Eighteen (18)(65)

“Miss Drake,” the other cop says. “We’re gonna read you your rights. You have the right to remain silent.”

“What?” I look up at Mateo and he’s frowning, but makes no move to explain.

“Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

The other cop takes me by the wrists and places me in handcuffs. “What did I do?” I look at Mateo, pleading. “Tell me what I did!”

“You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?”

“Yes, of course! I didn’t do anything.”

“Miss Drake, your niece is experiencing an overdose of codeine. We believe the pills came from this bottle. Did you feed your niece codeine to make her sleep?”

“No! Of course not! I would never do that! Mateo?” I look at him. “Tell them I’d never do that.”

“I did, Shannon. But you told me on the phone tonight that you were taking care of her.”

“I wasn’t! She was with Jason’s girlfriend. I took her out of that house. I found her like this!”

“She’s going through withdrawals, Miss Drake,” the cop who read me my rights says. “They’ve moved her to Children’s Hospital for treatment. This has been going on for months. They think she was born addicted. Dana Alexander told us something of your sister’s past an she admitted that Jason was lacing the baby’s formula with codeine to make her sleep.”

“Dana Alexander is the one who was taking care of her. And my brother-in-law was the one who always fed her! I didn’t give my baby niece drugs to make her fall asleep!”

The cop with the handcuffs takes me by the arm and leads me towards the door. “It should be easy enough to prove, Miss Drake. Try not to get too upset. We’re booking you in tonight, but Mateo said he’d bail you out, so it won’t be long. You need to show up in court tomorrow.”

I look at Mateo as I pass him and see nothing but disappointment.

He thinks I did this.

He really thinks I did this.





Chapter Thirty-Five




I am booked into the jail. They fingerprint me and take a f*cking mug shot. That’s what they do when they arrest you. I have a court appearance scheduled for nine AM, but Mateo insisted as they took me away that he’d have me out in a few hours.

Well, it’s been more than a few hours.

And even though I want to scream and shout that I am getting blamed for something I didn’t do, there is this little niggling thought in the back of my head that I deserve this.

I should’ve noticed something was wrong. Do babies really sleep that much? I wouldn’t know, I’ve never had a baby. But there’s this thing called the internet and I’ve had access to it for most of my life. One search was all it would’ve taken to look some of this up. One search after Jill died about the possibility of opiate addiction in babies was all it would’ve taken.

I could blame Mateo. I want to blame Mateo, if I’m honest. And there are so many ways I could justify that copout. But he’s not her aunt. He wasn’t living with her for the past six months.

I could blame Jason. He’s the one who drugged his kid to make her sleep, so it really is his fault. Maybe that Dana chick participated, I wouldn’t know. But I knew Jason was a bad guy from the start. I didn’t need Danny Alexander to tell me that.

I look for Danny at the jail, since presumably he was booked in too. But there are only women in here. Some of them I recognize from the party. Even one of those gang girls who tried to fight me. She’s not looking so tough now.

The place gets more and more busy as the morning approaches and then a guard comes and says, “Drake?”

I get up, but he waves me back. “Alesci said to hold tight.” And then he walks off.

The gang girl snickers at me. “I guess the narc’s girlfriend doesn’t get off as easy as she thinks.”

My spirits sink even deeper. As mad as I am at him, I had a little hope that he’d come through and get me out of here.

Welcome to eighteen, Shannon. The age when life gets to kick your ass over and over and all you get to do is stand there and take it. I didn’t think anything could suck worse than seventeen, but obviously I am lacking the wisdom of experience, as Mateo pointed out when we first met. Because my adult life has been nothing but non-stop bullshit.

I sigh and lean my head back, watching the minutes tick by on the clock, and when morning finally comes and the place gets busy with the activities of a new day, they come for us and chain us together like prisoners.

I can only hang my head as they lead us out to the hallway and tell us to keep on the right side of a yellow line that divides it down the middle. I’m last, so I follow along until they stop us at the door and unchain us from each other as we enter another holding cell.

“Drake,” a guard says, putting his hand up to prevent me from entering the cell. “You have a personal appearance in front of the judge. Stay here.”

I stay. The prisoners are told how to behave and that they will be on closed-circuit TV for their appearance. Then he closes the door and uncuffs me. “You’re going home, so relax.”