Chapter 12

As Morgan and I went down the lobby staircase I knew my dad had been right. The policeman was there, quite loudly interrogating the desk clerk. As we reached the bottom step, he pointed us out to the officer saying, "There they are!"

Immediately the cop, a rather young one at that, sternly commanded, "Come here you two! ... Now!!!" and pointed his white gloved hand at the floor right in front of him.

The desk clerk, who finally had his name tag on identifying him as Wilson, opened his eyes wide at the officer's firmness.

We strolled over to him and he said, "I need to talk to you two before I place you both under arrest for prostitution."

As calmly as possible I asked, "Where did you get that idea. Morgan is my sister."

There was a small reading room just off the lobby and he said, "I don't want to hear any of your lies." Then demanding, "Get into the Reading Room and sit down while I figure this out."

Morgan was distressed and showed it. I too was apprehensive but we both stayed moderately calm. After we were seated, he stood before us. Standing close to us he was trying his best to intimidate us into confessing our sins.

I was sure he was out to make a collar that would look good on his record. A well dressed young Pimp and his child prostitute would be quite a catch. I had a mental picture of the headline he was looking for: 'Rookie Bags Pimp And Child Prostitute!'

He spoke real loud, almost at a yell saying, "I've seen this girl around and never seen you before.

"Where did she get that new dress?" he said using his gloved pointed finger to emphasize his question. "This morning I saw her wearing rags.

"What are you, her pimp or her John?"

Rattling on, hardly taking a breath, he continued his tirade, "The desk clerk tried to convince me you two are brother and sister.

"I know that is not true.

"Admit it and we can take care of this quickly."

"I'm her brother all right," I told him being sure to use a calm voice and not react to his abusive manner.

"You're lying and I know it."

Raising his voice more, he added, "You are not brother and sister!"

Then in an even more piercing shrill voice he continued, "If you were her brother I'd have seen you before.

"Stop lying," he demanded once again and gave a shattering, very intensive stamp of his foot causing the table lamp next to the couch to rattle.

When he paused to take a breath I said, "Well, you haven't seen me before because I don't live here.

"I live in Tennessee.

"Morgan's my step-sister and I can prove it."

He leaned over and put his face close to mine, almost touching noses and immediately gave the stern reply, "No you can't."

His breath was stifling. His face started to redden and his eyes bulged out as he yelled into my face, "No ... You ... CAN'T!!!" and his face got even redder as he added, "This is all a lie."

Then reaching to his belt he took out his handcuffs and rattled them in front of me. "Come clean or I'll cuff you right here ... Right NOW!!!"

Morgan surprised him with a measure of authority in her voice by saying, "Blair, show him your birth certificate."

The officer stood back up, placed his hands defiantly on his hips and told her in a voice not quite as loud as before, "What will that prove?"

I assumed the change in his tone was due to his surprise at Morgan's intervention. Even I was surprised at her composure in the face of his attempt to intimidate us.

As I pulled out my birth certificate from my pocket Morgan didn't back down in the face of the Cop's fury. She reiterated firmly, "We are step-brother and step-sister.

"My mother's maiden name is Mary Darby.

"Look at his birth certificate!

"You'll see her name as his mother's name too."

"That doesn't prove anything," he said, once more bringing down the intensity of his voice.

"Well, I have my birth certificate upstairs," she told him. "Let's go upstairs and get it."

"Yeah, and the John will run away.

"Not on your life. I won't fall for that old trick!"

"Blair will not run away," Morgan said with some annoyance in her voice. Continuing she added, "If you're so scared he'll do a runner then use those handcuffs and cuff him to... ," and with a pointing finger suggested, "that heating pipe right there."

"I'll do just that," he said.

By the time he was able to react, I was up and holding my hand near the pipe. I didn't flinch when he clicked the one cuff closed around my wrist and then the other around the pipe.

I had to stifle a laugh after I was hooked to the pipe when he said, "Now stay put or I'll hunt you down."

"OK, Missy," he said in a terribly condescending way. "Let's go look at that birth certificate you claim to have."

I will admit that I would have wanted to bring all my power to bear and be up in the room and slug him one. I could be back here before anyone knew I was missing. "Officer," I could say, "I was handcuffed to this pipe all the time. How could I have caused that black eye."

Or perhaps I could use a little of my money and set him up for a very embarrassing fall of some sort. Maybe I could stuff a drawer where he lived full of cash and phone in an anonymous tip about it saying he was on the take.

But, I was more concerned with just getting out of the current situation unscathed. I really didn't want to have Morgan and me just disappear. No matter what, that would set off alarm bells and would possibly cause something else to happen later. Maybe even years later. Neither of us needed any kind of trouble now or later.

After about fifteen minutes Morgan and the cop came back downstairs. He didn't seem the least bit contrite and I could see he didn't want to admit to making a mistake at all.

"I've written all of your information down," he began, "And I will thoroughly check it out. If I find you two have been lying to me then I'll be back with two pair of handcuffs and a Paddy Wagon, then haul you both off to jail."

'Man', I thought, 'Get a life. Let it go.' But I said, "Yes officer. We will be here if you need us."