by S. L. Naeole
Robert looked at me, an amused and slightly smug smile on his face. My eyes narrowed. “Are you ready to go, Princess?”
My mouth gaped and my gaze whipped to Graham who blushed red with guilt. “You. Are. So. Dead.”
Robert, Graham and Dad burst into raucous laughter and I turned to look at Janice, hoping for a little double-x chromosome help from her, but she shook her head and tried to stifle her laughter with one hand while the other rested protectively on her belly. “Sorry, Grace,” she apologized between giggles. “Matthew is making me laugh.” She patted the mound of baby beneath her hand and I shook my head.
“He’s not even out of the womb yet and he’s already laughing at me. Some big sister I’m going to make,” I sighed.
“You’re going to be a fantastic big sister,” Janice insisted, and Dad nodded, though his continued laughter did little to convince me of his sincerity.
Graham bobbed his head as well and grinned at me. “He’ll just get all of his sports advice from his Uncle Graham and his fashion advice from his brother-in-law Robert.”
The sudden quiet spoke volumes.
“I went a little too far, didn’t I?”
When no one answered him, he nodded his head slowly and then pointed towards the living room. “I think I’ll go and get my stuff to head out.”
I looked at Robert and then at Dad, who appeared as though he had just swallowed his coffee mug whole…with scorching hot coffee still inside. “Okay, I think it’s time we went, too,” I announced nervously and grabbed Robert’s hand, pulling him outside before an unnecessary questioning began.
We were on the bike and halfway down the street before Robert finally asked me what was wrong. I pressed my forehead against his leather-clad back and sighed. “He just got through nearly breaking down over me growing up. Can you imagine how he must feel now after hearing that comment about you being my baby brother’s brother-in-law?”
Robert said nothing to that and remained quiet as we rode to the school; I was too busy thinking about what it was that Graham had given to Robert to notice the expression on his face.
***
“So the wedding is just a few days away,” I said casually while staring at Janice’s little SUV sitting in the driveway while waiting for Graham to arrive after school.
“Yes,” Robert replied.
I fidgeted with my feet, my fingers doing a mad dance of nervousness as I tried to word the question right in my head, unsure of how exactly to go about doing this without sounding so…dorky.
“Yes.”
I looked at him confused. “What?”
He smiled and tipped my chin up with his fingers, gently running down the length of my jaw with the tip of his thumb. “Yes. I’ll be your date for the wedding. That’s what you were going to ask, right?”
“Um…yeah,” I answered, embarrassed. “Wow, that was easier than I thought. I’ve never asked anyone out on a date before—I’ve never had an opportunity before—and I thought maybe you’d feel uncomfortable being asked by a girl.”
Robert’s hand trailed up to my ear and he gently squeezed the lobe between his thumb and forefinger as his other fingers tickled the nape of my neck. “You can ask me anything, Grace.”
I nodded uncomfortably. “I just thought that maybe you’d say no.”
“And pass up an opportunity to see you in a dress again? Never,” he kidded, his other hand rising to brush against my cheek. “You are going to wear a dress, right?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “Janice has something hidden away in a bag that she won’t let me see. I think she feels if I don’t see it until the day of the wedding I won’t be able to think of any excuses not to wear it.”
Robert smiled and looked over to the house. I watched as an expression of deep concentration crossed over his face, soon replaced with one of surprise and then blatant pleasure. “Ahh,” he said, smiling.
“What?”
He turned to look at me, his smile doing funny things to my insides. “Even if you could come up with a viable reason to not wear it, I wouldn’t let you.”
I gasped at his little disclosure. “You saw it!”
Nodding, he laughed. “I did, but I won’t have the pleasure of seeing you in it again until the wedding, so we’re both going into this blind.”
I turned my back to him, fuming. “I cannot believe you get to see it before I do. No—you don’t get to see it before I do—you stole a peek in Janice’s head to see it.” I spun around to face him again and glared at his obvious amusement. “That’s not fair.”
Robert bent down to kiss the tip of my nose. “You’re adorable when you’re left out of the loop.”
There were a few choice words that I would have liked to say to him but I put them aside as two cars pulled up. The rusted green car I recognized; the other I did as well, but didn’t want to see.
“The police are here to speak to you about Mr. Frey,” Robert announced as he stood in front of me protectively.
“What about?” I asked. Though it had been a week since Mr. Frey had turned himself in, the police had yet to announce the arrest and I wasn’t about to announce anything to anyone, since I wasn’t even supposed to know.
“It’s not good,” he replied as two officers approached me, one with what looked like an envelope in his hand.
“Grace Shelley?” the one with the envelope asked. When I nodded, he handed me the envelope with a grim expression on his face. “I’ve come to formally notify you that we’ve arrested the individual who ran you over in September. You will recognize his name, it’s Mr. Oliver Frey, your homeroom teacher.”
Pretend you’re shocked.
I looked at Robert and then at the officer, trying my best to appear surprised by the news. “Wow—Mr. Frey? He-he was always so…quiet,” I said with as much excitement as I could manage.
“What’s this about Mr. Frey?”
We all turned to see Graham and Stacy standing beside Robert—Stacy with a large, empty duffel bag slung onto her shoulder. She looked at me and then at the envelope in my hand and gasped. “It was Mr. Frey?” Her surprise was a testament to how small our circle was—the whole school knew and yet Graham and Stacy managed to remain oblivious to it all.
The officer who had been empty handed came forward and wedged himself between his partner and me. “Miss Shelley, in that envelope are some forms that we’ll need you to sign. We also have to speak to your father, since you were a minor when the incident occurred, to go over a few details that are described in those forms.”
I opened the envelope and pulled out the packet of papers and began to go over it, nodding as each detail that had been voiced to me by Mr. Frey himself was listed. I saw the signature at the bottom of his statement and then proceeded to the next page.
“What does this say?” I asked the officer, pointing to the sheet in front.
“That’s an incident report, Miss Shelley,” he replied. “While in custody, Mr. Frey somehow managed to leave his jail cell. We were afraid that he had escaped and were prepared to alert you to his involvement, but he was discovered an hour later in a back storage room that we sometimes use for interrogations.
“He was dead.”
If I had to pretend shock before, there was no need to now. “Dead? From what?”
The officer looked at his partner before pointing to the same sheet of paper. “It’s listed right there. We didn’t come sooner because we wanted to be sure that our report to you was complete.”
I skimmed through the descriptions of the discovering officer and found the final sentence at the bottom of the page. “Pulmonary embolism?”
“What’s that,” Graham asked behind me.
“His heart blew up,” I responded, my voice so low, I wasn’t sure if he heard me.
Stacy sucked in her breath while Graham’s whooshed out as they both took in the shock of the sudden confession and equally sudden death.
Robert wrapped his arms around me
and it was the sudden stillness in my body that made me realize that I had been trembling almost violently. I looked up at him and he shook his head, a warning not to ask the question that was threatening to come out in a loud scream.
“Hey, Grace. You gotta go and talk to your dad about this. We’ll go and deal with my things,” Graham said quickly, pulling Stacy along with him. I nodded my head stiffly and turned to look at the police officers who stood dumbly beside us, simply waiting for me to invite them into the house.
As Graham and Stacy walked towards his house, Robert and I, followed by the officers, walked towards mine.
“Dad?” I called out upon opening the door, stopping only when I didn’t recognize my own voice. “Janice?” I said aloud, hoping for a different result. I cringed at the near whiny tone that came out of my mouth.
Janice appeared from the kitchen, her ever trusty dish towel busily soaking up whatever it was she had on her hands. “Grace, Robert, I thought you were—oh, the police are here.” She stared in shock at the two strange men who stood behind me and walked back into the kitchen. I heard the back door open and her voice call out for Dad.
When she reappeared, he was by her side, and the two of them immediately came to me, Robert stepping aside to allow them to flank me as they prepared for what the officers had to tell them. We sat on the couch, a united family unit as once more, the officers went over what happened. I handed Dad the papers that contained Mr. Frey’s signed statement detailing the incidents that led up to the accident as well as afterwards as the officers spoke.
When they came to the incident report that described Mr. Frey’s “escape” and subsequent death, Dad let out a roar of complaint. “How could you let him escape? And then to just die before without even being punished for it? My daughter has been through Hell because of this man, and he didn’t even spend a single night in jail?”
Janice placed her hand on his knee—an effort to calm him, I suppose—and took the papers from his hand. “He went very quickly if this report is correct. The stress of having to bear this secret must have been too much for him.”
Dad looked at Janice incredulously. “Stress of not wanting to be caught!”
Janice ignored that last bit and then looked at Robert. “It says that you were with Mr. Frey when he called the police. Is that true?”
I looked at Robert, who nodded his head stiffly. “I was the first person he confessed to. I stayed with him while he dialed 911, and then remained with him until the police arrived. I came and told Grace as soon as I could, but didn’t want her to tell anyone else because it wasn’t official yet.”
Dad’s face had turned a distinct shade of crimson as he glared at Robert while his voice once again roared with anger. “You knew this whole time, knew and didn’t tell me. And you-” he pointed an accusatory finger at me “-you knew and kept this to yourself. How could you, Grace?”
I opened my mouth to reply. Don’t. I looked at Robert and saw the quick shake of his head, my mouth closing and my head hanging low with shame and guilt.
“Mr. Shelley, I told her not to tell anyone, not even you, because if Mr. Frey was lying, I didn’t want her telling you and then having to deal with feeling like she was disappointing you all over again—especially after what happened with Mr. Branke.”
Robert’s explanation seemed to calm Dad down as he continued. “I told her to wait until the police showed up with a written statement. I’m sorry if you feel betrayed, but this was what was best for Grace. I only ever had her welfare in mind.”
Dad looked at Robert and then at me, his head tossing and turning like he was witnessing a silent tennis match. Finally, he threw up his hands in defeat. “Fine.”
Janice let loose a sigh of relief, and I followed suit.
The radio attached to one of the officer’s shoulder started blaring and the officer stood up to respond. He walked towards the door and then turned back to look at his partner who had heard the entire exchange.
They both turned to look at me, a silent accusation in their eyes.
Robert grabbed my hand and a flurry of thoughts and images passed through my head. I gasped, and Robert squeezed my hand tightly, a signal to say nothing.
“Um, we’ve got a report of a robbery taking place next door. Isn’t that where your friends went?” one of the officers asked. “And wasn’t the girl carrying a very large, very empty bag?”
The two officers looked at each other and they both rushed out towards Graham’s house, Robert and I on their heels. As the four of us crossed over the front lawn to Graham’s front door, I could hear the argument going on inside and looked at Robert, whose eyes were narrow slits as he heard with incredible clarity the horrible things that were being said behind the door.
To my dismay, the police officers both placed their hands on their weapons, unsnapping the band that kept it secure, and called out to the voices. “Open up! This is the police!”
Robert, seeing my panic and fear for my friends inside, became angry. A sudden chill came over us and the officers began to shiver as they stared at each other with puzzled looks on their faces. Robert held my hand and I felt the warmth travel through him into me, keeping me from the icy blast that seemed to only target the officers.
The sound of breaking glass inside caused me to jump and the officer who had been holding the envelope squeezed the trigger of his weapon, the report of the gun louder than I had expected and causing a steady buzzing sound to fill my ears. I screamed, and Robert’s growl of anger was the only warning as the officer soon found himself on the ground, his weapon mangled in his hand. The other officer, having seen nothing but his partner fall, looked at him in shock.
“What are you doing? You’re acting like a second week cadet! Get up off your ass—we’re going to be doing paperwork for a month just to deal with your gun going off. And how are we going to explain that?” He pointed to the metal lump that had never left his partner’s hand.
Before he could answer, the door opened and Graham emerged with a very shaken Stacy. They jumped back in shock at the sight of the two police officers—one with his hand on his gun, the other on the ground with something that might have been a gun at one point in his hand.
Graham looked at me and shook his head. “Dad called the cops when he heard me getting my things. He said that everything in the house was his, and then he tried to hit Stacy.”
I looked at Stacy, who appeared slightly winded but altogether fine. “Did you…?”
She nodded. “He’s old and drunk—no offense, Graham—which made it pretty easy.”
I looked at the police officer who still stared incredulously at his partner and then at Robert, who was quietly seething at the officer's clumsiness. "This is my friend's house, Officer-” I eyed his nametag “-York. He was just grabbing some clothes for a trip he's taking tomorrow down to Florida to see his mom. It must’ve upset his father; he’s got a drinking problem. There is no robbery; just an angry and drunken man who doesn't want his life to change."
A moan from inside followed by a loud belch caused Officer York to turn his head towards the door. He peered inside and stood aback as the depth of the situation was finally revealed.
Strewn all across the floor were empty take-out containers of food and cans of beer, mixed with the occasional empty bottle of whisky or vodka. The stench that flowed out was nauseating and I could see why Stacy had been so upset. I covered my nose with my hand, a motion that was mimicked by everyone else with the exception of Robert.
“Is that your father young man?” Officer York pointed to the lump laying on a pile of crushed boxes bearing the labels of several alcohol brands.
Graham nodded solemnly and turned away, upset at over the circumstances that led to this most recent confrontation. “Yes, sir—that’s my father.”
The other officer, who had by now regained his composure and was still busy trying to figure out what had happened to his gun, coughed and indicated with a flick of his head that we were attracting
an audience.
I turned around and saw the neighbors from across the street, as well as those in the house on the other side of mine all standing in a huddled group, staring and speaking in low tones, their heads shaking with distaste.
“Graham, I think you should go into Grace’s house and wait for the officers there,” Robert said in an authoritative tone.
I watched silently as Graham nodded and walked towards Dad and Janice who were both standing in front of the door. Janice opened her arms to Graham and embraced him while Dad shook his head and patted Graham on his back. He looked up at me and I saw the disappointment written there. Richard had been one of his closest friends, and now…
“Grace, you should probably get inside as well,” Robert insisted. When I opened my mouth to refuse he pressed a finger against my lips. “Please. Your best friend needs you.”
I turned to look at Stacy who nodded her head in agreement. “He won’t talk to me about this, you know that. You’re the only person he trusts.”
“But who’s going to tell them about what’s really going on here?” I asked and motioned towards the two perplexed officers with my head. “They don’t know-”
Robert once again held his finger to my lips. “I’ll tell them.” Robert pressed his forehead to mine briefly. “I’ll be there as soon as I’m done here.”
He turned me around and gently pushed me towards my home. I didn’t look back as I approached my front door, Dad standing there waiting for me.
“It’s a good thing he’s leaving tomorrow, kiddo. I’m beginning to question whether it was a good idea to allow him to continue to stay here in Ohio,” Dad said as he welcomed me with a comforting hug. “This is some day, huh?”
My muffled reply into his chest brought out a soft chuckle. “I don’t know why these things keep happening to our family, but you’ve got yourself one heck of a guardian angel there in Robert. Most guys—especially eighteen-year-old guys—would tuck tail and run if they had to deal with what you’ve had to in this past year, and I have to hand it to him—he’s stuck by you through the hit and run, Graham, me…there’s no getting around it, Grace. Robert is good for you.”
