CHAPTER 13: ATTENTION-SEEKING BEHAVIORS 101
PITTSBURGH:
Lindsay decided to take a little detour before their traverse into what Michael was quickly beginning to think of as Suburban Hell. After arriving at Muncher Mansion, Lindsay had gone up to change as Michael decided to look around. He noted all the broken glass on the floor, and decided that he would ask Lindsay about it when she returned from upstairs. He went into the kitchen for a bottle of water, also taking notice of the carnage in there. He could only think that the missing Melanie was the cause of it all.
Following her into the police station, Michael wasn’t sure what to expect. “Lindsay, what are we doing here?”
“I’m taking a page out of Brian’s book, and following through on a carefully-issued warning.”
“What warning?”
“I called and advised Brian that if Melanie hadn’t returned Gus by this afternoon, I was going to report her for kidnapping. It’s time for them to take me seriously.”
Michael stood there in shock, before really processing what Lindsay intended to do. “Lindsay… LINDSAY! Look, we really need to think about this…”
“About what? Michael, I’m through being disregarded and disobeyed. Brian, and especially Melanie, need to remember their places!”
Michael sighed. “Look, I agree with you, okay? I do, but I mean, what can we really accomplish by doing this?”
“It will teach them what happens when they step out of our plans.” Lindsay tugged at his arm. “Come on, Michael, think about it. They will come rushing back to us, each for different reasons, but they will finally be forced to listen to reason. Brian is off somewhere shirking his responsibilities to me… I mean, us. And Mel deliberately took MY child out of the house without notifying me because she didn’t like something I said. So it will be OUR rules they will adhere to, Michael. They will understand who really holds all the cards, or I will take away the one thing that Brian and Mel have in common right now… Gus. I am STILL his primary parent after all, and whereas Mel and Brian have their rights, nothing can hold a candle to a mother’s love. We don’t know where Mel and Gus are, or who they’re with. For all I know, Mel could have decided to take her anger at me out on Gus. Oh my God, Michael, I’m so worried about him.”
Michael eyed the sudden tears in her eyes with skepticism. He didn’t believe for one second that Lindsay was really as worried about her son as she seemed. If Michael had learned nothing else today, it was that Lindsay was a fabulous actress; able to cry on demand. But if it was as bad as Lindsay said- and by the looks of the munchers’ house, it was a definite possibility- then maybe, just maybe Brian would be grateful to him for siccing the police on Mel. He couldn’t say for sure whether he wholeheartedly agreed with Lindsay’s plan, but if it got Brian back to Pittsburgh immediately- where he BELONGED- then he could go along with her for now, in order to reap all the benefits Brian will owe him later on.
“Fine, okay, Lindsay. We’ll do this, but then we really have to work on the Justin Taylor situation, okay?”
“If this works, Michael, I have a feeling that Justin Taylor won’t be too much of a problem going forward. You know how Brian feels about Gus. The fact that he was less than vigilant when it comes to Gus’ well-being will be enough to force his head out of Justin’s ass. In fact, if we know Brian- and we DO- the guilt alone will have him doing everything he can to prove his reliability, especially to us, his best friend and the mother of his child.”
“Including regranting us unlimited access to his loft?” Michael asked, suddenly seeing where Lindsay was going with this plan of hers.
“Among other things,” she replied, although she was sure from the dreamy look on Michael’s face, he hadn’t heard her.
For her part, she could give a flying fuck what he gave to Michael, but she wanted her access to Brian’s money reinstated NOW, IMMEDIATELY, and THANK YOU! As far as she was concerned, after she moved out of the house she shared with Melanie, Brian would have to prove who is more important to him. Her child, or the as-yet-not-here spawn that Melanie carried. It was going to be interesting to watch what Brian would do. Having to tie himself in knots to please her was no more than he deserved for upsetting Lindsay’s well-ordered existence. Had he just stayed predictable, then Lindsay wouldn’t have been forced to take the measures she is to return him to what she desired and expected him to be… her husband in every way but name.
“Come on, Lindsay. Let’s get Mel, Gus, and Brian back where they belong. I have to make my list of demands for me to accept Brian back into my good graces. Hey, perhaps you should have a list, too.”
“A list? Why?”
“So that the next time he even has a passing thought that he can have a life outside of us, he’ll remember all he stands to lose by doing so.”
Lindsay smiled. “That makes sense. As soon as we finish at my true father’s house and before I have to be at my parents’ we should write it down,” Lindsay suggested. She would make sure that Brian knew who came up with this idiotic idea when Michael presented his demands. Oh yes, fool. You’re going to make getting you out of my way just that much easier. And the best part is that you don’t even know it.
Turning on the tears, and messing her perfectly coiffed hair just a bit, she stumbled into the police station in her Anne Klein suit and heels, hanging onto Michael as if her life depended on it. “Excuse me, Officer, but I would like to report a kidnapping…”
~AC~
Carl Horvath sat in his office, thinking that maybe he spent too many hours behind his desk, mind buried in his computer screen with a set of earphones on, cataloging audio recordings to submit into evidence. But somehow, he didn’t think that was the really the case, when he heard a familiar coo, followed by a whine that was, indeed, unmistakeable. The ‘coo’ could have belonged to just about any wellbred WASP, looking to file a report, but the annoying mosquito sound accompanying it was one that Carl was all too familiar with. It belonged to the perpetual manchild of the woman he was dating. Closing his eyes and praying he was just hearing things, he moved over to the large picture window in his office. Pushing a single blind up, he had his suspicions confirmed when the man in question demanded that Officer Burrows increase the speed in which he lodged Lindsay Peterson’s complaint.
Lindsay stood at the front desk, leaning heavily upon Michael, lamenting about a fight that she and her partner had that morning, resulting in the current missing status of her son. Michael, of course, added in bits and pieces, assuring the officer on duty that the house did indeed look like a warzone with splattered glass everywhere as well as ripped tapestries. By Lindsay’s account, although Melanie was seven months pregnant, she had become abusive, flinging objects to and fro within the house in an effort to maim Lindsay. Then Melanie snatched up Gus, who was screaming and crying, threatened her once again, and defected from the residence without a trace in sight. It was completely believable, except that courtesy of Debbie, Carl already knew the entire story.
He had stopped into the Diner earlier for lunch, wanting to see his Red, but had walked in while she was reaming Michael a new asshole for being an ASSHOLE. He chuckled in remembrance of the most vicious tongue-lashing he’d ever heard a grown man receive… and he’d heard many, not only due to his profession but from his own mother, who really could have made a fortune giving lessons in backhanded compliments and setdowns. He chuckled silently at some of her more colorful conversations with his father and brothers down through the years. She may have been small statured, but she was certainly worth her weight in gold.
Bringing himself back to the present, Carl realized that he only had two options here: either go out there and call them on their bullshit in front of the entire police department- they were making a horrendous scene after all. Or let them go through with the report, and have them charged with filing a false report, and wasting police resources, later when Brian and Mel produced documents negating every single one of Lindsay’s claims. Ordinarily, this would not be a tough call; Carl believed wholeheartedly in stopping confusion before it started, and bringing a little common sense or rationality to any given situation. But based on what he’d heard earlier that afternoon, after Michael had left the Diner with a sore ass, and an even sorer head from the multiple slaps to the head Deb issued, Carl believed that if Michael and Lindsay weren’t made to dig their own graves, they would continue to try and dig Mel and Brian’s.
He’d been privy to many a scene over the last year, where the former two would foment arguments between the latter, until Melanie had gotten pregnant with Brian’s child. Or the way Michael would make certain mean ass comments to Ben or the others, even to his own MOTHER, and then try to retract them stating ‘I didn’t mean it the way it sounded’. The worst was towards his uncle and husband, regarding their HIV status, or to the young hustler who Ben had recently adopted, basically stating that it was his own fault that his mother prostituted him, because of his smart mouth. Carl had been ready to shoot the little brunet fucker right then and there to put him out of everyone’s misery. After all, if Hunter’s mother prostituted him because of his smart mouth, than a bullet in Michael’s ass would have been well justified, right?
Carl sighed. But he’d refrained from doing so, not to show Michael any mercy, but because it would have hurt Deb. She more than made up for it though when she’d called him outside onto the front stoop, and then poured his favorite meal of spaghetti and meatsauce right over his head before sending him to his store for the night. The fact that she gave him a well-placed kick to his keister as he went down the steps was an added bonus!
So looking upon the scene now, Carl began to examine his innermost thoughts and feelings about the choices before him. He’d always considered himself a good cop, wanting to see justice done no matter the personal costs to himself. Could he, in good conscience, allow Lindsay and her apparent sidekick, Michael, to continue this charade of fuckery? Should he put a stop to their attention-seeking behaviors now, and allow them to escape the punishment they so richly deserve? Could he look Deb in her eyes without a trace of guilt or remorse for what he knows is about to beset her son? Would his halo be tarnished in the hereafter if he didn’t do this one good deed? By the time Carl made the decision within himself, it was already too late. Michael and Lindsay were leaving the precinct, arm-in-arm, already having turned the wheels of their downfall in motion.
He looked up at the ceiling, smirk firmly in place and said, “God, please forgive me for my inaction. And whereas it’s not my job but yours to pass judgment, thanks for taking this decision out of my hands.” He crossed himself, and went back to his desk. He decided to call the one person who above all else would understand what was about to happen. “Hello, Vic. You might want to warn Brian and Mel that the long arm of the law is about to reach out to them…”