Hot Coffee (The Hollens Book 1)

Recalling

"Shh," I stopped her. "It's okay. Rest now," I hugged her to show my anger wasn't toward her.

I wasn't mad about what they did; I was mad at what happened to them. After all, they were entitled to a half day and I was glad she and Emma were bonding and socializing with each other. Emma could quickly learn the ropes from Halley.

I excused myself from the room as my phone rang and took the call in the living room. Detective Sam wanted to know if Halley would be stable enough to give her statement. The faster they did that the better; the culprit could leave town at any time.  Halley was still fragile and recovering but I understood Sam's point. If she couldn't, Emma would have to fill in since she's been there as well. 

I found Emma tidying by the pool.

"Emma, can I talk to you for a minute?" I gestured for her to come over.

"Yes, sir?"

"Following last evening's incident, a detective friend of mine will be over to get your and Halley's statements."

"I understand."

"Have you had breakfast yet?"

"No."

"Get yourself something to eat and wait for the detective to arrive."

"Yes, sir."

__________

Sam arrived in a squad car accompanied by three of his associates. I led them to the Halley's room; Emma was by her side.

"Halley, Emma, I'm Detective Sam of the NYPD. This here is Officer Ryan, Officer Michaels, and Officer Marshall. They're here with me to get a statement from the both of you."

Emma nodded.

"Emma, I'll start with you. Can you recall exactly what happened yesterday from the time you two left the mansion?"

"Yes, Detective. Yesterday, around midday, I wanted to cash in my check. I informed Halley since there were only the two of us here at the time. She came along with me-- we are entitled to a half day once a week. Mr. Luis, one of Mr. Hollen's drivers, drove us to the bank. It took about half-an-hour then we went to a store and I bought a dress."

"So you knew you were going to a party?" Sam asked as she paused.

"No. Not at that time."

"Okay, continue. What happened next?"

"Afterwards, Halley took me to a hair salon to get my hair done. Then we went to the mall where I got some new contact lenses from a friend of hers who is an eye specialist."

No more big glasses? I thought to myself.

"Halley said she needed a dress. We went to a store and got one. That's when she told me we were going to a party. I already had on my new dress and I didn't want to disappoint her because she was being nice to me for the first time. We got Luis to take us to her boyfriend's house at Saint..."

"Saint Street?"

"Yes, at Saint Street. When we got there, a guy came over to us and Halley gave him a present."

"What was it?"

"A watch. A Rolex."

I quickly looked at Halley. What the f...?

"It was a knock off from Chinatown," Halley quickly added.

I exhaled slowly.

"Did you get his name?"

"His name was Matt."

"Okay. What happened after?"

"They started dancing and I was just looking around because the party was outdoors -- the backyard. A guy approached me and started talking to me."

What fucking guy?  I was ready to kill.

"Who was he?" Sam asked what I'd wanted to know.

"His name was Max."

"Matt and Max the brothers?" Officer Ryan asked Sam with concern in his eyes.

"Sounds like them," Sam replied.

"Like who?" I asked angrily, cutting in. Sam told me to calm down and wait for Emma's statement to be finished.

"He was asking me questions like was I new in town, if I had a boyfriend, and so on, just small talk. Then Halley came over with a drink in a red plastic cup."

"Wait a minute. Halley gave you the drink?"

"Yes, detective."

"Continue."

"I'm not a fan of alcohol. I only took a small sip so Halley would stop bugging me."

"What was her condition at that time?"

"She looked somewhat tipsy but I didn't think much of it because I had never been out to a party with her before. She went to dance with her boyfriend again. I walked over to a tree and threw out the beer, that's when I saw a pill fall out."

"Did you pick it up?"

"Yes, I wrapped it in a makeup wipe and put it in my purse. Then it dawned on me that it had to be some kind of drug. I went to find Halley. She was a mess; I could tell, then, she was high."

"What did you do?"

"I attempted to pull her away from dancing with Matt. I whispered to her that I thought we were being drugged but the music was too loud and Matt was standing close by. He pulled her away from me and said we weren't going anywhere."

"Did he threaten or assault you?"

"No. He began to pull Halley towards the house."

"What was Halley doing? Was she yelling?"

"She was laughing. She was high, Detective, and Matt was her boyfriend, not a stranger, of course she wouldn't yell." Emma seemed a bit on edge. I hoped she would calm down. Asking questions were just the routine.

"Okay, Emma. What did you do next?"

"I wanted to yell for help because I knew she didn't look good. I remembered Luis was parked outside on the street, but he couldn't see what was going on because the property had a tall fence. I looked around for the other guy, Max, because I didn't trust him after I saw the pill. He was talking to another girl so I ran out of the gate and told Luis what was happening to Halley. He told me to get in the car and lock the doors and wait for him to get back. He came back with Halley over his shoulder."

"What was her condition?"

"She looked like she had been crying and she was groaning. She wasn't moving, only groaning." Emma had tears in her eyes as she recounted; Halley could have died in her arms.

"Then Luis started the car. I gave him the pill I had wrapped up and by the time we got home Halley had passed out. I got angry at Luis because he didn't take Halley to the hospital. But then I saw the ambulance and the doctors took over the situation, and that's about it."

"Thank you, Emma."

Detective Sam turned to Halley. "Halley, is everything Emma said accurate?"

She nodded.

"Can you remember what happened when Matt pulled you into the house?"

"No. I don't wanna talk about it." She began to cry.

*************
Don't forget to vote and leave comments. You can share with other Wattpad friends

**********