Feathers

21. The Interview

It didn't matter if you were the most law-abiding person on the planet, Michael was pretty sure that everyone felt the sudden, illogical tug of guilt when a police car started flashing their sirens. 

Maybe it was just him. Maybe he had some deeply buried fear of authority figures that he harboured from his childhood. But this was even worse. Sitting on a hard plastic chair in the excessively air-conditioned waiting room of the Newcastle City Local Area Command Centre, Michael felt the gut-churning dread of knowing that he had done something terrible, and the police were about to find out.

They'd decided that Spencer and Gretchen would head back to the flat and wait for them, while Michael accompanied Kobie to the police station. There had been some discussion as to whether it would make them seem guilty to have a chaperone accompany Kobie. But Michael had put his foot down. The bottom line was that Kobie was terrified, and regardless of anything else, his number one priority was to be there for her.

He wasn't going to let her face this alone. And anyway, he reasoned, even if she had no idea what the police were ringing her about, it wouldn't be unusual to feel nervous being interviewed out of the blue by law enforcement. It wouldn't be particularly strange for her to want to bring a friend or partner for emotional support.

"I don't know what I should be doing with my face," Kobie whispered to Michael out of the side of her mouth while looking straight ahead at the cream coloured painted concrete wall in front of them.

Michael turned to look at her, she looked normal enough from where he was sitting.

"You look fine darlin," he whispered. "Just try not to think about it. Let your face do whatever it feels like doing."

"It feels like screaming and howling and having its skin clawed off and melting into a pile of miserable goo."

"Okay well maybe don't do that."

He turned and grabbed her face gently, kissing her on the lips.

She slapped him away, turning red "what are you doing!? You can't do PDA in a police station."

"There you go," Michael said smiling, "I fixed it for you, now you just look angry at your dumb boyfriend."

A door swung open down the hallway and two men stepped out of it and walked towards them. One was wearing a standard Australian beat cop uniform: Dark blue chinos, a pale blue short-sleeved shirt with decorative shoulder stripes and embroidered crests on the sleeve. The other man's attire was more worrying. He wore black suit pants and a long-sleeved shirt with a striped tie. Plainclothes. A senior detective. Unlike the man in uniform who looked kind, he wore no cap, and as if to match the seriousness of his attire his face seemed grimmer, with less humour and warmth in it.

The two men stopped in front of Kobie.

"Kobie Brennan?" The cop in uniform with the friendly face asked.

Kobie nodded, she looked like she was going to say something but just swallowed nervously before coughing and covering her mouth quickly in a COVID-safe reflex.

"And you are?" the smiling cop turned to Michael.

"Hi, I'm Michael. Kobie's boyfriend.

"Okay great. What's your last name, Michael?"

Michael suddenly felt nervous. Somehow being asked his full name made the situation more real. Reminded him why they were there. It was important not to freak out, Kobie was stressed enough, he had to keep it together for both of them. But he had to be careful as well. He couldn't be too relaxed.