"Meems," Roger whispered, gently nudging Mimi awake.
"Mmm," she mumbled, as she opened her eyes.
"Mimi, there's two police officers outside your door. They want you to file a report."
Mimi rubbed her swollen red eyes with the back of her fist and slowly propped herself up against a couple of pillows.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Roger asked her, nervously.
Mimi nodded. "I just wanna get this over with."
Roger squeezed her hand and got up to let the policemen in. He then sat back down in the school near Mimi's bed, followed by two male police officers; one blonde and stocky, the other brunette and lanky.
"Good morning, Miss Marquez," the blonde greeted Mimi, in a casual voice.
Mimi forced herself to smile and nod her head at them, in attempt to greet them.
"Miss Marquez, we'd like to get straight down to business here," the brunette said, fishing a clipboard and a pen from his belt. "We'd like you to file a report on the man who…attacked you. So we can try and figure out who it was that did this, and see if we can get an offense against him."
"Okay," Mimi said, quietly, glancing at Roger nervously.
"Alright. Tell me everything you can about what he looked like, what he was wearing, ethnic background, accent, height, weight, et cetera."
"He was tall," Mimi said, slowly, trying not to give too much away. She just wanted to forget this ever happened and move on with her life.
"How tall, Miss Marquez?"
"I don't know…five foot eight…maybe six," Mimi said, picking at her nails nervously.
"Alright. What about his face? Hair color, eye color?"
"Brown hair…brown eyes…Latino, I think. Or Greek. I don't know."
"Weight?"
"Um…hundred fifty…sixty…I can't really say."
Roger saw that Mimi became more uncomfortable with each question.
"And you have never met this person before? You don't recall ever seeing him anywhere?" the brunette asked.
"No. Never," Mimi lied.
"And this happened outside of The Cat Scratch Club?" the blonde asked her.
"Yes. In the alley in the back."
"Figures," Roger heard the brunette mutter under his breath and shot him a murderous look. "Asshole," he growled.
"Can you describe to us exactly what happened, Miss Marquez? And at what time?"
"It was around one in the morning…I think…," Mimi said, quietly. "I had just finished my shift and went out the backstage door. And I was walking and the guy grabbed me from behind."
"Did he say anything to you?"
"He…he said he liked me," Mimi said, purposely leaving out the larger details like the offering of the stash.
"And what did you say?"
"I told him to fuck off. And I kept walking."
"And that's when he attacked you from behind?"
Mimi nodded.
"What about clothing? Be specific as possible."
"I really don't remember…jeans…a black T-shirt. I wasn't really paying attention to what he was wearing."
The officer nodded, in understanding. "Alright," he said, putting the clipboard away and clicking the pen back into place. "First of all I think what we're going to do is question the employees at the Cat Scratch Club. And the manager. What was his name again?"
"It's…Terry. I don't know his last name," Mimi stammered. Shit. If they questioned Roxy…she was bound to figure it out. And then there'd be hell to pay…
"Do you really have to question them? I mean…it's…you know."
"Embarrassing?"
"…Yeah."
"This is all procedure, Miss. We need to fish around a bit if we want to get some answers."
Mimi nodded slowly, in defeat.
"Okay. I think that's basically all we needed to hear," the blonde said, standing to his feet.
"What are your names again?" Roger asked.
"I'm Officer Radley. He's Officer Branstein," the blonde said, pointing. "We'll call you if we find out anything. Okay?"
Mimi and Roger nodded.
Officer Branstein placed a reassuring hand on Mimi's shoulder. "We'll get this guy, Miss. And when we do, there'll be hell to pay."
"Okay, Mimi said, meekly.
The officer gave both her and Roger a sympathetic smile. "We'll stay in touch."
Roger nodded and watched the police officers exit the room.
***
"You got it, babe?" Roger asked Mimi as they slowly descended up the stairs towards the Loft. The nurses had released Mimi from the hospital earlier, seeing as the only real serious injury she had had only had required stitches. They told her to stay low, and just rest for a few days. Then they'd given her and Roger a date to come back for observation.
"I've got it," Mimi said, as she slowly made her way up each stair. She winced, slightly in pain as she did. She was sore, everywhere. She just wanted to curl up in bed or on the couch and sleep. Or die, even better.
"Do you need anything?" Roger asked Mimi as he guided her into the living room, where she curled up on the couch in a fetal position.
"No thanks. I just want to rest."
"Well, okay," Roger said, with uncertainty, as he started for the other room.
"Rog?"
"Yeah, Meems?"
"Could you just…sit here with me? Please?"
"Sure," Roger said softly, sitting down on the couch beside her.
"I'm so sorry. For all of this," Mimi said quietly, breaking their momentary silence.
"This isn't your fault, Mimi," Roger said, impatiently.
Mimi didn't answer him.
Not knowing exactly what he should do, Roger rubbed her arm gently.
A few seconds later, the phone rang.
"Yeah?" Roger said in a gruff voice, as he reached over for the phone.
"Is this Roger?"
"Who's this?"
"Terry…Mimi's manager. Is she there?"
"She's here," Roger said, through clenched teeth.
"Can I speak with her please?"
"She can't come to the phone right now."
"Oh. Well…can you ask her if she'd be able to work tonight? One of our girls called out and we were wondering if she…"
"Listen, Bud, Mimi's not coming back to your fucking club, now or ever!" Roger yelled into the phone.
"Excuse me?"
"If you're the manager, and you run the club so goddamn well, then tell me, how is it that one of your workers can get raped right outside the fucking back door?"
Terry was silent.
Roger slammed down the phone.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Mimi asked, angrily.
"You're not going back there, Meems. I knew that something wasn't right there, and I was right. You'll get a new job. But you're not going back to work there."
"Fuck you! You're not my father!" Mimi shouted. "I can work wherever the fuck I want!"
"Are you kidding me, Mimi? You were raped last night."
"That has nothing to do with the club! In a few days I'll be able to work again. Give me the phone, I need to call Terry."
Roger held the phone out of her reach. "I said no, Mimi," Roger said firmly, raising his voice. The last time I regretted letting you go and you left anyway, this happened. I'm not letting anything else happen to you."
"You don't know what the hell you're talking about. Give me the fucking phone."
"Why? So you can go back to dancing for strange men like some kind of slut?!" Roger yelled, unable to control his temper.
"What did you call me?" Mimi said quietly, her teeth clenched.
"I wasn't calling you a slut directly," Roger mumbled, looking the other way.
They were both silent for a moment.
"Fuck you," Mimi whispered.
Roger suddenly felt guilty and reached over to caress her bruised cheek. "Meems, I didn't mean…"
"Shut up," Mimi snapped, cowering away from him. "Is that all I am to you? A slut?"
"You know I didn't mean that," Roger said quietly.
Mimi snorted in disgust. "If I want to work at the club, I can. I don't need your permission."
"Well then why don't you call Terry back and plead for your job back?" Roger asked in a cold, sarcastic voice.
"I hate you. Why do you have to make everything so difficult?" Mimi exclaimed, trying not to cry.
"Why do you refuse to admit that I'm right?" Roger asked.
Mimi sniffled. "Fuck this. I'm taking a shower." She quickly stood up and walked out of the room before Roger could say anything. She reached the bathroom and closed and locked the door before Roger could see her beginning to cry.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, Roger told himself again, angrily. Couldn't have handled the situation any better, could you? Always have to convince her that you're right, don't you?
He wanted to go apologize to Mimi for being so hard on her. But it was true. He didn't want to admit that he was wrong in having have said that to Terry. So he stayed put. And waited.