Chapter 5: Busted

The early Christmas party was going on and everyone was having a good time, even the conservative Rene accepted a beer to celebrate the festivities. The only problem was that they were running low on beer, so a beer run was necessary so Bruce and Rene took off to the liquor store.

The drive was mostly uneventful. Bruce, for the most part, contained himself and Renee was able to keep her clothes on, but did flash her boobs as they got into his car. Their problem came about a block before the liquor store when they approached a stop light.

A Flash of light from a broken store front sign caught Bruce’s eye who thought it was the changing of the traffic light from Green to Red. His reflexes took over and he slammed on the brakes, causing Rene to scream in terror.

When Bruce noticed his mistake, he proceeded through the intersection as the light was still green. What he didn’t notice, until the flashing red lights turned on behind him, was the officer who had been sitting at the stop light.

Rene was scared shitless, she had never been in a car pulled over by the police before, but what was even more scary was that she had a couple of beers earlier and was concerned with being arrested for underage alcohol.

She turned to look at Bruce and noticed that he was nervous and shaking a little, which only increased her nervousness. When Bruce looked at her, her anxiety increased as he said, “Listen, everything will be okay. I haven’t been drinking and all he could do is maybe give me a warning or something because of the green light thing. So be cool.”

Her voice shaking she replied, “Okay. But I had a couple of beers and, well, I’m underage, and”

He cut her off saying, “Just calm the fuck down okay! Jesus Christ Rene. Really!” Bruce never talked to her that way and now she was really nervous.

The officer walked up to the cat slowly and stood outside the driver’s side door a Bruce lowered the window.

Bruce cleared his throat and said, “Good evening officer.”

The officer looked in the car, front and back seats before saying, “License and Registration please.”

“Ah sure officer. Can you tell me what I did?”

“License and Registration please.”

“Okay” and handed him the required documents, which the officer took from him and walked back to the squad car.

A few minutes later the officer returned and said, “Please exit the vehicle, driver first.”

“Uhm, sure. Can I ask what this is about?”

“There are several outstanding vehicle violations against you. I am placing you under arrest and will be taking you to the station for processing.”

“No Officer, you got it wrong, they have all been taken care of!”

“Sir, please calm down. If as you say they have been taken care of it will all be straightened out at the station. But I must take you into custody and confiscate your vehicle.”

The handcuffs were snapped into to place and Bruce was escorted to the squad car.

The officer came back and said to Rene, “Miss, if you could step out of the car please and take a seat on the curb.”

She followed his directions and exited the car, slowly, and took a seat. After she was seated the officer began a search of the car, starting on the driver’s side before moving over to the passenger side. He must have found something as he yelled, “Jim, call for backup.”

He came out of the car carrying a brown bag asking, “Does this belong to you miss?”

In a shaky voice, “No Officer it does not.”

“It was located below where you were seated.”

“I, uhm, I don’t know anything about it.”

“Have you been drinking this evening?”

“Yes.”

“May I see some id please.”

She fumbled her purse in her shaking hands but soon got control of herself and retrieved her license from her wallet and handed it to the Officer.

He looked at it thoroughly and then looked to her, “This license was issued from the state of Indiana.”

“Yyes, that’s where I am from.”

“What is your business in DC?”

“I am a student at Georgetown.”

“This has your age as nineteen.”

“That is correct.”

“You do know that the legal drinking age is twenty one.”

Tears began to flow as she put her head in her hands.

“Please stand up and put your hands behind your back.”

She followed his directions as she broke out into a full crying fit. She tried pleading with the Officer but the words did not come out in any way shape or form.

“Have you taken any illicit drugs?”

Still unable to speak coherently she shook her head no.

“Is there anything in your pockets that I should be aware of, like needles or a knife?”

She shook her head no.

He handcuffed her and frisked her, being as gentlemanly as possible.

“I am going to help you sit back down onto the curb.”

With the officers help she sat down on the curb keeping her head down to avoid being seen by people walking by. She had no idea what was in the bag the officer found nor did she care, she only cared about was the drinking.

About this time two other squads pulled up, one a k-9 unit. It was so surreal; never did she think that she would be caught up in a situation such as this! How foolish she is. But her humiliation was not over, unfortunately. The drug sniffing dog found additional bags in Bruce’s car, one in the glove compartment and the other underneath the spare tire in the trunk. The bag in the glove compartment contained a large wad of cash, and the bag in the trunk had a gun and baggies of an unknown substance that was thought to be drugs.

How could Bruce do this? He was a nice guy from a loving family attending one of the best schools in the country!

Another squad pulled up driven by a female officer. She got out of the squad and briefly talked to the original officer who had stopped them before coming over to her.

“I am Officer Ramirez and I will be taking you to the precinct for booking.”

“Why? Whatever was found isn’t mine! I didn’t know that, whatever was found was there!”

“That may be so, but I am booking you for underage drinking.”

With that Officer Ramirez helped her to her feet and escorted her to the waiting squad car. As she passed the original squad car she saw a Bruce in the back of the car his head down to avoid the gaze of the mulling people around the flashing lights of the squad cars.

The ride in the car, being led into the police station, and being placed in a cell were all lost to her as her mind was numbly blank as she could not focus on her surroundings or on any thoughts that she might have.

There were others in the cell with her but none of them would acknowledge her existence, though that was a blessing to her.

Fortunately she was in the cell for only a few minutes before Officer Ramirez came back to get her and led her to a desk.

“I am going to process you now and get you booked. Most likely you will be here for the night, unless we can get you processed and on the way to central for arraignment. We will have to be fast though.”

She was fingerprinted, photographed, and all of her belongings were put in a property bag and turned over to another officer, after which she was brought to a small secluded room where the humiliation of the night was soon to be eclipsed as she was strip searched, seems that if you are busted with the amount of drugs found in the vehicle you are sitting in this is common procedure. She just dropped her head and complied with whatever Officer Ramirez asked of her.

Afterwards she was escorted to a desk where Officer Ramirez began ask her a list of, what she believed to be, standard personal questions followed by her one phone call.

The only person she could think of to call was Sharon, there was no way in God’s creation that she was calling her parents. As she started talking to Sharon she lost control and broke down crying, babbling incoherently at first until Sharon was able to calm her down, so much so that it eased her mind and calmed her down sufficiently that she was able to provide the details of her incarceration.

Sharon put her to ease by saying she could get her a lawyer and get her out this evening, she just had to stay tight and be very courteous and respectful and not cause problems.

An hour later she was bailed out by Roger Sinclair, a lawyer in the employee of Sharon’s Father, who took her back to the dorm.

Sharon was up and gave her a hug. But when Sharon was going to let go she didn’t let go and held on to her tightly. Sharon backed her up to her bed and sat down and began a soft rocking motion, and in a few minutes her crying subsided and she soon fell asleep.

The next morning Rene told Sharon the entire story. Not once did Sharon interrupt, holding all questions until she finished her story.

“Who is Roger Sinclair?”

Shaking her head no, “I don’t know. After we talked I called my Dad and he said he would call someone to help. I would think that he is one of my Dad’s lawyers.”

“They said that I would be in there the whole night, how did he get me out?”

“I have no idea.”

“I need to thank your Dad for his help.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“No, I have to thank him. What does he like?”

They discussed what her Dad liked, his taste were in the area of fine cigars, nice bottle of cognac, or a French Cabernet. Since she was busted for underage drinking the alcohol was out, and a box of his favorite cigars was well over one hundred dollars. She settled on going to the mall and finding a nice thank you gift that would be work appropriate for his desk.

“Do you think they are going to, prosecute you?”

“I don’t know. Mr. Sinclair didn’t mention anything about it. All he said was that he would be in touch.”

“Are you going to tell your parents?”

“Oh God no, they’d kill me. Well, maybe it would kill them knowing that I was arrested. Or worse, that my ex-boyfriend was a drug dealer.”

“I forgot to ask you about that, so what happened with Bruce?”

“I don’t know. The last I saw of him was when I was being taken to the police station and he was in the back of the squad car. I hope he rots in jail.”

“Kind of harsh, don’t you think?”

“Probably. But what the heck was he doing with all the drugs, and the gun, and whatever else they found in his car. I mean, gosh all mighty.”

“I never suspected him of being a drug dealer. Maybe it was someone else’s stuff?”

“I don’t know. I’m so confused with everything that has happened that I just don’t, trust myself, to see things as they should be, or maybe are. I mean he really took me in.”

“You didn’t, do anything did you?”

“Like what?”

“Drugs, sex, or anything like that?”

“No! Well, uhm, no drugs, but a little sex.”

“You go girl, got your freak on did you?”

Blushing deeply, “No, got no freak on, got his off, but nothing for me.”

“Well, a selfish lover, time to kick him to the curb!”

“Oh you are so right on that! I can’t afford to be, involved or even associated with people like him.”

“So you and he are over?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Good.”

They talked about nothing in particular and when dinner time came around they headed to the cafeteria, where they continued to talk about nothing. She needed that, mindless conversation, something that didn’t require thought. And Sharon was there for her, sensing her need to keep it light and simple, she kept up the small talk, never asking a difficult question. After dinner when they got back to the room a post-it note was on their door,

Rene, Please come and see me as soon as possible.

Simon Abreshion, RA.

Rene read the note and wondered what Simon wanted with her. Shrugging her shoulders she headed down to his room and knocked on his door.

He opened the door, “Ah Rene, come in please.”

She entered his room and asked, “What’s up Simon?”

He made a face and said, “Take a seat. Okay, so there is no way to do this without, pissing you off, so here it goes, the Dean of Students has been informed that you have been arrested for underage drinking off campus last night by the DC Police. In accordance with the Student rules of conduct, you have been placed on probation and a meeting with the Dean is scheduled for Monday at 10am.”

Fighting back tears, “What are you saying.”

Not looking in her eyes, “Just what I said. The Dean will go over everything, what the next steps are, what to expect, and what the consequences are. All of it. Do not be late, be courteous, and be respectful, remember, he has the fate of your future academic life at Georgetown in the palm of his hand.”

She hung her head as the tears began to flow. What has she done to herself? She has screwed up her only opportunity to get out of the small town in Indiana by drinking! How is she going to tell her parents?

“Rene, if there is anything I can do please let me know.”

She nodded her head but stayed seated. What was she going to do?

“Are you okay?”