Read Online California Dreaming: Four Contemporary Romances by Casey Dawes - Free Book Online Page B

He thrust his hand out and she shook it quickly. He gestured toward the door in the rear of the lobby. “Let’s go in the back.”
    “What’s my son supposed to have done?”
    “He stole some liquor and CDs from a drug store.”
    “David wouldn’t do that.”
    “We’ll discuss it further in the back, Ms. Gerhard.” He thumbed a button by the side of a solid metal door. A loud buzz and click signaled a lock release and he pushed the door open.
    The detective led her to a small room with a metal table and four chairs. He waved at a chair on the far side of the table and she sat down, her muscles clenched.
    “I’ll be right back,” the detective said, closing the door behind him.
    Alone in the room, she tried to gather her wits about her. What was she going to do? What had David been thinking?
    The door jerked open and David came into the room. She leapt to her feet and took a step toward him.
    “Sit down, Ms. Gerhard,” the detective said. She obeyed.
    David sat, gave her a brief glance, and then focused his eyes on the table between them.
    “I understand you and David’s father are divorced,” Ramos said.
    She nodded.
    “Do you have sole custody of your son?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then you’re legally and financially responsible for him.” The detective opened a folder he had in front of him and perused the papers. “David was caught shop-lifting from the L and L Drug Store by the store manager shortly before five P.M. Your son had a small bottle of vodka and a couple of CDs in his pockets.”
    She started to protest, but the detective held up his hand.
    “We have it on the store surveillance camera,” he said. He turned to David and said, “You want to tell us about it?”
    David looked at his hands, glanced at the detective, and looked back at the steel gray table. “I was with these guys. They said it would be really easy for me to get something out of L and L ’cause I was a kid.” He paused. “They said they’d give me money to get a bottle of vodka. It’d be easy.”
    “Who were they?” the detective asked.
    “I don’t know,” David replied. “Some random guys I met downtown.”
    “I thought you were with Larry,” she interrupted.
    “I ditched him. He got into playing chess in front of Starbucks. It was way boring, so I took a walk.”
    “And then you met these guys … these strangers,” the detective prompted.
    “They weren’t exactly strangers. I’d seen ’em with Larry. They knew my name and everything.”
    “Why?” Annie asked. “Why did you do this?”
    David shrugged.
    She hated it when he shrugged. “Why?” she repeated.
    “I dunno. I guess I wanted to see if I could do it. I guess I wasn’t thinking.”
    “I guess not.”
    David opened his mouth to say something and closed it again.
    She looked at her son in bewilderment. It was as if she were seeing a stranger; someone she didn’t know at all.
    “Is there anything else you want to tell us?” Detective Ramos asked.
    David looked down at his hands and shook his head.
    The detective shuffled the papers in front of him. “Because your son is a juvenile and this is his first offense, we’re going to release him to your custody. You’ll need to bring him back to court in two weeks at four P.M. on the twenty-first.”
    He scribbled on one of the papers in front of him and pushed it across to David with a pen. “Sign there. You’re not acknowledging guilt. You’re saying you’ll be in court at the appointed time to face the charges against you.” He looked at Annie. “His signature’s a formality. Because he’s a minor, the only one that counts is yours.”
    David signed the papers and pushed them over to her. She scanned them and signed.
    Detective Ramos put the signed papers into his folder and stood up. “I’ll take David back for processing and then he’ll be released to you in the lobby.”
    They left the concrete room and she went to wait.
    Now what? Would it be worth hiring a lawyer, or should she