Chapter 36
I’ve never been arrested before.
Obviously. Most law-abiding citizens like me have never been arrested. Of course, Veronica has been arrested. The only positive part of this is imagining her going through this same discomfort.
The cop drives me to the police station, where they search me—I guess to look for some sort of weapon. Thankfully, he brought my purse with me in the police car, but I don’t get to hold on to it. They make me sign some form saying they took it.
And then I get booked for obstructing an officer and trespassing. They ask me a bunch of questions, fingerprint me, and take a mug shot. Honestly, it’s too awful for words. The whole time, I keep asking to talk to my lawyer, but they don’t let me do it until the booking is complete.
There’s a phone in the booking area, and they let me find Ezra’s number in my cell phone, which was in my purse.
I really, really don’t want to call him, but I have to.
I’m not even sure if he’s going to pick up on a Sunday morning, and this is not the kind of call he’s going to want to get.
I’m embarrassed for him to find out what happened.
But he’s my lawyer, and I need him right now.
Thankfully, he picks up after only two rings, probably because he’s not unfamiliar with getting calls from the police station. “Hello?”
“Hi, Ezra…it’s Naomi.”
“Naomi?” He’s quiet for a moment, and when I hear his voice again at the other end of the line, he sounds baffled. “Are you calling me from the police station?”
“Yes. I…I got arrested.”
“Arrested? Are you serious?”
“It wasn’t my fault!” The whole story spills out, about the party and Jeremy’s accusations and how I was planning to leave the party, but then the police officer grabbed me, and it was all just a misunderstanding. Well, sort of. “And now they want to put me in a cell.”
“Oh, Christ,” Ezra groans. “Didn’t I tell you not to go to that party?”
“I didn’t! He told me it would be over by noon! This was not my fault.”
“Okay, okay…” He sighs deeply. “Fine. Okay. Let me see what I can do.”
“Do I have to spend the night here?”
The thought of spending the night in a jail cell is almost too horrible for words.
“I don’t know,” he says. “Probably not. Like I said, let me see what I can do.”
“Will there be bail?”
“Hopefully not. They’ll probably release you on your own recognizance.”
“Okay.” My voice breaks on the second syllable of the word. “Thank you, Ezra.”
“This isn’t good though, Naomi.”
“Really? I thought it was a brilliant idea.”
He sighs again. “All right. Just hang in there. I’m going to make some calls, and then I’ll drive down to the station.”
I want to feel comforted that Ezra is helping me. Whatever I have done, he will help me make it right again. But the second I hang up the phone, I burst into tears.