Chapter 17 - Police Questioning

"Oh, there's my sister," I said, pointing off in the direction of what appeared to be a ballroom with a dance floor surrounded by topiaries and surrounded by giant, greenhouse-like windows. Angie was wearing a shimmering white evening gown that clung to her like a big sparkly albino leech and Larry was next to her, talking to my mother. Well, I was wrong—she wasn't wearing red. White was a close second, though, in terms of sticking out.

"Do you wanna go over there?"

"No," I said, feeling panicked as I used my arm to keep him from moving in that direction. "Let's stay here. They'll make the rounds, I'm sure."

"April!"

I whirled around to see my older sister Alice, who was wearing an emerald green evening dress and holding onto the crook of her husband's arm.

"Hey," I replied weakly, feeling ill already. My prim and proper sister, deigning to speak to the black sheep. I grabbed Harris's good arm and prepared to introduce them. "Uh, Thaddeus, this is my sister—"

"Alice," he interrupted in a knowing voice, smiling at me and then her. She extended her hand to him and he lifted it and kissed it. "Delighted to finally meet you."

My sister seemed taken aback by him. I was a bit surprised at the level of formality he could successfully fake. So he'd actually picked up their names from my earlier explanation. In the meantime, Alice's husband had stepped over to the hors d'oeuvres table.

"And who is this?" she asked, looking at me with an uncharacteristically uneasy smile and then at him.

"This is my boyfriend, Thaddeus Harris."

"Oh—and what is it that you do?" Alice asked.

"I'm a lieutenant in the Metropolitan police district," he replied, puffing his chest with pride.

"Really," she said, looking at me with a baffled expression. Yes, I was the least likely person in my house to end up with a cop. "Huh. How is it that you two met, exactly?"

"At the Metropolitan Police Academy," I mumbled, hoping that Harris would not elaborate. No need to mention the jail or the deal or any of that…

"Isn't that where you go to school to be a cop?" she blurted.

"Yes, it is," I replied quietly, feeling like I was melting into the floor. Just the way she said cop grated on my nerves.

"So you're gonna be a cop. You. April Carnegie," Alice said, attempting to hold back a guffaw as the formality in her voice vanished. "Sorry." Her face was turning redder and redder by the second.

"Yeah," I said, as casually as I could, regretting my decision to come to this stupid thing.

"Does Mother know?"

"Uh huh," I said again, nodding and rolling my eyes. "I guess she didn't tell anyone."

"She probably thought you were joking," Alice commented. "I would never have thought in a million years—I mean, you hate authority and Mom said they've had to bail you—"

"April!" I heard my betrothed sister Angie say, as she approached me with a wave, Larry at her side. "Glad you could come!"

"Congratulations on your engagement," I said in a more dead-pan tone than I had planned. It didn't matter, because her attention was on Lieutenant Harris.

"And who's this young fella?" she said as she lightly elbowed Harris in the arm.

I resisted the urge to punch her lights out and leave. Oh, how I wished he and I had simply been ignored tonight as usual! Instead, I had two of my smug sisters making fun of first me and now my boyfriend. By phrasing her statement the way she did, Angie was insinuating that Harris was old, due to his gray hair. Bitch.

"This is my boyfriend, Thaddeus Harris," I replied.

"Thaddeus, huh… that's a different name," Larry said, smiling his big simpering grin. I could see that Harris was getting rather annoyed himself. He was gritting his teeth quite plainly now and though it appeared as if he was smiling, it really was more of a snarl. My boyfriend replied to Larry, his chin high.

"That's Lieutenant Thaddeus Harris of the Metropolitan police—"

"A cop?!"

With that, Larry spat his wine all over the front of Thaddeus's shirt.

"So sorry!" he murmured, pulling out a handkerchief and handing it to me.

"Please don't arrest him—believe me, it was not premeditated!" Angie squealed, her fake sincerity shortly turning to laughter. I felt disgusted and rather nauseated, and at turning to Harris to help with his shirt, I could see his face darkening with anger.

Harris might have assumed we were a rich, high-class family by all this material garbage strung up everywhere, but we weren't. All he had to do was look at me, for one. Not only that, but even my supposedly classy sisters couldn't maintain an air of elegance for five minutes at this pompous party.

As I frowned at the large red stain across Harris's shirt, Larry looked at Angie and Angie looked at Larry and it was as if my boyfriend and I were the entertainment for the night. Angie, Larry, and Alice began laughing as a trio, trying their best to titter politely but having it come out much louder and more obnoxious. I yanked Harris's arm as a signal for us to leave. No way was I going through one more moment of this shit.

Instead of leaving, however, Harris held his ground and began speaking in a scolding tone of voice.

"You guys are awful opinionated about cops," Harris began. "What is it you all do, anyway? Something illicit, perhaps?" The laughter immediately halted.

Not only were they not laughing anymore, but Angie, Alice, and Larry's mouths had since dropped to the floor. I gasped at the pointedness of the comment. Hopefully Harris didn't ask stupid direct questions like that when genuinely interviewing a suspect. Although the conversation had been gradually souring since the moment I set foot in the country club, Harris had just added ten lemons to it at one time.

"How dare you!" Larry roared. Angie and Alice exchanged glances of horror.

"Let's start with you then," Harris said, not backing down in spite of the reactions he was getting. "What do you do?"

"What is this," Larry sputtered, "some kind of…police questioning? Because I think I want a—"

"What happened to your arm?" Angie blurted, wrenching Larry out of the way to point at Harris's sling. I couldn't help but frown at Larry's strange response. Was he about to say that he wanted a lawyer? Why had Angie suddenly changed the subject? What the hell was going on here?

"Gunshot wound," Harris responded matter-of-factly. He turned back to Larry without another word. "So what do you do for work, Larry? I think I asked you a question, boy."

"I run… a firm….." Larry stammered, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. "I mean, it's not a law firm, but like consulting and sales and so it's a company that…. Well, you know, it's complicated—"

"Sounds real complicated," Harris replied coolly, sounding quite badass. Even though I had pretty much ruined this party for my sister, it was momentarily thrilling having someone in my corner to contend with my condescending family. Not only that, but they were acting so strange at having a real-live cop at their little celebration. Harris turned to face Alice and Angie.

"What about you ladies? What is it that you do, exactly?"

"Are you telling me you've never heard of the Carnegie name?" Alice said, clearly insulted. "Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Museum, Carnegie…."

"So trust fund babies then," he remarked, narrowing his eyes, intending it as an insult.

Angie was utterly furious. If she could have killed him with a look, she would have done it ten times over. She then gave me the same evil eye, and I diverted my eyes to the floor, feeling a bit embarrassed now. I guess I could understand why she was angry now. Harris had directed the conversation into nasty territory. He wasn't much of a conversationalist, that I knew. I regretted this entire trip. I regretted bringing him here and subjecting him to my family.

"Isn't that why you're with my sister?" Angie snarled. "Why else, except for her last name."

Fuck this. With tears threatening, I spun around and stormed off in the opposite direction. I was not going to let my stupid family see me cry. Hell, I didn't even want Harris to see me cry. Was it possible that he was with me because of my last name? Even though I'd told him that I had no money now, there was a possibility that it would come later. Well, not anymore. My relationship with my family was destroyed.

Quickly I fled down the front steps of the country club, ignoring the questions from the valet about a car. I was going to catch a bus if I had to. No way was I going to stick around one moment longer.

Was Harris back there? I didn't even stop to look back. I was embarrassed and angry and disgusted that I'd let the conversation get to that point. In fact, I found myself disgusted by Harris's line of questioning. What the hell was that all about? Larry had certainly acted strange, but so had Harris. Was it all to find out if I was indeed a trust fund baby?

Maybe that's what this whole damn relationship was about. What did I have to offer anyway? Average looks, a criminal record, no marketable skills, and a shitty apartment. My family—my smug, rich, condescending family—was the best thing about me.