Page 51 of Road Trip
Chapter Thirteen
Abra
Kelly seemed preoccupied when we got to the park. I asked him if everything was okay, and he assured me he was.
“It’s just weird being off. I’m worried about going back, though.” I could tell he wasn’t comfortable feeling that way.
“You want to tell me what happened, babe? I haven’t wanted to pry, butI’m pretty good at the whole listening thing. I kind of get paid for it.”
That made him laugh. He frowned a little, though, and led me over to sit on a bench facing the big castle. I plopped down next to him and held his hand. He let out a huge breath before speaking.
“A few months ago, Manny and I, my partner, we went on a raid with the Gang Task Force. They were doing a warrant sweep and needed extra bodies. Since it was on our beat, we offered to go. We ended up busting a huge purse-stealing ring. These jerks were ripping off purses and other valuables outside of schools and daycare facilities in the mornings when parents would run in to drop off their kids. They’d use the credit cards right away to buy burner phones and other electronics they could then turn into cash, and then they’d toss them along with the purses. They kept the checks and IDs so they could reuse them and sell them. It was a huge bust, and I ended up having to testify. The trial was last week. Turns out these guys were pretty serious gang members. Some really ugly stuff came out at the trial. It was three young men and a girl. They had their whole lives ahead of them.”
His cheeks were all mottled, like they’d get when we were fooling around, but this was an entirely different reaction he was having. He continued telling me his horrible tale.
“I went to the courthouse that day for them to read the verdicts. They’re all going to prison for a long time, including the girl, who is pregnant. Their families flipped out. There were a lot of tears and they shouted insults at Manny and me. We had to go back out on patrol after that and I was just off. We heard there was a disturbance at the home of one of the men we’d just put in jail. Manny and I were told to stay away from the scene as tempers were running high. It wasn’t the first time I’d had to testify or anything, but for some reason this case just really got to me. I just wanted to get the heck out of there. I didn’t even change out of my uniform. I jumped in my car. The rest you know. It’s highly likely those guys who jumped me were involved in the theft ring. Hayward isn’t a small town, but this group of people is tight-knit and they’re bad news.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and tugged on his hair. I loved the way it felt between my fingers and it seemed like it relaxed him. He let his head fall back with his eyes closed.
“It sounds like you did what you had to do with the trial. But it’s bothering you.”
He nodded. “It really is. I always knew it would be part of the job, but I just…” He blew out a breath and bit down on his lower lip. “Putting kids in jail for life, having so many people hate you for trying to do what’s right...hate you enough to try to kill you in retaliation? I never imagined that part of the job.”
I just held him close to me. I had a feeling if we were anyplace else, he’d try to be all together and probably wouldn’t let me support him. This place seemed to have some magic that allowed him to show his vulnerable side. We breathed together for a long time before I spoke.
“You do so much good in the world just by putting on that uniform each time you go to work. It sounds like the gravity of the situation is really weighing on you. What was different this time?”
“I’m not sure. I guess just hearing what their lives were like, knowing there are young children in those families that now have no fathers, wondering who is going to step in their place in the gang…did we really put a stop to crime, or did we just make room for the next generation of criminals? And how are those kids going to feel about cops? There’s already so much hatred out there. I don’t know. I guess it was the kids being there that really bothered me.”
“They suffer for the adults’ bad decisions.”
He was experiencing what I did on a daily basis. It was heartbreaking.
“And I don’t know. The assault…I don’t want it to seem like I’m feeling sorry for myself, but it makes me angry that I was just doing my job, you know? And those guys would have killed me and left me on the side of the road. Who does that? And they’re still out there. And heck, they probably have kids, too. So much evil.”
He rubbed at his chest and he seemed like he was breathing hard, like he was having a panic attack.
“Kelly? It’s perfectly normal to feel a physical response to all of this stress. I know working out helps you…”
“Yeah,” he said, pulling away from me to rub his hands over his face again. He took some deep breaths and seemed to be doing some sort of meditation technique. I just let him take his time. We were kind of out of the way of the main walkways, so we had some privacy.
When he stopped I asked him about the breathing.
“Oh, yeah. Something they taught us in the academy. Everyone else thought it was a joke, but now that I need it, I’m glad I have it. I’ve never been this stressed out before,” he said with a laugh.
“I understand what you mean about the evil that adults do. It is awful. I felt like that after my friend Leah was shot at school. She was just doing her job, trying to take care of a kid she had known for a long time, and now he’s gone and she’s crippled. We do what we do because we want to help people, but sometimes it’s like are we really making a difference?”
A heavy weight had descended on us, but I felt closer to him than ever in that moment. I could use my counselor lingo and try to be objective if I wanted, but he wasn’t my client. He was quickly becoming someone I had very deep feelings for. I thought maybe I’d share a little more about myself, thinking he’d done so much so far. It was my turn to open up.
“You know, Kelly, I’m one of those kids.”
He frowned up at me. “What do you mean?”
I blew out a breath. “I told you I grew up without a father. Yeah, well, he was serving a life-sentence in prison for murder.”
Kelly stared at me for a long time without speaking. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“He died in prison. Retaliation for some gang shit, I guess. My mom was never totally together before she had a fling with him, and so I kind of grew up without a mom either. But I made it. I became something. You may have done something great by taking those men out of their homes. I know I did better growing up without a father like him. I had my grandparents and that made the difference.”
