Chapter 23
Hours had quietly passed that Tuesday.
Sheryl heard about old Darin being arrested again but this time for counterfeiting. She was in the process of leaving the house to run down to the station to talk with old Darin when her father stopped her. He couldn’t risk her being pulled into this counterfeiting investigation, so he demanded that she stay away from that old hippy. She reluctantly agreed to stay away, but in her heart, she knew that his old hippy had to be innocent.
Back at the university, Dr. Bowman and Jimmy Newton had another discussion on the phone.
“How does that sound?” said Dr. Bowman said on the phone while sitting behind his desk and looked confident.
“I believe it’s our only option,” said Jimmy.
“Okay, I’ll meet you later tonight at the arranged time,” said Dr. Bowman, and he hung up his phone. He stayed seated behind his desk and ran this plan over and over again in his head.
It was seven that night. Officers White and Jake Jacobs were back on duty and were briefed on Darin being arrested for counterfeiting.
Henry Archer entered the station and walked up to the front desk. “Chief Hanson wanted to see me?” he called out to Officer White.
Chief Hanson heard that from his office and walked out and greeted Henry at the front desk.
“What’s wrong?” said Henry, as he’s never been summoned to the police station in his life.
“I’m trying to figure something out,” he said. “And I need your help,” said Chief Hanson and motioned for Henry to follow him.
Henry followed Chief Hanson to the Cell Way hallway.
They walked down to cell number two.
“Do you know this old hippy?” said Chief Hanson.
Darin stood up off the bunk, and his mouth dropped when he saw his father standing at the cell doors. Pop! He called out in his mind and wanted to go over there and hug him.
Henry looked at Darin, standing by the bunk. His eyes widened, as there was something familiar about the guy. “He does look a little familiar,” he said then his eyes widened when he remembered something. “I’ve seen him before.”
“When?” Chief Hanson said.
“Sunday at the diner after church. June and I had lunch there, and he was eating all alone,” said Henry. “Who are you?” he said to Darin.
Darin stood there and kept his mouth shut.
“He uses the name Sidney Koll and David Thomas,” said Chief Hanson.
Henry looked at Darin. “Oh no, that’s not Sidney Koll. I know him, and that man in that cell is definitely not Sidney Koll.”
“I know that,” said Chief Hanson. “Betsy Koll said that that hippy was Darin,” said Chief Hanson.
Henry glanced at Chief Hanson and thought that that was an odd thing to say. “Darin? Oh no, he’s in Ocean City, New Jersey with his friends. That’s not Darin inside that cell. That guy’s way too old,” said Henry but he looked at old Darin, and he didn’t want to tell the Chief that that hippy did resemble his son. “And besides, Betsy Koll’s memory isn’t good these days.”
“Thank you, Henry. We have an FBI Agent come over from Philly in the morning to interrogate this guy. They’ll find out who this hippy really is.”
“Why is he in jail? What did he do?”
“Passed out counterfeit twenty-dollar bills around town. The FBI will find out if there’s another counterfeiting ring coming out of Philly,” said Chief Hanson and he started to believe that he’d become a hero over all this.
“Can I go home now?” said Henry.
“Sure,” said Chief Hanson and he escorted Henry out of the station.
“Looks like you’ll be going to prison also,” Kenny called out from his cell with a smart-ass tone.
“Fuck you, Kenny,” called out Darin while he lay on his bunk and pondered how could he get out of this mess.
He closed his eyes and went to sleep and prayed that this was all a bad dream.
It was now ten fifteen that night and a beautiful nighttime sky with thousands of twinkling stars.
At the Burkeville Police Station, Officer White sat at the desk that was located by the entrance to Cell Way hallway.
Tonight there was something that had been eating away at Officer White since Sunday night. It was Darin’s story about being approached by Robbie Hanson for sex. He felt that it was odd that a counterfeiter would come up with such a story. Officer White couldn’t stand Robbie, as he knew bullies like that when he went to high school at the nearby southern town of North Chestwood. But he was Chief Hanson’s pride and joy, and he knew he had to accept the SOB.
But there was also something that Officer White had sensed was going on in the woods by Lake Willow. Two months ago, he came close to catching two guys in the woods. He had a strong hunch that they were doing nasty sex stuff they shouldn’t have been doing.
Tonight his hunch was eating away at him. So he decided to check it out again.
He opened up the desk drawer and removed a Polaroid Swinger camera.
He got up from the desk with the camera in hand.
“I’m going out on patrol,” he called out and grabbed the set of car keys off the top of the desk.
“Okay,” said Officer White from the other end of the room.
Officer White walked away and headed to the front doors.
Once he got outside, he got into one of the squad cars and started it up.
He drove out of the station and headed south on Primrose Avenue.
Instead of driving down the dirt road, Officer White pulled his squad car into the parking lot of the A&P.
He parked at a safe distance from Primrose that allowed him to stake out the dirt road that led to Lake Willow.
He turned off his car and waited and watched the dirt road from the A&P lot.
Thirty minutes passed, and Officer White saw a white four-door 1969 Ford Galaxie slow down and turn into the dirt road for Lake Willow.
Officer White waited ten minutes then he got out of his squad car with the Swinger camera in hand.
He rushed through the parking lot and headed to Primrose Avenue.
He ran across Primrose and headed down the dirt road for Lake Willow.
Officer White got halfway down the dirt road and turned left into the woods.
Once he stepped foot into the woods, Officer White gingerly walked and was careful not to step on any small branches.
He walked fifty feet into the woods and heard some commotion.
He hid behind a tree and peeked around the trunk. He saw two shadowy figures up between two trees twenty feet ahead.
Officer White gingerly moved out from behind that tree.
He slowly and cautiously walked from tree to tree and got closer to that commotion. The commotion became more evident, and it was two male voices moaning in ecstasy.
He hid behind a large tree and peeked around the trunk five feet from that commotion. Those one of those shadowy figures were clearer. I knew it! Officer White said in his head, and he got the Swinger camera ready. He snapped a picture, and the flash provided enough light to snap a photo of Robbie with his blue jeans and underwear removed and was on his knees. He was in front of another teenager performing oral sex with his blue jeans and underwear removed. This teenager was Sal from the gar bar in Philly on Monday night.
The look in Robbie and Sal’s eyes was priceless when they saw a flash coming from that tree near them.
Officer White grabbed the picture when it came out of the Swinger camera, turned around, and ran back through the woods.
“Fucking STOP or I’ll call my DADDY!” yelled out Robbie while he and Sal fumbled to get their underwear and blue jeans back on their bodies.
By the time Robbie and Sal had their pants and underwear back on, they ran through the woods to the dirt road. They soon stopped as the stranger that snapped the picture was nowhere in sight.
“Who was that?” said Sal, and he got nervous.
Robbie thought for a few seconds. “Probably some creep that jerks off to pictures of that stuff,” he said.
Sal thought about Robbie’s answer for a few seconds and figured he was correct. After all, other guys started to use Lake Willow for their disgusting man on man sex. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Should we finish?” he said while he looked at Robbie.
“No, we better leave,” said Robbie, and he was worried that someone had a picture of him in that compromising position. His blood started to boil, and he was determined to find out who snapped that picture and kick their ass.
Back at the A&P parking lot, Officer White was out of breath as he ran all the way from the woods.
He got back in his squad car and looked at the picture. It was perfect evidence of Robbie and Sal doing their nasty deed in the woods. “I knew it. I just fucking knew it,” he said while he started up the car.
He noticed that Ford Galaxie while he pulled out of the dirt road and turned right onto Primrose Avenue. That Galaxie raced off south on Primrose, and Officer White could care less about that unknown teenager. He had his prized evidence, and that’s all he cared about.
He drove out of the A&P parking lot and drove back to the station. He was looking forward to showing this picture to Chief Hanson. “That should curb his cocky attitude toward his asshole son,” he said with a smile on his face.
While Officer White drove his squad car north on Primrose, he didn’t notice south on Primrose Avenue that Robbie’s Camaro that was parked on the north shoulder.
Robbie’s Camaro pulled onto Primrose and raced off south.
Ten minutes had passed, and Officer White rushed into the police station after parking his squad car.
“George!” he called out. “You have to see what I just captured,” he called out while he ran through the station.
He got near the desk by the hallway that led to the four jail cells.
“What?” said Officer White a little irritated that he was interrupted from reading his Penthouse magazine.
“Where are you?” called out Officer White.
“At the desk by the cells.”
Officer White walked through the front area and stopped off at his desk. He dropped off his car keys on the top of his desk and headed down the hallway.
Officer White strutted up to Officer White fanning that Polaroid picture with a huge grin on his face. “You won’t believe this,” he said, flashed the picture at Officer White. “I caught those guys I suspected were doing their homo business down at Lake Willow.”
“You did?” said Officer White, and he put his Penthouse down and got up from the desk.
From his jail cell, Darin craned his neck at the cell bars to hear this piece of juicy news.
Officer Jacobs walked up to Officer White and snatched the Polaroid out of White’s hand. He looked at the Polaroid. He had to do a double-take. “You’re shitting me?” he said in disbelief with what he saw.
“No, Chief Hanson’s son is a homo,” said Officer White with a proud smile.
“That arrogant Robbie really is a homo?” said Officer Jacobs while he stared at the photo. “Who is this other kid? He doesn’t look like he’s from around here.”
Officer White nodded with a huge grin, as this was his best catch during his entire career. “He’s a peter puffer and here’s proof,” he said and was proud of his find.
“See, I was telling the truth about what happened on Sunday night,” Robbie Hanson tried to lure me into the woods for sex,” called out Darin from his jail cell.
“Shut the fuck up,” yelled out, Officer White.
Kenny sat in his cell, hearing all about Robbie. He recalled that day when they were in ninth grade when Robbie forced Kenny to perform oral sex on Robbie in the woods by the lake. He was too scared to tell anybody, as he was afraid Robbie would beat him to death.
“We better call the Chief,” said Officer Jacobs with a grin.
“This is going to be fun,” said Officer White while he walked over to the desk.
He picked up the desk phone and punched in a number.
After a few rings…”Hello,” said Chief Hanson and sounded groggy.
“Chief, it’s officer White, you better come down here to the station.”
“What the fuck for?” said Chief Hanson and he sounded pissed.
“We found something disturbing going on down at Lake Willow you should see immediately,” said Officer White into the phone.
“Why can’t this wait until the morning?” said Chief Hanson.
“Sorry, Chief, but you better get down here immediately,” said Officer White, and he hung up the phone.
“This is going to be great, and I can’t wait,” said Officer White while he shoved that Polaroid picture in his shirt pocket with a huge grin.
He got up from his bunk and headed to the cell bars. “I have to go to the bathroom,” he called out, sticking his mouth between the bars.
He heard Officers White and White poking fun at Robbie’s picture. “Excuse me, but I have to go to the bathroom. If you don’t, you’ll be cleaning up the floor of your jail cell,” he yelled out.
After a few seconds, Officer White walked up to the jail cell and looked bothered.
“You’ll have to fucking wait to take a piss. I’m not falling for that trick again,” said Officer White then he walked away.
Darin walked back to his bunk and sat down. He figured it was worth a shot. So he sat down and pondered another way to escape.
Officer White walked back over to Officer Jacobs.
“Let me see it again,” Officer Jacobs.
Officer Jacobs looked at the picture of Robbie on his knees, giving Sal a blow job. “I wish we could snap a picture of the Chief once he sees this,” he said. “That would be priceless, fucking priceless,” said Officer White but knew he couldn’t pull this off.