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Daisy and Boss: 21 - Nest Of Hornets (Part One)

Fornsworth arrived at the hospital yawning as he followed the gurney with the somber black body bag on it down to the morgue. Straight from the crime scene with a hot cup of coffee held in his fine boned black paw. He had left the technicians and science buffs back at the college to collect data in the snow, but he almost would have preferred staying outside to where he was currently headed. Something told the fox detective that he was not going to be going to bed any time soon. The tip of his bushy tail dragged along the pristine tile floor as he trudged after the EMT pushing the gurney with its silent passenger. When they got downstairs he saw with mixed reaction that the lab lights were on and a figure moved around a stainless steel table. The Medical Examiner was still in her office.

Her expression, obscured as it was by the plexiglas splash guard and surgical mask, kept Fornsworth from knowing offhand what kind of mood the sometimes temperamental Doctor was in. But soon enough the raccoon's pinned back ears communicated her annoyance when the new arrivals pushed thru the thick swinging double doors into her domain.

"Let me guess, Detective...This one takes priority over what I'm working on." She looked up from her current patient, a large mass of what used to be a Kudu buck, splayed open to reveal the secrets of his death in the bright red tones of gut and gizzard. Fornsworth gave his coffee cup a mournful last glance before tossing it into a garbage container with a crimson biohazard liner. The EMT gave the whole scene a dubious glance and scooted back out the door after signing the correct clipboard. Ducking his ears as the raccoon in medical garb glared at his retreating tail venomously. He was an old hand at the blood and death parts of his job, but he wisely gave the raccoon a wide berth.

"Now Abby..." Fornsworth started only to be brought up short when the glare was redirected back in his direction with double the intensity. "Arrm... Sorry... Dr. Hastings... I know you're very busy. But if you could just give me a preliminary, that would-" He was cut off as the Doctor brushed past him, pulling off the bloody elbow length exam gloves she wore on her way over to the sink to wash up.

"Fine." She growled. "If it will get you out of my fur."

"Thank you." Fornsworth nodded as she discarded the mask and face guard in favor for a fresh pair of gloves. The zing of the heavy duty zipper as she whipped open the body bag made him flinch ever so slightly. The fox moved to stand a little closer as the raccoon prodded at the contents of the bag. He jotted down in his notebook as she muttered in short concise words.

"Deceased... Recently. No rigor, time of death approximately three to six hours ago. Trauma. Multiple lacerations. Considerable damage at the clavicle." ZIP-SNAP. The zipper was pulled closed again, the exam gloves were pulled off and she was walking back over to the industrial sized sink to scrub down again briskly.

"Thank you, Dr. Ha-"

"Out of my lab, Please!" She snapped over one shoulder. "You'll have your full report in a day or two."

Fornsworth nodded and backed out brusquely with a sigh of relief. His cell phone rang and he answered it as he walked back up the quiet hall towards the elevator.

"Fornsworth."

"Sir, the badger female is awake. The Doctor says she's well enough for an interview as long as you don't tire her out unnecessarily."

"Good. I'll be there in a minute."

The fox shoved his phone back into a pocket and pressed the button for the elevator, resisting the urge to check the hall behind him. The basement levels always gave him the creeps.

Sarah woke groggily, her mouth tacky and foul tasting. She was lying on a hospital bed hooked up to several IV bags. Woozily she lifted her head, but it felt strange and she was raising a paw to investigate when a voice to her right startled her.

"Now, don't touch!" The voice chided gently. "It's not a good idea to touch your face or your head right now, Sarah." Sarah had to turn her head completely to see who had spoken, a petite grey mouse wearing scrubs. The large cut to her upper chest complained fiercely when she turned her head that far, and the paw that had been on its way to investigate her head, stopped and hovered over the heavy bandages wrapped around her collar bone. The nurse reached out and gently pressed her arm back down to her side, and Sarah was distracted momentarily by the mouse's fingers on her shaved forearm. Her black fur had been clipped away in a neat precise rectangle over the major veins in her arm, and several lines of tubing disappeared under a heavy application of medical tape. But the pain of her chest was persistent.

"My chest..." Sarah groaned. It hurt, even through the fuzzy floating sensation of the cocktail of pain killers. The nurse moved around to the left side, and used a small corded remote to raise the bed so that Sarah was sitting up a little more, seeing how the badger had found turning her head difficult.

"We stitched you up, and you're going to be okay. We called your family and they're on their way to see you right now. But the doctor wants a specialist to look at your eye, Sarah." The mouse spoke gently, as if she had given this particular speech many times. Sarah swallowed and waited for the room to stop spinning.

"Can they fix it?"

"It's pretty damaged... but we'll see what the specialist says before we make any rash decisions all right?" The mouse patted her through the blankets and Sarah carefully lay her head back down on the pillow. The more awake she felt, the more she was starting to feel how hurt she was. She wrinkled her muzzle as signals of pain vied for her attention from nearly every body part. The pain seemed to crawl under her skin, and throb though her joints to settle in her chest and head.

"Hurts..." She hissed.

"Oh, sorry sweety! Let me turn this up just a little bit." The nurse adjusted the drip on one of the bags and Sarah felt the change almost immediately, the wash of cool sensation up her arm followed by an over all weightlessness. The pain was still there, but gradually it seemed further away, like it was her imagination.

"Thanks." She slurred, absently rubbing the claws of her uninjured paw along the woven cotton blankets.

"Your welcome." The mouse squeaked softly. "There's a detective here, can you stay awake to answer a couple questions, Sarah?"

"I guess so." Sarah managed even as she blinked and felt herself slipping towards unconsciousness again. A though brought her back from the edge abruptly and her head snapped back up despite the painful protesting of her many stitches.

"Julian's got a message for that little goat friend of yours..." That jackal had been talking about Daisy! What if someone was after Daisy too? There was no way Daisy could fight off a Jackal, she had to get a hold of Detective Boss and warn him!

"Yeah! I wanna talk to him, tell him to come here!" Sarah gritted her teeth and managed to sit up completely despite the alarmed squeaks of the nurse who tried her best to prevent her. "Go get the detective!" She barked, sending the nurse scurrying.

Boss' cell phone jangled out an alarm a little past two in the morning. He rolled over in bed, groggy with sleep, to answer it.

"Detective Boss speaking." He gruffed, looking at the clock. The voice that answered was one he recognized instantly. It was a fellow detective, Fornsworth.

"Boss, I have a mugging victim who keeps asking for you. Sarah Brockley, you know her?" The red fox asked wearily. Boss sat up in bed, his face tense when he heard Sarah's name.

"Mugging!? Is she all right?" Boss growled, already getting out of bed and reaching for his clothes.

"Ah... I'll take that as a yes, then." Fornsworth remarked dryly. "Well, Boss, she got cut up pretty bad, but nothing life threatening. They gave her a transfusion, she'll probably need surgery on her eye. I was down here at Legacy trying to get the story out of her, but she keeps insisting that she needs to talk to you." The fox sounded like he was standing there in the room, with Sarah staring him down. Boss hastily threw on a shirt, not bothering to button it all the way.

"I'm on my way." He ended the call and shoved the phone into his pants pocket without hearing the fox's response, a dull feeling of dread settling on his shoulders. Somehow, he knew this was no mugging. Before he could lay paw on his coat or keys Dani materialized out of the darkness in front of him. Her hair was mussed and she blinked in a bleary still asleep sort of way, but her voice when she spoke was crystal clear.

"What's happened?"

"Fornsworth called. Sarah's been attacked. She's asking to talk to me specifically." Boss growled and reached around the mare in pajamas to the hall closet for his holster and his leather duster.

"Wilderson?" Dani asked, her eyes narrowing in the gloom. Boss nodded curtly as he shrugged on his harness and shoved his Glock .45 into its holster under his arm.

"It feels that way." He pulled on his duster and stopped short. Daisy.

"I'll head out to her place and check on things just in case... you go see about Sarah." Dani motioned with her muzzle towards the door and Boss clasped her shoulder tightly with one paw. Thanking her wordlessly as he hurried out the door.

Dani didn't wait for the front door to close before she hurried to her room to get dressed to head out to the Fields residence, tension etching a line around her delicate nostrils.