What Human Remains

Chapter 3

She was standing in the shadow of a streetlight, slumped against a concrete wall like any of the junkies lining the streets further downtown, as Detective Ross's car pulled over. He had left the office immediately as he had gotten Officer Myers's call on the accident and they had been cruising the nearby streets for a while already, trying to reach her or to catch a glimpse of Lieutenant Russell.

He was visibly horrified seeing the condition she was in as she emerged from the darkness of the alley to reach out for the open door of the car Myers had been given to commandeer.

"My god! What happened?" the detective gasped as she slipped into the backseat in complete silence. She had tried to wipe the worst of the blood off, but had ended up covering her pale face with sticky dried residue instead. Her clothes were still dripping dark muck that started to puddle slowly on the vehicle's rubber mats, staining the faux leather seat.

He glanced at the caking gore on her shaking hands, turning the undersides of her nails black. He could only guess at what had taken place.

"Was it Russell?" he asked cautiously although he felt he had a pretty good idea of what the answer was going to be. She chose to say nothing. Her gaze was fixed on the scenery outside, but the vacant look in her eyes indicated she wasn't looking at anything specific and was mainly lost in her thoughts. Her entire appearance was that of someone deeply traumatized.

"We need to get you to a doctor," he muttered as the door slammed shut and the car pulled away from the curb.

That seemed to snap her out of the haze she was in.

"No! No doctor," she finally spoke shaking her head vigorously. All she wanted was to get away from it all, to take a hot bath and get a clean change of clothes. She wanted nothing to do with anyone representing a medical profession. She knew perfectly well what was wrong with her and no normal doctor of any kind was going to be able to help her.

"Are you sure?" detective Ross asked. He had seen his fair share of people who had gone through something very traumatic and she was showing some of the most common symptoms. He understood she wanted privacy at a time like this, but at the same time he didn't want to risk the life of an important witness just because of personal disagreement and comfort.

"Yes," she said quietly pulling the long sleeves of her jacket over her hands. "I'm sure." Her words almost got lost in the low hum of the car as it joined a line of taxis heading for the downtown entertainment spots.

She saw Myers glance at the two of them through the rearview mirror, evidently waiting for instructions on where to drive.

The detective let out a deep sigh.

"Okay, if you say so," he conceded feeling that she had been pushed far enough for the time being. If there were any medical concerns, he could have someone take a look at her a bit later. Until then he was going to give her some time to recover otherwise.

The detective had chosen a surprisingly upscale hotel for her to stay at, but she figured he had his reasons, which she was sure included a properly guarded front desk and a good security system. Under other circumstances, being a student of limited means, she would have been excited to get a bit of luxury, especially at such a difficult time in her life, but with the heavy thoughts weighing on her mind, she barely noticed where they were about to pull over.

They slipped into the building via the back entrance, diving below the street level into the hotel's multi-level parking garage. Due to security concerns, the main entrance was out of the question whether it was guarded or not, but there was also the issue of her gory appearance which would have attracted much unwanted attention. In her state, they had to bring her in as covertly as possible.