Laura's Illusion

Chapter 4 - The Line Up

Weeks passed before she thought about that 

night again. Laura attempted to completely erase 

the experience out of her mind. Tom was amazingly 

attractive and he was taken so she just needed to 

get over it and move on. She stopped riding the light

rail and started driving the freeway commute down-

town. Killing her budget for gas and parking but she 

thought, "Hey, better than being dead." Brooke had 

been her first call the night of the attack. Brooke had 

been there for her and helped her cope. Random crime 

and violence happens in a big city and that is just 

something she has to keep in mind and stay alert. She

tried not to think about Tom and his girlfriend. That visual 

had been worse than her actual hand injury; that was a 

knife to her heart, a direct hit. When she arrived home that 

evening she found a message from the police station. They 

have three of the five in custody they believed but needed 

her to come down to identify them. She felt her pulse race 

as her heart beat faster. The thought of seeing them again 

freaked her out. She called Brooke to see if she would go with 

her, couldn't get a hold of her. She called the police station 

and said she was uncomfortable with doing an id because she

just wanted to put it behind her. They assured Laura the 

suspects would not see her, she would only see them. 

They needed her to confirm so they could charge them with

the assault and robbery. If not, the hoodlums could go free 

to do it again. She said to the officer, "I wasn't the only one

there. What about the other guy." The officer said yes we 

have called him too but we need all victims to id these 

guys. The thought of potentially seeing Tom again made 

the idea of going down to the station slightly more bearable.

She arrived at the station there was a lot going on people 

in and out. She went to the front desk to tell them who she

was and why she was there. The officer was older and his 

hard eyes softened when she saw her, he said "Just a minute..." 

as he grabbed some paperwork then added "follow me" she

followed the officer back to a room towards the rear. As she 

entered through the doorway there he sat, there was Tom. 

He had trimmed his hair some and was wearing a black leather 

slimming jacket. A motorcycle helmet was on the table next to