Echo Response

Chapter 1

The pain was reverberating in his head; the silent sound of a town hall bell between his temples made it hard to distinguish what his daily purpose was. Detective Mitch Taylor lifted his head off the pillow that was resting on the hospital chair that he was now used to curling up on; night after night. He ran his palms up and down over his face and bleary eyes. Blinking a few times, he looked over at Kate, lying still on the hospital bed; still in a coma. Her breathing was steady and her blonde hair was only just at shoulder length.

A nurse passed by the room, barely glancing at Mitch. He had become part of the furniture over this last year. Stretching out his legs, he quickly retracted one of them as it pulled into a cramp. His neck was sore. Deep down, he knew that drowning his concerns in alcohol was a bad idea. He'd been there before, and had promised never to go back again. After the consequences of the events from a year ago with his son getting mixed up with a corrupt crime gang; Mitch just didn't seem to be able to find his centre again.

Of course he wasn't the only one to suffer. Lives had been lost, including the sister of Angel Morgan. Angel had worked closely with Mitch as the head CSI agent on the criminal cases that Mitch was investigating. Unlike Mitch though, Angel had been able to resume her job in some form of a normal life.

Standing up, Mitch tried to stretch again. Reaching inside the small cupboard next to Kate, he pulled out a clean shirt that he purposefully left there. Before putting it on, he sprayed some Lynx deodorant around his body. The fresh shirt and body spray only barely hid the residual odour.

As he went over to the sink to freshen up, Mitch heard the tense clamour of voices down the hall.

"This man needs to her surgery now!" insisted the ER nurse.
The head doctor responded in a frustrated tone, "You have to keep him as stable as possible, the surgery is full. There just isn't enough resources, or doctors. Funding cuts have been outrageous after the last budget. Emergency staff, ambulance, call centres, they're all at breaking point" The doctor ran his hand in a downward motion over his frustrated face. "Just do the best you can"

"But what do I tell his relatives?"

Mitch remembered the waiting room well. The fear and uncertainty as your loved one is invisible. You can't see them, you can't hear them. All you can do is presume, and run scenarios through your mind until a doctor finally walks through the door and calls your name. It's then that your heart stops and you focus all your vision intently upon the news bearer's face, trying to read every sign and signal; a smile, a serious frown, sorrow. Your brain can process information at a rate that is faster than any super computer, but it's not until you hear the words come out of their mouth that your heart can beat again. Whether the news was bad or good, your heart beats again.

Mitch washed his face. After drying it, he looked back at Kate. There were so many things he wanted to say to her. It had crossed his mind more than once, that when she awoke, she may well have forgotten about the incidents before. Not just the facts about their son, Nathan, being caught up with the criminal gang and forced to do things that landed him under house arrest. Not just about the facts of her being shot in the head by one of the evil criminals. Mitch also hoped she would forget the facts about them losing their baby girl at childbirth only two years ago. Mitch hoped. Maybe when she woke up, it would be like having the old Kate back; one full of life and joy, and not addicted to pain killers and alcohol.

He kissed her on the forehead before heading out to find something to eat before he passed out. Then he would check in on Nathan.

A respect for life was all that kept Mitch from consuming alcohol at the wrong times in case he would be over the limit for driving. He still had a breathalyser in his car; the replacement car. After writing off his beloved black commodore in the pursuit against the criminals, Commissioner Adriano had replaced it with a shiny new HSV (Holden Special Vehicle) model before he retired, and that was despite Mitch not officially returning to duty.