For the Love of the Law

Chapter Four | Playing Detective

"What do you mean assaulted?" I asked, a cold swell of fear swirling in my stomach. "I thought you said he went straight to the library."

"He did." My dad said, his whole body suddenly tense as he stood and started to find his phone and car keys. "Someone must have seen him and decided they would beat him up."

I didn't ask why, because I knew the answer would be because of the accident. Because of Jamie.

Her name sent a cold shiver down my spine, and I gulped down the sudden fear I felt for Marley. It was strange that he'd been the one assaulted, considering he used to take boxing and he was quite a bulky guy for his age.

But there was bigger and bulkier and certainly meaner people out there, wanting to hurt him.

So when dad, Stan and Flynn all started to move out the door, I followed them.

"Harlow, you can't come. This is police business." Dad said, frowning when he noticed me behind him. I clenched my keys in my hand, out of sight, because I knew they wouldn't let me tag along but I had already decided to follow in my car anyway.

"You're not a police officer."

"This is different, and you know that." Dad said, giving me a 'don't you dare argue' look. I shut my mouth because it was true, this was different.

Dad had been to a call out with Marley like this before. It was only a couple weeks after the accident, and he had been cornered in one of the towns alleyways by Jamie's brother while they took to him.

If I had been one of them, in a sad, cruel way, I probably would have done the same thing. But I knew the truth, and the fact that my brother was innocent for all of the things people blamed him for only made me that much more determined to try and protect him.

"And don't even think about following us. Stay here, you hear me?" Dad said sternly, looking me right in the eye.

I felt bad for a second, because I knew I wasn't going to follow his orders, but I sighed and nodded anyway.

"Will you call me if he needs to go to the hospital?" I asked, and dad nodded before getting into the back of Stan's police cruiser. Flynn's eyes held mine for a few seconds, before he nodded slightly and got into the passenger seat, his face set with impassiveness.

As soon as I could see the red of the back tail lights going down the road, I quickly spun to run inside and get Sophie, but she was already behind me, holding two coats and her cell phone.

"We better get going before they get too far ahead." She said, and I smiled gratefully as she handed me my jacket and we hurriedly jumped into my car, shooting out of the driveway and took off after the police cruiser.

It wasn't the first time Sophie and I had done this. We used to follow Stan's cruiser sometimes when we were bored, and drive past where ever he stopped to check out what he was up to, like the nosy two we were. If dad had ever found out he probably would have grounded me, but I knew Stan hadn't told him.

Not that I knew Stan knew, until I saw him watching us from his rear view mirror. He had never said anything though, only smiled and shook his head, like he knew something we didn't.

I stopped at the streets red light, wishing for it to hurry up and turn green before taking the next left and heading towards the library. My heart started to pound when I thought of all the bad things that could have happened to Marley, who could have done it, why.

It really made no sense. He had been targeted just after the accident, when everyone was still angry and hurt and grieving, when they weren't thinking straight and the only person they thought to take it out on was Marley. My throat constricted a little when I remembered back to those times last year, the death threats he got in the mail, the destruction of his property, the rocks through the house windows with warning messages attached to them. He had never shown just how much they'd affected him, but I knew deep down that when the town - our town - turned it's back on him, it damaged him more than I could imagine.