“No, Mr. Anastas, not at this moment but I need to tell you this looks very bad for you. You need to understand that. So how about we have an officer follow you to the hospital you can get looked over there and we can get pictures then.”
“Fine, good were done here.” Calix walked over to the counter where his cell phone sat and made a call to his uncle.
“Si.” Came a grumpy groggy voice of Vito. Because his house was swarming with police Calix spoke only in Italian. “Uncle, I have an emergency. I need you now.”
The sound of Calix’s voice, and the multiple voices he could hear in the background woke him up completely, and he sat up and started to get out of bed and dress as they spoke. “What is it?”
“Anya came back. She forgave me. She’s also pregnant.”
“What? What is going on? Are those cops in the background?” “Yes, Anya and I had dinner, we made love, then went to sleep. Next thing I know, I’m waking up to someone pounding on the door. I turned to look at Anya, but she wasn’t in the bed. I tried to get up, but I felt sick to my stomach, and my head pounded, and I couldn’t walk without stumbling. As I got up, I saw part of Anya on the bathroom floor. I ran to her.” Calix had to stop and take in a steadying breath. This was the time for strength not
weakness. “She was covered in blood, barley breathing. I don’t know what happened. I have scratch marks all over me, and my hand looks like I’ve been punching steel.”
“Holy fucking shit! Calix don’t say anything to anyone, do you hear me? Nothing. I am on my way. This smells dirty, Calix. Someone has set you up. I’ll make calls. Don’t worry, we will handle this. No one fucks with the Anastas family.”
“The cop is asking me questions. I know how it looks, and I know he thinks I did it. He tried to keep me from leaving and going to the hospital. But he’s not charging me yet, so I’m going to wash this blood off and head to the hospital you can meet there.”
“Fine.” Calix walked back into his bedroom, which was teaming with cops taking pictures and bagging what looked like one of their steak knives.
Oh God was she stabbed? No don’t think, dress and leave, he told himself. The room looked like a tornado had hit it. There was broken glass everywhere, things were smashed, and thrown all over. He ignored what he saw and went to his closet to get some clothes. When he was exiting the guest bath, Officer Curtis caught him by the arm.
“Mr. Anastas, I’ll need to know where you will be in the hospital, so I can get an official statement. So, when you are done with the doctors, please call me at this number.” Officer Curtis reached out and handed Calix a business card with his other hand.
“Fine now let go of me,” Calix growled and left the building, driving like a bat out of hell to the hospital.
Chapter 33 When Calix got to the hospital, his uncle was already there. Calix wasn’t surprised though, his uncle did live closer, and he didn’t have to wash his fiancé’s blood off him. He saw a tall, balding, slender man in a brown suit next to his uncle. It looked like Vito’s lawyer Marco Luciano, but he wasn’t sure as he could only see the back of his head. As he approached the desk where they were standing, his uncle turned around and walked to meet him.
“Zio, how is she, do we know anything?” he asked in a rush. “Calm down,” Vito said simply. And Calix nodded his head in agreement. Vito looked up and down Calix, seeing the bright red claw marks on his face and some that peeked out of his collar on his neck. Vito sneered at the sight of what someone had done him, to them both. He was murderous with rage.
“Marco,” he called over his shoulder. Marco stopped talking to the nurse at the desk. “One moment please,” he said to the nurse. “Vito.” He turned to see what he wanted.
“Calix is here. Bring him up to speed and finish the papers for his blood work. We don’t know what it is we’re looking for, so we need to have it done quickly because it may pass from his system soon.” Vito went back and remained at the desk while Marco took Calix by the arm and pulled him away speaking in hushed tones.
“The only reason I was able to get any information is because I informed them I was her attorney. Her father has been called but was unreachable. Vito called Maria, and they are on the next flight out. Anya isn’t stable yet. She had multiple stab wounds to her upper body. Thankfully nothing critical was hit. She has been severely beaten. She has a broken nose, fractured skull and cheekbone. Their main concern is her blood loss.”
“She’s pregnant, what about the baby?” “Calix, that isn’t their concern, right now. I know it sounds harsh, but if they don’t stabilize her, there will be no baby. I have arranged for her to have a private room when she is stable, as well as private security at her door. Vito has called Danny and Aldo. Nicco is going to be watching you. This is very serious, Calix. The police will charge you, because everything points that way. So, I need you to do as I say. You’ll get the blood work done now, and when the police come for you, I’ll have everything ready to post bail immediately. You understand?”
“Yes.” Both men returned to the desk, where Marco addressed the nurse once again.
Calix sat in the dull, white walled, family waiting room of the OR floor. Vito was sitting a few seats over, speaking to Marco in hushed Italian. Calix’s blood had been drawn, pictures of his injuries taken and he had given his official statement with Marco present. He hadn’t been charged as of yet, because they were still gathering evidence from the scene. Someone had conveniently notified the press and news vans were filling up the hospital parking lot. Senator Richards was big news, so, of course, his daughter would be too.
The boys had arrived, and everyone was in their places until they got more information on Anya. Nicco was in the waiting room with them, Aldo was
watching near the elevator, and Danny was walking the halls. At the sound of the waiting room door opening, everyone stopped and looked at who had entered. Nicco had taken a partial step, turning his body to face the door.
In walked a very petite doctor. She looked strained; her green eyes had circles under them and her blonde hair was thrown up in what looked like a haphazard bun. She had the top part of her hair in a cap, a surgical mask hanging around her neck, and she was wearing dark blue scrubs that seemed to be speckle with something, but the darkness of her scrubs hid the coloring of what it might be.
“Anya Richards’s family?” she asked. At once, all the men stood up and came forward, all but Nicco, who took a few steps back to give privacy. The blonde doctor looked at the faces of all three men, who stood close, towering over her with their height.
“You’re all here for Miss Richards?”
Calix was about to reply, but Marco stopped him with a motion of his hand. “Yes, I am Mr. Luciano, her attorney, this is Mr. Anastas, her fiancé, and Mr. Vito Anastas, his uncle. If she is stable and being moved, I have already informed the desk we were bringing in private security, and I’d like them to be placed at her door immediately.”
She raised both hands in a stopping motion and focused her gaze on Calix. “I’m Dr. Williams. I’m the lead doctor that has been working on your fiancé. The nurse has informed me that you already have been told of her contusions. In addition, she has a concussion, but there is no swelling of the brain. So, that is very good. She has two stab wounds to her left forearm, one to her clavicle, and four puncture wounds spread over her upper torso and breast. The worst of the wounds were actually from her clavicle and forearm. As there is not a lot of tissue and muscle on that part of the body, the damage was greater.
“None of her puncture wounds were deeper than two inches and no major organs or arteries were hit, which is also good. She will, of course, have scars. Her biggest problem was that she lost a lot of blood, nearly two liters. Now, I know most doctors would have given her a blood transfusion, but I didn’t. I gave her a combination of hetastarch and
erythropoietin. I did this because there is no compatibility testing needed, there’s less chance hemolytic reactions, and there is no degradation
during storage. She is still unconscious, which is to be expected. I don’t know how long it will be till she regains consciousness that just depends on her body and its healing process, we’ll just have to watch and wait.”
Calix didn’t understand everything she said, and he had no idea what
erythropoietin was or that other thing, but if it worked better, he didn’t care.
“When can I see her? She’s pregnant, is the baby okay?” “I was informed of her pregnancy in the OR. I have ordered a trans-vaginal ultrasound to be done when she is in her room. How far along is she?”
“We don’t know we only found out tonight. I think her period is maybe four or five days late, I’m not sure.”
“Well, depending on how far along she is we maybe be able to get a heartbeat with the ultrasound, which is usually not detectable until six weeks. So, if she is very newly pregnant there is no way to tell. We will just have to watch out for miscarriage or growth of the fetus. Her room is in the ICU. She’s being moved now. There are only two visitors allowed at a time. The nurse will come and get you when she is settled. Do you have any questions?”
Calix shook his head no, but Marco spoke up, “Yes, is there a way to get a complete categorization of her injuries such as the angle of the entry stab wounds and such?”
“Every bit of information I gathered will be in my finished report.” She nodded her goodbye and left.
Vito turned to address Nicco. “Go tell Danny we’ll be going to her room soon. I think ICU is one floor up. Have Aldo go to the floor now.”
Nicco simply nodded and on his way out briefly placed his hand on Calix
shoulder a silent jester of his empathy and left.
“Calix,” Vito said as he put his hand around his neck, “look at me.” Calix met his uncle’s gaze. “She is alive, she is stable, be grateful. Should she lose the child, you can try again. Do not mourn when you do not know if you have lost, capisce?” He gently patted Calix’s cheek and then began talking to Marco again. His uncle always had advice, and he was ninety-nine percent right most of the time, and he was right now. Anya would heal, and the baby could be fine, after all, the doctor said of no trauma to her stomach. And should the worst happen and they lose their child, they could try again.
Ten minutes later, a young nurse came to take Calix to Anya’s room. Danny and Nicco, who waited outside the room when he entered had followed him up to the ICU. The lights were low, and he could hear the rhythmic beeping of the machines hooked up to Anya. She was so still. Walking further into her room, he looked for a chair he could pull up next to her bed. In the corner was an ugly pleather, or maybe plastic, maroon colored chair.
Sitting next to her, he couldn’t believe that what he was seeing was real, that this was actually happening. Cleaned and free of blood, Anya looked like she went head to head with a bus and lost. He could barely find a spot of normal flesh colored skin on the left side of her face it was so puffed up and purple. Her nose was bandaged, and her lip split and stitched. He didn’t know what to do other than to sit with her, so he cautiously held onto her right hand as he waited for whatever would happen next.
Chapter 34 Vito had placed several calls in the last few hours; he didn’t care about the time or waking people up. He was giving out instructions and trying to get any information he could. Vito had been on the dark side of life for over forty years; by the way things were set and the timing of everything, he knew this was planned. Done by a professional and a damned good one at that. There were only a handful of men who were that good and worked in and around this region, and he was going to track every one of them down till he found who did this.
Marco had left to get some sleep after finding out that Anya was stable. He had prepared Calix for what would happen, knowing once the police filed charges, he would have his hands full, and he wasn’t the young man he used to be. It was nearly seven in the morning now, Vito knew he would need rest as well, so he phoned Nicco to pass along a message to Calix that he was leaving but would keep up tabs and see him soon.
The sound of a cart rattling woke Calix up. He sat up straight and cleared his throat as a very tall and slightly plump woman in black slacks and fuchsia top walked in, pulling a large cart with a TV set, keyboard, and other electronic things he didn’t recognize. Closely following behind her were two nurses from the front desk. Calix stood as the rather jovial women reached out to shake his hand.
“Hi, good morning. I’m Dr. Vanikes. I’ll be doing Miss Richards ultrasound this morning.”
“Calix Anastas,” he replied simply. Okay, well, Mr. Anastas, we’re doing a trans-vaginal ultrasound this morning, so I think a bit of privacy for Miss Richards would be good.”
His face was stiff, and his voice a little clipped when he responded to her. “She is my fiancé, and that is my child, I am not going anywhere.”
Dr. Vanikes politely nodded in agreement as she spoke, “Okay, I suppose that’ll be all right, but I ask that you please stay at the head of the bed, all right?” Calix did not answer, he simply took a step back closer to Anya’s head. “Okay, girls, let’s get started. Ann can you please shut the door and pull the curtain? Sam, you get on Miss Richards right side and hold her in position, please. Ann the left, thank you.”
Dr. Vanikes then started to plug in the machine and set up. “Okay, Ann, I need her leg up a bit more please, thank you.”
Calix thought ultrasounds were done on the belly, but this doctor was sticking a large, white, rod shaped—for lack of a better word, probe—with a condom rolled on it inside Anya. What looked like gray matter was playing on the screen.
“Okay, Mr. Anastas, let’s see if we can see your little bean. Her uterus looks good, no apparent damage. Her
endometrial lining has thickened a good amount.” She continued to twist and reposition the probe, but nothing showed on the screen. “Well, I’m sorry, Mr. Anastas, she’s too newly pregnant to see the fetus. But, her uterus looks good and on track for a pregnancy.”
“So the baby is fine?” “I, honestly, can’t answer that for you. All I can tell you is that I see no damage. My opinion is that if she hasn’t started to spot or bleed yet, than there is a very strong possibility that there was no harm to the fetus. We’ll just have to watch her closely for spotting and bleeding. Okay, girls, let’s clean Miss Richards up and get her comfortable.”
About two hours later, it was just ten, and Nicco quietly walked into Anya’s room and tapped Calix on the shoulder. Calix knew what it was before Nicco even said a word. He stood up, placed a soft kiss on the top of Anya’s head, and left her room. He was about to say something to Danny, but Danny shook his head and cut in before he could say anything. His deep baritone voice boomed, even though he was speaking softly. “No worries, Calix, my life before hers.” And that was all that needed to be said, the loyalty showed by the boys, even though he was only Vito’s nephew and not actually apart of the ‘Family’ was so strong, he knew those were not just words spoken. He began walking to the nurse’s desk, where he assumed officers waited to arrest him. He was surprised when he saw the short, stocky frame of Detective Santos. Always in his casual attire; he wore nothing but black boots, jeans; a polo top; and his badge around his neck.
“Santos,” Calix solemnly said in greeting. “Calix,” he replied, nudging his head to the side to signal for Calix to follow. They walked a ways from the desk and attentive ears. Santos gave Calix a pointed stare then raised an eyebrow. He knew right away what Santos was protesting to. Calix looked over his shoulder at Nicco, who was close behind them, and signaled for Nicco to give them a moment. When Nicco backed off, the two men began to speak.
“You here to arrest me, Santos?” “Calix, you should know better than that. There’s no warrant for your arrest yet, but you are wanted for questioning.”
“So, you taking me in then?” “No, you’re not here, so I’m going to have to call your attorney and tell him he needs to have you come in. I know you, I know you didn’t do this,
but the evidence is piling up against you. There’s no forced entry, your building only has cameras in the front of the building and lobby since no one is allowed up without approval, so there was no one on video surveillance coming in or out of the building anywhere near the time frame in question. The doctor’s report states that the stab wounds on Anya’s arm were defensive. Tissue samples were scrapped from under her nails. Looking at you, I’m guessing it’s gonna be yours. So far there’s no outside trace found anywhere in the apartment. It’s too early to know for sure, because it’s too soon for tests to be done. There’s a rush on this case, though, seeing how she’s the Senator’s daughter. Your prints aren’t in the system, but they only found one set on the knife. And one guess as to whose they are.”
“Vito thinks I was drugged, so do I. I didn’t hear anything. I remember nothing. When I woke up, I was sick, dazed, and couldn’t walk straight. Marco had me do a blood screening for any sedatives or anesthetic drugs they could test for. I had them done not more than thirty or so minutes after I got here last night.”
“That’s good, chances are whatever was used will still be in your system. Whoever did this probably didn’t think you’d get tested so fast. Might be the only mistake he made. I’ll tell you, though, this was a pro job, a real pro job, every shred of evidence that we normally collect all point to you. This guy knows the system. Everything was timed perfectly from the nine-one-one call to the press leak. You really pissed someone off.”
“I have business rivals, none of which would or could go to this extent. I may be Vito’s nephew, but I got no business with anybody in that circle.”
“What’s Vito doing about all this?”
“He said it was better I didn’t know.” “Listen, I’m gonna head back to the precinct. Get with Marco and come in ASAP. Don’t make me look bad.” He gave Calix a couple quick pats on the back, and then he left. Seeing that Santos left, Nicco walked over. Nicco was the oldest out of the boys, seasoned, I guess you could say, and while the three of them were the most trusted of Vito’s guards. Nicco had been with him the longest. He may carry a bit more weight than the others, which made people under estimate him. Thinking him chubby and slow, but he was the complete opposite. Nicco could gut a man with in seconds.
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