The Brooklyn Sisters - @Short Story

Part 4

The Brooklyn Sisters             

by sloanranger

Part  4

After the uniforms left with Al, the middle-aged detective who'd kept in the background stepped forward and introduced himself.  

"I'm Officer Hardiman," he cleared his throat and took out a note pad. "A few questions now ladies, if you don't mind."

He addressed Dotty. "Does your husband drink often?" 

"Oh, you know, sometimes more than others."

"Has he ever been violent before when he drinks?"

"Not with me."

Clearing his throat again, he turned to Angela. "You and this lady are, ah - sisters?"

"Uh, huh." Angela replies, holding on to the back of the kitchen chair and avoiding the cop's eyes.

"Can you tell me a little bit about what happened?" The cop's pencil was poised.

"They were having...ah, a sort of, ah...." Dotty paused, nodded at her sister.

The cop tried to prod her. "You were having a...ah...."

"Relationship," offered Angela, looking down at her foot.

"Right," he said turning to look at her. "With your sister's husband?"  He tried not to make it sound like an accusation.

"Yep." Angie affirmed, still carefully studying her shoe.

Hardiman scribbled something in his notepad.

"Then she told me about it," Dottie said.

"I told her," Angie confirmed.

"That's right, she told me."

"She told you," Officer Hardiman repeated, for no reason whatsoever. He paused. "All right ladies, what happened then?"

Dotty takes her gum out, spreads her hands in a helpless gesture, and gives the cop the same, what-are-you-stupid-expression - she'd given Al, earlier.

"What do you think happened? Dotty said, "I got very upset."

"Distraught," Angie inserted. "She became very distraught," causing the cop to swerve his neck around and look at her.

"Distraught?"

"Very." Angie said.

"Extremely, I might say," Dotty amended. "I was extremely distraught." Dotty's expression confirmed that she was self-satisfied with this description of her emotions at the time.

"OK." Hardiman said. "Then what?"

"Well, then, naturally, when my sister got so distraught, Angie added, "I got very upset myself."

"Naturally," said the cop.

"Naturally," Dotty made it unanimous.

Angie: "You can understand that, can't you, officer?"

"Of course, I can."

"Of course, anybody would become distraught." Dotty added.

"Anybody," Hardiman verified.

"Or upset," Angie offered.

"Yes, well," the cop cleared his throat again with renewed effort toward regaining control of the interview.              

(To be continued).