Page 2 of Isla by Any Other Name

“Stay on the line with me. I’ve dispatched someone to your location. Don’t answer the door until the officer has identified himself. Can you give me any more details while we wait?”

“I—uh.” Isla tried to even out her breath. She was trained for this level of stress. She tried again, “I thought Jim was hurt. Sometimes he works late into the night, so I went in to check. There were two men that I know of. One was a tall man dressed in a dark suit and another guy was standing behind Jim with a gun in his hand. He shot Jim in the head. I turned and ran, and they chased me. I could hear someone running after me. I’m…scared.”

“They’re on their way, just stay with me.”

The intercom buzzed. Isla felt dread and relief at the same time. “I think they’re here. Stay with me, please.”

A voice came through the intercom. “This is Detective Anders. Is this Isla Pierce?”

“He says his name is Anders,” Isla said to the dispatcher.

“That’s right,” the dispatcher said kindly. “Open the door for him.”

She buzzed to open the door downstairs. “Detective Anders, come on up.” She stood at the open door waiting for him to climb the three flights of stairs.

Finally, two large men rounded the corner into the hall. “Miss Pierce?”

“Yes, I’m Isla Pierce.” As she said her own name, tears filled her eyes.

“Miss Pierce, I’m Detective Anders,” he said. His brown suit was rumpled, matching the wrinkles under his eyes. “Let’s go inside your apartment. We can talk there.”

She stood aside as they walked in. They looked huge in her tiny apartment. She was trembling. She’d seen a lot as an ER nurse, but what she’d just witnessed would be embedded in her brain forever. She wanted to throw up.

Detective Anders pointed to the other man, who looked tall, lean, and much younger. Fresh-faced on the police force. “This is Detective Barton, my partner. Ms. Pierce, can you tell us what happened?”

Isla repeated the same sequence of events she had told the 911 dispatcher. Her trembling just seemed to be getting worse.

“Ms. Pierce, we’d like to take you down to the station to take your statement. Hopefully you can identify the men that you saw at the garage.”

“Sure, I’ll try. I got a good look at the two of them. Anything I can do so you can catch these guys. Jim was a nice guy. He fixed my car once and didn’t even charge me.”

“The sooner we get you down to the station the sooner we can identify the suspects. Let’s go.” Detective Anders led her down the stairs and into his car.

She could hear the sirens screeching and saw lights flashing down the block. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Her mind was numb with fear. They’d seen her face and she knew that they would continue to look for her. Just as her post-divorce, new-career life was becoming normal. God only knew what she’d gotten herself into.

Down at the station, Detective Anders and Detective Barton led her into an empty room. “Ms. Pierce, can I get you anything? A cup of coffee or a can of soda? Water?”

Isla’s throat was still tight. “Thank you, Detective Barton. A bottle of water would be nice.”

“Water it is,” said Detective Barton.

“Ms. Pierce, can you write down what you saw? Even the smallest detail. Anything you can remember—even if you don’t think it’s important,” he said. He handed her a piece of paper.

Isla’s hand shook as she held a pen. “I’ll write down what I remember, but I just want you to know right now my mind is feeling a bit…numb. This can’t…be happening to me.” The dam had finally broken as tears streamed down her face. “I feel sick. Can I please go to the ladies’ room?”

“Of course. It’s down the hall to your left. Are you okay?”

“I think so, just shocked.” A sick laugh escaped her lips. “I’m an ER nurse at UPMC. You’d think I’d be tougher.”

“Tough has nothing to do with it, ma’am,” said the detective with kind eyes. “What you saw tonight would upset anybody, even me. And I’ve seen more than I’d like to share.”

Isla went into the restroom and splashed cold water on her face. A haunted woman looked back at her from the bathroom mirror. Her stomach heaved as she ran into the stall and upchucked her evening dinner. Her head felt like it was going to explode. So much for a nice hot soak and a glass of wine. Her life had just gotten extremely complicated.

After writing down her statement, the next step was to go through a series of mug shots to see if she could identify the men in the garage. Isla flipped through screen after screen for three hours, her head throbbing.

Finally, she found what she’d been looking for. She called Detective Anders over. “Him!” She pointed. “I’ll never forget that face. The piercing hazel eyes. The mole over his lip.”

Detective Anders turned the screen and looked at Detective Barton with a smile. “We’ve got him.” He pulled the keyboard over to himself and typed for a few seconds. Swinging the screen back to Isla, he said, “Is this the other man you saw?”