“I…” Anita was silent for a moment, trying to find the words to
describe her feelings. “There’s a few things, I guess, but the biggest thing is
that no one seemed to have noticed the man who saved me at the scene. Surely,
they thought I was dead in the middle of the street. How could I not get hit
and have no one think twice about it?” she shook her head, frustrated, but said
nothing else.
“Yes… I agree.
That’s most unusual,” Martin said. As time went on and she told him more, he
became a bit more interested in her story. He had always listened well enough
to derive facts from words and decide whether or not it may be relevant to his
case. But now he was also listening to learn more about her, and what had
happened.
Everything she said, and what he deduced from it, was stored in
some part of his mind for future reference. Even if it had nothing to do with
his case. At this point he was wondering what had actually happened, but he
knew that he didn’t have to ask; she would tell him on her own accord in due
time.
“How far from here did it happen?” he asked.
“Just up ahead.”
Neither of them spoke for the next bit of their journey. They
passed through a crowd that was noisy around them despite their silence. Finally,
they reached the end of the block, and Anita moved them off to a side so as to
not disrupt the flow of people. She stared down at the kerb, her eyes glazing
over in remembrance.
“It was right here,” she said. Martin recognized the pause she
made; it was one necessary in order to hide the imminent cracking in her voice.
“This is where we landed when he pushed me out of the way.”
She left the rest up to Martin, keeping her distance while giving
him to freedom to examine the location to his heart’s content. Though she was
not there to interfere with his work, the many other pedestrians were. None
were impressed when he crouched by the edge, in the middle of the pathway,
doing something deemed unimportant. He’d only been crouched for a minute, and
he was sure he’d already heard every insult possible thrown his way.
Anita was still within earshot, so she continued to speak. She
knew that the more she told him, the better chances there maybe of finding the
man who saved her. “We both came from the other side of the street. Though the
time between when I saw the oncoming vehicle and when I realized I was lying on
the side of the road was brief, I don’t remember what happened.
I didn’t see the man come for me and I didn’t feel him push me
away. And After he left, I discovered this tag," she reached into her
purse and pulled out the silver tag, which was attached to a hunk of leather
from Joseph's coat. "He was wearing a leather jacket at the time. I think
it's possible that it got torn from his coat during the incident. While I doubt
it's of any real use... but here it is."
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