When the first Mohave County deputy showed up at the crime scene, it was immediately clear to everyone that they were in for a very long night. An ambulance was summoned to take Barry Handraker to the hospital in Bullhead City to be checked out for a possible concussion; he went in handcuffs and under a police guard.
While homicide detectives were being summoned to the scene from Kingman, some forty miles away, yet another ambulance was sent on Ali’s behalf. The EMT who examined the cuts and scratches on her bloody feet urged a trip to the ER for her, too. Ali tried to object, but she was overruled by B. and Leland acting in accord.
“You’re going, and I’m going,” B. said in a tone that brooked no objection. “Leland can stay here and talk to the cops. I’ve already talked to the helicopter pilot. I’m sending him back to pick up Dave Holman. It would take him three hours to drive. This is his case. We need him here sooner than three hours.”
Once they reached the ER, they were in for an almost two-hour wait before they could see the doctor. Ali used the time to call home. First she told the story-as much of it as she could remember-to Chris and Athena. Then she had to turn around and repeat the whole thing to her parents. Chris and Athena generally told her, “Way to go!” Her parents fussed and fumed and said they wished she wouldn’t keep putting herself in danger.
When the ER doctor finally showed up, she examined and disinfected the cuts on Ali’s feet and arms. X-rays revealed several slivers of glass that had to be removed before the wounds could be covered with a liquid bandage and then wrapped with gauze. Once Ali’s feet were swathed in an outside layer of elastic bandage, it was time for the obligatory tetanus shot.
“I want a blood draw,” Ali insisted. “They gave me something-blew a powder of some kind into my face-and I want to know what it was. I’ll bet if they send a CSI team back to Gemma’s house, they’ll find traces of the same thing.”
The doctor looked askance at the request but nodded. “Okay,” she said. “You’re the boss.”
While Ali was hanging around in the ER, B. had arranged to rent a car, which was waiting outside when Ali, barefoot except for the bandages, was wheeled out of the building. She was grateful when B., seemingly effortlessly, picked her up and deposited her in the passenger seat.
“I also rented a hotel room at the Lake Mohave Resort,” he explained. “I tried Laughlin, but they didn’t have any rooms available. We can’t go to the hotel just yet. First we need to visit the sheriff substation so you can talk to the detectives and answer some questions. By the way, about the phone Leland gave you, the one we supposedly used to find you?”
“You mean the phone that’s currently in my bra?” Ali asked with a smile. “I’m pretty sure Barry and Molly Handraker thought I was only a one-phone girl. They missed that one completely.”
“Thanks,” B. said. “Stuart pulled out all the stops to find you, most of which could land all of us in very hot water. We’re saying we found you using your device location from iCloud. If the phone’s in your pocket when the detective asks about it, they probably won’t give it a second thought. They’ll assume it was with you the whole time.”
“This sounds like a variation on ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Ali observed.
B. nodded. “With the added advantage that none of us gets caught lying to a police officer.”