“I have the receipt in my wallet at home. I’d say around eleven-thirty. It took a while to pick something out because I’d never really done anything like that before.”
“Like what?”
“Buy my wife chocolates.” Fuck. That sounds awkward as well. Like, I did something wrong and felt like shit, so I bought my wife a gift to cover my feelings of guilt. Fuckin’ A.
“Then?”
“Home. Got there after twelve.”
“Did you shower when you returned home?”
Fuck. I swallow hard. “Yes,” I respond in a dry voice.
“Do you normally shower in the afternoon?”
“You don’t have to answer that question,” my lawyer finally jumps in. Goddamn, I feel like he could’ve said that a few more times during this process.
“Mr. Everton, do you know if anyone saw you today during your drive through the city? Can anyone account for your whereabouts between the time you left your business and the time you arrived at Strozki’s?”
“No.”
“Hold on,” my lawyer turns to me. “You don’t know if anyone saw you or not. It’s possible. There’re a lot of people in this city.”
“Then yes, it’s possible,” I respond to the detective.
“I have one more question for you. Can you tell me what door your father used when he left the Scarlett this morning?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see him leave.” The words get caught in my throat and I expel a cough.
“But you were standing out front talking to the glass company. Correct?”
“Yes,” I take a sip of water, my hands still shaking like a scared dog.
“Is there another door he could’ve used besides the one in the back of your business? Or is that the only other way out?”
“Cove. Let’s stop here,” my lawyer says.
Thank God. Where the fuck did my father go earlier today, and why?
“What now?” I ask.
Detective Menendez gets a text and flashes a smile for the first time since she entered the room. Her front teeth are huge and remind me of Bugs Bunny. “Hold tight. I’ll return in a few minutes to discuss how we’ll proceed from here.”
She leaves and I exhale deeply.
“You did well, Cove.”
“What the fuck was that shit about? The questioning about my father?”
“I wouldn’t think too much about it. These were fairly standard questions. They want to know if anyone saw anything, and your father may have witnessed something out back without even knowing it.”
“This is completely ludicrous. Why would she do such a thing?”
“Cove, Ivy was raped by someone. She’s just not telling the police the truth about who it was.”
“I guess I’ll think twice before firing anyone else at the Scarlett. Jesus. I mean; I am truly sorry this happened to her, but this is my life she’s fucking with, and Sophia’s life as well.”
“Slow down and breathe. You haven’t been arrested and you’ll be home soon.”
Detective Menendez walks in and sets a file on the table as she shows her buckteeth with a scheming smile. “Well, the rape kit will take days before we have results, but we had someone use our new rapidHIT machine on the buccal swab taken from Ivy earlier. Results of swabs only take ninety minutes. We have a match with your DNA in our database, Mr. Everton.”
“No fucking way, I didn’t do this,” I push the file away and start to panic as my lawyer picks up the manila folder and opens it.
“Oh, shit,” he whispers and looks up at the detective then back to me. “Cove...”
“No way,” I shake my head in a panic, about to throw up. “No fucking way.”
The detective sits before me and takes my hand. “It’s not what you think. Miss Moore changed her story once we presented her with this information. She now says her attacker was a former boyfriend who followed her to the Scarlett this morning. He thought the two of you were together and went into a jealous rage. Ivy said it was him who shattered your front window.”
My head’s spinning. What’s happening? I can’t speak and my heart’s pounding. The only thing I can do is reach out to my lawyer for the folder. He places it in front of me and sighs. I open it. Slowly. I’ve done this hundreds of times at this station. Opening one folder after the next, seeing photos of myself, of other teenagers who worked for Paul, emails about hits on people, brutal sex videos, and other things from the porn industry which made my skin crawl, but nothing could prepare me for this. There are two pages. One contains lines... a bunch of dashes, set up in columns. I can’t read DNA samples, but someone has circled areas of the columns in pen. The second page...
“FUCK!” My hand grips my chair and in a split second it hits the wall, shattered to pieces. My lawyer stands and tries to calm me down, but I push past him and leave the room in a rush. There’s a hand on my shoulder as he catches up to me before I reach the lobby.
“Stop and calm yourself. Don’t do anything foolish.”
“Foolish? What the fuck does that even mean? Foolish?”
“Mr. Everton,” the detective cuts in. “Ivy deliberately made false accusations against you, which means you can...”
“Oh, shut the fuck up! Am I free to go? Are we finished here?” Two officers stand and prepare to take me down. I pant and pace, then apologize and continue out. I’m not about to get into a discussion about pressing charges or suing her, not after what I just saw.
I take the elevator down to the front check-in, huffing like a wild boar the entire way. My teeth grind... just wait, when I see my father... there, in the lobby... with my mother next to him and Sophia out front on her cell. How the fuck am I going to talk to him with them around? Fuck, shit, ass, piss, and hell.
I push forward, my legs shake and my hands tremble, I’m on fire and now we’re face-to-face.
“Cove, darling. Are you okay?” my mother kisses my cheek and wraps her arms around me, as my eyes stay glued to my father; not a blink or a smile sent his way.
“Fine mother,” I grumble in a sad attempt to hide my feelings. “Excuse us for just one moment.” I take my father by the arm and drag him down the hall into a private restroom. He takes a step away from me, scared shitless, as he should be. I’m livid.
“Do you know what the fuck I just saw?” I yell, as he raises his hands in an attempt to block my looming swing. “You do, don’t you? You motherfucker!” I’ve never acted or spoken to my father in such a way, but I’m sick to my stomach that he would do this to my mother and me, and he deserves far more than just a shout in the face.
“Keep your voice down, what’s going on?”
“Don’t fuck with me! I saw the fucking birth certificate, Dad. The detectives must have pulled it when they saw the DNA results. Your fucking name is on it! You fuck!”
“Cove, calm down. Please. Does Ivy know?”
“Goddammit!” I take him by the collar and push him into the wall. “Yes, she knows, why do you think she changed her story!”
“I didn’t know that was what happened. You have to calm down, son. Please. Your mother may hear.”
“How could you do this to her?” I repeat in an all-out rage. “How Dad, how could you do this?”
There’s a knock on the door and I hear my mother’s sweet voice. “Are my handsome men doing okay in there?” I release his shirt, run my hand through my hair, and take off in a quick pace through the small room. I want to slam my fist into something, and if the walls weren’t concrete, I would.
“We’re okay, Leondra, be out in a sec.” He tries to reach out for me, but I push his arm away.
“So, I was like, what... four? five? when you had a kid with Kaitlyn? You were cheating way back then? We weren’t good enough for you?” I lean against the wall and slide to the floor with my hands over my face. “Get out.”
“Cove.”
“Get the fuck out!” I shout and push his hand away again. “How dare you act like you gave your entire heart and soul to me as a child when you had another family.”