The Ballad of Katie: Somewhere Under Heaven Series

Living On The Edge

There's somethin' wrong with the world today
I don't know what it is
Something's wrong with our eyes

Aerosmith's Livin' On The Edge

Rob's POV

Stephen Malone just bragged about raping Katie.

"What?"

"You heard me, I railed your daughter. You and Casey sure raised a fine girl. Nice and ripe if you ask me."

"Look here, Malone, you're a fucking pervert and I will see to it that they lock you up and throw away the key, you bastard!" I hang up the phone and toss it on the couch next to me. I can't believe this shit. He raped Katie?! Casey and I trusted him and he betrays our trust by raping our daughter?! This has to be every parent's worst nightmare.

Sgt. Williams walks in to see the look on my face and it says it all. "Let me guess, he called you," she says to me.

"He called me. That bastard is bragging about how he raped my daughter. Who the fuck does that?"

"Do you know where he lives?"

"He's in Ewing." I then give her the address and she gets a unit to go out there. 

"There's a part of me that wants to go and punch this asshole out myself," I tell her. "He's got a teenage daughter himself. Wouldn't he think that the last thing any father would want to hear is what I just heard about Katie?"

"You know, I have a daughter around Katie's age so I understand that urge because if it were me, I would be the same way," Sgt. Williams tells me."The last thing you need to do, however, is go after him because right now, there's a girl who is hurting, scared, and needs her dad. We'll take care of getting Stephen Malone because right now Katie needs you." She then pauses for a second and tells me something that she noticed. "I know your daughter adores you because the first thing she told me in the ambulance was 'Someone needs to call my dad.' Most girls in this situation would want their mother but Katie wanted you." 

"My wife's been in Chicago at a conference all week," I tell her. "I called her just as she was getting out of Philly International with the news. She's on her way here. Of course Katie probably would have wanted you to call me anyway because while she loves her mum, we always had a rather unique bond. Casey chalks that up to Katie being born on my birthday plus there's how I donated bone marrow to her when she had leukemia but either way, Katie always knew her dad has her back ." 

"See, that's why you can't go off on the handle and go after him. Katie needs you now more than ever. If it were me, I would feel the same way but I would probably put my daughter's needs before anything else." 

After Sgt. Williams leaves, my phone rings again and this time it's Casey. "Casey, please tell me you're almost here," I say to her.

"Shane just dropped me off at the ER entrance," she tells me. "Also, he's on his way to the police station."

"What happened?"

"Stephen Malone bragged to him about raping Katie."  

Stephen Malone is bragging about this to everyone?! In the great words of the philosopher Casey Pattinson: FUCK A DUCK!

Casey's POV

I asked Shane to drop me off at Capital Health Hopewell and if he could, take my bags over to the house. He agreed and told me if we needed anything to call him.

I rush in and see a young woman at the desk. "I just got a call that Katherine Pattinson was brought in. I'm her mother." 

She's just about to get someone to help me when a police officer comes up to her.  The officer sees me and says, "Assemblywoman Pattinson, I'm Sgt. Williams."  Sometimes being the most loved member of the NJ General Assembly is a bit odd, isn't it?