by Vi Carter
“Everyone always wants more,” I say my eyes snapping to my broken phone.
The other guy reaches me and I move back out of his way, causing the stones to bite into me painfully.
“Look you two freaks; fuck off now before I start screaming.” My voice rises. The cars that move past us are going at high speed, the noise drowning out my voice. Their grins tell me they know that no one will hear me. I dash to the left; fingers grip my hair painfully whipping me back. My reaction is immediate, I start swinging, my fist connects with blondies jaw the same time that the other guy takes a swing at me. I can’t avoid it and the impact is worse than I remember. It’s been a while since I’ve taken a hit. My ears ring and my heart slams painfully against my rib cage. It’s like waiting for a gun to fire and when it does, it either makes you freeze or move. My fist collides with him over and over again until I’m dragged backwards.
“Stay the fuck down.” Blondie tells me before his foot connects with my stomach. I gasp for air as he walks away from me and picks up his friend while dragging him to the car. Loose pebbles burn into my palms as I push myself off the ground. The air is still thin as I try to catch my breath. My broken phone is beside me. I pick it up along with some loose stones and fire them at the car, glass shatters and blondie ducks for cover. I don’t stop but keep picking up whatever is accessible to me. I’m down to just pebbles but I continue to fire them at his car. Small scrapes and dents are visible and it feels like victory, that is until security comes running down the hill and out the front gates of the hotel towards us. My first reaction is relief until they reach me.
Hysterical girlish screams tear from Blondie’s mouth. “She jumped us and beat up my friend.”
“They attacked me first. They waited for me outside.” I’m touching my face that seems to ache even more now. My hands tremble, shock is starting to settle in.
“She vandalized my car,” Blondie roars as he holds his phone to his ear.
“Everyone needs to calm down.” The security man holds out a hand towards each of us.
I am calm as I gather my bag off the ground. The ringtone is loud as Blondie rings the Gardai. While he’s occupied I get my phone off his front seat. I’m surprised when it switches on. The screen is cracked, but it still works. The other security man moves around the car. Moan’s erupt from behind the car as Blondie’s friend starts to sit up. Cars slow down catching glimpses of the commotion.
It doesn’t take long for the Gardai to arrive. The moment they arrive Blondie is on them like a fly on shit.
“You need to arrest her…” He’s pointing an accusing finger at me.
I stand hunkered clutching my bag, hoping the hole ‘little old me’ part comes across and that the Gardai don’t arrest me.
“Calm down and give us a moment.” They approach the security man first. To see if they saw anything. But they hadn’t.
“You want to tell me what happened?” I’m asked next.
Blondie throws a wobbler. “She attacked us.” He roars.
“You need to calm down.” I can’t hide the small smile of victory I feel as the Gardai speaks to Blondie.
“Look at my car.”
“Sir last time, if you don’t stop, we will take you all down to the station.”
My smile is gone now. “You can take his statement first,” I say quickly, just wanting this to end.
“She broke my nose.” The other guy moves around the car, his face a mess. Blood drips from a cut on his lip. I don’t remember getting his mouth. I was just hitting out blindly.
“Last time, I’m taking her statement first.” The Gardai gives everyone a final look and when no one says anymore he turns to me.
“I work in the hotel.” I keep my voice low, quivering. It’s not that I’m lying but I need him to believe me. “I was serving these two gentlemen, when I turned down an advance this one slapped me on the behind-” I point to the asshole who did it. “-I ignored it and continued working until he did it again. The second time, he hurt me.”
“She’s a fucking liar. She was coming on to me.”
“Okay arrest them all.” The Gardai pockets his small notepad.
My heart slams heavily against my chest. “No, I didn’t do anything.”
The two men are handcuffed and placed into the back of the car. The click of the cuffs on my wrists is familiar. I hate it.
“You can’t put me in the back with them.” I’m protesting my soft voice gone.
The Gardai ignores me and makes me bend my head as I’m placed in the back of the squad car.
We don’t speak as we are driven to Navan Gardai station. The heat in the car has carved a path down my spine.
“I don’t understand why I’m being arrested.” I lean forward as I speak to the Gardai.
“Assaulting people, destroying their property.” Blondie barks beside me.
If my hands weren’t cuffed, I’d elbow him in the face. The Gardai don’t answer me and I sit back.
***
Thankfully we are separated once we enter the station. The room I’m taken to is small. The Gardai that had arrested me is the one who removes my cuffs and sits down with a clipboard. I rub my wrists more out of something to do. They aren’t really sore but the bonds aren’t normal.
As the Gardai looks at his clipboard, I observe him. He has a day’s old stubble on his face, some hairs a soft grey coloring. He’s only in his forties, but the grey doesn’t look bad on him, it doesn’t age him. Blue eyes flicker to mine.
“Your full name?”
“Ciara Marie Michaels.” I say clearly and I’m also very aware of the softness of my voice. He writes my name down but I don’t like his furrowed brows. His eyes snap up to me and he looks at me differently now.
“We spoke on the phone today.”
That’s why his voice was so familiar. I couldn’t pinpoint it earlier. “Did we?” I ask with a smile and tilt my head.
“Yes we did. Darragh O’Reagan rang you to bail him out.” I sit back in my chair, my pretend smile gone.
“Look I barely know him. I work for his brother…” Something was telling me that I was digging a huge hole for myself. The Gardai sits up straighter with interest.
“Which brother?”
“Liam O’Reagan. I thought I was being questioned about what happened today.”
“I ask the questions not you. So what exactly do you do for Liam O’Reagan?” The Gardai sits forward in his chair. There is eagerness in his stance.
“I’m a cleaner. I clean hotel rooms,” I say it slowly and I get a sense of comfort when the Gardai deflates. His eyes scan the form in front of him.
“How do you know Darragh?”
I want to ask if this is necessary but I answer the question. “He works with me.”
A look of disbelief stretches across his face. “Darragh O’Reagan cleans hotel rooms?”
I don’t know these people but even I know how doubtful this all looks. “It’s the truth.”
“Okay, you want to tell me what happened?”
Finally. I tell him exactly what happened from start to finish but as I get to the fighting outside it all starts to sound sketchy. Like how I managed to fight off two men. Knock one out and wreck a car. I’m small so I could see in his eyes it wasn’t adding up.
“That’s the truth.” I finish up with.
“Just like Darragh O’Reagan cleans hotel rooms.” His eyes narrow slightly.
I want to say something smart but I fold my arms across my chest and look away. This was all starting to look and sound pointless. The Gardai leaves and I try not to stare at the two-way mirror behind me. I hate the idea that someone is watching me. I wait for fifteen minutes and when no one returns I can’t sit still any longer. My mind won’t allow me to pause on what will happen if they don’t believe me. I face the mirror. The left side of my face is swollen and my shirt that was already revealing enough is missing three buttons. Great. I look like a slapper. I untie my blue hair that’s falling
out of its bobbin and retie it again. Walking closer to the mirror I’m staring at myself. Blue eyes nearly the same blue as my hair stare back at me. Cupping my face with my hands I try to look through but it’s not possible. I sit back down and wait. I’m not sure how much time passes when the door finally opens. This time two Gardai step in, both of them sit down, not speaking.
“I’m Gardai Bernard Brady.” This new Gardai gives me half a smile. While the other one who had questioned me focuses on the stupid clipboard.
“Can I go now?” I fold my arms across my chest trying to cover myself.
“We just have a few more questions.”
I let out a heavy exhale. “I’m tired and injured. I’m the victim in all of this.”
My words cause Gardai Brady to grin. “They look far worse than you.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m not the victim.” I’m not fucking smiling.
His grin disappears quickly. “You said the car approached you outside the hotel grounds?”
I nod.
“You need to speak.”
“Yes that is correct.” I say slowly.
“What were you doing walking along the road?”
“My car is broken, so I rang a taxi.”
“Who swung first?”
“Blondie,” I say.
“He swung at you first?” The question is said slower now.
“No he pulled my hair, and I swung.” I answer.
“So you swung first.”
“In self-defense.” I’m looking from one to the other trying to make sense of this.
“Ciara just answer our questions. When you smashed the car where were the men?”
“Behind it,” I say it low in hopes it goes unnoticed.
“So they weren’t threatening you then?”
I’m shaking my head. They were twisting my words.
“Just answer the question Miss Michaels.”
“No they were cowering behind it.” I answer.
“See this isn’t looking so good for you.” Clipboard guy finally looks up.
“Why’s that?”
“Their stories match. Both claim you attacked them and then they hid behind the car that you continued to smash up.”
I’m rolling my eyes now. “They’re full of shit.”
He nods and stares down at the clipboard.
Gardai Brady takes over. “You are looking at an assault charge.”
My pulse flickers in my neck and the air grows thin. The silence in the room isn’t helping. Both of them watch me.
“But…” Hope blossoms and it feels cruel. “If you help us with something, this can all go away.”
“Help you with what?”
“Liam O’Reagan. We believe that everything he does isn’t above board. So if you give us some information this will be reduced to a minor assault and then it will disappear.”
Running the brothel wasn’t above board, but I was not going to be the one to reveal that to the Gardai.
“He uses really cheap soap in his hotel rooms…” I trail off.
Gardai Brady sits up sharply. “This isn’t a game.”
“No it’s not. It’s my life. I clean hotel rooms. That’s it. I don’t know what you want me to tell you. I get a pay slip, lunch breaks and everything is normal.”
They are both getting up and my heart hammers against my ribcage. I want to scream for them to come back. But I try to sit still as they leave the room. The breath that leaves me is shaky. What have I gotten myself into? I should have just gone right back to the hotel.
It takes them another hour before they return and I’m feeling like a caged animal at this stage.
“You get to make a phone call to get someone to bail you out.”
I’m staring at Gardai Brady. Someone has to bail me out? This was a cluster fuck. I had no one to ring, my eyes burn. “I need my phone.”
“You can use the stations.”
“What, does the station have all my contacts?” I ask.
Gardai Brady narrows his eyes and he opens the door further. “This way.”
I follow him down a small hall before coming out to the front desk. He gets my phone out of an evidence bag. I scroll through it as my mouth waters. I have no one to ring. My heart is fluttering in my chest as my eyes continue to burn.
“Problem?” The Gardai asks, and it sounds smug.
“Nope.” I pick up their receiver and dial quickly before I change my mind.
“Hi, I’m in Navan station and need you to come get me.”
His laugh is deep. “You’re joking.”
I take a quick glance at Gardai Brady who watches me closely. “No. I wouldn’t ring you if I had another option.”
“Ah, so I ring you to bail me out and you didn’t come and get me, instead you told Liam and now you want me to come and get you.”
It wasn’t worth groveling for. They couldn’t keep me here forever.
“Fine. Forget about it.” I bark and slam the phone down.
“You need to return me to the room no one is coming for me.”
With a raised eyebrow he takes me by the elbow and leads me back to the room.
“What am I being charged with?” I ask.
“Aggravated battery.”
“What does that mean?”
“You could be looking at jail time.” He moves to close the door but I can’t be left here with my thoughts.
“How long?”
“Anything from 3 to 264 days.” He closes the door my sentence still undecided. I sit down and try to wrap my head around this. Instead the tears come and they don’t stop. I’m still crying when the door opens a while later.
“You’ve made bail.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
DARRAGH
“We hear you’re working in a hotel.” I’m signing my name to get Ciara out. After she slammed the phone down on me, I couldn’t just leave her. Liam was going to be pissed that I skipped out on work, but fuck it. I just couldn’t leave her here.
“Yep.” I’m handing him back his pen. Tom takes it but I hold it firm and his grin slips.
“I hear your daughter’s fit.” I release the pen and he doesn’t stumble back like I’d hoped he would.
“Don’t make me arrest you.” His warning means fuck all.
I give a quick laugh that has his nostrils flaring.
“Stay here.” He moves around the desk to get Ciara. It was nice being the one bailing someone out, it was always me being bailed out. The sound of footsteps has me turning back around as Tom arrives back with a very upset Ciara, the left side of her face is swollen, her clothes are dirty, and her shirt is missing a decent number of buttons. The puffy red eyes have me looking at Tom.
“What did you do?” I’m taking a step towards him. Ciara crying didn’t seem possible.
“We arrested her for aggravated battery.” His bullshit words have me looking at Ciara who gathers her belongings.
“Are you okay?” I focus on her.
She looks at me and I’m glad when she holds my stare. She nods.
“You’ll get a notice in a few days for your court date for sentencing.” Tom informs Ciara and he sounds so fucking smug.
I’m ready to hit him as I watch Ciara tighten and stiffen.
“We’ll see about that,” I say before wrapping an arm around Ciara. She lets me and that seems even worse. Every other time I touched her she reacted badly.
“Look don’t worry about it, we’ll sort it,” I say while opening the car door for her. Once she’s in, I look back at the station. Three of the Gardai are out front staring at us. I hate how they smile, like they have somehow discovered my weakness. I wouldn’t let Ciara pay for my crimes. I give them a grin and a finger before getting into my Audi and tearing out of Navan. I can see the dust in the mirror.
“You got to say something Ciara.” I light up a fag as I hold the steering wheel with my legs.
“Thanks for bailing me out.”
I take a quick look at her as I
take the steering wheel back in my hands. She’s staring out the window.
“You want to tell me what happened?” Rolling down the window I blow out the smoke.
“It wasn’t my fault.”
When I look at her this time, she’s staring at me. Her blue eyes are no longer sparkling like they had been back in the station, now they burn with anger and that makes my shoulders relax.
“They waited for me outside the hotel. I was walking along the road…”
“Wait, why were you walking on the road?”
Ciara shifts and faces me more, when I glance at her all I see is boobs. Her shirt has really taken a beating.
“My car broke down, so I rang a taxi.”
“You should have rung me,” I say but once the words leave my mouth, I know how stupid they sound.
"What, you're running a taxi service as well as a cleaning one?"
I don’t answer her as I inhale deeply and blow smoke around the car instead of out the window.
She clears her throat. “Anyway they cornered me, blondie pulled my hair, and they were going to hurt me so I reacted.”
I’m grinning, I shouldn’t be but her reacting is something I wish I saw. “Look, let’s get the footage from the hotel.”
“They have cameras outside the grounds?” Hope fills her words.
“Yeah, I’m heading that way anyway so may as well kill two birds with one stone. I was working and Liam’s been ringing non- stop.”
We are close to the hotel now, throwing the fag out, I roll up the window and take another peek at Ciara.
“We need to get you a top Ciara.”
At my words she clutches her chest.
Pulling into the carpark has me feeling slightly apprehensive. Liam won’t be happy.
“You shouldn’t have left work.” Ciara speaks when I knock the car off.
“What and have left you in a cell?”
Her cheeks turn red. “I’m sorry I left you.”
Taking out the keys I unbuckle my belt. “I know you couldn’t leave.”
Ciara stares back at the hotel and as I study her side profile, I can see how scared she really is.