There But For The Grace of God

"Any units in the vicinity.  Officer needs assistance with 415F at 137 Bristol Lane."

Detective Jim Ellison grabbed the radio microphone.  "Zebra 3 responding.  ETA 3 minutes."  Replacing the mike, he activated the light bar and accelerated.  'Great!  Just great!  All day in court answering stupid questions by a stupid attorney in a thousand-dollar suit.  All I wanted was to go home and put in some quality snuggling time with Blair.  But do I get it?  No!'

Although feeling exceptionally sorry for himself at the moment, Jim managed to avoid antagonizing any fellow motorists as he responded to the call.

Bristol Lane was part of a recently renovated area of Cascade.  The area had one main road with small streets branching off.  The developer, a transplanted Brit, had named each street after a city in his native country.  Bristol Lane was almost a carbon copy of London Road which was almost a carbon copy of Birmingham Drive.  Each street had three houses on each side with each house having nice grassy areas on all four sides.

As he turned onto Bristol Lane, he saw a mass of people standing in the street.  Two patrol cars were parked at the curb.  Two uniformed officers were trying to keep to combatants apart while the other two officers were trying to control the crowd.

Bringing the truck to a stop, Jim pinned his badge to his jacket pocket and got out.  Looking over his shoulder, he saw two other patrol cars coming to a halt behind him.

"You son-of-a-bitch!"

A man looking to be in his mid-30's tried to pull free from the officer holding onto him.

"That's enough!" Jim yelled.

For a few seconds, everyone was startled into silence.  Jim mentally thanked the US Army Officer Training School and pointed at the man who'd been trying to free himself.  "You!  Over there!"  He turned and pointed at the man who was being restrained by the other officer.  "You!  Over there!"

"He struck me!  I want him arrested now!"

A red-eyed woman probably in her late twenties was pointing at the first man.

Jim pointed at her.  "You!  Over there!"  He eyed the crowd.  "The rest of you...unless you have some information to contribute...get back to your homes!"

The crowd eyed the police officers then began walking away, muttering to themselves.

Jim looked at one of the patrol officers.  "What do we have?"

"We received a 911 call about a woman screaming.  Mrs. Evie Stanton over there put the call in."  Office Keith Wayne indicated a woman in her early 40's who was comforting the crying woman.  "We received the call at 6:42.  We were just passing the entrance to the subdivision so we were here in just a few seconds.  We saw Mrs. Stanton and her husband entering the house."  He pointed over his shoulder at a ranch-style dwelling.  "We followed to see Mr. Howard Jackson slugging Mr. Ben Stanton, husband of Mrs. Stanton."

"What about Mrs. Jackson?" Jim asked.

"Sheila Jackson claims her husband grabbed her and threw her against the wall."  The young patrolman sighed.  "They've got three kids."

"Great," Jim muttered.  "Okay, book Jackson for hitting Stanton.  Have Mrs. Jackson taken to the hospital to confirm any injuries.  If you find them, add a charge of spousal abuse.  Is there anybody who can take the kids?"

"A neighbor has them right now," Wayne confirmed.  "She said she was calling Mrs. Jackson's mother."

Jim nodded.  "Make sure they're in the custody of somebody responsible before you leave."

"Thanks for the help, Detective.  Things were getting really out of hand."

Jim grunted and turned back to the truck.

"Just can't understand it," Wayne muttered.

"Understand what?" Jim asked, turning back.

"How somebody can get so out of control that he literally picks up somebody smaller and slams them into a wall?"  Wayne shook his head.

"Yeah," Jim nodded.  "I know what you mean."  Turning to stare at Sheila Jackson, he narrowed his vision and saw the bruises forming on her upper arms.  He sighed and walked back to the truck.  He would be making a few stops on the way home to find a box of the special dark chocolate that Blair loved.  He had a long overdue apology to make.

August 2003

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