It was maybe a week later that my parole officer called me in for a face-to-face.
Technically it was with the squirrelly little fuck whose name I can never remember, but there was no great surprise when Davis collected me at the front desk and ushered me towards the interview room. The squirrelly little fuck was watching from his desk, and did start to rise, but froze at a quick look & aggressive head-shake from Davis.
In the room, he dropped a pile of folders on the table & dropped himself into the chair, then sat there, staring at me.
A new version of the long silent look; I can wait, I got nothing but time.
He squinted at me. \u201cWho are you?\u201d
That was a new one.
\u201cUhhhh, \u2026 \u201c I gestured to the folder with my name and photo on the front. \u201cAre you \u2026 feeling OK, Mister Davis?\u201d
He shook his head vigorously & blinked a few times, then grunted and opened the folder.
\u201cThis meeting is to inform you that we\u2019ve performed an assessment, and we\u2019re satisfied with both your current situation and with your progress.\u201d He waved a document at me which presumably said something about that, but as it was facing him, I decided to take his word for it. Never piss off a grumpy parole officer if you can avoid it.
\u201cWe\u2019ve performed background checks on the people at your place of work, and are satisfied that they do not pose a risk to your rehabilitation. We are also satisfied that you\u2019re avoiding contact with former criminal associates.\u201d
I managed to keep a politely neutral demeanor while screaming internally. How the hell did Trevor Lake, a man who quite literally does not exist, pass a background check?
\u201cI\u2019ve been taken \u2026 Your case will be handled by your assigned parole officer from now on; You\u2019ve been re-assessed into a lower-risk category.\u201d
\u201cThat\u2019s good to hear.\u201d I chanced a smile, and caught a frown; Clearly the wrong move. \u201cYou don\u2019t seem very happy about this though?\u201d
Ever have one of those moments where you pick up on something just a bit too late?
This was one of those.
This wasn\u2019t an \u2018I decided\u2019, this was a \u2018Someone above me decided\u2019, and Davis got told what to do.
I got another very long look, followed by a very deep sigh.
\u201cYou, I have no issue with.\u201d He closed the folder and pulled out a much thinner one under it, holding it up to reveal Lake\u2019s photo & name. \u201cMister Lake I officially have no issue with, as he is a law-abiding citizen.\u201d
There are times when your very best look of confusion is required, and this was one of them.
\u201cI\u2019m \u2026 Not sure I follow here. If there\u2019s no problem, then, \u2026 Well, what\u2019s the problem?\u201d
He held my gaze for a moment, then placed the folder gently back on the pile.
\u201cI guess there isn\u2019t one.\u201d Davis pushed the folders into a neater pile. \u201cEvery instinct I have tells me that Trevor Lake is as dodgy as hell, but the records say otherwise, and I can\u2019t prove otherwise, and the direction from on high is to wind up the investigation.\u201d
He stood and picked up the folders.
\u201cEven if I think it\u2019s a bad idea\u201d He continued as he gestured towards the door.
We made a quick detour past his desk on the way through the office, to drop off the folders & for me to get his card, and were heading for the front desk when he asked;
\u201cHow\u2019d you & Lake meet anyway?\u201d
\u201cYears go, in the lockup.\u201d
He stopped dead.
Shit.
\u201cMister Lake has never been incarcerated, or even arrested.\u201d He did his long pause thing until it was clear that I was politely waiting for him to continue. \u201cHow\u2019d you meet him in a lockup?\u201d
Shit shit shit shit shit.
OK, minimal possible lies, no embroidering. Keep it simple. Downgrade, but keep it plausible.
\u201cIt was one of those temporary drunk tank things they set up for New Years Eve; A \u2018sober up in here or we\u2019ll arrest you and throw you somewhere worse\u2019 sort of thing?\u201d
He wants to find a hole in the story. Try to keep it light.
\u201cI\u2019d had a few too many, he\u2019d had a few too many, and a couple of guys who\u2019d had a whole lot too many decided they didn\u2019t like his face.\u201d
Slow nodding from Davis. \u201cAnd so you, \u2026 Talked them out of it?\u201d He offered.
Ha! Nice try Senior Parole Officer Davis. I\u2019ve fallen for one trap today, but I\u2019m not going for two.
\u201cHave you seen my record?\u201d I tried a palms wide \u2018come on, be realistic\u2019 gesture, which seemed to go OK. \u201cI\u2019m not the persuasive type.\u201d
Davis gave me the \u2018go on\u2019 gesture.
\u201cI waited until they were looming over him and hit them while their backs were turned. Propped them against a bench to sleep it off.\u201d
That got a smile.
\u201cYeah, that\u2019s more your approach.\u201d He nodded. \u201cWhere\u2019d this happen?\u201d
\u201cSome town with a beach.\u201d I shrugged in response to the start of a Look. \u201cProbably started with a \u2018W\u2019, and that doesn\u2019t really narrow it down, but that\u2019s all I remember. It was years ago, and I was drunk.\u201d
Slow nodding, and an even slower gesture towards the exit. We started walking.
\u201cWere you in the habit of being a drunken Good Samaritan at the time?\u201d
That one made me laugh.
\u201cNo, not really. Wouldn\u2019t have even noticed it if the drunk next to me hadn\u2019t pointed him out, but they did, so \u2026\u201d I shrugged. \u201cCouldn\u2019t sit there and watch someone get the shit kicked out of them for being a drunk teenager, and it\u2019s not like the cops watching the place would have noticed in time.\u201d
Finally we made it to the lobby.
\u201cWell,\u201d Davis held out a hand. \u201cStay out of trouble.\u201d
Is this another trick?
\u201cAbsolutely. Thanks, Mister Davis.\u201d I shook the hand, smiled, and headed for the stairs. Don\u2019t want to give him the chance to decide to jump in the lift at the last moment.
I could feel his eyes on my back the whole way across the lobby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walking out of the building and into the sun, I managed not to look back; Too scared that I\u2019d see Davis watching from a window or something, so I just kept walking down the hill in the general direction of away.
If I\u2019d not been so worried about Davis, I might have noticed the thing I missed in that interview, but \u2026 I didn\u2019t. Lake eventually figured it out, far too late for either of us to do anything about it.
And we didn\u2019t figure out the other thing I missed until years later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was maybe a week later that my parole officer called me in for a face-to-face. Technically it was with the squirrelly little fuck whose name I can never remember, but there was no great surprise when Davis collected me at the front desk and ushered me towards the interview room. The squirrelly little fuck was watching from his desk, and did start to\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[10],"tags":[],"fcn_genre":[],"fcn_fandom":[],"fcn_character":[],"fcn_content_warning":[],"class_list":["post-147","fcn_chapter","type-fcn_chapter","status-publish","hentry","category-the-transdimensional-laundry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fcn_chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter\/147\/revisions\/148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_genre?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_fandom","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_fandom?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_character","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_character?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_content_warning","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_content_warning?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}