Slipping Away

Chapter 35

December 12th, 1995

Michael and Janet pulled up in front of the mansion and Michael pulled out his phone. It was around eight thirty and still no word from Mariah.

"Who are you calling?" Janet asked.

"The police." He stated matter-of-factly. "He's not going to let us in."

Janet sighed, resting her head on the steering wheel. "Why did I let her go alone?"

Michael dialed 911 and waited for an operator.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Hello, I'm calling because I'm concerned that someone may be being abused by her husband."

"What is the location?"

"Sarles Street."

"We are sending police, sir."

"Thank you."

He hung up the phone and tried to see their mansion, which wasn't visible from the street. He had only been inside once and it was a fortress to say the least. Their home was easily double the size of the mansion at Neverland.

"This is my fault." Janet muttered.

Michael shook his head. "Don't blame yourself, Dunk.  I don't even know why Mariah would want to go alone."

He could hear the sirens approaching and glanced at Janet before getting out of the car. The police car soon came into view and two cops, one male, one female, exited the vehicle.

"Hello, I'm Officer Panko and this is my partner, Officer Driessen." The male officer said. "So there's a domestic incident?"

"It's possible. We just wanted to make sure our friend was okay." Janet said.

Officer Panko nodded, then turned to Officer Driessen. "Well, I'm going to go see if I can get in, you talk to these two."

The officer walked back towards the house while the red-haired woman pulled out a notepad.

"So can you give any background on the situation, like what made you call. This is for the police report."

"Well, they've been married for about two years and just recently, she came to my sister's house because she wanted to leave him. Today she came to pick up a few clothes and she wasn't answering her phone." Michael explained.

Driessen wrote his words down. "So was there a history of abuse that made your friend leave her husband?"

Before either of them could reply, Driessen's radio began sputtering static. "Panko to Driessen, unconscious female about mid twenties. I need you to send for ambulance."

"Can you excuse me for a minute?" Driessen asked before going back to her car.

Janet bit her lip. "This is bad."

Michael didn't reply, trying to keep his thoughts to himself. He wanted to choke Tommy for what he had done to Mariah. All of his old feelings came bubbling back to the surface and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm himself. The heady mixture of emotions was getting to him and clouding his judgement.

Before long, the ambulance arrived and the EMTs took a stretcher back towards the house as Officer Driessen came back to them.

"Would either of you like to go to the hospital with your friend? You ride with me or in the ambulance, I need to go with her so that when she wakes up I can get her side of what happened her this evening." She asked.

"I'll go." Janet offered. "Is there any way we can get some of her things?"

Driessen paused. "I'll wait until my partner comes back out and then we'll see what he says. I don't want anyone going in if it's not safe."