Chapter 51

Waking up, I pondered just how the hell things had gotten so out of control. All I wanted was for things to calm down a bit and give me a breather between disasters.

I went through my morning routine and headed off to school.

Deputy Orrack caught me again as was walking into the building. Turns out he was aware of everything that I was dealing with, two thirds of which he was involved with, and somehow, he got roped into the whole Dick saga.

“Hey Badzinski. I got a business card for you. Deputy Macek has taken over the assault case of Dick Lindquist. He would like to have a conversation with you?

“Well, I’ll pass the info on to my lawyer.”

“Really a lawyer?”

“Yep. I’m not stupid. A cop isn’t going to generally have my best interest at heart, so I’ll just let my lawyer deal with this.”

“I can’t blame you for that. By the way, the Assistant District Attorney would like to talk to you about the two other issues. I figure that your lawyer will know how to get ahold of him.”

“I’ll let him know about that as well.”

The rest of the school day went by fairly smoothly with nothing major happening. I gave Bob a call giving him the information that Deputy Orrack had given me. He said he’d call and find out what was going on.

Dropping the truck off was a complete pain in the ass. I wasn’t old enough to get a rental car, which resulted in a cab ride home. Getting home late resulted in a conversation with Mom; at least she looked a little ashamed when I mentioned Ellie keying my truck. It also would mean that I’d have to ride the bus for the week.

We were eating dinner when the phone rang. I only heard Mom’s side of the conversation, though I could tell she wasn’t happy. It was just “yes, no, uh-uh, and I don’t know what to say” repeated over and over. Sitting down, she started eating again, casting an occasional glance my way. It went on for a couple of minutes before I’d had enough.

“So, is there something you’d like to ask me?”

“Well, that was Mr. Holt. It seems that the Sheriff’s Department came to question Ellie about your truck getting damaged.”

“I’m not surprised. They asked me who I thought did it, so I told them.”

“He also said that she had received a ticket to appear for an assault charge.”

“That’s right. Deputy Orrack, the school resource officer, witnessed her assaulting me. He did what he felt was the right thing.”

-”You could have said or done something.”_

“I could have, but I was taught that someone had to face the repercussions of their actions. I mean you tell me that all the time. You don’t want someone who assaulted your son to get away without facing the repercussions called for do you?” I could see she was holding back from saying whatever was going on in her mind.

There was one thing that mom didn’t like at all, and that was when things she said were used against her. I relished any opportunity that I had to do it. Dinner was done, so I called it a night and went to my room.

School the next day went fairly well, although there were some comments made but nothing all that bad. The Blackwell twins caught me on the way to weight lifting again. They’d seen me get attacked by Ellie and heard her say that she keyed my truck. It seemed that they were solidly in my camp after that.

I took the bus home from school and all I could do was hope that this week went by as quickly as possible. I called Mr. Singh and he offered to give me a ride to and from kick boxing until I got the truck back.

Taking the local bus took me almost an hour to get to Master Boripat’s, which meant I had only about 10 to 15 minutes before he showed up. He had us follow him into his office where the TV was set up with three chairs for viewing.

We began watching Groenfeldt’s fights. The guy was tall. Turned out he was almost three inches taller than me and had a 2 1/2-inch reach advantage. We watched the four fights and analyzed them. They were the slowest fights I’d ever watched.

It wasn’t that he was slow and plodding, just that the matches were fought at an extremely slow and methodical pace. Groenfeldt’s actions were very deliberate and seemed to be thought out then enacted.

His record was 22-3, 2 of those losses not coming from a decision but from KO’s. That seemed the most likely way for me to win.

We discussed what we’d seen, and it was pretty much a consensus. He liked to stay at distance and pick you apart. Moving in and out of his range constantly. The only thing I could think of was to keep moving forward, close the distance and stay in his face. His fights looked like a point karate match. I needed to smother him and not let him loose.

Another realization came to me. I was most likely get hit in the face a lot. It would also let me know how well my face had healed up.

I went out and started working on the heavy bag. Body shots setting up hooks and uppercuts to the head was the order of the day. The liver punch was left out, as no doubt that Groenfeldt was scouting my fights and would have a defense for it. I was basically going to need to turn this fight into a brawl.

The ride home with Mr. Singh was quiet. I went in the kitchen to grab some dinner when Mom came into the kitchen.

“You have a message on the answering machine.”

“Thank you.”

I listened to the message as my food was warming up in the microwave. It was from Bob and he wanted me to give him a call at his house and left the number.

Making the call, it turned out that I had two meetings after school tomorrow. The first was with Detective Macek, and the second was with Assistant District Attorney Roth. Bob laughed at me when I told him I’d take a cab over to the Sheriff’s department. His comment was that with as much as I was paying him, he would pick me up at school and drop me off when everything was done. Though he wasn’t going to make a habit out of it.

Riding the bus forced me to cut my run back to 2 miles. I hated riding the bus, being stuck there with all those kids and a “bible thumper” for a driver. I could think of a lot of better things to do with my time.

Bob was waiting when I walked out after school. He was driving a nice blue Audi Quattro, and I climbed in.

“Well, Barnim, I’ll be your chauffeur for the afternoon.”

“You’re one expensive chauffeur, like 10 times as much as the cab would have cost.”

“Yeah, but then you wouldn’t be able to ride in this luxurious automobile.”

“Funny.”

As we pulled into the Sheriff’s Department parking lot, I looked at Bob.

“My Mom’s car isn’t here.”

“She won’t be joining us. She stopped by my office last night and signed paperwork so that I can represent her interests in legal matters where you are concerned.”

“Good, saves me from having to deal with her about this stuff.”

“You know Barnim, you’re going to have to get past some of that stuff.”

“Yeah, not sure that’s going to happen anytime soon.”

We walked in and went to the front desk. Bob wasn’t going to sit around playing games.

“Sergeant could you please inform Detective Macek that Bob Carrigan and my client are here to see him. Let him know if he wants to play the waiting game, that we’ll be leaving in 10 minutes if he doesn’t come out.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sitting down, we only waited about 5 minutes before the new detective, another middle-aged gentleman came out.

“Mr. Carrigan, Mr. Badzinski. I’m Detective Macek, if you gentlemen would follow me please?”

Bob responded in the affirmative and we got up to follow him. After going through the security door, we ended up in the same interrogation room as the last time.

“I was expecting Mrs. Griscek to be here as well.”

Bob pulled out some paperwork. “She was not able to be here, so she is allowing me to represent her and her son in this and any other legal matter. So, can we get on with this as we have an appointment with an Assistant District Attorney when we’re done here.”

The detective looked over the paperwork and then excused himself for a minute. While he was gone, Bob reminded me he’d let me know whether or not to answer the detective. Like last time, I’d probably only follow directions when I wanted. Detective Macek came back in and sat down.

“So, the paperwork seems in order. Before we start, I just wanted to apologize for the way you were treated the last time you were here.”

“Thank you, can we get this interview of my client started?”

“We can Mr. Carrigan and my question is very simple. Mr. Badzinski, did you assault, Richard Lindquist?”

“No, I did not assault Dick on the night in question or on any other instance.”

“It seems odd that you’d call him Dick when in your last interview, you stated you didn’t know Mr. Lindquist. It’s disrespectful if you ask me.”

“Is there a question or are you trying to provoke my client Detective Macek?”

I cut in.

“I believe there was Bob. I meet your challenge Detective. You’re right, it’s disrespectful. I mean anyone willing to fuck someone else’s girlfriend isn’t worth showing an ounce of respect to.”

“Seems you’re upset Mr. Badzinski. Maybe upset enough to assault someone you felt wronged you?”

“Detective while I may have been upset, I broke up with the cheater and that was that. Hell, I probably should have thanked Dick. I was shown her true colors sooner rather than later.”

He looked at me. I could only guess that he was weighing what I had said. It was a minute before Detective Macek continued with his interrogation.

“That’s all nice, but we have a person that had a reason to hate someone. Then that person ends up injured.”

“You’re right on both accounts. Though I’m guessing when you interviewed anyone not directly involved directly in the argument that happened, you got one of two answers. Half said that I assaulted him with a baseball bat, the other half said it didn’t happen. So, let me tell you what happened that evening.”

I told him exactly how my night went from the time I left work. Detective Macek was glancing at what had to be notes from my first interview. I decided to go on the offensive.

“Detective, there are a lot of things my mother and grandfather taught me. I haven’t listened to everything they’ve told me, but there is one I’ve always taken to heart. I also know that if I didn’t follow the advice, my grandfather would whoop my ass. That advice was, don’t ever throw the first punch, but if someone else does, make sure you finish it. If, and that’s a strong IF, I had wanted to assault Dick, I wouldn’t have used a baseball bat.”

What I didn’t tell the detective was that I honestly thought the advice I had been given was shitty advice. There is no such thing as a fair fight, you do whatever it takes to be the one walking away. Bob was tapping my foot like last time to get me to shut up.

“Detective Macek, did I antagonize the hell out of Dick. Yes, I did. Did I lay a hand or use a weapon to strike Dick? No, I did not. Did I get him so pissed off that he attacked me? Yes, I did. It’s not my fault he’s an idiot who didn’t see me move out of the way. His running into my truck and messing up his shoulder was his own fault. I probably should have sent him the bill for replacing my busted tail light.”

The detective had been taking notes the whole time I’d been talking. I figured that they were either filming, taking audio or more than likely both. I looked at my watch, it was getting close to the time that we needed to leave in order to make it to our second appointment on time.

“So Detective, it’s getting close to the time that we need to go, so I’m going to propose something. While we’re doing that, you go talk to my Mom at home. I’m sure she’ll let you see anything of mine you’d like to see.”

Bob was looking at me like I was a complete idiot. The detective was giving me a similar look. Bob was finally able to wrest control back.

“Detective, we have somewhere to be. If you have any more questions, call my office.”

“I’ll do that. Let me walk you two out.”

We walked out and got into the car. As soon as the engine started Bob turned to me. He sure as hell didn’t look happy.

“You dumb idiot. You pay me to be your lawyer. If you want to pull stunts like that, you’ll be finding a new lawyer. Now please tell me what that bullshit was all about.”

“Well, the article stated that Dick was attacked with a metal baseball bat. More than likely he’ll ask Mom if I own one and can he see it. That’s a good thing.”

I could see a puzzled look on Bob’s face. I knew a couple things he didn’t, and it would work in my favor. Well, more than likely.

“So, on our way to the next meeting would you please explain why you have that big shit eating grin on your face Barnim. And remember this, when we get there, keep your mouth shut unless I tell you otherwise.”

He was right, I needed to keep my mouth shut before it put me in a corner I couldn’t get out of. I was paying him to do a job, he was the expert and I needed to let him do it.

“Bob, you are absolutely right, I’m sorry. I’ll keep my mouth shut and let you do your job.”

“Good, now explain.”

“Well, due to my grandfather playing baseball in what was a regional league and seeing as how he got paid for it, he could be considered a professional player. Because of that, my older brothers and I were raised to play baseball a specific way. We were brought up to be purists, which means that there are no metal bats allowed. All we ever used were wood bats, and that’s all he’ll find in the house. Well, except the small pink one my little sister owns. Though that probably won’t match the one that were described in statements.”

“That’s nice Barnim, but this can come back to seriously bite you in the ass. Don’t ever do anything like that again without discussing it with me beforehand. We’re almost there, remember keep your mouth shut till I tell you.”

As it turned out, even Bob was caught unaware when we went into the District Attorney’s office. Seemed we were not only meeting with the ADA but the actual DA was going to be in the meeting also.

We were led into a conference room and they introduced themselves as the meeting began. Mr. Roth was a shorter middle-aged gentleman who seemed nice. The DA on the other hand was completely full of herself. Mrs. Brice was a middle-aged woman who seemed to have lost her battle with a bucket of chicken. While her clothes seemed to be designer, there were many areas where the fabric was straining to contain her girth. Mr. Roth decided to start things off.

“I’d like to thank both of you gentlemen for coming in this evening. The reason that I asked you here is to clue you into to where both cases are at and to get your thoughts.”

Bob looked at me. I could see the pleading on his face. I had made the decision to be a good boy to keep Bob’s blood pressure down.

“Thank you, sir. I’m just looking for justice to be served. The person who damaged my truck should be found and face the consequences of their action. I do believe that paying restitution for the damages would a part of those consequences.”

Bob handed a copy of all the estimates for the body work to Mr. Roth. After he looked at them, Mrs. Brice put her hand out expecting them to be handed over to her.

“The truck is currently at the shop with the middle estimate. Driving around with “Asshole” on the side of the truck wasn’t a good idea to me.”

I could hear a huff come from where Mrs. Brice was sitting. Seemed she had something against what I had said. I didn’t know what her problem was but Mr. Roth had rolled his eyes.

“I don’t see an issue with that. You may need to testify but I’m not sure at this point, seeing as we had the school resource officer hear someone admit to the crime while committing another crime, which you were also involved with, again as the victim.”

“Well, I was trying to leave when I was drug into an argument and then assaulted. All I want is for Ellie Holt to face the consequences of her actions and leave me the hell alone.” There was another noise from the chair of the DA, this one seemed to be a chuckle. I kept my mouth shut and let Bob handle it.

“Is there something funny Mrs. Brice?”

“The fact that this large teenager seems to believe that Ms. Holt assaulted him.”

“So, it’s your position that Ms. Holt didn’t assault my client even though there is a Sheriff’s Deputy who states that he witnessed it?”

“That’s right.”

I could see Mr. Roth shaking his head while this was going on. I personally couldn’t believe that this lady got elected, then it hit me what happened. Her opponent who was leading in polls by double digits was forced to drop out of the race. He was caught with a girl that was barely of age, and not his wife. That left Mrs. Brice running a campaign with no opponent.

I sure as hell didn’t like this lady. I’d seen and dealt with her type in the first go round and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let this shit slide. Bob looked at me and I could tell he knew I wasn’t going to be quiet.

“So, what you’re saying ma’am, is that because the victim in this case is a male, you’re not going to prosecute the case.”

“A woman can’t assault a man. This case is not a priority. If this office gets to it or not, I’m not overly concerned.”

Mr. Roth was still shaking his head throughout our interaction. I don’t think he was in agreement with Mrs. Brice. Bob was pissed, he was over there seething.

“Mrs. Brice, I enjoyed beating you every time I’ve faced you in court. It’s good to see you haven’t changed your stripes. Mark my words, you’ll be seeing me again real soon. Barnim, let’s go we’re done here.”

Bob got up and I followed his lead. We were almost to the lobby when Mr. Roth caught up to us.

“I’m sorry about all of that. Don’t worry, I won’t let either of these two cases go away. Justice is supposed to be blind, defending those that have been victims no matter who they are.”

“Thank you, Mr. Roth. If I know Bob, he’s going to be like a dog with a bone and not let this go. So be prepared for a wild ride.”

“Mr. Roth, Barnim is right, I’m not going to let this go. I hope you are able to find a way to do the right thing. I’ve faced Mrs. Brice in court before and none of that surprised me. Though she’s going to be in for a rude awakening.”

We said our goodbyes and wished each other luck in each other’s respective endeavors. On the drive to drop me off at home, Bob said he was proud of how I handled myself and I needed to do comport myself that way more often. There wasn’t much more conversation during the ride.

When we pulled up to the garage, I thanked him for what he was doing for me and wished him a good week.

“I’m not leaving just yet. I need to have a conversation with your mother as to whether the detectives stopped by and some other things.”

“Got it.”

Walking in the kitchen Mom looked at Bob.

“So how did things go Bob?”

“About as I expected. So how did your surprise visit with Detective Macek go?”

“Well, he seemed to be surprised that there were no metal baseball bats in the house. A comment was made about being set up was made.”

“Well, Barnim led him on a wild goose chase.”

I grabbed a drink and snack, then made my way to my room. I heard Bob tell Mom that she’d really screwed the pooch with her kids as I hit the bottom of the stairs. Hopefully he could talk some sense into her, though I doubted it.