Dead in the Water (DeSantos Book 1)

by A. R. Case

  There was an initial statement read by the mediator, then statements from the lawyers. John’s lawyer went first, citing an increase in the violence around Jonathan as potential child endangerment. Susan’s lawyer protested that, and the mediator didn’t let his lawyer pursue that angle. His lawyer moved for full custody. Susan’s lawyer countered with a threat to re-initiate a restraining order against John, Sr. Things got heated for a moment between the counsels. The mediator stopped them, and asked them to leave.

  Only Jonathan’s representative was allowed to stay. The mediator looked at the documents.

  “From what I can see, Miss Schreiber complied with the law in Ohio, and this isn’t really a case.”

  Susan breathed a sigh of relief.

  Then John spoke up. “I’d still like a chance to see my son.” He didn’t elaborate, protest his innocence or anything else Susan expected.

  The Guardian ad litem spoke up and addressed the mediator. “Jonathan has some resistance to this.”

  The mediator weighed both sides of the table. “There’s precedent in New Jersey to support this decision, based on the allegations of abuse.” He looked at John. “Did you, or did you not, kick your son, breaking a rib?”

  John looked at the table. “My lawyer would tell me not to answer that, sir.”

  The mediator frowned. “In that case, I recommend to the court that full custody be granted to the mother and if there is visitation awarded, it should be supervised.” He got up to leave.

  “I’ve been told by the police here that my son is in danger.” John cut in.

  The mediator turned around. “Danger from whom?” the man asked.

  John’s jaw clenched, then he answered. “It’s part of an investigation here, and I shouldn’t have been notified about it. They suspect a local criminal is behind the harassment of both Susan and Jon.”

  Susan’s brow crinkled. “Did you hear that from the FBI?”

  John looked shocked. “The FBI are in this too? Dammit Susan. This is big leagues then.”

  The mediator and the guardian started talking over everyone. Jonathan sat very still.

  Susan wrapped an arm around him.

  John watched them for a moment. “I only want him somewhere safe for a while. I’ve been getting help, real help.” He tapped the documentation he’d brought with the hours he’d been in therapy. It included a marked uptick in appointments over the last two months. “If I agree to in-house monitoring, would that help?”

  The counsels still at the table were silent for a moment. “We cannot advise you on this, but you do realize what you are saying, sir?”

  “I do.” He turned to Susan and Jonathan. “ I just want him safe for a bit. It won’t be permanent. I’m okay with that. I’d like to have visitation, but if not, is there something you can do to protect him from this situation?”

  Jonathan looked at his mother and then his father, then touched his ear. He was lost in thought for a minute. “If you really want me safe it’s okay, Mom. It won’t be permanent.”

  She nodded. Even though her heart was breaking.

  Chapter eighteen

  Tony had given her time to adjust, but it was time to force Susan to come out of her shell. It wasn’t as if Jonathan was gone for good. Her ex and her had both agreed that this arrangement would be shifted at Thanksgiving. That would give the FBI time to get the case against Whitehead moving and Jonathan time to get reacquainted with his father.

  But it had been fifteen days. No calls, and no emails. She still hadn’t bought a cell phone so he knew unless she was home, he wouldn’t reach her. Maybe he could stop by the hospital.

  He shook his head. What was he a wuss? He’d call.

  He got her answering machine. So he left a message saying he’d try back at ten. He knew she usually was home by then so figured it would be fine.

  The ten p.m. call was still met with an answering machine. Tony hopped in his truck and drove by to see a dark house and upstairs. Out of habit he swung by the hospital.

  He waited for the desk attendant to pass her the message that he was outside. It took twenty minutes before she finally came out.

  There were circles under her eyes, and she’d lost weight. Fuck, despite the tits, she really didn’t have the weight to lose. He stepped forward to hold her, but she stepped back, on guard.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Bullshit, you asked for a few days so I gave them to you. Now it’s time to talk.”

  “I can’t, I’m working.”

  “Since when do you work past ten?”

  She blinked, and her face went from vulnerable to hard in an instant. “I took the three to three shift since I don’t have a teenager to come home to, that is since when.” She turned on her heel to leave, but he caught her arm.

  “Stop, talk to me. For a second okay? Are we on or off?”

  She didn’t even blink before saying, “Off.”

  Then he was staring at the swinging door of the ER and his hands were empty.

  “Sir?”

  He looked over at the nurse beside him.

  “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.” He lied, and walked out.

  That was Wednesday. It was now Friday night and Tony was sitting in his office. There wasn’t much to do with the weather as crappy as it was. The rain was supposed to turn to icy mix before midnight. He didn’t feel much like going home, or going out, or anything. It had been two days since that scene in the hospital. What he wanted was to go to Atlanticare and corner Susan and shake some sense into her.

  His IM pinged. It was Jonathan from his Facebook account. It gave him a Skype phone number with the message, ‘call me.’

  He double clicked the number and connected.

  Jonathan was sitting in what Tony assumed was his bedroom in Ohio.

  “How you doing kid?”

  “I’m good. You?”

  He lied. “Good, work’s slow.”

  Jonathan laughed. “School here sucks, they’re so far behind it’s not even funny. I’ve been bumped twice into advanced classes.”

  “Anything you can do?”

  He shrugged. “I’m taking some online stuff through the Jersey homeschool program. Mom got me in there right before they got everything fixed so I could leave without it being counted as absent, the teachers put in assignments so I can maintain status at school.” He leaned back in his chair. “Kids here are weird too. It just doesn’t seem real.”

  “How so?”

  “They’re all like ‘I’m big shot’ and stuff, because of the school weirdness. But it’s just so small town compared to AC. My classes here have twenty people max. Back in AC it was closer to thirty in everything but math.”

  “That’s ‘cause it was mostly you and Scott ruling math. What were you doing, trig?”

  Jonathan laughed. “Way beyond that, sorry dude.”

  “Gah. I thought Trig was hard.”

  He laughed again. “You need more than that to get into college now.”

  “You’re talking to a guy that dropped out at sixteen.”

  “Really?”

  Tony shrugged. “Kind of hard to complete school when you’re getting shipped between Jersey and Philly and Florida.”

  “That’s hard. You ever get your diploma?”

  He nodded, “Got the GED at seventeen, first try. Then took a couple of trade school courses in CAD. Came in handy here.” He motioned to his office surrounding him.

  “I wonder if mom knows she’s dating a drop out?” He laughed.

  Tony didn’t correct Jonathan. He wanted to, but now wasn’t the time. Maybe when things got right with the situation he’d tell him, or maybe he’d just leave it to Susan to admit to her son she’d pushed him away. What was important was this kid. At sixteen Tony had the Brig
ands at his back. Now, blood or not, he was that guy for Jonathan.

  “Whatever. How’s things otherwise.”

  “Dad’s pushing me to join sports at the Y. Basketball’s big here.”

  “Pussy game.” Tony coughed into his hand.

  After laughing Jonathan got out, “What were you in school a jock or a grease monkey?”

  “You know I was grease monkey all the way. I raced motocross.”

  “That’s freaking cool. Bet you caught shit though.”

  “People giving you shit, Jonathan?”

  He shrugged.

  “I’ve got your back no matter what. You know that, right?”

  “Get me outta here then.” He laughed.

  “Is your dad giving you shit?” Tony worked to push down the anger bubbling up inside him.

  “No, he’s actually being okay. I guess.”

  “Define okay.”

  “He’s got his buddies checking in on me all the time.”

  “Has he been abusive?”

  “No. Just riding my ass all the time.”

  “About what?” Tony’s dad had ridden his ass about a lot of stuff some of it pretty damn serious shit because of who he was. He had to make certain that Jonathan’s complaint was normal.

  “Getting to school, sports, joining in things here. I’m not staying so why bother?”

  Tony breathed a sigh of relief.”I think it’s because he wants you to stay, ever think of that?”

  “I’m Jersey now. Not bumfuck Ohio.”

  Tony laughed. “You’re lucky your mom didn’t hear your language.”

  “Dad says that too.”

  He’d called him Dad. So things weren’t terrible. That was a good sign.

  They talked more about the things John had been doing to help Jonathan adjust. Some of the outings were to re-introduce his son to the guys on the force there. Jonathan didn’t sound happy about these.

  There was motion in the background and a man’s voice. Jonathan’s head blocked most of what was going on but Tony could hear part of the conversation.

  “Who are you talking to?”

  Jonathan glanced at the screen before answering. “Tony from Jersey.”

  The kid had balls. Tony hoped to God he wasn’t going to witness something bad. His own experience with his father had never been good when you crossed him.

  He’d never seen John senior so didn’t know what to expect. Jonathan’s dad didn’t waste time commandeering Jonathan’s iPad to “talk” to Tony.

  He was pretty normal looking except for that laser focus that cops got when you were in their sights. Jonathan had his coloring but Susan’s finer bone structure.

  “Anthony DeSantos?”

  “You must be Jonathan’s dad, nice to meet you.” God, years of walking the line with his brother had paid off so he could be cordial to this guy.

  “You’re the boyfriend. Susan there? “

  Tony’s jaw clenched. “No. She’s not.” Damn this guy already was pushing his buttons and he hadn’t even said more than dozen words to him.

  “Why are you talking to my son then?”

  He wasn’t going to do this dance with him, not over the internet. Tony was dead pissed at this guy’s tone and the presumption that Tony was somehow in the wrong to talk to his son. He wanted so much to tell this guy to fuck off. But, since Jonathan was there and would have to deal with any fallout alone, Tony bit his tongue and searched for a cordial answer. “We’re friends.”

  Bauer, Sr., leaned toward the screen, essentially getting into Tony’s face. “You’re not his friend, you’re an adult. What you are is sick or manipulative and I’ll press charges against you if you contact him again.”

  Tony’s nostrils flared. His teeth were clenched so hard, he had a fleeting worry they’d crack. “If you think that, you’re the sick one. He talks to adults at school, at those so-called sports practices you’ve been dragging him to, and…” Tony paused to keep from saying something worse, and then took a breath, “And at those gatherings with your fellow police officers. If you want to try to press charges against me for talking to him, I’ll contact the local court liaison and let them know about all of those outings with adults that you’re placing Jonathan into. You just don’t like me because I actually listen to your son.” You bastard. He added in his head. “You’re not a cop here in New Jersey so don’t try your bullshit on me, I won’t lie down and take it.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  “It would seem you already threatened me, so no, this is simply stating a presumed future chain of events should you follow up on your threat. And, you’ll be hearing from my lawyer with a slander suit tomorrow.”

  John Bauer’s eyes narrowed. “Fuck you.” He set down the pad and began yelling at Jonathan to turn the fucking computer off.

  Tony grabbed his cell phone and searched the net on there for the number of a police precinct near Jonathan. The screen when dark while he waited for an operator to pick up.

  “Dayton Police, precinct nine, may I help you?”

  “Yes. I would like officers dispatched to 1468 Maple Street for a domestic disturbance.”

  “Sir, you should call 9-1-1 for emergencies.”

  “Wait! I’m not from the area. I was online with my girlfriend’s son and his father interrupted the facetime. I think there may be a situation brewing there that places the child in danger. I would feel better if someone checked it out.”

  “Where are you calling from?”

  “Atlantic City, New Jersey.”

  “Oh. One moment, let me connect you with dispatch, please stay on the line.”

  He listened as she patched through to dispatch. He repeated all the information he had to both operators, then gave his name and phone number so they could call him back. Just before he was ready to hang up, the 9-1-1 operator said, “Wait, that’s Officer Bauer’s address.”

  His jaw clenched again, waiting for them to blow off his request.

  “Sir, did you see him strike the child?”

  “I did not, the connection was cut as I heard him yelling at his son.”

  There was a muffled conversation on her end. “We’re sending squads there. I reached a unit nearby. We’ll make sure Jonathan is okay, promise.”

  “He’s a good kid. I was just talking to him about how he’s adjusting at school.”

  The other operator, who was still on the line broke in, “He seemed pretty nice Tuesday. Quiet, but most teenagers are around a bunch of cops.” She laughed. “John’s kind of wound tight.”

  “Jenny!” the dispatcher warned. “Sorry Mr. DeSantos, we know Johnny and his dad here. You’ll have to forgive us.”

  “No problem, just make sure the kid’s safe tonight. From what Susan’s said, John has anger issues.”

  The dispatcher snorted, and the other operator outright laughed. “He’s been in anger management classes for the last three years. I’m wondering if anything’s stuck at all.”

  “Jenny!!!”

  “It’s true and you know it, Charlene, he’s an ass.”

  There was quiet for a moment. Then Charlene, putting on a more professional tone, “Would you like someone to call you back, Mr. DeSantos?”

  “I would, please. Thank you.”

  “Not a problem. Thank you for calling. We’ll keep an eye on him.”

  There was another round of thank yous and Tony hung up. He logged into his Facebook to see if Jonathan was listed as offline or online. He was the former. Damn. He looked up Susan’s profile, just to see. No luck there either. Her new laptop was probably collecting dust without Jonathan there.

  He powered down disappointed, and if he had to admit, pretty lonely.

  Then he looked at his phone. ICE 2 was sticking out at him. He debated making the call. The cops were already on this. Get
ting the local chapter there involved was probably a very bad idea. His indecision lasted about ten more seconds before he thought about Jonathan. “Fuck it.” He pushed the number.

  Chapter nineteen

  Jonathan’s dad was in another room, answering questions there. After he’d made Jonathan hang up on Tony, he yelled for a bit, then visibly calmed himself down. Jonathan, who’d been ready with his hands up just in case, had never seen this before.

  Last time his dad had gotten this mad, he’d been drunk. While he didn’t go to AA or anything, he had stopped drinking completely. The last cop party they’d gone to had alcohol and no one thought it weird that his dad wasn’t drinking like many of the guys there. Jonathan hadn’t asked, but it seemed like his dad was pretty serious about trying to do better.

  “I need a minute, okay Jonathan?”

  Jonathan nodded. His dad walked into the den, but left the door open. He was fingering an award the department had given him a while ago. Then he started talking. “I’m sorry. Really I am. That was wrong what I did back there.” He clenched his fist, then let it open very slowly. “I just feel jealous.”

  He took a breath and let it out. It was very shaky.

  Jonathan wasn’t going to tell him it was okay, because it wasn’t. “Tony’s my friend.” He finally said.

  His dad nodded.

  A knock sounded at the door.

  “I got it.”

  His dad barreled out of the den and past Jonathan, “I’ll get it, don’t open doors, okay. I do it.”

  What the fuck? Jonathan thought.

  It was two on-duty cops. His dad invited them in. “DeSantos call you?”

  The taller one, Smith, said yes. “You mind if we talk to Jonathan for a few minutes?”

  His dad shrugged. “I’m still a bit pissed so yeah, go ahead. I need a few more minutes to get it under control.”

  Smith narrowed his eyes at his dad. “You need me to call someone?”

  “I’ll call my sponsor, okay. Just give me a few, okay?”