Chapter 2
Michael sat next to his friend David McMahon in Lacy’s strip club, taking a sip of his beer. He leaned back, looked at the topless dancers on the dance floor, listening to the music of the Outlaws song Hurry Sundown.
“You think this marriage will last for Larry?” David asked, taking off his silver rimmed glasses. He wiped his shirt on the glasses to remove the fog on them, then put them back on.
Michael thought about his days in law school at Yale, Larry always sleeping with different women all the time. “Can’t see him ever being tied down to one woman,” Michael said.
“I can’t see it either,” David said, running his hand through his sandy hair.
Michael took a long sip of his beer, gazed at Larry and five other friends as they put dollars in the panties of the dancers on stage.
“Did you hear about what’s going on with Tony Sage?”
He thought of Tony Sage and his wife, Hannah, a smile forming on his lips now.
“What about him?”
“You thinking about his wife?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Hey, she’s hot. She was hotter when she was in that movie in the 80’s Rock and Roll High School. Her boyfriend in the movie was a bully and beating everyone up.”
“What about her husband?”
“He’s going to be arrested.”
Michael put his elbow on the table, putting his hand under his chin. “Really.”
“Yeah. Ripped off his clients. Pulled a Bernie Madoff.”
“How do you know this?”
“My Dad told me.”
David’s father was the current District Attorney. He worked as an Accountant.
Michael thought back to seeing Hannah in a bar by herself, sipping a Margarita. Her red dress was tight, above her knees, displaying her long tapering legs. He listened as she told him that Tony was always coming home late at night, wondering if he was having an affair. He told her how crazy that was and that she was a beautiful woman, maybe even more beautiful than she was in her movie.
That was all it took, he remembered, as he put his hand on her knee, the feeling of her panty hose made him tingle as he covered her mouth with his. They were out of the bar and back in his apartment half an hour later.
Michael took another sip of his beer, felt the room spinning as David jumped off his stool. “I’m heading to the men’s room.”
“Okay,” Michael said.
Michael put his hand on the bar to steady himself as he took his phone and pressed speed dial one, the bile rising in his throat.
“Are you okay?” a woman asked.
“No,” Michael whispered.
“Maybe you need some air,” she said. “There’s an alley in the back. I’ll help you.”
Michael gazed at the red headed woman as she put her arm around him and walked toward the door, the music changing to Talk To Me Fiddle from Charlie Daniels.
Michael was barely able to stand as the woman pushed the door open and Michael felt the fresh air hit his face. He put his phone in his pocket, said “I don’t feel so good. He broke the hold of the woman, ran over to a garbage can and vomited into it.
“Looks like you lost your cookies,” a familiar male voice chuckled.
Michael turned and looked at the spinning figure of Tony Sage as Tony threw a right into his jaw. Michael crashed to the ground.
“That’s what you get for sleeping with my wife,” the man said as he moved towards Michael. He shook his head, grabbed Michael by the shirt with both hands, picked him up, then head-butted him. Michael slumped against the wall.
Sage clapped his hands. “Pathetic. Can’t understand what my wife saw in you.”
He drew closer and Michael threw a right somehow, catching Tony in the nose. Tony drew back from the blow, put his hands to his nose. “Not bad,” he said, looking at the blood. Glaring at Michael, he grabbed him by the shirt, threw a right to his nose, then drew his knee into his groin. He fell to the ground coughing.
“Son of a bitch,” he said, kicking Michael in the stomach.
“Okay, he’s had enough,” the woman said.
“Shut up,” he said to the woman. “I’ll say when he’s had enough.”
Tony watched as the woman walked towards him. “That’s enough. Just go home now.” She grabbed his arm; he pulled it away. She tried to grab his arm again. He slammed his elbow into her mouth; she tripped and fell to the ground.
Tony laughed and kicked Michael in the stomach again. Michael groaned in pain and felt more bile come to his throat. The woman was up again, holding a knife in her hand. “I said he’s had enough. Leave him alone.”
Sage chuckled, then slapped the knife out of her hand. She punched him on his shoulder. He shoved her away, then watched as she fell to the ground. Her head hit the pavement, a pool of blood started to form around her head.
Michael’s vision started to blur; his head continued to spin. Suddenly, he heard Tony Sage say “what the hell are you doing here?”
“Change of plans,” the voice said as Michael fell to the ground, unconscious.
***
The sirens woke him nearly half an hour later. Michael was helped to his feet, bathed in the lights from the police squad car. Michael’s eyes hopscotched between his friends who stood in the alley and the prone figure of Tony Sage who was on the ground, blood all over his nose and his white shirt.
“You okay?” a man said.
Michael turned and looked at the blond-haired police officer. “What happened?”
“Maybe you should tell us,” the officer said.
“I don’t remember.”
“I suggest you try,” the man said. He took out his handcuffs, turned Michael around and slipped them on his wrists.
“What is going on here?” Michael asked.
“You’re under arrest for the murder of Tony Sage.”
“Murder. I didn’t kill him. I was in the alley and he beat me up. I was unconscious.”
“All I know is that we found a knife on the ground with your fingerprints,” the officer said.
Michael felt tears in his eyes as the officer read him his Miranda rights.
Chapter 3
Emily and Elaine Wells were nearly running to visit Michael in jail. Emily received a call from the warden in the prison that Michael was beaten up. It was just his second day in prison, Emily reflected. When is this nightmare going to end?
She wiped tears from her eyes as she thought back to the hearing. She knew that Michael’s attorney, Amanda Collins, had done her best but the judge denied bail due to the fact that the evidence was overwhelming and that Michael would be a flight risk. The DA would only settle for Michael being in prison until his trial.
Emily and Elaine walked into the room and Michael sat there. There was a red line on his forehead, his left eye was black. Emily noticed additional bruises on his face as she sat down.
“Are you all right?” Emily asked.
“I don’t know,” Michael responded, rubbing his stomach.
“What