Reprise

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

'Right, we have to go down there,' Mum is saying.

'How much have you had to drink?' Daniel asks her. Mum sends him a scathing look, but it's evident that she's not fit to drive down to the police station. Daniel agrees to drive. He pulls his hair back into a ponytail, changes his shirt, and puts on shoes. I do the same, while Mum touches up her makeup, as if when bailing your husband out of a police station on a Tuesday night, when you've been drinking, you must have flawless foundation.

'Do you think tears will be effective, or should I just power in there and start making demands?' Mum is saying as we're getting into the car. I don't answer her, and Dan turns up the radio.

'I guess it depends who is on duty,' Mum answers her own question. 'Some men are very responsive to a dominant woman.'

Sitting in the back of the car, I begin to wonder what exactly was in Dad's book that made the police reopen George Addison's missing person case. Had Dad revealed some important fact that made the police suspect George was murdered? But why would Dad reveal those things now, and not when George went missing in the first place? Had he kept things secret from the police thirty years ago?

The police station is a small brick building on a main road with only a few car spaces, all except one taken up by white and blue police cars. There's an unmarked black van parked around the back of the building, and I can see the speed radar gun inside. We walk through the front door, where an old, fat policewoman is sitting at a desk. It's almost six o'clock, and I can tell that she's ready to go home. Her uniform is faded and stretching at the buttons, indicative that she first wore it many years ago, when she was slimmer.

'Is Donald Bennett here?' Mum asks straight away. The woman blinks at Mum, surprised. Mum does cast a powerful shadow, with her business attire, pump heels and perfect blonde hair. I see that she's gone for the powerful woman stance.

'Yeah, I think Rob's interviewing him,' the woman says. 'Why, you know him?'

'He's my husband,' Mum says.

The woman raises her eyebrows, evidently surprised. A tall, beautiful blonde businesswoman like Mum is the last person anyone expects would marry Dad, a messy-haired, tattooed ex-drummer still working in the entertainment industry.

'He's not arrested or nothing,' the woman says. 'Rob's just asking him some questions pertaining to the death of an individual twenty years ago.'

'Death of an individual?' Mum says. 'You mean George Addison. He was our friend, and he committed suicide. Don't say it as if he's just another case file.'

The woman rolls her eyes. 'Right, I'll go get Rob. I think he has to go home soon anyway. His son's here.'

She nods across the police station, and I follow her gaze. A teenage boy is lying across two chairs in the corner of the room, reading a book. My stomach jolts as I recognise him. Nelson Forrester is sitting in the police station where my father is being interrogated.

The woman disappears into the back of the police station. Daniel takes a seat, and I hastily sit down beside him, trying to obscure myself from Nelson's vision, in case he looks up from his novel.

'That's Nelson Forrester,' I whisper to Dan. 'You know; the Prisley guy? He's Lucas's best friend.'

Daniel raises his eyebrows. 'Did that lady say he's the police officer's son? If Nelson's dad is anything like he is, he's probably a massive dickhead.'

'And he's the one accusing Dad of murdering George? Figures,' I say.

The policewoman returns after a few minutes, with both Nelson's father and mine in tow. My father is looking a bit aggravated. His sleeves are rolled up past his elbows, revealing the tattoos, and I can see the patches of sweat under his arms. Robert Forrester looks much younger than he should be to be the father of Nelson. His buzz cut and thick neck made him look more like a military man than a cop. The blue shirt with the patches on the shoulders fit very snugly, showing off his thick arms. He leads Dad out, and says to him, 'We'll give you a call later, Mr Bennett. We've still got a lot of things to discuss.'