MICHAEL

I couldn’t believe David had me arrested. Detective Reese told me that I could have an attorney present. I told the detective that David gave me the gold card to use, I didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t need a lawyer.

“Did Dr. Cameron give you permission to use his cards on all the purchases you made?” He asked.

“He told me I could pay the employees he wanted me to hire when he wanted me to be able to be home,” I tell him.

“Did you pay your employees?” He asked me.

“I don’t have any employees. I just needed to pay the rent on the comic shop,” I tell him.

“Michael are you sure you don’t want an attorney present?” He keeps asking me that.

“David is just being an ass because of an article in the newspaper. I’m sure if you talk to him, he’ll tell you he is overreacting. He gave me the card and I used it. He never asked for it back so I assumed it was okay,” I tell him.

“What about the other card? He told us that he never gave you permission to use that one,” He asks me.

“I took that one because he was kicking me out and I needed a place to go. He should have put a note on it saying I couldn’t use it,” I tell him.

Detective Reese tells me to stay in the room. I ask if I can make a call. He has them bring a phone in the room. I called Brian, Emmett, Ted, and Ma. None of them answered.

I called Mel and asked her to help me out. She was ranting at me for not calling after I demanded JR be made available. I told her to shut up.

“Mel, I am being held at the police station because David is saying that I stole his credit cards. I need to know what is going to happen,” I tell her.

“Did you ask for a lawyer Michael?” She asks me.

“I don’t have anything to hide. I already gave the Detective a statement,” I tell her.

“Michael, you always have a lawyer present. Most idiots think the cops are only asking questions. They are building a case Michael,” She tells me.

“Then you need to come here and help me,” I tell her.

“I don’t work in theft and fraud Michael. You need a lawyer who understands that area of law. Ask for an attorney, and don’t talk to anyone till a lawyer is there. It’s probably too late anyway. Do yourself a favor and stop talking now,” She tells me.

Well, she isn’t any help. She could have at least come here and tried. I decided to try Justin. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be in this mess, he owes me.

“Hello, Justin Taylor speaking,” Justin is so proper.

“Justin, I can’t reach anybody and I need someone to come to the station. David had me arrested for using his credit card. Could you stop being an asshole and tell Brian and Mel that I need them to come and help me,” I tell Justin.

“You know, I would love to come there and see you in a cell, but when you ask for a favor, maybe you should start with not calling me an asshole. I’ll let the gang know you’ve achieved a new level of stupidity. Later,” Justin tells me and hangs up on me, and I think he was laughing.

BRIAN

Justin tells me about Michael and I told him I already knew. He was disappointed that he wasn’t the first to know. I go over to Carl and tell him about Captain Credit Card Fraud. Carl told me that he and Deb better go see what Michael has managed to do this time. I told them I would come too. Deb is going to need some support. Justin and Blake offer to come and hold Deb’s hand. I know they just want to see Michael making an ass of himself.

Justin goes and lets Emmett know what is going on. Emmett shook his head and said we should just let him stay there. I agree. I’m not going to bail him out, but I want to make sure that Deb doesn’t try to mortgage her house to get him out. Deb might be mad at Michael, but he’s still her son.

CARL

Mel rides in the car with us and calls a friend who deals with these kind of cases. Deb told Mel not to worry about it. We all expected her to want him out. Deb said that maybe it’s time for Michael to learn there are consequences for your actions.

I get to the station and call Detective Reese to my office to see what exactly Michael did. He tells us Michael used David’s credit card to make purchases and tried to pay for a suite in the Plaza with a card David never approved Michael to use.

“Carl, normally I want the criminal to talk, but someone needs to tell Michael to shut up. He admitted to everything and I kept asking him if he wanted a lawyer and he said he doesn’t need one. He just keep taking. He didn’t have permission to use either card for any of the purchases that he made. The DA will have to decide how to pursue this case,” Reese tells me.

“What does David want to do?” I ask.

“He wants Michael to repay the money, otherwise he wants him prosecuted,” Reese tells me.

“How much money did he spend?” I ask.

“Just under twenty grand between the two cards. The second one is definitely considered stolen. David Cameron said he allowed Michael to use the first card to pay the employees of the comic store,” He tells me.

“Michael doesn’t have any employees,” I tell him.

“I know. Michael told me himself. They are sending someone from the DA’s office over. David called someone and said he wanted this handled. I got a call ten minutes later,” He tells me.

I wait with the others for the person who the DA is sending. Mel tells us that her friend said the only issue that could keep this a felony is Michael admitting that he didn’t have permission to use the card beyond what David agreed to. The ADA came in to talk to Reese. Mel volunteered to go in and try to keep Michael from admitting to anything else.

I went in with them. Michael tells us we need to get him out. He can’t help that David was pissy because Michael was leaving him. The ADA reads over the interview and asks Michael if he refused counsel before speaking to Detective Reese. Michael tells her that Reese kept offering it but he didn’t think he needed it.

The ADA told Michael that if he was able to repay the money he charged, David Cameron was willing to not press charges. Mel asked if they could speak alone. The ADA was about to leave the room when Michael started yelling.

“I’m not going to pay David one cent. He owes me for kicking me out of the house. I was using the card to pay for my expenses,” Michael tells everyone.

The ADA tells Michael she’ll see him in court. Mel gets up and tells me that if they find a lawyer willing to take the case, they need to tell the lawyer to gag Michael. I tell the officer at the door to put Michael in holding.

Justin is sitting at one of the desks in the station doodling. Blake was talking to one of the officers. I asked why they are out here. Justin told me Brian and Deb were arguing. I go into my office, I guess Deb wants to bail Michael out.

“Deb as much as Michael pisses me off, he wouldn’t survive prison. The first time he whines, someone is going to shank him. I’m not saying he doesn’t have to learn from his mistakes,” Brian tells her.

“Brian all of us continually bail him out, we taught him not to deal with his problems. You need to let him understand this is serious,” Deb tells him.

“She’s right Brian. We need to let Michael handle his own problems,” Ted tells him.

I asked Brian why he thinks Michael should not be held responsible for what he does.

“I just wanted to hire a lawyer for him. I’m not going to pay his bill off, he needs to do that. Any lawyer they appoint is just going to let him fry. I don’t want him to know that it was me paying his lawyer. I suggested to Deb that she tell him that she did it,” Brian tells me.

“Why did Justin leave the room?” I wanted to know.

“He said something about wanting to see Michael led out in handcuffs,” Brian tells me.

The ADA came in and told us if Michael was willing to pay the bills, he would get a misdemeanor charge and be on probation. Michael refused to consider it so they are going to charge him. She also told us the sentencing could be anywhere from an month to ten months and three years probation. Michael will still have to pay the money back to the card companies, who will have their own case against Michael. She told us since other than a speeding ticket Michael isn’t a career criminal, so she is going to try for one month with work release to help pay his fines and three years of probation.

Deb tells Brian she will break his balls if he pays for a lawyer. Michael is going to get off light unless he does something stupid and if he does it’s on his own head.

I walk out to get Justin, he is signing a few sketches and handing them out to people. He gives one to Detective Reese. I walk over to see it.

“Who’s the little girl in the picture?” It’s lifelike.

“It’s Sam’s daughter,” Justin tells me.

“Sam?” I ask.

“Detective Reese,” Justin rolls his eyes at me. I’m not the one who keeps up with names, that’s why we’re together, it’s Justin’s job.

I tell Sam to frame it. Justin’s work is worth a fortune, I can only imagine what a sketch with his signature on it will be worth someday.

Michael was being led out of the room, the officer told him to stand there for a minute and talks to another officer. Michael sees us and starts towards us, yelling.

“Justin, this is all your fault. Brian should have listened to me and kicked you out before you ruined my life,” Michael is interrupted by the officer taking him down.

Justin and Blake seem disappointed. I told them both it wasn’t like Sean Connery in Escape from Alcatraz.

“Yeah, but we were hoping for more than a Naked Gun replay.” Blake says.