When she was finished showering, Cole slipped on the dark purple scrub top and pants that a nurse had given to her to borrow after her first round of exams were completed. She didn't want to delay anyone any longer than she had to, so she combed her hair just enough that her left eye was partially covered by her still wet hair. She then bundled up the shampoo, conditioner and body wash in the hospital gown she had been wearing since her clothes had been confiscated as evidence. Not that that bothered her all that much. The shirt wasn't hers, so she really didn't care what happened to it and her skirt? Well, the only reason she would ever want to get it back would be to burn it in an attempt to banish the memories of the last time that she wore it.
"Constable Martinez?" She called out as she opened the bathroom door.
The officer got up off the hospital bed where she had been seated while she waited for her detainee to finish. She quickly grabbed the door handle to pull the door open and make it easier for Cole to exit the room. She then stepped aside to let Cole pass by her en route to the chair where she had left the bag that had contained all of the toiletries that she had just used.
"Uhh… Officer? Is Ms. Willows still around?" She asked timidly with her back facing the officer.
"Yes, she is Miss Radisson. She's with the doctor waiting to continue with the other tests that they told you about. She isn't going to break her promise to you. She and I just thought that you wouldn't want a huge audience every step of the way," Constable Martinez explained.
Once everything was back in the bag, Cole turned around and said, "It isn't… I mean I appreciate the privacy, it's just… I found a couple of other injuries the you should know about."
"Ooh," Constable Martinez hissed in a sympathetic breath. "That looks painful," she commented as she pointed to Cole's puffy, now blackening left eye.
"Yeah," Cole replied, tucking her hair behind her ears in a life-long nervous gesture. "Nothing really hurts all that badly since the pain-killers started to kick in. It… uhh… it isn't the only one. There's one… but it's… uh… it's covered up."
Constable Martinez stilled Cole's hands at the hem of her shirt saying, "We can wait until we're with the doctor and CSI Willows for the show and tell."
"Oh? Okay. Thanks."
"And the nurse found these in the lost and found. We thought they would be more comfortable for you to wear."
Cole took the offered pair of white Keds sneakers from the officer. She sat down on an empty chair to put them on saying, "Anything is better than those booties I had to wear out of the hotel. Man, this was really nice of her to do… and thank you for bringing them to me. I really do appreciate it."
"You're welcome, Miss Radisson. Now, are you ready for round two?"
Cole stood up and moved her hair from behind her left ear to cover up that side of her face answering, "Can't be any worse than the last round of exams, right?"
The officer's face softened and she had an undeniable look of sympathy in her eyes as she opened the door and let Cole step into the hallway in front of her. Once the doctor had finished the sex assault examination, she had Cole eat a small meal so that she could administer some oral painkillers. Since her patient was still having difficulties swallowing, she had also given Cole some chamomile tea to help to soothe her damaged throat. After that she had been able to speak more easily and answer all three of their questions. Her memory was still spotty at best, but true to her word she was being completely cooperative and did her best to answer their questions truthfully.
When they were alone, Constable Martinez was able to chat with their potential homicide suspect about topics that didn't involve the two crimes that happened in the hotel room. She found the younger woman very charming and quite funny at times. While they were talking, the officer found that much like the CSI, she was looking at Cole more like a victim than a suspect. She even slipped up a couple of times and used her nickname to address her, so she started to make a conscious effort to address her as formally as possible. The officer had heard enough stories from colleagues about being fooled by a suspect because they seem like too nice of a person to have perpetuated the heinous crime they were looking into, so she didn't want to fall victim to that as well.
Just because Cole Radisson was a pretty blonde with bright blue eyes and a melodic laugh didn't mean that she couldn't be a murderer. The Constable would have been lying if she said that she wouldn't have gleefully taken the life of the man if he had raped her. Especially after she heard from the doctor about how brutally he had assaulted the other woman once she was incapacitated. Heck, even if it had been a friend or family member and not even herself, she would have relished in choking his last breath out of him in retribution. Which was the reason why she had to put some professional distance between herself and the potential suspect. That mean that there was no conversation as the two women walked down the hallway. The officer also made sure to walk a couple of steps behind Cole as they made their way to the examination room where the doctor and the CSI were waiting for them.
Cole hugged the plastic bag to her chest as she and Constable Martinez continued down the hallway. Ever since she had emerged from the bathroom after her shower, she had noticed a change in the officer's demeanor. Gone was her jovial tone and any attempts to joke around with her. She even noticed that she was always "Miss Radisson" now instead of "Cole" or the less favorable "Nicolette". Her brother was a police officer, so she knew what the change in name actually meant.
Not that she blamed the constable at all for said change. They had just met so there was no way for her to know who Cole really was as a person, let alone as a victim or a suspect. Heck, she had known herself for a little over twenty-four years and she still wasn't sure that she hadn't killed the man she left behind in her hotel suite. She hadn't known herself to be violent hen she had been drinking, but there was always that potential in everyone. Then again, she had never been attacked by anyone like this either. Maybe her 'fight or flight' instinct kicked in and she fought back, hard. For her eighteenth birthday her brother had given her self-defense classes as her graduation gift because he had wanted her to be prepared for when she went away to college and would be staying in a dorm away from her family. He had been to too many scenes where the damage to the victim would have been minimalized had the victim been able to defend themselves and he wanted to make sure that his little sister wouldn't be left so vulnerable.
She may have understood the officer's reaction, but that didn't mean that she wasn't feeling a little hurt by it all the same. Everything about this situation made her want to cry in frustration because everything had become so screwed up. This weekend was supposed to be a chance to let loose and relax before finals, but now she wasn't sure that she would ever really feel truly relaxed ever again.
Maybe I did kill him. I keep hearing people say they wouldn't blame me if I did do it. She thought to herself. Maybe I didn't just pass out in the bathroom… Maybe I went into a blind rage and killed him first.
"Welcome back, Miss Radisson," the doctor stated in a tone that was anything but warm and comforting once Cole had stepped back into the examination room.
"Thanks," Cole whispered, putting the plastic bag she had carried onto a chair. She moved over to the bed where her other exam had been completed and then said, "Thank you again for letting me get cleaned up."
The doctor didn't take her eyes off of the paperwork in her hands as she replied, "I trust you were able to get all of the bobby pins out of your hair so that we can take you for X-Rays now?"
"Yes, Ma'am. But before you do… umm… I found some other injuries that I should show all of you first, Dr. Lee."
The doctor passed the paperwork to a nurse and then turned her attention to her patient. She moved her reading glasses off of her nose and raised a well coifed eyebrow as she said, "Yes, I can see the bruising around your eye now. I'll be sure that they take some X-Rays of that area as well to ensure that there isn't a fracture that we need to worry about. Miss Willows, would you like to catalogue this injury now or later?"
Catherine stepped forward with her camera at the ready but she didn't get a chance to speak.
"Actually," Cole cut-in still sounding quite timid. "That isn't the one I was worried about… I uhh… on my…" She stopped herself there and closed her eyes to get her thoughts together. When she opened her eyes she wouldn't look at any of the other women when she added, "I think he bit me."
"Oh? I didn't see any evidence of that," Doctor Lee commented in a neutral tone.
Cole's hands were fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, so Constable Martinez abandoned her note taking to ask, "Is that the injury on your chest that you told me about, Miss Radisson?"
Cole opened her eyes to give the officer a grateful smile then answered, "Yes, Ma'am, it is."
The doctor looked over at the nurse who was standing in doorway with a wheelchair to take her patient to radiology to say, "Nurse Boyd? Would you please close the door?"
All of the blinds had been closed before they had completed the sexual assault examination, so they didn't have to worry about them to ensure privacy after the nurse had closed the door. To help the doctor to be able to see the damage that had been done, she turned on a couple more overhead lights and moved a spotlight closer to the bed where Cole as seated.
While the doctor put on a fresh pair of latex gloves and retrieved a small pen light, Constable Martinez walked to Cole's side to ask, "Are you alright with me remaining in the room while the doctor assesses your newly found injuries? I prefer to take my notes for my investigation first hand, but I'm not required to be here. I can always work off the doctor's notes if you would prefer more privacy."
"No, it's fine. You and CSI Willows can stay to document all of the… umm… you know to make everything go faster and all," Cole answered trying to make firm eye contact, but not quite accomplishing it.
"Alright Miss Radisson, if you could please show us the bite mark," the doctor instructed in the detached clinical tone that all doctors seem to have perfected at medical school.
Cole nodded and crossed her arms over her stomach so that she could pull her borrowed shirt over her head. She let the shirt fall behind her head so that she could keep her arms raised. She almost wished that had thought to keep the shirt to cover her face when she heard one of the ladies suck in a sympathetic breath. Instinctively she knew it must have been one of the law enforcement officers, most likely CSI Willows, because she had yet to meet a doctor who would give any reaction, other than quizzical probing to any injury. She had learned that at a young age when she was playing at a neighbor's house when she was nine. While running around the back yard playing, she stepped on a nail that went straight through her foot. She and her young friend had burst into frightened tears, but her friend's dad (a prominent surgeon in the area) had inspected it and told her she was lucky she hadn't broken a bone. He then proceeded to ten to the wound all the while telling the young Nicolette no to waste anymore tears on such a simple scratch. While he stitched it up he had his wife call Nicolette's parents and then had the injured girl explain to her mother what had happened.
"Are you alright with keeping your arms up like that?" The doctor asked as she moved the penlight to get a better look.
"Yes Ma'am, I'm fine."
After finishing her visual inspection, the doctor pressed an index finger into her patient's flesh asking, "It still looks quite raw and red. Were you able to clean it while you had your shower?"
"Not really, Ma'am. It was too tender for me to touch and it sort of burned when I put soap on it."
"And does it still hurt now when it's being touched?"
"Y-yes, Ma'am it does. I-is that bad?"
"It definitely isn't good." She turned away from Cole to ask, "Miss Willows would you like to take photos now or after I have treated the wound?"
"Both, if possible," the CSI answered.
The doctor stepped away saying, "By all means, go right on ahead while I collect a few other supplies."
"Thank you doctor." Catherine walked over to her victim with her camera in one hand and something Cole didn't recognize in her other hand. "I'm just going to take a couple of quick photos Cole, alright?"
She tried to give the CSI a strong, confident smile as she answered, "I was in a sorority when I did my undergrad, so I'm not really all that shy about my body."
"Well I'll definitely try to be more respectful than I'm sure that your sorority sisters were."
Cather tried to place the right angle styled ruler around the wound, but since its placement was on the underside of Cole's breast it wouldn't remain in place while she took her photos. She still took a couple of photos from that angle and then politely asked Cole, "Would you mind laying back against the bed?" The victim nodded and complied immediately. Once she was on her back, Catherine requested, "Could you raise your hands above your head again? That's great right there. Thank you."
She then placed the ruler on Cole's chest and was able to get the photos she needed for her investigation. When she was done, she moved back and the doctor took her place. Doctor Lee instructed her patient to remain as she was so that she could clean and disinfect the wound.
Catherine watched the doctor for a moment before she moved over to the officer's side to quietly report, "Whomever bit the underside of her breast broke the skin. I've seen wounds like that before on other victims, but this one is by far the worst I've ever seen."
Constable Martinez had continued to take down notes while CSI Willows spoke, but she stopped and looked the other woman in the eyes at that comment. She then leaned in to say just over a whisper, "Isn't looking good for her, is it?"
Catherine shrugged replying, "I still say we let the evidence point us to the killer."
"Alright, Miss Radisson, you can get dressed now. Unless…? Are there any other injuries I need to treat before we continue?"
"No Ma'am, just the chunk taken out of my boob," Cole replied with a nervous laugh. Once she had her borrowed shirt back in place, she looked at the other four women in the room and added, "I'm being a total weirdo about this, right? I'm sorry, I know that most… uhh… I know I should be like comatose or something, but I can't stop thinking about how I can use this experience for my Thesis. I mean… when I FOI the information from this file they'll be able to disclose so much more information to me. Plus…"
"Plus what Cole?" Catherine asked as she stepped to her side once again when she had trailed off.
She looked up at Catherine and suddenly looked so much younger to the CSI now that she wasn't wearing any makeup. "Plus, it still isn't sinking in that it happened to me. It's like when I look in the mirror and see the bruises, it hits me, but… But I still don't really remember what happened so, it kind of feels like it didn't really happen, you know?" She paused there and then shook her head before adding, "I've read about how shock affects victims, but it's really weird living it… Okay, I'll… I'll stop talking now."
"Oh Cole, it's alright. Don't try to compare yourself to anyone else because everyone's experience is different," Catherine replied as she rubbed the younger woman's arm in an effort to comfort her.
Cole sniffled in a breath and barely managed to whisper out a 'thank you' around a tearful lump in her throat. Catherine could tell that all of the day's events were starting to hit Cole hard and that the younger woman was attempting to use humor to keep from becoming completely overwhelmed.
"Alright, so Nurse Boyd will take you for X-Rays and a CT scan. I believe that Ms. Willows will want to accompany you and that Constable Martinez is required to, so I will meet you back here when that is done," Doctor Lee stated in an attempt to get everyone back on track.
After that things became a bit of a blur for Cole. They moved her from one machine to another until they felt satisfied that they had all of the pictures of her body that the doctor needed. While they waited for the X-Rays to be delivered to the doctor, she took some time to give instructions to her patient about the best way to tend to her wounds once she left the hospital so that they would heal faster. Her most persistent piece of advice was for Cole to become very good friends with ice packs. The bruises on her eye, throat, wrists and chest were all in the early stages of development so ice would help them to heal faster. Once she was alerted to the human bite on her body, the doctor also wrote a prescription for a topical antibiotic to go along with the oral antibiotic she had already ordered due to the damage done during the sexual assault. Although Doctor Lee stressed that the painkillers should be taken sparingly and only when absolutely necessary, the antibiotics, on the other hand, needed to be taken until the bottle was completely empty, no exceptions.
Once she had been reassured more than once that Cole understood all of her directions, Doctor Lee signed Cole's release forms. Cole then followed Cather towards her GMC Yukon Denali while Constable Martinez trailed behind them.
Cole couldn't take her eyes off of her prescriptions during their entire walk back to the SUV, so Catherine gripped gently by the forearm while she said, "We'll help you get those filled before you head home, Sweetheart."
"Home?" Cole asked, once again sounding quite dazed. "Do you really think that they'll let me go home?"
Catherine started to answer, but paused when she heard Constable Martinez clear her throat purposefully. The CSI then mentally chastised herself and amended her answer to respond with a less comforting sounding, "I'm hoping you will be able to go back to your dorm room before the day is done."
Cole looked up from the papers in her hand and she didn't care if both of the other women could see the tears gathering in her eyes.
"That isn't home," Cole replied simply before she opened the rear passenger door and climbed into the back seat in the truck.
Catherine turned and stared at Constable Martinez with a look of disbelief. The Constable just shrugged her shoulders before she too opened the rear passenger door to climb into Catherine's truck to ride beside her detainee.
Once they were back at headquarters, Constable Martinez quickly escorted Cole to an interview room. She had hoped that Catherine's co-workers had been able to find some evidence while they were at the hospital that Nicolette Radisson was not the main suspect in the death of Lucky Rivero. Despite her best efforts to keep everything professional between the two of them, the officer had grown fond of the younger woman. She seemed to be smart and witty and the officer truly wished that their first meeting had of been with Cole as a green CSI in the field, not as the potential suspect. But since she couldn't turn back the hands of time to force that to happen, she just went out to find Detective Cavaliere so that that she could continue her shift as normally as she possibly could while he continued his side of the investigation.
When Cole had been placed in the interrogation room, she had sat down at the table thinking that the Detective or someone else would join her to interrogate her right away. There was no clock in the room, so she had no idea how long she had waited but it felt like forever. The note pad papers in her right had started to almost feel heavy in her grasp, so she pulled them out and placed them on the table. She had done that in the hopes that she would feel a sense of relief, but seeing the bright white papers in front of her seemed to have the opposite effect.
Now they were staring her in the face and practically mocking her. She was far away from her childhood home and her family and these prescriptions were practically screaming at her that her mother had been right. They were saying that they were proof that she wasn't ready to move out of State, she wasn't ready to be out on her own without her family close by her as a safety net.
It wasn't until the first tear hit the back of her hand that Cole pushed back away from the table and stood up to pace the length of the room. She was sober now, she still had painkillers coursing through her veins, so her body no longer protested her every move and her mind was as clear as it could be after such a long day and night. Her mind started racing and wandering into some really weird territory, which really was sort of close to normal for her.
They probably still think that I killed him. Should I ask for a lawyer? No, only guilty people do that. Right? Shit! What did Mom say about this? She froe in her spot with her hands over her mouth in an effort to suppress the sudden urge to vomit. They won't call… God no, idiot! You are a grown ass woman! They can't call anyone without your permission. If they do that's… Dammit! Why didn't I actually listen to Mom and Dad when they rambled on about this? I didn't kill him, I'm sure of it… Right? No! You didn't! Now let's…
The sound of the door opening behind her cut off the rest of Cole's train of thought. A young man with short brown spikey hair with spots of blonde tips walked him with a manila file folder in his hands. She turned so that they could look at each other.
He tried to give her an easy smile as he said, "Hi Nicolette, my name is Greg Sanders and I'm…"
"Miss Radisson, take a seat," Detective Cavaliere barked out over the rest of the younger man's greeting.
Cole immediately caught the annoyed look on the younger man's face, so she purposefully took a step towards him and thrust out her hand saying, "Mister Sanders, it's nice to meet you. I assume that you are the CSI in charge of the homicide scene. Please do call me 'Cole'. Only my mom calls me 'Nicolette' and then it usually means that I'm in trouble with her."
Greg took her hand and shook it with a chuckle on his lips. The Detective didn't feel as amused by his detainee's antics and made it known by barking out a forceful, "Sit!"
Cole really didn't want to comply with him just for the mere fact that the Detective had interrupted both of them more than once. But then her eyes caught those of the CSI and all of her bravado seeped out of her. He looked like he was practically begging her not to start a fight, so she dumped her weight into a chair on the opposite side of the table of where the two men had found a seat.
Greg gave her a soft smile and mouthed a quick 'thank you' as the Detective threw down a heavy file folder onto the table. Cole hated that she jumped in her seat at that action, but she noticed that the CSI did as well so she let it go. The Detective wanted to think that he was the toughest person in the room, so for now she was willing to let him think that he was so that they could get through sooner than letter.
"Tell me what you know about Athena Ericksen," Detective Cavaliere order as he pulled out his notebook and pen.
That hadn't been the question Cole had anticipated hearing, so it took her a couple of seconds to reply. "She… she's been my roommate for two semesters now. She offered to let me spend summer break with her when she heard that I was just going to stay near campus because…"
"No, not that," Cavaliere interrupted. "What do you know about her family? About her sister Artemis?"
"Oh them. Well… her parents are like professors or something who specialize in Ancient Greek History. They met on a dig outside of Athens and were inseparable after that, hence their names. Thea jokes that if they had a brother, the poor guy probably would be saddled with a name like Hercules or Zeus."
"Better than Hades," Greg chimed in with a soft chuckle.
Detective Cavaliere glared at both of them so Cole forced herself to become more somber when she heard him more angrily ask, "And her sister? Tell me more about what you know about her."
"Oh… well… not much," Cole replied honestly. "We try not to talk too much about our families. We got to what our parents do for a living and the fact that we both aren't only children, but beyond that… well to me it sounded like they weren't close, so I assumed that she, like me, was from out of State and didn't see her family much."
Detective Cavaliere seemed to take a moment to consult his paperwork before he questioned in a condescending voice, "So that would mean that you don't know that her parents WERE professors at UNLV, which means that both Athena and her sister can attend the university tuition free?"
"No," Cole snapped back, no longer able to pretend that she as completely passive. "Of course I didn't know that or I fucking would have told you that. I had no idea that her parents were dead and that her sister lived locally."
Both of the men's eyes widened at her minor outburst but the Detective recovered fairly quickly. "So then you also, to use your words, have no idea what Artemis Ericksen looks like then?"
Cole crossed her arms over her chest, but she forced herself to swallow back some of her anger before she answered, "No, Sir. We both wanted to focus on our studies so we kept the clutter in our room to a bare minimum. No posters, no family photos, nothing but school books on shelves on our walls. So
, no Detective, I don't know what her sister looks like and she couldn't pick out any of my brothers or sisters in a line up either. I feel like I should be apologizing for that fact, but I can't. It is what it is, so… yeah."
The Detective frowned at that reply and then asked, "And what do you know about Lucky Rivero?"
Now it was Cole's turn to frown as she swallowed thickly. She wasn't sure if her painkillers were wearing off or if it was completely psychological, but all of the sudden her throat felt like it was starting to close up again. Her hands traveled up to her neck unconsciously and then she started to massage the front of it softly with her thumbs.
"Y-you… you've detained me i-in… in connection with his death. I-I'm p-pretty sure that h-he… he… he raped me."
"Miss Radisson…" The Detective started until he saw Greg push back away from the table almost violently.
Without a word to the other people in the room he then walked out the door. Cole spared a look at the Detective, but he appeared to be as perplexed as she felt so she went back to staring at her hands in the meantime. The Detective continued to stare at Greg's invisible path, but soon enough he shook it off and realized that he really didn't need or want the CSI in the room while he questioned his suspect.
"Alright, well back to the topic at hand," he tried again in an attempt to get them back on track.
As he opened his mouth to question her again, the door opened and Greg reentered the room. He placed a Styrofoam cup in front of her and quietly said, "Catherine mentioned that the doctor prescribed warm liquids to soothe your throat. That's some hot water, lemon and honey. I hope it helps so that it's easier for you to answer our questions."
"Thanks," Cole replied in a hoarse voice. Some people may have thought that she was once again succumbing to her injuries, but they would have been wrong. The tightness in her throat had nothing to do with the bruises still forming on it and had everything to do with the emotions that overwhelmed her by his kindness.
As Cole sipped at the warm liquid, she let her eyes follow Greg as he moved through the room. He moved back to his seat on the other side of the table, but he made sure to move it further away from the Detective as if to show her that they were not 'on the same side' of this interrogation.
Cavaliere didn't seem to take notice of the CSI's actions as he cleared his throat then said, "Back to Lucky Rivero. Miss Radisson, do you know how he earned his living?"
Cole swallowed the liquid in her mouth and then shook her head. When she replied she once again sounded somewhat hostile as she said, "Since my entire encyclopedia of knowledge of the man is that he brutally raped me and gave me all of these lovely bruises…" She paused there to point out the coloring on her eye, throat and wrists. "And now he's dead. So no, I have no idea how he made his living. So please Detective, enlighten me what that piece of shit considered to be his job when this is what he did for fun."
The Detective picked up the manila folder and pulled out a couple of pictures and threw them onto the table in front of Cole on the table top. She put her cup down so that she could pull them closer to her to see them better. By the third photo, Cole had them lined up perfectly in a row and felt even more confused that she had previously.
"Thea has been arrested?" She asked no one in particular.
"No…" Greg started in a sympathetic tone until he heard Detective Cavaliere snort in a breath.
"That right there," the Detective said disdainfully. "That is Artemis Ericksen. On the streets she goes by 'Ariel'."
"Ariel…" Cole repeated as she stared down at the mugshots in front of her. "Wait! Are you saying… Artemis… Thea's sister is a hooker?"
"I think they prefer the term 'escort'." Greg injected. He then quickly added, "I think she goes by 'Ariel' because of the color of her hair."
Cole picked up one of the pictures then said, "It's a nickname Thea has had since childhood… or so she said when we met." She then seemed to catch herself to look the Detective in the eye. "I take it from these photos that Athena and Artemis are twins and… and…"
As she spoke she felt bile and every piece of solid food in her stomach working its way up her throat. She rolled out of her seat and rushed to the wastebasket by the door. The Detective thought that she was trying to make a break for it and leave the room, so he stood up and pushed back form the table to follow her. Greg on the other hand could see what was happening and remained in his seat while he waited for Cole to rejoin them.
Once Detective Cavaliere caught a whiff of Cole's deposit in the wastebasket, he too retreated back to his seat at the table. Cole slowly made her way back to the table and cleansed her palate with a few large gulps from her Styrofoam cup.
Once she was able to speak again, Cole looked up at the Detective and asked, "I take it that my weekend was spent with Artemis and not Thea like I had thought it would be?"
"That appears to be the case," the Detective answered more politely than he had sounded previously.
Cole picked up one of the mugshots and absentmindedly asked, "Are you absolutely sure that it was Artemis in the room? I mean…"
"They are identical twins, so DNA wasn't helpful to us," Greg jumped in when Cole started to trail off. "She also had a note on her record that she is known to use her sister's name when being checked by police, so we confirmed her ID by her fingerprints."
"Oh… oh God…" Cole groaned out unconsciously. "So then Lucky… he was… he was like her 'John' or something?"
The Detective shook his head then pulled out a mugshot of another male and asked, "Do you recognize this man?"
The apparent abrupt change of subject caught Cole slightly off guard, so she first answered, "No… wait!" She picked up the photo then said, "This… I think this is the guy who was hitting on Thea… err Artemis at the club. He bought us a couple bottles of vodka at the VIP lounge… and then he… uhh… I'm pretty sure he came back to our room with us and he and Th… Art… uhh Miss Ericksen spent the rest of the night in her room. Why does he have a mugshot?"
"He IS one of her Johns. In fact, he's one of her preferred clients from what we have learned," the Detective explained as he placed the photos back in the folder.
Cole shivered slightly in her place, so she picked up her nearly empty cup to try to siphon off as much heat from it as possible. "Then who is Lucky and where does my assault fit into this picture?"
Detective Cavaliere kept his eyes laser focused on her face so that he could monitor her reaction as he answered, "He was Ariel's pimp. Whenever she thought that she had found someone that would be another good working girl, she and Lucky would treat that girl to a weekend on the strip. Usually that weekend also included an audition of sorts for the girl Ariel wanted to initiate."
The color drained from Cole's face prompting Greg to ask, "Did you want me to grab the wastebasket for you?"
"N-no… No, I think I'm good," she replied sounding and looking like she was lost in a thought. "So then what? Lucky tests out 'the goods' and sees how much pain she can take so that he could use it as a selling point for his clients?"
"Not exactly," the Detective answered still closely monitoring Cole's reaction. "Usually it's Mister Johnson who gets that honor for footing the bill for the weekend." He accentuated his point by tapping on the folder where he had replaced all of the mugshots.
"Johnson? Really?" Cole retorted with a derisive snort. "If he has that much money why doesn't he just troll for drunk chicks at the bar and bring them back to his suite like a normal person? Why is he hiring hookers and testing out new ones for a pimp?"
"He isn't as rich as he tries to appear," Greg answered when the detective looked like he wasn't going to respond. "He was booked on fraud charges for using fake credit cards to pay for his weekend excursions with the two of them."
"Wow, seriously? What a sleaze. So? Why was this weekend so different? Why did I get such 'special treatment'?"
Both men shrugged and then Detective Cavaliere responded, "We couldn't get a straight answer out of Miss Ericksen beyond the fact that Mr. Johnson prefers red heads to blondes. We're waiting for her to come down from her high before we try to question her further."
That piece of information caused Cole's eyes to bug out as she questioned, "High? She was doing drugs while sharing a room with me? Please tell me I just had a stroke and misheard what you said."
"Actually from the evidence we found in her room it looks like she and her… escort went on a bit of a bender last night… err this morning," Greg explained almost apologetically.
"Okay, but it's been hours since we got back to our room, shouldn't they have worked their way out of her system by now?"
Greg looked slightly embarrassed, but Detective Cavaliere just looked annoyed that Cole deigned to ask him any questions at all. He appeared to have an unfriendly retort for her, but he wasn't able to issue it. Instead he answered his now ringing phone. Somehow he managed to look even angrier at whatever he was haring from the person on the other end of the line.
"Okay, I'll be right over," he replied as he stared Cole down like whatever he was hearing was her fault. After he hung up the phone and had it placed in his pocket he turned to Cole and said, "There's something I have to take care of right now. Don't leave this room."
Cole's eyebrows knitted together as she thought to herself, would it kill you not to be a surly dick for like one full fucking minute? But to him she just gave a halfhearted smile and a nod.
Greg got up to follow Cavaliere, but he hung back until the other man disappeared around the corner so that he could quietly say, "Don't take it personally. He's been snapping at everyone since he found out that Artemis snuck in a couple of eight balls and snorted them back during a restroom break."
Cole looked up from her hands and whispered, "For real?"
Greg gave her another half-smile and answered, "For real. We shouldn't be long."
"I'll wait here," Cole replied with a cheeky grin because where else would she go?
Greg chuckled as he left the room en route to his old post in the DNA lab. He had received a text from Mia Dickerson saying that she needed to see him and the Detective as soon as humanly possible. Since she knew that they were in an interview with a potential suspect, they both knew it had to be pretty important.
Once she was alone, Cole stood up and started pacing the length of the room again. It was her preferred method of trying to work through any problems she needed to solve, like how she could make her research fit into her papers in a cohesive manner. When she was working on her Bachelor's Degrees, her dad would tease her that her degree was still costing him as much as her siblings even though she was at school on scholarship because he was having to replace the floor boards in the house after each of her visits.
That had been a running joke between them up until…
Cole shook her head then thought, Stop! One problem at a time, remember? So… your supposed friend switches places with her hooker sister for the weekend… why? Neither of us has to worry about our tuitions since her parents are…Wait! He said 'were'… Right, that means that her parents are dead… does she no longer get free tuition? Oh no! Her sister is a high class hooker, so maybe that's how it works. Artemis pays for everything and in return Athena supplies her with new meat. Fuck! Did she really think that because I'm frugal that I'm hard up for money? But she…
"God! Can't I just sit down for like a second?" A familiar shrill voice cut off Cole's new train of thought.
When Cole got turned around, she saw Artemis shaking off an officer's hold so that she could sit down on a chair in the hallway. Cole instantly saw red and it wasn't just because of the artificially red coloring of the other woman's hair. She had a new person to blame for what had happened to her and now she might actually be able to get some answers about why the hell it happened.
Before she even realized it, Cole was out the door of the interview room screaming, "You stupid whore! How could you jeopardize my future like that! You know I can't get any of the jobs I've been studying for with a criminal record!"
By this point the female officer who had been leading Artemis down the hallway was holding Cole back so that she couldn't hurt her. Artemis gave her a smug smile that almost made the officer want to let go of the woman in her arms to let her have her way with her.
"Thea said that you were opening your legs up so frequently that you might as well get paid for it," the red head replied with a tone of superiority that matched the look on her face.
Cole started to go limp in the officer's arms and must have looked as shocked as she felt because Artemis snorted in a laugh then added, "If you had of just laid back and taken it like a good little girl he wouldn't have hurt you." Artemis appeared to be so satisfied with how her comments were affecting Cole that she couldn't help but to add another spiteful jab of, "Your bruises will heal, you didn't have to kill him."
That comment not only caught Cole's attention, it set her off completely. She then lunged forward nearly spitting as she seethed out, "You fucking…"
The officer at her back pulled Cole away while some other officers appeared to intervene. One of the male officers that came between them helped Artemis to her feet (read yanked her by the arm until she was standing) and moved her away from the interview room. That was quickly met by some quiet protests from the woman so he paused when he was out of striking distance of Cole.
"Come on Ariel, you're supposed to be waiting for the nice detective in an interview room," he said while he all but rolled his eyes at her protests.
"I… I… I need another pee break," she pleaded sounding as innocent as possible.
The male officer passed Artemis off to another female officer who immediately lead her down the hall. The male officer followed them saying, "This nice officer found the eight balls you hid in the restroom Ariel, so no more bio breaks until you tell the nice detective everything you know."
Every muscle in Cole's body was still tense and poised for a fight as she watched her roommate's identical twin be lead away by three officers prompting the woman behind her to quietly say, "Miss Radisson…"
"I'm calm… I'm calm…" Cole quietly replied as she tried to move her hands above her head. "I'm sorry for the outburst. I promise it won't happen again."
"It's alright, I understand. You've had a long, stressful day and I'm sure you haven't been able to eat properly either, so it's kind of expected," the officer replied as she helped Cole to sit in the chair that Artemis had vacated.
Cole chuckled softly to herself before she replied, "Even though that's true it still isn't an excuse for my behavior. But thank you for saying that Constable…"
"Black, Constable Black. And it's all true Miss Radisson. After being through so much trauma your body needs rest and nourishment, not more stress. I'll see if I can find someone who can convince the Detective to let you at least have a proper meal before he interrogates you again." That commentary earned the officer the look of disbelief she was used to getting from people when she said things that people didn't expect to hear from a police officer. "My mom is a nurse, so I've been hearing stuff like that since I as a kid."
"Sorry, I didn't mean…"
"It's okay, you aren't the first person to give me that look and I'm sure you won't be the last. Plus, like I said it's been a long day, so I'm just glad you still look awake and coherent."
"Still, I shouldn't judge," Cole replied with a contrite smile. "And thank you again for stopping me… helping me. I guess that I should head back into the interview room and wait for Detective Cavaliere."
Although it wasn't completely noticeable, Constable Black could see that Cole's hands were shaking slightly so she placed a soft hand on her shoulder to counter in a gentle tone, "Or you could just rest here for a minute. I'll pretend that I'm guarding you here in case anyone questions us."
Cole looked up to give the officer a grateful smile but her eyes ended up catching that of another male's just a ways down the hall from her. He did a double take before he passed the file folder he was holding to a lab worker so that he could start down the hall towards where she was sitting.
"Nicco?" He called out as he got closer to her.
Cole jumped up from her seat, bolted into the interview room and slammed the door closed. She held onto the handle to catch her breath before she crossed to the other side of the room to resume pacing. She figured that the two of them meeting here was inevitable given the work that he did, but she wasn't ready for that reunion just yet. She was sure that she hadn't murdered the man that had hurt her, but she didn't have concrete evidence to prove that right now. She really wanted that evidence to prove to him that she was still the same person that he remembered her to be. But not like this, not yet.
Damn it! She cursed silently to herself. Fuck! FUCK! Why isn't there another door in here? Duh! Cop shop, interview…
"Nicco?" He called out as he opened the door. "Nicco? Is that really you?"
She paused with her back still facing him to force herself to calm down. She knew there was no way to avoid him now, so she moved her hair to cover her left eye as much as possible before she turned around to face him and reply, "Hey Nicky. Long time no see."
