Solitary - 1. Chapter 1

The call came in too early in the morning for Elena to want a call to come in. She and Don had just settled at their desks and were sorting through overnight e-mail and phone messages, Ike was in talking with Owen, Rob was working the front desk, and Jae was out getting maintenance done on one of their squad cars.

“Knife fight,” Rob called across the room as he ended the incoming call.

“Where?” Don called back, though he wasn’t in direct line of sight with Rob. “The high school?”

“That’s weird,” contributed Elena. “It’s not that kind of school.”

“No. At Bridgeport Hills,” Rob told them.

“A nursing home?” Elena asked. Then she had to laugh.

“Maybe they’re doing an old folks version of West Side Story, and someone slipped in practice,” Don added, also grinning.

“Nope, this is real,” Rob insisted. “Two serious injuries, with the paramedics already there.”

“On it,” Elena said, as she and Don both grabbed their jackets.

“Knife fight at Bridgeport Hills,” Elena told Ike as she passed Owen’s open office door. He gave her a puzzled look, but she just added, “Tell you more when we’re back.”

She and Don headed out for a squad car. This needed a siren, they’d decided, though the nursing home was less than a mile away. Don called “Shotgun” even before they got down the front steps, so Elena drove, wondering aloud as she did, “Could two people hate each other that much – get so tired of seeing each other and putting up with each other’s habits – that they’d actually fight?”

“Maybe it’s dementia – or Alzheimer’s,” Don offered. “Maybe one of the people hurt was an aide, trying to break it up.”

“But a knife? Why would anyone have a sharp knife at breakfast?”

“Steak and eggs?”

“Could be,” Elena admitted. “I was thinking soft food, like we give my great-grandmother.”

As it happened, and as Elena and Don quickly found out, it wasn’t two residents who’d been brawling, and it wasn’t a resident and a staff member. It was a cook and a waiter, and the fight had been in the kitchen where, no matter what the meal, there was easy access to sharp knives.

By the time they got there, the fire department had both of the workers on gurneys with one in an ambulance.

“You couldn’t talk with her anyway,” Elena was told. “She’s bleeding too badly – there’s blood everywhere.”

“Dangerous,” Don agreed. “Is she gonna live?”

“That’s up to the emergency room. We’ll race her to Northhampton.”

“And the other one?” Elena asked. “How much blood?”

“Different kind of damage,” she and Don were told. “He was choked – possibly paralyzed. She almost broke his neck.”

“Strong hands.”

“Well, she’s a cook – probably works with her hands all day. And he’s a relatively small guy – five eight or nine. She’s almost as tall and looks like a runner – an athlete.”

“All useful information,” Elena said, and thanked the paramedic. Then, not being able to speak with the two people they most wanted to, Elena and Don turned to staff members.

“The fight started in the kitchen,” they were told. “It got us all by surprise.”

“Jess and Kye had been fighting all morning – you know, trading barbs. Hell, it’s been going on for weeks.”

“We all thought they were in love – like in the movies. Only it didn’t work out that way.”

“What exactly happened?” Don asked.

“Well, it came on pretty fast. One moment they were trading funny insults, and the next, her hands were around his neck.”

“We’ve heard he’s a small man,” Elena helped guide. “Is that true?”

“Nah, he’s probably the usual height for guys around here – five-nine or ten. And she might be a little tall for a woman – maybe five six in running shoes. That’s about all we wear around here – staff and residents.”

“It’s easier.”

“Anyway, one second, they were putting each other down – though we all thought it was fake and were laughing along – and the next, he must’ve said something that really hurt – that somehow got to her and pissed her off – because suddenly her hands were around his neck.”

“And she was giving it to him hard. It’s not that she works out or anything – not that we’ve talked about, though she’s pretty private – but you can tell she’s in really good shape.”

“You’ve got to be to work around here – just to help the residents in and out of bed.”

“And get them to the bathroom and help pick them up when they fall.”

“If they don’t break anything – which no one has for a while.” She knocked on wood, though it was actually Formica.

“So if she had her hands around his neck,” Elena tried to focus, “how did he get the knife?”

“Well, he was really choking – really having trouble getting a breath.”

“And we still thought they were faking – just to make us laugh.”

“But I finally took it seriously and was about to break it up.”

“Then Kye was groping on the counter – Jess had him leaning back against it – the sharp edge was cutting into his spine.”

“His lower spine.”

“On top of his not being able to breathe.”

“And she was kind of straddling him, too – one foot on either side of his bigger ones. But both of his were still trapped on the floor.”

“So she was crushing his back and cutting off his air.”

“And he was grabbing for anything to defend himself – maybe hit her with.”

“When – unfortunately – he found the knife,”

“A butcher’s knife. Not a big one, but sharp.”

“And he just swung – like it was all he could do. You could tell he wasn’t thinking.”

“He was a wild man. Doing anything he could to breathe.”

“By then, we were afraid to break them up, because one of us could get hurt.”

“He was just whaling with that knife.”

“Then she was down on the floor, and the next thing we knew, so was he.”

“We thought they were continuing to fight.”

“To wrestle.”

“But she was bleeding all over the place.”

“And he just passed out.”

“So we called the nursing office.”

“And called the police – well, you know that.”

“And someone must’ve called the fire department, because they were here almost immediately.

“They’re just around the corner.”

“And then you got here and – well, when you get into the kitchen, you’ll see the mess.”