Page 65 of Black Heart

“Detective Black?” Jonathan, a seasoned patrolman, said, drawing his attention to find the older man standing in the doorway, holding a folder in his hands. “I have an arrest that you might want to take a look at,” Jonathan said, reminding Tristan that he needed to focus when he was at work and keep his mind off of all the things that he wanted to do to Marty.

Tristan stood up and took the folder from Jonathan. “What do you have for me?” he asked as he opened the folder and looked it over.

“Twenty-year-old kid got kicked out of college, came home, and decided that he was going to raise a little hell,” Jonathan explained as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the doorframe.

“Looks like he had a hell of a night,” Tristan murmured as he looked over the list of complaints against the kid, vandalism, assault, resisting arrest, trespassing, possession of a narcotic, and sexual assault on a young woman.

“His mother wants to talk to you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Tristan said, not really caring as he looked over the kid’s past arrests, DUI, assault, and theft.

“She’s claiming that this was all a big misunderstanding. She’s already managed to talk Ralph out of pressing charges for the damage the kid did to the bar as long as the kid pays for all the repairs and never sets foot in there again,” Jonathan explained.

“Is she harassing the young woman as well?” Tristan asked, his mood turning sour at the thought of the young woman that had been sexually assaulted being harassed by the perp’s mother.

Jonathan let out a snort of disgust. “She tried, but I placed the girl in McGill’s office along with her parents.”

“Good,” Tristan murmured as he continued to look over the kid’s file. He wasn’t surprised to see that the kid managed to get out of most of his past charges, no doubt with his mother’s help. Justin Erickson had been ordered to do a total of forty hours of community service and to cover the damages for his last bout of vandalism. Whoever this kid’s mother was, she was definitely working her ass off to keep him out of prison.

She probably thought that she was doing Justin a favor. She wasn’t. If anything, she was making it worse for everyone and setting herself up for heartache when the kid went too far and even she couldn’t help him.

“Has he lawyered up yet?” Tristan asked, taking another quick look at the list of charges.

“No, I don’t think the mom can afford it,” Jonathan said. “The kid doesn’t have a job and she’s supporting him on a secretary’s salary.”

“He ask us to provide him with a lawyer yet?” Tristan asked as he handed Marty the file, already knowing that she was eager to see what they had.

Now that he’d decided that he was going to keep her in his life, he had to admit that he liked having her around the department. He just hoped that she’d be willing to overlook the fact that he was an asshole.

“No,” Jonathan said, shaking his head. “But he also isn’t talking. I think he’s expecting his mother to get him out of this.”

“Probably,” Tristan agreed, sighing heavily as he grabbed a legal pad and a pen off his desk and resigned himself to taking a look at those restaurant supply stores tonight since it looked like he was going to end up working through lunch.

“I’ll move him to room five, Detective,” Jonathan said, sending Marty a nod before he left.

“Guess you’ll be sending me out to pick up lunch,” Marty said, noticeably fighting back a yawn.

“Looks that way,” Tristan murmured as he reached over to push a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He opened his mouth to ask her about going with him tonight, but she looked so damn tired.

“Do you mind if I grab a cup of coffee before I join you?” Marty asked as she grabbed a notebook and stood up.

“No, that’s fine, baby. Take your time,” Tristan said, leaning down and brushed his lips against hers simply because he could.

“Give me two minutes,” Marty said, handing the file back to him and headed for the door, leaving him standing there, watching her go and-

“Excuse me, Detective?” a vaguely familiar woman in her late forties, who looked tired but was trying not to show it, said as she stepped into the doorway.

“Can I help you?” Tristan asked, wondering where he knew her from.

“Yes,” she said, looking oddly relieved. “My name is Julie Erickson. I believe there’s been a misunderstanding involving my son Justin,” she said, sounding hopeful even as Tristan noted that her hands were shaking.

Tristan nearly groaned when he realized that this woman was his suspect’s mother. He already had too much shit to work on today and didn’t need to add this woman’s bullshit attempts to get her son out of trouble added to the list.

“If you could have a seat in the waiting area, I’ll be happy to speak with you as soon as I get a chance,” Tristan said as he stepped out of his office and closed the door behind him, giving her no other choice but to back up as he gestured towards the small sitting area by the doors.

“If you could just give me five minutes of your time, Detective, I’m sure that I can help clear this up,” Mrs. Erickson said, almost desperately and he couldn’t help but feel bad for her. That is until she turned slightly to the right and the sunlight streaming in from the windows hit her in just the right way.

It felt like a physical blow as recognition slammed into him. For a moment, he could only stare at the woman standing in front of him. There were a few strands of grey hair highlighting her blonde hair now and the blue eyes he used to remember as vivid and bright were now dull and tired, but it was her.

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