Chapter 24

Proofing by Pertinax, Errors by Armitage

Lavi and I were both already standing up. Lavi was talking to Linda while I gathered up the things. We walked as Lavi talked and I deposited everything on a patio table to be taken care of later.

“Linda, what’s going on?”

There was a pause, “It’s complicated, it happened really fast. I don’t know.” Her voice was robotic.

“Is Mellie with you, is she okay?”

That got some animation in her voice. “No, she’s not okay. That’s how all this started.”

We were jogging upstairs. Lavi clearly wasn’t getting anything straight out of Linda Milton so she got the address and we jumped in the shower, did the fastest rinse off I had done since my college days of rushing for class and were out the door. Lavi drove.

“Try to call Mellie,” Lavi said.

“I’m trying but she’s not picking up.”

“Find friends.” I was already headed to the app before she had said it.

“No go, no current location.”

“Fuck, her phone must be off.”

Lavi was comfortably above the speed limit but driving safely as we headed to the police station. It wasn’t far. We looked around, figured out where to park, and were inside. I’d never been to a police station so I thought it would be like in a movie with a desk sergeant greeting people. Instead, the glass double doors just opened to a long hallway with unmarked doors and near the end what looked like a bank teller’s window. The sign said ‘Parking Tickets.’

I walked up to it to see a bored-looking middle-aged woman. She smiled neutrally at me. “Can I help you, sir?”

“Uh, I’m sorry but can you help me? We got a call that an officer Letterman has our friend here and we should pick her up.”

“Let me see...” She turned to her computer, looked something up, and then picked up her phone. “Officer Letterman, there are some folks in the lobby, said they are here to pick someone up.” ‘Lobby’ was a generous description I thought. The epitome of government blandness. It should be in a Kafka novel. “All right, thank you.” She turned to us. “He will be out in a minute.”

“Thanks.”

Lavi and I turned away looking around, not sure where he would come out or what he looked like. In just a few seconds a door close to us opened and a sturdy young man with a blonde crew cut came out carrying a clipboard. “Are you here for Linda Milton?”

“Yes!” Lavi almost jumped at him. “Is her daughter, Melissa here too?”

“Uh,” he looked uncomfortable, “no. Can you come with me just a minute?”

“Sure,” I said and took Lavi’s hand. We followed into the door he came out of. On the other side, a large room of cubicles stretched with uniformed officers doing various kinds of paperwork. Letterman motioned for us to a small meeting room, really nothing more than a 20 x 20-foot cube with a glass wall, a small table and a few chairs. We sat. He shut the door behind us.

Lavi, “Are they all right?”

“Everyone is fine,” Officer Letterman said. Lavi visibly calmed. “Can I get your names, do you have ID with you?” Lavi and I both produced our driver’s licenses and he made notes. “So ... you’re Lavi Heller, the one she called, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And your relationship to Linda Milton?”

“Uh...” she looked at me. Officer Letterman looked at her looking at me. “It’s complicated. I’m friends with her daughter.”

He let that slide and looked at me. I said, “It’s complicated too. I’m also friends with her daughter. And Lavi.” I motioned to Lavi.

“Ah. So, is there any chance you are,” he looked at his notes, “and I quote Mrs. Milton from earlier, ‘that man she is ruining her life with’?”

I took a deep breath. “I imagine I am if she said that, yes.”

“Gotcha.” He made a note.

Lavi, “Look, we can’t get ahold of Mellie, what’s going on?”

The officer put the clipboard down. “Mellissa was fine when I saw her. I can tell you what’s going into the report. I responded to a call at a local church. Melissa Milton and Linda Milton were having an altercation in the parking lot. Linda was being verbally abusive and one person reported Linda Milton striking her daughter. When I arrived the crowd had them separated and Linda Milton was being verbally confrontational with several members of the congregation as well. Melissa declined to confirm the strike so it’s not likely it will go any further. There was some indication of an impact on Melissa’s cheek but it was already fading from red when I got there. Domestic issues are hard to prosecute when the other party isn’t cooperative. Melissa left in the car and no one else wanted to give Mrs. Milton a ride home so I brought her here to finish her statement.” He gave us a thin smile. “Now, if Melissa changes her mind in the next couple of days...” He let that hang in the air. She could cause her mom major problems.

Me, “How was Melissa? She turned off her phone and ... no offense but I’m way more concerned about her than Linda.”

“She seemed fine, all things considered, but clearly needed to clear her head. I imagine that’s why her phone is off. No one indicated that Melissa struck her mother so I didn’t see a reason to hold her for any possible charges.”

At that moment Lavi’s and my phones both dinged. The text messenger id said ‘Melissa.’ Lavi was calling instantly. I only heard one side of it. “Mellie, oh my god, where are you?” “Oh, well, we came to pick up your mom from the police station.” “No, we’ll take her home.” “Fuck that are you all right?” “Yeah, he’s with me.” “No, I totally get it, it’s fine. We will be home soon.” “I love you too.”

My phone dinged again, ‘I love you.’ I replied back the same.

“She’s fine?” I asked Lavi.

“Relatively. She sounds rough,” was Lavi’s reply.

“Maybe I should grab a taxi,” I said, “I’m probably not who her mom wants to see right now.”

“I don’t really give a fuck what she wants.” There was a fire in Lavi’s eyes.

That looked bad. “Maybe we should just get her a taxi or something,” I said.

Lavi held up her hands as if surrendering. “I’ll be nice.” Something seemed off about how she said it but a stray thought distracted me.

I turned to Officer Letterman, “Why didn’t Linda just call a taxi?”

Officer Letterman shrugged, “I don’t know.”

Soon we were following the officer to a cubicle where Linda Milton was waiting. Her eyes hardened when she saw me.

“You.”

I shrugged. “Me.” I tried to interrupt an explosion in case it was coming. “Look, you don’t like me I know, but let’s just get you home.”

“Why are you here?”

“I was with Lavi when you called.”

“Of course you were.” She stood up and grabbed her purse. “Thank you, officer.” She turned and walked towards the door. I shook the officer’s hand, thanked him, and followed.

We got to Lavi’s car, Lavi driving, me in the front seat, and Linda in the back.

Our passenger sat in the back like it was a taxi. “Thank you for picking me up Lavi, that was so humiliating. I can’t believe Melissa did that to me.”

We were a few minutes out from the station and Lavi suddenly made a turn away from the neighborhood.

Linda, “Where are we going?” She didn’t sound scared, just confused. If she could have seen Lavi’s eyes she might have been.

Lavi, “We’re going for a drive.” She pulled onto the highway that circled the city. “We can drive in a fucking circles all goddamn day if we have to but you’re going to answer some fucking questions. And you’re going to answer them without bullshit.” Linda got out a nasty sounding sound that was probably the beginning of something but Lavi cut her off. “I talked to Mellie and she sounded like she was fighting off tears. That’s your fucking daughter you cunt, now if you give me shit I’ll just leave you on the side of the fucking road and you can hitchhike back until your pride wears down enough to call a fucking taxi assuming someone doesn’t pick you up to rape and murder you first which I don’t give a fucking damn about since you struck Mellie, do you FUCKING UNDERSTAND?”

That was a lot of ‘fuckings’ in one monologue I thought but looking back it did seem to have the desired effect. In my limited interaction with Linda Milton, I hadn’t seen her pale like that. I’m guessing it was a side of Lavi she’d never seen much less had directed at her before.

Quietly she asked, “Can we get something to drink?” Lavi didn’t respond so she followed up. “I’m thirsty.”

Lavi, “Sure.” Quiet followed as Lavi drove until she found an exit. We went through a drive-through and got some sodas. I texted Melissa to let her know we had to talk to her mom for a bit. Melissa didn’t respond to that but said she was going to take half a Xanax and lay down. Linda sat meekly in the back and we went back to the highway. Lavi got in the right hand lane at the speed limit and put on cruise control.

We had put about fifteen miles behind us, Linda sipping her soda when Linda finally said, sounding more like her pompous self again, “You had questions?”

“You didn’t order diet,” Lavi said.

Linda barked a bitter laugh, “That’s your question?”

“It is right now.” Lavi’s hands were calm but her eyes still looked ready to murder. “Get used to answering them.”

“All right, I figured today it really wouldn’t matter if I let it go. I’d already fucked everything else up why not some high fructose corn syrup too just to make the day a complete debacle.”

Lavi didn’t delay the followup, “Did you strike Mellie?”

Linda made no action to respond and Lavi just drove. Eventually, we neared the exit for our neighborhood again. Lavi just drove past it. More silence.

The voice came out meekly. “I did. I apologized already, I told her I’m sorry when we were still in the parking lot. I... “ More silence. Lavi just drove. “Well, I guess I’m not going back to that church.”

“Why?” This time it was me asking.

She was looking out the window. “I might have said things to the preacher.”

“Might have?”

“Fine, I did.”

“What?” Lavi asked.

“I’d rather not say.”

Lavi’s voice was completely devoid of warmth, “I don’t recall asking for your opinion about what questions you wanted to answer.”

Linda clearly had some internal conflict and then seemed to deflate a bit. “All right. I told him he was a fucking wimp and clearly didn’t have any control over his congregation and ... was probably a pedophile since he was encouraging it.”

“Why did you say that?” I asked.

“I was thinking of you and Mellisa and I thought it would hurt him.”

Lavi, “Melissa is a grown woman.”

“She’s a kid.”

“You wouldn’t give a fuck if a footballer was banging her so long as he didn’t knock her up.”

That looked like it slapped Linda. “That’s different,” she responded.

“Yeah, because Robert makes sure Melissa enjoys it and he treats her with respect.”

Linda’s face got red but this was going too far. “Lavi, stop. I understand, I really do. I want to rip her apart too...”

From the backseat, I heard “How dare...”

“Shut it,” I said, “you are a very unpleasant person and frankly I’d like to punch you in the mouth and knock your teeth out but someone here needs to act like an adult because neither of you is.”

Lavi twitched a bit. “Sorry. You’re right.” I rubbed her knee in response. “I should be thinking of Melissa.”

Linda’s voice dripped bitterness, “She doesn’t care.”

Me, “The hell she doesn’t. Do you remember the dinner party?”

“I recall your little table parade.”

“Melissa spent all night afterward telling me about the wonderful loving things you’ve done. I actually trust her judgment so despite everything I’ve seen I have to wonder if there isn’t someone there worth caring about. If I didn’t I’d just let Lavi have at you.”

“Lavi’s not like this. This is your influence making her cruel.”

Lavi, “Oh you don’t have a fucking clue, woman. I’m the queen bitch of a squad of bitches. Mellie is the angel. If it hadn’t been for her you’d have seen this side of me years ago, especially with the nasty shit you pulled on Tommy. You’ve had this coming.”