Detective Betsy Bradshaw peered across her desk at the shaken hazel-eyed blonde. She was adorable. She had pin-straight, baby-fine blonde hair with a fringe to the brows and lovely facial features. She was a slight girl yet strong. She had to be if she was a trapeze artist, as the detective had learned.
“Are you ready to give your statement, hun, or do you think you need a little time?”
Davina shook her head. “No, I’m ready.”
“Good. Let’s take it from the beginning then. Name and age?”
“Davina Burns, age twenty-two.”
Bradshaw typed the info into the computer. “Address?”
Davina told her.
“Okay, let’s take it from the beginning now.”
“I was coming back from the store when I heard a man and a woman running and shouting behind me as I entered my apartment building. I thought they were just playing around at first until I turned back and saw that it was definitely no game they were playing. Then he did what he did, and it was just so awful to see. I was so terrified.”
“You have to be specific, sweetie. I know it’s a horrible thing to have to go through all over again, but it’s absolutely necessary if we want to catch this guy and make sure he can never harm anyone again.”
The cute girl before her bravely recounted the horrific events she had witnessed all the way up to when she managed to escape, call the police, and then wait for help to arrive at her apartment.
“I was still so terrified that I had to spend at least thirty seconds looking through the peephole just to convince myself that yes, they really were the police and it really was safe to open up.”
“I understand,” Bradshaw said empathetically. “Now let’s try to get more descriptive. What can you tell me about the guy himself? Was he short? Average? Tall?”
Davina thought about it a moment and said, “I think he was pretty average. Everything about him seemed average. His height, his weight.”
“How about hair and eye color?”
“I’ll never forget those chilling eyes even though I never saw them up close, but I’m pretty sure they were light. I can’t say if they were blue, gray, hazel, or light green, but they definitely weren’t dark.”
“Okay, good. Good,” Bradshaw said as she nodded with encouragement. “Hair?”
“It seemed like a light brownish kind of shade.”
“Oh, so it wasn’t noticeably dark or noticeably light like yours?”
“No. It was definitely one of those in-between colors but without any red in it.”
“And I take it there wasn’t any gray since you said he was pretty young, correct?”
“That’s right. Doubt he was over twenty-five, and I doubt even more that he was over thirty.”
The detective typed some more.
After a moment of silence, Davina asked, “Did the girl make it?”
“We don’t know yet. The last report was that she hadn’t regained consciousness and was in critical condition.”
“My God, I hope she makes it. If it was as traumatizing as it was for me, I can only imagine how horrible it must have been for her.”
“Yeah,” Bradshaw said, again feeling a pang of empathy she didn’t normally feel. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about the suffering of others; it was just that she was usually able to separate herself from the job. This girl, however, was someone she felt bad for and compelled to protect.
“They don’t have any idea who he is or where he is?”
“No, not yet. But there’s something important you need to know.”
“Yes?”
“You need to make arrangements to stay someplace else because he knows where you live and therefore you might not be safe if you remain in your apartment, even if you share it with others. The others were working at the time, right?”
Davina nodded. “Yeah, Eleanor works at a pet store and Anthony, a gay guy who lives with us, is a waiter. Anthony sometimes does double shifts and works late.”
“It might be in their best interest as well if they, too, relocated for a while.”
“We’ll try, but it’s not that easy. I only have a small circle of friends, and they’re not exactly equipped to just take on boarders. And unfortunately, my parents have lousy timing because while they would be glad to take me in a heartbeat, they’re in California right now where my mom is originally from.”
“Oh, really? I’m originally from San Francisco.”
“She’s in Sacramento.”
Bradshaw gave a quick smile. “Any brothers or sisters?”
“My nineteen-year-old stepbrother, Delmar. He lives on campus at the university he’s attending. I have a few distant relatives, but I don’t feel close enough to call on them. They’re not bad people. I just don’t see them often or know them well.”
“I see.”
“I only work three or four nights a week, and contrary to popular belief, circus people don’t make much money.”
“I understand. Do you guys travel?”
“No, we’re a relatively small company, and we basically perform in the area. We may branch out to entertaining the surrounding states as well, but that may be a while.”
“I’ll definitely have to come and see you perform sometime, but that’s another thing. If this guy knew exactly what floor you live on, what’s to say he doesn’t know where you work? He could very well live in your building, and you could have exchanged small talk at some point but just can’t remember it.”
“I don’t think so. Sure, he may live in the building. But I usually have a pretty good memory for faces, and I would think I would remember even if we exchanged a simple hello, much less enough conversation for me to divulge what I did for a living and where I lived. That’s not exactly small talk, after all.”
Bradshaw chuckled. “True.”
“Do you guys have a safe house or something? Or maybe a cheap hotel you could recommend? I could afford a few nights, but that’s about it. I’m just not the one in the family that makes the money,” she added with a chuckle. “I can’t just give up my apartment and my job.”
“Well, hopefully, he’ll be caught before you can be put out too much, and I think he will be, too. For now, why don’t you stay with me at my place?”
Davina looked surprised. “Wow. You sure?”
Bradshaw nodded.
“Wow, that’s really generous of you. Thanks. I would definitely feel safer with an armed detective around.”
“But that armed detective wouldn’t be around during the day, so you would have to stay put. Very important. You couldn’t just come and go around the city in case you were spotted and followed back to my place.”
“I understand.”
“It’s very important that you do.”
“I definitely do. What time do you get off work?”
“Right now. If there’s any good to this horrible event, it’s that the bastard had good timing.”
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