“You can’t leave,” David huffed.
“Bullshit, we can’t. We haven’t done anything to justify detainment. A search warrant and an arrest warrant are two different things. EvenIknow that, David,” I countered.
Just as we continued past him, Markowski called out from behind the shop, “Kirkton, we got somethin’ in the back storage garage.”
David’s face split into an evil grin as he looked over at me. “You’re not going anywhere. You are now being detained pending investigation.”
I felt James tense up a bit next to me as he turned his head around to lock eyes with Jack. Jack immediately put his hands up and shook his head in innocence.
I could feel myself begin to sweat under my jacket and I cozied up to James a bit tighter. I had never been to the back storage, but I knew that’s where my car was parked. James had Jack move it there the other day, so David wouldn’t find it.
Everything seemed to stop and no one moved as David re-emerged from around the building. “Arrest all three of them for possession of an illegal substance with intent to distribute,” he announced.
As he said it, Markowski came up behind him carrying a large black duffle bag.
“What the fuck are you talking about, David?” I yelled.
David smiled as another officer grabbed James’s arm and cuffed his hand.
“No! No please,” I screamed as the officer pulled James’s other hand from around me.
“Don’t fucking touch him,” James yelled a millisecond before David grabbed a crushing hold on my arms. I struggled against him as he cuffed one hand. “I’ll fucking tase you if I have to, you fucking brat…”
“Only if you want a bullet to the back of the skull,” a confident, familiar voice rang out from behind me.
You could hear a pin drop as the entire scene stopped and everyone looked over to my father.
“Dad!” I cried.
“Chief,” David said, “I’m sorry you had to find out like this, but Avery is in some serious trouble.”
My father frowned, and then his face turned icy as a glacier. “If you don’t get your fucking hands off my son, I will kill you in front of God and every other person here.” My father took two strong steps forward and placed his hand above his holster.
David let me go, and I ran over to where the other officer was holding a handcuffed James.
“I know he’s your son, sir, but, with all due respect, the law is the law. I found three kilos of cocaine in the trunk of Avery’s car. They’d stashed it in the back storage garage.”
I could see my father’s fingers clench into fists as he ground out, “I don’t think I can handle you saying another fucking word. Shut the fuck up, and I’ll deal with you in a minute.”
My father let out a deep huff as his whole body seemed to shake with rage. He walked over to where James and I were standing and pulled the handcuff key off his belt and unlocked the one cuff David had managed to secure before my father interrupted him. Then he looked to the officer holding James. “Let him go at once.”
“Dad, James didn’t—”
I stopped speaking when my father held up his hand. “Avery, please.” My father’s hands were still trembling; I’d never seen him this angry before. It was scary.
I bit my lip and watched as my father walked up to James. As soon as the officer had freed him from his cuffs, my father extended his hand. “I owe you an apology, son. I didn’t want to hear what you’d told me at the station yesterday. I was callous and dismissive, and I hope one day, you will forgive me for the way I behaved. You obviously care a great deal about him. You tried to warn me about David and how he was hurting my son, and I called you a liar. Shortly afteryou left my office, David came in to request permission to petition a judge for a search warrant. It didn't take long to piece together that it was your family's shop he wanted to sniff out.”
Then, he turned to me. “Avery. My boy. I don’t know if you’ll ever forgive us. When your mother told me that you wanted to leave David because you’d gotten into a fight, I thought you were just being overdramatic, and so did she.” I could feel my eyes welling up with tears as he cleared his throat. “He… he hurt you?”
I took a deep breath as my fingers found the hem of my shirt and I lifted it up, showing the bruises along my ribs.
My father choked and turned back to face David. “You motherfucker. You are under arrest for falsifying police records, pulling a fictitious warrant, and planting illegal substances to set my son and this young man up.”
David began to protest and then beg, but my father pulled his arm back and clocked David right in the mouth. David groaned as the force knocked his head back, and he knelt over to spit blood.
“I told you, I couldn’t handle you speaking anymore. The right is to remainsilent;exercise it!”
“You can’t prove I planted drugs anywhere! You can’t prove any of this,” David screamed as two officers began to wrangle his arms to cuff him.
