Roland Finley

Roland was born and raised in Michigan. He was the second son of a happily married couple. His father made a living as a ferryboat driver and his mother was a teacher. While they were poor financially, their family was rich with affection and love.
He became interested in law enforcement when he was sixteen. His father had been robbed at gun point while on the job. While the older man wasn’t injured, the police that came to the house to take a statement made an impression on Roland who wanted nothing more than to be a cop from that day on.

He met Emily, a secretary, while at the police academy. They were married by the time he was twenty and by the time he was twenty one, they had a son. Emily resigned and stayed home with the baby boy while Roland continued to work. He wanted his kid to have everything since he had grown up only wearing hand-me-downs. He worked long hours, but felt it was worth it so his boy could have the best. Because of his solid work, he made Detective.

By the time his son was a teenager, Devin was a bit of a handful. He was in and out of trouble in school mostly because of having a smart mouth. He was very bright and not mature enough to handle it which ended in fist fights with other kids and arguments with teachers. Roland moved him out of public school and enrolled him in private school. Even though they could hardly afford it, it paid off when Devin was accepted to medical school at eighteen.

His son inherited his father’s work ethic, but Devin wasn’t nearly as focused. Once the boy had moved to PA, Roland saw him once a year, if that. He sent money to his mother quite often, sometimes hundreds of dollars just to help with bills. Even so, the boy always seemed disheveled, exhausted and when Devin did come home, he’d sleep for days. Roland had been around long enough to suspect there was an issue or two going on there beyond their control.

In 2012, Devin was supposed to come home for Christmas and Roland had a plan to get his son some help – rehab and therapy. He’d already spoken to the Chief of Medicine at his hospital, Dr. Long about Devin taking some leave. Long had agreed with him, revealing that Devin drank way too much. It pissed Roland off that this was apparently common knowledge at the hospital but Long hadn’t done anything to fix it.

Unfortunately, as was par for course, Devin didn’t make it home. Emily was devastated, but put on a brave face, accepted the idea that her son would be home for New Years. Without telling Emily, Roland began to plan a trip to Pennsylvania to get his son back on track.

Before he could leave, however, Michigan was rocked by an Earthquake which knocked out most of the power and cell towers. The flooding began after that. Roland and Emily were able to evacuate to higher ground, but soon Emily took ill – coughing, headache. She could hardly breathe. Her dying wish was for Roland to find their son, to make sure he was alright.