Perspectives

Chapter Thirty-six

Chapter Thirty-six

Saniyah cried into Keanon's chest, and he cradled her protectively whilst numerous police officers rummaged through their home. His body shook as he watched the chaos unfold in front of him, the officers mostly communicated with one another to decide which area of the house to search next and he wondered exactly what they were looking for. Keanon glanced into his bedroom which had been ransacked by two male officers. His football trophies lay scattered across the floor of his room along with pairs of trainers which had been discarded out of their boxes.

"What does this mean?" Laurel shoved the piece of paper with words she could not understand back into the officer's hand.

"I am PC Taylor and my team and I have a specific premises warrant to search this property as part of a criminal investigation."

"Criminal?" she shrieked in horror.

"We can discuss this further downstairs, if you don't mind."

"After kicking down my damn door and messing up my house, now you people want to discuss? You have treated  my home without an ounce of dignity."

"I understand your concerns, we are only here to do our jobs and the intention is not to cause harm. As the warrant states, we have been granted permission to enter and search this property as it is the residence of Miss Payton Chanel Winston and we have reason to believe she has key information regarding a potential suspect and may also be in possession of criminal paraphernalia."

"What are you-"

"Gran, let's go downstairs and do what they say." Shame covered Payton like a weighted jacket that she could not shift. She did not need to read the warrant to know she was the cause of the police disrupting her family's peace. There was a sharp pang in her chest from witnessing the officer's tear apart her brother's room when he was completely innocent. Her room was affected the most as they searched every inch of it but that did not matter to her, what mattered the most was the pain she was inflicting on her family.

The family and Abs gathered in the living room with PC Taylor and a female officer. Payton fought back tears at the sight of her little sister crying in Keanon's arms as she was determined to keep her cool in front of the officers. Leesha sat stoic staring into the air as police involvement on her first night of living independently from mental health facilities was her worst nightmare. Police officers were particularly triggering for Leesha because she felt they were involved in most traumatic events in her life and only made her feel worse. Payton did not anticipate feeling guilty for causing Leesha distress and prayed she would not be the cause of her relapse.

Laurel and Keanon openly eyed Abs, wondering who he was and why he was in their house. It was obvious to deduce that he had some form of romantic tie to Payton but as she never divulged that to her family, they were confused on the status of their relationship.

"What's your full name, sir?" PC Taylor questioned Abs whilst the other officer typed into her tablet.

"Abassi Sillah." Abs spoke firmly although he had never been so confused in his life. To his knowledge, Payton's brother was a well-behaved teenager who had no affiliations with the streets. Since the police forcefully woke them out of their sleep, he tried to catch Payton's eye and search it for some clarity but she refused to look at him. Her exterior was cold and guarded and his heart shattered into pieces at the prospect that he did not know her as well as he thought he did. Her warning that there was a lot he did not know about her rang in his ears like a glaring alarm.

"Do you have any relation to Mr Jaheim Gibbons-Trent?"

"No, I don't know who that is?" He looked around at his surroundings bewildered, wondering what Payton had dragged him into. Abs' focus was solely on advancing his music career and he had never had dealings with the police in his life. He grew up reasonably privileged and never sought that kind of lifestyle and would have never imagined that going to Payton's house to support her emotionally would land him in the middle of a police investigation.