"We got him, we got him!" one of the cops yelled, triumphant.
I looked out over the parking lot, saw the jagged rows of police moving in tighter, saw that there was no escape and never had been.
"Don't do nothing stupid Shepard" another cautioned, coming round to my door.
I stayed still, my heart thudding high in my chest, the world closing around me again. I wondered if I would come to regret this moment for the rest of my life, however much of it I might have left. I watched Curly lift his hands to his pockets, feeling for his knife, an automatic gesture when trouble comes. Then he dropped them again, clenching his fingers, sick despair on his face.
My door was opened and a couple of the cops grabbed me and hauled me out. They slammed me to the concrete face down, I felt my teeth go through my lip, felt the coldness of steel settle around my wrists. One of the cops dug his knee into my back, holding me down, while another searched my pockets.
"Tim Shepard, you are under arrest for the murder of Robert Casey" a voice intoned from above.
But I never meant to kill him.
"You have the right to remain silent…"
I might as well, because none of them would ever believe what I had to say anyway.
"Anything you do say…"
I would say I never meant for it to be this way.
"You have the right to an attorney…"
The hot concrete pressed against my stomach, the cop's knee pressed down into my back, no lawyer could get me out of this trap.
"If you cannot afford an attorney…"
"Shit the kid probably knows the spiel better than you do Mike" one of the cops broke in.
I listened to the drone of voices above me, felt my body rebelling against this forced submission, my muscles tensing, my blood running hot. I had to fight the urge to twist under the cop, try and throw him off, to be allowed to fight for my life. They made us greasers fight for everything else in this world.
"Do you understand your rights?"
Dally's mate, Two Part's or whatever the fuck his name was, once bragged about getting arrested and telling the cops he didn't understand his rights, so they had to keep repeating them. He was another who still thought life was all a game.
"Do you understand, Shepard?" the cop repeated, booting me in the ribs.
"Yeah, I understand."
I was hauled to my feet, about three cops all holding onto me, others standing stiff with pistols cocked, fingers ready. I felt a hard pride inside, that they thought I was that bad, that dangerous. The police cars were still enclosing us, and around them in a wider circle stood a growing crowd, shock and excitement on their faces, the kind of fascination that people stare at car accidents with. That glimpse into a life that was bloody and shattered, something to have nightmares about. It was like a fucking universe with me at the centre, all eyes on me, all guns, all fear.
"Let's go, lets go."
One last moment under the sun, standing in the universe I'd created, and I was shoved into the back of a police car, the door slammed. Fear fell like a hammer, like a punch to the guts. This would be my life as I would ever know it, one of slamming doors.
trapped in a cage trapped like a fucking rat trapped
Give me back that moment in time when I still had a choice, take Curly off those steps so I could die without the guilt.
I looked again at him as we pulled away, standing still on the steps. He was staring at the car I was in, but not seeing me. He looked emptied out, with the bright hope for life that was always in him gone. The kid who thought that soc's were alright underneath, that Julia would help me out, that greasers could escape. Why did he have to be there, why did he have to need me so much?
Almost as much as I needed him.
Back to the station, back through the streets, and so many memories.
…of Curly bloody and proud, grinning at me after a fight…and Julia turning to look at me for the first time, smiling shyly…and brawling on the waste ground with all the boys and the soc's…and chucking bottles at the patrolling police cars…and Wade running out of the liquor shop with bottles clinking in his jacket…
...and it was all I had ever wanted.
"We got Shepard!" the young cop at my side announced gleefully as they led me into the station, his older partner flanking my other side.
The few people in the station swung round to look at me, the booking officer, a couple of cops standing by the wall, two scruffy guys on the bench seat, some lawyer type in a suit. But this wasn't the universe I wanted to be the centre of, the cool white interior of the station, the muffled quiet. If Curly was here he'd be cracking some wise ass comment, I wished I could remember one. My mind had gone blank, I couldn't understand how I had ended up here. Where had they come from, how had they known?
"Lets book him, get him down for questioning" the older cop said.
"Hope you blew your little brother a goodbye kiss Shepard" the younger cop taunted. "'Cause you ain't never gonna see him again."
"Aww shut ya mouth" the older cop responded wearily, snapping gum in his mouth.
"You only saying a fucking word to me 'cause I'm handcuffed" I told the young one scornfully.
"You gonna be handcuffed a good long time too."
"Goddamnit!" I turned sharply to him, restrained by the older cops hand on my arm. "You think I ain't been to the cooler before, you fucking moron. You get visitors every week and you ain't handcuffed all the time, I know that. Go find some crime to solve would you?"
The older cop smirked slightly, then spat his gum toward a bin and turned to me.
"Quit with the lip. You think you're pretty shit hot for a kid who's gonna come out of jail an old man, if you don't ride the lightening that is."
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"You wanna make a statement son?"
The detective stripped the cellophane off his cigarette packet methodically as he spoke. I tilted back in my chair and cast an eye over the blank grey walls of the interrogation room.
"Yeah, I wanna state that these handcuffs are too fucking tight."
He looked at me seriously for a moment, then raised one hand and motioned toward the two way glass. The young wise guy officer came in a second later.
"Uncuff him."
He took the cuffs off and went back out, while the detective regarded me in silence.
"Cigarette?" he offered.
I rubbed my wrists and took the smoke.
"Where's the bad cop?"
He sighed and ran a hand through his graying hair.
"Me and you both been in this game a little too long for that bullshit, don't you think son. Co-operate with me and we won't have any trouble, give me a hard time and I can make life hard for you."
I leaned back and turned my lips in a slight smirk at him, thinking of the few comforts they could offer and take away in holding cells.
"Give me a statement."
I shrugged. "About…?"
"Tell me what happened with Robert Casey."
"I ain't met the kid."
"He's dead, and I got three witnesses who say you killed him."
"You got three guys lying to you then."
The detective looked at me, his face drawn and tired. He looked like he should have retired years ago.
"We got you on this one Shepard. The best you can hope for is a plea bargain for manslaughter. Prosecutions going for murder one, you know what that means?"
"The chair" I said casually, keeping it tough, like I didn't give a shit.
But as I said it my stomach suddenly rolled, I felt a shiver run through me. I wasn't afraid to die, but I was afraid to die like that.
He looked at me and nodded slightly, his shoulders hunched wearily. His eyes seemed hung with the weight of all the dead bodies he'd seen, and I wondered how many people he'd sat across from in this smallbare room, and how many of them he'd helped send to their death.
He cast his gaze over me, a long searching in his eyes. I could see the young cop he must have been once, with the certainty he would be the one to make all the difference in the world.
"You're just a kid. But so was he."
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I sat on the bed. I lay on the bed. I stood. I walked the length of the cell, back and forward. I sat down again. I wondered how many seconds had gone by, or minutes, or hours. I tried not to think about Curly. I tried not to hear the electric hum of the fluorescent light above me, to imagine how it would feel running through my body. I thought about a life being taken to make up for the loss of life. How could that balance ever be weighted right? I stood and paced again, five steps, five steps, five steps.
I waited for my lawyer.
The young cop came to take me down to meet my lawyer.
"Guess you pretty smart, like everyone says. Smart enough to know you need a fucking lawyer at least" he said as we walked the corridor. "Pity you're little brother ain't so smart."
I ignored the provocation as he laughed. He'd tell me what he was getting at anyway, guys like him take every chance they can to work on peoples nerves. Guess that's why so many of them end up as cops, so they can do it without getting their teeth knocked out.
"Yeah," he continued when I remained silent. "Guess you got the brains in the family." His voice raised a note and took on an exaggerated tough drawl. "'It's Curly'" he held one hand cupped to his ear. "' Is Tim there…you gonna pick me up'"
He stopped and looked to see my reaction. "Signs into hospital under the name Shepard, like they ain't been told to be on the lookout, fuck that is one dumb kid!"
I stopped abruptly and stepped in front of him, he took a step back.
"Hey, watch it" he snapped nervously. I stood a good few inches taller than him, and he touched his hand to his baton.
"If he's as dumb as you say, then why ain't you recruiting him to join the police force?"
"Aww, real cute, real funny" he muttered, opening a door. "Wait in there."
I took a seat at the table, glanced around the room, just like every other room in this fucking place. A minute later the door swung open again, a young guy in a suit strode in.
"Tim Shepard? I'm Tony Clark, I'll be representing you."
I looked at the smooth faced kid who was holding his hand out to me.
"You're my lawyer, you gotta be fucking kidding! I want one that ain't at school still, got it?"
He withdrew his hand and took the seat opposite me, not looking put out.
"Law degree from Oklahoma University, passed the bar last year" he said quickly, looking distracted. "Stuck doing fucking charity cases 'till I get more experience and more fame."
He flashed a brief smile. "So I'm it for you, lawyers like Lloyd Johnson don't work legal aid cases, unless they're a whole lot better publicity than defending you is going to bring. You're the scourge of the city to the media, you know that?"
He sat back and straightened his suit jacket. I was going up against Lloyd Johnson, and this kid was using me as practice for the real thing? The lawyer waited for me to make the next move.
"I want a real lawyer, this is my fucking life."
"I am a real lawyer. And unless you got the dough, you don't have a whole lot of choice. You can have me, or you can have some old guy who fucked up every thing else he ever worked on, and that's why he's stuck doing cases like yours."
He stared at me, unafraid. Beneath his fancy jacket was something hard and unyielding.
"You think you can win?"
He pulled out a pad and sat forward with his pen poised.
"Tell me what happened, leave nothing out. Then I'll figure out how I'm gonna win it for you."
A/N: Sorry for the slight delay in posting, I had to do a bit of quick research on "U.S Justice System" (thanks google!) for some of the legal crap in this chapter. Hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think!
Thanks heaps to everyone who reviewed, a few replies…
hollistergurl: dude you made me feel really guilty – seriously! Guess this chapter answers your question, and you'll see Curly in the next chapter – which will be soon I promise!
pinkcottoncandy: uh sorry, he's in jail…hope you still enjoyed :)
Islandsweetie: Yeah prequel is what happens before the story. Glad you're enjoying this, but I think it's the only story about Tim! Well that I've seen at least, I guess there's probably a few further back on the site
CookieCrumb54: Thanks for the review. Sorry…hope you don't hate me for putting Tim in jail. I have another story about them planned, but it won't be written till this is finished.
tennischick: Hey thanks, 2 reviews! Sorry this chapters a bit delayed.
babyhilts: Thanks for reviewing, hope you enjoyed the rest too. I thought it would be interesting to do Tim's POV, since he's not really developed in The Outsiders, and Curly doesn't appear at all.
Aslan: So glad you liked the story about the boys home and thought it was believable, I hoped it wouldn't seem a bit sappy or whatever, but the idea just came as I wrote it and it felt right, so I left it in.
fritoqueen: Most people seem to like the idea of another story, me too! If people wanna read it then I'm happy to write it.
NalunaSolna: Glad you was, I wanted the ending to be tense! I was trying to have it a bit of a last minute surprise.
Reviewer: Thanks, glad you liked the ending. Yep, I have another story in mind about Tim and Curly.
Tensleep: Glad you decided to read it :) Yeah I am trying to plan it pretty carefully, I messed up a part in the first chapter (not telling what part!) and couldn't go back and change it since it was already posted. So I learnt my lesson.
Just Playin: Thanks I'm so glad you said that in your review, I hadn't realized till then that it does sound like one of Tim's friends tipped off the cops. So I put the explanation in this chapter, hope it clears that up.
starbryte234: Yeah I felt bad for them too, and I'm the one writing it! It was meant to be sad though, so I guess that's a good thing.
NittanyLizard: I loved how you used the words "unconditional love" in your review as that's the exact words I originally used, but then took them out as it seemed too unsubtle. I try not to beat readers over the head with what the characters are feeling, but then I wonder if I'm being too vague, it's great that you got what I meant.