Colton's Spring

Chapter 2

The pounding was back. Only this time Colton couldn't figure out if it was the door or his brain. He had vague memories of a whiskey bottle, Spring Dixon, and then passing out. Now, however, everything seemed vague. Like it was happening to someone else. Like he was having an out-of-body experience.

Still, the pounding just wouldn't stop.

No, the pounding in his head was matching the pounding on his door.

"Colton Pritchard, open the door or I'll break it down."

Funny, that sounded like Chantale Baldwin. No, he remembered, Chantale Byrne. She'd gone and married the guy Colton had arrested. Erroneously, as it turned out, but she hadn't know that when she'd slept with Byrne.

"Colton, I'm going to start making phone calls if you don't open up. I'll start with Greg Wilder, then move on to Seth Jacobs, then I'm sure Dorrie Duhamel would want to-"

He cut her off by opening the door. "You wouldn't dare," he growled.

"Nice to see you too," she said, stepping under the arm which was supporting him against the door jam. He kept forgetting how short the woman was. He was almost a foot taller than her, but he had never intimidated her. No, the woman had a spine of steel.

She went right over to the windows and threw them open.

"Hey," he said. "It's November and it's cold outside."

"Well it stinks in here," she retorted. "Besides, the fresh air will do you good." She surveyed the condo. It wasn't too messy, but it wasn't the normal meticulous place he kept. Not that Chantale would know that. He'd entertained her here maybe once. No, he had always preferred to go to her place. In fact he always preferred to go to the woman's house. That way he could leave whenever he wanted.

Apparently Chantale wasn't finished. "Go and have a shower and shave," she said in that bossy tone he was well-familiar with.

"I don't have to do anything," he said.

For just an instant, her face softened. Then it went back to being hard. "They're going to be here in half-an-hour to arrest you, Colton. I would prefer that you be clean-shaven for your mugshot, if you don't mind. Now, hurry the hell up."

Arrest? They were going to arrest him?

Of course they were. He'd been accused of an unspeakable crime. Why he hadn't been arrested two days ago when he'd been put on suspension was beyond him. Probably they had thought they were giving him time to get his affairs in order. Because they had known he wasn't going to run. It had never even occurred to him to run. No, he was a cop to the marrow of his bones and that meant owning up to what he'd done.

"I'll be quick," he said. "But my head is hurting like a son of a bitch."

Chantale walked over to the bottle of whiskey and pretended to examine it. "Given that you never drink, I can only imagine. Less talk, more action."

Unsurprisingly, the two police officers who came to his door were two he didn't recognize. They introduced themselves as Officer Bonnie Noland and Officer Andrew Blaise of the Abbotsford Police Department. Abbotsford was the next town over from Mission City and they had their own police department whereas Mission City used RCMP officers.

Officer Noland read him his rights while Officer Blaise snapped on the handcuffs. In the front, Colton noticed, and it was appreciated. He wasn't known for making such gestures when he was arresting perps.