‘Go back to the castle if you like. We can make a statement from there later.’ Unfortunately, after the paparazzi this morning and my father’s arrest, there’s undoubtably going to have to be one.
‘You can wait in one of the side rooms.’ Jones points to two doors the other side of the security point. Angela nods and removes her jewellery.
‘Anything else that you have in your pockets, please.’ Jones motions to the plastic boxes again.
Reluctantly, I throw everything in, including my phone which I grudgingly switch off.
Dad really fucking knows how to make a scene, we’ll give him that. For the millionth time this morning I wonder why the fuck he couldn’t have just stayed put?
Stepping through the metal detectors, there’s silence, bar the hammering of my heart, which resonates through my head, pounding in my ears like the ominous drum of an approaching attack.
Pierce, Frankie, Archie and Angela are led to one door, and Jayden and myself to the other.
‘Holler if you need anything.’ Pierce shoots me an understanding glance. It was he who ripped my father off me the last time he landed on the doorstep.
I nod, unable to form the words lodged in my throat.
The door clicks open and Jones ushers us in, Jayden leading the way.
Behind a tatty, scuffed desk sits our father, bleary eyed and pale, his wrists cuffed together, bound by metal hoops and a chain.
He rises as we enter, licking his cracked lips with what looks like nervous anticipation.
‘Dad.’ Jayden eyes him from head to toe as I nod the weirdest greeting of my life.
‘Sit down, please.’ Dad motions to the green shabby seats positioned on the other side of the table, as if he were welcoming us into his home and not what’s essentially his cell.
‘Such a fucking entrance into the country, Dad. What the fuck is this all about?’ Jayden slams into one of the chairs and pulls out the other and gestures for me to sit down.
‘Son.’ He turns his attention to me, his eyes watery, but clear of drink for the first time in years. ‘I had to talk to you.’
‘So I see. Usually when a person doesn’t answer the phone it signifies the feeling isn’t mutual.’ My anger’s rapidly dissipating at the sorry state of him before us.
‘Sorry, but there are some things that you need to know.’
‘And it couldn’t have waited until I got back to the States?’ Raking my fingers through my hair, I note the absence of blood from the whites of his usually bloodshot eyes.
He swallows hard, his stare falling to the desk between us. ‘Afraid not, like I said in the messages, it’s important.’
‘Clearly. So important you returned to the country you dragged us away from and insisted none of us could return to.’
His Adam’s apple bobs as his blackening pupils rise to meet mine. ‘It’s time to face the music. I’ve been avoiding facing the consequences of my actions for too long, obliterating them with every drink and drug known to man in an effort to escape the reality of the situation.’
What a time to grow a conscience. Has the man been watching one too many Hallmark movies or what? There can be no happy ending here.
Why did he get on that fucking plane?
For years, I’ve dreamed of having a conversation with him sober. Now he finally is, it looks like it might be our last for a while, if the handcuffs are anything to go by.
Flicking my wrist towards Jones and another detective, I assure him, ‘whatever you owe, whatever it is, I’ve already said I’ll take care of it. If there’s any way we can get you out of this, we will.’
Jayden nods in firm agreement.
‘If only it were that simple.’ Dad clears his throat to cover a noise that sounds suspiciously like a sob.
‘I did something terrible,’ he confesses. ‘Worse than you can imagine. Though I can never put it right, I need to pay my penance for it. I’ve been paying it mentally every day anyway. Serving time can’t be any worse than the time I’ve served in my own head, replaying it. Longing for a different ending.’
A cold trickle seeps into my bloodstream, crawling sinisterly through my arteries.
