Heartdriven: Too Driven To Drive

3. Migraine

They let her sit for a moment, and Fernando went to get a bathrobe for her, before helping her out of the bathtub. She had gotten the blood properly off her and washed it down the drain with the rest of the water.
She walked slowly with him to the bedroom where Liam was waiting, and Fernando found some clothes for her to bring with her to Betty's house. As he handed it to her, she instead walked over to William on the floor and gave him a massive kick in his ribs, making him groan, and both Fernando and Liam rushed to his side. Liam first, he checked his pulse, "I thought he was dead!"
"So did I!", Fernando went back to Alice, who had covered her mouth in the shock.
Liam held William's body down and commanded at them, "Alright, get her out of here, now!"
Fernando put his arm around Alice, and ran with her to the front door. Her legs were so unsteady underneath, it almost felt faster to carry her.
"Alice. You need to pull yourself together, okay? We need to cross the street without raising suspicions, you need to look sound. Can you do that? One step at a time."
She nodded and they ventured outside together. He kept his arm around her and she guided him to Betty's house.

"I think... it will be best... if I knock...", her voice was shaky and she fought to get the words out. She moved in front of him by the door and knocked.
The door was answered by an elderly woman, who put her arms around Alice, making her wince, "Alice, are you alright? I was worried," she gave Fernando a look up and down.
"This is my friend... uhm, can I stay here for a bit?", Alice was avoiding eye contact, it looked as if she was shy but felt more like she was hiding.
"Of couse, come on in. Oh, you must be freezing in that bathrobe, hurry on inside, dear," she rubbed Alice's shoulder comforting. 
Alice wrapped herself in her arms, "Is Jakob home?"
"Yes, he's by the TV," Betty put her hand on Alice's cheeks, seemingly noticing the red handmarks on her face, "Do you need help?"
"I think so," her voice lower than a pin dropping. 
"Why don't you wait in his office down the hallway, and I'll go get him."

Following her instructions, they went to Jakob's office, which looked more like a doctor's examination room.
Alice moved to remove her bathrobe and Fernando handed her the clothes he had brought, before quickly swirling around to give her some privacy to get dressed.
Betty entered with Jakob shortly after, holding some steaming mugs in her hands, "I assumed you would rather have some hot chocolate than tea?"
"Thank you." Alice took the mug and held it close to her chest by both hands, using it to warm herself rather than drink it.
Jakob sat down across from her, "What can I do for you, Alice?"
"Uhm...," she placed the mug on the table and hesitated for a moment before getting up from the chair, "My ribs hurt," suggesting to the specific area. She reached her hand forward to him and removed the shirt covering the cut, "My hand..."
He quickly interrupted her, "That is going to need stitches. And you need a new bandage for the stitches on your head. Now, will it be okay if I have a look at your ribs?"
She slowly pulled up her shirt and revealed her wounded body. Betty covered her mouth, shocked from looking at the pale skin bruised and battered. Fernando as well, could feel her pain inside, looking at her so damaged, all he could think about was that she should have killed him when she had the chance.
"Alice... I called the police earlier, did you talk to them? Shall we call them again? Who did this to you, dear?", Betty was rushing through her words, sounding more scared than Alice. Maybe it was too much for Alice to go through, as she just shook her head and frowned.
Fernando felt he had to step in to not cause Alice to strain herself from explanations, "There is a police officer at the house right now. I should probably go back to check in, will you be okay here?", she nodded, "Then I will come back and get you later." He kissed her on the cheek and walked out as Jakob began examining her injured ribs.

As Fernando reached Alice's house, there was another car parked next to Liam's police car. Again, he walked straight in and to the bedroom, to find William cuffed and Liam standing by him with a woman by his side.
"This is Anderson," Liam threw his neck at the woman, "She's gonna help us out."
"Fernando," he shook her hand. Clearly another police officer, albeit not in uniform, they were colleagues of William — and these were the people he was supposed to trust with Alice's life? 
William had been gagged and tied with duct tape, they had covered his body in some as well, and Fernando looked their work over, using the tape as bandage on the cuts.
"So, the bastard passed out, but he only got cut across the collarbone and stabbed in the ribs. Lucky piece of shit," Anderson snarked at him, resisting the urge to punch him just as much as Fernando wanted to, after seeing what he had done to Alice.
"We came up with an agreement, right?", Liam stared at the aforementioned piece of shit, "He's not going to say anything. And why?", he ripped the tape off William's mouth, and William continued the agreement, "Be cause then I will never see my son again."
Anderson followed up, "And then we won't report what he did to her."
Fernando grabbed the tape and put it back over William's mouth, and pulled Liam and Anderson to the side, "You are negotiating with this maniac?! Why can't you just arrest him? It was self defence! He deserves to rot," almost turning back to spit on him.
Liam crossed his arms with an attitude of stating the obvious, "We would have to arrest Alice as well, do you want to put her through that?"
"I have seen this before," Anderson keeping her voice low and outside William's reach, "Abuse that only gets worse and worse until it is too late. Now imagine if the abuser is a police officer. Evidence gets 'lost', accidents happen and then suddenly... the victim is deceased." She was very firm but underlined a tone of empathy, "You want my advice, you are going to get Alice out of here and as far away from him as possible. Somewhere he can't reach her, somewhere he can't find her."
Fernando nodded, "I'll see what I can do."