Copyright Β© 2023
This is a story for the,
"Lie to Me" story event
.
With fear of sounding like a broken record, once again I am grateful for being invited to participate in this event. It is an honor to have my story posted alongside such great authors.
I hope you like the story and as always, I love reading those comments. Please keep them coming.
*****
He could literally feel his blood pressure rise with each pounding of his heart. A brief moment of denial had Scott reaching for his wallet. He removed an old, faded photo and studied it closely, comparing the features of the image he held in his hand with those of the man sitting only a few feet away. Without even realizing it, he took several deep breaths as his anger fostered.
His mother, sitting across the table, was concerned with his sudden change in demeanor. "Honey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" A minute before they were happily celebrating his eighteenth birthday over lunch in a nice restaurant, and the next minute he looked as if he was ready to kill someone.
"It's him," he uttered, staring over his mother's shoulder. He could feel his face turning red with rage.
"Who, honey?"
She was shocked at the photo he passed to her. "Where did you get this?"
"Grandma's, a long time ago," he answered. "It was stuck in the back of one of her old photo albums," he explained while slowly rising from his chair. He didn't even hear the panic in Mother's voice.
"Where are going? Scott, sit down," she emphatically told him but he wasn't listening. He started moving toward the individual sitting behind her. "Scott," she almost yelled. She attempted to grab his arm but he was already out of reach.
Sitting at the other table was a well dressed man in his early to mid-forties. He heard some commotion at the table next to his but paid no attention until he sensed someone approaching. He looked up at the angry young man.
"You coward, you lousy, no good piece of slime!"
The man's forehead furrowed, partly in curiosity and partly in anger. "Boy, I don't know you and you don't know me. I'm pretty sure you have me mixed up with someone else."
"Like hell I do! You're the lousy son of a bitch who likes to beat up on women; you're the same asshole who walked out on Mom when she was pregnant and left us with nothing."
Derek Haynes was shaking his head in disbelief. "Boy, I'm telling you, you have the wrong man. I never hit a woman in my life and I certainly..."
Just then Scott's mother stood and turned to face them both. Derek first caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye and turned for a better look just as she grabbed her son by the arm. "Come on, Scott, we have to go," she said, anxiously pulling her son toward the door.
He hadn't seen her in almost eighteen years. She had put on a few pounds but he recognized her immediately. Because of her, he battled depression for over five years. "Anne... Anne, wait," he yelled as he quickly stood up.
"Sir," suddenly a waiter and the restaurant manager were standing next to him, "please settle your bill before leaving."
"I'll be right back," he said.
"No, Sir, please settle up now. The lady left without paying as well, so if you would be so kind..."
"You want me to pay for her too?" Now he was pissed. "Fine," he yelled, "here," he said, pulling four twenties from his wallet and tossing them on the table, "this should be more than enough to pay for the pig slop you call food." With that, he pushed his way passed the two and ran out the door. He looked around the parking lot and saw a late-model compact pulling out into traffic. He ran, trying to get a license plate number but was too late. He thought about trying to catch up to them but he didn't even get a good look at the car, and without knowing what direction they took at the corner the chances of finding them was one in a million.
Derek was literally shaking from anger as he walked to his car. He had to sit for a few minutes until he felt confident enough to drive.
Scott hadn't said a word since his mother pushed him into the car and took off like she was at the Indy 500. They were several blocks away before his fury subsided enough that he felt like talking.
"Why did you grab me like that? I wasn't finished telling him what I thought of him."
"I told you, Scott, he's a violent man. I had no idea what he was about to do and I didn't want you to get hurt."
"Huh," he snickered, "he didn't look so tough to me. I wish he had started something."
"Well, it's over; let it go. Hopefully, we'll never see him again," his mother sighed, praying she was right.
Derek was still upset when he returned to work. Amy, his secretary, was returning at the same time. At first, she didn't notice anything. "Have a good lunch, Derek?"
"Not really," he curtly answered as he briskly walked past her and into his office.
His attitude surprised her. As long as she'd known him, Derek had always been a pretty happy-go-lucky guy, even when things weren't going well. She followed him into his office and sat down. "Derek, what's wrong? Did you have an accident or something?"
"No, no accident, something worse. I was eating when this kid came up to the table and started calling me names."
"Names... you mean bad names?"
"Yeah, he called me just about everything under the sun. I had no idea who he was but I'm sure he wasn't finished with the insults yet when my ex-wife popped up and pulled him out the door. I think the kid might have been my son."
Amy was trying to stay cool, but that was a shocker. "Your son? I didn't even know you had a son."
"Yeah, well, I wish I could say it's a long story but it's really not. One day I had a wife pregnant with my child and the next day I didn't. She just packed up and left. I never saw or heard from her again until today."
"Oh, Derek, that's horrible; I'm so sorry."
"Thanks, it was a long time ago. I'm still not sure it was him. Hell, I don't even know if she had a boy or a girl. I suppose she could have had other children by now but the kid looked about the right age. I think I could've caught them in the parking lot if it hadn't been for the manager of that dump. He and my waiter stood right there and wouldn't let me leave until I paid, not only MY bill but theirs as well. I couldn't believe that. I'll never set foot in that place again."
"Where did you eat?"
"DeMar's, on Busse Road."
"They probably thought you were pulling a scam."
"A scam?"
"Yeah, think about it, Derek. Three people sit at two tables, one picks a fight with the other, two of them go rushing out before they pay for their food and the third goes after them before paying for his. The three of you could have jumped in a car and left, laughing like hell. People pull shit like that in restaurants all the time."
"I never thought about it; it still pisses me off though. Shit, so now what? I don't imagine you know anything about tracking people down, do you?"
"No, sorry, Derek, you should try looking online. I'm sure you'd find something that would help."
"Yeah, that's a good idea. Okay, do you have the Kenny proposal done yet?"
"Almost," she replied, "I should have it done within the hour."
"Okay, well don't worry about me and my problems; I need that proposal by three at the latest. Let me know when it's done."
"Will do," Amy responded on her way out of his office.
Forty-five minutes later when she returned with the proposal, Derek was so involved with his computer screen he didn't hear her come in. She surprised him when she laid it on his desk. "Sorry, Derek, I didn't mean to startle you."
"That's okay; I was just following your suggestion. So far, I haven't found anything that helps though. Everything talks about finding tax records or social security numbers, things like that, so I tried looking her up by her married name and by her maiden name but didn't come up with anything. I tried to get the license plate number when they drove off but they were too far away."
"How old is the kid who called you names?"
"Well, if he's my son, I'm pretty sure he's eighteen."