She drew in a deep breath and released it on a shuddery sigh. “No, it’s just my arm.”
Linda Farrow, one of the EMTs knelt in front of Angelique and then opened the first aid kit she’d carried in with her.
While Linda cleaned up the two cuts, Daniel directed his officers to head outside and check the area for any signs of the intruder, and then he began to question Angelique.
“Tell me exactly what happened?” he asked gently.
His blood chilled as she told him about awakening to the sound of breaking glass. If she hadn’t heard that, if she hadn’t awakened when she did, then she probably would have been dead…stabbed to death in her sleep.
“Was it a male or a female?” he asked.
“I just assume it was a man.” She winced as Linda cleaned out the wounds with alcohol.
“Are you certain it was a man?” he asked.
She released a tremulous sigh. “No, right now I’m not sure about anything.”
“Can you guess height…weight?”
She frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t know. It was so dark and everything happened so fast. All I know is the person was dressed all in black and wore a ski mask and gloves.”
“Is there anyone you can think of who might want to harm you?”
“No, nobody I can think of. I spend much of my time either here or in the swamp alone or with my sisters,” she replied. “I honestly can’t think of anyone who might want me dead.” She looked down at her arm where Linda was applying antibiotic cream.
Linda smiled up at her. “You were lucky, Miss Santori. The wounds aren’t too deep and I don’t believe you need any stitches. I’ll just bandage them up, and then in a couple of days you need to reapply the antibiotic cream and then bandage them up for another few days.”
“Thank you,” Angelique replied.
As Linda and her partner Ramone left the shanty, all three of the officers checked in, stating they had found nothing unusual outside.
“Do you have any wood that we can use to board up the broken window?” Daniel asked her.
“Actually, there are several planks of wood in a variety of sizes on my back deck,” she replied. “They were left over when Mama had the deck built.”
“Do you have a hammer and some nails?”
“I do. I’ll just get them for you. They’re in the kitchen,” she replied. She got up from the sofa and Daniel and Officer Adam Kincaid followed her.
Minutes later a piece of plywood was in place over the broken piece of glass in the window. Once that was done, the men checked all around the living room, where the fight had taken place. They looked for any kind of evidence that might help to identify the intruder, but unfortunately found nothing.
Once that was done, Daniel dismissed his officers and they left to resume their nightly duties on the streets of Dark Waters. Under normal circumstances Daniel would have had them attempt to lift prints from the front door lock and knob. But Angelique had told him the perpetrator had worn gloves, so there was really no point.
Alone with Angelique, he sat down next to her on the sofa. Thankfully some of the color had returned to her face and she appeared calmer and more collected than she had been when they first arrived.
He couldn’t help himself. Although it wasn’t very professional, he took her hand in his. Her cold fingers immediately curled around his as if seeking his warmth.
“How are you doing?” he asked. He wanted to pull her into his arms and feel her heart beating against his. He wanted to hold her tight and assure himself she was really okay. This could have been a nightmare and she could have easily wound up dead.
“I’m doing better than I was when you first arrived,” she replied. “I’m afraid and I’m angry. I’m also utterly confused as to who attacked me and why.”
“I’m going to do my very best to get you those answers,” he replied. “In the meantime, I need you to think of anyone who might have a grudge against you, anyone you might have had words with in the last month or so, no matter how insignificant it seemed at the moment.”
“Trust me, I’ll be thinking about that until we figure this out,” she replied.
“There’s nowein this investigation. Angelique, I want you to think about it, but there’s no way I want you going off on your own to find answers,” he said firmly.
She offered him a half smile. “Now, why on earth would you think I’d do such a thing?”
