Her Last Goodbye by Rick Mofina

Author:Rick Mofina
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-11-11T17:26:08+00:00

Forty-Five

Buffalo, New York

Later that morning, Rhonda Baker, a dispatcher at the 911 call center in the Erie County Public Safety Campus in downtown Buffalo, sipped coffee.

Her job was stressful.

Every minute of every shift she faced tragedy, aiding people at the worst moments of their lives—what could be their last moments. The margin for error didn’t exist for her.

But after nearly six years at her job, Baker remained calm and focused. Her meditation exercises had helped her deal with the horrible incidents she’d been through—the heart-wrenching screams and cries for help that haunted her. Baker embraced the fact that today she’d been assigned to handle nonemergency calls.

So far, the calls had concerned a stolen snowblower, a dumpster fire, and, “my drunken idiot neighbor’s dog won’t shut up.”

Sitting before the large computer monitors horseshoed at her workstation, Baker contemplated her upcoming break and getting more coffee when her console lights illuminated, signaling an incoming call.

Key information related to the call appeared on her screen.

“Erie County Call Center. How can I help you?”

“Hi. I’m calling to um—um...” The female caller’s voice trailed to nothing, then she came back. “No, this call’s a mistake. I’m sorry I—”

“Wait. It’s okay. Why don’t you tell me about it?”

Baker read the basic information on her screen. The call was originating from a landline in Cardinal Hill. She had the address and names of the two adult residents, Laila Price and Darrell Price.

“I don’t know if I can. This is hard. Maybe it’s nothing.”

Baker absorbed the caller’s tone, her emotion, her hesitation.

“Sometimes it helps to talk to someone to sort things out, right?”

“Um, right.”

“Listen, my name’s Rhonda. Let’s start with you telling me your name, all right?” Baker needed to verify the caller’s identity.

Dropping her voice, the caller said, “Laila.”

“Thanks, Laila, and your last name?”

“Do you need it?”

“It helps me.”

“Price.”

“Good. I just need a few more little things.” Baker’s keyboard clicked softly as she worked, verifying Laila’s address and phone number then continuing. “Laila, I need to ask you some questions and I need you to answer yes or no. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes.”

Baker glanced at her screen. The police, medical, and fire agencies that served the caller’s location were there. If she needed to send police, it would be District 2 deputies.

“Are you under any threat by someone in your residence right now?”

“No.”

“Do you require any assistance from fire, police, or paramedics right now?”

“No.”

“Are you safe right now?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Thank you, Laila. Please, tell me why you made this call.”

Baker heard Laila swallow a breath, then let it out as her voice cracked.

“Oh, I’m going to sound foolish.”

“You won’t, I promise.”

“I’m also a little scared because I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”

“Don’t be afraid. You’re brave to call, just let me know what it is and I can take it from there. Maybe all you need is to talk to someone, Laila.”

Laila took a breath.

“It started when our cable and internet went out in our house...”

Laila recounted every detail to Baker concerning the cable guy, what he did with her underwear and how he made her feel.

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