Richard was going to have his day in court in the morning.He’d heard that the judge was a good one in that he didn’t sentence people too harshly.He didn’t want any charges at all from him, so he thought it would be a simple case of in and out.That’s what he’d thought all along, and he was still in the system two weeks later.
Looking around his cell, he figured it could have been worse.At least right now, he had a blanket for nighttime and food when he wanted it.In addition to three meals a day, they’d bring around snacks for the inmates so they didn’t have to starve between meals.That was his favorite part of his stay here.All the snacks he could eat.
Any day of the week, he’d eat snacks over a meal.A meal would weigh him down, while a bag of chips would be perfect for him to munch on.He even preferred dessert over having supper some nights.A nice slice of cake would fill him like nothing else would.Even if he’d just stuffed himself with a huge meal and could barely breathe around it, he’d make room for some pie every time.
“Richard Taylor, you have a guest.”Guest?They’d been calling them visitors since he’d been here.He had no idea what to expect when he was told that he had a guest.Going with the man, he was taken to a cell without cuffs on and sat in a chair.He didn’t make a move because the officer in the room with him had his hand on his gun like he meant business.No way was he fucking with a cop.That was when he noticed that the uniform had a state outline of New York and not Ohio.His balls tucked themselves right inside his ass hole.
“We’ve been talking to Helena Croft.”He didn’t even blink.Talking to her meant that she’d given him up.“Boy, she has some stories to tell.We’ve arrested her and the ten people who worked for the two of you.”
“I want a lawyer.”The cops in the room stopped talking, but he knew they were far from finished with him.“I want a lawyer before I will say another word.”
Both of the cops moved out of the room, but for the one who had his gun on his hand.He stared at him like he was just waiting for him to blink so he could blow his head off.Taking his time stretching, he made sure not to make any sudden moves that would get him dead.Even when he had to scratch his head, he did it slowly and precisely where it itched.He wasn’t stupid, nor was this the first time he’d been left with a man who seemed to be on a mission to bag him a bad guy.
If they had talked to Helena, then they knew about the prostitution ring that they’d been running.Not even telling them that he didn’t know anything about it would get him anywhere, so he was just going to stop talking and wait for a lawyer.They’d had a good run at it, but did wonder how they’d been caught.It had been perfect as far as he could see.
The two of them would set up dates for their herd and give them to them once a day.All they had to do was follow one rule and not all show up at one time, where it looked like they were running a ring.Helena would set up the appointments and make sure that they knew where to go, and he’d collect the money and be the heavy when it was necessary.After the second time he’d had to hospitalize one of their group, he’d never had so much as a peep out of them.And they didn’t skim the money either.That was his job, too.Collections.
They’d been doing it for about five years now, and it never ceased to amaze him how much people would pay for a little pussy.Or cock.They weren’t judgmental when it came to dates.So long as you had the money to pay and didn’t knock around your date too much, things were all right between them.
But they never seemed to have any money.He knew that the rental from the apartment came out of the date money.Also, food as well as utilities.One day, they’d have about twenty-five grand,and the next, they’d be broke.Pulling in six figures a month would have been a good pay off, but they couldn’t seem to save any money.Not once in a week could he count on money being there when they needed it.They just liked to spend money.
Helena liked to order things online.She had a closet full of clothing and shoes that she never wore but owned.He wasn’t as bad.He didn’t have a great many clothes, but he collected weapons.That meant too if they got into the apartment to talk to Helena, then they would have found his stash of guns and knives.All things he wasn’t supposed to have being out of prison like he was.Being an ex-con had more rules than he knew how to manage.
He was taken back to his cell, but inside of just putting him inside of it and going away, his gun holder—robocop, he was going to call him—was standing outside his cell and watching him.If he had to take a piss right now, he’d have to do it with a full audience.This shit was for the birds, and he was going to complain about his lack of privacy.
Richard kept going back to how they figured it out.They’d been so careful.He supposed it might have just been the right place, right time sort of thing, but he didn’t believe in that.Someone had tipped them off, and he wanted to know who.He thought about asking robocop about it, but he’d not tell him squat.He’d just have to wait until his day in court again before he would be able to figure out any details about when they were caught and who it was that told on them.It couldn’t have been the neighbors.They were getting free rent out of the deal, and it was too good of a deal for them to have ratted them out.The landlord was in on it as well, so it wouldn’t be him.When he figured it out, hell was going to be paid as they’d taken every precaution they could think of not to get caught.
“It was me and my family that got you caught.”He looked around his cell, trying to find the person who was talking to him.“You can’t find me.I’m not there.I’ve been in your mind for the last week, and let me tell you, it’s not been fun.However, we did get the information that we needed about what you’re doing for money.So thank you for that.”
“I’m not talking to you.I’ve asked for a lawyer.”The man laughed, but robocop didn’t think it was so funny and told him to shut up.“What are you saying to me?You started talking to me.”
“It’s not robocop, either.If you keep talking to him out loud, he’s going to shoot you.I think he wants to anyway.”Richard looked around again and couldn’t see anyone around.“I’m not there, I told you, but at my home enjoying a good breakfast with my wife.Your daughter.You should know, too, that she’s excited to have you going back to New York for your trial.I know I’ll sleep better at night.”
“How are you doing this?”He was told to shut up again.“How are you talking to me without being around.I demand answers.”
Robocop looked about as pissed off as he was feeling.When the man told him once again where he was, he wanted to have him there with him so that he could slap the piss out of him.Instead, he was told how to talk to the man so that no one would know what he was doing.He tried it then.This was one of the more stupid things he’d ever done in his life, talking to a man who was in his head.
“What do you mean you told on me?How is that even possible?”He told him that he knew about it, so it was easy for him to get the information from his mind.“So you’ve read my mind?That’s not possible.”
“It is, and I’m telling you that it was easy to get into your little cubby holes of lies, too.Do you ever tell the truth?”He said he was going to kill him.“Another lie.You can’t kill me, I’m immortal.So is Sharon.Your plans to kill us both off to get the money would never have worked.”
“So says you.I know better.No one is immortal.”The person didn’t say anything, and he felt like he’d won that argument.“I’ll be back from New York.You just wait and see.They’ll not be able to hold me because they don’t have enough evidence.I know the law better than they do.They need evidence in order to take me back, too.”
“They have all they need.They’ve been watching your place for a month now, and we just happened to have more information than they did.Like, for example, they didn’t know that the entire complex was making out on the little jobs that you were doing.That’s why you’re so broke all the time.You were paying out more than you were making.You should have hired an accountant when you started out, and they might have told you that it wasn’t worth the prison time for as little money as you had in profits.My brother told me that you were shortingyourself every week, paying everyone else’s rent and not your own.”He told him that was the deal they made with them so that they’d not rat them out.“Yet they did when you refused to pay more money to them.Sorry that it didn’t work out for you.But you’re going to prison for a lot longer than you had before.”
“Why did you do all this?”He told him why.“Just so I’d not try and take your money?That was mine, and you owe it to me for all the shit that’s going down now.I want a million dollars before my trial so that I can pay my way out of jail.Then you can give me a million every time I want some cash until you die.”
“Not going to happen, I’m afraid.I told you before that I’m not giving you any of our money.I like being a wealthy man, and sharing with someone like you doesn’t make me feel good about myself.”He asked why he should care how he feels.“Because I’m the one who has all the money that you want.You should have just asked for it.I wouldn’t have given you any, but I would have gone about getting you out of my hair a lot easier on you.”He asked him if he meant prison.“Oh no, you’d have gone to prison or died, either one would have been good with me, but I might not have put you away for so long.You’re going to be gone for a long time, thanks wholly to all the guns you had in your apartment.That was just stupid of you.From what I’ve gathered, you get years added onto your sentence for every gun and weapon you have.That’s going to be about a thousand years, I’m thinking.”
Robocop told him it was time to go talk to his lawyer.He didn’t know what he’d say to the man, he was going to prison for a long time, and he didn’t even have any deals he’d like to cut with them.As soon as he was seated across from a man he’d never met before, he broke down.This wasn’t the way things were supposed to go for him.Richard was supposed to have everything that he wanted and all the money in the world.Now he was going back to prison, and they might not let him out until he was too old to care about money.
He was told to plead guilty to all charges and hope that he didn’t get life without parole.Since this was his third time going to prison, they could throw the book at him, and there was very little that he could do about it.His life sucked right now, and he blamed it squarely on his daughter’s head.
“She did this to me.”The lawyer, he didn’t even ask his name, asked him who he was talking about.“My daughter.She has all the money and won’t even share it with her own father.”
“You didn’t ask, you demanded, correct?”He asked him how he knew that.“I’ve seen your kind before.You want what she has, and you don’t care how you were going to get it.Is that about right?”
“She should have wanted to share with me.”The man just nodded like he’d heard it all before.“What do you know?She’s worth millions of dollars, and I only wanted my fair share of it.She didn’t have to give it all to me.”Which was another lie he told himself.He wanted it all and for her to keep paying until she was as broke as he was most of the time.
