About a week later I stopped by Mike’s to drop off the information he wanted. I just opened the door, there’s no use knocking. He’s almost never in the house, and he refuses to lock the door.
“Yo, Mike! Hey it’s Will.”
No answer, figures. He’s almost always in the garage working on something. I wondered if he slept on the couch in there, the mental picture brought a smile to my face. Mike, what a schmuck. I walked through the house to the garage, picking up a couple of beers from the fridge on the way.
“Mike, how’s it going?” I said on my way through the door.
“You got it?” Down to business, I guess.
“I’m doing well thanks, you know, works busy… Yeah asshole, I got it.” I dropped a packet of background information on our new friend Sheryl on the counter.
“I don’t know how you get this stuff,” he said while opening the packet.
“And you never will.”
“Friends in high places, I guess.”
“Nah.” I had to think how to phrase it. “Just lots of friends in lots of places.”
“Whatever you do Will, keep doing it. You staying?” he asked, nodding at the beer.
“Can’t,” I said, handing him a bottle. “I’m going to meet Ella for a movie in a bit. Just got off early so you could get an early look at that.”
Mike was already looking through the packet, which was over a hundred pages long. I saw his eyes bulge a bit when he leafed to the middle section, which had all the pictures.
“You sure know how to pick them my friend.” I said.
“You went through this?” he asked.
“A bit, browsed mostly. It’s not fun reading. You’re still tailing her, right?
“Well yeah, but I was about to give up. She’s been clean and boring, thought I might have pass.”
“Don’t, it’s just a matter of time with this one.”
“Told you she was bad.”
“Not that bad.”
“I didn’t know,” he said. I raised my eyebrow and he raised his hands in an “I swear” motion.
“Yep,” I said. “She’s definitely a keeper. I didn’t know anything that bad existed until I started looking through that file. That’s a goddamn nightmare.”
“No kidding, hope the reading isn’t as bad as the photos. You better see a horror flick tonight.”
“That’s plenty of horror for me, thank you very much. It’s Ella’s turn to pick, so we’ll probably see some rom-com.”
“Aw hell,” he said with disgust.
I just shrugged my shoulders. “Makes her happy and my brain gets a nap. What are you going to do about Sheryl?”
“Dunno, but I’ll be watching her extra careful now. These pictures make it harder to wait. Is this real? It’s not some kind of sick joke, is it?”
“Can’t make up that shit.”
“How in the hell did she get out?”
“Technicality.” I said in very near a snarl.
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope, the release order is in there, something went wrong timing wise with the DA, and some evidence was misplaced for awhile so the defense didn’t get it right away. I dunno, bunch of bullshit gibberish to me. I’m guessing you got her off Megan’s Law?”
“Yeah, but I had no idea.” Mike said. Megan’s Law requires sex offenders to register whenever they move, and you can track them online. It’s a good way to find all the predators near you. I assume Mike is checking it regularly.
“She’s got a minor conviction from before that they got to stick, so she can’t teach children anymore. But that’s the only thing that really stayed on her record, she’s just shy of free and clear. They’ll try to drum up some new charges but…” I shrugged. Truth be told they’ll probably have to wait until after she does something again.
“What was the conviction for?”
“I dunno, statutory or something. It’s in there.”
“Sounds like the least of all her sins.”
“She’s a fucking vampire Mike. You watch her and let me know when the time comes, I’ll be there.” He nodded, there wasn’t much else to say. “Anyways, I better head over to the theater, I have to meet Ella in 20 minutes. I’ll tell her you said hello.”
“Um, yeah. Sure.” Mike was completely engrossed in his reading.
I finished my beer and walked out, dropping the bottle in the recycling bin on the sidewalk. Must be trash day tomorrow. I tried to think about nothing at all for awhile, clearing my mind to be in a better mood for Ella. No point in spoiling her night too, I wouldn’t be able to explain.
No comments:
Post a Comment