13 Proper Procedure

Arnold and Annie arrived at the police station and parked in the visitor's parking lot.

“Arnold, you don't have to do this.” Annie said. I don't even want to do it myself. She thought.

Arnold didn't say anything and got out of the car and waited for her. His mother sighed and got out herself and locked the car, then they walked over to the front doors. The large glass doors opened automatically, as if they were going into a supermarket, and they walked over to the front desk.

“What can I do for you?” The man in the uniform behind the desk asked.

“I'm Annie Strickland.” Annie said. “I'm here to... identify...” She was about to start crying when Arnold turned and reached for her arm. She put a hand up to stop him and hid her instant anger at her son. “My husband. I'm here for my husband.”

The officer nodded and picked up a phone and hit a button. “Mrs. Strickland is here.”

A minute later, a very pretty police officer came over. She was quite tall at just over six feet, which seemed out of character for police officers, and her long blonde hair was tied back into a tight bun at the back of her head. She wore minimal make-up that accentuated her cheeks and her eyes.

“Hi. I'm Detective Tanner.” The woman said and held a hand out for Annie to shake.

“Detective?” Annie asked and took the hand.

“A detective is always assigned when an accident happens.” Detective Tanner said and motioned for Annie and Arnold to follow her. “We needed to determine if foul play was involved, even if it's not suspected.”

“You think... did someone...” Annie's voice trembled as they passed through a set of double doors.

“No!” Detective Tanner said and stepped close to pat Annie's hand reassuringly. “No, it was an accident. All of the witnesses that saw him leave the bar say so.”

“I can't believe he was drinking at work!” Annie said in disbelief as she walked on one side of the detective and Arnold walked on the other side. “What else was he doing? Having an affair?”

“We couldn't find any evidence of an affair.” Detective Tanner said and then sighed. “You didn't hear that from me, all right?”

Annie nodded and Arnold just stared at her blankly.

“Why would you think that?” Arnold asked.

Detective Tanner sighed again. “It's usually one of the first motives for murder. Jealousy.” She said, now that she let the cat out of the bag, there was no need to pussyfoot around the subject. “It's not like he was killed for his money, right?”

Annie gasped and her eyes started to tear up. She was glad that she was too far away for Arnold to reach her, then her tears stopped when she realized she was glad to be away from him. She walked around the detective and put an arm around her son and hugged him.

“I'm so sorry, Arnold.” Annie said and hugged him.

“Here we are.” Detective Tanner said and stopped in front of a set of double doors. “I think your son should stay out here.”

“No.” Arnold said. “I need to see.”

Detective Tanner looked at Annie, who shrugged. “Okay.” She said and took them into a small room that had several lockers and cabinets on the side and handed them two medical face masks.

“What are these for?” Annie asked.

“Honestly? It's the smell.” Detective Tanner said and put hers on to show them how to do it. Annie and Arnold put them on and she brought them through the next set of double doors. There were three tables that were empty and one that had a sheet covering something lumpy underneath it.

An unhappy man in a lab coat stood beside the table and glared at the detective. “I didn't think you would bring his whole family to see this.”

Detective Tanner shrugged. “He insisted on seeing it.” She said and waved to Arnold.

The man looked at Arnold and saw his cold expression. “I hope you're ready for this.”

Arnold knew he should respond in some fashion, so he nodded.

“I did the best I could on such short notice.” The man said and eased the sheet off of the lump closest to them.

“OH GOD!” Annie yelled and covered her eyes and walked away to the other side of the room while Arnold stared down at the mangled face.

“A steering wheel combined with a windshield.” The man said. “It's not pretty.”

“How are we supposed to identify him?” Arnold asked. Even he had a hard time seeing his father's features through the mess.

“That's a good question.” The man said and looked at the detective with anger on his face. “Apparently the fingerprints, witnesses, and his DNA all over the scene of the accident wasn't enough. They had to drag you poor people down here to see him so you can, miraculously, tell us that it's really him.”

“It's police procedure.” Detective Tanner said. “The family is supposed to confirm his identity.”

“What if he was burned up or crushed flat?” Arnold asked and looked at the detective. “Would we still have to come and see him?”

The man in the lab coat let out a laugh as the detective's face drained of color. “Excellent questions, my boy. Excellent.” He said and moved the sheet back to cover the mangled face. “Would you care to answer him, detective?”

Detective Tanner knew it was a trap and she couldn't answer in either a positive or a negative way, since both would be bad answers. She decided that silence was her only course of action and took it.

“As I suspected.” The man said and looked at Arnold. “So, is this man your father?”

“Those are his clothes.” Arnold said and pointed to the innocuous pile of cloth on the desk across the room. “I'm pretty sure that the face looked like my dad's before.”

The man gave Arnold a nod and looked at the detective. “I'll accept his confirmation, detective.”

Detective Tanner had to accept it and motioned for Arnold to leave. He walked over to his mother and put an arm around her shoulders and the detective led them from the room.

“I'm sorry you had to see that.” Detective Tanner said and took off her face mask.

“No, you aren't.” Arnold said and she looked at him with surprise on her face. “You kept watching my mom's reactions.”

“I wasn't.” Detective Tanner denied it and saw his face grow impassive. The last thing she wanted was an uncooperative witness and she let out another sigh. Ah, dammit. I just thought of a grieving family member as a witness. She looked at the mother, who had drying tears on her face and genuine grief plastered all over it.

When they reached the lobby, the detective tried to take them into the precinct. When she opened the door to the main area, a fairly overweight man strode over to her.

“There's no need to bring them in here.” The man said.

“But, sir.” Detective Tanner said. “I need to ask them some questions about...”

“I believe you have traumatized them enough for today.” The man said and saw how the boy held his mother possessively, then squinted his eyes at the much taller detective. “You and I need to have a little talk about proper police procedure.”

Oh, shit. Detective Tanner thought and sighed.

“Mrs. Strickland, you and your son can go home.” The man said in as nice of a voice as he could. “I apologize for you having to go through that.”

Annie reached up and wiped at her face and nodded. “Arnold, let's go.”

Arnold led them from the room, through the lobby, and out of the building. He took his mother over to the car and she leaned against the driver's side door and didn't open it.

“Arnold.” Annie stood there and thought about what she had just seen and looked at her son. “He... he's gone.” She said and closed her eyes. “He's really gone!”

Arnold looked down as he reached out to pinch her before she cried again and he stopped when her hands grabbed his wrists.

“You don't have to do that anymore.” Annie said and he looked up at her face. “You're right. I can't afford to cry right now.” She let his wrists go and clicked the button to open the car doors. “Let's go home.”

They got in the car and Annie drove them home. They didn't speak and they didn't feel the need to, even when they pulled into the driveway and parked the car, they stayed silent. They went into the house and Annie had Arnold sit at the table. She saw the half-eaten breakfast she had left on the table and cleaned it off and put the plate into the sink with the two Arnold had used.

Annie made three ham and cheese sandwiches and gave two to Arnold and kept one for herself. She sat down next to him and they ate together. When the sandwiches were gone, Annie sat there and stared at her son and he stared right back at her. She had no clue what to do with their lives now. She hadn't had a job in almost twenty years and she seriously doubted that she could learn what she needed to work in today's work force.

The phone rang and Annie thought about letting it go as she contemplated what to do, then picked it up instead. “Hello?” She was quiet for a moment, then sighed. “Yes.” She said. “I don't... well, yes.” She said and then sighed. “I agree that's important.”

Arnold sat there and waited to see who it was.

“That's not necessary.” Annie said and looked at Arnold. “I suppose...” A moment later, she nodded. “All right. We'll see you then.” She hung up the phone and sighed. “Heather's mother is going to pick us up before she goes to the high school to get Heather.”

“What for?” Arnold asked.

“She invited us over to visit and to have supper.” Annie said. “I need a shower after... after...” She took a breath and let it out. “You need to get changed, too.”

“The same as yesterday?” Arnold asked.

“Use a dark color shirt this time.” Annie said and they both went up the stairs.

Arnold was changed ten minutes later and grabbed his backpack, since he knew he and Heather had homework to do, and he went downstairs to wait. He thought about listening at his mother's door to see if she was crying, then decided that she would get really angry at him if he went into her room without being asked.

Annie came down the stairs half an hour later wearing a nice black blouse and matching skirt. She wasn't surprised to find that her son had waited for her at the bottom of the stairs.

“She should be here in a few minutes.” Arnold said.

Annie nodded and stopped in front of him and checked his outfit. She nodded and they both stood there and waited. Two minutes later, they heard a car pull into their driveway and the horn honked. Arnold opened the door and they both stepped out, and he locked it behind them.

Heather's mother got out of the car and walked over to them. “It's so nice to meet you in person.” She said to Annie and stepped close to give her a hug. “I was very sorry to hear what happened.”

Annie was a bit surprised that a stranger was acting that way with her. “Thank you, Claire.”

Claire let her go and turned to give Arnold a hug, too. “Heather has been looking forward to seeing you, Arnold.” She said and let him out of the hug. “I only have a modest supper broiling in the oven, so it should be done in a couple of hours.” She stepped back and smiled. “You both look very nice.”

Annie and Arnold looked at each other, then back at her, and she laughed.

“Shall we go?” Claire asked and walked back over to the car.

Arnold got in the back like he had each time he had been in the car and Annie thought about doing the same, just so she wouldn't have to engage in awkward conversation, then sighed mentally and sat in the front seat.

As if she knew what Annie was thinking, Claire reached over and pat her hand.

“It's okay. You don't have to talk. That's not why I invited you over.”

“Why did you?” Annie asked, and didn't realize she had been completely sucked into talking anyway.

“For Heather and Arnold, of course.” Claire said. “Their budding relationship is all she can talk about.” She chuckled and pulled away from the curb. “Arnold this and Arnold that.” She said and the car picked up speed. “I think my little girl is deeply in love with him.”

“Wh-what?” Annie looked at Claire with wide eyes.

Claire heard the surprise in her voice and gave her a quick glance, then looked back at the road. “Don't get me wrong. Heather's not some wallflower without experience. She's had a couple of boyfriends already.” A bit too many for my liking; but, that couldn't be helped. I interfered as much as I physically could to stop her antics. She thought in satisfaction, because she had gotten particularly good at it.

“Then... she really could...” Annie's voice trailed off and Clare hid her smile.

Yes, she's going to wrap Arnold around her little finger. Claire thought. “It's all right. I've talked with her and she's not going to push him to do anything he doesn't want to do.”

Annie let out a sigh. What if he wants to do things like... like that... with her?

Claire gave Annie another glance and saw the realization of what she said on her face. She's pretty smart to catch onto what I said right away. She thought. “I don't leave them alone for too long, either.”

Annie nodded because she did the same thing. Judiciously interrupting at certain times definitely kept them from pawing at each other like she thought they were going to if she left them alone for too long.

Claire drove the car to the high school and pulled into the parking lot. She parked in the same spot she always did, mainly because no one else was there that early. She didn't try to engage Annie in conversation again, mainly because she knew that Heather would be out soon and would interrupt it. Instead, she turned on the radio on low for some background noise.

After about fifteen minutes, the school bell rang. Barely a minute later, nearly every student in the school was out of the doors in a flood of bodies and spread out to go to different spots. It was a neat sight to see, considering the sheer amount of people and how coordinated it looked. One group in particular caught Claire's eye as they moved across the parking lot to stand in their usual spot. Brad and Kevin's friends.

Five minutes after that, Heather came out of the school with Kelly by her side. They walked over to the parking lot and Heather waved, which meant she didn't want to walk by the group of guys. Claire started the car and drove over to them.

“See you tomorrow, Heather.” Kelly gave her friend a hug, because it had been a hard day for her.

“Bye, Kelly.” Heather said and opened the back door and climbed in beside Arnold. “Hi, Arnold.” She said and looked at the backs of her mother's and his mother's heads, then leaned in to give Arnold a kiss. She did it for only a moment, then sat back with a slightly red face.

Both Claire and Annie had watched them in the rear view mirror and didn't need to turn around to see what they were doing. Claire gave Annie a smile and drove the car out of the parking lot.

“How are you, Arnold?” Heather asked. “What did you do all day?”

“I'm fine. I went to see dad today.” Arnold said.

“WHAT?!?” Heather yelled, then she blushed and looked at the back of her mother's head to wait for a responding yell from her, which didn't come. She had missed her mother's own slight yell and gasp at the news. “I'm sorry.” She said and looked back at Arnold and took his hand. “Was... was it awful?”

“It was horrible.” Annie said and did her best to hold back the tears and wiped at her eyes to stop them before Arnold saw them. “I... I didn't... recognize him.”

Claire's hand took hers and held it tightly. “I'm sorry you had to see that, Annie.”

Annie turned her head to look at the other woman and saw a lot of sympathy there. “Me, too.”

They drove the rest of the way to Heather's home in silence.