A police officer rode to the hospital with the doctor. He asked questions and took notes. The doctor was able to tell him little. He was pretty sure there were two people. The three of them struggled in the kitchen when he came in from the garage. They put something over his nose and he fell unconscious. He mentioned the pen and the person crying out.

“Then one of them may be injured?”

“Not seriously. With something that blunt I didn’t have enough force to penetrate the chest wall. If I did any damage it is a flesh wound.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m a surgeon. I know what it takes to penetrate flesh and muscle.”

“Oh.”

“One more thing. The cry. It sounded almost female. But I was passing out so that is may be wrong. The person seemed so strong.”

At the office Joyce transcribed each of the messages from Dr. Davis’ tape recorder. When she got to the last one she was amazed. It started with a struggle of some sort. Someone cried out, obviously in pain. Then a man started talking. “He’s out. Let’s get him up in his bed.”

“Let him on the floor. Give me a minute. My tits hurt. Shit. He stuck me with a pen. I’m bleeding bad. Help me. Open my kit. Help me get my blouse off.”

“God. Your bra is bloody. What did he do?”

“A damn pen. He ripped a big hole in my left tit. The pen went in and he pulled it, It hurt like hell but I didn’t think it was this bad. I have a tear in the skin over two inches long. Shit. This is deep. It is going to take stitches. I don’t think I can sew up myself. I could do it but I can’t see it well enough where it is. Crap. He really got me. It is deep. God, he raked me with it. There is a hole in the right one too. I have to get this bleeding stopped so we can get him taken care of.”

“You need a doctor.”

“Want to wake him and have him fix it? You have to fix it. Give me a two inch pad.” There was a pause. “No. That’s not big enough. Give me a three. I’ll hold it on, tape it down tight. Take the tape around my back and pull it tight, I need to stop the bleeding.”