CHAPTER 2: THE NEIGHBOR'S DISCOVERY
Evelyn Gable, an eighty-two-year-old retired nurse living across the quiet cul-de-sac, adjusted her thick glasses as she pulled her quilted bathrobe tighter against the midnight chill.
Hearing a faint, scratchy sound echoing from her front porch, she shuffled toward the heavy oak door, gripping her wooden walking cane like a weapon of last resort.
When she pulled the door open and peered down into the illuminated darkness, her breath caught in her throat at the horrifying spectacle sprawled across her wet concrete step.
A human form lay motionless in the mud and rain, drenched to the bone, with torn clothing, bleeding arms, and a face bruised into unrecognizable shades of purple and black.
Recognizing the battered woman immediately as Victoria, the brilliant Wall Street analyst trapped in the neighboring Carter household, Evelyn dropped to her knees despite her creaking joints.
Pressing trembling fingers against Victoria’s icy neck, she wept with relief upon feeling a faint, thready pulse beating against her fingertips.
Evelyn scrambled backward inside, dialed 911 with shaking hands, and screamed into the receiver for an emergency ambulance and police dispatch to the affluent Northern Virginia suburb.
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Within minutes, the wailing sirens of Fairfax County emergency vehicles sliced through the stormy night, painting the wet asphalt in frantic flashes of crimson and blue.
Paramedics rushed onto the porch with a trauma gurney, wrapping Victoria in warm thermal blankets while whispering urgent assessments into their portable radio transmitters.
