Redemption

Detective Green breathes a sigh of relief as he finishes up his report so he can lay to rest the murder case of the store clerk. “It’s all too easy,” Trevor muses to himself as he goes over the details one more time before heading home.

“Great job, Green,” Chief Williams said.  His coworkers swarm around, each praising him on a job well done. It’s not that he doesn’t appreciate all of the attention from the other officers, but as he would say, “I’m only doing my job.”

 A job for the past twenty years this month, just like his father, Trevor follows in the long line of police officers.  “Always serve and protect,” his father would say. So as a police officer's son, one would say that it was in the stars for him to follow the path that fate had dealt him.  

  “Son, I am so proud of you,” his father said on the day that Trevor became a Detective. Trevor still remembers that day, especially having his wife Mary, who stood by his side. 

“Hey, how’s Mary? One of the officers said, wiping his mouth with a corner of his sleeve.

“Yeah, how’re things at home?” Someone else adds, with noticeably donut crumbs dotting throughout his beard.

“Great,” Trevor replies, stuffing his backpack, ready to head on home. 

As the darkness fades into a new morning, the rays of sunlight cast shadows across the black and white tile floor, chasing away the night. The twinge of stabbing pain in Trevor's shoulders and legs reminds him that he isn’t as young as he once was. A small intake of breath as the steps creaked and groaned underneath Trevors' boots. Stepping into a different world, he never understood how people could live so close to crime and chose not to see it. Perhaps for Trevor, living with a history richly steep in police work, he saw people and corruption through the mirror of his father’s eyes. Trevor muses. It was just as natural as breathing,

The orange sun peeked through the clouds beyond the horizon was met with frown brows. Trevor hops in the car, tossing his backpack onto the passenger seat. Already the city was waking up as the morning commute buzzes through the streets. Beads of sweat glisten on his forehead in anticipation of what is waiting for him at home. He muses that home is the one place he dreads the most, no warm welcome waiting for this soldier's return. He was pulling into the driveway while the shadows of the night cling like cobwebs across his front porch.

An eerie silence surrounds his house as he fumbles for the house key. Trevor nods to his neighbor with a slide glance as he pushes the door open with his knee. With a quick flick of a switch, the solitary light shines, with a thump, the backpack hits the floor. He ambles out to the kitchen as a flicker of light casts its glow in the room. Cold air escapes the refrigerator as Trevor's hand reaches for a beer as he ambles up the stairs to his bedroom, where darkness waits for him.

Trevor longs to sleep as the bottle slips out of his hands, rolling underneath his bed. Loneliness covers Trevor like a thick blanket that, like a lost child, crying out in pain.

             “Why are you leaving?’ Trevor said, interrupting Mary’s packing a suitcase, her clothes sprawl across the room.

             “ Well, I can’t live like this,” Mary stated, scanning the room to see what to pack next.

             “But I’ll..”

             “Yeah, you’ll what? Mary said, eyebrow raised

             “I’ll change, I promise,”

             “Yeah, I’ve heard that one before,” with one smooth motion, she turned around to see their eight-year-old daughter Amiee standing there in the doorway.

             “But, what about..” His eyes glance over to Amiee

             “Well, we’ll be better off without you,”

 Trevor’s hand reaches under his bed for the bottle. His throat is aching for another drink, only to discover it is empty.   Trevor stumbles to his feet and trudges into the bathroom. The warm water cascades over his sore body as he breathes a sigh of relief. It will be okay, he said, partly to himself and to the bathroom's four walls. In the deepest part of his soul, Trevor knows that things would never be the same.  “There’s always hope, son,” his dad had often said whenever Trevor doubted his relationship with Mary.  His dad’s words again echo in his heart, and there is hope though Trevor questions whether their marriage will ever be salvageable

             As the afternoon sun weans away the day, Trevor trots down the stairs. Snatching up his backpack, he goes into the kitchen pours a bowl of cheerios to satisfy his hunger. A gut feeling about the murder case still bothers him.   Everything fell into place, and it was too easy to catch the perpetrator and retrieve the murder weapon as quickly as he did. Something wasn’t right, but Trevor is unable to put his finger on what it can be.

“A needle in a haystack,” Trevor said, as his narrow gaze scans Toby’s records on file. Toby Gest, born on July 4^th, 1999. Nothing out of the ordinary, raised by his mother, Tempest, no listing of a father's name.

“Yep, seen this before, kids getting into trouble at an early age,” Trevor said, choking from the bitter taste of reheated coffee. He continues looking for any ‘red’ flag that could answer the question of “Why?” After a few minutes of reading Toby’s file, Trevor cannot come up with a plausible answer to the kid's motive for murdering the store clerk.

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” as his cell phone vibrates. Glancing down at the number, Trevor chooses to ignore the call as it goes into his voice mail.    ‘Detective Green this is Toby’s mom, Tempest. Please call me.”

Licking his bottom lip, Trevor sighed as he redials the number. He can hear the voice of his dad saying, “Son, never fall for a desperate call.” Yet, the nagging voice whispers in his ears to go against everything that his father told him.

“Ms. Gest?’ Trevor said

“Yess…,”

“How can I help you?”

“Oh, sir,… please, please…, save me.., my son,”

“Ms, I’m sorry bout there’s nothing I can do,”

“Please,…. Please, I’m.., um, begging you,…, please,”

“Ms, I’m sorry, you best find a lawyer,”

He was stroking his neatly trimmed beard as Trevor’s mind wander. There is something familiar about her voice, perhaps a memory haunting him from the past. “No, it’s nothing,” dragging his attention back to Toby’s file for the second time until Trevor starts to believe that everything he has initially thought is a misunderstanding.

He said, "Was I wrong?" As he stumbles to his feet, jamming everything back into his backpack, Trevor wastes no time getting ready to head back to the station. Everything comes down to Toby and his insistence on his innocence. Is there something that I had missed? Trevor said, twisting his wedding band.

“You’re doing it again,” Mary would often say 

“What?

“Playing with your ring,”

“Oh, yeah.”

With the fading of the sun, Trevor drives across town as he quietly sighs, “it wasn’t supposed to be this way,” listening to the police scanner suddenly screeching to a stop as Trevor catches a glimpse of taillights fading in the distance. “What the?” Trevor said as he continues on his way.

Thoughts swirl around inside Trevor's mind, for he already knows what the Chief would say to his change of heart. He can almost hear his Chief telling him that he is overreacting and not to worry about whether or not he made a mistake.

As Chief Williams would put it,” It's up to the court now.”

Already the squad room was buzzing with activity by the time Trevor walks into the room. Stoping, Trevor pours himself a cup of coffee before he knocks on Chief Williams's door. 

“ Come in,”

“Chief, I, um..,” Trevor said

“Come in, son. What can I do for you?”

“I think that I made a mistake.” Licking his lower lip

“You made a mistake?” As he ambles over, resting his hand on Trevors shoulder

“Yes,”

“Well, about what?”

“That kid Toby, I think that perhaps he is innocent.”

“Now, Green, don’t worry about it. Everything will work out.”

“But Chief”

“ Green, as I’ve said, don’t worry about it. You did your job. Now it is up to the law to finish it.”

Trevor closes the door behind him, twisting his ring, drawing his thoughts back to Toby, and the ‘what if’s” taught him as the last drop of coffee quenches his thirst.

“Detective Green speaking.”

“ Um.., Trevor? A soft female voice said

“Mary?”

“Yeah, um.., Can we talk?”

“When?” Trevor takes a slow intake of air.

“Well, um.., how about after your shift?”

“Sure, I’ll call you then,”

“Okay, I’ll be waiting,” Mary said

“Love you,” Trevor quickly said

“I know, bye,”

He breathes a sigh of relief on the one side. a chance of reconciliation with his wife Mary, yet Toby’s life hangs in the balance between freedom and prison. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” Trevor sighs as he gazes up at the clock.

“It never is, son,” as his father would often say.

Trevor dismisses the haunting voice as he pours another cup of coffee, ready for another evening as he ‘serves and protects’ the citizens of this great city. Just like his father before him.

The End