“The only thing I could think of.” I hand her clothes over and adjust mine as well. She hurries to get everything in place and then begins pulling me towards the car.
“We have to get out of here. I heard Trevor calling for back-up.”
Instead of allowing Kate to pull me away like she did this morning, I anchor myself in the sand. “I’m not running away this time.”
“What are you talking about? You have to! Trevor wasn’t kidding when he said that he had people in high places. There’s no way you come out ahead on this one.”
I shake my head. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. No more running, okay?”
Its weird how time stretches out the ten minutes it takes for the three other police cars to show up. Watching Kate, knowing that she’s going to be coming to terms with everything that’s happened today for a long time to come, I can’t help but take her hand. To squeeze it and try to let her know that everything’s going to be alright.
Then, as if making up for stretchin
g those precious few minutes into what felt like hours, time speeds up until everything is a blur. Being pinned on the ground. Spitting out sand as I’m shoved into the back of a squad car. Driven away before I can say anything else to Kate. I briefly realize that we never even exchanged phone numbers.
Then comes the processing at the station. Fingerprints. Photographs. And then the question I’ve been waiting all this time to pop up.
“We found this in your pocket,” the interrogating officer says and places the black box from my car on the table between us. I grabbed it from my dash to keep it safe. The interrogating officer’s uniform identifies him as Officer Peety. “Now, we haven’t looked at the footage yet, but Officer McRoy has given his testimony as to what happened. Claimed that your jealousy drove you to break up their little picnic on the beach. Says that you actually hit him with your car when he was just trying to diffuse the situation. If what he says is true, you’re looking at assault against a police officer. That earns you the maximum sentencing the judge can give. You won’t be getting any sort of plea bargain.”
None of this bothers me in the least.
“But you haven’t looked at the footage yet,” I repeat back to him.
“No, we haven’t.” Officer Peety says. He’s older than Trevor. Maybe by fifteen years. And though his face has been weathered by countless days spent under the glaring sun, he holds himself with the stature of a man who’s as strong as he is down-to-earth. “But I know his story’s bullshit without seeing it. The moment I mentioned that we pulled a black box off you, his face went white. Started asking me who my supervisor was. When he figured that we didn’t have any connections in the force, he asked me as a fellow officer to destroy this thing. Said I should understand.”
He’s looking at the black box sitting between us this whole time. For the first time I’m scared. I’ve put all my faith in a fragile piece of plastic. One good thwack and I’ve got nothing but 10-15 years in lock-up to look forward to.
And all this because I wore jeans to the office today.
The silence in the air seems to amplify my heartbeat. I wonder if Officer Peety can hear it from across the table.
“But the difference between me and Officer MrRoy is my belief that nothing beats an objective witness. And a camera is about as objective as they come.” These words make me breathe a sigh of relief. But it’s the next sentence that sets my brain reeling at a million miles a minute. “If there’d been a witness when my son was killed in a hit and run, maybe he’d have gotten the same justice I’m betting you’re going to see.”
Chapter 11
Kate
After the incident on the beach come hundreds of tears and some of the hardest days of my life.
After the black box clears Brad, Trevor is put on trial. He’s found guilty, of course. I have to testify, but it’s over much more quickly than I expected. The video is all the proof needed, really. When Trevor is sentenced to just six months, I can see his smirk. He think’s he’ll be out soon enough. And I can see it in his eyes that he’ll come after me. But the moment he’s sentenced, he’s arraigned for a crime he thought he’d gotten away with.
This time, my testimony is everything. I know that Officer Peety, the father of the boy Trevor hit with his car that fateful night, is counting on me. And I might have broken down any number of times while on the witness stand, but Brad is always out in the audience. His goofy thumbs-up signals always makes me at least smile for a half second before the reality of the situation comes crashing back down on me like a freezing wave.
Trevor’s phone is brought into evidence, and that’s what really clinches it. GPS data shows that I’m not lying. It puts his car at exactly the scene of the hit and run.
The new sentence Trevor gets added to his old one doesn’t even offer the chance for parole until he’s well into his fifties.
That night is emotional. Brad wants to be with me, but I choose to hole away in my apartment. Drink a whole bottle of red wine by myself. And wonder if it’s really all over.
The next day brings with it a dry mouth, a headache that has me barely able to open my eyes, and the light of a new day. A day without Trevor out there hunting me down. A day where I’m free to meet up with the guy who literally saved me.
My knight in cheap polyester.
Brad.
Only, when I meet him that evening for dinner, he’s not dressed in clothes from the sales rack. His suit looks like it was made just for him. And knowing how much he got as a payout from the city after one of their own dragged him through the mud for coming to my rescue, I know that suit very well may have been made by hand in Italy.
“Tonight, we’re celebrating!” he says when he stops by my place to pick me up. He’s standing outside the door, and it’s not until I step out that I notice he’s not driving the ancient rattling piece of hunk that got us through that first, frightful day together. He presses a button on his keychain, and a brand new Mustang chirps back. “It’s a little flashy, but I’ve wanted one since I was a kid. And now that I’ve got an actual job, I can afford the insurance on it.”