Page 42 of Tammaro DeLuca

I walked into the room to see the doctor talking to a police officer.

“Excuse me?” I interjected into the conversation. “My daughter is a minor. I didn’t give authorization for you to talk or interview her. Anything pertaining to her case needs to come through me. You have no right talking to her doctor.” I looked at the cop.

“Are you interfering with the case?” He asked with hostility clear in his tone.

“You’re in my daughter’s room without my permission. I’m exercising her rights.”

“I’ve gotten everything I needed, anyway.” He flipped the pad he was writing on closed, and that’s when I saw the tattoo on his hand. Black man. Chip on his shoulder. Hand tattoo. That’s what my mother said.

I waited for him to leave, and I excused the doctor before closing the door. I called Ro immediately to tell him what was going on.

“Men are already on their way to guard the room. I’ll tell them to step on it. I don’t know this cop. The one I’ve been having issues with is the one that hurt Asmaria. The only thing that I can think of is that he has friends.”

“Why would he be talking to my father?”

“Your father is there?”

“No, when I was talking to my mother, she told me that this cop came to the house. She described him before I went back into the room with Asmaria. He was there.”

“Okay, I’ll handle it.” There was a new level of frustration in his tone. “I hope for his sake that your father has nothing to do with this.”

Me too. Because I wouldn’t be able to stop you from hurting him if he did.

“Ro,” I paused.

“I’ve gotta go. I need to call my men and find out what’s going on.”

I nodded, though he couldn’t see me. Asmaria wasn’t safe, and I knew Ro wouldn’t rest until he’d figure it out.

TAMMARO

Iknocked on the door to the Chambers’ residence, unaffected because it was ten p.m. My daughter was in the hospital, and nobody could tell me anything, but I had a bad feeling that the man behind these doors could.

Yolanda’s twin opened the door. She was about twenty years her senior, but I now knew how graceful she’d age. Even though her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, I saw her beauty through the pain. I didn’t know what was going on, but I also didn’t care about their problems. All I wanted to do was find out what her husband knew.

“Can I help you?” She asked.

“I’m Tammaro DeLuca and I need to speak to your husband.” I saved my anger for the person who it was directed toward. She didn’t deserve any of it.

“You’re Asmaria’s father.” She said.

“Yes.”

“Come in.” She stepped back to allow me inside.

On any other day, I’d admire how nice her home was. Today, I didn’t care about that either.

“Donald! You have a visitor!” She yelled. Instead of disappearing, she sat right there to wait. “I was going to stop by the hospital tomorrow, if Asmaria is still there. I didn’t know if that was okay and I was going to ask Yolanda, but forgot to while she was on the phone.”

“As long as you don’t bring your husband, I’m fine with it.” I nodded.

We waited in silence for Donald, but we heard a gunshot. I rushed down the hall with Mrs. Chambers not far behind.

“To the left!” she shouted at me.

I followed her instructions until we got to the door that was locked. She handed me a key, and I opened it to find Donald laying on the floor with a gun in his hand. He was bleeding from the abdomen and staring in shock at the ceiling.

“Call 911!” I yelled at her.

---