As a matter of survival, Clay had managed to derive a sense of validation from this familiar albeit self-tortuous mental loop. And, as many do, he thought he had come to find some semblance of peace within the constant justification of his choices. But lying there in the hospital, alone, he realized he had long ago become tangled in the web of his own faulty logic. And all these years since the divorce had been spent living in a prison of his own making.
Done with that. When I get home, I’m going to bust those damn coffee cups into tiny pieces.
𓂓
Officer Street looked around the technician’s office for a place to sit. He pulled a chair from the wall and eased into it. Slade sat back in his seat and looked over at him. “Remarkable, isn’t it?”
“That’s one word for it.”
“Is this the first time you’ve seen something like this?” Slade asked.
“Yeah, this is definitely a first,” Streets reflected. “I mean, you see the TV shows about paranormal activity and think how fake it must be... but this. This looks like proof to me.”
“Sure does.”
“Could the video have been... I don’t know... tampered with or enhanced somehow?” Streets asked.
“By this lady, Sally?” Slade chuckled. “She barely understood how the DVR worked. Besides, we have forensic filters. I ran algorithms to check for tampering. I also looked for encoding inconsistencies. I have more work to do, but yeah, so far, it seems legitimate.”
“You’re sure about the quality of the video?”
Slade sat up and grabbed the DVR. “Yes, this is relatively new tech, recorded in 1080HD. Her ex-husband installed it using wired night vision bullet cameras. It’s not high-end but fairly typical. I don’t have any reason to doubt the quality of the system.”
Slade kept going with some technical details about how he slowed and enhanced the video. Streets drifted off a bit while Slade carried on. For one of the few times in his career, he didn’t know what to do next. One thing was certain—he needed to keep a lid on this at least for now. He knew he couldn’t trust Hines. Although departmental loyalties were few and far between in this precinct, Slade had consistently proven he could be counted on.
Slade had cut his explanation short, as if he understood Streets needed time to process.
Streets looked up, his thoughts returning to the present moment. “Slade, I need your help on this one while I investigate.”
“Right...” Slade sat back and looked Streets in the eyes.
As a new detective, Streets knew he had thus far been relegated to tech geek because of his knowledge in that department, but everyone knew that Slade wanted more. Most newer detectives also understood that gaining the trust of an up-and-coming officer like Streets would be worth any risks.
“I’ll keep this between you and me,” Slade added.
“Alright. Can you make me a copy?” Streets asked.
“No problem,” Slade said. “I’ll put it on a USB.”
“Give me one at regular speed, then that second one in slow motion.”
“Can do,” Slade said. The files transferred quickly, and Slade handed him the thumb drive.
Streets gave Slade an approving glance. “Thanks, buddy.”
𓂓
They had moved Clay from the trauma bay in the ER to an intermediate care unit one floor up. Jackie, Elena, Sally, and Sean huddled around Clay’s bed. Sean had introduced Jackie and Elena as they settled in. The nurse explained that, since Clay had regained consciousness, he had been demonstrating better reflexes. The potent muscle relaxer they administered seemed to be working. He also had a deep bruise on his right hip and a contusion on the right side of his head where he struck the fender. Otherwise, he appeared to be fine, physically. Although he made good eye contact and responded lucidly to questions, he hadn’t been very talkative, only giving one-word answers or shaking his head in reply. This despondency worried the nurses as well as everyone else.
When the exams were complete and the test results came back, the doctor paid a visit to the makeshift family surrounding Clay. “Good morning.”
Everyone nodded and murmured back in response.
“Who is next of kin here?”
No one spoke, except for Clay. “There is no next of kin, Doc. I’m divorced. My parents passed away while I was in college, only child...” He stumbled on the words and looked down in shame after being forced to bare his soul in front of complete strangers.
Everyone stared at him, stunned.
“Is there someone we can call?” the doctor pressed.
“No.” A tear rolled from the corner of Clay’s eyes as they swelled with wetness. “No one.”
Jackie realized why Clay hadn’t said much. Besides the shock of the accident, he was worried because there would be no one to have his back and see him through this. “We are here,” Jackie said. Sally and Sean nodded.
Elena put her hand over Clay’s and looked up at Jackie. “That’s right, Momma,” she said, then turned and gave Clay an earnest look.
Jackie’s eyes met Clay’s. “And we will be until he has recovered.” Seeing the emotion in Clay’s eyes, Jackie teared up too. She quickly broke eye contact and composed herself. It wouldn’t help to break down here.
The doctor assessed the situation and nodded in agreement. “Okay, here’s what we have.” The doctor looked down at his charts.
“The impact traumatized your lower spine. Based on the inflammation and swelling in that area, the accident appears to have caused one of your vertebrae to slightly slip out of place, likely causing the temporary paralysis. Depending on the trauma, this can last from a couple of hours to a few days.”
“Temporary,” Sally repeated, visibly relieved.
“Is there any severe or permanent damage?” Clay asked.
“As far as I can tell, there is no permanent damage. Because you are in such good shape physically, the vertebrae likely corrected itself when we stabilized your posture and placed orthopedic pillows under your knees and neck. This allowed for some mild decompression. We also administered a strong muscle relaxer to ease the pain. The medication took the muscles out of ‘guard mode’. So, the muscles around the vertebrae eventually relaxed, and the disc likely slipped back into place while you were in decompression. As of now, you are demonstrating good reflexes and range of motion.”
