AUTOMATIC

1. Connections

Leonardo woke to the melodic strains of Beethoven's Ode to Joy that chirped at him from his cellphone. He felt for it in the darkness.

"Hello?" he said groggily.

"There's been another one," said the caller.

"Are you sure Andi?" Leonardo asked.

"Captain's pretty sure. He wants our asses at Cedars within the hour."

"I just got to sleep."

"Are you listening partner? Get your freaking carcass out of bed and meet me at the hospital!" the woman barked, then added softly, "Leo she might not make it."

"I'll see you there," he said. "What time is it anyway?"

"Half past noon."

"Wonderful," he said sarcastically.

Fifteen minutes later Det. Leonardo Luz strove out the front door of his condominium. His dark sunglasses sat close on his nose under the 3 ½ inch brim of his black Dakota style Stetson hat. He slid his hands out of the sleeves of his long coat to pull it down a bit lower as he stepped into the warm California sunshine. Minutes later he was cruising east along the Santa Monica freeway, the dark tint of his Ford Caprice and the a/c blasting on maximum helping to make the summer heat bearable. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the symphonic patter of Carmina Burina. His partner, Det. Andi Jacobs was waiting for him impatiently as he stepped out of the elevator in the critical care unit of Cedars Sinai Hospital.

"How is she?" he asked.

"She's pretty fucked up but she's conscious," Andi replied.

Leonardo followed her into the room. Without a pause he turned off the lights of the room as he entered.  The nurse standing by the bedside opened her mouth to protest but the sight of Detective Luz was imposing. For the first time since leaving his condo, he took off his sunglasses and hat as he came to the bed where the teenage girl was laying. In the trickle of light that peeped from behind the window curtain, the nurse couldn't take her eyes off the gaunt lean figure before her. His dark choppy hair and pale skin, his loose clothing that masked a surprising athleticism and sort of coiled muscularity.  Like a jaguar he moved closer to the bed and she saw them – his eyes. Officially brown on his identification, they were the most brilliant golden color she had ever seen and in the darkness they flashed with an intensity that was shocking. The nurse transfixed, watched as those piercing eyes softened and assumed a tender gentleness when he rested them at last upon the victim at her side. The girl's eyes were half closed and she seemed to be in a lot of pain, but she was awake and moaning softly. Leonardo scanned her medical chart. He whispered under his breath the catalogue of the girl's injuries.

"Multiple lacerations and contusions, fracture of the Superior Maxillary...."

"Her jawbone was broken? Can she talk?" he asked the nurse.

"Yes but it will be painful." He nodded to the nurse and continued reading the chart.

"Distension of the right and left femurs, cracking of the pelvic orbitals, 263 stitches for the vaginal cavity...."

"The bastard practically split her in two," cursed Andi. Leonardo put the chart down.

"Do you have the labs?"

"Not yet, she just came out of surgery a while ago," the nurse replied.

"Show me," Leonardo indicated to Andi. Despite being heavily dosed with painkillers, the girl let out a heartbreaking whine as Det. Jacobs and the nurse gently rolled her sideways some inches and lifted open the back of her gown. The nurse gingerly peeled away a four inch square of bloody gauze. Leonardo bent closer. He spent several seconds inspecting the site.