Talisa Oliveira twiddled her fingers in her lap as she stared at the door to the interview room. She sat in the stiff chair that was beside a detective's desk. About 25 minutes ago Talisa had watched her student, Avery Riddle, enter the interview room with the detective whose desk she was seated next to. He had been tall and had kind, blue eyes and dark blonde hair. It was extremely late, well, early actually. Around three in the morning and he seemed to be the only one on duty at this hour. Talisa scrunched her eyebrows together as she attempted to recall the name of the detective. His name wouldn't come back to her, so she opted to lean forward in her chair in search of the name plate on his desk. Ah, right. She thought as she spotted it. The plate read: Det. Dominick Carisi. Talisa's gaze once again flashed to the interview room door at the sound of the blinds rustling as it opened and Detective Carisi popped his head out.
"Miss Oliveira, you can come in now," he said, motioning for her to enter the room with his hand.
Talisa stood and headed into the small space with a conference table and chairs surrounding it. She sat down next to Avery and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Avery gave her small smile in return as Detective Carisi shut the door and sat back down across from the women.
"Okay, so, Avery has given me all the details she can recall from her attack." Detective Carisi explained to Talisa. "Now, Miss Oliveira, as her outcry witness I'll need to get your account of the last few hours starting from when Avery first came to you."
"Sure, of course…" Talisa began with a deep breath and a glance in Avery's direction. "Well, at about one in the morning I was awakened by my phone ringing…"
Talisa continued with her description of the last few hours' events and the few details Avery had told her about her assault and attacker. As she spoke, Detective Carisi nodded occasionally and made notes on a legal pad in front of him.
When Talisa wrapped up her statement, the tall detective nodded to himself again and pulled his phone out of his back pocket, giving it a little wiggle in his hand. "I'm just going to make a call real quick, then we can all head over to the emergency room so a doctor can check you out, Avery, and also so a nurse can collect evidence from the assault. Is that all right with you?" He asked with a sympathetic look.
"Yes, that's fine." Avery's response came out in barely more than a whisper and she stared into her lap.
Detective Carisi's eyes darted to Talisa's face and she gave him a sharp nod in agreement. He stood and headed out of the interview room.
Later that morning, after the exams and the blood draws and the invasive questions were through, Talisa stepped out of her student's hospital room and drew the door closed behind her, allowing Avery to redress in private.
"How's she doing?" Detective Carisi's baritone voice snapped Talisa out of her temporary fog.
"Oh. Better, I think. But, you know, still awful." Her voice trailed off at the end of her statement.
"Yeah. Yeah, I get it."
Talisa walked over to the other side of the hallway were the detective was standing and leaned her upper back against the wall beside him. The cool tile helped to calm her frayed nerves from the night as she pressed back into it.
"You hear about this sort of thing and never think it could actually happen to you or someone you know… you know?" She didn't wait for him to answer the rhetorical question before continuing. "I've been a professor for the last 4 years at Columbia and have been living in New York for only slightly longer than that. Truthfully, I've never felt unsafe anywhere in the city. Much less on campus. I do try to be smart and aware of my surroundings and all that, but I…" Her rambling speech caught in her throat as the emotion of the evening finally swept over her. Her body folded in half as a sob came out. She quickly put one hand over her mouth to stifle the cry and placed her other hand on her right knee to support herself. The compassionate detective instantly moved to circle his arms around her and pulled her up. She placed her head on his chest as the tears began to fall.
"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry." He softly shushed and rubbed his hands comfortingly up and down her back.
After a few moments, Talisa took a deep breath and put her palms on his chest and pressed back from him slowly. "No, geez, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Nothing even happened to me." She shook her head and swiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands fervently trying to clear the tears before Avery came out and saw her. She had to be strong for her.
"It's still a trauma to see this happen to someone you know and care about. Perfectly normal reaction. Don't be so hard on yourself." He consoled her.
"Thank you, Detective Carisi."
"Hey, please call me Sonny." He smiled.
Talisa returned a small smile and nodded. "Sonny. Thank you."
He reached into the inside breast pocket of his suit coat and retrieved a business card. Handing it to her he said, "Please call if you or Avery think of anything else. Even if you don't think it seems important. It could be." He smiled that caring smile of his and added, "Or if you ever need to talk feel free to call for that, too."
"We will. I will." Talisa smiled in return and pocketed the card as the door to Avery's room opened.
"Hey. All ready." Avery said quietly as she exited the room.
Talisa stepped over to her and looped her arm around her shoulder. "Let's get you home."
