Above the Law

Chapter Thirty-One

She couldn't hear the sirens. The ring in her ears was pounding. The blue and red lights blurred together. She swallowed and aimed the gun at Fisher's leg, rounding off two more shots before the cop cars and ambulances stopped in front of her. She threw the gun out of Fishers reach and stood rooted to the spot, chest shaking.

The cop was yelling at her. To do what, she didn't know.

"You have to help him," she whispered.

The cop grabbed her wrists and turned her around, Eden thought he was ready to cuff her, but he turned her wrist around in his palms, examining her. "Captain's instructions were to make sure you were safe." Medics ran past them, to Fisher and Parker. "They'll take care of Yates."

The cop stared at her, then yelled out a command to one of his fellow officers, "Tell Matthews I have her." He guided her towards his squad car.

Eden resisted, craning her neck around to keep her eyes on Parker and the swarm of medics that surrounded him. "Can—would I be able to ride with him in the ambulance?" she hiccupped.

The cop glanced at her bruised wrists again, her blood and tear streaked face. He opened his mouth, but Eden cut him off before he could answer, surprising even herself.

"I need to have a rape kit done."

The nurse gave Eden a small smile, handed her a hospital gown and exited the bathroom so she could change. Eden stared numbly at her reflection, the tears still sliding down her bloody cheeks where Parker's hands had been only an hour ago. Purple bruising swallowed her eye, while lingering traces of yellow and green bruises littered her cheeks. She peeled off the shirt and stared for a second longer at her naked and battered skin. The only clothes she could give them for evidence was the mangled and bloody t-shirt Fisher had thrown at her.

Eden slipped the hospital gown on, then walked back into the room and sat on the crinkly paper covering the bed.

"You're very brave for doing this," the nurse whispered as she began setting up the test. Eden glanced at the name tag clipped to the woman's chest: Nurse Halley. "I want you to know you have complete control over this situation and we can stop any time this become too much or too uncomfortable." Eden nodded faintly, not trusting her voice.

"Do you have any questions before I begin, Miss Summers?"

Eden pinched her eyes closed and swallowed. And swallowed again, but her throat was contracted too tightly for the words to come out as anything more than a strangled whimper. "The... the man I came in with? Is he going to be okay?"

The nurse stopped messing with the kit and turned her gaze on Eden. "I'm sorry. All I know is they were both sent straight to surgery."

Eden felt her chest deflate. "Oh."

The nurse tapped her pen nervously. "Do you have any other questions before we begin?"

She knew part of her was stalling the examination, but another part just as desperately needed answers. "Were his parents called? Do they know he's hurt?"

Nurse Halley fell silent for a moment. "I don't know. I'm sorry. Do you have any questions relating to the test that I can answer for you?"

"Can I have some water before?" Eden almost laughed as the question slipped out of her mouth, it seemed like such a trivial thing to ask for, considering all that had happened to her. But the nurse smiled and brought her a cup of water.