A/N: Sorry again for the large break, hope you enjoy this chapter! More to follow in a few days…
Olivia slowly approached Amanda on the floor and saw that her phone was near Amanda, upside down like it had been thrown in anger. Olivia crouched down and placed a hand on Amanda's shoulder. "Hey" she said tenderly, "it is a lot comfier on my couch….let's go back inside huh?"
Amanda slowly lifted her head and Olivia saw her red eyes and gaunt face. Slowly, with support from Liv, Amanda steadied herself on her feet and began to walk slowly back into the apartment. Liv walked her friend to the couch, slowly placed her down then went back outside to quickly grab Amanda's phone and to lock and secure the door before sitting down opposite Amanda.
"Amanda, what were you doing outside? Why was your phone on the floor?" Olivia said as she placed the phone on the table between them.
"I got a text" Amanda said in her Georgia twang, but it was not the cheerful voice Olivia was used to, it was slow and raspy and sounded like she had just woken up from a long sleep, which was sadly not the case.
"What sort of text?" Olivia said tenderly but with the determination she has with all cases. She was finally starting to treat Amanda's situation as a formal investigation. Of course, Olivia still had strong emotional ties to this case, but the sooner she starts enforcing protocol and formalities, the sooner they can catch this son of a bitch.
"I don't know the number. Look…..Olivia….I should have told you this weeks ago, but…well I thought it wasn't a big deal" Amanda said with a shaky voice, before quickly wiping a tear that threatened to escape her eye. Amanda looked to the window in Liv's apartment and just stared for a few minutes. Olivia did not say anything in this time as she knew Amanda was just preparing herself to speak.
"Last month I got a call from this number, it wasn't an unknown number it was like a proper number, but I didn't know it. I answered the phone anyway and the person didn't say anything..but, I could hear them. I could hear them breathing. I knew they were there. I thought maybe it was an accidental call to start with. Then they just hung up." Amanda was speaking fast now and picking at her nails as she spoke, but Olivia was mentally noting everything and planned to scribble this all down in her notebook after the conversation.
The blonde detective took a deep breath and continued "Then this happened again the next day, and the next and the next. But the weird thing is, each day they were different numbers, but I swear it was the same person everyday".
Damn, thought Olivia. When Amanda said a number had been contacting her, Olivia was internally cheering. It was easy to track a mobile number if needed, but by the sounds of it this caller was very well prepared. They could track each number, but Olivia had a feeling each number would be from a throw away phone and they would hit a dead end.
Amanda continued "They called every day Liv. Every day, with a different number… I know I should have told you…..this person was going to extreme lengths to call me and not say anything. I know it was strange and something that should be investigated…but I didn't want people to think I couldn't handle myself. Then on the day before I was..attacked" Amanda hated using the work attack in relation to herself "I got the same call, but this time they said something. They said 'goodbye', that was all they said. I thought, thank goodness! It is over. This was all just a prank by some bored kids, but now it is over. Well..I was wrong about that wasn't I?" Amanda gave a little laugh after this statement, but it was not a happy laugh. It was a sad laugh at the awfulness of her whole situation.
Olivia paused to gather her thoughts for a few seconds. She needed to proceed as if this was a normal investigation in order to catch this guy. "Amanda, did you recognise his voice? Did you recognise the guy who did this to you? How much of his face did you see?" Olivia physically bit her lip. She had just asked three questions in a row, which is not what you are supposed to do with a fragile victim. She was screwing this up and she knew it, she had to slow down, she just wanted to catch this guy so badly.
Amanda took another deep breath and said "No..I didn't recognise him. I saw his face..it was dark…but I saw him. I saw his evil eyes and his horrible stubble…I felt his warm breath on my neck, I smelt his disgusting breath and he forced his tongue in my mouth.." Amanda caught her breathe for a second and put her head in her hands for a few seconds, but to Olivia's surprise she sat back up and continued talking.
"I didn't recognise the voice that said goodbye on the phone, not really….but I do know it was the same person who attacked me. The voice…it was the same. I know it…." Amanda said with certainness in her voice.
The way Amanda ended the sentence did not seem finished, Olivia felt there was more and she had to tread carefully in order to get the information from Amanda.
"Amanda..is there anything else about the voice that you want to tell me? Nothing is too small. If there was anything else, I …."
"He had the same accent as me" Amanda said suddenly. "He…he is from where I am from. He is from Georgia. Liv….the phone numbers all had the same area code. They were all 770 numbers…they all called from Loganville…where I grew up. I just don't get it….I don't recognise him at all. I don't know who he is. He is going to get away with this and I am going to be forever trapped in a broken body with the memories of what he did to me..I just…" Amanda started going off track and breathing heavily again, and Olivia knew she needed to calm her down.
"Okay Amanda, it's okay. I just have one more question, then you can go and lie down. Is that okay?"
Amanda was breathing hard but she gave a nod to Olivia.
"You said today you got a text. A text that affected you so much that you left the apartment despite the huge amount of pain you would have felt, and threw your phone in anger. Could you tell me what the text said?"
Amanda took a long, deep breath and kept staring at her palms for a few seconds. Slowly, she lifted her head and Olivia saw the pain etched on her face.
"It didn't say anything" Amanda said quietly, "it was a picture…" and with that Amanda began looking out of the window again, willing her tears to stay inside her eyes.
Olivia had a terrible feeling that she sadly needed to confirm.
"Amanda, do I have permission to look at your phone and the text you received from an unknown number today?" Olivia hated sounding so formal with Amanda, but she wanted to try and do this right, she couldn't risk screwing up this investigation. She couldn't do that to Amanda.
Amanda did not look away from the window, but gave a feeble nod which indicated yes.
Olivia's hands were shaking as she picked up the phone. She internally cursed herself for acting unprofessional. She reminded herself that she had seen so many terrible, terrible images and videos in this job, that nothing would shock her…but when it is someone you know, Olivia thought,….it just rocks you to the core. She carefully unlocked the phone and tapped "messages", and then clicked the top message from a number not saved in Amanda's contacts. Olivia's worst fears were confirmed. There, staring back at her was a photo of Amanda from last night….her body was freshly beaten and Olivia could see all the pain that was inflicted on Amanda. She lay there in the photo, naked, beaten and unconscious. Olivia promptly turns the phone screen off and looked back to Amanda, who was still looking out of the window.
"Okay, that is enough for now. You have given some important information..really, this is going to help us a lot. We will catch him Amanda. We will." Olivia said with such determination. Amanda turned back to look at her friend, and really wanted to believe her.
"I am feeling really woozy and tired…is it okay if I go and lie down?"
"Amanda, you don't have to ask, of course you can."
"Well, I do have to ask. I can't even walk without assistance. I can't do anything." Amanda said, not bitterly, just sadly. It broke Olivia's heart to see her friend like this.
"Well, I am here to help" Olivia said with a half-smile.
Olivia helped Amanda get off the couch and carefully walked her to the spare bedroom. Amanda carefully got in the bed and called Frannie to come and lay with her. When they were both in bed, Olivia turned the light off and began shutting the door.
"Liv..do you think you could leave the door a little open. Just you know, in case it gets stuffy in here..or if it gets cold..or.."
"Of course I can Amanda" Olivia said, not wanting Amanda to feel awkward about the real reason she wanted the door left slightly open. Olivia can imagine not wanting to feel trapped or alone after what Amanda went through. Olivia left the door slightly ajar and put the living room light on so Amanda's room got some light…she hoped this would make Amanda feel better.
Olivia walked quietly over to the couch and sat down. Before she even had time to rest her body for a few minutes, she got out her notebook and began scribbling down everything Amanda had said.
"Georgia…770…calls every day for a month…man…stubble…accent..home town…..disposable phones…same man from calls…doesn't recognise his face…sent photo of Amanda the day after" Olivia was talking quietly out loud as she wrote everything, just to help her remember and process everything.
Why would someone come all this way just to attack Amanda? Why would someone call her every day and say nothing? Is this related to her gambling problems, or is this something much more serious? Would Amanda recognise his voice and face if she heard or saw him again? Why are they taunting Amanda like this?
So many questions raced through Olivia's mind, they were only stopped when Olivia's shrill ring tone interrupted her thoughts.
"Liv" Fin's voice said as soon as Olivia picked up the phone, "You won't believe what we found out about the shoe prints…."
