Blood Relatives Read Free

were only three or four blocks from where we lived, we figured we’d wait a few minutes and then go home.
    KLING : Did your cousin live with you, is that it?
    PATRICIA : Yes. She came to live with us when I was thirteen. Her parents got killed in an automobile accident on the turnpike.
    CARELLA : Do you have any brothers or sisters, Patricia?
    PATRICIA : Yes, I have an older brother.
    CARELLA : What’s his name?
    PATRICIA : Andrew Lowery.
    CARELLA : How old is he?
    PATRICIA : Nineteen.
    CARELLA : Does he still live at home?
    PATRICIA : Yes.
    CARELLA : Was he at the party tonight?
    PATRICIA : No, he was working.
    KLING : What kind of work does he do?
    PATRICIA : Well, it’s only part-time. There’s this steak joint on the Stem, they call him when they need help, usually on a Saturday night. I guess if he hadn’t been working, he’d have come to the party with us. And then what happened wouldn’t have happened.
    KLING : Do you want to tell us what happened now?
    PATRICIA : Yes. We were standing in the hallway there, looking out at the rain. I didn’t think it would ever let up. I kept telling Muriel we should just make a run for it, you know, but she didn’t want to ruin her dress. It was coming down in sheets by then, I guess she was right. Still—
    KLING : What time was this?
    PATRICIA : It must’ve been close to eleven.
    CARELLA : Go on.
    PATRICIA : There was nobody on the street, everything was deserted because it was raining so hard. We must’ve stood in the hallway there for at least five minutes without even seeing a car go by. Then—I still don’t know how he got there, he must’ve been in the building all along, maybe, sleeping in one of the empty apartments or something—this man was suddenly there. He just stepped out of the shadows behind us, and he grabbed Muriel by the wrist, and she screamed, or at least she started to scream. But then she saw he had a knife and she shut up even before he told her to shut up. I guess my first reaction was to run, to get away from there. But he was holding the knife on Muriel, and I figured if I did anything like that, hemight hurt her just out of spite. So I stood there. I guess you just figure, in a situation like that, that it isn’t going to get worse, it’s just going to work out someway, somebody’ll come to save you.
    CARELLA : Did you recognize this man? Was he anyone you knew, or anyone you’d seen before?
    PATRICIA : No. He was a perfect stranger.
    CARELLA : Can you describe him to us?
    PATRICIA : Yes. He was a tall man. About as tall as you, I would say. Six-two, or six-three.
    CARELLA : That would make him taller than I am.
    PATRICIA : Well, no, he was about your height. A little huskier, though.
    CARELLA : Was he white or black?
    PATRICIA : White.
    CARELLA : Did you notice what color his hair was?
    PATRICIA : Dark. Either brown or black, but very dark.
    KLING : And his eyes?
    PATRICIA : He had blue eyes.
    KLING : Was he clean-shaven, or did he have a mustache or beard?
    PATRICIA : Clean-shaven.
    CARELLA : What was he wearing?
    PATRICIA : A suit, I think. Or else slacks and a sports jacket, I’m not sure. If it was a sports jacket, it was a solid color. And dark.
    CARELLA : Shirt and tie?
    PATRICIA : No tie.
    CARELLA : Would you recognize him if you saw him again?
    PATRICIA : Yes. There wasn’t any light in the hallway, but there was light from the streetlamp. I’d recognize him. And I’d also recognize his voice.
    KLING : You said he told your cousin to shut up—
    PATRICIA : Yes, that was after she’d stopped screaming already. She screamed when he first came out of the darkness, and then she saw the knife and stopped screaming, but he told her to shut up, anyway.
    KLING : What else did he say?
    PATRICIA : That he wouldn’t hurt us if we did what he told us to do. He was holding Muriel by the wrist, and I was sort of against the opposite wall. He had the knife pointed at Muriel.
    CARELLA : What kind of knife was it?
    PATRICIA : What do you