Chapter 45

Detective Connors did not let Melissa make the call right away. We were taken outside and asked to sit with the others for a little bit. Peter and Sylvia were there in minutes and while Jacob Kosinski didn’t arrive one of his underlings did shortly after. I found out much later that while we waited Detective Connors was getting a new warrant, only possible late on a Sunday afternoon thanks to it involving children. Melissa hadn’t been able to keep upright and eventually Lavi and I ended up on either side supporting her on the ground while she stared at nothing. She would occasionally shake with sobs and then go quiet again.

Two officers watched us while Connors left and served the new warrant. The lawyer told us that since we weren’t detained any of us could do as we wanted but warned us that contacting any of the involved parties could be considered interfering with an investigation. We decided to wait. I went inside which made the officers twitchy but I ignored them. I came back with Xanax for Melissa and Lavi. If I hadn’t already been medicated to the gills I would have taken one too.

Sometime later the police got a call on their radios. They emptied everything from the evidence bags, thanked us for our cooperation, and left. With that, it was both over and just beginning.

I raised my voice to the officers who were leaving. “Excuse me!” One kept walking but one stopped and looked at me. “Can she call her mom now?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And her step-father?”

“I don’t know the details sir but he has been arrested.”

“Thanks.” He walked off and disappeared through the garden gate.

Melissa called her mom. She kept it simple and just said Rian was being arrested for something with a thirteen-year-old. Her mom didn’t ask questions but said she was going to the house. Melissa started to go over too but Sylvia got her to stay put and went instead. Sylvia met Linda there and they found nothing. The police were gone, the house was empty, it just looked like no one was home. The only thing notable was that Linda’s desktop computer was gone too as well as Rian’s laptop. Linda waited for a call but none came. We found out later that Rian called a lawyer but not his wife so if we hadn’t told her she wouldn’t have even known he was arrested that afternoon.

At some point, Linda came to our house and the others left. I didn’t really notice except for Meilin who gave me a hug and said Ji was staying to help us with anything we needed. Linda brought with her an overnight bag and I cleaned up the guest bedroom that I usually only used once a year.

By eight o’clock I was in the kitchen with Ji and Lavi. Lavi was slicing bread and Ji was getting out plates. No one was hungry but I felt letting blood sugar fall wasn’t going to help anyone.

“Ji?”

“Yeah?”

“I can make up the couch if you want.” I didn’t want to put her on the spot but she had said earlier she’d like to spend time with us but have her own place to sleep and Linda was in that room now.

She seemed indifferent. “That would be fine.”

Lavi looked over. “Crash with us. I promise I don’t kick,” she shrugged, “much.”

“I don’t know. Not that I don’t like you guys, I do, but I’m not, you know, in the circle and uh...”

I held up a hand. “You don’t have to explain yourself. And Lavi does kick, a lot.” Lavi stuck her tongue out at me. “But you are a part of our family. You may not be moving in but you are definitely family.”

Ji put a hand on her hip, “Fuck buddy family?”

I grinned, “Buddy-who-I-fuck family.”

Lavi walked and put her arms around Ji. “And I think more comfort is good tonight. For all of us.”

“I don’t want to weird out Mellie or make her think it’s something it’s not.”

“Melissa has her issues but friendship - that is one thing you don’t need to worry about her not understanding,” I said.

Ji smiled, “Fine, I’ll sleep with you degenerates tonight.”

Lavi kissed Ji’s cheek. “Good, clothing-optional. We sleep mostly naked though.” Lavi returned to her task and got out the jelly and peanut butter. I had not made peanut butter in a long time but someone had solved this problem by purchasing a large jar of Peter Pan peanut butter. I eyed it. Lavi pointed a butter knife at me. “If you tell me I can make my own peanut butter in five minutes I’m not making you a sandwich.”

I really struggled in that moment, because it does only take a few minutes to make good peanut butter, not that I had peanuts on hand. But even I learn from my mistakes so instead, I said, “I was thinking I’m glad you got extra crunchy.” She turned back to making the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without comment. At least we had a few good jellies I’d made. “I’d like the strawberry please.”

Lavi smiled and returned to making the sandwiches. Ji filled glasses with milk and eventually, two trays, one of glasses and one of the sandwiches were transported by the girls to the living room while I followed. My contribution was more relaxing medication on each plate. My doctor was a saint for not giving me shit about the more recent refill. Melissa and Linda sat on the couch holding hands. Neither looked like they had moved or said anything.

We ate in silence. Melissa managed to make eye contact with Lavi and me several times. Linda stared ahead like a zombie. Eventually, everything was consumed and put back on trays.

Linda was the first to eventually speak. “We will need to call Tommy, tell him.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Melissa replied. “I’ll text him.”

Linda nodded her consent. “How did this happen?” Her voice was dead lifeless.

“What do you mean?” Melissa looked away from her mother at nothing.

“The police were here and then there.”

Melissa started to reply but her voice caught in her throat. She took a minute. “They were here investigating Robert. But it was really Rian they were looking for.”

She looked at Melissa. “I don’t understand.”

Melissa pulled her hand back from her mom and when she spoke it was nervous and rapid. “Someone had old screenshots off my phone. I hadn’t put a name in, just the initial R. I guess they thought that had to be Robert but it was from a few years ago, before I ever met him.”

I could see Linda’s fingers tightening around a facial tissue she had been using. “You aren’t making sense.”

Melissa took a breath. “Two years ago I began to notice something. Rian had another phone. He only had it out when you were gone and if I came in the room he hid it quickly.”

Linda looked at her daughter. “He has a spare phone, pre-paid on another network for emergencies.”

A little steel returned to Melissa’s voice. “It’s not for emergencies mom. And you don’t keep a thumb drive with a phone for emergencies.”

Linda took a breath. “It’s for work, he uses the phone for work calls sometimes and information on the USB stick.”

“Really mom? A working phone he keeps turned off most of the time?”

“You don’t under... “ Linda stopped herself. Lavi looked ready to explode on Linda and maybe Linda noticed it. “Just tell me.”

Melissa took a breath. “One day you were out somewhere and I came home early. I saw him in his office looking up stuff on his computer. When he saw me, he shut the browser super quick and pulled out the thumb drive. I thought it was really sus but I just pretended I didn’t see anything. But it kept bugging me.”

“What did you do?” Linda sounded like she was asking about a broken lamp she didn’t like, not her life falling apart.

Melissa took a deep breath. I wanted to hug her but I knew it wasn’t the time. “Well, I borrowed something from a friend. You know Juline?”

“Mary Gotch’s daughter? She was your lab parter for a few years, right?”

“Right. Somehow she got her hands on one of those hidden nanny cams, like parents use to make sure babysitters are doing their jobs. Juline was joking about setting it up in the boy’s locker room. I convinced her I had another use for it.”

Melissa went silent. Linda waited but eventually asked, “I’m guessing you saw something.”

“He was going to this website, Creative Leisure. It had a section that pretended to be, like, a teen posting area. It wasn’t though. He was browsing that and then using his phone and ... I really don’t want to talk about what I saw him do.”

Linda looked down. “Oh.”

“So, I checked out the website. You could place ads for free but your contact info were hidden. Someone had to pay a membership to see them. But I could read the ads and it was girls looking for sugar daddies. It didn’t take a genius that there are sugar daddies and ... well, just paying for stuff. So, I wrote one asking for a sugar daddy who would want some online dates. I used a phone number from a virtual phone app with its own messaging.”

Lavi, “And?”

“I got a ton of messages which I just deleted. It didn’t take long for Rian’s phone number to show up though. I had figured it out from watching him type it in a few times. That cam had a really good resolution. Basically, he asked prices for pictures and sexting and phone sex and I said we could meet up and he said he didn’t do that. I did string him along a bit. I gave him a few photos, like panty shots I took in the bathroom at school. He asked how old I was and I said eighteen and he said it was okay if I was a little younger. I thought that was creepy but figured he was doing a roleplay thing. He still wouldn’t meet up so I ended up just not responding anymore.”

Linda looked at Melissa again. Tears were in her eyes. “What was the point?”

“I wanted to know if he was cheating on you mom.”

“You didn’t say anything to me.”

“I thought about it, I thought about it a lot. But even if he was buying stuff I figured phone calls and texting were bad, but it’s not like he was stepping out if he refused to meet up. I’m not saying I was comfortable with it but I don’t know what parameters you had in your relationship.”

Linda’s voice turned scathing. “That’s a hell of a line to draw and no, I wouldn’t have been fine with him having phone sex! Would you be fine with Robert doing that and you not knowing it!?”

“Yeah, I would.” Linda looked she had been slapped. She sat there in shock, I think at the casualness of the response as much as anything. Melissa continued, “But I’m not saying I thought you would be. I guess ... I guess not knowing gave me the wiggle room to avoid it.”

“But you felt that if he had been going out to meet girls...”

“Yeah. I knew that wasn’t something I could ignore. There was no way you would be fine with that. And really I knew you weren’t fine with the other stuff but was it my business? It definitely wasn’t if he was just looking at porn. Is buying phone sex just elaborate porn?”

“Jesus Christ Melissa! What the hell are you talking about?”

Melissa hung her head. “I’m telling you what I thought about.” Melissa withdrew her hand and pulled her knees up until she was hugging her own legs on the couch. Lavi rubbed her back. “Yeah. I didn’t actually send nudes though, I mean, I wouldn’t have done that though I told him I would.”

Linda stood. “I think I need some time to think.” Linda headed towards the stairs.

“Mom?”

Linda paused. “It’s not your fault. You should have told me but you’re just a ... it isn’t your responsibility.”

“I should have told you.”

Linda didn’t look at her daughter but kept that same even tone. “It’s hard to remember that it was just two years ago and you were such a different person then. You seem so grown up now and I’ve started to see you as a woman but this ... I love you Melissa but I need to be alone a bit.” With that, she walked upstairs.

At one AM I woke and had to pee. I left the bathroom to find three women laying in bed in bras and panties. Melissa’s athletic form in pale blue, Lavi’s curves in black, and Ji’s thin frame in red. I don’t want to seem insensitive to the drama that was going on but I would be lying if I hadn’t wished I was coming back to them awake and playing. Right now all three were asleep, having fallen asleep while watching the Great British Bake Off, which Ji was now addicted to. The television was showing a box that said “Are you still watching?” I didn’t want to look for my phone so I just walked to the television and felt for its power button to turn it off.

When I had gone to sleep Ji and Melissa had been on either side of me and Lavi on the other side of Melissa. Ji had migrated at some point and now was half laying on top of Lavi, maybe to avoid falling off. My bed was nice and intimate with three. If we had Ji over regularly I was going to need an upgrade. I already had a king. I wondered if you could do something like strap two mattresses together.

I just stood there a moment, my arm still in a sling, watching the girls sleep. Maybe it was because I was near the wall to turn the television off but I heard a faint sound that worried me. I went into the hallway and tracked the sound to the hallway bathroom. I should have knocked but the door was slightly cracked so I just pushed it all the way open.

Linda had found some of the Japanese whiskey and was sitting on the toilet sobbing. The whiskey was considerably lower in the bottle than I remembered it being and was on the floor. She saw me so I felt stupid just leaving. She was in an emerald nightie and I had noticed before that she had kept her figure nice. It wasn’t a sexy nightie but there was still plenty of leg showing.

“Hey,” I said. “How are you doing?” She waved me in. She had the toilet taken so I sat on the edge of the tub where I could lean a shoulder against the wall.

“Robert,” her voice was unsteady, “would you fuck me?”

“No.” I was not a strong man but I didn’t find it hard to say.

She snarled, “Figures, only a pedophile wants to fuck me, and then only once a week.”

She picked up the bottle and I felt it necessary to clarify. “No, Linda, no.” She paused. “I’m saying I wouldn’t because of Melissa. If I didn’t know her and you and I just met, well that would be different. You are very beautiful.”

She pointed at me with the bottle still in her hand, “If I spread my legs, you know in the street, you’d fuck me?” Maybe it was unconscious but she spread her legs and I was grateful she had very concealing very boring panties on.