"This is fucking ridiculous," I grumble as the short, young cop grabs my shoulder and spins me in order to cuff me.
"Jack, Officer Haussier. Officer Haussier, Jack Tier."
Without acknowledging her introduction, he grabs my wrists hard and snaps the bracelets on too tight. I want to call him a fucking douche nozzle, but I refrain. Assaulting an officer is never a good way to start the arrest process. He starts reading me my rights and I realize this is really happening. Tyson's eyes are as big as moons. I can't tell if it is because he is in general awe, or if he has realized he shouldn't trust me. I have to look away from him, for I am not sure how this is going to shake out. In my angry rage, anything could have happened. But I know I didn't murder Claire. I only hope the falling dominos that led to Claire's end didn't start with me.
I turn my attention to my old friend.
"J'Nae. You know this is silly. I didn't kill anyone."
She hides her eyes from me as her partner forcefully ushers me out the front door and down the steps to the cruiser.
"Jack, you know as well as I do, that I can't do a damn thing for you right now no matter how stupid this situation seems. Your best bet is to just-"
"Close my mouth and get a lawyer," I finish her statement.
She nods in agreement as though we have said that exact phrase countless times before.
Oh, right, we have.
It sucks being on the other side of things again. Not to mention, I am trying everything in my being not to turn and headbutt the shit out of this hot-shot officer who is handling me. He is acting like I am a wild animal.
With one hand holding my bound arms, and the other opening the back door of the cruise, Officer Haussier motions for me to get in.
"Wait!" I hear Tyson scream from the porch. "Jack, what should I do?"
"Call my stepbrother, Ray. He'll know what to do."
A confused expression is all I get in return before Officer Asshole leads my head down into the back seat of the car.
J'Nae takes the driver's seat and Haussier shotgun. I can hear the buzz of the radio. The dickhead in front of me says something to J'Nae that I can't quite make out. She makes eye contact with me in the mirror.
"Jack, I won't be seeing you after we arrive at the station. I had to beg the chief just to let me be the one to come and get you. I told him that you'd be more cooperative if you saw a familiar face."
She isn't totally wrong, but it's not like I would have Hulked out and smashed the police cruiser or anything.
I just nod, looking out the window.
J'Nae wasn't lying. When we arrived downtown, Haussier saw me into the interrogation room, and Scott went off to talk to a familiar looking guy.
I know I have seen him before somewhere, but I am not sure where. He is a bit younger than me, with glasses and brown hair. He looks very upset and J'Nae is trying to calm him down. But it seems more than police style defusing, she is using a very personal approach. When she takes his hand in hers and I know who he is. Charlie, Claire's ex and father of her child.
I briefly think of the sorrow he and his son are going to face before my attention is brought back to my own woes. Haussier sat me at a table in a cold room. Textbook, he walks out and lets me sit in the box by myself. Sit and stew as I always called it. Let what the perp did sink in and bring the guilt to the surface. I know the games and they won't work on me.
The silence is broken about twenty minutes later, but not by the officer entering the room. There is some commotion happening out in the lobby section. I stand and squint through the window that overlooks the desks of detectives and clerks. At just the right angle I can see him. It's Tyson. He seems to be screaming at Office Scott, who is trying to usher him out. I can only make out a few words, but "bullshit" was for sure mentioned multiple times.
I smile in spite of myself. "Crazy kid is going to get arrested, too."
The door to the stuffy room closes with a bang. My head snaps to find the sound.
"Please take a seat, Mr. Tier," Officer Haussier requests.
Though said politely, I know it is actually an order.
I follow directions because I know cooperating is key in this situation. At least until I get a lawyer.
As he sits across the table from me, he comments, "Fiery kid you got out there."
He smirks, showing off a top row of perfectly white teeth. I want to punch them down his throat.
"He's not mine. He is my best buddy's son."
"Yeah," he responds. "I already looked him up. Looks like he is under Officer Scott for probation services."
I say nothing in response. Anger, like lava, starts to boil up inside me. I hate that Tyson is even being brought up at this moment.
He can tell that I am over the situation. Haussier lets out a dramatic sigh.
Switching gears, he goes back into business mode. "Mr. Tier, I am the officer on your case, Trent Haussier. You know why you are here, correct?"
Customary introduction. He has to check the stability of my mind and the level of understanding of what brings me into the precinct.
"Yes. I have been placed under arrest because you think that I killed Claire Miller."
"That's correct. Can you tell me where you were Monday night of last week? The night that Claire Miller disappeared?"
I am stunned momentarily. Monday night was when I had the showdown with Claire at the art cabin in the woods.
Not letting Haussier know that a boulder has rolled into my stomach, I keep my eyes on his steely grey ones.
I clear my throat.
"Tyson and I had finished replacing shingles on my roof. Over dinner, he told me about how awkward Claire had been acting at her art studio. A few months ago I told her she could use the old wooden shack as a place for her to paint. We ran a power line to it and she set up shop."
I stopped, unsure whether I should continue with the story considering how incriminating it will be.
"So you didn't see Claire that night?" the detective asked.
A sigh escapes me.
"Don't play me, Haussier. I know that you know I did already. Yes, I saw her. I went up to the shack to talk to her about a run-in she had with Tyson. When I got there I found meth paraphernalia. We argued and I told her to get the fuck off my land."
"Hmm," Haussier responds as though he has already made his mind up. "What exactly did you find?"
"Trays, burners, glass beakers...and a gun."
The detective raises an eyebrow at my last confession.
"Mr. Tier, you are aware that the victim was killed by a close proximity gunshot to the head."
The room spins. My mind spirals. I think I just dug my own grave.
"Haussier, it wasn't me. I didn't kill her," I proclaim, realizing there is too much pleading in my voice.
"Care to tell me why, then, Claire Miller had your DNA under her fingernails and a hysterical voicemail recorded on her ex-husband's phone that has her raving about how you were going to murder her? Or more, why the exact type of gun and ammo used to kill Claire were in a shoebox out in your barn? With your prints on them."
Though I knew nothing about the phone call to her ex, I've been waiting for this. I knew her scratching me was going to be a problem. I knew as soon as J'Nae said she had been murdered that CSI would place me at the scene. And now the moment that makes it look like I am the killer.
Like a truly guilty person would, I utter, "I'm done until my lawyer gets here."
YOU ARE READING
His Woods (MxM)
Romance(Previously known as Breaking the Beast) Tyson knows he isn't perfect, but he doesn't think he deserves a summer stuck at the old holiday cabin with his dad's friend, Jack. After he gets kicked out of college and assigned probation, Tyson has to lea...
