“Thought what?” I ask, more sharply this time. “What attack? Who?”
“Sorry, sorry. I’m just… She seemed so nice. And I told her to go to the diner.” He shakes his head. “I should have encouraged her to wait here instead. Then this never would have happened.”
“Edwin.” I clap my hand on his shoulder. “Just tell me. What happened?”
He takes a deep breath and blows it out. “There was an attack down the street. I’m sure you saw the police. It just happened, maybe… ten minutes ago. If that. She had just been here to seeyou. But you weren’t here, obviously, so I suggested she wait. Try back in half an hour. I wouldn’t normally, but she said she knew you from high school, and?—”
My gut clenches.
Someone from high school? Awoman?
“Who?” I ask. “Who was it? Did she say?”
“Yes.” Edwin nods miserably. “I feel so terrible. I told her about the diner. I didn’t think, a woman walking on her own…”
“Who. Was. It?”
“She said her name was Sofia Shaw. And that she knew you from high school. Maybe I shouldn’t have told her to come back without checking with you first, but she seemed sincere…”
“What?”
For a moment, everything seems to shift into slow motion.
The buzz of activity in the lobby.
The words still coming out of Edwin’s mouth.
My thoughts.
“I heard it was two men,” he continues. “Dragged her into the alley. She had one of those alarms, apparently, and used it to catch the attention of some people walking by.”
Sofia was here?
Sofia was attacked?
Dragged into an alley?
Hurt?
“I’m sorry,” Edwin adds. “I?—”
“It’s fine,” I interrupt. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
But it’s not fine.
Sofia came to see me. And she was attacked just a block down the street.
My feet begin moving instinctively.
Then jogging as I rush back outside.
The ambulance is still there, its crimson lights flashing.
With each footstep, my heart beats faster.
Scattered thoughts come from all directions.
Sofia came to see me.
