When everyone woke up the next morning, it felt a little more back to normal than some had assumed it was going to be. The kids were stirring earlier than the parents but that happened everyday, and Peter made the effort to get up rather than veg in bed and procrastinate. He was eager to see how Nathan slept that night and whether or not he was getting along with his siblings. Peter crept down the stairs and realized the bed was already folded back into the couch and Nathan was no where to be seen. He strolled into the kitchen where the kids were munching on cereal to see if his son was there with the other kids. This however was not the case as Nathan wasn't in the kitchen either. Peter looked around a little more.
"Has anyone seen Nathan this morning?" Peter asked the kids.
"Nope." One of the girls called back.
"Not me," Jacob said as he was actually frying an egg for his breakfast. His mother had been showing him slowly how to cook his own stuff and he had taken a liking to this independence but was all right starting with just the simple stuff.
"Maybe he went for a walk on the beach," One of the girls suggested.
"Maybe." Peter said as he wandered around. Something didn't feel right to him but at the moment he was too tired to tell what was out of place. He decided to keep checking after he got a cup of coffee into his system. Peter walked over to the machine and put together a strong batch and set the machine to brew a whole pot for Sonya and himself. They would likely have it entirely done by lunch, mostly him because Peter required a lot of caffeine to concentrate on his work. While Peter was watching the coffee pot do its thing, something dawned on him. He was looking past the coffee machine and at the door. Right beside the door was a small hook. It was not the hook that caught Peter's attention, but the fact that something wasn't hanging on it that looked out of place. That was the hook where Sonya left her keys. He stood up straight and walked over to the hook. Peter paused for a moment and then bolted upstairs to the bedroom. As he came bursting into the room, Sonya was in the bathroom cleaning herself up and getting ready to come down.
"Sonya." Peter asked as he came into the room. "Where are your keys?"
"Where they always are," Sonya said, never taking her eyes off the mirror. "On the hook by the door."
Peter took a deep breathe. Why would Nathan take Sonya's keys? Then the answer came to him, and he ran over to the bedroom window.
"Aw, shit!" he called out when he realized something when he opened the window. Sonya's red car was missing. Nathan had not only taken the keys, he had stolen the minivan.
Sonya came out of the bathroom when she realized her husband was really upset. "What's going on?"
"Nathan isn't here, and neither are your keys or the van!" Peter said as he moved the drape aside to reveal the empty parking lot outside their summer house.
"Aw, shit!" Sonya said also called out as she looked outside. She was anticipating some form or rebellion from Nathan, but this was too much too soon. "What the hell are we going to do about this?"
"Nothing," Peter said, taking out his cell. "I'll get Ray to take care of it."
Peter said as he took out his cell phone and dialed the number. From the sounds of it, Ray was already on the road, likely ending a very long night shift when he picked up. "Ray, it's Peter. We have an issue here at the house with Nathan."
"Already?" Ray replied. "What has that little shit done?"
"Oh, not much," Peter answered, trying to stay calm. "He got up early, took Sonya's keys, and stole the van."
"Why that little piece of shit!" Ray cursed, as Peter could hear the sound of his car turning around. "Please tell me that van has all the fixings."
"You know it does," Peter answered.
"Then this is going to be the shortest car theft in the history of this town," Ray said as he asked Peter to text all the information on the vehicle and he would call it in himself. "I'll call ya back when I have him."
Peter hung up the phone and looked back at Sonya.
"Everything will be fine." He honest said with a warm smile.
"How do you know that?" Sonya said, visibly upset.
"When I got this minivan, I didn't hold back on any of the extras." Peter explained, "That van has a GPS tracker and an override that can be remotely activated. When Ray gets close enough to the car, he will call the company and ask for them to do an emergency remote shutdown. The car will stall and act like its out of gas and Nathan will have to pull over. Ray will jump in and that's it; game over."
"I didn't know you could do that with cars these days." Sonya said, as she started to calm down a bit.
"Technology has improved greatly," Peter said as he came over and gave her a hug. "Despite what he's done, I feel sorry for my son right now. When Ray gets his hands on him, that kid is in serious trouble."
* * * * *
Nathan punched the dashboard in frustration. He was barely a few miles out of town and the car was not responding to his commands. The engine just seemed to die without and notice or alarms to give him any indication that something was wrong. Before he could do anything else, the answer to his questions came running up on him like a bat out of hell. Ray's truck, with lights on and siren blaring came over the hill and screeched to a halt in front of the minivan and its thief. Nathan watched in fear as the big Sheriff got out of his truck, took off his sunglasses and gave him the coldest stare he had ever seen in his entire life. Ray had just finished a night shift and wasn't in the mood to negotiate.
"You listen here, boy!" Ray roared at him, slamming his own door as he almost growled every word, "Get your punk ass out of the car, or I'll drag you out through the damn window myself!"
Daniel was about to say something, but Ray never gave him the chance.
"NOW!" Ray called out at the top of his lungs.
Nathan didn't need to be asked twice as he stepped out of the van and slowly took a few paces towards the big man.
"I'm sorry," Nathan called out.
"Oh, you will be, I guaran-damn-tee it." Ray said as he walked over and grabbed the kid back the back of the head. He slammed Nathan's chest into the front hood of the van and immediately took out his handcuffs. "Nathan Anderlini... you are under arrest for grand theft auto, reckless endangerment, driving without a license, and pissing me off before breakfast!"
He cuffed the punk and treated him no differently than he would any other perp who had just stolen a car. He tossed Nathan into the back of his car and called in the stolen van to the station. Ray slammed the door with authority, and practically growled as he walked up to the front and pulled out the radio from his jacket. He called someone to come out and get Peter's van and have it towed. They both waited there for the two truck to arrive. Ray walked over and took the driver aside and talked to him far enough away so that Nathan couldn't hear them.
"What happened here?" the tow driver asked.
"Grand theft auto ended by remove shutdown," Ray answered.
"Damn, Sheriff," the tow driver said, mildly impressed. "Now that is how you start the day."
"Uh huh," Ray said, as he wasn't in the mood for chitchat, "I wanted you to tow this thing to Dave's garage, and get him to restore the vehicle. After that tell Dave to get someone to drop it off at my summer home with the Anderlini family."
"Will do, Sheriff," the tow driver said, tipping his cap.
"Good man," Ray said, as he passed the man a nice tip for being cooperative.
After speaking to two driver, Ray took out his cell and contacted Peter. After a few rings there was an answer. "Peter, it's Ray. We got the little bugger just on the outskirts of town. The van is fine, and the override worked perfectly. He's in the back of my truck right now and I just wanted to ask what you guys wanted to do. Alright, that sounds good to me. I'll meet you at the station. Don't hurry on our account; I want this kid to have plenty of time to think about what he's done."
Nathan watched as Ray finally returned to the truck and sat back down in the driver side seat and closed the door.
"Where are we going?" Nathan asked. "Are you taking me back to the summer house?"
Ray let out a soft chuckle. "You've broken the law kid. We don't sent criminals to any summer homes here, son. We process them and bring'em to the judge. We'll let him decide what happens to you next."
"Wait, I'm not going home?" Nathan said, somewhat shocked.
"You catch on quick, genius." Ray said as he started his truck. "You stole a car, son. So, I'm taking you back to the station and am going to process you. I suggest you shut your cake hole and exercise your right to remain silent."
The big man never said another word as he pulled out and left the van to the two driver to take care of. As he was driving back to the station, Ray could sense that Nathan was experiencing multiple emotions as he was being brought to justice. There were moments when he was afraid and scared for his life. Then there were times when Ray could have sworn the kid was going to break down and start crying, but he never did the entire trip to the station. Ray considered talking to the young man but didn't want to be kind to him just yet. Ray was determined to keep playing the bad cop, as it was his specialty and his favorite role to play. After pulling into his own parking spot in front of the station, Ray hopped out of the car with a huff and then slammed the door. He then proceeded to open the back door and drag Nathan out who seemed to squirm a bit now that the fear of being arrested had finally kicked in. Ray knew how to work with it and had no issue dragging the little punk inside. Once in the main lobby, Ray handed off the boy to one of his few deputies that was waiting.
"Process this punk," Ray ordered, "Also give him his own cell so he can have some quiet time to process what deep shit he's in."
"What are the charges, boss?" the deputy asked.
"That would be grand theft auto, driving without a license, driving without insurance, reckless driving, and pissing me after a long night shift." Ray said, taking off his hat as he walked off towards his office.
"Alright boss," The deputy called out, "I'll take care of that right now."
The deputy said as he took Nathan by the arm and dragged him to a specific room for booking. Nathan cuffs were finally taken off but only so that he could be fingerprinted and processed by the deputy. He could see Ray was still watching him from his office, but the only difference was he was enjoying it a little more with a cup of coffee and a honey curler donut. Once booking was done, they took Nathan's mug shots before finally taking him down to the basement where the holding block was. There were several cells down there, but because this was such as small town there were hardly anyone down there. Usually on a Friday or Saturday night you'd fill two or three with people who had too many to drink and were causing a ruckus, but this morning on a weekday every cell in the block was empty. Nathan was a little nervous because it was so dark down there but that soon changed when the deputy put on the lights. Every cell had a single bed, a bench, and a toilet with a sink. Nathan was tossed into one of the modest cells, the one closest to the door. After locking in, the deputy pointed up to the camera on the opposite side for the bars, letting the little guy know that they would be watching.
"See you a lunch, kid." The deputy called out, before slamming the cell shut.
With that the deputy closed the main door which locked from both sides and went back upstairs to do more work.
Nathan had light there in the cell, but it wasn't very much. Just enough to light his room and door going upstairs as the others were left off to conserve electricity. Nathan walked over to the bed and sat down. He didn't have a single thing to read or keep him busy. He had an mp3 player on him, but Ray took it away when patting him down. Even his cell phone which was capable of going online and watching videos was taken away as well. Ray wasn't going to cut the kid a bit of slack as he was determined make the kid's first visit in the slammer as uncomfortable as possible. The young man sat there in the cell, hugging his knees and took every second he was in there to think about his mother, as well as his life and where it was going. He also had plenty of time to figure out what an ass he had been and how much trouble he could really be in should anyone decide to press real charges. A criminal record would make his life a lot more difficult, which was the last thing he wanted. Nathan had promised his mother over a year ago that he would make it to college, but he was on the verge of breaking his promise because he didn't want to stay and try to get along with his new family. Nathan's new private hell was not his liking, and the longer he stayed in that dark and quiet cell the more comforting that summer house started to look.
What felt like days of solitude was only a few hours when Ray finally came down to check up on him. The big sheriff came into the holding room carrying a small tray that was transporting his lunch: Soda crackers, an apple, a small carton of milk and a peanut butter and jam sandwich.
"Lunch time, kid." Ray said, as he slipped the tray through an opening in the cell that was made for delivering food.
Nathan hopped out off the bed and walked over to the cell door to take his tray of food.
"Thank you," he quietly whispered before taking the tray back to the bed to eat. He hadn't eaten a thing that day and was quite hungry.
"You're welcome." Ray said as he walked over to the other side of the hallway.
There was a chair that he grabbed the top of it and made a small shrieking sound as Ray intentionally scraped it across the floor before sitting down on is backwards using the back of the chair to rest his arms.
"You and I need to have a little chat." Ray informed him.
"About what?" Nathan said, not looking up from his lunch.
"About your future." Ray simply answered.
"What about it?" Nathan came back with another question.
"Do you want to have one?" Ray asked, "Because stealing cars and trying to cross a state line with it isn't the way to go, unless you're trying to flush any chance you have at a good life down the friggin' crapper!"
"I'd rather speak with to judge." Nathan defiantly replied.
"Oh, well that's not going to happen for a while." Ray answered, "You see, his honor doesn't work on Fridays. If I know him, he's probably already at his favorite fishing hole, trying to catch a bite."
"What the hell does that mean?" Nathan asked.
"It means your ass is mine until Monday," Ray answered, "You see his honor also doesn't work on weekends. So, go ahead and be as stubborn as you want. I've got oodles of time to wait for you to grow up. Since you don't seem to be in a very talkative mood right now, I'll give you more time to think it over. Supper is in five hours, so we'll try again then."
With that Ray hopped out of his chair, walked over to the door, and used his key to open and then relock on his way out. Nathan listened as Ray's hard boots made a distinctive sound as they made their way back up the stairs to the main floor. Until then Nathan really didn't know what it felt like to be truly left alone. He never really felt true solitude until that day when he spent hours and hours alone by himself, which Ray knew would really rattle the kid's cage. Nathan was a selfish brat that had really been taking advantage of his mother and her busy work schedules and it was about time he got a very serious reality check. The old sheriff knew the only way this kid was going to turn around and get back on the right track would treat him like a wild stallion. That meant Ray was going to have to break the young lad's spirit before any kind of rebuilding could take place.
It was just the thing Nathan needed to get the message loud and clear. Being alone that day reminded him of many things. He quickly remembered that his mother was truly gone and could never show up to bail him out like she used. It also gave him the impression that if he didn't stop being such a punk, this might be the only view he might have for the rest of his natural life. Spending the rest of his life behind bars wasn't exactly how he wanted to honor his mother's memory, and that's when Nathan really started using the time he had to think about what was going on and more importantly, what he was going to do about.