Chapter 186: The False Arrest.
"While the farmer was away, though, the thing that every man fears happened to his family."
-IDEEEE, Tales of Shining Wire
Lionel-Hector was in a sad mood as he drove home. He was on his way back from the local veterinarian, where he had taken the injured weasel he had found in the morning. The vet only had to examine the creature for a few moments before drawing the obvious conclusion: it was dead, having been killed on the spot when hit on the head with the bucket. Upon hearing this, LH ran out of the building, back to his car, holding back his tears. It was only a weasel, but this was still such a pointless death...
He drove across town for a few hours, trying to clear his mind. It was only that morning that he had woken up in the field; while the hangover had subsided since then, the memory loss hadn't, and he still remained unsure just what he had done during his drunken night out. As much as he tried to recall, he kept failing, he still could not remember anything other than driving somewhere. That left him disturbed: he was in no condition to operate a vehicle of any sort, and yet he had done so anyway. It was a miracle he hadn't been involved in an accident.
He was only snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a police siren. Seeing the vehicle in his rear-view mirror, he pulled over to the side of the street. The officer stepped out of his car, and walked over to LH's; according to his badge, his last name was Dusty.
-"Have I been speeding, officer?"
-"No, I don't think so," officer Dusty replied. "I just wanted to tell you that your tail light is broken."
-"Oh." LH reasoned that he had probably damaged his vehicle when out drunk driving; this blank spot in his memory was really troublesome. "I'll go get it fixed tomorrow."
-"Until then, stay safe...wait, is that blood?"
LH looked down, and saw that his T-shirt was indeed covered with blood. This was most likely a result of the unfortunate weasel encounter. He became sad once again, thinking back at how he had killed the poor creature.
-"Hands out the window!" the officer shouted.
-"It's not human blood, I swear..."
-"HANDS OUT THE WINDOW, NOW!"
LH had frequently read in the news about police confrontations that ended badly. To ensure this wouldn't happen to him, he complied with officer Dusty's orders; he would explain the truth later, once the situation had de-escalated. He put his hands out the window, opened the door and stepped out of his car; he found himself patted down (to make sure he wasn't carrying any concealed weapons) and handcuffed. It was only once he was inside the police car, with officer Dusty driving towards the station, that he dared to speak again.
-"It's not human blood, it's animal." That was most likely the truth. Probably. Hopefully he hadn't murdered anyone while drunk...
-"A simple laboratory test could confirm that," officer Dusty replied calmly. "I will have to keep you locked up until the lab has finished, though, just in case it really is human blood."
-"I understand." LH remained silent for a few moments. "How long should that take?"
-"Usually, it's pretty quick. I would assume tomorrow, hopefully."
A few minutes later, they finally reached the police station. Officer Dusty guided LH inside the building. He took out a cotton swab and, after rubbing it over one of the blood stains on the T-shirt, placed it in an evidence bag.
-"That's it? You don't need a bigger sample?"
-"Don't need a lot of blood to make the test," officer Dusty explained. "I would offer you a clean T-shirt, but I don't have one available right now..."
-"It's fine. I've been wearing it all day..."
-"One more question before I take you to the cells: do you wish to make a phone call? It is your right, but you are not obligated to do it if you would rather not."
LH considered his options. He definitely should take advantage of this opportunity, but who could he call? In this digital age, there were very few phone numbers he knew by heart; the rest were just contacts on his smartphone (which he had somehow misplaced while drunk). He did remember his girlfriend Debbie's number; she probably wouldn't be able to do much to help (or her husband might find out about the affair), but calling her was still worth trying.
-"Yes please."
Officer Dusty handed the desk phone to LH. It was an old, black, rotary phone; practically an antique. He slowly dialed Debbie's number, and waited for her to pick up.
Debbie was sitting in her rocking chair, exhausted after the busy day she had spent cleaning up the house. She was trying to fall asleep, when she heard her phone ring. The caller ID simply said "unknown caller"; curious, she picked up.
-"Hello?"
-"Hey darling, it's me, how are you feeling on this fine night?"
Debbie instantly recognized the voice as being that of her boyfriend, and she was filled with anger. When her daughter was being held hostage, he promised her that he would answer if she called. But he broke that promise, and now that little Lucy was safe again, he was calling again, acting as if nothing had happened.
-"You have some nerve!"
-"Wait, what? Why are you..."
-"Forget this number. We're through."
LH was left very confused by this short conversation. He could not understand what he had done that had provoked such a response from the woman he loved and, he thought, loved him.
-"She hung up," he said simply.
-"I see." Officer Dusty shook his head. "I don't usually allow this, but since your first call didn't work out, I'll allow you to make a second one, if you wish."
LH thought for a few moments. Another phone number he remembered belonged to the friend with whom he had gone on the drunken spree. Considering how, the last time they saw each other, the friend ran away screaming for no apparent reason, LH had little hope that he would answer. Sure enough, after dialing, the line rang for a few minutes, but nothing else happened.
-"He's not answering," LH finally said, hanging up.
-"It's late, he may be asleep...do you want a third try?"
-"No thanks, I've already tried the only two options."
Officer Dusty nodded, then led LH to the cell room, in the back of the building. There were three cells; only the one in the middle was empty. The other two contained one inmate each, most likely awaiting transfer to a larger prison. Once LH was in the last empty cell, officer Dusty removed his handcuffs, and locked the cell's door.
-"I'll let you know when the lab results are in. Until then, if you need to go to the lavatory, yell."
With that, officer Dusty walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
LH looked around him. It was a really small cell, and it was nearly empty. There was no toilet or sink (hence the need for LH to yell if necessary), the only furniture was a small bunk in the back. There was nothing to do except lie down; the wait until the test results would be so boring...
-"What are you in for?" suddenly came a female voice from the cell on the right.
-"I didn't do it!" LH shouted back.
-"Neither did I, but we're both still here, aren't we?"
-"Not to worry," said a male voice, coming from the cell on the left. "I'm breaking out soon, and you're all welcome to come with me."
-"Please don't even try," the woman shouted back. "It's your fault I'm stuck in this mess to begin with. Following you along as you took that farmer hostage was a big mistake on my part, I should have just taken my chances with a trial."
-"It should have worked! I just didn't expect to be betrayed by the judge."
-"It's never you, is it? It's always someone else's fault. Is it that hard to admit that maybe, just maybe, you made a mistake?"
LH closed his eyes and shoved torn tissues inside his ears, trying to tune out the argument between the hardened criminals in the other cells. He had only been in jail for a few minutes and it was already too much for him; he could hardly wait for the test results to come back and exonerate him. Hopefully Sir Fredrick wouldn't be too mad at him for skipping work another day...LH suddenly realized: why hadn't he phoned Sir Fred, when officer Dusty had given him the opportunity? It was another number he had memorized. A respectable local businessman could have put in a good word for him, perhaps allowing him to be released until the lab results were processed. Unfortunately, it was now too late, and he would be spending the night in a police station with a pair of arguing idiots.