Outside the room, I leaned against the wall for a second, head bowed, trying to breathe.A uniformed officer stood near the ICU doors, arms crossed.“Captains are asking for you,” he said.
“Tell them five minutes,” I muttered.Captains plural meant trouble.I knew there were procedures we didn’t follow.Obviously we should have called dispatch with our intentions to do a welfare check or we should have instructed Nita to call it in.We didn’t.
Hindsight was twenty-twenty and I couldn’t take any of it back now.If I could there was a lot I would have changed.I found Nita exactly where I left her, still pacing, face drawn tight with fear.
“She talked?”Nita demanded as soon as she saw me.
“Yes,” I shared, stepping close so no one else could hear.“A little.”
Nita’s hands flew to her mouth.“How is she?”
“Stable,” I stated.“Weak.Bruised.She’s got marks on her throat from choking.So brace yourself she’s battered worse than before.You gotta be strong when you get in there.”
Nita’s eyes widened, rage igniting.“He choked her.”
“He choked her until she passed out,” I decided to lay it all out.Nita didn’t need any surprises.“And we all believe he injected her with fentanyl or something in the opioid family.There’s a mark on her arm consistent with it.When the tox comes back we’ll know for sure.”
Nita’s knees almost buckled.She grabbed the back of a chair, breathing hard.“Oh my God,” she whispered.“Oh my God.”
“She said she came home and he was already inside,” I continued.“High.Erratic.He trapped her.She tried to leave.”
Nita’s face twisted.“I should’ve made her move.I should’ve?—”
“No,” I interrupted sharply, because I wasn’t letting her carry that weight.“This is on him.Not you.”
Nita’s eyes snapped up to mine, glistening.“Then find him,” she said, voice shaking with fury.“Please.Dante, find him.”
I nodded once.“Oh, I will.I promise you that.”
A beat passed, heavy.Then Nita’s expression shifted, anger gave way to something else.Something scared and raw.“And Lamonte?”she asked quietly.“Anything?”
I swallowed.“No updates there.Same as before.Alive.Surgery went okay.He’s in ICU now.Sedated.”
Nita covered her face with both hands, shoulders shaking.I didn’t know what to do with my own grief, much less hers, so I did the only thing I could, I stood close, pulled her to me, and let her cry.
When she finally lowered her hands, her voice was hoarse.“They have to be okay?”
It was more of a question than a statement.I didn’t get to reply as we were no longer alone in our little corner of the waiting room.
A Captain’s voice cut through the air behind me.“Verdone.”
I turned.
Two Captains stood a few feet away, one I recognized and one I didn’t.Their faces were all business, but their eyes held something like respect, and something like grim urgency.
“Officer-involved shooting,” the older one said.“We need your statement.And we need every detail about the suspect.”
I nodded, my body turning to stone again, automatically bracing for the retelling.
“Yeah,” I managed, voice flat.“Can we just get this shit over with here.I’m not leaving my partner.”
As they led me down the hallway, away from Nita, away from Char’s room, away from Lamonte’s bed, my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.I ignored it.
My direct captain looked at me.“Verdone, you’re pressing this shit.We have a procedure to follow.We need to do this at the station.”
I thought for a moment and realized it was because they needed to take disciplinary action.So I did what I knew they were going to do once I got to the station.I pulled off my badge, I removed my service weapon from its holster, extending my arms out with the items to surrender.“Save the shit.I’m suspended.Got it.Here is the weapon and my badge.”
