Frank looked at his mother and could see she’d been crying. Not wanting to alarm his father Frank took his mother’s hand and squeezed it.

"Fenton, do you know where the precinct Joe is in is located?"

"Yes; it’s the same precinct my friend Greg’s client was in," Fenton said, thinking at the same time: "They are famous for treating prisoners badly there."

"You don’t think they’ll hurt Joe do you?" Laura asked, her voice shaking a little bit.

"Well, if they do, they’re going to have to answer to me," Fenton said, and gave Laura a smile.

"Me, too!" Frank added.

Finally, Fenton parked the car outside the station. Frank jumped out of the car and ran towards the entrance.

"Frank, wait here with your mother," Fenton said, and stopped Frank from attacking the sergeant. "Let me and Davenport do all the talking."

"Can I help you sir?" the desk sergeant asked, not looking up from the papers on his desk.

"I would like to see my son, Joseph Hardy. He is being held here," Fenton said, trying to be as calm and professional as he could.

"Let’s see, Hardy… I don’t have a Hardy in my books, but I have a John Doe, a young boy unwilling to identify himself. Hold on for a moment. Mike, Paul, could you come here for a second?" Fenton watched as two officers, both in their late thirties, walked towards him.

"What’s up, boss?" Paul asked.

"You brought in a young boy late last night didn’t you?"

"Yes, we did," Mike said.

"Did you get his name yet?" Sweat pearls were forming on the sergeant’s forehead.

"Yes-- Hardy, Joe," Mike replied.

"That’s my son! I would like to see him immediately," Fenton insisted.

"All right. Paul will take you to a room where you can wait. I will go and get your son." Mike grabbed the file from the sergeant’s desk and hurried down the hallway giving Paul a devious look.

Fenton remembered some statements from Greg’s file.

"One of the officers had pushed his face to the ground as the other continued to kick him in his back. They all laughed as the kicked him and listened to his cries of help. After the attack had finally ceased the suspect’s spine had cracked leaving him paralysed below his waist."

Fenton could feel the goosebumps on his back as he thought about what they might have done to his son.

"Fenton, are you coming with us?" Laura asked, waiting for her husband to follow them with Officer Paul.

"Yes, dear. I’m on my way."

They all followed Paul to the same room where he and Mike had terrorized Joe and so many before him.

The room was regular for a interrogation room, but the window that allowed the other officers to monitor the conversation going on was missing. Fenton found it weird, but decided not to comment on it.

"My partner should be bringing your son in here any minute now," Paul said, "but we should discuss the charges before he arrives."

"What do you mean?" Fenton asked, looking at the officer like he had two heads.

"When we picked up your son he was under the influence of drugs. When we searched him we obtained 3 grams of cocaine."

"You can’t be serious!" Fenton shouted, grabbing a hold of his wife. "Joe would never touch that stuff."

"Are you sure, sir?" Paul’s feet trembled as he continued his path of lying. "Has there been any trouble at home lately? Something that might trigger a once prominent teenager to try new stuff?"

"What the hell are you implying? When I talked to my son few hours ago he was bleeding because he’d been stabbed and he didn’t have a nice story to tell about the people working at this precinct!"

"Stabbed?" Paul tried to look as surprised as he could trying to get Fenton to believe he didn’t have a clue about what he was talking about. "He never informed us of any such thing."

"I know all about your methods here and I promise you that I will not stay quiet about this. No stop filling my head with lies and bring my son in here!" Fenton was so furious his hands were shaking.

Fenton didn’t care to continue this conversation.

Laura was standing next to Frank and was holding on to his hand as tightly as she could. Mr. Davenport had his briefcase out and was pulling out a pen and a paper.

***

Back in the cell Joe was leaning against the brick wall. His sweater was soaked in his blood, but because it was black it was hardly noticeable. A sharp pain raced through his body as he could see Officer Mike walking towards him.

"Hey, kid, wake up. You have company," Mike said, as he helped Joe to his feet.

"Is it my family?" Joe asked, his voice trembling.

"Yes. They are waiting for you in the interrogation room." Mike opened the door to let Joe out. "But kid if you tell about anything that has happened in here there will be hell to pay do you hear me?"

"You don’t scare me." Joe said.

"Yeh, just remember you may have friends in high places but so do I. If you cross me I’ll make sure your life will be a living hell."

Joe followed Mike down the hall and into the room. His mother and Frank were standing close and Joe could see the look in his mother’s face as she saw him. Without giving him a chance to speak, Laura grabbed her son in her arms and hugged him tightly. Releasing his emotions, Joe started to sob over his mom’s shirt.

"Mom, I’m so sorry," Joe cried.

"It’s alright baby. I’m just so glad to have you in my arms. I thought I might never get to see you again," Laura cried, not wanting to let go of her son.

From Laura’s arms Joe looked at Frank. His brother was standing still, unsure of what to do. A part of him wanted to slap Joe so hard he wouldn’t wake up until he was thirty. A bigger part of him, though, was just to glad to do nothing else other than to wrap his arms around him.

"Joe, are you alright?" Fenton asked.

"No, I’m not. I still haven’t been allowed to see a doctor for my wound!" Joe blurted that out, giving Mike and Paul the evil eye. Joe had every intention of telling his father everything he’d been through despite Mike’s previous threat. He had never given into bully’s and he wasn’t about to start to.

"Let me see," Fenton said, and helped Joe on the table. Joe lifted his sweater and showed his father where he’d been stabbed two days earlier. Angrily, Fenton turned to the officer.

"What’s this all about?" he said and pulled Mike up by his collar. "My son is bleeding and he hasn’t been seen by a doctor! What kind of place is this?!"

"We weren’t aware of the boy’s injuries. He never told us," Mike lied, trying to break out of Fenton’s hold.

"That’s what your partner said earlier but I’m not buying it!" Fenton said.

Officer Paul tried to help his partner, but Mike pushed him away, not wanting to cause any more trouble with the Hardy’s.

"I will be walking out of here with my son!" Fenton almost screamed at Mike. "You go and get the necessary paperwork to make that happen." Mike, to scared too disagree, left the room to go and talk to his sergeant.

"Thanks dad," Joe said. "I don’t know if I would have survived another day in here."

"Me and Davenport will take care of this, son," Fenton said, as he and the lawyer walked to go fill out the release forms.

"What the hell are we going to do?" Paul asked Mike as they were out of reach.

"I don’t’ know, the boy is cocky. I tried to scare him to be quiet but it didn’t work. The only thing we can do is stick to our story. He jumped us, resisted an arrest." Mike wiped the sweat of his face. "When we searched him we found a bag of cocaine. We brought him in, booked him, tried to talk to him but he remained quiet. End of story."

"Somehow I can’t help thinking that won’t be the end." Paul said.