Chapter 4: Secure the Room
Hospital security arrived first, followed by two officers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department who had been notified through channels that did not require the Fergusons’ permission.
I remained standing with Abigail against me while the room was cleared of unnecessary people. Patricia attempted to assert that this was a private family matter. The senior officer listened for exactly as long as protocol required, then informed her that visible injuries and a victim’s statement of assault made it a police matter. Gregory started to speak. I looked at him once. He stopped.
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Nicholas was asked to wait in the corridor. Patricia and Gregory followed under the same instruction. The door closed. Only then did Abigail’s shoulders drop a fraction, the tremor in her hands becoming more visible now that the audience had been removed.
A nurse and a physician completed the preliminary documentation: photographs under consistent lighting, notes on the swollen eye, the split lip, the fingerprint-pattern bruises on both arms, the torn dress. Abigail answered questions in short, exhausted sentences. I did not interrupt. I only kept my hand steady on her shoulder so she would know the perimeter now included me and no longer included them.
