Arriving at the police station, Hoagie's partner leads Chad into an interrogation room. Meanwhile, Hoagie leads Rachel into a separate room. In that room, she sees Maurice talking with Nigel, who has bandages on his wrists and an ice pack on his eye.
"Maurice?" Rachel is surprised, as she has not seen Maurice in a few years.
"Hey, Rachel! It's good to see you. Though… I wish it could be under better circumstances." Maurice says.
"Oh I agree with you there." Rachel says, before turning to see a teary eyed and red faced Nigel. "Are you alright, Nigel?"
Nigel holds up his bandaged wrists, with red marks coming through.
"What the fuck did he do to you?" Rachel asks, trying to keep her anger under control as she is surrounded by cops.
"I'm so sorry, Rachel. I should've…"
"Don't. You have nothing to be sorry about, Nigel. None of this is your fault. This is more my fault, and even more so Chad's. I never should've hurt you." Rachel says.
"You didn't hurt me, you opened my eyes to the truth. Ugly as it is, I thank you. If anything Chad hurt me more than you ever could have. I mean look at these." Nigel then shows the marks on his wrists and his black eye.
"What the fuck did he do to you?" Rachel asks.
"After he held me down I kicked him off and tried to run away, so he punched me in the head. When I woke up I was handcuffed to the bed." Nigel explains. Rachel tries her best to hide her anger, successfully.
"How did you get out?" She asks.
"Used my feet to reach my phone. Called here and said Chad might try to hurt you." Nigel says.
"And it was a good thing you did, Nigel. When we caught him, he was carrying a knife on him." Hoagie says.
"A knife? What kind?" Maurice asks.
"Folding knife. Pretty sure the blade's also over the legal carry length." Hoagie says.
"So where does that leave us legally?" Nigel asks.
"Well right now, assuming he or his attorney don't say anything, there's about five charges against him. Domestic assault, carrying a concealed weapon, unlawful imprisonment, conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon, and destruction of property." Maurice explains.
"Yeah, and how many of those are gonna stick?" Rachel asks in a sarcastic tone.
"I'm not gonna lie, only a few of those will get him time in the can. Time for the assault and carrying the knife are most likely. Unfortunately, I can't speak for the other charge, we'll have to see what his lawyer says." Maurice explains.
"At least there's SOME justice." Nigel quips. Maurice pats him on the shoulder.
"We have your statement, Rachel's, and what Hoagie and Hoagie and Joe saw. Is there anyone else either of your two can think of?" Maurice asks.
"Well, maybe my cousin Dalia can act as a character witness." Nigel says.
"And my landlord saw Hoagie arrest Chad, so maybe there's something there." Rachel adds on.
"Well good. Why don't we just wait to hear what Cha says." Maurice comments.
In the interrogation room, Chad sits arrogantly in the chair. He begins talking without his lawyer, waving the right to one.
"So you wanna tell us why you were at Rachel McKenzie's apartment with a knife and why you felt the need to kick the door in?" Hoagie's partner Joe asks.
"Oh come on now. You don't think I was trying to hurt her, do you? I was just gonna have a talk with her." Chad says.
"With a knife? You do know that in Massachusetts you can't carry a knife with a blade that long, right?" Joe asks.
"But… I… I didn't know that. I was going to hurt her." Chad nervously defends.
"That doesn't change that you had it on you. Now why don't you tell me why you felt the need to "talk" to her?" Joe asks.
"Because she's been manipulative to my boyfriend! I love that man to death. I hate to see him be "tempted" by her." Chad states.
"If you'll pardon me a moment." Joe leaves the interrogation room.
Joe leaves and talks to the others in the separate room.
"He just wanted to talk? That's the best he could come up with?" Rachel says.
"Yeah, so anything else I should be informed on?" Joe asks.
"Well there's me. Does he know I'm here?" Nigel asks.
"No. But now I know what to ask." Joe goes back into the interrogation room, with a folder.
"So. Quick question, where is your boyfriend?" Joe asks.
"Uh, he's at home. Probably wondering where I am." Chad answers.
"Yeah, waiting at home. Whatever you say." Joe chuckles.
"What's so fucking funny?" Chad asks.
"Your bullshit answers. That's what's fucking funny. Nigel is the one who called us. He was scared shitless when he called us." Joe drops the bomb, leaving Chad completely stunned.
"Wha… why would HE call the cops?" Chad asks, struggling with what to say next.
"If I had to guess, it's because of these." Joe shows Chad photos of Nigel's black eye and bleeding wrists.
"What the fuck happened to his wrists?" Chad asks.
"He was trying to escape the handcuffs you put him in. I don't give a shit what you do in private time, but kinks don't involve beating and holding your significant others against their will. You still have a chance to get a lawyer or to call someone for bail. You're gonna need em, asshole." Joe leaves the stunned man sitting in the chair, trying to contemplate how he can help himself legally.
Joe walks back into the other room.
"So, what's gonna happen now?" Nigel asks.
"Well legally speaking, he's fucked. He's probably gonna call some line to help with bail and a lawyer. We'll hold him here for the time being obviously." Joe says. "Now, is there someone we can call to come get you?" He then asks.
"I messaged my cousin, Dalia. Her or her girlfriend, Lizzie could come get me." Nigel answers.
"Very good. If anything comes up we'll let you know." Maurice says.
"Thank you, Maurice. And thank you, Hoagie and Joe." Nigel says.
"No need to thank us. It's what we do as cops, and as friends." Hoagie says.
As Nigel waits outside, Rachel walks up behind him.
"Hey, Nigel." She says.
"How are you feeling, Rachel?" Nigel asks.
"I'm not gonna lie, I could be feeling a whole lot fucking better." Rachel says.
"I know. This is all fucked up. I'm sorry for dragging you into all this." Nigel says.
"I wasn't dragged into anything. Me and Chad have never gotten along. If anything, you were dragged into something. Chad's always been a manipulative bastard. It just sucks that this is the way some people had to find out. For that… I am sorry." Rachel puts a hand on his shoulder.
"You've always been good to me, Rachel. Maybe in time, we could become a couple. I'm just gonna need some time process and move over this cluster fuck of a situation. You can understand that, right?" Nigel says.
"Oh I understand, 100%. Whatever you need, I'll help you with it." Rachel offers.
"The only thing I can think of is clearing out the apartment. I want to get out of there. Dalia has a storage unit that she said I can borrow while I'm staying with her." Nigel says.
"Yeah I can help with that." Rachel says.
The two see a car pull up, and see Dalia and Lizzie step out of it.
"Hey, ladies. Thank you so much for picking me up." Nigel says.
"It's no prob… what the hell happened to you?" Dalia questions once she notices Nigel's wounds.
"Well this is why I called you. Chad hit me and handcuffed me to a bed. He tried to threaten Rachel before he was arrested." Nigel explains.
"Motherfucker. Where is he now?" Dalia asks.
"He's in there, in police custody." Nigel says.
"Well at least he's away from us, for now." Lizzie adds.
"Indeed. And thank you to the both of you for letting me spend the night."
"Nigel, stay as long as you need to. We'll help you move stuff out of that apartment tomorrow. We'll get my pick up and grab what we can. And we'll get your car at the same time." Lizzie says.
"You two are just the best." Nigel says.
"We're family, it's what we do." Dalia says.
Nigel then gets in the back seat of the car, while Lizzie and Dalia talk to Rachel.
"Are you okay going home, Rach? You wanna crash at our place, too?" Dalia offers.
"No, no, no. I'll be fine at my place. My landlord knows about the door, so he'll have it fixed. I did wanna ask you though, would either of you be willing to act as a character witness, should this go to court?" Rachel asks.
"Oh absolutely. Anything to help keep that son of a bitch away from Nigel. No bullshit, I always thought he was an asshole." Dalia says.
"Thanks, Dalia. I'll actually be over tomorrow to help clear the apartment. Just let me know what time you want me there." Rachel says.
"Will do, have a good night." Dalia hugs Rachel goodbye before she and Lizzie drive off with Nigel.
End of the chapter. Hope you all enjoyed Chad's reign of terror coming to an end. This story is coming to a close. The next and final chapter is going to act as an epilogue.