Letting You Go (Stone Lake 1)

“You’re free, boy.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious. Right now, as we speak, all charges against you are being dropped. I even saw to it myself that the prosecutor compiled the proper papers and hand delivered them to the judge.”

“I… you’re… You mean it?”

“Yep. Most days my job sucks, this is a win for the good guys. You’re free, Gavin.”

“How?” I ask, still afraid to believe it.

“Luna Marshall.”

“Luna? Do you know Luna?”

“I met her a week ago. She’s a brave young woman.”

“Luna was here? I don’t understand. How could she get the charges dismissed?”

“She signed a statement and gave private testimony to the judge that you were with her the night of the murder.”

“How is that different than what I’ve been telling everyone?”

“You never gave a name, son. I asked you to, and you refused.”

“Luna didn’t need to be drawn into this mess. I had people who had to agree that I was at the prom, though.”

“Yeah, but so was Jules. Luna’s testimony was different.”

“Why’s that?”

“She gave details, that included places you stopped when you left the prom. It took us a week to check out her story, but we did it. Once the judge saw videotape of you at the gas station and later on the security camera of a local dairy bar, showing you were clearly with Luna at the time of the murder…”

Detective Dern shrugs his shoulders, leaving me to draw my own conclusion.

“Where’s Luna at now?”

“Right now? I’d assume at school or locked up at her parents’ home. I don’t think Mr. and Mrs. Marshall are big fans of yours, son.”

“Do you blame them?”

“They’re just trying to protect their daughter. I have a suspicion that if I had a daughter, I’d be the same way.”

“You don’t have kids?”

“Don’t even have a wife. Tried once, but she said I was more married to the job and not to her. I reckon she was right. It’s hard to have a family in this line of work, son. That might be something you want to think about, if you’re serious about applying for the Bureau someday.”

“That dreams gone,” I mumble, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m free and that this nightmare is over.

“Bullshit. If you want it and work hard, it can be yours, Gavin.”

I hold my head down. I’ve had this talk with Dern. He’s spent a lot of time checking on me. I told him my dream of being a detective one day in weakness. Now I’m embarrassed that he knows.

“I checked out all those papers you gave me. My record’s not going to be clear anymore and how in the hell am I going to go to college and support myself… too?” I started to add Luna’s name to that, but now I don’t know where she stands with things. For all I know, she never wants to see me again.

“You can take out loans, get grants. There’s help out there, but more than that. You can stay with me while you’re in school.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I’m being straight with you, Gavin. If you’re serious about entering this field I’m willing to help you.”

“Why would you do that? Why would you do any of this?”

“Let’s just say I see something in you that reminds me of myself.”

“I don’t know what to say…” I tell him. There’s hope inside of me, I thought it had died but now I can feel it coming back to life, spreading through my system.

Light where once was nothing but darkness.

“I’ll make sure your record isn’t a problem even after the charges are dropped, sometimes an arrest history and you’ve had the fight at school and now this, can cause issues. I’ll smooth those over. In exchange you keep your head down and work hard.”

It’d be stupid to cry in front of him right now, but I have the urge to do it. He hands me a piece of paper, I grab it and look down at the phone numbers that are written on it.

“What’s this?”

“You get back to school. You graduate. Once that’s done, Gavin, you call me.”

“I… I don’t know how to thank you, Mr. Dern.”

“Call me Lawrence and you can thank me by studying and working your ass off.”

“I will. I promise. You won’t be disappointed in me. I can’t wait to tell Luna.”

“About that…”

“Luna? What’s wrong?” I ask him a spike of fear piercing through the goodness that had begun to take hold.

“Her parents are threatening to prosecute you for statutory rape if you continue to try and see their daughter.”

“They can’t do that!”

“I’m afraid they can, son.”

“But Luna’s eighteen.”

“She is now, but she wasn’t when you two first started your relationship.”

“But we didn’t. I mean she… we didn’t…”

He puts his hand on my shoulder, to try and calm me, but it doesn’t help.

The idea of being thrown back in jail, now that I’m finally free. The threat of losing my freedom again, having to go through more body searches, being arrested and handcuffed and dragged into court…. I’ve never had one, but if I were going to have a panic attack, it would be now.