“Wow, sounds like a lot of work for a girl you don’t even know.” Charlie scratched the rubble on his chin. “Whatever happened to a burger and a movie? You trying to impress some spoiled college girl or something?”
Chad pretended not to feel the hurt and humiliation that his father’s comments intended. He could play the game a little longer, knowing what his father wanted to hear. “Come on, Dad. She is really cute.”
“Well son, I have never so much as heard you mention a girl, so I guess I should just be relieved you’re not a fag.”
“Dad! Geez, why do you have to make everything so hard?”
“Okay, okay, I am just pulling your leg, son. I don’t have much to do today anyway, so I guess I don’t really need you.”
“Thanks.” Chad thought for a second, wondering if he should be bold. “I was also wondering Dad, could I maybe get my allowance for the week?”
“Hell, now you are pushing it.” Charlie shuffled across the linoleum floor and retrieved a coffee can out of a drawer. He pulled out a roll of bills and started to peel them off. “Here’s your allowance for the week.” He stopped for a moment and then waved two twenty-dollar bills in the air. “In fact, I think I’ll give myself a little allowance too, because I got me a little date tonight too, at the tavern at five.” He laughed a little at his own joke.
Chad took the money and, without counting it, shoved it into his wallet. Charlie surprised him by snatching the wallet out of his hand. “Tell me this pretty girl’s name if you want your wallet back.”
Chad felt his face flush with rage at his father’s typical demeaning behavior.
“Oh, look, your face is getting all red. Are you embarrassed?” Charlie sneered.
“Dammit, Dad! Why do you have to be so mean all the time?” Chad surprised himself with his own honesty. He saw the smirk on his father’s face quickly disappear.
“Oh, come on son.” Charlie said. “Here’s your wallet. Here, I’ll give you another forty,” he said as he shoved two more twenty dollar bills into Chad’s wallet and held it out to his son.
Chad swallowed his pride and took the wallet and the extra forty dollars without another word. He had earned them anyway. More importantly, he needed them now to get out of there and find his mother. “I’ll see you later, Dad.”
For a brief moment Chad felt sorry for his father, realizing that he would soon be left all alone in the sad house by the river, with his brown liquor bottles and his bitterness and rage. But Chad could not bear to stay with him for one more minute. When Charlie took the newspaper into the bathroom, Chad ran to his closet and grabbed the duffel bag and knapsack. He slipped quietly through the front door and ran to his mother’s car. He stuffed the bags in the back of the station wagon. He reached for the old picnic blanket to cover them, only to realize that he had left it with the woman on the ground. A shudder ran down his spine as he thought about his ordeal the day before. He bit his lip and thought about how he would put this all in his past for good, in just a few more hours.
After breakfast and a quick shower, Chad walked calmly to his mother’s station wagon with the car keys in his hand. His father finished loading a leaf blower onto the back of his pickup truck and climbed into his driver’s seat. Just as they started to back both vehicles down the driveway a black-and-white police cruiser pulled up. Chad’s heart began to race as two officers got out of their car.
Those guys again. Now what? Chad thought.
Charlie heard them pull up and got out of his truck.
Chad reluctantly climbed out of the station wagon and approached the officers, fearful that this time they were there to arrest him. “Good morning,” Officer Stevens greeted them both.
Charlie called to them, “Have you found my wife?”
“No, sir. I am sorry to say that we have not. We are here today because we are looking into a matter involving the same car—her station wagon, the one that was abandoned at the bus station.” Officer Stevens spoke as his eyes rested on the station wagon that Chad had just climbed out of. “Who was driving that car yesterday, sir?”
Chad started to sweat. He wiped a drop as it came down his forehead.
“Well, I guess my son here is the only one who has been driving it since last June when you returned it to us. Chad, have you been lending that damn car to anyone?”
Chad had no time to think of a safe answer and he did not want to look suspicious, so he just answered quickly with the truth. “No, sir. Unless, of course, if someone took it without my knowledge,” he added, hoping to confuse matters a little.
Officer Stevens produced a piece of paper and stepped forward as he spoke. “I have a search warrant here for that car. We are going to impound it down in the Wilmington City Police lot and have it searched. May I have the key?” Officer Stevens looked at Charlie and then at Chad.
Chad reached into his jeans pocket and handed over a key chain with two keys. He started to extend his hand toward the officer, when Charlie’s voice stopped him. “Wait! What the hell for?”
Chad stood dumbfounded. He silently extended his arm and dropped his keys in Officer Stevens’s upturned palm. He felt his face heat up and tried to swallow a lump in his throat.
Officer Stevens was blunt. “Chad, I know you’re not going to like this. I have orders to take you in for questioning as a person of interest in an assault that occurred yesterday. Will you come now, peacefully, or do I have to wait on the arrest warrant that will be available very soon?”
“No fucking way!” Charlie raised his voice. “My kid would not harm a flea. You’re not taking him anywhere. What the hell is going on”? He spit as he talked, and his face became scarlet.
“It’s okay, Dad,” Chad said. “I’ll go.”
“This is crazy!” Charlie continued to rant, as Chad followed the officers to their car. Chad walked with an officer on each side of him. They got to the patrol car and he slid into the back seat without uttering a word. “I’m following you over. This is bullshit!” Charlie ran to his truck and started its engine.
A flatbed tow truck arrived and idled at the end of the driveway, waiting for the patrol car to clear the path to the blue station wagon. Chad rode in silence, with his heart pounding and his knees shaking. Desperately he pictured the carefully packed duffel bag and the knapsack with his plane ticket in the station wagon that was about to be impounded and searched. Instead of flying to reunite with his mother, to her love and to the warmth of Arizona, he was being taken to the police station for questioning.
Chad took a deep breath, trying to control his fear. He shuddered at the realization that the truthful account of his last twenty-four hours would lead most people to think the worst. He desperately wanted to turn back the clock so he could do the right thing this time. He pictured himself calling 9-1-1 and describing to the police exactly where he saw the woman. But he was confused and terrified. Chad nervously twisted his hands. I should have minded my own business, he thought. But he knew he would not have been capable of leaving even a stranger to suffer and possibly die.
“Christ!” he moaned out loud, as he ran his hands through his hair and exhaled loudly.
“Are you okay back there, son?” Officer Morgan turned and asked him from the front passenger seat.
“Yes, sir,” Chad lied.
*****
The patrol car parked next to a one-story brick building with a blue and white “Wilmington Police” flag fluttering in front of the building.
“Okay Chad, this is where we get out,” Officer Stevens said as he opened Chad’s door.
Chad followed the officers into the building. They took him straight to a small room, containing only a square table and two chairs. The room had no windows, except for a glass pane on the door. Chad sat in the chair that Officer Stevens motioned to which faced an empty seat on the other side of the table. Beyond the empty chair he saw his reflection in a large mirror, which no doubt was a window through which he was being observed and possibly recorded.
/> The officers left the room and a man in a grey suit entered. He looked trim and athletic, with salt-and-pepper grey hair and steel-blue eyes that looked animated as he paced back and forth beyond the table. He stopped mid-stride and looked at Chad. “I’m sorry, I don’t know where my manners are. Sometimes my mind gets working on something, and then my feet get moving and I sort of lose the ability to be polite. I’m Tim Hahn, Wilmington police detective.”
Chad tried to look as calm as possible, but when he glanced at the mirror opposite him he saw a pale face with dark stubble on his chin and frightened eyes. He saw the face of a criminal. “I….um, I am Chad McCloskey.” Chad said awkwardly.
“Well, Chad, we have a few things to talk about here.” Detective Hahn sat down and looked almost gently at Chad as he leaned forward over the table. “Do you want a Coke or a bottle of water or something?”
“No thanks, Mr. Hahn,” Chad replied, trying in vain to appear casual and unconcerned as he avoided his reflection in the mirror beyond his interrogator.
“Please, call me Tim,” the detective said, trying to relax Chad and free him up to speak. Chad ran his hand through his hair, trying to smooth it down. “Look, sir. Uhm, I mean, Tim, I think there’s been some mistake. I have not hurt anyone. I would never hurt anyone. I have never committed a crime in my life…if you would just check, you’d see.”
“Let me stop you there, Chad. We’ve already run the check on you, and I know that you have never had a conviction or arrest or any contact with the law. Your old man is another story, though. It seems he is no stranger to a bottle or a fistfight, and so he’s got a little rap sheet.”
Chad swallowed hard and tried to take a long slow breath to calm himself. He focused his eyes on his sneakers under the table, trying to stop the panic welling up inside of him.
“But,” the detective continued, “early this morning we received a call from an eyewitness who placed someone looking just like you, and driving your car, at the scene of a crime committed yesterday.” He looked right into Chad’s eyes and held his gaze. “So maybe you can answer a few questions for us.”
Chad looked at the scared pale stranger in the mirror as he heard himself say, “I’d like a lawyer before I speak to you, sir.”
“There you go, calling me ‘sir’ again.” The detective shook his head as if to make light of the situation. “Why do you think you need a lawyer?”
Chad sat quietly, choosing not to answer the last question.
“Did you hear me, Chad?” Detective Hahn’s voice rose as he started to grow frustrated.
“Yes, I heard you, sir.” Chad looked down again at his feet crossed under the table. He summoned all of his courage, cleared his throat and said, “I am innocent and yet I was told that a warrant for my arrest is about to arrive. So yes, I’d like a lawyer.”
“Do you have a lawyer you want to call?” Tim Hahn asked Chad.
“No, sir, I don’t know who to call. I’ve never had a lawyer. I don’t even know a lawyer.” Chad studied the stitching and the Nike swoop on his running shoes under the table.
After a moment passed, Detective Hahn rose from his chair. He slowly walked to the door, opened it and leaned out into the hallway. “The kid wants a lawyer. Call the public defender and get somebody over here. I know it’s a Sunday, but we need someone right away. I don’t want any delay. Oh, and let’s get him before the Magistrate while we are at it, we might as well make it official and execute the arrest warrant.” He poked his head back into the room where Chad sat. “This might take a while. Someone is coming from the public defender’s office. Do you need a bathroom or anything?”
Chad nodded his head. He had been fighting the urge to urinate since he had been placed into the patrol car that morning. An officer in a dark uniform came into the room and escorted him down the hall to the restroom. Right before he went in he saw his father sitting out in the waiting area, nervously rubbing his chin. His father’s eyes met his with a glare of contempt. Chad wondered if the police had told his father what they thought he had done.
Chad was brought before a Magistrate Court housed in the police station. He was told what he already knew; that he was being charged with rape and kidnapping. He had a right to counsel and he should not say anything because it could be used against him if he did. Chad felt like he was watching this on television, because it could not be happening to him.
After his appearance before the Magistrate, Chad waited in the interrogation room for what seemed like hours. Finally a tall, thin young man in an ill-fitting suit came in and extended his hand to Chad. “I’m Stuart Harlan, from the public defender’s office,” he said nervously. “I am your lawyer in this matter.”
“I’m Chad McCloskey,” Chad shook his hand, but did not look him in the eye.
Stuart spoke up. “I know you were a person of interest when you came in this morning, but I was told on the way in that now you are officially under arrest, and you had your initial appearance. So from here on out, you do not talk to anyone but me, and you are going to have to be real straight with me if I’m going to help you, okay?”
Chad looked up at him to answer. “Yes.”
“And,” Stuart added, “whatever you tell me is between you and me only. It is the law and my professional responsibility to keep our conversations protected. So you really have no reason whatsoever to be less than completely honest with me.”
Chad nodded.
After a moment, Chad said, “Can I ask you a question first?”
“Sure,” Stuart said.
“How many cases have you had? I mean how long have you been doing this?”
“Well, I am pretty new at it, I guess. I just graduated from law school and passed the bar last year, but I worked for the public defender’s office when I was in law school and I have had a few cases already. This is my first felony, though.”
“Great.” Chad said with sarcasm and despair.
“Let’s get started.” Stuart took a legal pad out of his shiny new briefcase. Next to it he placed a set of stapled documents. “I just got assigned to this matter, so I don’t have much yet. But, I do have the affidavits in support of the arrest warrant, and the search warrant itself. I am going to ask you to tell me your version of events before I share these with you.” Stuart pushed a photo of a woman’s face toward him. “Do you know Kelly Malloy?”
Chad examined the photo. “No. I don’t know that name and I don’t think I have ever seen her before.” Chad replied. Then he thought for a moment. “I mean, I had never seen her before yesterday.”
Stuart suddenly sat up straight. “So you did see her yesterday?”
Chad was quiet. He was unsure of what to say. It all sounded so unbelievable.
“Did you pick up her body and carry it somewhere in the woods?” Stuart asked.
“What did they tell you? Did they tell you I was seen carrying her?” Chad asked.
“Listen, Chad,” Stuart said slowly “you are going to just have to tell me everything, from the beginning, and be honest. It’s the only way I am going to do my job.”
Chad looked down at his hands in his lap and heard the clock in the room tick off the minutes. He clearly recalled the previous day’s events, but he was terrified to say them out loud. His discovery and his actions would seem implausible to any reasonable person.
“Yesterday morning I was walking in the woods near my home, near the Brandywine River.” Chad started. “I glanced at this gardener’s shed that I walk by all the time, and its door was open. Something big and colorful in the shed caught my eye. I walked closer and saw it was a woman. Her hands and legs were tied, and she had tape over her mouth and a blindfold over her eyes. She was breathing though, so I knew she was alive.” Chad stared off into the distance, as he replayed the memory.
“Why didn’t you get help?” Stuart asked the obvious question.
“I was really scared. I mean, this woman was bound and gagged. I knew she had been assaulted in some way, and now I am alon
e with her in the woods. I was sure I looked guilty just being there. I mean, I was terrified and I didn’t think straight.”
“So what did you do next?” Stuart asked.
“I put my sweatshirt over her to keep her warm, while I ran home and got my car and a few other things to help her.”
“What do you mean, ‘help her’?” Stuart asked.
“I moved her to a place where other people would find her and get her help.”
“How did you do that?” Stuart asked, again with his eyebrows arched.
“I wrapped her up in a blanket, put her in my car and drove her close to where the trail is heavily used. Then I moved her to a spot on the trail and I hid out where I could keep an eye on her until she was rescued.” Chad looked straight at Stuart when he said this.
“Where exactly was this?” Stuart kept scribbling on his pad as he asked questions.
“The loop of the path that is just below Rockford Tower, near the dog park area. Lots of people come through there, jogging and walking dogs. I put her down on the trail and then I ran to a hiding spot to watch until she was rescued.”
“Who did you see rescue her? Give me every detail, this is important.” Stuart said.
“A tall African-American woman with long black hair and a small dog came first. A minute after them a man she called Michael—I guess her husband or boyfriend. He was tall and he wore a sweatshirt.”
“Hmmm,” Stuart rubbed his chin. “Those are good details, Chad, because they jibe with the details I already have. I don’t have a description of the couple, and they don’t give me the names of witnesses, but the other details match.”
Stuart rubbed his temples and Chad was certain he saw Stuart’s eyebrows relax.
“Can I go home now?” Chad asked.
“I’m not sure what is happening next. I’ll talk to the prosecutor from the AG’s office. I’m going to step out and see if I can find her. Are you okay here for a little bit?”
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