Andrew's Tears

Chapter 4

{Chapter 4}

Andrew’s heart pounded against his rib cage as Grandpa George swung the door to the police precinct open. Andrew waited for his mom and grandma to enter the building before stepping into the confines of the air conditioned building.

The first thing Andrew noticed after the door shut was that there were at least twenty different cops inside, some in uniform, some in plain clothes. He could tell, if the cop shows he watched were correct, that the plain clothed officers were detectives. Andrew wasn’t entirely sure if this idea that his grandpa had was going to work. How could just strolling into this place solve any of the problems they had.

Andrew thought that they would say, “Call in if you have a physical threat.” Which, was exactly what happened.

Andrew had been standing back the whole time the adults were discussing the predicament. And when the officer said those words, Grandpa George had turned and motioned for Andrew to come forward. When the cop saw Andrew’s face his eyes became wide and he said, “What happened?”

Andrew nearly said what he always said but Grandpa George said, “Is that enough of a physical threat for you?” His tone had an edge of supreme annoyance. “Because, if it’s not, I don’t know what is.” He glared angrily at the cop. Andrew was hoping beyond hope that the cop would take his face as a serious threat.

“We also have this,” Anne said. “Andrew can I see your phone?” Andrew fished his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it, and went to the mail app. He knew his mom was going to show the cop the final email that Thomas had sent. That had to be a threat, right? If not, these cops were idiots.

Anne waited a few moments and pressed the screen, then handed the cop the phone. “If this isn’t a threat, then we are going to have to do something by ourselves, and I don’t believe that it will be legal.”

The cop, who Andrew now noticed was named Clyde, read the message over and over again. “Um, if you’ll excuse me for a second I need to go do something.” He said after a few moments. He walked to a room and closed the door. Andrew watched with mild interest the Clyde hand the phone to a man sitting at a desk.

“Sir, I believe you should take a look at this,” Officer Clyde Hershel said. He stood at the door of Chief Brandon Barnes’ office. “For the past twenty minutes I have been listening to a story about a man who wants to kill his son. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do, because they weren’t sure that this killer was even in the state. It seemed kind of far fetched that he would come to Austin to kill his son. I know that makes me a bad cop, but until I saw that kid’s face,” He pointed towards Andrew, “and this, I don’t know what to do.”

By this time, Chief Barnes’ had finished reading the message. “What is wrong with the boys face? It looks fine.” He was staring at the left side of Andrew’s face.

“You’re looking at the wrong side. And his face is marred by a burn… from a clothes iron.”  Brandon Barnes’ face scrunched up in thought.

“What do you mean?” The Chief said.

“I just said what I mean! From here,” he pointed to his temple, “to here,” he pointed at his jaw line, “His face is scarred. From a burn,” Clyde said.

“You know that we can’t do anything unless it is for sure that this man,” He pointed towards the iPhone, “is in Austin, or even in Texas,” He said. “If he isn’t in Austin he is out of our jurisdiction and we cannot help. To help in any way, is nearly impossible because we don’t know where he is.”

“Well, you are going to be the one to tell them that. Because I don’t have the heart to tell them. Besides, that boy’s grandfather is going to be so angry.”