🎶 Criminal — Britney Spears 🎶
(The song choice is very sarcastic given the chapter, but I thought it would be funny 🤪)
"Well, your boss is quite the character" Gonzalo joked as we walked out of the restaurant.
"He's... I don't know. I think deep down he's actually a good guy, but for some reason he thinks the whole world is against him" I sighed. Pedri's comment had stung, but I was used to it by now and tried to stand above his pettiness.
"Well, a bit like you last year" Gonzalo said cautiously I looked at him with a sed smile.
"But I had reason to. That guy is sad because he's not kicking around footballs for two months" I sighed.
"Rodri was everything to you, and football is everything for him. You built your life on Rodri, he built his life on football" Gonzalo said, trying to be reasonable.
"Except that he's getting football back in two months and I'll be getting Rodri back when I die and meet him in heaven" I sniffled, fighting back the tears.
"Oh dear, oh dear, I know what we need. Ice cream" Gonzalo said and slung his arm around my shoulders, making me laugh a little. We walked through the city center and found an open ice cream shop - not an easy task for it being only March. We also walked down to the beach for a while, talking about about life and... also a lot about Rodri. We recalled a lot of memories, but it wasn't sad - we cherished them and laughed about the good times we had been able to spend with him.
I returned home not too late, but for my current lifestyle, it was quite late. Martina however, was still awake, on the couch binging some teen show.
"Hi" I said as I got in.
"Hi, did you have a nice time?" she asked as she stood up.
"I did. Everything went well here?" I asked.
"Everything's perfect. I'm amazed by how great your kids sleep!" she chuckled.
"I sleep-trained them, I couldn't bear the thought of sleepless nights" I replied.
In that moment my phone rang, caller unknown.
"Hold on a second" I told Martina and accepted the call with my usual "Vasquez?"
"Hello Mrs Vasquez. Inspector Garcia, Policia Nacional, station of Ciutat Vella speaking, you were listed as the emergency contact for Pedro Gonzalez Lopez, is that of your knowledge?" a man asked. My mind blanked, flashbacks of the police standing at my door over a year ago coming back.
"Hello? Mrs Vasquez?" the man asked and I was snapped back to reality, Martina looking at me with a concerned face.
"Yes! Oh my God, did something happen to him?" I asked concernedly, a million thoughts running through my head. Was he injured? Was he dead?
"He is physically well, mentally not so much. I need you to come down to the police station, he is not in a sober state to talk with us right now." the man replied and a rock fell from my heart.
"Yes, hold on a second." I said and muted the call.
"Martina, I have to go down to the police station, it seems serious. I cannot tell you any details, do you think you could stay the night? I know it wasn't-" I started, but she cut me off.
"Of course, don't worry. What happened?" she asked and tried to calm me.
"I really cannot tell you, but just make yourself comfortable, go through my closet and find whatever comfortable you want to wear" I said and put the phone back to my ear.
"I'll be with you in 20" I said and hung up.
I drove down to the police station, my hand nervously tapping on the steering wheel. What did that guy do now? I prayed that it wasn't anything bad, maybe he had just beaten up someone, we could get away with that from a PR point of view. But what if it was worse? I arrived at the building and left my car outside, thankfully I didn't have to buy a parking ticket at this time of the night.
"Hi, my name is Vasquez, I was contacted for Pedro Gonzalez?" I asked the officer at the entrance and he nodded, opening the door for me to get inside.
"I'll accompany you, then you can speak with our Inspector" the officer said and walked me to the back of the station, where we met the guy that had phoned me apparently.
"Hello Mrs Vasquez, thank you for making your way here so quickly, would you want to see him first?" the older man asked and I nodded.
He brought me to a room where an officer was sitting at a desk, in front of a big cell with eight or nine people in it. Most looked homeless, some were fully tattooed and looked like drug dealers, and then there was Pedri, both his arms hanging out of the bars, seemingly uncomfortable in the company. One of the guys in the cell whistled.
"Hot chick, Pedri" he laughed and some of the others joined in. "Hello, bonita, how about you ditch him and get me out instead?" he said to me now.
"Go sit back down in your corner and shut your mouth" I said in my serious mum-tone, stretching out my arm and indicating the far other rend of the cell. The coward he was, he pulled in his tail and quickly did as I said.
"Please get me out of here" Pedri pleaded, hair disheveled, shirt almost unbuttoned.
"What the hell did you do?" I asked him, very concerned to see him in this state.
"He was drunk driving" the Inspector behind me said and I stumbled a few steps back. No, no, this couldn't be true.
"Ma'am I am very sorry. Your husband's car collided with a drunk driver. First responders tried everything, but he died at the scene. I need you to come with me, please."
The words of that officer standing at my door last year echoed through my mind and I shut my eyes while covering my ears to get those words out of my head.
"NO!" I shouted through the whole room.
"Ma'am, if you depose the bail now, we can talk about the situation in my office" the Inspector said and I opened my eyes again to look at Pedri, hoping he would drop dead by the daggers that were shooting from my eyes. He didn't seem to get my reaction, or maybe he did, I didn't care.
"Let him rot in here and we go talk in your office" I said angrily and the Inspector looked at me surprisedly, but accepted my decision, unlike Pedri.
"What the hell?! ISA!" he shouted, but we were already walking away.
"Mrs Vasquez, let me be completely honest with you. This isn't a regular case, we are talking about a national team player here, a hero for many, I understand that we cannot proceed as usual. I will show you the tape of him tonight." the Inspector said.
He turned his computer towards me and pressed play. I saw a video of a CCTV, showing Pedri reversing out of a parking spot. He drove very slowly for a few meters maybe, but was immediately stopped by a police car. Then he showed me the video of the officer's body cam, showing a very distraught and teary Pedri, he knew what he had done and more importantly, he knew what this could mean for his career. The video ended and the Inspector turned the computer away from me again.
"What's the worst he could face?" I asked, gripping my chair as hard as I could. Not even a lifetime in jail would be enough for people like him.
"A very, very large fine and probably a year without his license. But we are talking about Pedri here" he said and I rolled my eyes.
"Of course we are" I scoffed. I did my best to push my personal thoughts aside and to look at this from the perspective of just his PA.
"Would you be ok with an overly large fine and a year of... social services?" I asked, crossing my fingers. He seemed taken aback by me immediately going for a deal.
"Please don't let him lose his license. I can't chauffeur him around for a year, he is unbearable" I sniffed, trying to use my real, emotional tears and masking them for the cause.
"We can do that, I'll talk to the prosecutor. In the meantime we will impose a bail of 50,000€, given... the circumstances of the persona. And if he commits the same crime again in a span of five years, there will be hefty consequences. I'm talking real jail." he said and I nodded, quickly pulling out Pedri's unlimited black MasterCard of which I had a copy.
He took it and told me he would be back after running it, which he did and when he was back, we walked back to the cell.
"It's your lucky day, Pedri. Better stick to calling a taxi next time" the Inspector said and opened the cell door, Pedri quickly hurrying out, clearly having sobered up.
