Disclaimer:  In first chapter.

 

 

Chapter 28

 

 

Josh heard the door open beside him.  “E, what are you doing back so soon?  What happened, did you get lost or something trying to find the john?” he asked with his eyes still closed, chuckling to himself.  When he got no answer, he opened his eyes about to say something else when he saw him.  Brad.

 

Man, this guy has some nerve, Josh thought.  Bolting up from his spot beside Debbie, Josh went after him.  From the corner of his eye, he could see his parents coming out of the other room, followed by Sam and Mr. Broots.

 

Just when Brad was about to sit down beside his still sleeping sister, Josh grabbed the back of his collar, yanking him back up.  Before Brad had a chance to compose himself, Josh roughly grasped the front of his shirt, throwing him against the wall.

 

“What the hell are you doing here, huh?” Josh hissed out.

 

The only answer Josh got was a smug smile from the blonde headed boy.

 

Irritation growing, Josh slammed him against the concrete wall again.  “Answer me damn it!  What the hell are you doing here?” he shouted angrily. 

 

“Josh, let go of him,” said Jarod beside him as both he and Broots tried to pry him loose.

 

Blue, rage filled eyes turned to Jarod.  “No, I want to make him suffer for what he did to Sarah, Debbie, and Chris tonight.”

 

After some struggling, Broots and Jarod finally tore Josh away from Brad.  As Brad straightened his shirt, Jarod turned to his son, cupping his face.  “Listen to me,” Jarod began, lightly shaking Josh’s head, “You need to calm down.  I know how angry you are; believe me I do, but all this fighting is not going to erase everything that happened tonight.”

 

Josh wriggled his face away from Jarod’s hands.  “Bull shit!” he spat out.  “You weren’t there when he beat the crap out of Chris.  Due to his beating, Chris could be blind in his left eye thanks to that scumbag,” he said with disgust as he looked at Brad with hate filled eyes

 

Pointing at the scared girl sitting on the couch, Josh continued, “And Debbie…thanks to Brad, she’ll have nightmares for the rest of her life due to this asshole!   I mean, look at her...she’s probably having a nervous breakdown even as we speak.”  He paused.  “And, what about Sarah?  I’m surprised you aren’t tearing this guy up limb for limb after what he did to her.”  Without saying another word, Josh walked away from his father as he went back to Debbie, hoping to soothe the girl’s fears away.  “It’s okay, I won’t let him hurt you,” Josh whispered soothingly to her as he glared at his father.

 

“Broots and Sam take the kids out into the hallway,” ordered Miss Parker with an eerie calm.

 

By now, Sarah was beginning to stir.  Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she sat up.  Her brown eyes surveyed the room.  When they fell on Brad, she instantly perked up and shot up from her seat, charging after him.  “Brad!” she squealed as she threw out her arms.

 

Before she got to him, Miss Parker caught her by the arm, halting her movement.  “Go with Sam and Broots,” she ordered.

 

Sarah looked between her parents and Brad before settling back on her mother.  “No,” she responded back in defiance as she wrestled her arm away from her.  “I won’t stand by and let you berate him.”

 

Miss Parker was starting to get annoyed.  Settling back, she crossed her arms as she stared down at the girl.  “Sarah, do you know what happened tonight?  Do you know this boy that you love so much, was hoping to rape you tonight?”

 

Fury burned in the teenage girl’s eyes as she took a step back from her mother.  “You’re lying.  Brad would never do such a thing.”

 

“Well, believe it,” Josh yelled out from across the room.

 

Sarah whipped her head around to Josh.  “You’re lying,” looking back at her mother, she took a step closer, “I knew you hated Brad, but God, I never knew you would stoop this low.”

 

“Young lady,” Jarod warned.

 

“Don’t young lady me,” Sarah spat out.  “I see once again that Mom has turned you against me and everyone else for that matter.”

 

Miss Parker shook her head in disbelief as she began rubbing her forehead.  Sarah was so hardheaded, where the hell did she get if from? She thought.  Taking a deep breath, she stared at the angry girl before her.  “Sarah, go with Sam and Broots.  It’s not a suggestion but an order.  Now go,” she said as she pointed a finger

 

“No,” Sarah replied back, standing firmly in place.

 

“Do as your mother says,” Jarod said in a firm tone.

 

Sarah continued to glare at her mother.

 

“Sarah, don’t make me repeat it twice,” Jarod warned.

 

After a few seconds, Sarah let out an exasperated sigh.  “Fine.”  Before leaving, she turned back to Miss Parker, “I wish you weren’t my mother.  I hate you and everything you stand for,” she hissed out.  Turning on her heels, she left the room, slamming the door behind her.

 

Miss Parker tried to remain her cool collective self on the outside, but on the inside she felt like shit.  Most times, people’s hateful words usually rolled off her shoulders, but for some reason, Sarah’s words always seemed to hit their target.  Feeling tears of frustration and hurt burning in her eyes, she quickly turned away.

 

As if taking the hint, Sam cleared his throat signaling for Josh and Debbie to leave the room.  Walking over to Jarod, Sam said, “Jarod, be careful.  Remember, don’t do anything rash.  I know you’re calm on the outside, but I know you have to be seething underneath, just…just be careful.”  Patting Jarod on the shoulder, Sam left the room.

 

Broots lingered back.  “Um, I’ll go make sure Sarah’s okay.” 

 

As the door closed behind Broots, Jarod looked over at Parker.  He couldn’t see her face since her back was towards him.  Even though she didn’t let it show, he could still see the hurt in her eyes when Sarah said those awful words to her a few moments before.  He wanted nothing more than to go over to her and comfort her; unfortunately they had more pressing matters to deal with.

 

Turning to Brad he said evenly, “Sit.”

 

“I don’t have to listen to you,” Brad spat out.

 

Without warning, Miss Parker turned around and stalked over to him.  Brad tried to push her hands away, but she was too fast as she grabbed Brad by the throat, slamming him against the wall.

 

“Bitch!  I’m going to have my father sue you for assault and battery,” he choked out as he struggled with her hands.

 

A half smile gracing her lips, she moved her face closer to his.  With only a few inches separating them she growled out, “Listen here you good for nothing sack of shit.  Didn’t we warn you to stay away from Sarah?”

 

Brad grinned back at her.  “Sarah’s a big girl.  She’ll do as she pleases, and if she wants to see me you can’t stop her.”  He laughed.  “The poor girl is like putty in my hands.  If I say jump, she’ll say how high.” 

 

Brad became quiet when Miss Parker squeezed his throat harder.  Still keeping her eyes on Brad she said, “Jarod, go lock the door and dismantle the security camera.  It’s time we have a little interrogation of our own.”

 

“What?  What the hell are you going to do?” Brad gasped as his breathing continued to be labored.

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she sneered.  Glancing behind her she asked, “Jarod, do you have a pocket knife on you?”

 

“Yeah,” he answered back as he pulled it out.  “Why?”

 

Turning back to Brad with an evil grin on her face she commented, “Well, I think it’s time we played a little game with Brad called ‘How much do I love my hands?’”

 

“You’re nuts,” Brad whispered out in disbelief.  “You won’t get away with this.  When my father finds out, which he will, there won’t be enough judges in this damn country to save your sorry asses.”

 

Still smiling, Miss Parker grabbed him by the back of the neck, throwing him down in the metal folding chair that sat beside the table.  Turning to Jarod she said, “Come over here and hold his hand down.”

 

Jarod gave her a hesitant look.  “Parker, as much as I would love to go with your plan, we can’t do this.  Remember what the detective said?  Besides, we can’t threaten someone’s life while trying to get some type of confession out of him.  If we do, his case will be thrown out on a technicality due to duress.”

 

“I don’t believe this crap,” she replied with disgust.  Taking her hands off Brad, she began pacing back and forth.  “So, what you’re telling me Jarod is that Brad is going to walk away from this unscathed?  Sorry, but I can’t accept that.  Somehow, as God as my witness, he’ll pay for what he did.”  Pausing, she looked down at Brad.  “Why did you come in here?”

 

“Well, I wanted to make sure Sarah was okay and to…to apologize, but it doesn’t matter because you’ve had it in for me since you’ve met me.  In fact both of you have,” he answered back bitterly.

 

“That’s a lie and you know it,” she scoffed.  “I bet you thought you could come in here and finish what you started.”

 

Brad ran a frustrated hand through his hair.  Looking up at her he said, “I love Sarah, and would never harm her in any way, let alone rape her.”  He paused for a moment letting the words sink in before continuing, “Have you wondered to yourselves that maybe Debbie is lying about what happened?”

 

Now it was Jarod’s turn to scoff.  “Are you kidding me?  Why in the world would Debbie lie about something like this?”

 

Brad looked over at Jarod, smiling at him.  “Well, from what I’ve heard about Debbie it seems she has a somewhat rough home life.  With an absentee mother, this could somehow be a way for her to grab attention from everybody, especially her father.”

 

Miss Parker glanced over at Jarod.  “Well Jarod, it looks like we’ve got a regular Dr. Phil here on our hands,” she commented sarcastically.  Staring down at Brad she said, “Sorry, but I don’t buy your pathetic psycho drabble.”

 

“Whatever lady.”  Pushing his seat back he got up.  As Miss Parker continued pacing back and forth again, Jarod watched him like a hawk.  Looking down at his hands, Jarod noticed something.  Taking a step closer, Jarod could see at what appeared to be scratch marks, fresh ones by the looks of them.

 

“What happened to your hands?” Jarod asked conversationally.

 

“What?” asked Brad as he looked down at his hands.  Jarod could see the surprise flicker in his eyes, as if he noticed them for the first time.  “Oh that, I…I…it’s from a cat that lives on our street.  She sure is a feisty thing,” Brad replied, but not in his usual confident tone.  If Jarod wasn’t mistaken, the boy sounded almost scared, as if been caught doing something bad.

 

The wheels began turning in Jarod’s mind.  Before he could do anything, Detective Henderson walked in the door.  “Listen folks, I’m sorry Brad came in here.  As for the test results, they came back negative, but we’ll talk about that later.”  Looking pointedly at the man in question he continued, “As for you, you shouldn’t be in here.  I think it’s time for you to leave.  I think you’ve caused enough trouble for tonight.”

 

Before Brad left, Jarod turned to the detective and spoke up.  “Wait detective, before Brad leaves, I need to talk to you in a private.  It will only take a second.”

 

With a quick nod, Henderson motioned for Jarod to follow him in the corner.  Once they were settled Jarod began to explain his theory.  He smiled as the detective whole heartily agreed.  Henderson quickly left the room.  Minutes later, he returned with Broots, Debbie, and someone from the crime scene unit.  Turning to look at Brad, he could see the boy slightly blanch before him.  One look into his eyes, Jarod knew he was guilty without a shadow of a doubt.

 

“What are they doing in here?” Brad asked shakily.  “Where’s my father?  I want him here right now.”  No sooner had he uttered the words did Mr. Cox come walking in.

 

“What’s the meaning to all of this?” Cox demanded in an outrage tone.

 

As the detective filled in Mr. Cox, Miss Parker walked over to Jarod.  Standing beside him she asked, “What are you up to, Jarod?”

 

“You’ll see,” he responded back coyly.

 

They remained silent as Debbie sat down across from Brad with Broots right by her side.  Glancing up at Mr. Cox, Jarod could see he was seething underneath his cool exterior.

 

“Brad, it seems you may be in a world of trouble now,” the detective began smoothly.  “See, when you tried to inject Debbie with that drug, it seems you two struggled a bit, resulting in the scratch marks you now have on the top of your hands and arms…”

 

“So,” Brad interjected defensively.

 

The detective smiled at him.  “Well see, sometimes when someone scratches another person they tend to get that person’s DNA under their fingernails.  As you can see, our lab technician is scraping under Debbie’s fingernails to see if your DNA is under her nails.”

 

Jarod could tell Brad was becoming nervous as he began shaking his leg under the table.  “Big deal,” he replied back trying to remain calm.  “I know this is only a scare tactic to try and freak me out.”

 

Beside him, Jarod glanced over at Parker to see her smiling from ear to ear.  Still keeping her eyes on the scene before her she commented, “Jarod, you’re brilliant.”

 

Jarod sighed dramatically.  “I know.”

 

Miss Parker playfully punched him in the arm, her smile never wavering.  “Brad’s ass has just been nailed to the wall.  We’ve got him.”

 

XXXXXX

 

To Be Continued…