She walked through how she’d left the soup kitchen, the attack, Angelo’s intervention, how he was stabbed and the man fled.
“You said the man wore a mask? Did you see anything on him, or anything about his face or voice that might help us narrow down a search?”
“His eyes were blue…” She shut her own eyes, trying to picture everything happening again. “The mask was one of those things that covered everything but his eyes. I honestly couldn’t see anything else.”
The officer wrote down the details and collected her address.
“No phone number?” he asked, a little incredulous.
“No. I don’t have a cell phone.”
The cop shook his head. “How anyone can go without a phone these days? What about an email address?”
“I do have that.” She had an email address that she changed every six months, and gave him her current one. The officer added it to his report notes.
Then he pulled out a contact card and wrote a number down on the back of it before handing it to her.
“If you think of anything else we need to know about the incident, call my cell. I’ll be the officer writing up your report. If you want to come by the station and write a more official statement, you can do that anytime.”
“Is it okay to wash my hands?” she asked, showing him the blood.
“Sure. Let me take a few pictures of them in the hallway first, okay?” He escorted her in the hall where there was a blank wall for her to stand against.
She imagined pushing the cop away and making a run for it. But she couldn’t do that. She’d promised Angelo she would stay which meant facing the cops and dealing with the risk that came with it.
The officer snapped photos of her bloody sweater and her hands. They also took one of her face because she had a few scrapes and bruises. Her mother’s words kept ringing in her head,never let the cops take your photo.
Tonight, she’d just risked putting herself in the path of her father’s men. They had contacts everywhere, and if her name came across the wrong person… She shivered. No, don’t think about that right now. Kara was used to planning for the worst scenarios possible, but she didn’t want to do that right now. Not when she was so worried about Angelo.
Once Angelo was out of the hospital and she knew he was okay, she’d have to move again. Get as far away from Chicago as she could… Maybe Arizona this time, she’d always wanted to see the Grand Canyon. She’d start preparing tonight.
“We’ll email you a copy of the report once it’s written up,” said the policeman.
Kara tucked the officer’s card in her jeans pocket. “Th—thank you.”
The police radio his shoulder beeped and someone started talking through it. The officer lifted the radio off his shoulder and held it to his mouth to answer. He gave Kara one more polite nod before left down the hall.
Kara returned to the waiting room, where she was swarmed by Angelo’s family asking how it went.
“I gave him my statement, and he took some pictures of my sweater and my hands. He said I can wash them now.”
“Yes, now we can get you cleaned up,” Francesca took Kara’s arm gently in hers.
“I think I have a sweater in my car that will fit her,” said Alessia. “I’ll grab it and call the neighbors to check on the kids.” She kissed Dante’s cheek and left the waiting room.
“Kids?” Kara asked.
“Our kids,” Dante said. “We had Angelo’s next door neighbor come over and keep an eye on them.”
She vaguely remembered the mother saying something about calling the neighbor to watch the grandchildren. “Oh…” Kara was feeling numb and tired again.
Angelo’s father and brother found empty chairs to sit in while Francesca escorted Kara to the bathroom.
For a long moment she stood there, still so numb with shock over everything that happened. She stared at the battered, wild-haired woman in the mirror, blood on her clothes, tears in her eyes. She just couldn’t compel herself to move.
“You poor thing,” Francesca tutted as she turned on the water in the sink.
Angelo’s mother tested the water and when she was satisfied, she pulled Kara close, holding her hands in the water for her, gently rinsing them. Then she took a wet paper towel and gently wiped at smudges of dirt and blood on Kara’s cheek.
