Chapter 97

The six young women were dressed conservatively for a night on the town during Spring Break. The other college-age females seemed to display as much of their anatomy as possible – not that any of the males minded.

It was just after midnight on Friday morning – the last night Hailey would spend with her friends in Florida because she was flying to Calder City the following evening with her boyfriend. Everyone decided a night of dancing and watching others make fools of themselves would be just the way to see her off.

The bartender looked hurt when they all ordered virgin margaritas and more put out when he saw that the attractive females were covered from their heads to their knees. He got a kick from watching the college girls get drunk and a bigger kick when they’d jump up on the bar and start to take off what little amount of clothing they usually wore.

“Baptists,” he muttered to himself as he watched them walk to an open spot on the edge of the dance floor. They sipped their drinks and danced – but only with each other. All of them turned away from any guy who tried to move in front of them.

Most guys just shrugged it off and moved to a new target. A couple of guys didn’t get the hint and tried a second time. That led to a dressing down from one of the women and probably a bruised ego.

As the night wore on – and the patrons got drunker and drunker – it got worse. The attention wasn’t unexpected. All of the females were used to getting looks on campus or whenever they went out.

It didn’t get out of hand until a seemingly innocuous comment from Hailey to Tiffany.

“We’re lucky we’re not drinking or that could be you!” she joked to her friend and gestured to a drunken female who was down to her bra and panties on the bar.

“Like I need to be drunk to do that!” Tiffany had replied with a laugh. The laughter ended when two sets of hands lifted her upward and started to carry her to the bar. The hands didn’t belong to her friends and she screamed for the assholes to put her down.

A second later, she wasn’t the only one screaming. The trio fell to the sticky floor in a heap, with Tiffany landing on top of one of the guys. Hailey, Emma and Molly had immediately grabbed the guys’ arms to try to stop them but Stacy saw that wasn’t going to work. She had on sandals and she saw her opening when the guys stopped for a moment in front of her. Her aim was true and she drilled her foot between the guy’s legs with a satisfying “thump.”

At almost the same instant, Katelyn’s fist connected with nose of the guy on the other end. Soon bouncers and police swarmed the area – followed by an ambulance.

The guys insisted they wanted to press charges against “the bitches.” The cops nodded sadly and then arrested four people – Katelyn and Stacy for assault and the two guys for underage consumption and unlawful restraint.

“We were just trying to have fun!” one of them complained. “She kicked me in the balls, Man! We weren’t doing anything.”

“Uh-huh,” the lead officer said. He put the two handcuffed men into the back of the ambulance and ushered Katelyn and Stacy to the back of a waiting patrol car.

Phil’s phone rang at three o’clock in the morning and it took him some time to find it. The call had gone to voicemail so he called Hailey back. She was crying when she answered.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Stacy and Katelyn are in jail!” Hailey sobbed.

“Jail?” Phil asked. “Are you kidding me?”

Bob had woken and reached over to turn on the light between the two hotel room beds.

“I’m going to put you on speaker so Bob can hear,” Phil advised. “Tell us what happened. Why are Katelyn and Stacy in jail?”

“Katie’s in jail?” Bob inquired as he rubbed sleep from his eyes.

“We went dancing and we were just getting ready to leave,” Hailey explained. “The place was OK but everyone got so drunk it was ridiculous.”

“If she gets another underage drinking charge, she’ll probably have to do jail time,” Bob said, shaking his head.

“We weren’t drinking,” Hailey cut in. “They ran a breath test on us. We were all at zero. She was arrested for misdemeanor battery.”

“Assault?” Phil wondered, shaking his head.

“These guys grabbed Tiffany and lifted her over their heads,” Hailey explained. “There were girls stripping on the bar. They were trying to carry her up there. We tried to stop them but they were too drunk. Katelyn broke one of their noses and Stacy kicked the other one between the legs.”

“Jesus Christ,” Phil muttered. “Is Tiffany OK?”

“She has a bump on the head but the paramedics said she doesn’t have a concussion,” Hailey answered.

“They hurt her?” Phil asked angrily.

“They dropped her when they fell,” Hailey answered. “Katelyn really knocked the crap out of the guy. Stacy, too, now that I think about it. They both fell and Tiffany fell with them. The guys are at the hospital getting checked out. The cops took Katelyn and Stacy to jail. The guys pressed charges.”

“I will absolutely destroy those guys,” Phil said in a tight voice. “They fuck up and expect someone else to take the fall for them. Fuck that.”

“The guys were arrested, too,” Hailey said. “I’ll have to stay down here until we get this cleared up. We won’t be over to see you tomorrow, I don’t think.”

“I’m going to pass you over to Bob so I can call Mom,” Phil declared. “She’ll know some attorney over there. We’ll get them out first thing in the morning. You don’t need to worry.”

“Stacy’s father is going to go crazy,” Hailey said sadly. “He didn’t want her to come down with us anyway.”

“I’ll straighten his ass out if I have to,” Bob said firmly. “He’s been on my last damned nerve since I met the guy. Phil, hold off on your Mom for a minute. I need to go let Ted know – and tell coach why we’re all awake at this time of the morning.”

David was clearly confused when he answered the phone.

“Do you need me to come pick you up?” he asked, perhaps thinking Phil was still in high school and had been out at a party.

“Dad?” Phil asked.

“Yeah,” David replied. “Where are you? I’ll come get you.”

Phil laughed.

“I’m in Florida with my college baseball team,” Phil replied. He was met with silence for a moment.

“Shit,” David muttered. “Sorry, I was asleep. What’s wrong?”

Phil explained the situation as best as he could. He didn’t know all the details only that he wasn’t in any position to help. He naturally turned to the people he counted on for assistance.

“We’ll make some calls,” David promised. “We’ll make sure those charges are dropped. Do you know if the police took statements from anyone else at the club?”

“I wasn’t there,” Phil told him. “I got a call from Hailey a few minutes ago. She’s still on with Bob Prohl while they explain what’s happening to the coach and to Stacy’s boyfriend, Ted. I didn’t know what to do, Dad, so I called you.”

“I hope you’ll always call us if you need something,” Beth chimed in. “I’m going to call Mike Warren to see if his firm has any connections down there. We’ll have an attorney for those girls in no time.”

As their friends were trying to secure their release, Katelyn and Stacy were being led into a holding cell at the county detention center.

“Two more for the drunk tank!” a female voice cried out.

“We’re not drunk,” Stacy said indignantly.

“Drunk, stoned, whatever,” the female police officer said snidely, “it’s all the same to us.”

“We tried to stop a friend of ours from being molested and we landed in jail,” Stacy shot back. “Maybe if the cops in this town weren’t such pieces of shit, you’d have two drunk frat boys here instead of us.”

“Take it easy, Stacy,” Katelyn advised before turning to the police officer. “We’re neither drunk nor stoned. My mother is a police officer, too. We were at Hooligan’s Bar – drinking non-alcoholic beverages when two men, who were probably both drunk and stoned, grabbed one of our friends and tried to carry her off. We intervened and the police arrested all of us.”

“Seriously?” the policewoman wondered.

“That’s what happened,” Stacy said. “Of course, the only people who didn’t run off when the cops showed up are our friends. The bouncers claim they didn’t see anything so it’s our word against theirs.”

“I need to run a breath test and a mouth swab,” the woman said.

“You are not taking my DNA for any database!” Stacy said angrily.

“No, not DNA,” the officer said, smiling. “It’s just to confirm there are no narcotics or THC in your system. I’ll take a reading and then destroy the swab – unless you come back positive.”

“We won’t,” Stacy declared. Katelyn wasn’t sure she’d ever seen the woman so angry. She figured the cops would sort things out at the hospital and they would be released. The patrolman on scene hadn’t appeared eager to arrest them but once the guys declared they wanted to press charges, he was left with no choice. Katelyn had tried to explain that to everyone while she was being handcuffed but everyone appeared too interested in yelling to listen.