yet. Damn it, she thought.

They laid him on the ground before they worked on the other one. Soon, they got the other child out.

Fuck, she thought. This just keeps getting worse. She's a baby!

An emergency worker knelt beside the child and checked her vitals, then looked up at Greene. He met her eyes and shook his head. "This shit, man..." he muttered as he got up to join the others as they tried to free the driver.

Greene couldn't even look at the children laying on the ground. She felt cold. She needed to walk away from this, but she knew she couldn't. She still had a job to do.

Where's that fucker, she thought, spinning around to look for the drunk driver. She saw him, still slumped by his car, now having fallen asleep.

You motherfucker. The fucking gall, sleeping like a fucking baby after killing three people in your fucking sports car, smelling like a fucking bar with your fucking dinner all over you, she fumed.

She paused mid-stride, willing herself to calm down.

I can't fucking calm down. There's two children and probably their dad, dead in that fucking car. I can't fucking calm down, but I've got to do it, or I'll wring this motherfucker's head right off his fucking shoulders. Get it together, Chels, you've gotta get it together, she thought, straining to keep her own anger from besting her.

She finally took a deep breath, then made her way to him. She looked at him, up and down, then nudged his foot with her shoe.

"Sir, you need to get up. Sir, can you hear me? You need to get up with your hands behind your head," she said.

The man stirred, opened his eyes and looked around until he focused on her. His glassy stare and the drool that left his mouth just stoked her own anger. "Wha-what happened?" he asked.

"Sir, get up and put your hands behind your head," she said, raising her voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I uh, wha' happen?" he asked.

"SIR! Get up and put your hands behind your HEAD!" she said, yelling the last word as her anger threatened to rise again.

This fucking coward, she thought.

The man staggered to his feet, threatening to fall over again and Greene stepped back, her pistol already aimed at him. He regained his balance, then wobbled to standing and put his hands behind his head.

She stepped forward, fished out her handcuffs, then turned him around to face his car. She pushed him into it with the gun still pointed at him and cuffed him.

"What the fu--hey, what the hell? What did I do? What the fuck happened? You not even talkin' to me, hey, bitch, what the hell? Auggh!" he started to say as Greene placed her knee on the back of his.

"Sir, you've been involved in a fatal accident. You are under arrest for driving under the influence. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Now stay, while I get the breathalyzer," she ordered.

She walked back to her car, retrieved her kit, and almost ran into Hadley as she turned around.

"Hey, you got this? You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I am. I don't even know why I'm bothering with this shit. I can smell him all the way from here," she said.

"I can do it, Greene. Why don't you go over there and talk to PD and the EMTs?" he offered.

"No thanks. I can do it. I want to see this motherfucker ding the fucking charts," she fumed.

She walked towards the man and told him about the test. Then she tested his breath.

0.25, it read. Shit, I'm surprised he's vertical, she thought.

"Sir, come with me," she said, and without waiting for an answer, motioned for Hadley to join her as she led the man to the back of her squad car. Once inside, he slumped in his seat looking outside, still glassy-eyed.

Greene showed the test to Hadley. "Holy shit, Greene. What, did he drink a whole barrel? I doubt he even remembers how he got here," said Hadley.

She just shook her head, seething.

"Come on. Night's not over yet. The ambulance is ready. We'll escort them to the hospital then head over to the house. I found the next of kin on the driver's phone. Surprised the screen still worked since it's cracked to shit. I hope you're ready for the next part," he said.

She nodded, then replied, "It's the worst fucking part. And this is pretty damn bad already."