Page 83 of The Situation Ship
“Put your hands up,” an officer barked at her.
“I can’t,” she said, only raising one. “I’ve got a knife in my shoulder.”
The officer held one arm behind her back and stood her up. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying out in pain, staring back at Davide’s lifeless body as they walked her out of the engineering room. Paramedics were checking his pulse, but it was too late. They were wasting their time.
Given her injury, she didn’t need an escort, but she was grateful not to be cuffed. The pain was bad enough.
“It was self-defence,” she told them as they left the ship, though the officers were focused more on getting her outside than on listening to her excuses. She could feel the blood dripping down her arm to her hand. “Davide attacked Mina, andhe would’ve killed me.” She would follow Sophia’s plan for now. She was going to end this on her own terms.
On the dock, she spotted Isaiah waiting with Captain Hamill and felt a rush of relief. Adrenaline was the only thing stopping her from passing out.
Isaiah hurried towards them, but the officers got in his way. “She isn’t a suspect. You need to release her,” Isaiah yelled.
“She shot a man,” the officer said bluntly. “We’re taking her to the paramedics so she can be attended to. You can accompany her, sir, but we have questions for her and footage to review before determining whether it was self-defence.”
“They’re doing their job. Just come with me to get this fucking thing out of me,” Poppy begged, not wanting to bleed to death because they were arguing. She looked for Sophia in the crowd, sure she would want to see her handiwork, but the sudden burst of agony as the officer helped her into the back of the ambulance made her forget everything else.
She sat on the stretcher while they examined the wound. In the breeze coming through the doors, she could feel how much she was sweating, the adrenaline working its way out of her system. Instinctively, she reached for Isaiah’s hand, needing to feel grounded.
“Can you please remove it?” she asked the paramedic, whose nametag read ‘Susana’, as she hooked her up to a blood pressure monitor. The officers didn’t leave the doors, making it clear she couldn’t leave.
“We should really get you to a hospital. We need to X-ray the area,” the paramedic said, looking to Isaiah to back her up.
“No hospitals. Please, I want it out. Just remove it and stitch me up,” Poppy ordered, grateful that Isaiah didn’t butt in or try to force her. She didn’t want to lure Sophia to the hospital where Mina was.
The paramedics argued in Italian before conceding.
“It doesn’t seem to be in too deep. We can try, but you need to sign a waiver,” one of them said, filling a syringe. “Something for the pain.”
The other paramedic handed Poppy a clipboard, and she scribbled her signature as they injected her shoulder. The sting wasn’t nearly as painful as being stabbed. She doubted anything would be in the future.
Isaiah watched them like a hawk as they padded the area with gauze before removing the knife. Even with the painkillers, the pain blinded her, and she squeezed Isaiah’s hand so tight she was sure she broke a bone or two.
“How’s Mina?” she asked, trying to distract herself as they cleaned the wound and started on the sutures.
“She’s in the hospital having surgery. We’ll know more in a few hours,” Isaiah said. “Don’t you want to go and see her when she comes out?”
“No,” Poppy said, a little too quickly, and Isaiah looked alarmed. “Sorry– the pain.” Her reason was pathetic, but his brow relaxed as he accepted the excuse. “She’ll need rest, and seeing me might stress her out. We’ll go when she’s out of danger and recovering.”
An officer appeared asking for the evidence – the knife. He held out an evidence bag, and one paramedic handed it over while the other kept pressure on the wound and gave her something to help with the bleeding.
“Captain Hamill helped us examine tonight’s surveillance footage, confirming that Davide was the one who attacked Mina and pulled the knife on Poppy. We’ll still need to take your account, so you can’t leave the country until we finish the investigation.”
“We’ve given you some antibiotics and something for the pain, but you’ll need to go to the hospital or see a doctor soonto make sure you don’t develop an infection. This is only a temporary fix,” the paramedic cautioned, securing the bandage.
“I promise. Can I go?” Poppy was sure Sophia wasn’t going to let her go far.
“Where are you going to be staying?” the officer asked. “We’ll need to be able to find you.”
“I don’t know.” Poppy looked to Isaiah.
“They can stay with us,” Phoebe said, appearing with Axel.
Amid the pain, Poppy felt terrible at having ruined Phoebe’s night. She had so much to celebrate, yet here she was, bailing them out at the scene of a murder.
“How did you get past the tape?” Isaiah asked as Axel hugged his friend.
“Told one of the officers we had important information. I found the waiter who gave me the note that I think sent Poppy here, but they were paid one hundred euro to pass it along by a woman wearing a hood, and they didn’t get a look at her face, or a name. We tried to ask for cameras, but there weren’t any in the staff smoking area where they were approached,” Phoebe said, looking at the officer guiltily. “Sorry, I can’t help we’re their friends, and they’ll be coming home with us if they’re free to leave.”
