Page 56 of Absolution

“Get out of the car, ma’am,” he demands. “Leave the keys in the ignition, and step out with your hands up.”

“What is this about?” I question.

“Are you not obeying my direct order?”

Thinking about how badly this could go should I resist, I comply with his orders and step out of the truck. His hands roughly spin me around and plaster me to the side of the cab. The officer forces my legs apart, and pats me down roughly, before jerking my hands down and cuffing them.

“Hey, why I being cuffed for a traffic stop? This isn’t necessary.”

My pleas fall on deaf ears. The officer leads me to the back of my truck, and shoves me against the tailgate.

“Do not move from this spot,” he gruffly commands. “Do you have any weapons or drugs in your vehicle that you would like to declare?”

“Are you kidding me right now? Of course, not.”

A second officer pulls up behind his squad car, and exits the vehicle with a German Shepherd leashed behind him. The officer with me steps away, and talks to the man out of my range of hearing. The canine officer opens the cab of my truck, and I watch as the dog jumps onto the seat. Within seconds, he growls and the officer handling him pulls him away from the truck.

The original officer returns to me with my purse in hand.

“What do you think you are doing with my purse?”

“Shut up,” he orders and dumps out the contents in the truck bed. Using his pen, he flips through my personal belongings, and retrieves a zip lock bag with white crystals inside of it.

What the fuck is that and why is it in my purse?

“You lied to me.”

“No, I didn’t. I have no idea where that bag in your hand came from. It isn’t mine,” I loudly protest.

“The drug dog hit on your purse, and here I am holding what looks like to be a bag of crack cocaine, but you have no idea how it got here.”

“No, sir,” I plea. “It’s not mine.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t buy it.”

The officer sets down the bag into the bed with my other belongings, before grabbing me by the cuffs on my wrists.

“Erica Delmont, you are under arrest for the possession of an illegal substance. You have the right to remain silent,” the officer starts, before shoving me into the back of his squad car.

How did one of the best days in my life lead to me being arrested? The officer shuts the door and from the window I see a familiar face on the sidewalk watching my arrest.

My father.

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