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endlessly and selflessly of their time, talents, and gifts every day.  
    Alex
noticed that Monique was eyeing Sandy carefully.   They both knew this was
especially hard for her.   Angie had worked in the E.D. prior to the birth of
her baby and Sandy had hosted her baby shower.  Sandy had already lost her good
friend and mentor, Diane Bradley, during the tragic accident in the emergency
department just before Mardi Gras earlier in the year.   Sandy seemed to be
holding up pretty well.   Nurses are tough creatures, Monique thought to
herself.  Much tougher than we docs.
    As
they entered the patient bay, they walked slowly towards the bed.   Bridgett
looked hard at the patient in the bed and said angrily, "What in the world
is going on?  I don't know who this is, but it certainly isn't Angie.   What
kind of sick joke is this?”  Bridgett's eye flared with anger as she glared at
Alex.
     The
next few seconds seemed like eons and finally Monique said gently, "Yes,
Bridge, it is Angie.   Look carefully.   Her face is swollen, her jaw is
broken, but it is Angie."
    "It
is not, it is not!  Why are you all doing this to me?  I thought you
were my friends." Bridgett’s enormous blue eyes brimmed over with tears as
she stared at the faces of her friends around the bed.
     Sandy
reached to remove the O.R. cap from Angie's head.   When Bridgett saw the long,
mussed up blond curly hair, just like her hair only matted with dark, dried
blood, she knew and she began to scream, "Oh, no! Oh, no, no, ... PLEASE,
no, it can't be.  Angie, Angie, talk to me, Please, Angie, please answer me.”
Bridgett touched the long knife wounds extending from her sister's forehead all
the way around her face.   She looked at her friends around the bed.  
"Who did this? Who did this?  It must be a monster.   It looks like
someone tried to cut off her face!"  When she noticed her sister's
Mother's Ring with Jessica's birthstone she began to sob, "Oh, no, she
wanted that ring for so long and Johnny just gave it to her on Mother's
Day."  Her sobs became uncontrollable and could be heard throughout the
E.D.  
    Sandy
and Monique lead the sobbing Bridgett away while Alex and Commander Françoise
stayed by Angie's bedside, continuing to observe her injuries.   Alex, numb
with shock, turned away, attempting to control her emotions.   Jack gently
touched her on her shoulder, "Alright, Alex, we can go.   You've seen enough."
    "No,
just give me a moment.”  Alex drew a deep breath and turned to face Angie
again.   As she worked hard to dissociate herself from the body of her friend,
she noticed some funny shaped marks on Angie's left shoulder, visible where her
hospital gown had fallen to the side.   She eyed them curiously and looked at
the Commander.   "Jack, what are these?  They look weird."
    Commander
Françoise shuffled uncomfortably.   “It's a damn bite mark, Alex.   The SOB bit
her at least three times.   He's a sick son of a bitch.   I'd like to kill
him.   I will kill him when I find him," Jack hissed, as he felt for his
holstered gun under his coat.
    Alex
looked at Jack Françoise with alarm.   He was working himself into a frenzy.  
Not good, she thought to herself.   Ever since the spring, when Jack had
finally gone to Dr.  Robert Bonnet complaining of chest pain, Alex had been
afraid that Jack's stress level and stressful job would cause him a heart
attack or stroke.   He'd done absolutely nothing Robert had recommended.   Typical,
stubborn Jack.   He was still overweight, had high blood pressure, and had high
cholesterol.   He drank gallons of black coffee every day, and his diet was
horrendous. 
    Jack
had spent his life living on the edge.   He had been a football star in high
school and at Tulane University, where he had played linebacker.   Shortly
after graduation, Jack had joined the service and gone Army Spec Ops.  Alex
assumed Jack had been engaged in Black Ops, but