Chapter 7 #2
“Not if she wants you there,” Blackwood told him. “But I’ll warn you, if she looks even the smallest bit reticent to talk to me with you in the room, I’m going to ask you to leave.”
“Fair enough.” Chaos was fairly certain Kara wouldn’t mind if he was there. She’d already told him what happened, so he hoped she’d want him there for moral support.
“I’m gonna go check in with the guys,” Edge said. He’d been listening to the conversation with the detective without interrupting. “If you need anything, just let us know.”
Chaos nodded. “Thanks.”
The detective raised a hand to knock on one of the metal bars holding up the curtains around the exam room, but the doctor inside opened the curtain before he had a chance to.
“We’re all done in here,” the woman said softly. “And for the record, we both heard everything you said. I suggest if you want to keep private things private, you lower your voices.”
Chaos could’ve kicked himself. She was right. He tried to think if he’d said anything terribly insensitive while talking to the detective but couldn’t remember. He needed to do a better job of protecting her.
“Thank you,” Blackwood said with a nod.
The doctor held the curtain back and stepped aside.
Chaos followed the detective into the small treatment area and his gaze immediately went to Kara. She was sitting on a table wearing a hospital gown with her legs crossed at the ankles, looking extremely uncomfortable.
Pulling out his cell phone, which he’d gotten from his duffel bag that had been left in the hangar, along with the rest of his teammates’ stuff—they never brought any of their personal belongings onto the choppers when they were on missions—he shot off a quick text to Edge to ask if he could find something for Kara to wear.
Including shoes. It was a big ask, but she couldn’t exactly walk around in that hospital gown or put her filthy clothes back on.
Her black eyes and the bruises around her neck looked worse in the bright lights that had been brought into the treatment area.
The throat wounds, in particular, were black and blue, not the yellows and greens of bruises that had faded after several days, telling him the marks were fresh.
She also had bruises on her legs and arms…
including the one Chaos had inadvertently left on her wrist by holding her so tightly in the water.
“How’s your shoulder?” she asked Chaos, looking at him and not the detective.
“Good. Doc gave me a few stitches and a prescription for antibiotics. How are you?”
She shrugged. “A little dented, but I’m okay.”
This woman. The more he was around her, the more impressed Chaos got.
“I want to press charges,” she said, getting right to the point, looking at the detective as she spoke.
“Nolan’s definitely going to try to find me.
He told me that he’d never give me up. That I’d always belong to him.
My greatest hope is that he’s dead, but if he’s not, he’ll do whatever it takes to track me down.
And for the record…he does terrify me. He hurt me.
Demeaned me. Treated me like I was no better than dog shit on the bottom of his shoe.
He raped me. Beat me. Strangled me. Denied me food and water.
Made me lose my job, moved me out of my apartment, gave away all my belongings.
“He took everything from me. But he can’t take my determination to make him pay for what he’s done.
And I’m sure he’s done this before. To someone who didn’t have the flood of the millennium come along to save her.
I’ll do whatever it takes to make him pay, to send him to jail.
But I’m also not stupid. If the police department doesn’t do everything it can to ensure my safety, he’ll find me and kill me. ”
The thought of this woman dying was repugnant to Chaos.
It caused an almost visceral reaction within him.
He wanted to protest, tell her that she’d be fine.
That he’d keep her safe. But he knew better than most how empty that promise would be.
Shit happened. Bad shit. And he couldn’t always be by her side.
“I understand. I’d like to get a statement of everything that happened, if that’s all right. Record it so we have evidence.”
“Okay.”
Blackwood looked from her to Chaos, then back to Kara. “I can ask him to step out if it would make you more comfortable.”
“No!”
Her answer was immediate and sounded almost panicked.
Chaos moved before he thought about what he was doing, putting himself between her and the detective.
She took a breath. “I’d like him to stay, if that’s okay.”
“It’s fine,” Blackwood said.
After the detective put a small recorder next to her, Kara took a deep breath and began to tell her tale. Chaos had heard most of it before, but with the detective asking probing questions, she included a lot more detail about what Nolan had done.
It made Chaos want to rage. But he stayed calm, leaning against the wall next to her exam table.
He couldn’t believe some of the things she’d lived through.
He understood where she was coming from, thinking she had nothing but bad luck, but from where he was sitting, it was the opposite.
The fact that she’d survived what she had proved it.
She should be dead. Several times over. And yet here she was, battered and bruised but still standing.
“I’m pretty sure I know what the answer to this question is, but I need to ask it anyway. I’m assuming he hasn’t been found? I mean, his body? He didn’t die in that flash flood?” Kara asked.
The detective shook his head. “I’m honestly not sure. I didn’t know his name before speaking with you, and there are a number of unidentified bodies at the morgue. When I leave here, I’ll personally go and look them over to see if any of them are Colins. Can you describe him for me?”
“He’s got dark hair, cut short. He’s tall, a few inches taller than me.
And big. I mean, he’s a big man. Not fat, per se, just large.
He’s got a wide nose and thin lips. There’s a small gap in his lower two teeth.
Um…and he’s hairy. Like, all over. I’d say he’s probably in his mid to late thirties, white, and he has a big freckle, or a small mole, I’m not sure which, on his right cheek. ”
“Any tattoos or other distinguishing features?” the detective asked.
Kara bit her lip, then nodded. “On his upper left chest, he has hashmarks.”
“Hashmarks?” the detective asked.
Kara nodded. “I’m not sure if that’s what they’re actually called. But when you count things by putting lines on a page, and when you get to five, you slash through the lines diagonally?”
“Tally marks?”
“Yeah. Those. Seven of them.”
Chaos instantly felt sick.
He exchanged a look with the detective. They both had an idea of what those marks probably meant. And if they were right…this Nolan guy might be a serial killer, keeping track of his victims with tattoos.
The fact that Kara had escaped him was a freaking miracle.
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” Blackwood said. “Rest assured, I’m going to do everything in my power to find this asshole and lock him up.”
Kara nodded.
A metal rapping sound came from the other side of the curtain, and everyone turned to see who it was. Edge entered, carrying an armful of clothes.
Chaos pushed off the wall and strode over to his friend, taking the stuff from him. “Thanks.”
“Not sure if they’ll fit, but I did my best.” Then he was gone.
“That’s my cue to get going myself,” Blackwood said.
“I’ll be in touch with my contact info,” Chaos told him. “And when we get Kara a phone, I’ll send you her info as well.”
The detective nodded and showed himself out. Chaos walked back to the table. He put the clothes down and leaned toward her and asked softly. “How are you doing really?”
“I think I’m a little shell-shocked. When we were in the water and the woods, time seemed to go by really slowly. But now? It’s racing by.”
“Yeah. Are you okay after…well, after seeing the doctor?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’ll admit that wasn’t fun, but she was kind, and she explained everything she did before she did it. She warned me that it was unlikely there would be any evidence left, since I’d been in the water so long.”
Chaos hated to even think about this woman having to undergo a rape test. But it had been necessary. “You never know. Studies have shown that sometimes sperm can be detected up to seven days after ejaculation.”
For some reason, Kara’s lips twitched.
“That’s funny?” Chaos asked, confused.
“No. Not at all. But hearing you say ‘ejaculation’ just struck me as humorous.”
Chaos stared at her for a beat, then simply shook his head. “How about you see if any of this stuff that Edge brought fits. I’ll get you other stuff, better clothes, as soon as I can.”
Kara looked at the clothes piled next to her on the table, then at Chaos. “I…thanks.”
Chaos wanted to give her a hug—she looked like she needed a hug—but he was well aware that she probably didn’t want to be touched, not after the exam she’d just had to endure. Not to mention what Nolan had done to her.
But to his surprise, she looked up at him and said a little uncertainly, “If it’s okay…I mean, if you wouldn’t mind…” She held her arms out to her sides tentatively.
Chaos moved immediately, relief flowing through his body.
He pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her.
They fit together perfectly. Chaos had one arm around her waist and the other at her upper back, holding her firmly but carefully.
Her arms were even tighter around him. How long they stood like that, he had no idea, but all he knew was when they finally broke apart, it was too soon.
He looked at her and slowly brought a hand to her face. He smoothed her hair behind her ear. It was filthy and snarled, but at that moment, their personal hygiene hardly mattered. He was badly in need of a shower as well, but having her in his arms was way more important than anything else.
“I’m scared, Arrow,” she whispered.
He stiffened.