“Thank you,” I repeated.
“Thanks, Prez,” Ink said and ended the call. “Feel better?”
“Not as much as I’d like,” I admitted.
“All right, we’ve been dancing around this since last night, so I’m just going to be blunt. You think the three guys that came to the hospital last night were at the party your daughter was at, and you think we caused their injuries when we went to get food. But that’s what youthinkhappened. Technically, you don’t know if those guys are connected to your daughter or not. And really, you shouldn’t even know about them at all since you weren’t working when they came in. So, stick to what youknowto be true, and you’ll be fine.”
I pointed my fork at him. “Now, that makes me feel better.” Unfortunately, my relief was short-lived when my eyes landed on his bruised and swollen knuckles. “What if they ask about your hands?”
“I’m a mechanic, and we have a sparring ring at the clubhouse. My knuckles are bruised more often than not.” He picked up his fork and resumed eating his meal. I took a few more bites, but my nerves had ruined my appetite, which Ink noticed immediately. “Do you want me to hang around so you don’t have to talk to the cops by yourself?”
“Yes,” I said without hesitation. Outside of work, I’d never had to speak with the police about anything other than a traffic violation. I’d put on a brave face in front of Ariel, but I was kind of scared to talk to the police.
He wiped his mouth with a napkin and studied me for a few moments. “There’s no reason to be nervous. You didn’t do anything wrong, and neither did your daughter.”
“I know, but it kind of feels like we did,” I said. “Sort of like getting called to the principal’s office. Even though you know you haven’t done anything, there’s still that fear of being in trouble.”
Ink chuckled. “I’m not familiar with that feeling. Whenever I got called to the principal’s office, I knew what I did.”
“So, you were a troublemaker?”
“Not exactly. I was bored at school and ended up getting into trouble because I didn’t have anything else to do. Finally, one of my teachers picked up on what was happening and helped get me moved to advanced classes.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but three sharp knocks on the front door, followed by the doorbell ringing, stopped me.
“That was fast,” I said and headed for the door. I opened it to find two officers standing on my porch.
“Good morning. Are you Mrs. Calloway?”
“It’s Miss, but yes, I’m Presley Calloway. I assume you’re here about Elsie Nelson.”
“Yes, ma’am. We’d like to speak with you and your daughter.”
“Of course,” I said and stepped to the side. “Please, come in.” Ariel had moved her blankets and was sitting up on the couch, with Ink sitting on the other end, leaving the space between them for me. “Please, make yourselves comfortable.” I gestured to the two empty chairs as I took my seat. “How can we help?”
“I’m Officer Burns, and this is my partner, Officer Hicks. Is this your daughter?”
“Yes, this is Ariel,” I said.
Officer Burns looked at Ink. “And you are?”
“Isaac Manning. I go by Ink,” he said and rested his arm on the top of the cushion behind me. “Family friend.”
Officer Burns nodded and turned his attention to Ariel. “Can you tell us what happened last night?”
Ariel shook her head. “I don’t remember anything from last night.”
“You don’t remember anything?”
“Ariel was found unconscious at the party last night and spent the night in the emergency room,” I said. “We believe she ingested an unknown substance.”
“So, how do you know Elsie was at the party?” Officer Hicks asked.
“When I looked at my phone this morning, I found text messages from her asking me to pick her up. I responded and told her I was on my way. According to the messages, when I got there, she told me to come inside. But I don’t remember any of it,” Ariel explained.
“Can I see the text messages?” Officer Burns asked.
Ariel looked at me for help. At my nod, she handed her phone to the officer. He read over the messages and gave the phone back to her. “How did you get to the hospital?”
