Chapter 8

It was some time next morning when they came to pick up my two 'friends'. If I wasn't scared by them, I would have been scared by their girlfriends. They may have looked like blond bimbos, but any closer look revealed that they were f****hard bimbos. Those college boys must have been out of their minds when they played with them. When I said that to the two guys, they started laughing their asses off. I wished them luck, and they did the same to me.

Some time Saturday morning they came to pick me out of the room and escorted me to small room in which a young man was sitting and obviously waiting for me.

"Good morning sir, I'm your Public Defender. Wouldn't you tell me who you are?"

"No, no, and no."

"What do you mean?"

Of course, they had sent me an idiot.

"No, you aren't my lawyer, and no I'm not going to tell you who I am, and no, this morning is not good."

"But I am your court appointed advocate."

"No, I want to call my lawyer."

"But you have stated that you didn't want to do that, in any circumstances."

I sighed.

"Son, do you have some ID?"

"Yes I do."

"Can I see it?"

"Why do you want to see it?"

"Because I want to able to point out the idiot who should never be allowed to come too close to anyone in trouble. Once I take care of that, it certainly will happen."

He wasn't happy with me. I was furious, but I made sure that it didn't show. After a moment, he went outside. I could see that he talked to one those guys who had been there when I was taken in. Soon I was escorted back to the cell in which the two drunks were still snoring. It was now clear that they didn't want me to make any calls.

I spent another hour there, watching the two drunks. At one point one of them partly woke up, and looked at me with blurry eyes. Suddenly I got an idea, and I walked over to him.

"Hi, pal, what's your name?"

"Why?"

"Just getting friendly. Just tell me your name, and you can go back to sleep."

"Oh, it's Bill, William Collins."

"Thanks, pal. Now you can go back to sleep."

Soon he was snoring, and I was waiting again. My waiting was rewarded maybe an hour later, when a female officer whom I had not seen before came to check on us. I had taken off my jacket and hidden it behind one of the drunks. My shirt was also out of my jeans and my hair was ruffled. I made a gesture towards her and talked quietly when she came closer.

"Good morning, officer. Look, I'm Bill - William Collins, and I'd like make my call. I'm sure you can check that I haven't done that, yet."

She looked and me and nodded. I started waiting and hoping. When she came back a few minutes later, I could only hope. She escorted me to a phone booth, and I decided to play it safe. I tried to stay cool when I selected the number. Luckily my lawyer answered on second ring.

"Juliet Morris."

She sounded wary, which I could understand, as she certainly didn't know the number.

"Hi, Juliet. Please don't respond or interrupt me at any point unless I ask you to do so. You certainly recognize me from my voice. First I need you to listen to the voice mail of my company phone. You have the necessary codes in my files. Please record and save the contents. Secondly, trace this call as I don't know my exact location. I want you to come here asap. Third, inform my daughter that she must not go to the new home, but to warn Liz and contact you instead."

I quickly took more breath before continuing.

"You think you got all that, Juliet?"

"Voice mail, secured; then trace; and finally warn and contact."

"Yes. And asap - please."

"Ok, then, I'd better start."

"Bye, Juliet."

I ended the call and turned back to the officer who had been waiting a bit further away. I made sure to have a sour face.

"He said that I already owed him too much, and that I'm on my own, now."

"Too bad."

She didn't actually sound very sympathetic, but I was grinning inside when she walked me back to my cell. Now the only thing I needed to do was to wait.

Just how wrong can a person be? When I had thought that everything would be over soon, I had clearly been wrong. After a few more hours, they had picked me from my cell so that they could ask me some questions. They made sure that they used their baton and fists to places where you could not easily see the damage. During my college years, I'd had some training that allowed me to compensate at least a bit, but it still hurt. You cannot really compensate a hit to your stomach, when you have just received a hit to your back. The questions remained the same.

"What is your name? Where do you live? What did you do to her? Where is she? Or where did you hide the body? Do you know that we found the drugs you had hidden inside your jacket lining?"

And so on and so on. Before they returned me to the cell, they booked me in again as a John Doe, but now it was for possession of drugs. My jacket was in shreds when they returned me to the cell. At least they allowed me to visit the toilet, and there was no blood when I peed. That was a good thing, anyway. They also gave me some water, but I didn't say thanks. When the place filled up again during the night, I was the one sitting in one of the bunks. This night I had no intention to socialize with anyone, and I guessed that I didn't look like someone they would like to socialize with. After another restless night I hurt all over, and was hungry as hell.

It must have been some time Sunday morning when I was woken from my trance by a familiar voice.

"John, is that you? Oh, God, you sure look like hell."

"Good morning to you, too, Juliet."

Oh, God! Tom Waits would envy my voice, right now. I saw another woman, in her fifties, standing behind Juliet. Juliet was a slightly plump girl in her late thirties. A plain-looking family girl who would tear you another asshole if you underestimated her in court ... and she'd smile at you while doing it!

A few minutes later I was outside, holding my sad excuse of a jacket in my hands. A few more minutes and I had visited the bathroom, and had one glass of water. I felt just a little bit human. I still was filthy, I hurt all over, and I smelled. Two nights in a cell tends to do that. Now I was sitting in the small empty office with Juliet and the woman who had been introduced to me as an Assistant District Attorney, ADA. I turned to look Juliet.

"Took you long enough."

"Sorry, John, but it takes some time, even when flying; and the recording on your voice mail was quite long, several hours, in fact. It had some interesting information. After that it took some time to wake someone here on a Sunday morning, and play the highlights for them. So, I'd guess that you have slept more than I have!"

"Yeah, and with better company. Sorry, Juliet, spending two nights in jail tends to make me snappy. Did you get the warning through?"

I winced involuntarily, when I changed position.

"Yes, I have been in contact with her. Did the inmates beat you in the cell, John?"

Now the DP started to look worried. I chuckled.

"No, all the guys in the cell were ok. It was yesterday. Some people were not happy when I didn't give them the answers they would have liked to have."

"But there is no record of any interrogation!"

I ignored the woman and turned to Juliet.

"Are they all that stupid?"

Then I turned back to the woman - or Assistant District Attorney.

"My dear ma'am ... or Ms. Assistant District Attorney ... do you really think that when the officers here break the rules, they want it recorded? That is one of the reasons we need to have a meeting here, and soon. But first, I'd really like to have some breakfast and coffee. I'm sure that Juliet could use some, too. After that, I'll explain what we are going to do, and why."

It was clear that she didn't like me giving her orders but she did arrange us to have some coffee and breakfast. Most probably the coffee was bad, and the breakfast sucked, but it all tasted heavenly to me. However, I didn't waste my time with them, since I wasn't sure just how long I would be able to stay awake. So I cleaned the mess I had made on the table, and turned to look at the woman who had been waiting there all the time.