losttheright | (no subject)

The first cop who comes in to get her statement is a stranger. There have been a lot of those tonight, between the other woman at Patrick's and the assorted medical personnel she's seen, but somehow, counterintuitive though she believes it to be, the thought of talking to one, just as the thought of being treated by one, makes her too uneasy. Much as Molly doesn't especially want to talk about it to someone she knows, either — she'd rather not talk about it at all, though there's no pretending like she's fine in the face of this when her physical state alone is proof that she's not — if there's anyone she wouldn't mind seeing her like this, it's Russell. Besides, there's comfort in the familiar, though God knows there shouldn't be. It's the part of this that still doesn't make sense to her. She'd known Patrick for ages, had spent plenty of time around him, and she'd never once had any idea that he was capable of something like this. Even now, she still doesn't know why he would have done any of this. She just knows that, in spite of it, it's the idea of speaking to someone she's never met that unnerves her, cop or not.

He doesn't seem all that inclined to listen to her at first, and she can't even hold that against him when he's clearly just here to do his job. Even when she tries to, though, figuring she ought to be helpful, that she has no reason not to, she can't bring herself to tell him anything. Just thinking about it is fucking difficult enough, and she can't get away from that, panic surging through her all over again if she lets herself think too hard on it, until she reminds herself again that she's safe now, that Patrick is dead. She'd seen his body. It should have been far more reassuring. It's when she starts to really withdraw, only half-aware of doing so herself, that the man's demeanor softens somewhat, and he says he'll see if Russell will come in, as she's asked him to. Once he's out of the room, she lets out a breath, resisting the urge to bite at her already-bitten lip, throbbing faintly where there are a few stitches in it. She catches herself wondering, not for the first time, if it will scar, and feels just as fucking stupid for it as she has before. When she's lucky to have walked away from all of that in the first place, the condition of her face shouldn't be one of her primary concerns. It's always been her way, though, to act as if she's fine even when she isn't, and like this, she couldn't even come close to passing for it. Besides, the last thing she wants is to have to look in the mirror and see reminders of all this for however long she has left.

Reaching carefully for her phone where it's resting on the table beside her bed, she pulls up her email. Work probably ought to be the last thing on her mind right now, but she needs something to focus on while she waits to see if Russell will get here. Being in her own head is too dangerous right now.

Threaded | Flat

At first, Russell's pretty sure he won't be able to do it.

The story travels pretty fast within the cops who are on duty at the time and Russell's no exception. He's called to the scene first, mostly just to work crowd control as usual, while the detectives do their thing. Not that there's much to detect, the way he hears it. Pretty clear cut case of self defense and he knows not a single one of the women in the apartment are going to be brought up on any kind of charges. The first indication something might be really wrong is when he hears a name mentioned. Patrick.

In a distant way, the name is familiar.

It isn't until another cop pulls him aside and asks if he'll go to the hospital to take statements that he realizes why it sounds so familiar.

"One of the victims is asking for you," someone says and Russell knows in a second that Molly wants him to be the one to take her statement and he doesn't think he can do it. What he wants is to head straight over to that body bag and rip what's left apart completely. Russell doesn't know all the details, but he knows there was a lot of blood and he knows there was a lot of violence and the idea that someone's hurt Molly like that, someone she trusts, hits a little too close to home and he can feel his fury rising. He has to go, though. He can't leave her there just because he wants revenge against a man who's already dead.

"She's okay?" he asks the other officer when he arrives.

"She'll be okay physically," the man answers and when he doesn't say anything else, Russell takes a couple deep breaths, then knocks lightly on Molly's door before he pushes it open and heads into the room.