Chapter 50
Logan's practice, speeding his old Porsche down the roads of the East Coast, as he'd once boasted about to his dates in college, certainly came in handy, as from the moment Rory had explained the gist of their urgency, he'd opted for ignoring the speed signs. He truly drove like a pro, and his car felt like it was made for just this, making Rory only slightly fasten her grip on the car door as he zoomed past other vechiles.
"I don't get it. What was he thinking?" Logan exclaimed, struggling to grasp completely what had happened. All he'd gotten was Rory reflecting back Corinne's words on the phone, saying Liam had punched someone.
"She said the guys had gotten into a fight and the police took them in. I guess I'd expect them to give you a call any minute," Rory explained, trying to remain calm. She had more experience with dealing with juvenile mischiev thanks to her work, but she really hadn't expected to use the names of Logan's sons and the words 'fight' and 'police' in the same sentence.
"Both of them!?" Logan asked in disbelief, having never quite imagined either of his boys as the fist-fighting kind, especially Theo.
"She said someone pushed Theo, but I guess Liam ended up defending him or something, she didn't say much more than that," Rory explained to the best of her abilities having only gotten a mumble from her daughter, who'd been obviously upset.
That scenario actually made Logan kind of proud of Liam, having always been the guy to whom pride and his own personal moral compass had been above the law. But mostly now he worried about Theo - what if someone had bullied him for who he was? Was he hurt? What if that had made him change his mind about going to school there?
Rory, on the other hand, kept replaying the fear and upset in her daughter's voice. What exactly had happened at that party she'd let her go to? And naturally, neither Rory nor Logan wanted any of the kids to have their lives ruined by some teenage mishap, whatever this had been.
Rory was just about to comment how she was concerned about her daughter, wishing they'd already get there, when Logan spoke first.
"I have to say, it's been a while since I've had to deal with the American law system," Logan said, his thinking process having already gone a whole other different direction, rather than thinking solely about the emotional wellbeing, also other matters concerned him.
"You think they'll get into trouble?" Rory asked.
Logan shrugged. "Can't know that until I know what happened, but I'd hate it to influence Liam's future," Logan replied, for a second worrying that maybe he wasn't entirely prepared to have the right numbers to call incase he needed legal help, having been away so long.
It hadn't quite resonated with Rory until now that technically Liam was an adult in the eyes of the law.
"I'm not exactly being the responsible parent here, am I?" Logan self-criticized himself, thinking that the odds were high that his sons had not just been fighting but also likely intoxicated.
"Neither am I," Rory said, hating how much Logan tended to beat himself up for this kind of thing. She understood him better than he probably realized, struggling herself with the fine balance between being the cool or the good parent.
"How much better am I really than Odette?" Logan said rethorically, sounding genuinely worried.
At that Rory just reached over to hold his hand.
"You are better," Rory said.
For a second Logan remembered what he'd wanted to say to Rory before they'd been interrupted and what she'd, half-hilariously, half-worrisomely interpreted that as. But at this moment, speeding and worrying, it really didn't seem like the right time to have this conversation.
Thankfully, those twenty minutes went by sooner than they would've, Logan's skillful driving providing them with a dash of adrenaline.
"Oh, baby! What happened?" Rory exclaimed, as she rushed out of the car to meet her daughter who'd been waiting in front of the party venue all by herself, the same cardigan Rory had asked her to bring wrapped around her shoulders. Her make-up was a mess, making it clear the girl had been crying.
Rory wrapped her arms around her daughter.
"The police have them, they took them away," Corinne whimpered, sounding upset. Rory led her towards the car, her hand draped over her shoulders.
"But why?" Rory inquired, as she opened the car door for her.
Logan still found it puzzling that no-one from the police department had called him yet. He wasn't supposed to call himself, was he? Or maybe they'd gotten off with a warning and they'd gone to look for him at the house.
Logan dialed Liam's number, having already earlier tried Theo. But there was no answer.
Reluctantly Corinne explained as Logan pulled off, deciding to drive to the police station, which would be on their way home anyways, what had happened. She explained how a strong exchange of words, not specifying its content, had transformed into punches, Theo having also hit the guy back. Things had only escalated from that as others had joined in and Liam had come to his brother's defense. The other guys had dispersed before the police came, living conveniently in the neighborhood, whilst Liam and Theo had been stuck there, having arrived via Uber.
Logan and Rory exchanged glances, both wondering what the fight had been about. It was the one thing Corinne had been reluctant to share, sticking to everything else. How someone had trashed a porch table, how someone had gotten pushed in the pool and a drink thrown in someone's face.
There was no point asking where the parents had been at this thing - at best there was a housekeeper somewhere in her quarters with her headphones watching a soap opera of some sort.
"Maybe they took them to the ER?" Rory said.
"They weren't that badly hurt, I think," Corinne replied.
"I guess, that's good, all things considered," Logan exhaled.
"Still...," Rory sighed, becoming more worried about the guys herself, knowing not every injury showed on the surface.
The sight waiting for them at the police station was not what they'd anticipated. At best, they'd expected two lonely policemen in a room that smelled of stale donuts and greasy donuts. What they got were the same two guys, the same smells, too. But on top of them it looked like the police station was being overthrown by the traveling show. No, literally - the waiting room held almost an entire circus party, clowns, gymnasts, mimes and magicians - you name it. The scene wasn't as magical as in the movie Big Fish but rather a little trashy, the smell of sweat and lingering booze being evident. A couple of them were arguing with one of the policemen, while the other was in the back, debating someone else on the phone. The rest of the people were talking expressively, some arguing amongst each-other.
"Tell me I'm not imagining this," Rory mumbled to Logan, as the two walked into the station, Corinne having stayed in the car.
"Well, if you are, we're certainly stuck in the same dream together," Logan replied, as they made their way through the crowd.
"Excuse me," Logan began to inquire from one of the policemen behind the counter, as he was looking up something on his computer.
"Just a minute, Sir," the policeman said, indicating they were busy.
Logan was growing more frustrated, seeing things weren't moving along, and he couldn't help but to let out a huff of disapproval, like one might expect someone of his status when suddenly treated as unprivileged as the next person.
"Look, I'm sorry for interrupting whatever important task you're in the middle of, but I'm looking for my teenage sons, Liam and Theo Huntzberger. I believe you have them in your custody. My name is Logan Huntzberger, their father," Logan insisted, presenting his ID, after watching the guy struggle with the computer for a long minute.
"Ah," the officer responded, those names coming indeed familiar to him.
"Are they here? Are they okay?" Logan inquired urgently.
"What's the charge?" Rory asked, focusing on the more practical aspect.
The police officer excused himself to the guy before them, saying how he needed to deal with the minor as a first priority, referring to Theo.
"We don't actually have a charge for Liam, he just refused to leave his brother as I've understood. He's waiting in the back," the man explained. "But as for Theo - despite our ability to deduct that they've both been in a fight, the only real thing we have to charge him with is possession of marihuana which will be dealt with as a civil violation," the police officer explained.
"What?" Logan reacted, this coming completely out of the blue for him.
"So, that means - like a fine or something?" Rory asked, feeling surprisingly motherly towards the boys, but felt like she needed to pull Logan into reality and keep his focus. They would deal with the 'what' and 'why' later.
Logan and Rory exchanged looks, and there was an understanding there.
"Yes, that's right," the officer replied.
"But why wasn't I contacted? Why didn't you just drive them home or something, or let them take a cab - they're certainly capable," Logan began, defensively.
"Trust me, we wanted to - but since there's little record of any of you in our databases, looking up next of kin who might be local would've been our next step, we just got backed up," the officer explained. "Besides, considering both boys have been drinking, we kept them here to be safe," he added.
"Oh," Logan reacted, thinking he should've figured that.
"We take underage drinking pretty seriously around here," the man noted.
"I understand that, officer," Logan said, being kind of stuck in how he would've interacted with the officers in London, trying to be on his best behavior as well.
Rory found Logan's changed tonality curious, almost like he was worried about how he was being perceived as a parent. She wondered whether in some scenario Logan also worried about the authorities doubting his fitness like he'd made them doubt Odette's as if karma was due to catch up with him, even if in many ways his actions had been justified.
After signing some papers and getting envelopes with the boy's belongings, Logan found himself sitting in the waiting room, seeing the room empty of the circus little by little. Was this going to be one of the many times he was going to have to do this? Had his father felt even a fraction of what was going through his mind when he'd been in their place back in the day? Not that Mitchum Huntzberger had ever been the one to pick him up at the police station before. Was he going to have to be firmer with them? Set up a local lawyer in case this happened again? What the fuck had Theo been doing with drugs? Was he using? How bad was it? Was that too, in a way, his bad influence that had rubbed off on them?
Rory had gone to get her daughter and the boys some fast food from the place next door, assuming they all could use some hangover food. She wasn't ready to have a real talk with Corinne yet, not knowing how to go about this.
The boys were bruised, but had already been given ice packs by the police, but they looked humbled, the experience having probably shocked them thoroughly even if they wouldn't admit it and see the cool factor in it too. But it was certainly a reality check for the two of them too - a realization that their life could be something very different from what it was.
The drive back, even with the prospect of burgers and fries, passed in silence, the teens not wanting to talk and the parents not knowing what to say, feeling a mixture of disappointment and confusion as to how they'd gotten to this place.
"You know, I got arrested once," Rory then decided to share and break the ice, five awkward minutes into the drive.
"You what!?" Corinne and Logan asked in unison, definitely needing some detail on that.