Again with the weird looks, but finally the brunette straightened up and looked almost military in her stance. The blonde, when she was at my front door when I first opened it, looked about twenty-five. Suddenly she looked much older, she looked tired.
“Can I get you officers a drink? Water or maybe some soda?”
“No, but thank you for the offer,” the brunette said kind of stiffly. Her badge read: Walters.
“So, what’s up?” I asked.
“Mr. Fitzpatrick…” Officer Sanders started off.
Smiling I said, “Brett, call me Brett. Mr. Fitzpatrick is my dad. I can call them if you want. Maybe it would be a good idea?”
Shaking her head, she looked to my phone. “Have you had a chance to look at your phone this morning, sir?”
I looked down instantly and fuck, I wanted to drop it. I hadn’t looked at it and I was hoping to fuck I didn’t do something bad with it. “No…”
“Sir, perhaps we should go to the living room,” she said as she pointed across the front hall. “We can sit and talk for a little bit.”
I could feel those tiny hairs on the back of my hair rising and I knew for a fact I needed to call my parents, or maybe a lawyer. Fuck, was that a fake ID?
Nodding my head slowly, I led them into the living room. Taking a seat on the couch, I sat on one side. My head was throbbing and my stomach was dropping. I was going to fucking puke.
Officer Sanders smiled at me again, then sat next to me on the couch. Oh fuck, is she a stripper, I wondered. I mean the guns looked awfully real.
Pointing to my phone, she said. “You probably have a lot of calls on there right now. A lot are from the state police department, and our local one, and mine.”
I pushed the screen button and saw fifteen missed calls. I didn’t get this. I saw all the missed calls from the police, and one from Chase that morning too. The first of the highway patrol calls was registered at eleven p.m. I was in the club then, and grinding the fuck out of a couple of girls with Peaches at my side, licking my neck.
Why the fuck was this officer sitting next to me?
“Okay. Lots of missed calls. What’s up, did I do something wrong at the club, ma’am?”
Reaching over, Officer Sanders gently took the phone from my hand and placed it on the coffee table. Turning back to me, she took both of my hands into hers. “Brett, call me Emily.”
I looked over and watched Officer Walters switch to full attention.
Shit.
It wasn’t about me.
It wasn’t a game, either.
I was scared, and I wanted my parents. Fuck.
I tried not to wrench my hands from hers.
“Last night…” she began before she just stopped, closing her eyes for a long moment. When she opened her eyes again, I noted how blue they were. Fuck. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed was my weakness.
“Last night, we tried to call you… Have you heard from your parents this morning?”
I just shook my head.
Her hands tightened their hold on mine. Fuck.
“During the storm last night, there was a great deal of rain, and it made the roads and driving conditions treacherous… Shit. Okay. Brett, your parents were driving on I-95. A tree came down on the road and they… well… They hit it head on and…”
“What hospital are they in?”
“Sweetheart.”