I really wasn't sure what I was walking into.
Well it was quite literally a murder, but I had no idea how bad.
We had only four short months working side by side, most of it being sort of friendly but in a really stiff way, but I was grateful to be accompanied by Ironhide in this moment.
It was only an hour and some change to reach her house, in which I would have ordinarily slept most of the way, but I found myself wired and on edge. Even still, we both remained quiet.
We barely rolled to a stop at the house when I got out, barely holding it together. There were so many flashing lights.
Part of the sidewalk outside of her house was covered in blood, a white sheet thrown over a motionless body.
My stomach turned but I pushed on past the numerous cop cars and the coroner's van. I got stopped by a young officer and I barely recall even telling him my relation to any of this. I was directed to the ambulance and about sprinted.
The back doors were wide open and there she sat, now quiet, wrapped in a blanket and bearing a thousand yard stare.
I tried to embrace Maverick, but she didn't really seem to even register what was going on anymore.
The night was a blur beyond that.
The police hardly wanted to let me take her home and I had to swear up and down she wasn't going to run and that I was not going to help her run.
They had her pegged as a victim in this shit show, but they had to do their due diligence and I imagine would have rather detained her for questioning. Thankfully her profession and its closeness to the police really worked in her favor so they eventually relented. Apparently she calmed down enough for a brief amount of time to thoroughly question her before she quit talking. They wouldn't really give us many details though, just that some men broke in and killed her husband and she defended herself. With the 911 call and the neighbors witness statements they must have felt pretty confident in their verdict so far.
I was premised to gather a few basic items and her dog, provided that I had watchful eyes following.
Before long we were all headed back to the house.
When we finally got there and I stopped her under the lights of the now abandoned porch, I saw dried blood splattered and smeared across her face, giving me the harsh reality check about just how close quarters this was. A quick hug and I pushed her inside without a word thrown Ironhide's way.
Maverick wasn't responding to verbal commands, but thankfully as long as I guided her in whatever direction I wanted she would comply.
We ended up shuffling our way all the way upstairs and into my bathroom.
Sarah was wide awake and seemed ready to respond in any way necessary.
"We need to get her cleaned up. She's not really...well doing much of anything anymore. We're probably going to have to do it ourselves..." There was no hesitation in Sarah's stride as she readied our shower and gathered a towel and a change of clothes while I helped Maverick undress.
There was so much blood. It completely soaked her shirt in some spots, while her pajama pants were smeared with it. It was as if she had attempted to wipe her hands multiple times.
She didn't resist any of it and just sat down in the shower, seemingly oblivious to the water poring directly down onto her face. Sarah and I both worked to get her to wash away the evidence of the horrors that happened earlier.
The house was deafeningly silent, aside from the noises of us taking care of her. It was suffocating.
Ordinarily I would never even entertain the idea of anyone other than myself and Sarah even putting their grubby little paws on our bed, but Sarah and I both seemed to be in sync when it came down to where Maverick would be sleeping that night. There was no way in hell we would be letting her sleep alone.
Sure it was weird having my grown niece laying between us as we laid down to sleep for the night, but what the hell else were we supposed to do? She was basically my kid anyways, so it wasn't as strange. She really needed to not be alone anyways.
Despite the rush of the night and the fear and the adrenaline and the shock, I found sleep to come easy. I was already exhausted before this after all.
