Finally, I muster up--something and slam the porch door shut. I keep catching fragments of what my eyes see a few moments later, like my brain has imposed some gruesome five-second delay. Nina I only see on the ground by the kitchen once I've got the hall phone in my hand. I dial 911 by groping for the keys, and report my porch. The officer I speak to sounds hard and cutting. He suggests that I make some coffee and don't fucking try to leave the premises. I tell him yes, and hang up and go to Nina. I am reeling with fear.
Nina is dazed, on the floor and turning blue. I whack her on the back with force and she begins to cry, taking enormous shuddery breaths. I don't know what to do; the cop said to make coffee; was he serious; should I go do that; should I call a doctor?
Soon, an EMS crew thunders onto the porch and carts away Andrew's body. They call out things to one another, where some poor guy with a notebook jots things down. �Multiple stab wounds to the chest, multiple lacerations across the face, neck, and torso, scalp has been removed, facial mutilations�� I hear them attempting resuscitation, but as soon as I start to imagine pressing my mouth to the bloody, massive hole where Andrew's was, I have to vomit. I stagger to the kitchen sink and note in the nearby window that a large, cop-like figure is strutting up our steps. I panic, remembering the coffee, but there is a steaming pot ready already. Had I made it? My head aches, and we haven't even been questioned yet. The kettle is whistling, loudly and plaintively, so I make Nina some tea and wait for the cop to knock.
Perhaps he has gotten lost.
I help Nina up, who has stopped crying but appears to not be talking, and hand her a blanket. She curls her toes up so I go upstairs and get her a pair of slippers. She nods, gratefully, as I slip them on her feet, and I glance at the door, wondering what is taking that damned cop so long. The tea is probably finished steeping by now, so I tenderly lead not-talking Nina to the kitchen, where we discover the cop reading the paper with Nina's tea at his elbow.
Bastard. I don't even want to greet him.