“This is Officer Rollan from the Collingwood Station. Your father, Peter Gaffin, threatened and assaulted your neighbor, Mr. Xenakis. When we arrived on scene we determined your father needed medical assistance. We detained him first, however, due to the… uh… violent nature of his reaction to us. He’s in quite a bit of trouble. You’ll need to secure a lawyer for him, and you can’t pick him up from the hospital. He is in custody.”
“You mean he went afterhisneighbor. His, not mine.”
“I’m sorry?” Officer Rollan paused and said something low to someone on his end. “Mr. Gaffin said he lives with you.”
“No, he lives by himself.”
Officer Rollan let out a low sigh. “He’s intoxicated and distraught. Did you want to come down here to help us out? He has to settle down.” The yelling in the background started again, and I gripped the dash, not caring if my hand hurt. I almost needed the pain to calm the rest of my body.
“Where’s… here?”
“Walnut Creek Hospital.”
It was my turn to sigh.
“Sir?”
“He’s okay? You guys have him? He can’t hurt himself? Can’t hurt anyone else?” The headlights on the cars that came toward us on the other side of the road blinded me. I stared directly into the dazzle and blinked my eyes against the spots. My head felt full enough to burst.
Casey had to brake for a red light, and he turned to look at me. I shook my head when he mouthed “what’s up?”
“Not at the moment, no,” Officer Rollan said. He let out a thinking hum. “He’s secured.”
“Then… good.”
“Sir, I understand this is difficult. As I said, he needs—”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll figure it out.”
There was more shouting in the background. I couldn’t hear the words. Dad’s angry voice was ingrained in my brain, though, and I’d know that rotten tone anywhere. I could guess at the vileness he was spilling on everyone.
“Well, sir, you can call the station in the morning for more details. He is detained, and you can’t take him home, but if you wanted to come talk to him and try to calm him down, I’d let you.” He sounded like he’d give me a fucking kiss if I dragged myself there to deal with Dad, and I was no stranger to that feeling.
I sucked in a deep breath. “I’m on my way to the hospital anyway. I’ll find him in a while.”
“Sorry to deliver bad news.” The fucked-up part was Officer Rollan reallydidsound apologetic, and I couldn’t dredge up any feelings at all for this new disaster. My skin wanted to crawl off my body, but my insides went icy and numb. “It’s not a great part of the job.”
“Thank you, Officer. Thank you for keeping him safe.”
Officer Rollan disconnected the call, and I held my phone to my ear for a few long moments afterward. The slow pulse of music captured my attention. The sound system was on loud enough that the beat of a song thudded against my leg where it was pressed to the speaker in the door, but the words were lost. I wanted to live in that sluggish pulse, the polar opposite of the twitching going on where my heart raced.
“Are you okay?”
Inside, a chill swept me from the tips of my toes all the way to tingle on the very top of my head. “No.” I put my phone away and shivered even though warm air blasted from the vents. I curled my fingers over my knees.
“Can I help?”
“Probably not.”
Casey frowned, and I had no idea what to say or if I should tell him anything at all. “My dad was arrested,” I blurted. Fear had me slinking down in my warm, comfortable seat. I wasn’t supposed to talk about things that happened with Dad. It would be nice to close my eyes and pretend he didn’t exist.
Casey blinked in my direction and then turned his attention back to the road as the car gave a playful lurch to the left that made me snag hold of the grab handle above the door. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Like… tonight? While we were on the boat?”
“Yeah.”
