Chapter 9
Guilty, until proven innocent
Faces acknowledged the crash, as reality set in. Piney and Otto were on their bikes and hurrying towards the scene, as the girls got in with Wally and followed them. They came up to the intersection, unable to see much, because of the steam escaping from broken radiators. Piney stopped and jumped off, frantically looking for Lenny and his bike. A voice from the sidewalk got his attention.
"If you're looking for the idiot on the bike, he kept going like a bat out of hell, that way."
Piney looked over at the man that spoke and saw him pointing towards the motel. Fear and relief took over at the same time, knowing JT was driving just as wildly as Lenny was and thoughts of twisted metal and bone raced through his mind. He looked at Otto, still waiting on his bike.
"Go, to the motel."
Otto revved up his engine and popped the clutch, twisting the throttle wide open. The rear tire spun and smoked, as he tore off and began shifting up through the gears. Piney jumped on his Indian and gave it all he could and followed. Heads turned and watched them, wondering what was going on in Charming. The roar of engines faded, as sirens approached the scene, drivers and pedestrians milling about the wrecked cars, talking about the craziness of the bikers.
JT began gearing down, as he approached the parking lot of the motel, his focus on the office at the end. He entered the lot and began fishtailing on the gravel, holding on to it, keeping it upright. He straightened out and slowed to a stop at the curb. He stopped the bike and got off, marching into the office, the screen door slamming off the wall outside. No one came out, so he began yelling.
"Marlene! Marlene! Get out here."
No sound came from the living quarters, so JT went back and looked in. The outline of the corpse and its remains, were finally cleaned up, but a faint stain was still present. He yelled once more and walked in, taking a better look around. He looked in the bedroom and stared at the bed, knowing that's where Marlene had taken advantage of Suzy and Ann-Marie. He turned and strode out of the room and opened the door to the outside and looked around.
Marlene's Riviera was still in the parking lot, so she must still be there, but JT had no idea where, until he remembered putting Jake in the room. He began walking towards it, when he heard Lenny's bike racing up the road towards him. He watched for who it was, but he continued towards the room undaunted. Lenny pulled into the lot and roared towards him, waiting until the last second to brake and stop. He got off and ran over to JT and stopped him from going any further.
"Hold on, brother. What are you thinking about doing? Let's think this over, before you start something we can't stop."
JT's anger was as present as it ever was, his determination to carry through on his thoughts, the reason people worried about him. Lenny stood in front of JT physically and barred his progress.
"It's not your place, Lenny and none of your business. This is between me and that fucking woman in that room behind you."
Lenny was worried their voices were carrying into the rooms and tried to hush JT down.
"I said, get the fuck out of my way, Lenny. I mean it!"
Lenny wasn't going to let JT get involved in anything, while he was in that state of mind. He now knew Marlene was the root cause of the trouble, but what it had to do with the girls, was still a mystery. JT began pushing at Lenny to get out of his way, but Lenny stood firm, his size and weight, no match for JT.
Piney and Otto pulled into the lot and came right up to them, before stopping and getting off their bikes. They helped Lenny to keep JT under control, but the commotion began bringing attention to them. Curtains were opened in the occupied units and one unit in particular, had opened theirs. Jake looked out the window and saw JT being held back by his friends, the obvious direction he wanted to go to, was his unit. Marlene had assured him he had done nothing wrong, or committed any crimes, that she was aware of, leaving Jake to wonder why JT felt such hostility towards him.
He pulled on his pants and put on his boots, then lit a smoke and looked at Marlene.
"Guess we'll see just what did happen last night, Mar."
She gave him a kiss and sat on the bed, as he went to the door and hesitated for a moment in turning the knob, then opened the door. JT stopped fighting briefly, at seeing Jake, but his anger never diminished.
"Where is she, Jake?"
"Where's who, JT?"
"Marlene. Where is she?"
Jake looked at JT, stunned that his focus of rage wasn't him. He looked back at the unit and saw Marlene in the window, looking at him with fear in her eyes. It wasn't a fear of the unknown he saw in them, it was the fear of being found out about something, he knew he saw. His knowledge of her tells, told him she had committed a violation of some kind against JT, for him to be acting the way he was towards her.
"You tell that fucking bitch to get out here, Jake."
Jake spun back at him, his eyes glaring wildly at him. JT was taken by surprise at the ferocity of his look.
"Who the hell do you think you're talking to, boy?"
JT knew he had overstepped the boundary with him and realized his own place. His own rage lessened in the presence of Jake's.
"What ever the hell your problem is, you ain't going to go about it like that. You certainly ain't going to be acting like that to Marlene. Now you settle your ass down and act like a man and not some wet behind the ears kid, with a school yard grudge. One thing you learn JT Teller and learn well, show respect to women. You don't hit a woman ever and you treat them with respect, you got me?"
