Chapter Twenty-One
Phil
“Thank you so much!”
She was a slight little thing with silver-white hair and eyes that were brown and filmy. She had glasses that were too large for her face, and her face and hands were lined with veins. She seemed so fragile that it felt that if I blew she would just tip over. She stood before me with a look of profound gratitude on her face as she thanked me for what seemed like the tenth time.
“Ma’am,” I said gently. “You don’t have to keep thanking me. This is my job and more importantly it was my pleasure.”
She smiled. “You’re a nice boy,” she said. “You remind me of my husband when he was young.”
I smiled. “He was a looker, was he?” I teased.
When she laughed, I could imagine the woman she had been fifty years ago. “Yes, he was, as a matter of fact.” She nodded. “He had beautiful hazel brown eyes, just like yours. He’s been dead for nine years now.”
“I’m sorry,” I said soberly.
“We had a wonderful married life together,” she continued. “But we never managed to have children. So we had dogs… We must have adopted over fourteen dogs over our forty-six-year marriage. Alfie here is the last dog we adopted together.”
She hugged the spaniel to her chest and despite how fragile I had thought she was, she managed to keep a firm grip on him. The spaniel turned his nose around and licked her across the face with affection. I reached over and patted Alfie on the head. The dog turned to me and gave me a lick, too.
“He’s a beauty.”
“He’s getting up there,” the old lady replied. “And, I’m terrified of the day when I’ll have to say goodbye to him. Thanks to you, that day is not today.”
“You must be careful with the candles, ma’am,” I told her.
“Please, could you call me Linda?” she asked.
I smiled. “Of course, Linda.” I nodded.
“My neighbors have told me to stop lighting candles,” Linda said sadly.
“That does sound like the safest option,” I said. “They were too close to the curtains, in any case. Thankfully we got here before the fire got too bad.”
“How is the damage?” she asked. “I haven’t been able to go in there yet.”
“It’s best you don’t,” I said. “At least until the area has been properly settled. The dust fumes can be dangerous. And as for the damage, it’s minimal. One room will need to be redone, but the rest of the house is fine.”
“I’m moving out of this house next month,” Linda revealed.
“You are?”
“I finally decided that it was ridiculous for me, a woman in her seventies, to be living alone,” she said.
I smiled. “Perfect timing, then.”
She laughed. “Not everyone will agree. Thank you again… Alfie thanks you, too.”
“Don’t mention it,” I insisted.
Unexpectedly, she came forward and gave me a hug, and I hugged her back fondly. A few minutes later we loaded up the truck and set off back to the station.
“Made yourself a girlfriend, did you?” Kendrick teased.
I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re just jealous because you didn’t make an impression—not that you ever do.”
“Please,” he said. “The ladies love me.”
“Is that why you haven’t been on a date for weeks?” Ryan asked teasingly.
Kendrick shot him a glare. “I’ve been busy.”
“We’ve had the exact same schedule for the last few weeks,” Ryan reminded him. “And I’ve had sex three times this week.”
“Huh…me, too,” Mel piped in.
“Five for me,” I said, giving Kendrick a suggestive smile.
“Fuck you all,” he said, throwing his hands into the air. “Mel, Phil, you two are in serious relationships, so it doesn’t fucking count.”
“Sex is sex, dude,” Ryan pointed out.
“I was making fun of Phil,” Kendrick pointed out. “How did you manage to turn the tables on me?”
We laughed together and a couple of minutes later, we were back at the station and ready for lunch. I had a nice, long shower and joined the boys in the common room. Kendrick and Ryan were at our usual table, and they had sandwiches and subs unwrapped in front of us.
“Excellent,” I said, reaching for a sub. “I’m starving. Is this chicken or beef?”
“Chicken,” Kendrick replied, with his mouth full.
“Perfect.”
We ate in silence until the edge had been taken off our hunger. I had just finished a cold drink when Mel joined us at the table.
“So, dude, when do we get to meet your girl?” he asked.
I smiled. “Soon.”
“You’ve been saying that for ages,” Ryan pointed out.
“Things are busy, man. I’m working, she’s working, and she’s thinking of taking a few courses, too.”
Mel was about to ask me another question, when we heard sirens in the distance. But they seemed to be getting closer and closer. We were about to continue the conversation when I noticed a slight commotion outside of the day room.
“Wait, it sounds like the sirens are here,” Mel said, frowning slightly as he stood up.
A second later, two cops burst into the day room. The tallest one was well built and muscular. “I’m looking for Phil Roberts,” he said.
I stood up tentatively, but I didn’t hesitate to answer him. “I’m Phil Roberts,” I said.
He nodded once and signaled to his partner. “Cuff him.”
I blinked, sure I’d heard him wrong. The second police officer approached me quickly, and I couldn’t quite understand what he was doing with those cuffs pointed in my direction. I could hear Mel and Ryan speaking at the same time, but I had no idea what either of them said. Kendrick was looking at me in shock, and I suspected that my face was plastered with the same expression.
My hands were forced back as the cuffs were placed around my wrist and I was vaguely aware of the fact that the cop cuffing me was also reading me my Miranda rights. Was this really happening? Was I being arrested…at work…in front of all my colleagues?
And then suddenly, noise filled my eardrums and I remembered that I had a right to know what this was all about. “Hold on,” I said, addressing both cops. “What is this about? Why am I under arrest?”
The cops exchanged a glance, and it was as though they thought I was acting for their benefit. I was getting angry now… What had I done that could warrant something like this?
From the corner of my eye, I spied Sarge walk into the day room, obviously having been alerted to the situation. He was taller than both cops and much more impressive. He walked over to us and looked me in the eye.
“Phil,” he said. “What’s happening?”
“I have no idea,” I said, glad someone was asking me the question. “I honestly don’t know why I’m under arrest.”
“I’m Sergeant Green and I run this station. This is one of my best men, and I want to know why you are both here.”
“We received an anonymous tip,” the taller officer replied. “The tip proved to be legitimate. We found twenty pounds of crystal meth and ten pounds of cocaine in your apartment.”
“I… What?” I said, in complete disbelief. “You’ve got the wrong person.”
“We found the drugs in your apartment.”
“Then it was planted there,” I said immediately. “I don’t do drugs. I don’t deal drugs. That’s not my life.”
“There’s no point talking to us,” the shorter cop said to me. His tone was not unkind, but it was clear that I wasn’t going to get any help from them. “You’ll have to find a lawyer.”
I could barely speak. I had no idea what to do or who to call. I didn’t have the faintest idea how to retain a lawyer in the first place.
“Don’t worry, Phil,” Sarge said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “I’ll find you a lawyer—we’ll get this mess sorted out.”
“Sarge,” I said desperately. “I didn’t do it… I don’t do drugs.”
“We’ll sort it out.” He nodded, though I noticed he didn’t tell me that he believed I was innocent.
Then I was walked out of the station in handcuffs, in front of all my colleagues, and pushed into the back of a cop car. It was the most humiliating experience of my life, and I could barely process it all. This day had started out pretty well, and right after putting out the fire at Linda’s house and saving her beloved dog, I had felt every bit the hero.
But now my life had turned upside down, and I had no idea how. The cops said that they found pounds of drugs in my apartment. I knew for a fact that wasn’t possible. The only way it could be possible is if someone had planted them there. My mind was spinning… If it was true, who had done it?
“Am I allowed a call?” I asked the cops.
“One call,” the taller cop replied.
Even as he said it, I wondered what my options were. I had no family to contact and my friends were all the men I fought fires with. There was Brent, but he wasn’t the kind of friend who was good in a crisis.
Then there was Megan. She was more than just a friend. She was my partner, my girlfriend… I would even go so far as to call her my soul mate. I supposed that put her under the category of family.
Then I thought about the reality of calling her and telling her I was in jail. I was wrongly accused, true, but I was still embarrassed about admitting where I was. I hoped against hope that this was all just a crazy misunderstanding and it would be cleared up by evening so that it could be the kind of story I shared with Megan that we could both laugh about later.
But as we drove up to the police station, I couldn’t help thinking that I didn’t see myself laughing about this for a while. I was angry…but I was scared, too. Someone had set me up, and if they had done a half-decent job, I could be looking at up to a decade in jail. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Fear of this very situation was what had driven me to change the path I was on.
I had worked so hard for so long and now I found myself in the same place my brother had been in a few years ago. Thinking about my brother made me feel even worse. Paul had been taken away in much the same way… He must have felt the same things that I did. Except in my case, I was truly innocent.
Still, I understood now the importance of having a support system around you at a time like this, and I was willing to admit that, innocent or guilty, I had let my brother down when he needed me the most.
I thought about Megan, and I desperately craved her presence. At the same time, I wanted to avoid having her see me like this. As we pulled up to the station, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that the court systems were designed to weed out the innocent from the guilty. I prayed that that was enough.