Chapter 7

Since I had really no intention of finding any kind of a 'one-night stand' type of relationship, I decided that I would go the same place where I'd met Liz. There certainly would not be any possibility that someone would start hitting on me there. At least last time most of the other guests had been so much younger, that I believed that I'd be quite safe. I'd spent some time looking at myself in the mirror and checking out how I looked in the clothes I had decided to wear. Ok, I was at least a bit thrilled, but I had no intention of bedding anyone yet.

The bar was as I remembered, and I decided to continue my interrupted beer tasting. The bartender behind the desk was a different man than the last time, so there probably would not be any of the free beer I'd been promised. After a while, it seemed that the atmosphere in the bar was much as I had expected. Most of the people there were in their twenties. There were some guys in their thirties, and some of them seemed almost desperate while circling around the younger women. Yes, I would be quite safe.

I don't know what caught my attention, but while I was admiring the whiskeys at the bar, I noticed that there were some people in one booth who occasionally seemed to look in my direction. I didn't turn to look. Instead, I followed them in the mirror. After a moment I was sure that they were my friends from my previous visit. Of course, if they were regulars, there would be no reason for anyone not to let them in. Whatever, if they left me alone, I would not be bothered. But in any case I decided to follow them from the mirror every now and then.

I was about to finish my second beer when I noticed that they were talking to a young-looking woman and after a while they made some gestures in my direction. I sighed and then decided that I can play a bit, too. I checked my phone and started a call to my own answering service and put the phone upside down in my front pocket. Soon there was a teenage-looking girl with much too much makeup standing next to me and smiling.

"Hi, is this place free?"

"Yes, but are you sure that you want to be seen with an old hog like me?"

"Maybe I like older men."

That wasn't very subtle. As I didn't reject her she just sat down next to me and made sure that she pushed her small breasts forward. I had no intention of doing anything with her. I was curious to know what she wanted from me, but I was sure that the guys in that booth didn't want anything good happening to me.

"Why is that? Besides to me you look almost too young to be here, and easily young enough to be my daughter."

"Oh, young men are not experienced and they are just after one thing, and they usually have no idea how to make a girl happy."

I think that you cannot be much more direct when you are offering yourself or your services to someone. But why would the guys in the booth send a working girl to me? Besides, she had not responded to my comment that she looked almost too young. I smiled at her when I understood and replied.

"Are you sure? I certainly know some older men who have not learned much during the years, and I'm quite sure that there are some younger men who know how to make a girl happy but they don't brag about it."

"Maybe, but the older men usually have more wealth, and therefore more means to please a girl. I'm quite sure that you fully qualify."

Tsk tsk. She had just made a small mistake. I kept on smiling at her and looked at her a bit more closely. The makeup she used was almost like a young girl would be using, but if you carefully looked around her eyes, you could see that there were small wrinkles that indicated that she wasn't quite as young as she first looked. Then even if she was thin, it was clear that she had muscles. I looked back to her eyes and continued smiling.

"It saddens me that a young girl like you already has that kind of view to the world. I can guess that with a body like yours you can get all kind of suggestions from dirty old men like me, if you approach them. I'm not saying that I'm not tempted in several ways by your attention, but I'd need to know what you can offer."

I knew that I was now walking on a thin ice but after two beers I just saw the situation too tempting. I could see a hint of frustration coming on her face.

"I'm sure that we could have a nice time together if we could reach an agreement."

At that point I decided to call it off. I continued smiling at her when I came closer and talked to her so that nobody else could hear.

"I'm sorry, Officer, but I'm quite sure that we cannot reach any kind of agreement. I'll not be offering you, or anybody else, any money in exchange for sexual services. Besides, I'm quite sure that you were misled by the people in that booth. The last time I was here we had a disagreement, and they may carry a grudge. I'm also sorry that I teased you, but I think that you did quite well."

First there was shock, and then there was some anger visible in her face.

"Very well then, wise-ass. Where is the girl you picked up last time?"

"Why would you want to know that? As far as I know she has never been prosecuted for anything."

"Just tell me where she is. I have not seen her for a while."

"Look, she is not in the business. She never really was, and if you really need to know, she is visiting her parents because it is Thanksgiving weekend."

"That is what you say."

Now I was starting to feel a bit pissed off, myself.

"Look, if you are working for the vice squad ... as you probably are ... I understand that you are worried about her. But since you don't know her real name, and as she has never been arrested, I see no reason to give any information to you that might be recorded somewhere, which might come back to her later. Once she comes back, I will talk to her ... and maybe - really maybe - you can then see her privately and she can confirm to you that she is ok."

"Maybe I should just arrest you and take you to the station."

"And you would accuse me of what? Look, I didn't suggest anything to you and I didn't offer you any money. Either you give me some contact information so that she can contact you if she wants to, or I just leave. Somehow I just don't feel like tasting the beers, anymore."

I stood up and gave a twenty to the bartender and walked away just to be stopped outside by two big guys in uniforms.

"Sir, I think you should come with us."

"Why? Am I under arrest?"

"No, but you should come with us."

"Maybe I would not like to. I have not done anything illegal, and there is absolutely no reason to arrest me. If you give me some contact information I can come to visit the station, sometime next week when I have time, but just now I just want to go home."

"Stay right there, you asshole, and get on your knees."

When someone says something like that, and points a gun at you from close range, you start to reconsider things. I stopped and knelt.

"Look, Officer, you are making a big mistake."

"Shut up, asshole, and put your hands behind your back!"

"What are you two doing?"

That was the girl from the bar. When I tried to turn to look at her I got a hit to the side of my head.

"Don't move, asshole!"

Then another of the guys turned to the girl.

"He was resisting arrest. We are taking him in."

My head hurt a bit and I could feel my hands get cuffed. The girl tried to cut in between.

"But he didn't do or say a thing that could incriminate him."

"Oh, I think we just heard differently. Then he tried to attack us. So, we are taking him in. After all, he is a potential killer and at least he tried to buy sex."

After that I was forcefully picked up and pulled to the backseat of a patrol car.

"Watch out your head asshole."

And then he banged my head on the car. Once inside my head hurt even more and I could feel the blood.