One of my first stories-written about 10 years ago.
*
Dan was a bitter man.
What happened wasn't his fault, not really. Dan had been on top of the world only five years ago. A good job on the police force, a wife who loved him, two kids, the house in the suburbs and two cars in the garage were all his. Then came New Year's Eve, 1996.
Dan had to work on New Year's. He was working the night watch in the heights. The heights was the neighborhood to live in, it was where all the politicians, business owners and "old money" lived. Dan actually liked working the heights beat, even though the wealthy residents were often royal pains-in-the-ass, they were the type to solve their problems with lawyers rather than .38 specials.
At 12:33, Dan and his partner took a call for a disturbance at one of the houses on Strawbridge Drive. As they pulled up to the house, actually an 8000 square foot mansion, Dan was sure of what he would find inside. He could already hear the female screaming "Don't touch me" from the house. Dan was sure it was some millionaire and his drunken wife going at each other, probably about the color of the napkin holders.
As soon as he walked in the door, Dan knew something else was wrong. There were two people in the living room, a man and a woman. The man Dan instantly recognized as the mayor, and the woman was definitely not the mayor's wife.
Dan turned on the lights, and the situation got more complicated. The woman was not a woman, but an 18-year old girl. And the reason she was screaming was obvious. Her clothes were ripped off, her tits were hanging out of what was left of her bra, and the remains of her short dress was hanging from her, not really covering anything. The girl was bruised in numerous places, and from the amount of cum running down her leg, obviously had just been fucked.
Dan knew it was going to be a touchy situation, but decided to play it "by the book". He called the rape squad, the detectives, and arrested the mayor. Alerted by their police scanners, soon the press showed up. In short, it became a major media event, and the mayor was hauled off to jail on the 6:00 news.
But justice is not a simple thing. The mayor had been mayor for 25 years, and was a political creature with a lot of markers scattered throughout the state. He started calling them in. The police detectives couldn't be sure about their fingerprints. The local police lab reported that the semen sample recovered from the girl was contaminated, and could not be used to identify the rapist. The girl's story was rendered suspect when her supposed drug-dealer materialized out of nowhere and told a credibility-straining tale of her use and abuse of Quaaludes. The mayor, a very upstanding member of his church and every civic organization in town, told a story about how he was driving by and heard the screams, and went to investigate. In short, by the time it came to go to trial, the only people who believed the mayor capable of rape were the girl and Dan.
Chapter 2
It was Dan's day off. He was sitting on his front porch, taking the day to relax when the limo drove up. A tall man walked up to the porch and introduced himself as Mr. Harper.
"Dan, I understand you recently applied for a second-mortgage on your house." The man spoke to Dan with no emotion, no feeling, not even bothering to look up from his clipboard.
"Well, yes," Dan replied, but how do you know? Are you from the bank?"
The man snickered. "You might say that. Let's just say I work for a large financially-minded organization. I know it is your day off, soI will be brief. You have a $133,362 mortgage on your house, $15,503 in car loans, and $8323 in credit card debts. All I ask is a simple favor, and all those debts will be paid off by 5:00 this afternoon."
Dan's police instincts went to red alert. He knew what was coming, but felt compelled to play the hand anyway. "Just what sort of simple favor did you have in mind?"
"Now Dan, we both know that that girl was stoned and out of her head. She wouldn't have known if the mayor, Pee Wee Herman, or little green men from Mars had fucked her silly. She just picked on the mayor because he was a good enough man to hear her screams and look in the house to see what was happening. He is actually a hero, a concerned citizen. The tall man said this without a trace of irony or smugness. Dan had the impression he actually believed it. "All you have to do is change your testimony just a little bit, and forget that the mayor's dick was hanging out of his pants and dripping cum on the rug when you arrived."
Dan came from a long line of temperamental Irish cops, and he heard himself ranting at the tall man without ever having consciously made a decision. "Get the fuck of my porch, and go back to your pervert mayor and tell him if I ever see him within 50 feet of a teenage girl, I will be a concerned citizen and cut his nuts off."
"You're making a mistake, young man. The mayor is in a strong position to reward his friends, and make life miserable for his enemies. Please think carefully before you decide to do anything fool..."
"Get the fuck out of here."
Dan related the whole conversation to his wife. His wife was less than supportive. "You had to go and be Mr. Fuckin' Righteous and turn down the money. And for what? The prick is going to get off, and you are going to be on the shit list," she screamed.