Page 164 of Unraveling Rain
“Do you have an arrest warrant?” she snaps. “You can’t just take an upstanding citizen without good reason.”
She folds her arms tightly across her chest, one foot tapping the floor in irritation.
Dennis is pale as paper, frozen in place.
One officer replies calmly, “Ma’am, we don’t need an arrest warrant. We’re not arresting your husband. We’re simply asking him to come to the station to give a statement regarding a complaint filed against him.”
She rolls her eyes and turns to Dennis.
“Did you steal or kill anyone that I’m unaware of?” she says condescendingly.
He silently shakes his head.
“See, officer? My husband didn’t do anything wrong. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re late for dinner with my parents and our daughter.”
She grabs Dennis’s hand and starts to walk away, but an officer steps forward, palm raised.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but it’s best if your husband comes with us right now. Otherwise, we’ll have to contact Boston PD and request they send him back to North Carolina.”
Her expression shifts as she studies Dennis.
“What could you have possibly done to make the police harass you like this?”
He stares down at the ground, still silent.
Her frustration crumbles into confusion.
“Officer,” she says, voice quieter now, “what was the report about?”
“There’s a report against your husband for sexual assault.”
She goes still. Rigid.
“What did you just say?” she whispers. “That’s impossible. He’s my husband—we have a daughter. He’s a great man. This must be a mistake.”
She glances from Dennis to the officers, waiting for someone to tell her this is a bad joke.
But when a tear slides down Dennis’s cheek, the truth hangs heavy in the silence.
I know he’s done.
“Are you serious, Dennis? You raped someone? How could you?” she screams, hitting him—his chest, his arm, whatever she can reach.
“Ma’am, please calm down,” one of the officers says.
She whirls on him, her rage rising.
“I married a rapist? When was this? How could you do something like this? We have a daughter, for Chrissake!”
She breaks down sobbing. An officer catches her by the arms before she collapses.
Dennis leans down and whispers something to her, but she slaps him across the face.
Straightening, he turns to the officers. “Okay, I’ll go with you, officer. But please note I’m going willingly. I want to cooperate fully and—hopefully—get a reduced sentence.”
Two of the officers lead Dennis out of the arena. The third stays behind, trying to calm his wife.
“Phew, man,” Matt mutters beside me.
