Page 22 of From You to Me

“Morning, Ms. May, I’m Detective Rogers,” said a man with salt-and-pepper hair and heavy sideburns. “And this is my partner, Detective Sanchez.” He gestured to a younger-looking man, probably in his early twenties.

I nodded.

Detective Rogers cleared his throat. “Ms. May, you very well know how you ended up here. Unfortunately, no cameras were pointed toward the alley, and no evidence could be collected from the scene. Can you tell us why you ended up in the alley?” he asked in a grim voice.

Nothing about his statement suggesting he was questioning a victim of a crime.

“I was waiting to get inside the concert when two men pulled me inside. It all happened very fast. One minute, I was on the street, and the next, I was being dragged away from behind. They didn’t say anything when I asked them, just told me to shut up and pushed me hard on the ground.”

Detective Roger nodded while he slid a glance to his partner, who was looking anywhere but at me. “Can you explain what they looked like, Ms. May?”

I shook my head. “No, they were wearing black and had masks over their faces, and like I said, I was pulled from behind, and it was very dark down there, so I couldn’t see properly.”

“But you saw they were wearing black?”

I froze, swallowing, not sure where he was going with this. “Yes,” I whispered.

Gia peered at me with concerned eyes.

“We’ll try our best to catch the perpetrators, Ms. May, but we can’t promise anything. Robberies like this are quite common in our city.”

Lines creased my forehead. “Nothing was stolen from me, Detective Rogers.”

I knew because when I came out of the shock from all this, I realized I was only wearing the hospital scrubs.

And the chain around my neck was not there.

I grew hysterical trying to find them and not being able to move an inch. But thankfully, Gia calmed me down and handed me the zipper bag with my belongings. I only breathed in relief when I found my necklace, the ‘J’ pendant, and the ring intact. A quick inventory check told me I had everything, even my broken cell phone. Just looking at it made me sad because I had no one to call. And he never came.

Detective Rogers cocked a brow. “I find that hard to believe.”

I clenched my jaw as I tried to suppress the anger coursing through me. “How can you just assume that it’s a robbery without even asking me if something was missing, Detective Rogers?”

He smiled, running his thumb along his chin. “Are you telling me how to do my job, Ms. May?”

“Yes since you don’t seem to be doing a good job at it,” I bit out.

His eyes narrowed as he strode toward me. “If it isn’t a robbery, then we have reason to assume that you were doing something else in that alley, Ms. May.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s safe to assume you went there looking for drugs. It’s pretty common for teenagers to try something new when they go to concerts. We found out you recently lost your aunt, and you might’ve wanted something to ease the pain a bit. So if it wasn’t a robbery, I could write it down as a drug deal gone wrong, Ms. May, but that might get you in trouble.”

“No,” I shouted. “How can you say that? I wasn’t looking for drugs. I was looking for a way inside the concert.”

“Then explain why you were in LA, Ms. May. Your home is in Seattle?”

“I told you I wanted to get inside the concert. I was there to meet my boyfriend. You can’t possibly think I jumped on a plane to LA to buy drugs!” I heaved as my breathing became ragged.

“You were in LA for a few months this past year, so you may have already had an old contact to get you some stuff and a boyfriend uh?” He laughed. “Where is he now? Do you mind giving us his contact so we can confirm this story?” He waved a hand.

I flushed as my hands started to shake. “We don’t talk anymore.”

Detective Rogers laughed harder, which only made the monitor beep louder.

“Please, stop this nonsense.” Gia ran a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “You’re supposed to help find who did this to her. She is the victim here. If you’re going to cause any more distress to my patient, you should leave.”

“Very well.” Detective Rogers nodded, handing me a piece of paper. “Sign here if you know what’s good for you, Ms. May, and we can call this a robbery. Trust me, you don’t want this to turn into a drug case.”

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