Her Story Read Online Free PDF Page A

shoved his phone into his pocket and cleared his throat.
     
    “Ma’am, now, I don’t mean to upset you,” he said in a quiet, low voice. His accent was warm, unlike the harsh New England accent the other cop had assaulted her with earlier. “We just need to hear your side of the story. Accidents happen all the time; it’s our job to get the details from each individual and piece together what happened.”
     
    Perhaps his accent was southern? It was calming and comforting. She closed her eyes and massaged her left temple with her free hand. “Ok,” she said quietly.
     
    “Ok,” he repeated, flipping open his notebook. “Now just start from the beginning.”
     
    She took a deep breath. “Ok.” She swallowed, making a mental note to keep the trembling of her voice in check.  “I was leaving the bar,” she started.
     
    “Were you drinking at all tonight, ma’am?” the office interjected.
     
    “No, no. I work at a bar downtown. Murphy’s. I was on my way home.”
     
    “Which is where?” She gave him her address off of Fruit Hill Ave. He nodded. “Ok – so you were on your way home.”
     
    “Yes. I was on my way home, driving down Pleasant Valley Parkway near the VA hospital. And this girl just cut out in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and swerved to avoid her and the only other thing I remember is seeing the headlights of the car in the other lane.”
     
    “What do you mean ‘cut out in front of you?’ Was she in a car, was she…”
     
    “No, no, no,” she cut him off. “This girl literally ran out in front of my car. Straight into the road. I-I have no idea where she came from. She wasn’t on the sidewalk, she didn’t come out of a house. She just ran right across the road and took off.”
     
    A look she couldn’t quite decipher crossed his face. “And around what time would you say this was?”
     
    “I-uh… It couldn’t have been any later than 10:30….” This response just further deepened the mysterious expression on his face. He quickly scribbled a page worth of notes, flipping the tiny pages so rapidly she thought he would tear them straight out of the book.
     
    “Can you describe this girl at all?” he asked.
     
    She closed her eyes. “I don’t know… I told you, she came out of nowhere… I think she was a brunette. She was wearing jeans and maybe a t-shirt?” He nodded and scribbled some more.
     
    Now it was time for him to pick her story apart. Which way on the street was she driving; could anyone verify what time had she left work; had she had any drugs or alcohol in her system and could this also be verified by her co-workers; could she tell him anything else about this mystery girl that ran across the road? She did her best to answer his questions, but all of the questions he was throwing at her, coupled with whatever sedative the nurse had given her was making it hard for her to concentrate. She assumed he was repeating his questions to try to get her to slip up on something she had previously said. She kept her answers short, and to the point, and after what felt like an eternity, the officer finally closed his notebook and stood to leave.
     
    “Alright ma’am – thank you very much for your time. We’ll be in touch if we need you to answer any more questions.”
     
    “Is that woman really dead?” she asked, her voicing inevitably cracking. She was actually subconsciously proud she had been able to keep everything under control all that time.
     
    The officer looked at the floor and then back at her, almost sheepishly. “She’s still in surgery, ma’am. My partner jumped the gun a bit on that one. Again, my apologies for upsetting you so much earlier. Like I said, accidents happen all the time. And from the sounds of things, this all could’ve been much worse.”
     
    She finally felt all of the muscles in her body relax as her head sank into the pillow, completely overcome with relief.
     
    “Um – then do you mind?” she asked,