June 2023's short story of the month
"I'm not making excuses. But I have my reasons, and there's a difference. What else was I supposed to do when all that gold was just sitting there? How could I not take some? I needed it." The young man paused and looked up from the table. "Are these really necessary?" He shook the chains and cuffs that bound his hands to the table.
"Yes," the police officer answered. The officer didn't move. He leaned against the wall just inside the door to the interrogation room. His arms were crossed over his chest. His dark features were heightened by the poor lighting in the room, creating deep shadows across his scowl.
Another officer watched through the window. This one wasn't scowling. Instead, she was rolling her eyes and shaking her head. She didn't appear angry. She almost seemed amused. "Let's get this over with," she mumbled as she made her way to the interrogation room.
She patted the scowling officer on the arm. "I'll take it from here, Matthews."
Matthews hesitated as he moved. "You sure the captain is okay with you questioning him?" He nodded towards the man still chained to the table.
"It's fine. And don't worry. If he gets mad, tell him I pulled rank." She took a seat across from man. "I'm waiting."
"For what?" The young man's bravado was noticeably gone. Instead, he was the one scowling now.
"Your reasons. Let's hear them," she answered.
The young man leaned back. "You won't believe me, even if I'm telling the truth, so why should I?"
"Because the only thing preventing you from being locked away for life is why you took some of the king's gold?" She paused to let the severity of what she was saying sink in. "Royalty don't like it when you take their things."
"That's not unique to royalty," the young man snapped back. "How about we stop playing whatever this game is? Tell me what you really want to know, sister dear."
Detective Maggie Brown smiled. "Fine. Cards on the table, David. Why did you do it? This time the judge won't go easy."
David sighed. "What do you want me to say? You want me to lie. To say I had noble reasons. To say I'm using the money to save the poor." David laughed. "This isn't a story, and I'm not a hero. I'm just a man. A man who likes gold."
Maggie rolled her eyes. "Enough of the goofy nonsense. I need answers. I need to know how you got into the vault."
David leaned back as far as the chains and cuffs would allow. His smile spread slowly from ear to ear. "Of course, that's what this is about. Not that something was stolen. You want to know how me, a little old nobody, broke into the royal vault."
"Stop being flippant. Tell me how you did it."
"What's in it for me if I do?" asked David looking very smug.
"Wipe that smirk off your face. This is not a game you can win. No matter what you tell me, you're in trouble. And this time, little brother, I can't get you out of this mess. All I can do is hope that if you tell me what I want to know, they might go easier on you."
David sighed again. "I don't have anything to say." He shrugged.
Maggie dropped her voice to a whisper and leaned towards her brother. "David, please, you have to give me something to tell them or you're in a world of trouble that even you can't handle." She paused before she told him the reality of the situation. "No matter what you tell me, accidents happen to people who wrong the nobles." When she said accidents, she made air quotes.
David leaned back as far as the chains would allow and looked seriously at his sister. "You're saying no matter what, I'm probably going to pay a very high price."
"Don't use coded language or try to be cute, David. You will be lucky to live through this." Maggie frowned. "I don't want to tell Mom that I didn't so something to prevent your death, even if you deserve it."
"I don't deserve to die for stealing gold. It's just gold." David still didn't say anything that would help his case.
Maggie sighed. "You're right. Of course, you are, but you and I don't get to make the rules, we have to follow them or pay the consequences that the nobility creates."
****
The conversation with David went nowhere. They talked for hours. Maggie gave up and sat at her desk trying to figure out how she was going to get her brother out of trouble. She wasn't sure there was any hope this time.
"Brown, my office now," said Lt. Slater.
Maggie let out a deep sigh as she got up from her desk. She should have known this was going to happen. She tried to plaster a smile onto her face before she made her way into Slater's office.
She took a seat in the uncomfortable wooden chairs Slater kept for visitors directly in front of his shiny glass and metal desk.
Slater cleared his throat loudly while Maggie avoided making eye contact with him.
"You wanted to see me, boss," she said looking at the floor.
"What were you thinking? You can't question your own brother," Slater yelled. He rubbed his hands over his face trying to keep his calm. "You know better. I know you do."
"Of course, I know, but I was hoping he might…"
"I don't care what you were thinking," Slater interrupted. "You know better. If you thought you were helping your brother, you're wrong. And now you're in trouble too. Real trouble."
Maggie finally looked up. "I know. It won't happen again. I understand conflict of interest and all that."
Slater raised a hand to silence her. "You aren't understanding me."
Maggie shook her head. "What am I not understanding?" She was genuinely confused.
"You should know this is coming from over my head." Slater came around to where Maggie was sitting and held his hand out palm up. "Badge and gun. You're being relieved of duty for the time being."
Maggie didn't even protest. She removed her badge and gun from her belt and holster and slammed both onto the desk. She didn't put them in his hand. Instead, she spit in it.
Slater growled. "Get your desk cleared within the hour."
She nodded and left. She only took fifteen minutes to clear her desk.
****
She shouldn't have, but she left the station and drove to her mother's.
Her mother had always favored her brother, even when he was in trouble with the law. Maggie hesitated as she walked up the sidewalk. Was she really going to tattle on her brother? She stopped.
Yes, she was. She couldn't take it anymore. Her mother needed to see that her brother was trouble. Not only had he ruined his own life, but now his choices had ruined Maggie's too.
Maggie knocked on the door. Her mother opened it within a few seconds. As the door opened, Maggie could smell cinnamon and sugar wafting through the house.
"Maggie!" Her mother grabbed her in a hug. "How many times do I have to tell you to just come in? This is your house too." Her mother released the hug and motioned for Maggie to follow her.
"Mom, we need to talk," Maggie said.
Her mother turned to study her daughter's face. "I can see this is going to be a serious conversation. Let's sit in the kitchen and have some coffee."
"Sure, but only if you let me talk and you listen." Maggie didn't immediately follow her mother. She stopped to look at the picture hanging just inside the door on the hallway wall. It was her mother, David, and herself. They were smiling wide. It was the day David graduated from college.
Except he hadn't really graduated. He'd never told their mother that. Maggie knew the truth though. Her brother was a world class thief and fraud. He had been pulling one scheme after another since high school.
No matter what Maggie did, her mother always saw her brother as some sort of angel and Maggie as some overly serious determined cop. Maggie grabbed the picture on her way to the kitchen. She sat the picture on the counter where her mother was sitting two mugs of steaming hot coffee.
"Mom, we need to talk about David," Maggie said.
"Is he coming over too?" A smile spread on her face. "Let me get another mug." She turned.
Maggie reached out and grabbed her mother's arm. "No, he won't be joining us for coffee." Maggie paused. There was no way to sugar coat it, so she might as well put the truth out there. "He won't be joining us ever again."
