“Miss Pastore?” I lift my head to see two police officers standing before me.
“Yes.” I confirm that they’ve found the person they were looking for. I know that they aren’t here to give me an update on Mikey or tell me that he’s dead like the pair of cops that visited my grandma the day the man she loved died.
“We need your statement.” The female officer explained.
“For crying out loud you cops are relentless.” Nana says from her chair. “Poor girls been through hell and back and you’re going to make her relive it all.” She shakes her head disgusted and I look back towards the officers.
“It’s fine, let’s just get this over with.” I say running my fingers through my hair only for them to get stuck in the knots. I needed to shower to wash this nightmare away.
“Okay, can you start from the beginning?” The male officer asked, taking out his tape recorder while his partner reached into her pocket for a pad and pen. “Both you and Mr. Valente live in New York so what were you doing in Florida?”
I glanced over at my father who dropped his head to his hands a memory of him and me flashed through my mind of when I was a little girl and he’d take me in his arms and dance with me. Dancing was kind of our thing at every family party you could catch my dad and me on the dance floor.
“We were visiting my Aunt and my Grandma.” I watched as my father lifted his head his eyes fixed on mine. “Mikey wanted to surprise me for my birthday and take me away.” I lied because no matter what the man I was staring at was still my dad and I wasn’t about to throw him under the bus.
“Fast forward to the night in question where were you when Deke Rogers took you?” The male officer asked.
“I was sleeping in the guest room.” I said, thinking back to how I had fallen asleep in Mikey’s arms whispering to him that I loved him.
“Were you alone?” The partner took over asking the questions.
“My aunt and grandma weren’t home when we got back that night, but I didn’t go to sleep alone. I went to bed with Mikey but when I woke up, he wasn’t there either.”
“Where was he?”
“I don’t know.” I cocked my head to the side, studying the woman who was firing questions at me. “I didn’t get a chance to ask him before he was shot.”
“Okay, so he wakes you up and then what?”
“He puts a gun to my head and tells me to get dressed.” I can feel my father’s eyes on me as I speak. “He tied my wrists before we left the house and then he took me to the warehouse that you found me in.”
“Do you know why he took you?”
“My father is a union delegate for the Longshoreman’s Association he wanted my father to have the ILA turn their heads and move drugs through the New York harbor.” I glanced over at my dad. My story was partially true my father did have ties to the union delegates. My grandfather was high in the ranks with the ILA before he died, that’s ultimately, how my father obtained control over the docks through his dad. “He told my father he’d kill me if he couldn’t get control over the docks.” I divert my eyes back to the police. “He would’ve killed me too, if Mikey hadn’t found me when he had.”
“What happened when Mr. Valente found you?”
“Deke was about to shoot me, but Mikey shot him first.” I said, closing my eyes remembering Mikey running towards me.
“When did your father show up?”
With my eyes still closed and my mind playing back the scene, I answered. “Within seconds. Deke’s men started shooting at my father and his associates. Mikey couldn’t see anything going on because his back was towards it all as he started for me. When he finally turned around and saw what was happening, he saw the gunmen try to shoot me.” I opened my eyes blinking away the tears. “He charged at me taking the bullet meant for me.” I swallowed hard. “He saved my life.” I look passed the police officers at the closed doors that they wheeled Mikey through so many hours ago wishing that I had the ability to return the favor.
The male officer looked at me placing a hand on my arm. “Have you been checked out?” He asked softly.
“Not until I know what’s going on with Mikey.” I say stubbornly. He opened his mouth to say something, but my father walks over to us.
“I’m ready to give my statement.” He says, shoving his hands into his pockets as he looks at me. “Give me a moment with my daughter and then I will meet you in the cafeteria.” The cops look at one another confused but then they turn to my father and nod.