Chapter 39: Elijah
I was lying on my mechanic’s creeper looking up at an engine, listening to the others whisper amongst themselves. Something bad was going to happen today. I can feel it in my bones. I felt someone lightly kick my leg. I pushed myself out from under the car and was met with Benny’s face.
“Mr. Hunt is looking for you,” Benny said flatly. I glanced over to my boss glaring at me from the other side of the garage. I nodded, sat up, then wiped my hands of grease and dirt. I felt the eyes of the other mechanics watching me walk over to his office.
“Mr. Hardolssen,” he said in a low voice.
“Mr. Hunt, how can I help you?”
“Come in,” he gestured me into his office and closed the door. On top of his desk was a package with no address. I held my hands behind my back and glanced around the office, it was a complete mess. It smelled of old coffee and milk, and scattered around the room was food trash.
How can he work like this?
Mr. Hunt put his fingertips on the package and stared at me, “can you deliver this for me to the Port Auto Shop on the coast?”
“No.”
Mr. Hunt blinked in surprise, “Hah. What? Why?”
I glanced over to the package then back to Mr. Hunt, “are you asking me why?” I raised an eyebrow, “really?”
“As your boss I am giving you an instruction. You need to follow it,” Mr. Hunt frowned.
“No I don’t.”
Mr. Hunt scoffed and rubbed his forehead.
Oh, so now he’s getting it.
“You don’t have a permanent job here Mr. Hardolssen. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”
“Yes.”
“So take this package,” Mr. Hunt growled.
“Yeah… no. I’m not doing that,” I said watching as Mr. Hunt’s face turned bright red.
He takes me for an idiot.
“You little—”
“On the ground!” A police officer yelled. I raised my arms instinctively, then watched as my boss tried to make a run for it. Another officer grabbed him by the back of the collar and threw him against the ground and cuffed him.
“Who are you?” An officer asked me.
“Elijah Hardolssen.”
The officer pulled my arms down, then behind my back and cuffed me as well. I saw Benny try to run up to the office.
“Wait! Wait! Eli isn’t part of this!” Benny yelled.
The officer looked over at me with a frown, “there’s contraband in this office with him. We need to take him down to the station.”
“Don’t worry about it Benny,” I said firmly.
This isn’t even surprising at this point.
They escorted me to the station with only the sound of their radio to fill the silence during the drive. I couldn’t say I wasn’t nervous. Unfortunately you can’t completely trust the justice system. I need to be prepared for the worst. When we arrived at the station I was taken immediately to an interviewing room. They had me sit down at the table and unlocked my cuffs.
“Would you like to contact anyone?” The officer asked me.
“Melanie Gaver,” I answered. “I can give you her number.”
“Miss Gaver is pretty well-known around these parts,” the officer crossed his arms. “Seems you’re well acquainted with a public defender?”
“Yeah, she’s dating my brother,” I blinked at him.
“Oh, well, we did take a look at your record.”
“That’s not great,” I frowned.
“No it’s not,” he sighed. “I will call Miss Gaver for you.” He turned around and left the room locking it.
Silence was all around me, I could feel my heart beat in my ears. I’m not sure how long I waited but eventually Melanie showed up in the interview room.
“Oh, Eli. How are you sweetheart?” She asked softly, setting her things down on the table.
“Not great,” I frowned.
“We will get you out of here,” she smiled reassuringly.
“I just happened to be there when my boss got arrested…” I paused. I didn’t want to say it aloud but I needed to, “the asshole was trying to get me to deliver some package for him.”
“That’s okay! Because great news,” Melanie pulled out some papers from her briefcase. “They found no evidence against you so all you need to do is give a statement.”
I tapped the table and Melanie stopped what she was doing, “I want to talk to the lead investigator.”
Melanie tilted her head, “what? Why?”
“Because I’m tired of people tying me to things like this.”
“Your name is already cleared.”
“Not the police. That asshole who tried to get me to deliver his stupid package,” I glared.
“Oh,” Melanie laughed uncomfortably. She slid over a piece of paper and pen, “I’ll go get him. Write out your statement.” I nodded and she left the room.
I was lucky that the police found no evidence against me. I’m also lucky that this group of cops seem to have a sense of moral justice. The statement didn’t take long to write and speaking to the lead investigator was easy. He already had most of the information I gave him but needed something more important.
A testimony.
There are a number of things that could go wrong if I do that, but I also didn’t want to miss my chance to put that asshole of a boss away for using his business like that. I want to pay him back for all the people he just displaced.
I told the police I’d think about giving a testimony, but I’m completely unsure how safe it would be if I did. Surprisingly no one was home when I got there. Roan must have gone to the library to work.
I forgot to tell him what happened. I left all the lights off as I descended into my room, I wrapped myself up in my blanket and stared at the wall blankly. I felt my phone vibrate, on the screen it read Bridgette.
“Hey,” I answered.
“Where are you?”
I let out a heavy sigh, “fuck… I forgot I worked tonight. I’m sorry.”
“You forgot? What’s going on?”
“I got dragged to the police station today, I had to give a statement and all that,” I rubbed my eyes.
“Police department? Seriously?”
“Yeah, I’ll talk about it later.”
“Stay home and get some rest, Eli.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I can cover you. Rest up.”
“Thank you, Bridgette.” I heard the other line drop, I let my phone slip out of my hand and onto the floor. I faded into the darkness.
“Dude you are such a loser!”
My eyes flashed open and I sat up quickly. I could smell food and hear dishes in the kitchen. When I grabbed my phone, the time read 11pm.
“What the…” I whispered to myself.
“I’m not listening to you!”
The shouting voice sounded familiar. I stepped outside my door and peeked around the corner. In the kitchen was Roan and Nico arguing over the food that sat on the stove. Nico is the eldest son of my sister Cassia. Unlike my other nephews and nieces, Nico is much closer to me in age.
“Be quiet, Elijah is still sleeping,” Roan frowned.
“It’s Eli,” Nico glared. “You aren’t allowed to call him Elijah like that!”
“What the hell is going on?” I asked. Their two eyes were wide and Nico dropped the spoon on the floor.
“Eli! He’s—”
“Shut up Nico,” I rubbed my eyes. “Be nice to Roan.”
“Are you okay?” Roan asked, staring at me intensely. “I thought you were working.”
“I’ll tell you later,” I frowned back at him.
“I want to know!” Nico demanded with a pout.
“No,” I pushed Nico down to sit at the table. “Why are you here?” Nico avoided eye contact with me and pushed out his lower lip.
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