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Roberta looked down at her tattered and bloodied clothes and nodded her head.
‘I’ll have to bag them for the police, is that OK?’
‘The police?’
Carrie saw Roberta recoil. ‘Yes. You do want this man caught, don’t you?’
Carrie saw a host of emotions flit across Roberta’s broken face and feared that the girl was about to burst into tears. Then a hardness entered her eyes and her jaw clenched. ‘I want him to rot in a jail cell for ever.’
There was a quiet knock at the door and Roberta startled clutching at Carrie’s arm. Carrie covered Roberta’s hand with hers. ‘It’s OK. It’ll be Charlie with some new clothes.’
Roberta’s grip eased and she nodded at Carrie.
Carrie rose and opened the door. ‘Thanks,’ she said to Charlie, accepting the bundle he gave her.
‘How’s it going?’
‘OK…I think.’
Charlie nodded. ‘The counsellor and the cops should be here soon.’
‘Thanks.’ Carrie closed the door and went back to tend to Roberta.
Roberta winced as Carrie touched some gauze to her shattered lip. ‘Sorry,’ she murmured.
‘Bastard punched me in the face. Twice. What gave him the right to do this?’ Roberta demanded. ‘Because I’m a hooker to put food in my kid’s mouth? I told him I was off duty but he wouldn’t take no for an answer.’
Roberta started to cry and Carrie felt helpless. Anger and revulsion raged inside her at the ordeal this girl had been through.
‘Do you remember what he looked like? Do you know him?’
Roberta sniffled. ‘I’ve seen him around. But what’s the point? They’re never going to believe a hooker crying wolf.’
Carrie didn’t know much about these things but a blind man could see that Roberta had been assaulted. ‘Let me feel your face,’ Carrie said, putting down the gauze now the lip had been attended to. ‘Tell me where it hurts.’
‘It hurts everywhere,’ Roberta said.
Carrie prodded gently around Roberta’s facial bones, looking for asymmetry and feeling for any obvious malformations or any signs of crepitis—bone rubbing against bone. There didn’t appear to be any teeth broken and her bite seemed reasonably aligned.
‘Think you’ll need an X-ray just to check you don’t have any fractures.’
Roberta nodded. ‘Can I get dressed?’
‘Sure,’ Carrie said, pulling the mobile screen in place and handing her the clean clothes. ‘Just put your other clothes on the bed and I’ll bag them.’
‘All I want is a shower,’ Roberta said from behind the screen. ‘I can smell him everywhere.’
‘I know, but it’s best if we collect the evidence from your body for the police first.’
‘I’m done,’ Roberta said a minute later.
Carrie pulled back the screen and helped Roberta back onto the table. She was gathering her discarded clothes together when there was another knock on the door.
Carrie opened it. There was an older woman standing with Charlie. She looked to be in her forties, her tough exterior betrayed by her friendly eyes. ‘Carrie, this is Rene Chalk. She’s from the rape crisis centre.’
Carrie smiled at the newcomer. ‘Come in,’ she invited.
Charlie performed the introductions and Carrie prepared to leave. ‘No, don’t go.’ Roberta demanded, her voice rising. ‘I want you to stay.’
Carrie looked at Charlie, surprised and startled by Roberta’s request. Charlie nodded. So did Rene. So Carrie stayed and listened to Rene talk things over with Roberta. They talked a little about the assault but mainly about what would happen next. The police and court proceedings. Rene offered and urged Roberta to seek free counselling at the rape crisis centre in the next few days and to continue it for as long as she felt she needed it.
The police were next. Roberta was adamant that she didn’t want Charlie collecting the rape evidence so Carrie performed that, too, in the presence of Rene and a female police officer, who bagged the evidence as Carrie collected it. The officer also took photos of the facial injuries and the bruising on Roberta’s thighs.
Two hours later Carrie was emotionally exhausted but also strangely elated. Roberta’s reliance on her had made her feel as if she’d actually made a difference to someone’s life again. And she hadn’t had that feeling for a long time. It was why she’d become a doctor in the first place. What she’d once thrived on. She hadn’t realised how much she’d missed it. Until now.
Rene had left with Roberta accompanying her to the police station to make a formal statement and then to the hospital for X-rays. Charlie was in his office, dealing with all the paperwork.
