The police didn’t even bother to cuff me…there was no way I was going to resist arrest.
The older cop led me into an interrogation room and forced me into a chair. “Did you try to kill your daughter?” He asked with his back turned as if he was having a hard time facing me.
I didn’t answer, which finally forced him to face me. “Why did you do it?” I guess he decided by my silence that I was guilty.
There was nothing for me to say. I may not have been guilty of pushing Carmina into the streets, but I was still guilty. I wasn’t about to affirm or deny his accusations.
“God forbid that little girl dies…do you know what they do in prison to people who harm children?”
Nothing worse than what Carmina had already done, I thought to myself.
“This looks really bad for you, you come in here saying that you had kidnapped the girl and not ten minutes later…she’s laying bloodied in the street…if you don’t say something, I’m going to have to lock you up.”
“I shouldn’t have let you leave with her…such a pretty little thing,” The cop said, guilt written all over his face.
“Ma’am…you’re really pushing my buttons here!” He said as if his tone would convince me to speak.
Being locked up was exactly what I was going for when I came in the first time. I just wished he’d hurry up and do it.
He lost patience and roughly grabbed me up from the chair…”Maybe a few hours in a cell will help you see things my way.”
He pushed me into a small holding cell and slammed the door behind me.
I sat down on the splintered wooden bench…
…slowly beginning to realize that I wasn’t afraid or sad.
I was relieved and shockingly happy…very happy. I was free! Free from Carmina!
She was gone…maybe even dead and I was free. She couldn’t hurt me in here or manipulate anyone to force me into anything. I would have been smiling, but it had been so long that I’d forgotten how. But I was smiling on the inside.
It didn’t last very long. My happiness was soon interrupted by an insistent voice that shattered my relief like a sledge hammer hitting thin ice. “I’m telling you officer…I saw the whole thing and she didn’t do it!”
“That little girl dashed into the street on her own…craziest thing I’ve ever seen. She ran right in front of that car.”
Oh no! Someone had witnessed what Carmina had done.
I stood up and looked through the windows of the holding cell and saw the old woman that had walked out of the police station right behind Carmina and I. I didn’t see her outside, but apparently she had been there and saw the whole thing.
“Are you sure ma’am?”
“I may be old, but I’m not blind. The little girl was very upset and then she just started running. That woman was no where near her.”
The old woman continued, “before I knew it she was in the street and the taxi slammed right into her…didn’t even have time to react. That woman did not try to kill that girl.”
“Thank you for your help ma’am.”
No, no! I wanted to scream and shout, but there was no volume.
The officer unlocked the door to the cell and I quickly backed as far away from the door as I possibly could.
“Turns out you’re not guilty after all.”
“No,” I said softly; still trying to believe that after all that had happened…I was going to be released.
As if that wasn’t enough, the cop had more info for me, “I just received some good news…your daughter’s gone through some trauma, but she’s going to be just fine. We need to get you to the hospital.”
“No!” I said…this time forcefully. “I did try to kill her…I’m not leaving this cell.” There was no way I wanted to be anywhere near Carmina.
“Ma’am…I have no reason to keep you here. You’re going to have to leave.”
“No, no, no…you don’t know what’ll happen. I did it…I pushed her!”
Seeing that I wasn’t about to budge…the officer called for a second officer to help drag me out of the cell.
“I don’t care who you call…I’m not leaving this cell!” I said as defiantly as possible. I didn’t resist arrest, but I was definitely resisting being released.
Despite my protest, I wasn’t able to fight off the second officer and before I knew it, I was out of the cell.
It seemed that Carmina was still controlling my life and even the cops seemed to be under her spell.
The older cop led us to the door of the lobby before he turned to give instructions, “Drive her to the hospital, her daughter needs her.”
The hospital was the last place I wanted to be. I knew Nick was there and that he would be livid.
“No, please…take me anywhere but there.”
