Read Online Never Fear by Scott Frost - Free Book Online Page B

person who this happens to, they’re only victims.”
    â€œWell, I am not a victim. I thought you would know that by how I raised you. . . . My . . .”
    I let it rest for a second or two.
    â€œI’m sorry, it was just a dream, but I needed to ask,” I said.
    â€œI don’t know why I’m surprised. You spend your life walking through the filth of this world. God . . . never ask me something like that again.”
    I heard the sound of several deep breaths and then she hung up. I held on to the phone for a moment, staring at the redial button. I’d been to hundreds of abuse cases as a cop, and when asked for the first time in their life if they’d been abused, every victim answered my questions the same way my mother just had.
    There was a knock on the door and Harrison stepped in. He started to say something, then glanced at the phone in my hand.
    â€œShould I come back?”
    I shook my head.
    â€œTell me something encouraging,” I said.
    â€œI just talked to the doctor who attended to Gavin,” Harrison said. “There was nothing surprising in his death given the extent of injuries from the car accident. ”
    â€œDid he talk to my brother?”
    â€œNo. A nurse thought she remembered a cop asking him a few questions, but she couldn’t be sure.”
    â€œThat would be usual after a fatal accident.”
    â€œExcept she said it was a detective, not a uniform.”
    â€œCould she ID him?”
    â€œShe only saw him across the room in emergency, and he didn’t talk to any staff.”
    We looked at each other for a moment, then I realized I was still holding the phone in my hand and hung it up.
    â€œYou okay?” Harrison asked.
    I shook my head.
    â€œI’ve spent my life walking through the filth of the world, according to my mother,” I said.
    â€œI was actually wondering about how your ribs feel,” he said.
    I looked up at him and his eyes met mine, making no attempt to let go.
    â€œThank you for last night,” I said.
    â€œYou don’t have to.”
    â€œI worked up the speech in the car on the way in, but I suddenly can’t remember any of it.”
    I remembered doing the same thing in junior high school the first time I called a boy at home. I had hung up without uttering a single word.
    â€œI’m a lieutenant, you’re one of my detectives, it might not be such a good idea if we were to take it any further, particularly for you. You know how cops can be.”
    A voice in my head was screaming, Idiot, idiot, idiot .
    â€œI think you have enough to worry about right now without any of this,” Harrison said, letting me off the hook.
    â€œI think about standing there last night, and what you did for me, your touch. . . . You make it very hard for me to act like a lieutenant.”
    The faint hint of a blush rose in his face. His reached up and touched the scar at the corner of his eye and smiled.
    â€œI’ve never been with a naked lieutenant before.”
    His eyes held mine for a moment.
    â€œWhen this is finished,” he said.
    The idea that I could be finished with what I was uncovering seemed a remote possibility. I glanced back at the phone and then at the report in front of me.
    â€œSomething else has happened, hasn’t it?” he asked.
    I nodded.
    â€œIf I don’t need to know . . .” he started, but I cut him off.
    â€œI had what I thought was a dream last night, but I think it was more than that.”
    â€œA memory?” Harrison said.
    â€œYeah. I think my father abused my mother,” I said.
    Harrison sat on the arm of the chair in front of my desk. “You’re sure?”
    I shook my head. I opened the file and removed the mug shot of my father.
    â€œHe’s a stranger. I’m not sure about anything. But I don’t imagine a therapist would consider the timing of the memory a coincidence.”
    â€œYou talked to your