One String Attached

29.

.James.

Talking about Riley right now felt like I was betraying her but I knew it had to be done. If I wanted to get to the bottom of this, it meant having to delve into the past and as much as I didn't want to, it wasn't like I had much of an option. 

Ri and Em were still at the hospital and I could only hope that things were going okay. We don't know for sure that Riley miscarried. We didn't even know she was pregnant. But I'm also hoping that if she did, it doesn't cause her to spiral all over again.
If she does, I'll be there to catch her no matter what but there's only so much of a hold I can have on Ri before the weight becomes too heavy and she merely drops out of my arms. It's happened before, who's to say it can't happen again?

Arlene had laid out a set of different documents, some photos, and a digital device on the table. I swallow, looking over it all. I don't think I had ever seen so many documents in my life but looking at it now, it was hard to take in.
Riley's not a bad person. She's the loveliest, most beautiful person I've ever met on both the inside and the outside. No matter what they try to tell me, I'm not going to stop fighting her side. I know Ri like the back of my hand. I'm not about to let two people I've never met before enter our lives and claim that Ri's the bad one when she isn't.

"Could you explain to me what these are?" Arlene questions, pushing forward a set of papers towards me. I read over a few of them before swallowing once again. I hadn't seen those papers in a long time; for a couple of years now.
"Licenses, passports, immigration," I mumble, to which she nods.

"For Aaliyah. And are you aware that Riley tried to send her daughter abroad without the consent of the father?"
"Yes, but that was a given. And she was going to send her to Liyah's grandmother in Italy for a few months but that was several years ago. She didn't go through with it in the end," I explain sternly, really not seeing why it was so bad.

She tuts her teeth and then shuffles the papers around again before showing another one to me.
"And this?" she asks. I take it from her hands and look over it for a moment before shrugging my shoulders, still not seeing the big deal.
"A fine," I mumble. It was dated 2017, that was a whole five years ago. Riley wasn't in the right state of mind back then. 
"A fine for what?" she pesters. The officer raises an eyebrow, clearly intrigued as I roll my eyes and answer the questions.

"Drink-driving."
"Correction;" she cuts me off with the shake of her head, setting her hands down on the table. "She was drink-driving, without a car license, with an eight month old child in the backseat, and that child was Aaliyah."

I remember that night vividly. I wasn't home since I was out with West, Eldon and Hunter at the nearest pub bar. Riley had called me several times and she told me that Aaliyah was crying non-stop and she didn't know what else to do. Ri didn't have a license back then to take Liyah out for a car drive but that was the only way she used to fall asleep. 

I had told Ri to wait for me and that I'd be there in only a few minutes but it meant having to get West to drop me back at the apartment because he was the one who had picked me up from there in the first place.
Aaliyah must have been driving Ri insane, since by the time I got back, the car was gone. I remember having called her and she answered but she really shouldn't have because it was on that phone call that I heard a loud scream before there was a crash. It's just as well Riley was sane enough to have strapped Aaliyah in her car seat in the back that night, instead of in the front passengers seat otherwise she probably would no longer be here.

"Now, could you tell me what this is?" Arlene continues, moving away from the subject of Ri's drink-driving and instead passing me a report, this one from about three years ago, just after Asher was born. The officer was sat there still, quiet and listening to the conversation as he wrote down notes. 
I sigh, trying my hardest not to lose it. I had to keep going, for Aaliyah, for Asher, for me and for Ri.

I take the papers from her and read over it before exhaling with the shake of my head. I remember this report vividly too.
"A report from the neighbours upstairs," I mumble.
"Regarding what?"
"Shouting, swearing and yelling," I whisper, looking down.

Like I said, Riley was going through a phase, but it was not her fault at all.

"There was a phone call recorded between Aaliyah when she was five and one of our 999-call operators," the policeman speaks up, taking a device from out of his pocket and then holding it firmly in his hand. "I'd like you to listen to it," he says, causing me to frown before he presses a button which causes my daughter's words to replay something I had never heard once in the past. I didn't even think Aaliyah would have known how to call the police almost a year ago.

"999, how can I help?"
"Hello?" Aaliyah's soft, gentle and light voice responds through the speaker, making my breathing hitch.
"Hello," the female operator responds softly.

"My Mummy's not at home and I don't know what to do."
"Okay, what's your name, sweetheart?"
"Aaliyah."
"Okay, Aaliyah, and how old are you, lovely?"
"I turned five two weeks ago."
"Okay, and when was the last time you saw your Mummy?"

"Well . . . she didn't drop me and my brother off at school this morning because Auntie Emily did. I saw her when she tucked me and Asher in bed last night though."
"Asher?"
"My brother."
"Oh, how old's your brother, deary?"
"He's only two."
"And where's your Daddy?"
"I'm not sure. He said he was going out to find Mummy."

"And how long has it been, darling?"
"I think he left at four o'clock but it's six o'clock now. Asher won't stop crying either."
"Is Asher with you?"
"He's watching TV."
"Okay, and where's Auntie Emily?"

"I don't know. She hasn't said anything to me since she dropped me off at school this morning. It was Daddy who picked us up. But, Mummy and Daddy were arguing last night. I think it was about me. Mummy said she hated someone and she went running out. I think the same thing happened today."
"Okay, could you tell me your address, Aaliyah?"

He ends the recording there by pressing the red button and then I shuffle about in my seat, biting my lower lip. I wanted to come up with an excuse and say something like this was years ago and Ri was completely different now but how were they supposed to believe that when there's a piece of recent evidence found right in front of me?

"Excuse me, sorry," I mumble, clearing my throat before shuffling my seat backwards, causing the chair legs to scrape against the marble flooring as I make my way towards the bedroom to think. I pass the living room where the children were and their heads immediately turn to look at me.

"Daddy," Asher's voice says.
"One minute, buddy," I tell him with as strong of a voice as I could muster before entering mine and Ri's room and closing the door shut behind me.

Oh Ri . . . What have we got ourselves into?