Chapter 2 #2
“It’s not yours.” She took a step toward her, and Trin lifted her chin. “I’m glad that they’ve been taken care of, and I hope that next month no more come in. I’m not going to hand them over to you like they belong to you.”
“You will or else.” Turning her back on her aunt to unlock her car door, her hands were shaking so badly that she could barely get the key in the slot.
Once she got the door unlocked and opened, she turned to look at her aunt.
She was nearly atop of her when she saw her again.
“You’ll do as you’re told, or so help me, I’m going to hurt you badly.
Those checks will belong to me, and I’m going to get them.
See that you remember that the next time they come in. ”
“I’m going to shred it too.” The punch to her face, not a mere smack, had her head turn at her neck.
The pain was so bad that she put her hand to her cheek and felt the blood.
“I’m calling the police.” The next punch had her hitting the ground.
When she hit her head on the car, things blurred out for a few minutes.
Just as she was going to stand up, she was kicked in the ribs several times before she curled herself into a ball and let it happen.
Terrified beyond anything she’d ever felt before, Trin took the beating and vowed never to let her aunt get the better of her again.
Waking up in the hospital, she looked around the emergency room and found the police there.
She wasn’t cuffed to the bed, which she was grateful for, but the woman in the room looked at her like she’d done something wrong.
Asking her what happened, she said that someone had found her in the parking lot and had called an ambulance for her.
“My aunt beat me up.” She asked if she wanted to press charges. “I do. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but if it was enough to get me in here, then she should be in jail. She wants my mom’s Social Security checks.”
“That’s against the law. You should cash them for your mother, and that’s all that should be spending the money.
” She explained that her mother was dead and that the office downtown won’t help her.
“I’ve tried to work with the Social Security office before.
They’re not very brilliant if you ask me. ”
The doctor came into the room about then, and she was told they were going to admit her. She had four broken ribs and a concussion. She was surprised about the ribs, but not the concussion. Her aunt was going to pay for this.
When she was put into a room, the officer came with her.
After taking her statement and telling her that they’d put out an arrest warrant for her, she told her where she lived and worked, too.
She hoped they would arrest her at work but knew that, as late as it was, she would be more than likely be in bed.
After being settled in the bed, she began to take an inventory of her hurts.
Christ, she hurt badly, and when asked if she wanted something for the pain, Trin couldn’t say yes fast enough.
As soon as she was given the pain medication, she began to feel much better.
Her aunt had done a number on her, and she didn’t even know why.
Unless it was because she argued with her about the checks.
Hoping that she never found out that she’d lied to her about the whereabouts of the checks, Trin closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day, and she wanted it to be over with.
Missing another day of work, she didn’t care.
She’d been working at the same place for the last ten years, and she didn’t care if they fired her now.
Her mother had left her well off when she’d left her the estate that she’d had, as well as the insurance she’d taken out on herself for her when she’d first found out that she was sick with cancer.
She was going to miss her something terrible.
~*~
“Did you at least stick around to make sure that she wasn’t dying?
” Bastain asked his brother if he’d been the one who called the ambulance.
“I called the ambulance, but no, I didn’t stick around to see if she was dying.
She looked like someone had taken a ball bat to her body, and she didn’t look all that good. ”
“You should have stayed with her until the ambulance arrived. What if she didn’t know who she was?
” He said that he didn’t know her either.
“Well, I think you should have stuck around to make sure she was picked up. You never know what’s going to happen to people once the medics arrive. They could have just left her there.”
“They didn’t. I saw them putting her in the ambulance.
I wasn’t close enough for anyone to notice me, but I didn’t want to stick around to have to answer questions.
It looked like some woman had done it to her when I was coming out of the office.
” Bastain asked him if he’d seen her being beaten up.
“Yes. I yelled at her to stop, and she ran off. I thought rather than have her come back and finish the job, I’d keep an eye on the other woman and make sure that she was still breathing.
By then, there were lots of others standing around, and I got out of there.
I wonder what would make it so someone would beat someone like that? ”
“I guess we’ll never know.” Bastain was sort of pissed off at his brother for leaving a woman down like that.
While he could understand his reasoning, he didn’t want to be involved in a domestic call; he also knew that to leave her there alone was not right.
He looked up at his mom when she entered the room. “Mom? What’s happened? You look upset.”
“I am upset. I know the child.” He started to point out that she’d been a grown woman from the description that Zavier had given, but didn’t.
She looked upset enough. “You remember when I asked the six of you to go to the funeral home with me? Well, it was her daughter who had gotten beaten up. Doris’ daughter is a kind person.
She took care of her mother for all these past years. ”
“I remember. She was young for someone who just died, if I remember correctly.” Mom nodded but still looked upset. “Do the police know anything yet? I mean, do they know what happened to the girl?”
“Trinity. That’s her name. And no, the police didn’t know anything when I called there.
She has some broken ribs and a concussion, too.
Poor thing. She’s been dealing with her estate since her mother passed.
I know that she’d been ready for her to go, but there are always things that crop up when you’re dealing with the passing of a loved one.
” Zavier told her what he’d done. “You’ll have to go to the police station and file a report.
If you saw the woman who was knocking the crap out of the girl, it’s the least you can do. ”
“I don’t want to get involved.” Mom only had to look at him to have him change his mind.
“All right, I’ll go down there. But I don’t know what good it will do.
I never saw her face, only what she was wearing.
And by the time I got to the girl, she was beaten up so badly that I could barely make out her facial features. ”
“You’ll go down now and tell them everything.
” She sat down on one of the chairs around the table and looked at Zavier.
“I can’t believe that you just walked away.
What if it had been one of your brothers or myself there on the cold ground?
What would you have done if someone had information on the beating but didn’t tell the police?
You’d be pretty upset about it, wouldn’t you? ”
“Yes, ma’am.” Zavier pulled his jacket off the chair and was headed to the door. “I don’t suppose you know who I should ask for when I get there, do you? I mean, will there be someone there who will be able to take my statement?”
“I’m sure that anyone can do that for you.
You just tell them that you’d witnessed the beating and had some information on it.
That’ll get the ball rolling.” Zavier looked at him as his mom continued.
“You make sure you tell them that you waited for the ambulance before you left. Maybe they’ll cut you some slack in leaving the scene of the crime. ”
“I didn’t do that.” All Mom did was look at him again.
“All right, I’ll do that. But I don’t think that I really left the scene of the crime.
There were other people there who were watching over her.
” He looked at him again. “Will you come with me? I’d feel better if there was someone with me when they put me in jail. ”
“I’ll bail you out.” Zavier told him he was funny, but he told him he wasn’t kidding.
As soon as they were in his car, he asked him what he was going to do about this.
“I mean, you really pissed Mom off about this. I’m not saying you should tell them everything, but you’d better. Mom will find out.”
“I know. I think she’s babysat for everyone in this town at some point or another.
Even if she didn’t babysit the adults when they were younger, she did their kids.
Mom knows people.” She does too. And even with them being grown men, she still knew enough people to know what they were up to all the time.
“I’ll really bail you out if it comes to it. I won’t leave you in jail.”