Page 108 of Random in Death
“What color was his hair?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t bother to look at him when we were getting the corn. We were all talking and figuring out what we wanted, and I just noticed the trench and the shoes. In the theater, when it happened, it was dark, and it happened so fast.”
“He pushed me.”
“He pushed you, Lola?”
“I think. Kiki yelled and screamed. Man, her popcorn went flying, and her jumbo fizzy went splat all over, and I was turning around, and Pres, you said, like, ’What the hell, Keek,’ and he, well, not really pushed, but more like…”
She jabbed out with both elbows.
“Like ‘Out of my way, bitch.’” With a wince, she put her fingers to her lips. “Sorry about the ‘bitch.’ I didn’t think of it because Kiki was screaming and trying to yank her jacket off, and there was fizzy all over my pants and shoes.”
“Everyone was yelling to shut up,” Pres continued. “And I was embarrassed and pissed off at her. I shouldn’t’ve been.”
“You didn’t know.”
“She was screaming and pulling off her jacket and yelling ‘Is there blood, is there blood?’”
“He hit the emergency exit, because the alarm went off,” David added, “and the lights all came on.”
“They were going to kick us out, I think, but Kiki got sick all over the place.” Lola shuddered. “And she kept saying he had a knife, he stabbed me, and how her arm was on fire. Then the MTs came, and the police. No, right before, Kiki went whack and tore the sleeve of her new shirt.”
“I saw the bruise, and there was a red mark on it.” Presley shut his eyes. “I thought she had been stabbed, but when the MTs came, and I heard them say about the drugs, and remembered about those girls, what happened. I thought she was dying. I thought Kiki was dying.”
“She’s not. And she, along with all of you, are going to help us find him.”
She wanted to go over it all again, try to pry out more details. But the moms came in, and this time Pres didn’t stop the tears.
“She’s okay.” Audrey went to him and, though he stood a head taller, gathered him in. “They’re moving her to a room, just for the night. Just to monitor.”
Connie spoke quietly to Eve. “Dr. Myler said she has the copy of the toxicology screen for you, also the names and contacts of the MTs who treated her if you need them.”
“That’s helpful, thank you. As I said, I’ll have to contact you for follow-ups.”
“Whatever we can do to help you stop this monster.”
On the way out, Eve picked up the tox report and the contacts.
Then she stepped into the summer night and took a good clear breath.
“You’ll want to walk a bit, and we’re not far.” Knowing her, Roarke slid an arm around her waist. “To the theater?”
“Yeah. She got lucky. That kid got lucky. He goes for the other arm, I’m notifying those two women tonight.”
“He didn’t, and she’ll be fine. She strikes me as not only tough, as you said, but resilient.”
“Maybe tomorrow she’ll remember more. And David? People don’t always realize what they’ve seen. I’m going to see if he’ll work with Yancy on a sketch. Kiki, too. She saw his eyes, his what-the-fuck eyes, so maybe.”
When they got to the car, she stood one more moment, just breathing the smell of hospital out of her lungs.
Coffee, she thought, she wanted a whole lot of coffee to combat the fatigue trying to creep back.
“Didn’t know to beat up the trench. Didn’t know trenches at vids are for flakers.”
“Did you?”
“The beat-up part, sure. But teenage social levels are strange and changeable. Maybe he got it at L&W with the shoes and shit. I need to check if they carry them.”