Page 5 of Stolen Christmas
“Ow.” I lift it back up and rub my forehead.
“Oh, please be careful,” he gasps, reaching out and taking my hand. “Do you need an ice pack?”
“No, I’m sure I’m fine. I can’t believe I just did that. It’s been a rough morning. Seriously, what has gotten into him? I get that we need money, but we’re making it work and we’re not exactly starving or anything. How much trouble is he in? Can I see him?” I’m spitting out my thoughts without taking a breath.
He gives my hand a gentle squeeze. “Please take a calming breath, Ms. Scott. The parent isn’t going to charge for the vehicle; however, your brother is facing charges for driving without a license.”
“Oh no. What am I going to do?” I don’t cry in front of this man, but I feel like it. The rush of emotions is right at the surface, but I have to remain strong.
“Calm down. Where are your parents?” Damn it. Is he trying to make me cry?
I swallow hard and let out a heavy, chest-aching sigh. “They died six months ago, and I’ve been in charge of my brother since then.”
“I’m sorry about that. His behavior is quite normal for a kid in his situation.” I hope this is a one-off type behavior, a misunderstanding, because my brother is a good boy who doesn’t misbehave. I close my eyes, wishing this was all a dream.
“Honestly, I think we can help you out,” the overly friendly officer says.
“Are you serious?” I ask, wondering how it’s even possible.
“We can’t get him out of the charges with the passenger, but I can get him out of the accident itself.”
My heart stammers, conflicted and confused. My brother is in less trouble; however, I’m not sure what that actually means. “I suppose that would be wonderful.”
“I’m not sure if the charges will even hold up because she jumped in his Uber. He wasn’t even her driver.” I don’t know what he means or what actually occurred. All I care about is getting Noah out of trouble and back home. Goodness, I’m immediately thinking about his caseworker, who was concerned with the fact that I was too young to care for a teenage boy.
“Oh. So what will happen?” I ask, biting anxiously down on my bottom lip.
“That will be up to the DA, but we can release him to your custody and see if they’ll charge him later, but let’s keep our fingers crossed. Let me bring him in here to get his statement.”
“Thank you.” He smiles down at me and then stands up. “Would you care for a drink?”
“A coffee would be great.”
“Cream and sugar?” he asks. I’m actually quite grateful to the officer, even though I don’t seem overly appreciative.
“Yes, please.” A moment later, another officer brings my coffee into the room, setting it on the table with a small handful of creams and sugars. “Here you go, Miss.”
“Thank you,” I say, smiling at the gentleman.
As I’m shakily stirring it into my cup, Noah is brought into the room by Officer Fields. “I’m so sorry.” I’m on my feet, giving my little brother a quick, tight hug. He’s in cuffs, and that breaks my heart.
“What the hell happened?”
“They just let me borrow the car to run some errands, and, like, she had that sticker on there. I didn’t think anything about it until that lady just jumped in my car. Then two minutes later, they slammed on their brakes.” He waves his cuffed hands at me.
I look at the officer for verification, and he nods in response. “I have to admit, it was the guy in front of us who slammed on their brakes, forcing us to hit an ice patch.” He wags his finger at my brother. “That’s why you’re not supposed to follow too closely behind someone.”
“I wasn’t even that close, but damn, it was like stop from thirty to stop in a second, then the tires were screeching,” Noah exclaims, losing his cool.
“That’s why we’re dropping the accident charges because the guy in front of us didn’t like the cops following, so he did a brake check.” I sense that Officer Fields takes it extremely personally, and I can’t blame him. That isn’t safe, and it could have been much worse.
“What a sick man,” I gasp.It’s dangerous driving in these conditions, and he thinks it’s okay to put people’s lives at risk.
“Yes, that’s the least of his crimes. He wanted us to hit his car, but he has bigger problems.”
“Now his crazy ass caused us problems,” my brother says. I want to smack him upside his head. He needs to keep his mouth shut after he was driving someone else’s car without an adult with him. He’s still underage and not allowed to drive alone yet. Damn it.
“As for the lady who got in your car, we can talk to her and see what we can do. What did you tell her when she jumped in?”
