Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 99918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
More and more headlights turned into the police station parking lot as they made their way to the building entrance. “Did they arrest the whole town?” Jack asked.
“Looks like it,” Dylan said, watching the cars line up along the street, waiting to turn into the parking lot. He opened the front door to the police station and allowed the women to step in first. An officer met them just inside the doors.
As a family, tonight was a first. Back in the day, Dylan had chalked up a few arrests for himself but had never been on this end of a jail-house pickup. He hadn’t always lived in the best part of town, but even with that consideration in mind, he doubted a uniformed door greeter had become a standard practice at police stations.
“Your children are safe. The judge has come in and is currently speaking with them,” a middle-aged officer said over and over again as the front foyer filled with parents.
“What happened?” Teri asked over the hum of chatter, leaning her back against Dylan when they found an unoccupied corner of the lobby. He could feel her tremble and let some of his frustration go as he wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her farther against him. The one thing he could say after all their years together, she’d been a fantastic mother and an amazing best friend to him.
More people gathered inside the lobby and the officer repeated his clearly pre-rehearsed speech several more times, but never answered Teri’s or any other parent’s questions. After the incoming flow of people lessened and several minutes passed without any new arrivals, the officer finally offered new information.
“I’ve been saving this to only say once. I’m Officer McDaniel. Your children were picked up tonight for disorderly conduct. The best we can tell, social media posted messages for the class of 2014 to meet this evening and protest the tearing down of the old Walter Whitley football stadium in the morning. They were protesting on private property and refused to leave.” He did that officer thing where he rested his hand on the stock of his weapon and didn’t open the floor to questions or discussion.
“As far as we know right now, the school’s not going to press charges on the condition Judge Fredrick’s speaks with them now and assigns each one of them ten hours of community service. He’s giving them a good, stern talking to. If you all can stay put, we’ll call your name and release your child to your custody.” As the officer spoke, Teri slowly got her spine back up. She stood on her own and cut an accusing glance back to Dylan when the officer mentioned the words social media. He gave an internal sigh as she refocused on the officer in front of them.
He wasn’t responsible for all social media. Clearly the kids hadn’t utilized his Secret app. If they had, the messages would have been untraceable within minutes of the file opening. No one would have been able to track the messages no matter how hard they tried.
“Sir, I have a question.” Teri clearly hadn’t picked up the no-questions vibe the guy was putting off. She raised her hand high in the air to draw everyone’s attention.
“Yes, ma’am,” the officer drawled, his Texas accent thick on the ma’am. Well crap, that ma’am and tone he used would grate on Teri’s nerves because as far as his wife was concerned, the officer might as well have called her ‘little lady.’
“What exactly did the children do that was illegal?” Dylan lowered his head. Here we go. Of course, she would go there right now. Just make this whole thing worse by fighting it out right there in the lobby in front of fifty or so other parents. He wanted to get his daughter out of there.
“This is not the time,” he pleaded quietly in Teri’s ear. She shooed him away with a backward motion of her hand.
“They were on private property and didn’t leave when instructed.” The officer’s dismissive tone and body language made it clear her question didn’t warrant a look in her direction.
“Excuse me, Officer McDaniel, but I believe there’s some question whether the stadium grounds constitute private property if it’s owned by the city-wide public school district,” Teri continued, her tone hardening.
“Not now. Do this tomorrow. Let’s just go home,” Dylan tried again, whispering in Teri’s ear.
“Sir, do you have something for all of us to hear?” the irritable officer asked, dodging Teri’s question completely, but looking directly at Dylan as if he were the mastermind behind her words. Teri would take that to mean a woman wasn’t smart enough to come up with a challenge on her own. When she looked over at him, the arch of her brow told him he’d hit her thoughts dead on. She was ready to blast this guy.
He quickly jumped in.
“No, sir, I’ve got nothing to say. We’ve got nothing to say. We just want to collect our daughter and go home.” The officer had grown visibly angry. Surely his pit bull, do-good attorney wife would have all this brought to a head in no time, but that needed to wait until morning. He worried that antagonizing the already pissed off officers would end in them keeping the kids overnight. His wife needed to stop.
Just as he’d done over and over through the years, Dylan hooked an arm around Teri’s waist and dragged her through the small crowd in the lobby, guiding her out the front doors. He would gladly clamp a hand over her mouth if needed.
“Dylan, they didn’t have the right to arrest those children.” Teri pushed out of his arms and faced off with him once outside.
“Didn’t you hear him? They didn’t make an arrest.” Dylan tried to make her see reason.
“They can’t give a punishment if there’s no violation. The kids should have never been taken off that property. Those children’s civil rights were violated tonight.” Teri was on a roll and in his face, so Dylan lifted up two fingers to close her lips to stop the flow of words he saw coming.