Family Ties

Five Hundred Thousand

Harry's POV

"W-What?" Hannah choked out, the shock obvious in her voice as we both tried to process what Detective Hanson had just told us.

"Troy is dead?" I asked, needing clarification.

I was just as shocked as Hannah was, considering he was perfectly alive when we left him.

"He was found this morning in an alley near his home, gunshot wound to the head." He said simply.

I looked over at Hannah, who looked at me with wide tear-filled eyes, and I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel. Troy was a piece of shit and the world was probably a better place without him, but he was still technically the kids' father, the only blood they had left besides Hannah and Doug. Luckily, they really didn't have any idea who he was, and I didn't think it would be something we absolutely had to tell them until they were a bit older.

"Since he was your children's father, you obviously have to be notified of his death. I don't imagine he had a will or much to leave them, and I'll leave it up to your discretion regarding informing them." He said, and I just nodded.

He sat across the table, carefully watching us both for our reaction, and I immediately knew he had more to say. I softly squeezed Hannah's hand, knowing I would have to take the lead on whatever it was he was about to ask us.

"I know that you recently fought Mr. Atkins in a custody battle for the children." He said.

"That's correct." I answered.

"When's the last time you saw him?"

I felt Hannah tense next to me as I stared at him, having spent enough time around cops to know he was asking a question he already had the answer to, and I knew he was already aware we'd been to his place the night before.

"Last night, actually." I said simply as he eyed me. "We went there to talk about the kids."

Detective Hanson leaned forward, crossing his hands in front of him as he leaned on the table and looked at me.

"The surveillance video from Mr. Atkins apartment shows that you arrived at approximately 11:45pm and stayed for about 30 minutes."

"Sounds about right." I stated. "We weren't there long."

I obviously knew that Hannah and I had nothing to do with Troy's death, not directly anyway, so there wasn't much point of lying about being there.

"And someone else was with you, another man."

"Correct. A friend of mine."

"And why did you go there at midnight to discuss the kids? Surely it could have waited until the next day?" He asked curiously.

"It was Christmas." I explained. "After everything that had happened in court, and him losing custody, we felt bad that he hadn't spent any time with them over the holidays. We thought maybe we could have a discussion with him about seeing them more if he got his act together. He can be difficult to track down so we figured he was most likely to be home at a later hour."

"And what was decided in this discussion?"

"Not much. He didn't have much insight into the way his behavior could affect the kids, it was obvious he didn't have their best interests in mind. I told him to call me when something changed."

I wasn't really lying, I'd learned enough over the years to make sure I could word things in a way that I was still telling the truth, without telling the whole truth. I was shocked how quickly it all came back to me, but I guess when your back is against the wall your instincts just kick back in.