Jason Richards (leothedetective) wrote in supernextdoor, @ 2012-07-20 16:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | 10.18.11, gabe, gabe and jason, jason |
Interview with a Bear
Who: Gabe and Jason
What: Checking on and interviewing the werebear
When: 10.18 - Afternoon
Where: The George Washington University Hospital
Warning: None
Jason had dragged himself home around 6am, stayed awake long enough to have breakfast with his pride and a shower, then passed out until his phone rang. The morning had been spent reinterviewing Emma and Bloodgood's friends, showing them the sketch of the girl. So far, nothing. Same with the DV reports they were still going through. Then the hospital called and said Gabe Cooper was finally aware enough for an interview. Thank God, on many accounts.
He headed for the hospital, stopping by the Stumble Inn for some chicken wings and fries. He needed to eat lunch and Gabe would have to be sick of hospital food by now. The nurses had said he could have real food, so Jason was bringing real food. He didn't expect anything to come from the interview, but maybe the werebear would remember something or had noticed something that the little blond hadn't. Or knew the girl in Bill's vision. Something.
"Hey," he greeted as the nurse let him into the room. Gabe looked bad. Most of his body was in casts or bound up. Jesus. "I heard you're taking visitors. I have food even." The bastard had done a number on the werebear, but he didn't want to embarrass the other man by fussing. Naya and Nadia were probably doing that enough for everyone.
Gabe was going to go crazy. He was still hurting too much to seriously think about signing himself out, but he was still tempted. He wanted Naya to go home and get some sleep, but she’d pretty much flat out refused. Even getting her to leave his room was a challenge. He’d managed to shoo her into a shower though, and was taking advantage of the room to himself to just relax for five minutes.
So of course, that’s when Jason showed up. He couldn’t be too cranky though, not when he had a bag that smelled deep-fried and delicious. Mouth already watering, Gabe fumbled for the remote that brought his bed more upright, breath hissing through his teeth. Every damn time he moved, something protested. Ribs, arm, leg, shoulder. They were all fucked, temporarily at least. “Just tell me I can eat it one-handed,” he grumbled, tongue still a little heavy and thick-feeling from all his pain meds.
Yeah, he could smell Naya wasn't long gone. Hopefully she would go home and sleep. She was probably being worse than him. Especially since her co-workers would have a hard time reasoning with her. Doctors made the worst patients. Didn't matter what kind. "Yeah, it's messy no matter how many hands you use," he said. "Chicken wings and fries from Dante's bar. Had them last night, couldn't resist." He pulled the rolling table over and opened the box, setting the take out container on it. And a big pile of napkins. Then opened the fries and did the same. "We're sharing. I haven't eaten since breakfast."
Gabe grinned. “Fine with me.” He wasn’t sure there’d be anything left for Jason to eat, but he did have the disadvantage of only having one hand, which would likely slow him down enough to give Jason a shot. Picking up a couple of fries, he munched on them, groaning softly at how good they tasted. And then groaning in pain, because he’d breathed too deep and his damn ribs were complaining.
“Fuck,” he muttered, face tight with pain. He wouldn’t say he was hurting, of course. Even in front of Naya, or Nadia. No chance he’d admit it in front of Jason. “How’s the case coming?” He asked, when he could breathe again. “You caught the asshole yet?” He was really hoping that was why Jason was here - to give him good news. He was being bribed with food though, so he was thinking it wasn’t.
Jason moved the tray closer so Gabe didn't have to reach so far. He didnt say anything. The guy had been through enough without having to whimper in front of another guy. He'd cracked ribs before. Breathing hurt. Hell, thinking hurt when you had cracked ribs.
He shook his head at Gabe's question. "Not very well," he said. "I wish. I almost had him at your place. Then he threw me into the tables with his tk." Which was why Jason had the few injuries he did. His fingers were still wrapped and the visible bruises were yellow from being nearly healed, the cut on his brow half healed over already. Which made him feel even worse looking at Gabe, who'd be laid up for weeks and would probably be dead if he wasn't a were. "I need to get your statement about what happened. Everything you can remember about the guy, what he said. And I have a sketch I need you to look at. See if you know her. She may be involved in this somehow." He dug out the sketch first, and held it so Gabe could study it easier.
Gabe licked his fingers clean, taking the sketch and looking at the girl, frowning. After a moment, he shook his head. “Nah. Doesn’t look familiar.” Which was fucking annoying - he was kind of hoping there’d be a sudden bolt of inspiration there. “Do I get to eat before I gotta go over everything?” He joked, managing a weak grin as he grabbed one of the chicken wings, trying to eat it one-handed. Not easy, considering he couldn’t even use his other hand to steady the bone. He was gonna need another damn spongebath by the time he’d finished.
Damn, well, it had been worth a shot. Jason nodded, grabbing another chicken wing himself. "I'll bring something less messy next time," he teased. "Yeah, go ahead. I have to tape record it anyway, because I can't write." He held up his right hand, which was still taped up. It was nothing compared to what Gabe was dealing with, but the report had to be legible.
Gabe grimaced sympathetically. Yeah, sprained fingers sucked. “Ok, well, uh...” he dropped the bone, stripped clean, back into the tray, before licking his fingers. “Naya offered to help me with the weekly stocktake while I got some paperwork done upstairs,” he began, looking rather sorrowful. If he hadn’t let Naya go down there alone, if he’d been first...he might have been able to stop Naya and Nadia from being threatened, Justice from getting hurt. “I’d taken out the garbage so the back door was unlocked." And yeah, he’d be regretting that for a while, too.
Jason turned on the tape recorder and moved the stack of napkins where Gabe could use as many as he wanted. "Where was the girl..," he was always forgetting her damned name. It was something Russian. Checking his notes, he nodded. "Nadia. Where was she when all this started?" Just so he could piece together how this went down and could go over it with the guys again when he got back to the station.
“She was upstairs, with me. She stays over a lot,” Gabe hated explaining this bit - it always sounded dodgy as hell. “She’s a good kid, but she can get a little wild. She stays at mine, I can keep an eye on her. And she’s damn good with my little girl.” Thank God Abbie hadn’t been there. Even the thought of it had Gabe’s chest tightening further. “She was uh,” he frowned, swallowing hard as he tried to concentrate on retelling what had happened. “She was gettin’ my daughter’s room ready. Some kinda tea party, or somethin’. We headed downstairs together.” He scrubbed his face with his hand, grimacing as he realised he hadn’t quite wiped his hands clean enough. He could smell the hot sauce. He wiped his face, then his hand, as best he could.
Jason shook his head. "I'm just needing to know where everyone was when," he assured Gabe. "Don't worry, I've taken in a stray or two in my time. Sometimes the kids society discards really do just need someplace safe." Xander was a good example of this. Good kid, bad life. Nadia sounded like she might be cut from the same cloth. It was kind of cute she was planning a tea party with Gabe's daughter. He remembered tea parties and silly hats and all of that frilly stuff. Chloe had been big into that, Gracie too. "Sorry, I should have picked something less messy," he admitted. "Naya can yell at me and then give you a nice sponge bath." He went on with the interview. "Okay, when you got downstairs, what did you see?"
Gabe nodded, managing a faint smile. He wasn’t surprised that Jason understood - it was still nice. Not having to try and convince him that no, Gabe wasn’t taking advantage of Nadia. No, they weren’t having sex. Never had had sex. Never would have sex. “It’s ok. S’worth the mess.” He’d go back to the chicken wings once he was finished recounting what had happened - for now, he nibbled on fries instead. And then promptly lost all appetite with Jason’s next question. “Naya,” he answered simply. “I heard her fall. Told Nadia to go upstairs - which she didn’t - and I ran down into the basement.” He took a slow, shallow breath, jaw muscles working as he ground his teeth. God, he’d be dreaming of that for a while, he knew. “She was jus’ lyin’ there,” he said, thickly. “I could smell blood. I ran over to her, crouched down beside her, an’ then looked round.” Too late to do anything about the keg already flying towards him, unfortunately.
Jason hadn't gotten that vibe. Especially since she referred to Gabe and Naya as Mama and Papa Bear constantly. It was obvious she considered the man a foster father and Gabe thought of Nadia as a foster daughter. Unfortunately, they had to get on with the reason Jason was here. He winced himself when Gabe recalled hearing Naya fall and finding her laying on cellar floor. He'd been friends with the woman for months and the idea of her being attacked like that pissed him off. "We're gonna get him, Gabe," he assured him. "I promise. That's why I need to know everything you remember. Anything he said, anything he did, can be the clue that tells us who this bastard is and then he will never be able to hide from us. What happened next?"
“You better,” Gabe growled, the sound lower than human hearing, threatening. Not towards Jason, but yeah. Papa Bear wasn’t happy. If the tape hadn’t been recording, he’d have asked for the promise of five minutes alone with the fucker once Jason had caught him. But he wasn’t stupid enough to ask, not somewhere anyone else could hear.
“Uh...keg hit me.” He frowned, closing his eyes and leaning his head back as he tried to remember what had happened. “Low down, caught my leg as I was standin’ up. He was...hidin’ behind some boxes.” Like a fucking coward. “It slammed me into the wall.”
"Ouch," Jason grunted. It was an understatement. "I am really, really starting to hate this bastard. I've seen two year olds with more balls than this guy. Attacking a helpless girl, ambushing you guys. He's a coward." And they were getting off track. "Sorry. What happened next? Did he say anything?"
“He came out from where he’d been hidin’,” Gabe murmured, frowning more. “Said somethin’ about me learning to keep my mouth shut. Nadia was on the stairs, he turned towards her...” Gabe swallowed hard, fighting the urge to growl at the memory of the guy, of the way he’d spoken to her. “Told her to ‘get the fuck out before I rip out your intestines and shove them down your throat’.” Yeah, he remembered that part pretty clearly. Even bleeding from smacking his head against the wall, his leg broken in three places, pinned by a keg...he’d remembered that. Far better than any of the threats the guy had made towards him. Any threats the killer had made towards Naya and Nadia were pretty much burned into his brain.
“I tried to distract him, keep him away from the girls.” Yeah, fat lot of good that had done... “Nadia flung somethin’ through the window. Bottle, I think. It distracted him, enough that he dropped the keg.” And yeah, that had been a relief. God knows what state his leg would have been in, if he hadn’t. He wet his lips, gathering himself before he continued. “He called Nadia a bitch, or somethin’. And-” he wet his lips, doing his best not to picture Naya, helpless on the floor. “An’ then he hovered a keg over Naya’s head. Started talkin’ about what it looked like, when brains splatter across the floor. How beautiful the colours were.” Gabe’s mouth twisted, nausea churning in his gut.
This guy was a real piece of work. Jason shook his head. "So he tried to scare Nadia off," he confirmed. Maybe he wasn't complete filth. She was just a kid after all. He didn't like his killer having any redeeming qualities, even as fleeting as this. He shuddered at the idea and description. Yeah, done with food for now. Wiping off his hands, he nodded. "Do you remember anything else after that?" Gabe had been beaten pretty badly and it was understandable if his memory of the attack was shaky.
“I started tryin’ to shift,” Gabe growled, looking down at the table rather than Jason. He wanted to get everything right, wanted to make sure Jason had as much information as he could give. “He dropped the keg, stopped it...” he swallowed hard, voice hoarse as he continued. “Stopped it a couple inches from Naya’s head. Said that if I tried anythin’, if I came at him, he’d kill her.” Which yeah, had been incentive enough to keep him away. “I said somethin’ else, I can’t remember...” he frowned. “Tryin’ to keep his attention away from the girls. Think I told him he was a fuckin’ coward, something like that.” He shook his head, gingerly. “Then he flung the keg at me. Hit me in the chest, pinned me against the wall.” And yeah, that one had hurt. Ten times worse than the one that had gotten his leg. “I told Nadia to run, get help...” He looked over at Jason. “He chased her up the stairs, and then...” he frowned. “I think I started to crawl over to Naya? I don’t...sorry, I don’t really remember much else.”
That was basically what the girl had described. Jason nodded. "That's probably the point where Justice flew through the window," he said. "She said Nadia was running up the stairs when she tried to dive bomb him." He hadn't told them anything they didn't already know, but there had been a chance the werebear had noticed things the little air elemental had missed. He reached over and turned off the recorder. "Thanks. That's good enough." He dug out a pen and a form. "Just scribble your John Hancock on there as best you can and I'll be out of your hair so you can rest. Naya will never forgive me if I wear you out too much."
Gabe took the pen clumsily in his left hand, managing some rough semblance of his name. Sort of. “God, that woman,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Lord have mercy, she’s gonna drive me crazy by the time I’m outta here.” He loved Naya to bits, but her hovering - well-meant as it was - just made him feel even more helpless, even more of an invalid. “Think the nurses have started drawing lots as to who’s comin’ in here when she’s around.” He said ruefully, glancing at Jason as he laid the pen down. “How’s Justice doin’?” He asked, more quietly. “She ok?”
"I bet," he admitted. "She can be a mama grizzly, that's for sure." Even though being hovered over by a beautiful woman was better than being hovered over by anyone else, it was still hovering. Which no man enjoyed. "At least she's keeping them on their toes." Jason shrugged at the question about Justice. "Physically she's fine. Her arm's healing nicely, but she's bored out of her mind and feels like she's useless for catching this guy. At least that's what I've gotten from the times we've gotten to talk. I've been working day and night on this case all week. So I haven't been home much."
Gabe grimaced. “I wish I could be more help,” whether by giving Jason more information, or...well, he couldn’t do much else, considering. “Look, I know you’re workin’ fast as you can, but you got any idea when I can open the bar back up?” That wasn’t helping him concentrate on getting better; the worry of how the hell he was going to make ends meet when he wasn’t bringing any money in was weighing heavy on his mind. “I’m bleedin’ money every night it ain’t open.” And he had people who could run it for him, until he was back on his feet. Vince, Nadia - they’d worked for him long enough to manage on their own.
Jason winced himself. "I'll check with the LT, but I think we're done with it," he said. "I'll call and let you know what he says." He stood up and patted Gabe on the shoulder that wasn't busted. "You have been a big help. Rest up and eat the rest of this. You earned it. I'll talk to you later."