Page 82 of Only for Christmas

‘Arrest this woman for assault!’ Stephen pointed at Sarah and then down at his groin. ‘She attacked me! She struck me in the groin with her knee.’

‘Calm down, sir.’ The female cop took a moment to look around, taking in the scene. ‘Let us do our job.’

Stephen jabbed a finger at her. ‘Your job is to do as I say and arrest that woman.’

The policewoman raised her eyebrows. ‘Is that so?’

‘What I mean is, I’m the medical director of the Queen Adelaide Hospital. My word can be trusted. I’m telling you this woman physically assaulted me.’

The female cop looked between Sarah and Stephen. ‘And why did she do that?’

‘Why? Well, because she’s unhinged!’

‘So, no reason?’ The female cop removed a notebook from her pocket. ‘She just kneed you in the bollocks for the fun of it?’

‘Are you doubting my story?’ Stephen’s jaw twitched. ‘We were talking, she became hysterical, she struck me with her knee and started yelling abuse. Perhaps I should talk to your senior colleague. You’re clearly not impartial. You would take the woman’s side.’

Stephen turned to the male cop, who raised his hand. ‘I’d advise you not to talk to my colleague like that, or we’ll be having words. And for the record, she’s the senior.’

Stephen growled and pointed at Tyler. ‘Ask him. He witnessed the attack.’

The female cop turned to Tyler. ‘Did you see this woman strike this man?’

Tyler nodded. ‘I did.’

‘Thank you!’ Stephen looked triumphant. ‘Now arrest her.’

‘I also saw what happened before that.’ Tyler rolled forwards in his chair.

The female cop nodded. ‘Go on.’

‘When I exited the disabled toilet, I heard a man’s raised voice.’ He pointed to Stephen. ‘He was saying something about there being no evidence to back up her claim. When I came around the bend, I saw Stephen holding Sarah against the wall. His hand was against her throat. He said: “I’m warning you, if you dare breath a word of complaint against me, I’ll sue you for defamation of character, and fire you for gross misconduct.”’

‘That’s a complete lie—’

‘Not now.’ The female cop raised her hand, cutting Stephen off. She gestured for Tyler to continue.

‘Sarah was struggling to breathe and begging Stephen to let her go, but he wouldn’t. That’s when she hit him.’

‘That’s not how it happened.’ Stephen looked flustered; his shirt had become untucked. ‘This man works for Sarah; he would side with her. He’s not an impartial witness. It won’t stand up in court. If you know what’s good for you, officers, you’ll do the sensible thing and support my claim against this woman. I have very expensive lawyers who don’t like to lose.’

The female cop noted something down. ‘Don’t threaten us, sir. We don’t take kindly to being told what to do. Our job is to find out the truth.’

Stephen shook a fist. ‘The truth is this woman assaulted me. How many times do I have to repeat the same information before it gets through?’ He was losing control.

‘It’s all on video.’ Tyler’s statement caused a collective intake of breath.

Everyone turned to look at him.

He pressed his finger against the screen, unlocking his phone. ‘I wanted to intervene, but this chair doesn’t allow me to do much physically. I decided to record the incident instead. It’s all here.’ He pressed the play button and held the phone up for everyone to see.

The image wobbled initially before coming into focus. It showed Stephen pinning Sarah against the wall, his hand on her throat, and repeating the words as Tyler had described.

Jafrina started crying.

Carla glared at Stephen and called him an arsehole.

Georgia went over and enveloped Sarah in a hug.

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