“Hello,” he said in a groggy voice.
“Detective Stanley speaking, your wife has been found. She’s at St. Andrews Hospital.”
“How is she?”
“Please come to the hospital and we’ll talk.”
Tony immediately woke up his in-laws and soon they left for the hospital.
The first person Tony met at the main entrance was Stanley.
“Where is she?”
“In the operating room.”
“What happened to my baby?” Mary burst into tears.
“An early morning jogger found three men and a woman lying unconscious on a bench in a park north of the city.”
At the same time Lisa and Beth, John and Steve’s wives, rushed into the hospital with reporters running behind them. Stanley was already prepared. Some policemen blocked the news people and walked them outside. Two nurses took the two women away. Tony nodded at them as they disappeared around the corner. He has talked to them once or twice during Christmas parties.
“Can we talk alone?” Stanley asked in a low voice.
Tony turned to his in-laws, “Why don’t you two go and sit in the waiting room?”
“It’s very serious,” Stanley said as soon as the in-laws walked away. “According to the doctor, all four were raped, abused and …”
“And?”
“Mutilated.”
“Oh my God!” Tony never knew about the mutilation.
“Mr. Caruso, all these appear like revenge. I still believe that it’s a job orchestrated by a cheated spouse.”
“Detective Stanley, I’m not someone who believes in violence. Had I known that my wife was cheating on me, I would have divorced her on the spot. Maybe you are right, but I’m the wrong tree to bark up.”
“I will ask you not to leave the city. This afternoon or tomorrow we will call you to the station for some questions.” Stanley walked away in search of the two women.
Later a doctor came into the waiting room. “Mr. Caruso?” he asked.
Tony stood up, followed by the in-laws.
“I’m Doctor Stapleton, may I speak with you in private?” Tony followed the doctor to a small office.
“Mr. Caruso, your wife and her friends were found this morning heavily sedated. I understand that they went missing last Saturday evening. From our first observation, they have been extremely abused sexually and tortured. The 3 men had their testicles removed and penises severely sectioned. One of them had his face slit.” He paused for a second. “Your wife had her clitoris cut off and her breast removed.”
“Noooo!”
“And … and all four had their tongues chopped off.”
“It’s the work of a maniac,”
“No, that of a doctor.”
Tony frowned.
“All were professionally done.”
“I don’t know how to tell this to my in-laws.”
“It’s better they learnt it from you than someone else. We also fear that they have caught an STD, maybe HIV. We are running some tests. We will let you know when you are able to see her.”
“The situation is very bad, I don’t have the courage to tell you right now what happened to her.” Tony told Josh once he was back in the waiting room.
“Tony, I’m a grown-up. I’m a war veteran, I’ve seen all types of shit, some you won’t even believe,” Josh said. Tony pulled his father in law to a corner and started from what the police thought about the suspicions of cheating till what happened to the four lovers. Josh stood there shocked and shook his head.