Chapter 11 The Revolving Door
THE REVOLVING DOOR
LUCAS
At the last second, he stopped himself from slamming his office door.
However, he closed it and turned his high-backed chair so that it blocked a clear view of him through the small window.
While seated, he engaged in a few moments of self-pity.
If he’d listened to Officer Hookstead and followed her advice, he wouldn’t be in this predicament right now.
His SRO.
Elyxandre.
Just the thought of her, of her name, was enough to distract him.
He’d certainly noticed how attractive she was the first time he met her in the emergency room, and he noted it a number of times during the first few weeks of school.
But ever since she arrived at school this morning in a fiery temper over the raid, her heart-shaped face popped into his head nonstop.
Today, it seemed that when he wasn’t thinking about the disaster of the raid, he was thinking about her, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.
He was man enough to admit that, sexist as it was, she definitely filled out her uniform nicely.
He noticed that when she turned to go into school this morning to start searching through video camera footage.
He just hoped neither of the custodians standing with him had noticed his interest or his body’s reaction to the sight.
He was very thankful he’d already put on his blazer and buttoned it before walking over to them.
However, he also knew he genuinely liked her as a person.
She took a lot of pride in her job, and he loved how they clicked when it came to handling the kids.
Empowerment for them was everything to her.
Whenever he heard her dealing with a student, whether they were in trouble or it was just an everyday interaction, she walked an incredibly delicate line with them by being a police officer, but also making sure they knew they weren’t at a disadvantage just because they were kids and she was an adult.
Just the other day, he sat in on a meeting with a boy who had been caught with drugs in his locker.
The school had a zero-tolerance policy for selling or using, with consequences of expulsion.
Her predecessor would have made the kid feel small, belittled him, and played the tough cop, not giving a shit about him, other than having the police haul him away in handcuffs.
Elyxandre hadn’t done that. Instead, she asked questions—tried to figure out what was going on with the boy.
She listened to his answers. He had a job, but his family had been displaced from their apartment, and his paycheck, combined with his mother’s, wasn’t enough.
He needed money quickly to help keep food on the table and a roof over his mother and baby brother’s heads at a local dive motel.
In her quiet way, she offered to help get them resources so he wouldn’t feel forced to continue on that path.
Yes, she took him to jail. But she took him herself, rather than calling the cops, and she let him have his dignity and exit the building without restraints, not placing him in handcuffs until they arrived at the police station.
She also stayed with him through the entire booking process, making sure he understood his rights, both with the police and then later in regards to school.
This was a blip, she assured him. A bad choice, but it didn’t have to mean everything was over for him.
That was probably the moment he really understood who she was. And, if he was honest with himself, it was probably the moment he tipped from the “I’ve noticed her” category to the “I’m interested in her” category.
His phone vibrated. Taking it out of his pocket, he saw a text from his son.
Looking up, he saw the boy on the other side of the window, his eyes crossed, and his face mashed up against the glass, making it look like he had a pig’s snout.
He couldn’t help but laugh. The kid was a total goober, and he loved him more than anything else on earth.
He walked over to the door to let him in. “Hey, champ.” He looked at his watch. “Shouldn’t you be heading to AP Literature right now?”
“Dad. Seriously creepy that you know my schedule to the minute.”
“Probably. What’s up?”
“Just checking to see that you’re okay. I looked out the window from math class and saw you hightailing it back from the administration building.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. You okay? Any fallout with your friends over this morning?”
“Nah. When it comes to anything that might make me look bad to you, most times, no one says anything to me about it. I’ve told them to never put me in any kind of conflict with you or school.”
“They don’t give you a hard time about your dad being the principal, do they?”
“Not like they did about my dad’s infamously difficult AP Language course and his inhuman expectations for students going into the trades and being forced to take read The Scarlet Letter, a book that means nothing because most of them have a different baby daddy than who their mother is married to.
” Ezra shuddered. “Really, Dad? Can’t you keep them from making us read that crap? It’s no longer applicable to us.”
“I would say it’s more applicable than ever, considering the baby daddy situation.”
“Whatever.” The teen turned and headed to the hallway. “See you after practice!”
When he could no longer hear his son’s whistle from inside the main office confines, he sat back down, this time facing his computer, ready to dig back into his endless emails. He’d been at it barely two minutes when he heard two sharp knocks on the metal doorframe. Officer Hookstead.
Despite the interruption, he couldn’t help the smile spreading across his face as he noticed her blonde hair in its tight French braid, perfectly sprayed back so that no hair was out of place.
Then he did a quick survey of her black Tejeda Springs polo, which was covered up by her bulletproof vest, tan cargo pants, and black boots.
She looked the part of a tomboy, but he could envision the “girly-girl” behind the gear, and not for the first time, he wished they didn’t work together.
When she shifted so her arms were pressed outward to the doorjambs, looking as if she were casually holding the doorway up, his eyes were immediately drawn to the yellow stun gun on her hip, as well as the regular gun sitting just behind it.
He hated that times had come to this, where officers were necessary in schools, let alone ones with guns.
However, he also knew that he’d take the extra layer of security.
“Got a minute, Dr. Vaughn?”
“Sure, come on in.”
She entered his office, closed the door behind her, and took a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
“So, I did some digging around on Kennedy.”
He sat back, his forearms resting lightly on the arms of his chair, and waited for what he was sure was going to be news he didn’t want.
“The first thing I did was run a check on her father. Lieutenant Axton, the officer from the accident, did me a solid, so if he ever asks for a favor, give it to him.”
Lucas nodded his head.
“Paul Dixon has a long string of priors. Mostly disturbing the peace situations, public intoxication, as you thought. There have been three OWIs—the last of those, he did two years in jail, released early for good behavior. His wife left him on the third offense. That was three years ago in October.”
“Hmm… right around the time he got the no trespass for the high school. Interesting.”
“Isn’t it? Shortly after that was when CPS was called, and he brandished the weapon when police and the agent came to his door to check on the kids.”
“How did he not end up in jail again? That had to violate his parole.”
“Wasn’t real. Officers thought it was a weapon, but upon contact, discovered it was a toy. He did a few days in jail, but the judge let him off since he was the only family the kids had. Not sure I agree with that choice, but…”
He tapped his fingers on the end of the chair arms. “And mom didn’t take the kids with her after all that? Didn’t come back and claim them?”
“No. She left the two kids with Paul’s mother, and no one knows where she is. The day he left jail, he picked them up, then his parents went ‘no contact’ with their son and moved to Florida.”
“Wow. They didn’t try to take custody of the kids either?”
“Again… no. However, the parents are pretty advanced in age.”
“No other family that would take them in?”
“According to CPS, the grandparents were it. He was informed that if he earned another OWI, the kids would be taken from him and put into the system, but he doesn’t have a license, and he doesn’t own a car, so they haven’t had to follow through on that threat.”
He grunted. “So where does this leave us?”
“I filed a report with CPS since we’re mandatory reporters. It’s hearsay, and there’s no physical evidence, so I doubt it will launch an actual investigation, but a file has been started.”
Disgruntled, he said, “I filed as well. Even if they did investigate, those take forever.”
She nodded. “System is overworked and understaffed. They do their best, but the legal aspects slow down report times, and there aren’t enough foster families. There definitely aren’t enough good ones.
“In the meantime, Kennedy turns eighteen in January. At that time, we can help her find another place to live. She has a job, but no idea what her post-school plans are. I’d like to find out if she wants to go to college.
Seems like a bright girl based on her grades, but guidance said, to their knowledge, she hasn’t applied anywhere. ”