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CHAPTER 14 - DESPERATE DEFLECTION AND DELIBERATE DIVERSIONS


MICHAEL


My head is spinning, my heart pounding, my hands cold and clammy at the same time. All eyes are on me as I try to formulate a response.


“What do you mean you are having sex?! You are only 14!” I explode. “This is your doing, your influence!” I scream at Boy Wonder. “You should be arrested for corrupting a minor! Who is it?! Who is the person defiling my daughter?!”


“Not going to work.” Brian drawls. “She takes after you in that respect, but she only does it occasionally. You do it all the time. It’s second nature to you...”


“Yeah, we’ve been working on a reward system.” Gus laughs. “So, when she goes to but stops herself, she gets $10, but if she doesn’t, she loses $20. On this occasion though, I think we can let that one slide, don’t you Mom?”


“Yes, definitely, and the thing Brian is talking about is deflection. She’s not having sex, she has never walked in on them, as they never have sex at our house, it is always here. Plain and very simple, she just wanted to stay and listen.” Mel nods at the phone. “May I see the order form, and can you play that again for me, please, Carl?”


“Yeah, here...” He slides the phone across and presses play. Nobody says a word, and the silence stretches on after the message ends. “Mel?”


“Is it date and time stamped?” She asks. “And how did you get the copy of order?”


“Yes, it is dated two months after the order was placed, and we got it because Ben called them back and pretended to be him…”


“Yeah…” Ben snickers. “...all those times that you’ve whined, screamed and shouted, I managed to hone it perfectly. I called up and demanded that they gave it back to my representative...which was, again, me. The assistant, when I explained the reason for the cancellation, was most sympathetic…”


“Which was?” Mel sniggers whilst sliding the form back to Carl, who keeps a close eye on me.


“Take it, I dare you!” He taunts me. 


“That we were getting divorced, which is entirely true…”


“What?!” I shout. “They should not have given it to you! They had no right!” 


“Bingo!” Boy Wonder yells. “At least we can have you arrested for those!” 


“What? What do you mean?” I frown, trying to get my thoughts in order. “And I didn’t break into the diner on election night either!”


“Well you’ve just confirmed that you placed the orders.” Ma’s voice is cold. “And you're right, you didn’t break into the diner on election night. You walked in…”


“Walked? What the fuck are you prattling on about?! None of this is…”


“And I suspect you made it look like there had been a break in, when you couldn’t find the loft keys.”


“Debs?” Mel frowns.


“It makes perfect sense now. You must have them.” 


“Them? What them?” Carl asks.


“The spare diner keys. I couldn’t find them before the break ins, hunted high and low. So after that, we just got new keys cut…”


“Can you remember what they looked like, Honey?” Carl is smirking again.


“Not really, sorry, but it’s the only way it could’ve happened. The loft was an opportunity. Someone took a chance, and to this day have not been caught. 


“Fitson, call Miller and tell him to take photos of what he has, and send them to me immediately!” 


“Yes sir!” She replies, the room goes quiet as she makes the call. When she hangs up, she smiles.


I look around the room. I don’t know why they are smiling so much. So I have the keys, that proves nothing! But wait, what does he mean, what he has? Who’s Miller, and what does he have? I need to get to my bag!


“He will send it to you in five minutes, they should be…”


“That’s great!” Carl interrupts, I stare hard at him. He stares back, but there is something.


“I need to use the bathroom.” I announce.


“I’ll go with you.” Ben rises. “It’s not as if I've not seen it before, but much bigger and much better come to think of it.” I freeze. “What? I have, but unlike you have felt it! Felt so good.” 


“Will you stop crowing?! So what, you and him fucked! He fucks all the time! Indiscriminately!”


“But still not with you, despite your efforts!” Ma snaps back.


“Ladies first!” Jenny Rebecca snaps, Lindsay and I glower at her, she glowers back. “Want me to piss on your shoes?”


“You seem to forget that I am your father!”


“Oh no, that will forever be a source of shame!” She bitches, before heading to the door. “Oh, Mom, what’s that in there?” She demands, taking her glass before she can look and heading out. “Oh for fuck sake, who put that there?!”


JAY-RAY


I smirk at the massive wine stain on his oh-so-precious bag which 'his best friend got him on his return from heartbreak’. 


“What the hell have you done?!” Novotny shrieks as he grabs his bag. “What’s good for getting wine out of suede?!” He bellows over his shoulder, rushing to the kitchen. I say nothing, just follow him in, trying not to snicker as he uses hot water to rinse the bag, knowing that it is going to set the stain. “Can you go and check, since your clumsiness caused this?!”


“Of course.” I drawl over my shoulder whilst sauntering out.


MICHAEL 


I follow her to see that she’s actually going into the lounge, sighing in relief when she closes the door behind her. Running back, I take out my keys, remove the diner one, and, with a smile, drop it down their waste disposal unit, savouring the thunk it makes as it hits the bottom. 


“You need to come back in and bring that with you!” Ben orders from the doorway. 


“But I need to clean the wine your daughter spilt on it!” I snarl, still smarting from their taunting words earlier.


“You heard Mr Bruckner!” Officer Fitson steps from behind him. 


“Fine! Let’s continue this farce. Mark my words, I will be taking you for everything cent you have in the divorce!” 


“Why not? After all, you’ve taken everything else! You first!” Ben growls as I stalk back to the lounge.


DINING ROOM - A MINUTE LATER


“Give me the bag, Mr Novotny.” Carl holds out his hand. I grudgingly hand it over and retake my seat. “Would you recognise the keys after all this time, Honey?” 


“Yes, sweetheart.” His soon-to-be wife simpers! He puts the gloves on and starts to take things out of my bag. “How do you carry that around every day?!” She exclaims on seeing my keyring. “Show that to me!” He hands it to her, and I almost bite through my tongue with glee. Yes, they may have gotten the rings back, but the lack of key means they can’t put me there! “No…” She sighs. “...it’s not on there.”


“Told you so!” I snap. “So that is one so called fact debunked, Mrs Columbo! Let’s go back to the beginning and start with the rest!” She looks so outraged that I burst out laughing.


“And what is so funny?!” She exclaims.


“This! This started with your wild accusation that I tried to kill Justin, I will admit that I don’t like him, never have and never will, but I learned how to do this from you! Because you are the consummate button pusher, you have been pushing all your lost boys’ buttons for years, especially his!” I declare, pointing at Brian.


“What shit are you spouting?” Emmett sighs just as Columbo's phone beeps.


“She claims that I had the diner key and broke in. It is not on there!” I declare.


“Tell me, Mr Novotny, what are these?” Columbo turns his phone towards me.


“Keys. They are a picture of those.” I snark, pointing at my set.


“Thank you for confirming that.” He smiles. “Honey, look at these carefully. Recognise any of them?”


She takes his phone before swiping along in silence. “There! That one!” She suddenly cries.


“For crying out loud!” I bellow. “The key is not on there, and…”


“Yes, that’s true, it isn’t. That’s because you dumped it in the waste disposal unit.” Officer Fitson’s voice again makes me jump. “Is this the key?” She strides up to Mrs Columbo with a plastic bag. The key glints as she walks. I start to shake as she peers in the bag. “Is it?”


“Yes. That’s it.”


“So how was that in the disposal unit, when you have just confirmed that this is a picture of your keys?” Ben demands. I swallow down vomit and sway. “Why don’t I save that rabid rat from gnawing on your stem to conjure up another lie.”


“Rabid rat…” I reach for my glass. “...I don’t…”


“Those are not your keys.” He gestures at Columbo’s phone. “As evidenced by them being here. Those are my keys. Remember you insisted that I have a copy of every key that you have. And I gave them to Carl…”


“Why would give them to him?” I am sweating profusely and my stomach is broiling.


“So he could…”


“They're done.” Columbo interrupts. “And on their way back.” 


“Who is done. Back from where?” I demand. Nobody says anything then the doorbell rings. 


“That will be for me!” Mel beams heading to answer it. There is murmuring before she comes back in with a distinguished looking gentleman. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Judge Roy Russo. He has been listening to every second of this. Your Honour.” 


“Thank you, Counsel.” He smiles at her. “So as I’ve heard it, we have Lindsay Peterson for evidence tampering, fleeing the scene, and resisting arrest; and Michael Novotny for breaking and entering into the loft of Brian Aiden Kinney, theft of two rings from said loft, breaking into the Liberty Avenue Diner, and, for now, obstruction of justice. My, what a tally!”


“I did not break into the loft or the diner!” I scream.


“On the nights that these events took place, did you advise the home and business owners that you were going to be entering the building?” He glares at me.


“I had keys! I didn’t need to tell them! Having keys, with their permission, means I could and would use them!”


“But you never had permission for the diner keys.” Ben smirks. “And Brian has always, always, said that the loft keys were to be used for emergencies only.  But he always forgave you when he found you in there without him, always had and always will!”


“Yes, he always forgives me. No matter what, he always forgives me.” I whisper.


“Not this time.” Ben sneers. “They found it. The final piece, they found it.”


“What?!”

 

“The car.” Columbo sits back in his chair grinning. “And, more importantly, the bat!”

Chapter End Notes:

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