Wiped Clean

26. A long night

Red and blue lights flickered, reflecting against the walls of the alleyway beside the club. There were so many of them. Police cars, ambulances. They were everywhere. All with lights flashing.

Caia pulled the blanket around herself, standing beside the car shaking. Waiting. Her tears had dried, and now she was hollow. Empty. She had no emotion. Nothing left to give.

Three bodies were on the ground, all in black, zip up bags. Bodies. Not people. It couldn't be that there were people in those bags. People who had been breathing less than half an hour ago. Now, they were just bodies. Waiting to be collected to take to the morgue.

She had lied, in the end. Her last words to the woman she loved had been a lie.

"Caia, is it?" a man asked as he approached.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm detective Andrews. I need to ask you a few questions."

"Sure."

"What is your involvement with Annika Matthews?"

"I'm her girlfriend."

"And what was your business here at Luxe?"

Caia huffed a bitter laugh. "Her piece of shit ex-husband kidnapped me." She looked over at the bodies on the ground. "Is he one of them?"

Andrews frowned. "Unfortunately Michael got away. We have several teams out searching for him."

"That's a shame." Caia tore her gaze away from the bags. "Can I go now?"

"Yes. I'll drive you."

Annika's heart had stopped not long after she had lost consciousness. Caia hadn't known what to do. If she took her hands away from the wound to do CPR, she would bleed out. But if she didn't do anything, she wouldn't stand a chance.

Two compressions later, the door crashed open and paramedics took over.

Caia watched as they pumped Annika's heart. While they pressed a mask over her face to force the rise and fall of her chest.

She watched as they took her away.

Annika wasn't one of the bodies on the ground, but Caia knew there was still a chance she would end up just like them.

The ride to the hospital seemed to stretch on forever. She grew impatient. Frustrated.

"You're a cop. Can't you drive any faster?"

"I'm sorry, Caia. We're almost there."

Tears welled in Caia's eyes. "I told her I'd be there when she wakes up."

He sighed but didn't say a word. She knew what he was thinking. Annika wasn't going to wake up. There had been too much blood. Her heart had stopped.

"She's not going to wake up, is she?"

He frowned. "I don't know."

"Do you think they'll let me see her?"

"I'll make sure they do."

When they reached the hospital, Caia let Andrews take the lead. She was still in too much shock to say more than a few words at a time. They were taken to a waiting room. It was stuffy and warm, with magazines littering the table, and a television up in the corner that went ignored by those present. They too, were in too much shock to talk, it seemed.

Caia wondered whether she looked as bad as the three other people present. She wondered whether she looked as bad as her mother must have when she was waiting to hear the results of Gemma's surgery. All with tear-stained cheeks and red, puffy eyes. The look of someone waiting to say goodbye.