This is a story for the, “Lie to Me,” story event.

With fear of sounding like a broken record, once again I am grateful for being invited to participate in this event. It is an honor to have my story posted along side such great authors.

I hope you like the story and as always, I love reading those comments. Please keep them coming.

He could literally feel his blood pressure rise with each pounding of his heart. A brief moment of denial had Scott reaching for his wallet. He removed an old, faded photo and studied it closely, comparing the features of the image he held in his hand with those of the man sitting only a few feet away. Without even realizing it, he took several deep breaths as his anger fostered.

His mother, sitting across the table, was concerned with his sudden change in demeanor. “Honey, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” A minute before they were happily celebrating his eighteenth birthday over lunch in a nice restaurant, and the next minute he looked as if he was ready to kill someone.

“It’s him,” he uttered, staring over his mother’s shoulder. He could feel his face turning red with rage.

“Who, honey?”

She was shocked at the photo he passed to her. “Where did you get this?”

“Grandma’s, a long time ago,” he answered. “It was stuck in the back of one of her old photo albums,” he explained while slowly rising from his chair. He didn’t even hear the panic in Mother’s voice.

“Where are going? Scott, sit down,” she emphatically told him but he wasn’t listening. He started moving toward the individual sitting behind her. “Scott,” she almost yelled. She attempted to grab his arm but he was already out of reach.

Sitting at the other table was a well dressed man in his early to mid-forties. He heard some commotion at the table next to his but paid no attention until he sensed someone approaching. He looked up at the angry young man.

“You coward, you lousy, no good piece of slime!”

The man’s forehead furrowed, partly in curiosity and partly in anger. “Boy, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. I’m pretty sure you have me mixed up with someone else.”

“Like hell I do! You’re the lousy son of a bitch who likes to beat up on women; you’re the same asshole who walked out on Mom when she was pregnant and left us with nothing.”

Derek Haynes was shaking his head in disbelief. “Boy, I’m telling you, you have the wrong man. I never hit a woman in my life and I certainly...”

Just then Scott’s mother stood and turned to face them both. Derek first caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye and turned for a better look just as she grabbed her son by the arm. “Come on, Scott, we have to go,” she said, anxiously pulling her son toward the door.

He hadn’t seen her in almost eighteen years. She had put on a few pounds but he recognized her immediately. Because of her, he battled depression for over five years. “Anne ... Anne, wait,” he yelled as he quickly stood up.

“Sir,” suddenly a waiter and the restaurant manager were standing next to him, “please settle your bill before leaving.”

“I’ll be right back,” he said.

“No, Sir, please settle up now. The lady left without paying as well, so if you would be so kind...”

“You want me to pay for her too?” Now he was pissed. “Fine,” he yelled, “here,” he said, pulling four twenties from his wallet and tossing them on the table, “this should be more than enough to pay for the pig slop you call food.” With that, he pushed his way passed the two and ran out the door. He looked around the parking lot and saw a late-model compact pulling out into traffic. He ran, trying to get a license plate number but was too late. He thought about trying to catch up to them but he didn’t even get a good look at the car, and without knowing what direction they took at the corner the chances of finding them was one in a million.

Derek was literally shaking from anger as he walked to his car. He had to sit for a few minutes until he felt confident enough to drive.

Scott hadn’t said a word since his mother pushed him into the car and took off like she was at the Indy 500. They were several blocks away before his fury subsided enough that he felt like talking.

“Why did you grab me like that? I wasn’t finished telling him what I thought of him.”

“I told you, Scott, he’s a violent man. I had no idea what he was about to do and I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“Huh,” he snickered, “he didn’t look so tough to me. I wish he had started something.”

“Well, it’s over; let it go. Hopefully, we’ll never see him again,” his mother sighed, praying she was right.

Derek was still upset when he returned to work. Amy, his secretary, was returning at the same time. At first, she didn’t notice anything. “Have a good lunch, Derek?”

“Not really,” he curtly answered as he briskly walked past her and into his office.

His attitude surprised her. As long as she’d known him, Derek had always been a pretty happy-go-lucky guy, even when things weren’t going well. She followed him into his office and sat down. “Derek, what’s wrong? Did you have an accident or something?”

“No, no accident, something worse. I was eating when this kid came up to the table and started calling me names.”

“Names ... you mean bad names?”

“Yeah, he called me just about everything under the sun. I had no idea who he was but I’m sure he wasn’t finished with the insults yet when my ex-wife popped up and pulled him out the door. I think the kid might have been my son.”

Amy was trying to stay cool, but that was a shocker. “Your son? I didn’t even know you had a son.”

“Yeah, well, I wish I could say it’s a long story but it’s really not. One day I had a wife pregnant with my child and the next day I didn’t. She just packed up and left. I never saw or heard from her again until today.”

“Oh, Derek, that’s horrible; I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks, it was a long time ago. I’m still not sure it was him. Hell, I don’t even know if she had a boy or a girl. I suppose she could have had other children by now but the kid looked about the right age. I think I could’ve caught them in the parking lot if it hadn’t been for the manager of that dump. He and my waiter stood right there and wouldn’t let me leave until I paid, not only MY bill but theirs as well. I couldn’t believe that. I’ll never set foot in that place again.”

“Where did you eat?”

“DeMar’s, on Busse Road.”

“They probably thought you were pulling a scam.”

“A scam?”

“Yeah, think about it, Derek. Three people sit at two tables, one picks a fight with the other, two of them go rushing out before they pay for their food and the third goes after them before paying for his. The three of you could have jumped in a car and left, laughing like hell. People pull shit like that in restaurants all the time.”

“I never thought about it; it still pisses me off though. Shit, so now what? I don’t imagine you know anything about tracking people down, do you?”

“No, sorry, Derek, you should try looking online. I’m sure you’d find something that would help.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Okay, do you have the Kenny proposal done yet?”

“Almost,” she replied, “I should have it done within the hour.”

“Okay, well don’t worry about me and my problems; I need that proposal by three at the latest. Let me know when it’s done.”

“Will do,” Amy responded on her way out of his office.

Forty-five minutes later when she returned with the proposal, Derek was so involved with his computer screen he didn’t hear her come in. She surprised him when she laid it on his desk. “Sorry, Derek, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“That’s okay; I was just following your suggestion. So far, I haven’t found anything that helps though. Everything talks about finding tax records or social security numbers, things like that, so I tried looking her up by her married name and by her maiden name but didn’t come up with anything. I tried to get the license plate number when they drove off but they were too far away.”

“How old is the kid who called you names?”

“Well, if he’s my son, I’m pretty sure he’s eighteen.”

“Okay, let’s say he is your son. He probably graduated from high school either last year or this year, right?” She didn’t wait for him to respond. “What if you got a list of all the high schools in say ... I don’t know, a ten or fifteen-mile radius, and went through their yearbooks. You might be able to spot him.”

Derek thought for a moment. “That’s a real long shot, Amy. I don’t even know if they live in the area. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt though. I think the libraries carry the yearbooks for the surrounding high schools. I could try that,” he said with a glimmer of hope.

Scott was trying desperately to calm himself down. The last thing he wanted to do was spoil his date later that night. For the past two weeks, his girlfriend, Sandy, had been promising a very special birthday gift, her cherry.

They had met as high school juniors and hit it off almost immediately. Of course, Scott, being a young red-blooded male, wanted into her panties on the first date but she rebuffed his efforts time and time again—still, he hung in there.

He was hopeful the act would take place on her eighteenth birthday, two weeks earlier than his own, but she dashed his hopes with a speech that sounded like it came straight from some women’s magazine.

“Scott, I consider my virginity to be the most precious gift I could possibly give you. I can only give it once to show the man I love that I am his and his alone. It has to be special. I don’t want our first time to be in the back of your mother’s Chevy. I want it to be something we’ll both remember for the rest of our lives.”

What could he say? How could he argue with that? He, of course, showed his support for her decision and started saving every penny he could. Two days before his birthday, he took another two-hundred dollars out of the savings, made dinner reservations at a nice restaurant, and reserved a motel room for later. He had gone through too much to let his SOB dad ruin it.

He took a long shower and tried letting the hot water wash away his anger. Just put the bastard out of your mind, he told himself while getting dressed. His mother was in the living room of their small apartment when he exited his bedroom.

“Wow, look at my handsome man,” she said. “Sandy’s a lucky girl.”

A small smile stretched across his face at the notion that HE was the one about to get lucky. “Thanks, Mom.”

“What are you guys doing tonight?”

“Ah, we’re going to the show after dinner. I think it’s a double feature so don’t worry if I get home pretty late.”

“What are you going to see?”

He certainly couldn’t tell his mom he was going to see his girlfriend naked so he had to think of something fast. “I don’t know, Sandy picked it out. She didn’t really say what was playing; only that it was a double feature.”

“Well, you guys have fun, honey. The car keys are on the kitchen table.”

“Thanks, Mom,” he said before kissing her on the cheek. Once he started the drive to Sandy’s house, thoughts of his asshole dad were the furthest thing from his mind. He was afraid the big grin on his face would alert her parents that something was up, but if they had any suspicions, they didn’t say anything.

As Scott was always a gentleman, he opened the car door for his girl. As she slid in, she pushed the armrest up and kept sliding. As soon as Scott sat in the driver’s seat, she put her hand on the inside of his thigh and passionately kissed him on the lips. “Are you ready for tonight?” she asked.

“Yup, I have reservations at Evan’s Steak House and a room at the Cherry Lane Motel,” he replied with pride.

“Did you get condoms?”

“I hope they’re still here,” he said, reaching under the seat. “I’ve had them since your birthday. When we didn’t use them, I was afraid mom would find them in my room so I stuck them under here,” he said, pulling out a six-pack of Trojans.

Sandy laughed, “It’s a good thing she didn’t clean out the car.”

“My mom ... clean the car, not very likely,” he chuckled.

Although the dinner was excellent, neither took time to really enjoy it. They were both looking forward to what lay ahead. Sandy took a deep breath as they pulled into the parking lot of the motel. She stayed in the car while Scott went inside to get the key.

Scott had been preparing for this night for what seemed to be decades. He’d read and watched every porn site he could get away with on his computer. He had it all worked out in his head, but that didn’t stop him from being as nervous as a vibrator salesman at airport security.

Sandy was also nervous but determined to make it memorable. Hidden away in her oversized purse was the see-through baby doll nighty she bought earlier in the day.

As they approached the door, Sandy was surprised when Scott handed her the key card, then screeched as he swooped her up in his arms. He maneuvered her around so she could open the door for him, then carried her across the threshold, kicking the door shut with the back of his foot. Sandy looked at the satisfied smirk on his face.

“You really know how to sweep a woman off her feet,” she chuckled.

“Only the woman I love,” he replied. That won him a kiss.

Sandy had it all worked out. “Scott, why don’t you get undressed while I visit the little girl’s room, she said after he set her feet gently on the floor. With that, she disappeared behind the bathroom door.

As anxious as he was, Scott found a tinge of embarrassment seeping in as walked to the corner of the room in front of the bed and started unbuttoning his shirt while Sandy was grappling with a decision to make. The baby doll was just long enough to cover her pussy ... panties or no panties? The transparent garment offered almost no resistance to viewing her freshly shaved mound. She looked in the mirror. God that’s sexy, she muttered to herself. In the end; however, it was her own bashfulness that dictated the panties be worn.

Scott had already removed his shirt and shoes by the time she exited the bathroom. His jockeys were still in place but his jeans were around his ankles. He supported himself with one hand on a small writing desk while he reached down to pull off one of his pant legs.

Sandy decided to run and jump on the bed so she could watch the rest of the unveiling but misjudged the jump, landed only partially on the bed, and bounced off, onto the floor. Scott was horrified that she might have hurt herself and attempted to rush to her aid. Forgetting his pants were around his ankles, he tripped, and fell to her side on the thin carpet. His worries disappeared when he heard her laugh.

“Are ... are ... are you okay,” she managed to get out between laughs.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he responded with a chuckle, “how about you?”

“I’m fine,” she replied, still laughing. It was contagious and soon Scott was laughing with her.

Sandy, while still giggling, turned on her side and started kissing her man with small rapid kisses all over his face. He caught her with his hand behind her head and brought their lips together for a passionate response. Sandy swung her leg over his chest and straddled him as she bent down and continued her barrage of kisses starting at his neck and working her way down. There was no mistaking his manhood as she rubbed against it. “Raise your butt up,” she told him as she reached for his Jockeys. She hooked her fingers into the waistband and pulled them down, releasing his rock-hard cock. “God, that’s so beautiful,” she said with reverence.

Continuing down, she worked his jeans and underwear completely off then removed his socks. She stood and gazed at his naked body while he looked up at the sexiest image he’d ever seen, including on any porn site. “Should we try for the bed again,” she chuckled.

“Let’s.” Scott quickly rolled a Trojan down his shaft and jumped up holding his hand out as a gesture inviting his beautiful partner to climb in ahead of him. Sandy removed her lingerie, and this time, gracefully made it all the way onto the bed with Scott close behind.

For the first few minutes, they kissed and cuddled. Scott knew enough from watching porn to suck and nibble on her nipples while tenderly massaging her soft breasts, eliciting moans that were music to his ears.

Sandy could tell he was apprehensive about sticking it in so she gave him a hint. “Take it slow and easy at first, Honey, I know it’s going to hurt at first. You might see a little blood too but don’t let it worry you.” She was happy to see he took the hint and moved into position.

In the porn movies, all the guys just got in the same position Scott was in and just slipped their cocks inside but he was having trouble. Sandy could feel his cock clumsily slipping and sliding all around her pussy so she reached down and guided him into her waiting hole. “Remember, honey, slowly, please.”

“I will; tell me if I’m going too fast.” Now, with the tip of his dick knocking at the entrance, Scott slowly started to push. He stopped when he saw pain on her face but she shook her head and told him to keep going. He heard her whimper and knew he’d broken through.

“Oh, oh, just hold it there for a minute; let me get used to it.”

Scott held himself in place without twitching a muscle until she gave him the go-ahead but ask that he still go slowly. He withdrew a couple of inches then carefully pushed back in and repeated the move several times.

“Oh, God, Scott, I’ve never felt anything more incredible. Are you going all the way in?”

“No, honey, only about halfway.”

“Try going all the way in but do it slowly.”

Ever so carefully, he inched his way inside her heavenly gates until he felt his balls make contact then slowly withdrew and repeated while listening to the sounds of pleasure emanating from his girl’s squirming body. Finally, he heard, “Fuck me, Scott, love me, fuck me.”

Recalling everything he’d seen, Scott arched his back for maximum leverage and pushed in balls deep. “Oh, God, oh God,” he heard over and over. Unfortunately, he felt himself reaching the point of no return, but just when he thought he was going to disappoint his love, she screamed, “Oh, Honey, I’m going to cum, I’m going to ... aaaahhhh, yes, yes, of God!”

Hearing her amatory ecstasy sent Scott over the top and together they climaxed in a cloud of lust and love. Scott collapsed next to Sandy as they threw their arms over each other and melted together while trying to gain control of their breathing again.

When Scott opened his eyes, Sandy was staring at him with a big grin. “That was the most incredible experience of my life. I knew it would be good but I had no idea how good. I love you, Scott, I love you with my whole heart.”

They both knew they had taken their relationship to a much higher plane. “I love you too, Baby, I never knew I could love anyone like I love you.”

After a little pillow talk, Scott initiated round two by kissing and nibbling on Sandy’s earlobe. From there, he worked his way down and this time spent more sucking and caressing her soft breasts.

Her ohhhs and ahhhs encouraged him. Once he reached her pussy, he slightly separated her vaginal lips and licked. “Oh my God,” she almost yelled. Remembering what he’d learned, thank God for the Internet, he took his time and worked her clit while manipulating his tongue. Her knees came up and her body twisted and turned as she screamed out another climax.

He gave her only a few moments then needed no help this time as he pushed inside of her. The big grin never left his face and he watched her body wreathing in ecstasy under him. Again she came with thunderous results and again he gave her a short breather before starting again.

Finally, he felt himself getting close and picked up the pace hoping to get her to come one more time.

Sandy was in a world of her own. She was almost incoherent as to what was happening to her. When Scott felt her pussy clamp down on his cock he erupted into the second Trojan and again, both bodies tightened as euphoria flashed through their bodies like bolts of lightning.

Unconsciously, Sandy wrapped her arms around Scott’s neck and pulled him down on top of her sweaty flesh. She could feel his heart pounding next to her own. They almost fell asleep in each other’s arms but luckily Scott glanced at the clock on the desk. “Oh, Sandy, it’s almost midnight; I have to get you home.”

“Oh, shit,” she replied. “You think we should shower first?”

“Ah, I’d love to take a shower with you but I really think we should just go. Chances are our folks will be in bed anyway.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right, let me brush my hair and I’ll be right with you.”

They were both glad as Scott pulled into the drive. The lights were out in Sandy’s house. They kissed and made out for a little while in the car before he walked her to the door and said good night.

That night, Derek couldn’t get the young man out of his mind. The thought that it might have been his son brought back terrible memories of the night his wife disappeared. His marriage hadn’t been all peaches and cream; in fact, he remembered having suspicions of her infidelity just days before she left. Even though her desertion seemed to verify his fears, he never knew for sure.

He thought about his secretary’s suggestion regarding the yearbooks. God, he thought, what would be the chances? He had no idea if his ex still lived in town or was just visiting someone.

Her parents moved out of town shortly before she disappeared. For a long time, he thought they were harboring her. At one point, his suspicions were so strong he took some vacation time and actually drove all the way down to their home in Orlando and staked it out for several days. When his wife never appeared, he gave up and went back home.

The following day was Saturday. The library would be open all day and the main branch would be open for four hours on Sunday. For lack of a better idea, he decided to take Amy’s advice.

The next day he was standing outside when they opened the doors at nine that morning. He found two full shelves of local high school yearbooks, some of which went back to the nineteen thirties; of course, he was only interested in the last two years which narrowed his search significantly.

He sat at a table and started pouring through the last two years of the five surrounding high schools. It was almost noon by the time he closed the back cover of the last book with no results. He went up to the clerk’s counter. “Excuse me,” he addressed a young man, “I’m doing some research on high schools in the Chicago land area. Do you know how many schools have yearbooks at the main branch?”

“Oh, wow, not off hand, no; were you looking for any particular schools?”

“Not really.”

“Sir, I know there’re more than a hundred and fifty high schools just in Chicago. Add in the suburbs and you’re talking probably a thousand schools, maybe more.”

“Oh, shit,” he responded, disheartened, “You’re right, that would take forever.”

“What you could do is go on the Internet. All the schools post their yearbooks online these days.”

Even that sounded like it would be insurmountable. “Okay, I appreciate the help, thank you.”

“You bet.”

There must be a better way, Derek mumbled to himself as he walked to his car. On the way home, he started thinking about the restaurant. If she was there for lunch maybe she works around there ... maybe she’s a regular. He knew it was another longshot, but sometimes in life, as in business, you just have to throw everything against the wall and see what sticks.

By the time he reached his apartment, Derek had come up with a plan. He hated driving downtown on a Sunday, but the main branch of the library was the only place that still kept newspaper archives on Microfiche and he was going to need all the help he could get if he was going to pull off his bluff.

That Monday, he told Amy he might be a little late coming back from lunch. As he walked into the restaurant, his previous waiter approached him. “Sir, I’m sorry but...”

Derek didn’t let him finish. “I want to see the manager, now,” he emphatically stated.

“I’m sorry, Sir, he’s busy at the moment and you’ll have to...”

“If I walk out of here, I’m going straight to the police and having you and your manager charged with aiding and abetting a kidnapper.”

That stopped the pimple-faced waiter in his tracks. He stumbled for something to say, but Derek didn’t give him a chance. “The woman that you ran interference for the other day kidnapped my child and she got away because of you and your boss. Now I don’t give two flying fucks how busy he is, if I don’t talk to him this minute, I’ll be back with the police and you can both talk to them.”

Derek could see he definitely had the waiter rattled; that was at least a small bit of gratification. “Please wait here, sir, I’ll see if the manager has time to talk to you,” he responded in a shaky voice. Within a minute, the young man was back and asked Derek to follow him. Derek boldly walked into the manager’s office and sat down like he owned the place. There was a nameplate on the desk in front of him announcing Stanley Murphy. He didn’t know how much the waiter told him, but Mr. Murphy showed no fear, only anger.

“Okay, what’s this about?” he asked.

“This,” Derek stated as he took copies of two newspaper articles out of his pocket and laid them on the manager’s desk.

There was complete silence in the room for a few minutes while the manager read the articles. “It says here you were a person of interest in their disappearance.”

“Yes, because the husband is always the first suspect in a situation like that, but as you can see by me sitting here in front of you, there was no evidence of any wrongdoing on my part and I was completely cleared. Unfortunately, by the time the cops got off their duffs and actually started investigating, Anne had made a clean getaway.

“I haven’t seen or heard of her in almost eighteen years until the other day in this restaurant. Notice the part about a warrant being issued for kidnapping? As you may or may not know, there is no statute of limitations for kidnapping. I could have caught her myself that day if you and your waiter hadn’t interfered.”

“How were we supposed to know the situation?”

“I don’t know, maybe she’s your girlfriend and you knew all along. Maybe you helped her get away on purpose.”

“That’s ridiculous; I’m married with two kids. I don’t...”

“It wouldn’t be the first time a married man was getting some nookie on the side,” Derek challenged. “Just like me, whether you did anything wrong or not, the suspicion is there. I think, at the very least, the cops should be informed of you stopping me from pursuing the kidnapper of my child. I’m sure they’ll have some questions. The story might even find its way into the papers; some of those investigative reporters are pretty damned good.”

“All right, you and I both know the only reason we stopped you was to prevent you from leaving before paying your bill. What...”

“Not only MY bill, but the bill of my son’s kidnapper as well, nothing like rubbing the victim’s face in the mud, is there. Did you and she enjoy a good laugh together after that?”

Derek could see from the expression on his face that the manager recognized the potential for some very bad press over the situation. “Okay, what do you want, money I suppose?”

“Jesus, you’re as dumb as a rock. How’d you ever get to be a manager? We’re talking about my son here. No, I don’t want money, I want your cooperation. I want to know if she’s been in here before, either her or the boy. I want to know if you have credit card receipts for her.”

Derek pulled out an old picture that he used to print posters asking for information on her whereabouts at the time of the crime. “Here,” he said handing it to the manager, “I realize it’s an old picture, but she hasn’t changed that much. I want you to ask your staff if they know her or have seen her in here before, and if she comes in again, I want a call immediately. Here’s my business card, my cell number is on the back. Now, do I have your cooperation or not?”

“Yes, of course, and you have my apologies. We had no idea what was going on the other day.”

Without accepting the apology, Derek stood to leave then stopped. “You know what, I changed my mind. I do want money; I want to be reimbursed for her bill.”

The manager gave Derek a small nod and reached into his desk drawer for a piece of paper and wrote on it. He then hit his intercom button. “Julie, ask Billy to come into my office, please.” A minute later the pimple-faced waiter was there. “Billy, take eighty dollars from the register, give it to this gentleman, and replace it with this money voucher.” He looked back to Derek, “Go with Billy and he’ll give you your money back. I’ll show the picture to our staff and ask if anyone has seen her in here before or has any information on her. I’ll get back to you with whatever I find out.” Derek thanked him and followed the waiter.