Roman's Vow (Riley's Pride #4) - Sandra R Neeley Page 0,72
and here is his birth certificate. My Frederick is a good boy. He wouldn’t hurt anyone at all! This is all a mistake. You’ll see, as soon as he’s well enough to give a statement, you’ll see he’s innocent.”
The first officer looked down at her I.D., then seemed to look at the birth certificate she held up for him to examine. “Ma’am…” he said.
“Mary, call me Mary,” she said, still trying to keep her composure and sway them to her need to visit with her son. She had to be sure he’d not mentioned her, or said anything incriminating about himself.
“Very well, Mary,” the officer said.
“Yes?” she answered pleasantly.
“I can’t let you in there. You could have a weapon hidden on your person, or in your purse, or any other type of contraband. I cannot give you access to the prisoner,” he explained.
“He is not a prisoner!” she shrieked. “He is my son and he is not guilty!”
The officer waited patiently until she stopped yelling at them, then the first officer spoke again. “Yes, ma’am, he is most certainly a prisoner. Until he has his day in court and he’s proven innocent or guilty, whichever it may be, he is a prisoner and will remain so.”
“I’ll have your jobs for keeping me apart from my son!” she screamed.
The officers rolled their eyes and the first one spoke again. “That’s good, whatever you say. But to do that, you’ll have to report to the third precinct and ask for Sergeant Savina. He’s in charge of this case, he’ll be happy to take your complaint and investigate it.”
“Don’t think I won’t do it! And I’ll be filing a complaint for you forcing my son to give a statement while in the condition he’s in as well! No one could possibly be expected to believe anything he’s said while he’s suffering as he is. You should both be ashamed of yourselves!” Mary accused, still shrieking like a wild person.
“He hasn’t given a statement, yet, ma’am. He’s still unconscious,” the first officer drolled.
Mary’s entire disposition changed. The tears stopped immediately, the screaming stopped and she was suddenly no longer hysterical. “Oh. He hasn’t?” she asked.
“No ma’am. He hasn’t. He’s been read his rights and taken into custody, but a statement will not be taken until the doctors say he’s well enough to understand the questions. It should be a day or two longer because of the pain medication he’s on.”
“Oh, well that’s good news,” she said, becoming the well mannered, well dressed woman who’d approached them to begin with. “And who is that officer you said I should speak to?” she asked.
“Sergeant Savina. He’s familiar with the case and will be more than happy to speak with you.”
“Sergeant Savina… alright then. I’ll just head over there now and tell him how things got all mixed up. If my Frederick awakes, you tell him that Mommy was here and I’ll be back later today to check on him again. You tell him he’s not to say a word to anyone until I get him an attorney, you hear?”
“Ma’am…” one officer started.
“Mary, I told you to call me Mary. And I know you’re going to tell me you can’t advise my baby on what he can and can’t say, but you know I’m just a mama trying to look after her boy and you’ll give him my message for me, now won’t you?” she asked, smiling brightly.
She didn’t wait for either to respond, she turned and walked calmly back down the corridor of the hospital, swinging her hips and holding her arm out where her purse was looped over it resting in the crook of her elbow.
Both officers watched her go.
“Woman’s nuts,” the first officer said.
“Every Mary I’ve ever known is crazy as fuck,” the second answered.
“Yeah, well this one’s no different.”
“At least she’s on her way to see Savina. Hopefully, he’ll arrest her ass and keep her from harassing us.”
“We can hope,” his partner answered.
~~~
Almost two weeks later Roman’s phone began to ring and vibrate in the back pocket of his jeans as he accompanied Riley on the inspection of a home they were considering offering a bid for renovation on.
He stopped following Riley through the home, to answer it.
“This is Roman,” he said, after swiping the screen to accept the call and placing it to his ear.
“Roman! Patrick Rooney, here. How are you?” Patrick asked.
“I’m okay,” Roman answered. “Hoping you have some news for me.”