Chapter 39
Gordon
The drive from the hospital seemed to go on forever. I had to listen to Drew briefing me about what to expect and what I could and couldn’t do when I arrived at the police station. I barely heard him. His common sense was the last thing I needed right now. What I wanted was to pummel Eric’s face.
“I want to see him alone,” I said when we finally arrived at the police station.
“Get that idea out your head, Gordon,” he replied getting out of the car. “It’s not going to happen. You shouldn’t even be here right now.”
“That bastard abused my son!” I growled at him. “How am I not supposed to be here to report this?”
“It’s already reported. You being here right now is to make it formal and to have it documented. More than likely they’ll keep you two apart.”
“I know you can arrange it. If you can, please try. I need to confront him, Drew.”
He didn’t respond but sighed as we entered the police station. I had the feeling he regretted bringing me along with him. Everyone in the police station seemed tense as it seemed Eric had arrived just a few minutes before us. The chattering I caught hinted that everyone was shocked at what he had done. The place turned to a hush when Drew entered with me at his heels. I saw only a few familiar faces from the last time I had been here.
“Jacobson will take the report,” he told me and steered me in the direction of a man who was around my age. He wore a wedding band and spectacles.
I was frustrated at being introduced to this man. I didn’t come here to see him, but I had to go through the ropes if I hoped to face Eric any at all.
“Where are you going?” I asked Drew as Jacobson searched for the log book to take my report.
“To find out what’s going on. I’ll be back by the time Jacobson finishes with you.”
I didn’t like it one bit. I was beginning to wonder if it had made sense to come to the police station instead of staying at the hospital with Ollie. I would be disappointed if I didn’t get to see Eric.
“Okay, let’s get started,” Jacobson said, interrupting my thoughts. “Please state your full name.”
He asked a list of questions that I did my best to answer without frustration. It was harder to explain the ones related to Ollie and the condition I had found him in. The more I revealed, the more I was reminded the monster who had hurt my son was somewhere in this building.
“We’ll have a detective assigned to the case who will visit the hospital and speak to your son and doctors,” Jacobson ended. “We’ll keep in touch with you. In the meantime, you can have a seat in the waiting area for Officer Carty.”
I thanked him for his time even though I was feeling far from gracious. I had just entered the waiting area when Drew popped in.
“I need to know what’s happening,” I told him. “Why do I feel like this thing is just another reported case, but nobody is particularly interested in what happened?”
“Hey, I know it may seem that way, but even our department is shaken up at this, okay? They may seem aloof about the matter, but it’s just one way to do what is necessary. It doesn’t reflect what we are feeling.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
“He’s being interrogated now,” he answered. “This isn’t usually done, but we’ll allow you in the room next to it, so you can watch. Maybe you’ll get a little bit of closure this way.”
I nodded. “That’ll do for now.”
He led me to a room with what he explained was a one-way mirror, so Eric wouldn’t be able to see us. He was inside the interrogation room with two police officers I didn’t know.
“We’ll not only be able to see but also to hear what he’s saying,” Drew said.
As though he knew we were in the room across from his, Eric stared right at the one-way mirror. I looked at him, sitting on the chair as though he had done nothing wrong. This man who had been my friend far longer than I’d know my son had done this to my family.
“What happened, Eric?” one of the two officers asked him. “Why did you do it?”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he replied, sitting back in his chair like he believed every word coming from his mouth. “The kid had what was coming to him. Ain’t no son of mine gonna be gay. I had to straighten him out.”
“By abusing him?”
A dark look crossed Eric’s face, and he frowned but didn’t answer the question. “I want my lawyer,” he said instead. “I know my rights, and I don’t have to say a damn thing until I get one.”
“But you kinda already said enough, asshole,” Drew whispered beside me. “How could none of us see something was seriously wrong with him?”
“I want to speak to him.”
“Gordon. I told you we can’t allow that.”
“Then make them allow it. For God’s sake, Drew. I have to know why?”
“Gordon.”
“Please. Just do this one thing for me, and I’ll leave. I’ll let the law handle it. You saw what I had to endure tonight. He owes me at least an explanation.”
He capitulated. “Fine. Wait here.”
I waited like he instructed and watched Eric who had clammed up, refusing to answer any more questions without his lawyer. The door to the room opened and Drew appeared. He beckoned to the police officers who moved to the door. They spoke in hushed tones, so I couldn’t hear what they said. One cop looked as though he was arguing, but in the end, nodded to whatever Drew had asked them.
The one who had been arguing left the room, but the other cop returned to his seat while Drew disappeared once more. Within a minute he was back in the room with me.
“Let’s go,” he said. “It wasn’t easy getting the two detectives on the case to agree, but they’ll allow it for a few minutes.”
“Thank you.”
I proceeded Drew towards the interrogation room, but he opened the door and entered ahead of me. My eyes instantly picked up Eric who straightened in his chair when he saw me. His eyes were full of hatred.
The detective rose to his feet and Drew introduced us.
“Don’t I get an introduction?” Eric asked.
I turned to him and was overwhelmed with anguish. Not hatred, but anguish that this was what had become of our friendship.
“Why did you do this?” I asked, the words coming out as a croak I couldn’t help. Ever since I found Ollie, all I wanted to do was snap his neck. I never anticipated the hurt I felt.
“I’m sure you can figure it out,” Eric said.
“I want you to tell me!” I snapped at him. “I want you to tell me why you’d hurt my son like this.”
“He’s my son!” he shouted at me, slamming his fists down on the table. “You all cheated me out of raising my own son! And then you made him fucking gay! I wasn’t going to stand for it.”
“You forced yourself on him,” I thundered, shrugging off the hand Drew placed on my shoulder. “That's fucking sick of you! How could you do that to a human being, let alone your own child?”
“Because I bet he’ll never want another man doing that to him ever again!” He snapped his fingers at me. “Just like that he’s cured. Too bad we didn’t get to do the same to you and your boyfriend.”
“You son of a bitch!”
“Gordon, we should go now,” Drew said quietly.
“Everything was going fine between us!” Eric spat at me. “For once, I was having things the way I wanted it. I had my son. That bitch Barbara had no right to make him yours. I know I screwed up. I told her to abort the kid instead of marrying her, so she slept with you instead and convinced you that you knocked her up. But I had a change of heart. I tried to get her to divorce you, but she never did. What she didn’t mind was me coming over when you were on the road and fucking her the way you couldn’t.”
“Is that why she killed herself? Because of the guilt?” I asked him because that would finally relieve Ollie of thinking he was responsible for her death.
He laughed and glanced at the two cops who were listening. “What the hell, I might as well spill,” he said. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to hit me for the maximum life penalty anyway. So, what if murder is added to it?”
“What?”
“That’s right. I killed that bitch. I forced her to take her own life. It was either that or my gun in her mouth. She took the easier route, and I watched her as she died. She took everything from me and used me all these years. I’d had enough after she turned me down for the last time when I asked her to divorce you.”
I was shocked at his revelation. The magnitude of what he had revealed didn’t only rock me but also the two cops who listened. The more he said, the more I realized he was a monster who wasn’t fit to live.
“You’re crazy,” I told him. “I hope you never see the light of day again.”
He shrugged. “I’ll take one for the team if it means straightening out my son. He got what he deserved. No son of mine will become a fuckboy. I bet I knocked the confusion out of him. Now he’ll remember his dear dad fondly if he thinks to turn crooked again.”
His lack of remorse over what he had done was what got me. Anger surged through me, and before I had even processed what I was going to do, I launched myself over the table at him. I crashed into him and his chair overturned, the table went spinning, and we both ended up on the floor.
“Gordon!” Drew shouted in alarm.
I barely heard him as I planted a fist in Eric’s face. He tried to fight me back, but he was at a disadvantage since I had him pinned beneath me. I punched him again, seeing the bloody face of my son that had been caused by this piece of shit I had once called a friend. He had wrecked our family and broken us, taken away the mother my children loved and hurt both the man I loved and my son.
“Gordon stop! Stop! That’s enough!”
Blind with rage, I didn’t heed Drew’s words as I pressed my hands into Eric’s neck to end the life he had no qualm in taking. Drew latched onto my arm and pulled, but I refused to be deterred. It was as though my rage gave me a super-strength I never knew I possessed. I refused to let go.
“Gordon, if you don’t let go, we’ll have to tase you!” Drew growled at me. “For God’s sake let go. You’re going to kill him.”
As if that wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. He didn’t deserve to live.
“You should thank me,” Eric gulped for air, clawing at my hands. “I fixed him for you.”
“He’s fucking fine the way he is!” I shouted at him and raised my hand to punch him in the face again. “You’re going to pay for hurting my son!”
His nose crumpled beneath my fist. I heard his scream before an electric shock ran through my body.