Airel - Aaron Patterson [24]
I hoped I wouldn’t just burst into a big fat blubbering mess in front of everyone. It just felt so good to hear his voice. There was strength in it and that’s just what I needed.
“I’ll see you there.” He said flatly. He hung up and I breathed in a sigh of relief.
The overweight officer made small talk as he drove and talked on his radio every now and then. I could picture him with a big cup of coffee in one hand and a donut in the other... the stereotypical cop. His fatness didn’t really fit the lean and mean look of his Dodge Charger. I thought about how sometimes these things just don’t make much sense, how life just throws us all kinds of curve balls, and how nothing is actually what it appears to be most of the time. Overweight, balding cop, sexy new car. It was just weird, the real world. Where do I fit into this mess?
The police station was a small brick building with a single glass door leading to an over-crowded entryway. The woman at the front desk was middle-aged and had nice hair. A little too red really, and it was up in a messy bun, topped off with two number 2 pencils sticking out of it, making an X.
“Just this way, miss.” I followed Officer Jim—baldy told me I could call him Jim—back to a cramped office, which looked depressing. There was one window that looked out onto the street. A single metal desk and a chair were all that was in the room.
Michael and the rest of the gang had come in the front door and were ushered to a waiting room. On the south wall stood a rack with magazines. There was a soda machine next to a row of uncomfortable looking chairs.
A few minutes later, the cop from the theater with the heavy brow and dark eyes entered and introduced himself. “I’m Detective Lopez. Looks like you got jgypped!” he slammed a thin file down on the desk. “You went for comedy but got horror instead.” He slapped his thigh and smiled broadly at me.
Wow, dude. Pretty lame joke. He had a comforting way about him, though. He told me he was just trying to lighten the mood. His smile was reassuring, a lot like Dad’s, and I could see in his dark brown eyes that he really cared. Either that or he was just really good at his job.
He had another chair brought in and I went over everything that had happened, step by step. What I saw, what I heard, everything. My heart sped up when I told him about that horrific scene in the bathroom. The only thing I held back was how the murderer had looked at me. That was too weird, even for me.
The artist came in. She was a shy small woman with thin black hair.
“Now,” Detective Lopez continued, “I know it was dark, but what can you tell us about him? Was he tall, short, fat, thin, scars, weird looks? Anything you think of will help.”
“He was tall with blond hair…” As I gave the description, the artist began her work. After getting the basic shape of his face, she began to sketch the killer’s eyes. Looking at them on paper, they still cut right through me. What if he tried to find me?
She continued her work, filling in the details, making corrections, adding features, thickening the nose, thinning the eyebrows, squaring the chin. When she finished, I was amazed. The sketch looked just like the man I had seen in the theater.
“That’s him!” I felt sick to my stomach.
After Detective Lopez and the sketch artist left, my dad came in. I held on to him and would not let go. I needed someone stronger than me. He told me that Mom was home making dinner, busying herself to keep from worrying. “I’m fine Dad, really!” I lied.
“You sure? Kim filled me in. I’m so glad you’re safe.” His eyes said what he could not: “You could have been killed!” He had a scared look on his face, and I hugged him again.
“Well… I’m safe now. No need to worry.” I knew that was weak, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say. My brain was moving like sludge and yet I felt like I was still thinking clearly. I looked over my dad’s shoulder and saw Michael. He was standing a few feet behind and I caught him staring at me. I blushed and he turned away. I wondered what he was thinking.
Did he really like