POV: Emilia Conti
The call came just after dawn.
Not encrypted. Not anonymous. Local.
That alone made my stomach drop.
"Dr. Conti?" the voice asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"This is Officer Patel with Midtown North," he said carefully. "We need you to confirm something."
My chest tightened. "Confirm what?"
"There's been an incident," he said. "A bystander was injured last night during a robbery gone wrong."
I closed my eyes. "Why are you calling me?"
"Because," he continued, "your name came up."
Silence stretched.
"How?" I asked.
"The victim is a nurse," he said. "Work nights. Same hospital you were suspended from."
Cold spread through me.
"What happened?" I asked.
"She was caught in the crossfire," he replied. "Non-fatal, but serious."
"And my name?" I pressed.
"She told responding officers she'd recently been questioned about you," he said. "By men who weren't police."
The room suddenly felt too small.
"Is she conscious?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied. "But shaken."
