Emma

Part 1.2

Twenty minutes later, Alex pulled up in front of her house, followed by Emma. She parked the car into her garage, so no one could see it. She opened the door for Emma, who had not yet moved, and held out her hand.

"Come with me."

Alex deliberately maintained physical contact with Emma, as she wanted to build trust with her despite her withdrawal.

She let her in and turned on a low-intensity light.

"It's not very big, but it's my house," Alex said. "Nobody except your brother ever comes here, so you'll be safe."

She led Emma to the couch, invited her to sit down and positioned herself in front of her on the coffee table. She gently seized Emma's hands and took great care not to tower above her.

"Emma, talk to me. Tell me what happened."

Emma remained silent, her head down, her gaze on Alex's thumb, which kept brushing her skin in a soft circular motion.

"Did your husband do this?" Alex asked.

"Yes..." Emma answered weakly.

"Right," Alex said, relieved she finally heard the sound of her voice. "Where are you hurt? Did he hit you elsewhere than your face?"

Emma turned away, feeling ashamed to be seen in that position.

"Tell me," Alex said gently. She put a little pressure on her skin.

"In the stomach," Emma answered.

"OK," Alex kept stroking, "Did he ... abuse you?" She immediately felt Emma withdraw.

"Do you want to press charges?" she asked.

"No, I don't." Emma said, fidgeting nervously.

"If you press charges now, they'll take pictures and do whatever is necessary. He won't be able to deny the evidence and he won't be able to get near you."

"No, I can't..." Emma's eyes were now filled with tears. "I can't put up with this."

"OK, OK. It's fine... So... Do you mind if I take a few pictures?" Alex said as calmly as possible. She kept looking at Emma and focused on her every move. "Let's just do this here between us. We'll see what we do with them later. Just you and me."

Emma spent a few moments thinking. "Yes ... If you want, but I won't go to the police station."

"OK, no problem. We'll see that later."

Alex got up and dragged Emma after her without letting go of her hands. She went to the hall closet and took out a bottle of pills and an ice pack. She entered the kitchen and handed Emma two pills and a glass of water.

"Here, take these, they should help with the pain."

Emma thanked her and took them. As soon as she finished, Alex grabbed her hand again.

"Come on."

She led her to the only bedroom in the house, opened the en-suite bathroom door and turned on all the lights. She faced her and stared for a second.

"The next few minutes are going to be quite unpleasant for you. Do you trust me?"

Despite the situation, Emma felt safe and secure with Alex. Her attention, her words, and her gentleness warmed her up a bit. "Yes ... Go ahead."

Alex took her cell phone out of her jeans pocket and switched on the camera.

"I'll start by taking pictures of your face," she said. "If you want to take a break, just tell me, OK? Please look at me." After taking a few shots, Alex slowly stepped forward. "Now I'm going to take your jacket off and look at your belly, OK?"