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When the EMTs finally walked into the house to see to my injuries, they dropped their bag on the floor, and the sound had been loud enough to cue my second act.
My entire body jumped, then I started moving my head around, my eyes taking in the scene before me. I started breathing harder, my hand finally rubbing against my chest like I was about to have a heart attack.
“Ms. Valentine?”
My head turned towards the detective, and my eyes widened like I was about to panic. “I…I…”
“Take a deep breath,” he instructed. “You’re safe.”
“He…he…oh, God…”
“Ms. Valentine, can you tell us what happened here tonight?” he repeated.
Though his voice sounded kind and patient, it was easy to see that Detective Willows wasn’t an amateur. His grey eyes were regarding me carefully, taking in every little detail, and when I glanced up to look at Detective Lakelet, his blue eyes were doing the same. I had to stick as close to the truth as possible, or else they’d see the lies immediately. Luckily for me, the hospital x-rays were going to be able to confirm my story of prolonged physical abuse. I’d never gotten any professional treatment for my past injuries, so I could only imagine what parts of my body hadn’t healed properly. I also knew that the truth was going to kick off a very uncomfortable shitstorm.
I looked back at Detective Willows. “I…God, I’d never seen him so…so angry be…before…”
“Ms. Valentine, can you just tell us what happened?” he asked again. “Starting at the beginning, please.”
I started rubbing my chest faster. “I…I went to…to have dinner with my…my parents,” I said, my breath labored. “I…the…the time got away from me because…because I hadn’t visited them in so…so long.” I looked up at Detective Lakelet. “I hadn’t meant to…to lose track of time.”
“That’s okay, Ms. Valentine,” Detective Willows said. “Just…what happened?”
“I…I lost my phone, and…” I did my best to look ashamed. “Since…since Ashton prefers not…not to visit my parents where they…they live, I called him from a convenient store to come pick me up.”
“Do you remember the name of the store?” Detective Lakelet asked.
I shook my head. “No…but…but it was on…on Jasper Street, I think.” They both wrote that down in their little notebooks as I continued. “Anyway, when we got home…Ashton…Ashton started accusing me of…of.” I let out a shaky breath. “He accused me of cheat…cheating on him.”
“Why would he accuse you of that?” Detective Willows asked.
Tears began to form in my eyes, and I honestly hadn’t thought that I’d had it in me. “Ashton was a bit…he was the…possessive type.”
After jotting that down, he asked, “What happened next?”
I started shaking my head slowly, my eyes appearing to lose focus again. “This wasn’t…wasn’t like the other times,” I said, trying to take all emotion out of my voice. “The other times, he…”
“This has happened before?” Detective Lakelet asked as I trailed off.
I ignored his question. “He would stop all the other times…he’d…he’s stop after I’d start bleeding. I think…I think that’s why he always did his best…not to…not to hit my face.” I switched from rubbing on my chest to patting it rhythmically. “This time, he didn’t stop. He just…he kept coming after me. He just kept…when he threw me up against…against the fireplace, I just…” My voice broke, then I let those fake tears fall freely. “I…I just wanted to…to protect myself.”
“Can you tell us what happened after you found yourself next to the fireplace?” Detective Lakelet asked, and if I’d had a gun in my hand, I would have shot him.
I looked up at him as I wiped the tears from my face. “I didn’t find myself next to the fireplace, Detective,” I said, keeping the bite out of my voice. “I ended up there after Ashton flung me to the floor.”
He gave me a terse nod, but both the detectives and I knew that there was no way in hell that either of them would utter the words that would paint Ashton Oliver as an abuser. Even if these men never moved up higher on the ladder, both their careers were tied in politics, and we all knew it.
“What happened next?” Detective Willows asked, trying to move past his partner’s faux pas.
I looked back at Detective Willows. “He just kept accusing me of…of cheating on him, and when he…when he said that he was…was going to kill me for being a…a whore, I…I grabbed the poker and…” I closed my eyes, a couple of more tears squeezing out. “I…I raised it to ward him off, but he…he just kept coming after me.” I shook my head slowly, like I was still trying to process it. “He just wouldn’t stop coming after me.”
Before either detective could say something, one of the EMTs had gotten agitated enough to say, “Detectives, we need to take pictures and see to her injuries.”
“Her injuries haven’t already been categorized?” Detective Lakelet asked.
The EMTs chin went up, and it was people like him that made this world worth living in. “I’m sure that they were,” he said. “However, when there’s chaos like there is now, I like to take my own pictures, so that nothing gets accidentally lost in the shuffle.” This time, my tears were real. “I’m sure you understand, Detective.”
“Of course,” he bit out, knowing that he couldn’t argue against the EMTs precautions openly.
