Olivia Mongoose sat stony faced in the uncomfortable, plastic waiting chairs at the hospital whilst her husband Kevin paced the floor angrily. Peter's concussion from the day before had subsided and he was getting some rest. His face had needed twelve stitches from where Ace had cut him with his hand requiring eight. The cuts were mostly superficial and it looked as though he wouldn't have any lasting damage other than scarring.
"He should be in prison," Kevin spat angrily before taking a drag from his cigarette.
His wife nodded in agreement. They had been having the same conversation about the delinquent John Merrill for five hours.
"He could have murdered our son Olivia, murdered," he snapped his fingers, "just like that. But oh no he's only seventeen. We cant do anything, we have to just sit on our hands. It makes me sick."
He finally stopped pacing and sat down next to his wife.
"And all over this girl, this Laura Stratford. In my day you didn't harass other people's girlfriends with your gang of hoodlums. People used to be civilised. I wish our Peter never got mixed up with this Laura of his, the girl sounds like trouble."
"Yes, I completely agree," Olivia said.
"She hasn't even been by to see him. She's all he can talk about but oh no little miss troublemaker can't even be bothered to inquire how he's doing. Peter shouldn't be mixed up with a girl like this."
"He'll be going away to college soon enough," Olivia pointed out, "he'll soon forget all about her."
"Well, we can only hope."
Officer Fowley tried to listen patiently to the man yelling at him across the desk. Hit mouth foamed as he spoke, hitting Fowley with spittle like a deranged sprinkler.
"Get the girl down here," Kevin Mongoose said swinging his arms wildly, "she'll tell you."
"That's the thing Mr Mongoose we have a report here saying that your son sexually assaulted Miss Stratford," Fowley replied coldly.
He himself had filed the complaint when Caroline Stratford had bought her daughter down to the station this morning who was shaking like a leaf. He recognised her as the girl he had pulled over for speeding a few weeks ago.
"Rubbish," dismissed Kevin. "That girl is my son's girlfriend. Maybe they started something she regretted later," he said shrugging.
Fowley gripped his pen tightly in his hand. He didn't really classify a bruised face and a sliced up head as 'starting something'. He also was highly doubtful that Miss Stratford was Peter's girlfriend at all. He had one kid mutter something about 'messing with Ace's girl' whilst giving his statement at the hospital before refusing to say anything else. Plus he himself had found the two together in a car when he had pulled them over and Miss Stratford had referred to Merrill as her friend. The Mongoose kid's story wasn't adding up.
"We'll let you know when we have any more information," Fowley said as politely as he could.
"Information," Kevin roared. "You pulled the little bastard off my son, how much more information do you need."
"Thank you Mr Mongoose," Fowley said mustering all his authority. "Have a good day."
Kevin Mongoose swore as he swang through the police station doors.