Dangers in the Dark

Bye-Bye Pretty Hair 11.2

Third Person POV

Ever since he had met Doctor Lee Thompkins earlier that evening, though he was trying to not admit it to himself, Jim couldn't help but think about her more than he should. She could have a partner and a family already but his mind was whirling with thoughts of the doctor as he did his evening rounds, making sure that all of the inmates were securely locked in their cells.

Everything seemed in order, something that Jim was thankful for. Well, that was until Jim glanced into Frogman Jones' cell to see the inmate sitting in the middle of his room, staring absent-mindedly at the barred window that showed the freedom of the outside world. Something that Jones was never going to see for the rest of his life.

Walking up to the window on the door to Jones' cell, Jim knocked onto it a couple times, hoping that Jones would cooperate and make this easy for both of them.

"Jones?" No response. "Jones?" Again, no response.

Not in the mood for games, Jim got the key to the cell from his belt and cautiously unlocked the cell door. If this was all a rouse to just get him into his cell to hurt him, Jim kept his hand on his belt where he had a taser. But even when the door was open, Jones didn't turn around or even acknowledge what was happening around him.

"Hey, Frogman."

Jim walked round in front of Frogman, pausing when he saw that Jones was still staring straight ahead, two circular burn marks on each of his temples.

"Hey. Hey."

Giving him a gently nudge on the shoulder, Jim's eyes widened in shock when Frogman fell blindly to the side into a pile on the floor. But what could've happened to him? No one had been in his cell since he had been put in. Once again, another issue for Jim to solve. Was this ever going to end?

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After getting the attention of a couple other guards in the area, they managed to get the inmate into the hospital wing, waiting for Lee to come and give her analysis of what could've happened to him. It didn't take her long to arrive, and when she did her eyes were wide as this was something that in all her years of doctoring she had never seen in person.

"These are electrode wounds," Lee said, moving Jones's face to the side to look at the wounds better. "This man was given a crude, invasive kind of electroshock therapy. Metal needles were inserted into the brain, electricity was applied to his frontal lobes."

"What for?" Jim asked.

"Surgeons use it to modify aberrant behaviour, but in this case way too much voltage was used... and his brain is completely fried," Lee explained.

"Another under your watch, Gordon?" the orotund voice of the director remarked as he stormed into the room. "How did this happen?"

"You rushed into opening and now you're running this place with skeleton staff and zero surveillance in an unsafe and unsecure 200-year-old maze," Jim replied.

"Excellent excuses," the director snarled. "That's the nature of municipal operations. You inherit problems and you use the resources at hand to do what you can."

"Well, our resources don't stretch nearly far enough to cover a criminal assault investigation. We should call the G.C.P.D," Jim suggested firmly.

"Look, this is an in-house medical issue," the director said before walking over to Lee, who had been listening to the conversation while examining the inmate. "Is he still breathing?"

"Well, yes, but he is effectively brain dead," Lee answered.

"But... he's still breathing... unaided—for all official purposes, well... he's still alive," the director decided. "Keep him comfortable, doctor. Officer Gordon... I want you to find out which one of our charming inmates did this. I want a report on my desk, Friday."