It took a few minutes for Jay to get a grip on the pain his unwise movement had elicited. Finally he opened his eyes and looked around the room.
"What's going through your head?" Voight broke the silence as he stepped back to give the injured man some space.
"The explosion .....," the bedridden man spoke hoarsely and accepted the glass of water Adam hastily furnished before continuing after taking a sip, "we were talking when everything went to hell and ...,"
"So it went off by mistake?" Kevin guessed uncertainly.
"That doesn't make sense," Adam shook his head, "if he had explosives on board, which he did, he intended to use them. There was no way out of there for him."
"But as Jay pointed out the IED went off mid conversation ....," Mouse noted.
"So what? Why does it matter when it went off?"
"It seemed as if it happened by accident," Jay offered thoughtfully.
"What are we missing?" Antonio looked at the prone Detective seeking answers.
"He wants us to believe he's dead. He's never had any problems before with setting up explosions so why would he now?"
"I hate to state the obvious but his remains were identified," Kevin wasn't convinced and he knew neither were the others.
"You can't fake dental records," Al proffered with a shrug.
"Who did the post mortem?" Jay checked as he tried to find a comfortable position on the bed and winced as his right knee and ankle protested.
"Peter Grimes," Voight supplied then added anticipating the next question, "Tom is at a Conference in New York."
"When is he back?" Jay enquired of the ME he trusted.
"Tomorrow."
"Grimes won't agree to a second autopsy," Antonio knew what the young Detective was aiming for, "he's strictly by the book."
"Grimes is good," Voight pointed out, "if he says the dental records match then they do."
"I don't doubt that," Jay acknowledged wearily.
"But you still think Lyle is alive," Al spoke intuitively.
"Yeah."
"How come?" Adam demanded with a frown, it didn't seem possible.
"The bus purposefully took that route and ended up being cut off from any means of escape. Lyle would have anticipated that. If he intended to go out with a bang and take me with him there was no need to make the explosion look like it was unplanned by setting the device off mid conversation."
"That's not much to go on," Kevin reluctantly stated.
"He wanted us to think he was on the bus to confirm his demise ....,"
"But you spoke to him," Adam argued.
"Exactly ..... I only spoke to him. I told ye I didn't see him. He could have set something up."
"Easy enough to have a speaker inside the bus," Mouse nodded, "he could have been somewhere else but still have a conversation with you."
"Like a baby monitor?" Antonio questioned.
"Same principal," the IT Specialist shrugged, there were numerous ways it could have been done.
"Hang on a second," Kevin was unconvinced, "you think he set up that whole thing just to convince us he's dead?"
"It's a possibility," Jay admitted.
"But he nearly killed you," Antonio put in, "it was pure luck you survived."
"Maybe," the younger man conceded thoughtfully, "but then again maybe not."
"Care to elaborate?" Voight prompted.
"He stole the military supplies for a reason. He left a note ....... for me ........ to say he was playing the game again."
"And?"
"If I'm dead he can't play a game with me."
"You're overlooking something," Al stated.
"Just one thing?!" Jay scoffed, he was well aware there were many things they didn't know.
"If we think he's dead how can he play the game with you?" the experienced Detective ignored the frustrated response.
"Damn," Jay cursed around a yawn, "never said I had all the answers."
"True," Al winked.
----------------------
Canteen
An hour later Will and Conor had joined Voight, Al, Kevin and Mouse in the hospital canteen for an update. Adam and Antonio were staying on guard as the recovering man rested under the haze of the strong meds flowing through his system. After some consideration Voight had decided it was advisable to notify the older Halstead sibling of his brothers' hunch. As expected the redhead had not been impressed. He had assumed King was history.
"But there's no proof King's alive?" Conor checked as his fellow colleague and friend muttered angrily beside him.
"No," Voight replied eyeing the unhappy man across from him, "at this stage officially King is listed as dead."
"But ...,"
"Dental records confirm it was King however ....," Al began to explain.
"Isn't that conclusive evidence?" Will interjected with a frown as he shoved his uneaten salad sandwich away, his appetite had vanished.
"It is but there's no harm in taking precautions for now."
"Such as?"
"Two of us will be with Jay at all times. We'll set up a ....,"
"Oh he's going to love that!" Conor groaned foreseeing many arguments with his reluctant patient.
"We'll set up a rota," the Sergeant continued wrily not bothering to comment, "how long is he going to be in here?"
"Two-three days at least," the dark haired man answered contemplating what lay ahead as he stuck his fork into a loose piece of tomato and a frightening thought struck him, "he doesn't need to go into witness protection again does he?"
"Definitely not. We're just being careful."
"That's something," Will conceded in relief.
-----------------------
21st Precinct- Two Weeks Later
Antonio and Adam were getting coffees in the Break Room as Mouse informed them of his worries.
"He's too quiet, even for Jay."
"He has a lot on his mind," Antonio added milk to his steaming mug and walked over to the small table to sit opposite the former Ranger.
"We've seen him like this before," Adam reminded as he carefully sipped his beverage testing its' temperature as he leant back against the counter-top.
"I know but he won't tell me what's going on."
"Come on," Antonio eyed the younger man ruefully, "even after all we've been through with him since the attack at Med he's still a closed book."
"You can't say that," Adam argued, "we know about his childhood and .....,"
"Yeah," the Italian-American cut in with a nod, "but he didn't volunteer any information. Circumstances forced details to be revealed. Big difference."
"So what's got him worried now?" Mouse finally asked the question plaguing him.
"Well the second autopsy confirmed it was Lyle," Adam reminded, Voight had used some leverage and got Grimes to agree to the other Medical Examiner taking a look at the DB.
"Which still didn't seem to convince Jay," Antonio noted evenly.
"But dental records don't lie," Adam sighed, unsure how his friend could believe the man in question was still alive.
"It's not easy having loose ends," Antonio suggested a possible reason for the recovering mans' withdrawal.
"Comes with the job," Adam countered.
"Didn't ye think it was odd when he didn't argue about using a wheelchair?" Mouse checked, recalling everyones' surprise at the acceptance of the mobility device without any arguments at the time of his hospital discharge.
"He knew he couldn't manage crutches for long with the broken ribs," Antonio put forward the mans' likely reasoning.
"Still ...," the IT Specialist wasn't happy, "he's not acting like Jay."
Adam and Antonio exchanged concerned looks. The truth was they had all noticed a change in their friend, the cause however was proving hard to pin down.
----------------------------
Jays' Apartment
Unaware of the concern he was generating Jay eased himself down onto the comfortable worn leather couch and eyed his sibling with forced patience. The older man had arrived ten minutes ago and had yet to ease off playing Doctor much to the injured mans' disgust.
"Will," the tired man finally put up a hand to halt the ongoing commentary on his medical condition, "you're not my Doctor so lay off the medical stuff. I'm doing good."
"Like I believe that!" Will scoffed unhappily, truth was his brother looked like hell and the dark patches decorating his eyes attested to the fact that he wasn't getting enough sleep.
"So any news out in the big wide world?" the Detective sought a distraction.
"No. You could ask Conor to increase your pain meds. Might help you get some proper rest."
"He already did and I'm sleeping fine."
"You want to look me in the eye when you're lying to me?"
"Will if you don't have anything to do but pester me about my health you can go," Jay instructed eyeing his companion, "I have enough to be dealing with."
"Such as?" a new voice queried startling the duo.
"Sarge?"
"You gave me a spare key ages ago," Voight reminded as he closed the door behind him and advanced into the room carrying a brown bag of groceries, "figured you might need some basics."
"Thanks," Will rose and gestured for the older man to follow him into the kitchen ignoring the injured mans' stunned expression.
"So you giving him grief?" the Sergeant didn't waste any time after the kitchen door shut.
"Think you got that the wrong way round," Will informed as he began to put away items as the other man unloaded the shopping.
"He has Conor as his Doctor you he needs as his brother," Voight stated without preamble as he placed a large carton of orange juice in the refrigerator.
"I'm always his brother."
"Maybe but you don't always act like it."
"I'm just worried about him."
"Hell we're all worried about him but you're the only brother he has. Don't forget that."
"I think we've had this conversation before," Will noted wrily.
"Probably," the older man folded the paper bag and tossed it into the drawer set aside for recycling, "how about leaving the Kid to me for a bit. Have some work stuff to deal with anyway?"
"Okay," Will reluctantly agreed around a worried sigh, "you might have better luck finding out what's bothering him, besides the obvious that is."
"I'll see what I can do."
"Two hours enough?"
"Should be."
"Good told him I'd get some DVDs and pizza for tonight."
-----------------------
Although Jay had been relieved when his sibling departed in search of suitable movies he had not been overjoyed when Voight had remained. After locking the door automatically after the Medics' exit the older man had made short work of fixing two coffees. After furnishing a steaming mug to his subdued subordinate the Sergeant sat down on the armchair across from the injured man and got down to business.
"You know the investigation is closed, both here and in New York. There's no evidence to suggest King is alive yet you believe he is don't you? Even after Toms' findings?"
"Too many loose ends Sarge," Jay pointed out evenly as he nursed the hot drink.
"Which we both know are part of the deal in this job."
"I know."
"So why do you really believe Lyle is still out there Kid?" the experienced Policeman knew the evidence to the contrary was substantial but he also knew his companions' gut instincts tended to be eerily accurate.
"I don't have anything definitive ...... it's just a feeling. I know Sarge you can't keep the case open on a 'feeling' and it really doesn't make sense if I'm right because he can't play his game with me if he's supposed to be dead."
"Like I told you the other day the investigation is officially closed. What I didn't say then however was that we can still be on the lookout for anything that gives him away."
"You think he's alive?" Jay sat up straight, igniting agony in his injured side and aggravating his leg injuries.
"I trust your instincts but we need to deal with the biggest issue, the dental records. Any ideas?"
"I've been thinking about that."
"Care to share?" Voight posed the question with a raised eyebrow.
As he looked at the other man Jay realized again just how lucky he was to have him in his corner. Even now when the investigation had been closed he was willing to offer support rather than reprimand for his unsubstantiated belief .....
tbc
DB - Dead Body
ME - Medical Examiner