“Did you attack your brother?” he asked me without looking up.
“I did. He had Natasha in the corner like I said. He stepped up to her while she was crying, begging him to just leave. Still babbling nonsense he pulled his arm back and punched her right in the face. I suspected he had done what he did to Denise but I didn’t see it. I believed Ray when he told me how he found Diamond but I didn’t see that either. This I saw. This I witnessed with my own eyes and before Natasha hit the floor I was on my brother pummeling him with everything I had.”
“Did he at any time fight back?”
“Joshua Hewitt, not fight back? Are you kidding? As you can see by my face he got a couple good licks in himself. But it was Natasha who leveled him out. She had to.”
Just then I saw the paramedics wheeling Natasha out on a stretcher.
“Oh my God. Can I talk to her, officer? Just for a second.”
“No. I’m afraid not. Not until you answer a couple more questions.” Officer Simmons didn’t seem to be too concerned about my plight. I just wanted to see if she was alright, if she was even conscious but the handcuffs and the pain in my own face and body kept me seating on the ground where I was.
I watched as the ambulance doors were slammed shut and the vehicle sped away, lights swirling and siren howling. I’d have to meet her at the hospital if I wasn’t thrown in jail.
My brother had yet to come out of the home. I had no idea what was taking them so long with him. I can imagine the statement he was giving police until I heard the shouting begin.
“That son of a bitch! Let me go! Do you know who I am? Do you know I could have your jobs?”
I looked at Officer Simmons who pursed his eyebrows together and looked in the direction of the front door of the house.
“That’s my brother.” I said as they nearly dragged him out of the house, his hands behind him tightly restrained. Two officers quickly swept him away and shoved him into a police car where he proceeded to scream.
It was a heartbreaking sound to hear. Like the natural call of the whales was soft and yet terrifying I heard the muffled cried of a creature that had finally lost. He was caught in the net and floundering. Looking at the officer in front of me I could tell by his expression that he was clearly annoyed with the situation.
“Mr. Reid, does your brother have a history of mental problems? Is he on any kind of medication that you know of? Does he have a therapist or doctor he sees regularly?”
I shook my head slowly from side to side.
“To be honest, I don’t think any of those things would have helped him.” Watching Joshua thrash around in the back seat of the squad car I let out a sigh.
Officer Simmons pulled his keys from a long metal wire attached to a disk on the hip of his belt and pulled me up to my feet. He undid my restraints.
“Well, it’s pretty clear that your brother was the aggressor in this situation. We are going to have to take him downtown and he’ll probably spend the night in jail. If he doesn’t calm down it may be more than one. Do you plan on pressing charges?”
“Yes.” I said. There was no other choice.
“You look pretty beat up. Would you like the paramedics to take a look at you?”
“No.” I said. “But what hospital did they take Natasha to?”
“St. Joseph Provena. You know where that is?”
Quickly the officer gave me directions and I headed off in pursuit of Natasha. A million thoughts were going through my head. How much damage had my brother done before I got there? Why did she choose to leave and not tell me where she was going? What if she was really hurt, like Denise had been? Like Diamond had been. How many people had been hurt because I hadn’t done something about my brother sooner? Tears began to fill my eyes. The traffic lights blurred as my eyes filled. Blinking, I felt them race down my cheeks.
This was not how relationships developed.
Snapping me out of my thoughts as I sped down the street was the chime to my phone. It was Ray.
“I am at the hospital with Diamond. How is Natasha?”
“I don’t know. They took her away in an ambulance.”
“Oh, God.”
“What about Diamond. Is she alright?”
“It some sick shit, Marty. It will break your heart. But this Diamond seems to be as tough as her name. She asked me to come with her to the hospital so I’ll be hanging around here for a while.”