chapter 24

The whole Elaine drama was really bothering He was pacing his apartment running all kinds of scenarios through his head. There is no way she is telling the truth. I would have known. I would have seen the camera. What if she had it hidden? Where could she hide it? Scott threw on his coat and headed for his old residence. It was killing him not knowing and he needed to search for anything that might confirm her accusations. He went into the house and started to run upstairs.

"Scott!"

He stopped and turned when he heard his father's voice. "Hey."

"What are you doing? Is everything ok?"

He had to think fast. It never occurred to him the he might run into his parents. "Um, I just came by to look for a shirt that I might have left in my closet. I don't seem to have it at the apartment so I thought that maybe I left it here."

"Sure go ahead and look. You are always welcomed here. That is and always will be your room. When you are finished why don't you stay and visit awhile."

"Sure Dad, I'll be right back." Great. The last thing I need right now is to be entertained by my Dad. He went up into his room and just stood in the middle looking around. Cold shivers ran down his back. This room was haunting to him now. Ever since the she-devil made her appearance in there, he had never been comfortable in his room again.

He started scanning the room going from corner to corner looking for anything. He went over and opened up his closet and took what little clothes he still had left hanging and put them on his bed. He sat down on his bed thinking where would be the best place to hide a camera. He was exhausting himself trying to figure this out. He let out a long sigh and dropped backwards onto the bed looking up at the ceiling. His eyes kept combing the room but they kept coming back to the overhead light on the ceiling. No she couldn't have He stood up on his bed and unscrewed the light shade that was covering the light. Shit

Right next to the light bulb was a hole in the ceiling that couldn't be seen when the shade was on. The hole was empty but you could tell that it went up into the attack. Scott ran out into the hallway and pulled down the trap door that led up into the attic. He climbed up and walked over to where his room was underneath. He found the whole because he could look through it into his bedroom below. He noticed an electrical cord near by and decided to follow it. It ran across the attic and down to where his closet was. He could see where the wire ran down into his room behind his closet wall. He went back down to his room and threw open his closet door again. There behind some boxes was an electrical outlet that he never noticed before. This can't be right

Scott went into the other bedrooms in the house and started looking through the closets.

"Scott"

The sound made him jump. Scared the shit out of me "Dad. You scared me. Don't sneak up on me like that."

"What are you doing? Now what are you looking for?"

"Dad do closets have electrical outlets in them?"

"No. There is never any need for an electrical outlet in a closet. Why?"

"Because I have one in my closet. Did you have it installed? I don't remember it being there before."

"Are you sure? There shouldn't be one in there. Let me see."

They both walked over to Scott's old bedroom and went to the closet. Scott pointed to the outlet and Martin looked confused.

"How the hell did that get there. I don't ever remember getting an outlet installed in your closet."

"Dad there's more." Scott went over and jumped up on his bed. He took down the light fixture and showed his father the hole in the ceiling.

"What's this suppose to mean."

"What do you think Dad? Your skank of an ex-wife video taped what went on in here and now she is trying to black mail me to keep from putting it on the Internet."

Martin looked like he was going to be sick. "You knew about this?"

"What? Hell no. She came to my house earlier saying that she had a tape and I thought that she was bluffing. I came here to prove that there was no way she could have but it looks like I as wrong. The camera lens must have been in the light above and the wires ran across the attic and down into the closet where she must have had the camera plugged in.

Martin threw his hands up in the air in disgust. "How could you have let yourself get into this situation."

"WHAT? SO NOW IT'S MY FAULT AGAIN? WHY IS IT EVERYTHING THAT BITCH DID YOU GOTTA BLAME ME FOR IT? GO TO HELL DAD." Scott stormed out of the room almost knocking over his mother who had heard the yelling and decided to check it out.

"Scott what's wrong?"

He kept going as he yelled over his shoulder. "Why don't you ask your perfect husband.

Martin now pushed past Susan and ran after Scott. "Scott wait. We need to talk about this." He had just caught up to Scott who was getting into his car. "Come on Scott. Running away won't solve the problem. Come back into the house so we can figure this out."

"Don't worry about it Dad. It's not your problem. It never was and never will be. I've got someone else who can help me out with this. I don't need you." He got into his car and skidded out of the driveway.

The anger in him was growing rapid. The more he fumed the more his foot pushed on the gas pedal. What brought him out of his daze were the sound of the siren and the flashing blue lights of the police car. Shit, what else can go wrong in my life right now? He slowed his car down and pulled it over to the side of the road. His adrenaline was flowing so strong inside him that he couldn't get control of his anger. He jumped out of the car and kicked the side of the door.

"Freeze. Don't move. Turn around and put your hands on the top of the car."

Scott didn't feel the need to be obedient. "Why? So I was going a little fast that doesn't make me a . . ."

Before he could even finish what he was going to say a second cop came around the backside of him and took him down to the ground pulling his arms around him cuffing them together. Scott didn't make it easy on him. He struggled to get free because he thought he was being treated like a criminal. That just made things worse and the first cop came by and hit him several times with his nightstick until Scott finally got the message. They picked him up and hauled him to the police car.

"You can't arrest me for speeding. You just have to give me a ticket. This is harassment. I'm going to get a lawyer and sue your ass."

"You do that. In the mean time you are being booked for reckless driving and resisting arrest. You are going in for drug and alcohol testing."

"I'm clean. I was just driving too fast. That doesn't make me a criminal."

"You have the right to remain silent."

"Well I'm not going to be. I'm going to be loud and obnoxious just to piss you off. What about my car? You can't just leave it there."

"We'll call a tow truck."

"Great and whose going to pay for the impound fee?"

"Sorry but that's not our problem."

"You know a person can only handle so many problems and I've surpassed my daily allowance."

"Yeah well maybe spending the night behind bars might help you ponder solutions to some of those problems."

"Great. I get a cop who thinks he's a philosopher."

Scott was taken into the police station and booked. They discovered that he had several other offenses so they decided it be best to hold him until he could make a statement in front of the judge. They took down into a holding cell and pushed him in."

"Try and stay out of trouble and get some sleep." The guard turned and left the room.

"Oh look we have a newbie. A little young to be in here aren't you? You look a little green around the edges.

Scott turned to look at the other guys. Great. I always get stuck with roughnecks He decided to ignore them and go grab one of the cots. This didn't seem to please the one asking the question.

"Hey you. I asked you a question? You think that you are too good for me?"

"Look, no offense but I've had one shitty day and I'd really just like to get some sleep now."

"Yes you are being offensive because I don't like being ignored by some snot nosed brat who thinks his shit don't stink." He grabbed Scott by the shoulder and spun him around. The other guy that had his back turned and was resting on a cot began to get up.

Great, now they are going to gang up on me. I don't need this shit right now. Scott was face to face with the first guy waiting for him to make a move. The second guy came over and looked at Scott in the eyes. A surprised look came to his face. "Snake is that you?"

The recognition came to his face. "Hey blondie fancy meeting you here. Didn't I tell you to stay out of trouble?"

"Yeah well what can I say? Other people keep pissing me off."

First guy, "Snake you know this kid?"

"We've met in a holding cell in Seattle before. He was busted on his honeymoon. So how is that pregnant wife of yours?"

"She went into premature labor two days ago and so now I have a son."

Snake slapped him hard on the back almost knocking him over. "Well congratulations. So why the hell are you in here?"

Scott proceeded to tell Snake the whole story about Elaine and his fight with his father up to his arrest for reckless driving.

Snake just shook his head. "I tell you what. Tomorrow you tell the judge that story but leave out the part about Elaine. Tell him you've been under a lot of stress because of your baby being in Intensive care and the fight with your father just escalated your stress level. Don't forget to tell him about the police brutality. They had no right to hit you like that. Look you've got a bruise on the side of your face and a knot on the head. Once you mention that they will probably be very sympathetic and let you go with just a small fine and some points against your driving record. I'll be getting out of here tomorrow also and then we can connect on the outside."

"Why?"

"You want me to take care of that blackmailing bitch for you don't you?"

Scott couldn't believe it. "You'd help me with this problem?"

"Not only help you, but solve it as well. Make sure that you don't mention her to anyone because if she happens to get hurt in the process, then I don't want you becoming one of the suspects. You got my meaning?"

"Yeah, I hear you loud and clear and thanks man. We'll hook up tomorrow."