The Seal's Return

“What happened?”

“At two-thirty this morning, my partner and I stopped a car that was reported stolen. Your brother was a passenger. The driver is also a teenager but is known to us. Drugs were in the car. Prescription pills. Weed.”

“What kind of pills?” Lisa asked sharply.

“A hallucinogen known as Adam on the street.”

She was familiar with it. It was also one of the date-rape pills. “Were they on him?”

“Not on his person but they were in the car under the seat. Your brother won’t say where they got them.”

“So he’s an accomplice who might, or might not, have known there were drugs.”

“It would help if he would talk to us. He’s not saying anything. Look, he’s a first-time offender. If he would tell us who supplied the drugs, we could probably get him probation.”

“I can tell you now he won’t tell you anything. If nothing else he’s loyal to a fault.” She hesitated, then added, “Our father died eight years ago in a plane crash. Our mother died nine months ago of cancer. As a resident at the hospital, I’m gone more than I’m at home. He’s angry and rebellious, but until this year he’s always been a good kid.”

The officer nodded. “You can see him in the interview room. Talk to him.”

“What about the boy with him?”

“He’s eighteen with a previous record. Mostly small-time stuff. Fights. Vandalism. Now he’s graduated to a felony.”

“Can Gordon go home?”

“The sarge wants to hold him for twenty-four hours. He thinks it might do some good if he gets a glimpse of what the future might hold if he doesn’t help himself now. You should probably call a lawyer.”

Her heart sank. The thought of Gordon in jail was like a jagged knife in her heart. She had failed their mother. Failed Gordon by not being there for him. For not understanding how bad things really were. “Will he be in jail?”

“Juvenile detention.”

“Can I see him?” Lisa asked.

He escorted her to a room. Gordon sat in a chair at a table, his wrists in handcuffs.

He looked up at her. His longish blond hair was mussed and his green eyes were red. He visibly swallowed as she entered the room, then his mouth tightened. Gordon was a good-looking boy, tall and lean. He had been on the soccer team until their mother died and he missed too many practices.

“We going home now?” he said while avoiding her gaze.

“I don’t think so. I’ve been advised to get a lawyer we can’t afford.”

For the first time, fear crept into his eyes but his voice was defiant. “That’s horseshit. I didn’t do nothin’. I was just riding...”

“In a stolen car?”

“I didn’t know that. This guy just called and asked me to go to a party. He picked me up. I didn’t know the car was stolen.”

“And you didn’t know about the drugs?”

His gaze wouldn’t meet hers.

“Do you know how much trouble you’re in?” she asked. “That was a date-rape drug in the car.”

“I said I didn’t do anything.”

She just stared at him. “You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, right?”

He nodded.

“Unfortunately, the police do not buy that. It’s not like school,” she added. “I can’t talk you out of this...situation. They’re going to keep you here for twenty-four hours. I’ll get you a lawyer, but you have to understand that being in a stolen car with drugs means more than a a slap on the wrist. A criminal record can destroy your chances for college, for a career.”

“Whatever,” he said, but she saw a growing awareness behind the word she’d heard too often this year.

She stood. “Think about cooperating with the police. You don’t owe that...guy anything.”

The fragile mask came off his face. Gordon blinked then, and she thought she saw tears gathering in his eyes. Her heart started to melt. He was just a kid who lost his father and then watched his mom die. She softened her voice. “I’ll do everything I can to help you,” she said. “I love you. Aunt Kay loves you. And Kerry...she would be devastated if anything happened to you. I know it’s been a hell of a year but Kerry and I need you. We can’t lose someone else.”

She left then, before she started crying. Once outside the room, she leaned against the wall and let the tears flow.

* * *

THREE DAYS LATER, Lisa reluctantly approached the office of the director of Medical Education at the hospital where she was finishing her third year as a resident. She paused, stiffened her shoulders and knocked.

“Dr. Redding,” Dr. Rainey said as he opened the door. “You wanted to see me?”

The words stuck in her throat. She had to force them out and keep the tears in place behind her eyes. “I have to turn down the pediatric surgical fellowship,” she said. “I hope it’s not too late to find a replacement.”

“May I ask why?” Dr. Rainey asked with a raised eyebrow.

She hesitated. She knew there were a hundred applicants or more for each fellowship at the hospital. It had been an honor to receive it, and now...

He waited for her answer.

She started haltingly. She told him about Gordon and her family situation. “The good news is the other boy admitted he bought the drugs on his own, that Gordon had nothing to do with it. He claimed, though, that Gordon knew the car was stolen. Gordon said he didn’t, but he must have had his suspicions.”

After she finished, she couldn’t speak for a moment. She’d fought hard to get this residency and then to be selected for the coveted fellowship. It was her long-held dream, but she couldn’t sacrifice what was left of her family for it.

“My sister and brother need more than I can give them now,” she finally said. “My brother... I’m afraid Gordon is headed for disaster. He’s just so...angry. My sister is still grieving, and her grades are diving. My aunt has been staying with us and doing her best, but she has to leave. I...just can’t be away all the hours required for the fellowship. I can’t give you or my siblings my best with...” Her voice trailed off. Every word had pain dripping from it.

“They’ve lost two parents,” Dr. Rainey said. “That’s a lot to handle.”

“My brother was...very close to Mom, considered himself the man of the house, and then he had to watch her die. He’s angry at the doctors who couldn’t save her, and I’m one of them. He feels I deserted him, as well.” She hesitated, then said the words she had practiced. “I promised Mom I would take care of Gordon and my sister, and I haven’t been able to do that.”

Dr. Rainey leaned forward. He seemed to hesitate, then said, “I don’t want to lose you. You’re one of the best residents we have and I think you would make a fine pediatric surgeon. I’m told by the attendings and nursing staff that your instincts are excellent.”

It was a rare compliment from Dr. Rainey and made what she had to do even harder.

Gordon’s arrest, though, made a change in lifestyle imperative. Gordon had been released with a number of conditions, including a curfew. His hearing would be in three weeks, and the attorney she’d hired had talked to Gordon’s caseworker. It was possible that he would be given a year’s probation and then his record could be cleared...expunged...if he stayed out of trouble.