It has been a quiet and uneventful night of patrols for Officer Will Jackson. Rare, especially for a Friday night. Just a couple of traffic stops and a minor car accident, though he can't complain, quiet nights like this give him a chance to catch up on paperwork. He takes a sip of his coffee, frowning at the now ice-cold temperature before checking the time on his laptop, 11:05 p.m.
"Just another hour, you got this."
Will pulls back onto the street from the parking lot he's been camped out in for the last hour to continue his patrol when the radio in his car crackles.
"Dispatch to Sierra Three."
"Sierra Three to Dispatch, go ahead."
"We have a report of a domestic assault, the call came in from Nelson Avenue, the nightclub called Milo's. A woman was beaten severely by her husband, the caller states she's barely conscious. Caller also said her friend fought the husband off, but sustained some injuries. Ambulances are en route."
Nelson Avenue is home to most of the city's bars and nightclubs. An alleyway runs behind the string of buildings, which is notorious for drunken brawls, drug deals, and sexual assaults. Will frequented this district in his younger years, Milo's in particular, though never participating in the aforementioned activities. But to say he didn't use drugs on occasion would be a lie. A line of coke here and there, ecstasy every once in a while.
He called it quits after meeting his wife, he actually met her in said club.
Eight years ago, man time flies.
He doesn't have time to reminisce, however, and sparks up his reply.
"Bar district, huh? That's out of my patrol area, Dispatch."
"You're the closest unit available, Sierra Three."
"Copy that, on my way there now."
Will lets out a sigh, his night is about to get a lot longer. On his way, he makes a quick call home, letting his wife know not to wait up.
"Fucking Franky, just bought this dress."
Allie steps out the back door of the club, into the cool night air. She lights a cigarette, glaring at the huge stain down her white dress front.
"Her drink just had to be red, of course."
She takes a few drags of her cigarette, listening to the thump of a bass-heavy song, tapping her foot along to the beat. After a minute or so, she notices another sound that wasn't there before. Something dropping and being drug, followed by a slam. She dismisses it.
Probably someone just taking out the trash.
She snuffs out her cigarette, getting ready to head back inside when a sound, like a muffled cry, makes her ears perk up. She looks around, not seeing anything.
It could be someone drunk, not unusual for a club. She shrugs and opens the door when a voice stops her dead in her tracks.
"Look what you made me do, thought you could flirt with that prick, huh?"
Allie hears a woman's voice reply.
"Harry, I'm sorry, please stop! He offered to buy me a drink, I turned him d-!"
The sentence gets cut off with a pained groan.
"Shut the fuck up! I saw the way you looked at him. Too late for sorry now, don't you think?"
Allie's stomach drops. She knows the sound of a beating, solid thuds of someone being hit or kicked. She ventures further out from the door. Looking to her left down the alleyway, she sees the source of the sound, what's clearly a woman huddled against a dumpster, a man laying into her with savage kicks. Before she can even think, her legs are propelling her towards the couple.
"Hey, leave her alone!"
"Sierra Five to Sierra Three."
"Sierra Three, I hear you, Sierra Five."
"Switch over to the private channel."
"Copy."
Will switches channels as instructed, knowing what this is likely about.
"What is it, Fletch?"
"Well in honor of someone's birthday, figured we'd get some drinks this weekend, for old time's sake. Or are you too busy for your best friend?"
"Oh, so you did remember?"
"Of course I did, asshole. I haven't been your friend this long just to forget a thirtieth. This one's special you know."
Will smiles, he and Fletcher have been best friends for ten plus years. They're close enough that Will considers him a brother, even his kids refer to him as uncle Matt. Fletch had also been pestering him into celebrating his birthday this year, stating, You only turn thirty once, go big or go home, Will.
Will never makes a big deal out of birthdays but a night out sounds great.
"All right, where are we going?"
"I was thinking Milo's, your old stomping grounds."
"Ha."
"Something funny?"
"Nothing like that, but I'm actually headed there now, got called to a domestic."
"Husband and Wife?"
"Yup."
"See? It's a sign you need to go back there. But seriously, what kind of man do you have to be to lay hands on a woman? Someone you're supposed to love, even. Sometimes I wish I wasn't a cop, I would go find these bastards and beat them down like the scum they are. Like a vigilante, you know?"
"Like Batman?" Will replies.
"Shut up Will, I gotta go. It looks like there's a burglary in progress. See you this weekend, right?"
"You bet, buddy."
Will turns his radio off and he checks the time yet again, he's just under fifteen minutes away from the club. He decides to pick up the pace a bit, turning his lights and sirens on.
"Fuck off, this is none of your business. It's between me and my wife!"
Harry yells as Allie runs up behind him. She can smell the stench of liquor on his breath.
"I'm making it my business, now get your hands off of her."
"I said fuck off, bitch!"
Harry shoves Allie, sending her to the ground. The back of her head smacks hard and leaves her dazed. She's down long enough for him to get in a few more hits on his original victim.
Once Allie gets back to her feet she's on Harry again, this time scratching his face with her nails and grabbing one of his hands to stop another hit. Instead of a push, he backhands Allie, making her stumble back, the taste of blood filling her mouth.
With a free hand now, Harry redirects his rage to Allie, grabbing the front of her dress and punching her right in the nose, causing her eyes to water.
That's probably broken, Allie has enough time to think before another two hits catch her right eye, sending her to the ground again, flat on her back.
God, this fucker hits hard.
She'd been hurt worse than this while working the streets, but still. His fists connect with some force.
She can now hardly see out of her right eye, with it instantly swelling almost completely shut. With one good eye, she sees Harry advance towards her and takes a chance, forcing a high heel at his groin.
She knows she hit her target when he groans in pain and sinks to the ground. Without wasting any time, she stands up, answering with a punch of her own right in his forehead, sending a jolt of pain up the side of her hand.
She shakes her hand out and lashes out with a flurry of kicks, punches, and scratches, anything to keep him down and buy time, hoping someone notices the commotion and offers their help. Harry eventually recovers from the low blow enough to push Allie away and rise to his feet.
He turns and runs the opposite way, taking a right onto the street, disappearing from her sight. Allie immediately reaches into her pocket and pulls her phone out, frowning when she sees it's smashed and unusable.
"Well, shit."
She thinks about going back inside, but she doesn't want to leave the woman by herself. She instead decides to check the woman's pockets for a phone, finding one.
"Bingo."
She presses a button to turn the screen on, nothing happens.
"Dead? Just my luck."
She notices some movement and turns her attention to the woman on the ground. She sits down next to her, studying her features. Long hair, red by the looks of it. Mid-thirties if she had to guess an age.
Allie finds that she's quite attractive, even with blood and dirt all over her face. Any other circumstance, she would try her luck hooking up with this woman.
Really, the shit that just happened and you're thinking about getting laid?
Her thoughts are interrupted by someone calling her name.
"Allie? Oh my God, the fuck happened to you?"
"Franky, help me. Her husband beat her up, I scared him away but she's not looking good."
"Allie, your face, let me-"
"I'm fine, just worry about her. Work your paramedic magic or something."
"l... I'm still in school, I'm not even certified yet. Should probably call the real medics."
Franky gets close enough to see the woman is in a bad way. She looks unconscious, and if it wasn't for her chest rising and falling slightly, she could pass for a corpse. She squats down next to Allie.
"Move over, the least I can do is check her over. Okay, she has a weak pulse, she's definitely going to need a hospital. Her wrist looks fractured. Her nose looks busted too. I can't tell much else in this light. Did you see him hit her at all?"
"She was on the ground, he was kicking her in the stomach, he kicked her in the face a few times too. Other than that, no."
"All right. I left my phone inside, I'll go call an ambulance and try to find a first-aid kit, stay with her!"
Franky jogs back inside the club. Allie hears the woman start to speak, her voice weak.
"What hap... Harry, are you...?"
"It's okay, he's gone now. My friend went to call an ambulance, help should be here soon."
"Deb… need to..."
The woman tries sitting up, moaning in pain. Allie puts a hand on her shoulder to keep her down when she tries again.
"Hey, don't try getting up, you're hurt pretty bad. Just lie down."
"Who… are you?"
"I'm Allie, what's your name?"
"Bea."
Bea starts looking around frantically. "Deb, need to call... my phone… can't find it."
"It's dead, I tried to use it already."
"Debbie, call her for me... please... I need to know..." Bea stops moving like she's losing consciousness again.
"Bea, look at me. Who's Debbie, who do you need me to call?"
"My daughter," is the last thing Bea manages to get out before she goes still.
Franky returns shortly after, the first-aid kit in hand. "Ambulance and the police are on the way, ten minutes out or so. Now, let me look at your face."
(Will, on the scene, 11:20 p.m.)
Will parks his car and gets out, taking note of the small group of drunks that have formed. He's hoping they don't start causing a scene, he doesn't have the time or the patience right now. He walks up to the ambulance parked in the street, recognizing one of the paramedics on the scene, Rose.
"Rose, what are the details? What happened here?"
"Hi, Will. So the victim was Bea Smith, she was able to tell us her husband did this, Harry Smith. She gave me his description and I reported him to dispatch, you should have his info soon."
Will's radio sounds the affirmative.
"Dispatch to all Sierra units, we're currently on the lookout for the suspect of an assault. His name is Harry Smith, Caucasian male, approximately thirty-five years old, brown hair, brown-"
Will turns down his radio, he'll read the report later. He urges Rose to continue.
"Anyway, she was in critical condition. She was barely conscious, had difficulty breathing, I think a possible collapsed lung. So they transported her ASAP, she should be at the hospital any minute. She had a broken wrist as well.
We looked her over and there were pre-existing scars, fresh bruises all over her body. It's obvious to me this wasn't the first time he laid hands on her. There's evidence of self-harming too, scars marking both of her inner thighs and faint ones on her wrists."
"I see. Anything else?"
Rose points a thumb over her shoulder at a young blonde sitting in the back of the ambulance.
"Just that she fought Harry off, 'kicked his cowardly ass,' according to her. Her name is Allie Novak. Her friend was the one who called us. She needs to be checked out at the hospital, I think she might have a concussion."
"Does Bea have any family to notify?"
"A daughter, Debbie Smith. Can't find her contact info though. Allie has Bea's phone but it's dead, so no luck there."
"I'll need to talk with Allie before you take her to the hospital."
"She's all yours."
"Excuse me, Allie? I'm Officer Jackson, you can call me Will. I need to ask you a few questions when you get to the hospital, so I can write up a statement about what happened here tonight. Do you want me to contact anyone for you?"
"No thanks."
Allie turns her head and Will can't keep himself from staring, she looks beat to hell.
Allie smirks at him, "You should see the other guy."
"I'm done with Ms. Novak here, she's ready for your questions. Let me know when you're done."
Will walks into her hospital room.
"How are you feeling, Allie?"
"How do I look? Actually, don't answer that. How's Bea doing, do you know anything?"
"She's critical but stable, she's out of surgery now. I can't tell you much, but if you didn't show up when you did, well, just know you most likely saved her life."
"I don't feel like much of a hero, but thanks. Would I be able to see her, sit with her or something? At least until her daughter shows up, she shouldn't have to be alone."
Will sees the worry flash in her eyes, it's genuine.
"No, sorry, but the hospital is pretty strict about family members only. Plus she's under protection by an officer, in case her husband shows up here."
"You don't think he would, do you?"
Will shrugs. "Can't be too careful, I've worked this job long enough to learn to expect the unexpected."
"Well can't you say I'm, I don't know her cousin? That's family enough right?"
"I could, but that's against the rules and I happen to like my job. If Bea wants, she can approve you as a visitor when she wakes up."
Allie winks a few times with her good eye. "You can't bend the rules a little bit? I'll make it worth your while."
Will points to the wedding ring on his finger.
"I respectfully decline, and you've just tried soliciting an officer, illegal, by the way. Now if you don't mind, I need to ask you these questions."
"Fire away."
"Full name?"
"Allie Novak, no middle."
"Okay, can you tell me about tonight's events? In as much detail as you remember."
"Sure, I was at the club, Milo's. I went out back to smoke a cigarette and I heard voices. I looked down the alley, and saw a guy kicking a woman that was on the ground."
"Were they arguing, anything like that?"
"I heard something about Bea turning a guy down that tried to buy her a drink, but Harry wasn't having it. That's about the time I ran over and fought him off, he got some good hits in if you couldn't tell."
"When you fought, did you injure him in any way?"
"I scratched his face, I know that. Kicked him in the baby maker. Punched and kicked him some more, but I don't think he was hurt too bad, mostly his pride. Then he ran off, I was looking after Bea when my friend Franky came out, she checked her over then went back inside to call you guys."
"Was he intoxicated, could you tell?"
"Drunk as a skunk. I could smell it on his breath."
"Did he hurt you in any way, other than your altercation?"
"Are you asking if he tried to rape me? Nah, I would've killed him if he did. Are we about done here? I'm feeling pretty tired."
"Just one more thing, would you like to file assault charges against Harry Smith?"
"Yes."
"Okay, if you think of anything else, give me a call. Here's my card. Have a good night, Allie."
Will hands his card to Allie then exits the room, Allie goes to sleep with thoughts of a certain redhead on her mind.