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The Wrong Girl
By Rik Wuyts AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2014 Rik Wuyts
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4969-4853-3
CHAPTER 1
A Jamesville Police car cruised by the Witherspoon High School. The driver, Stan Bott, a seasoned officer with the Jamesville police department, and his rookie partner, Jeff Cooper, who very recently had joined the force, noticed a red sports car parked halfway on the curb. Jeff was immediately filled with excitement and adrenalin seeing the opportunity to score his first ticket.
"Stop the car. We have to issue a citation. That car is clearly in violation. We've got to fine that asshole, parking halfway on the curb like he owns it," he said with fervor.
Stan just chuckled but kept on driving, ignoring his rookie partner's outburst.
Jeff exclaimed, "What's the matter with you? Why aren't you stopping? We can't just let him get away with that."
Stan simply responded, "Writing a ticket would be a waste of time and probably result in a serious ass chewing from the chief. Since I'm the senior officer, it would be my ass getting the brunt. If you are going to be riding with me I obviously need to fill you in on some of the dirty secrets of the Jamesville police force. Some citizens of this fair city are above the law and untouchable when it comes to minor infractions. The red Corvette you saw belongs to John Witherspoon Jr. He's one of the members of the club that is immune to traffic violations. Writing him a ticket would be severely frowned on by the brass, ignored and never see the light of day. We'd be deemed idiots for such a ridiculous act of futility. This may shock you but that's just the way it is in Jamesville. This town belongs to the Weatherspoon's and if you can't live with it you should seriously consider a transfer to another town, because this town won't ever change."
"Thanks for the heads up, but I have to admit I'm shocked. This just goes against everything I was taught in the academy. I'm gonna have to think about this for a while. I don't want to make a rash decision." Stan looked at his partner, shook his head but refrained from making a comment.
What kind of bubble did this guy live in? Did he really think that the real world abides by what we are taught in the academy, especially in a town like Jamesville.
"Where is it you said you grew up?" he asked his partner.
"I've pretty much lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area all my life, why."
"Just wondering."
Well that explained things. Jamesville, Texas is a far cry from the high class metropolis of Dallas-Fort Worth.
Jamesville was a small town located Southwest of Houston with a population of about 40,000, most of whom had lived there for generations. Predominantly white, but over time it had become a little more diverse. There were now some Hispanic and a couple of black families. Actually, compared to the early 1900's, that was true progress.
The major employers were the Jamesville Rice Growing Company, which had been in Jamesville for many generations, and computer manufacturer Alltech Computers. Other employment was sometimes available from the retail stores, building contractors, various offices, city administration and legal firms. Rumor had it that both major companies were owned and managed by the powerful Witherspoon family, which was no surprise to the people familiar with the Jamesville politics and history. Every paycheck issued in this town seemed to be somehow linked to the Witherspoon Empire. The majority of the residents' paychecks were above the average Texan worker, so in all Jamesville was a good place to live, and most of the locals would agree with that.
The Witherspoon's owned at least half of Jamesville's real estate and businesses including the local bank. The John Witherspoon Bank, named after the founder of the Jamesville Rice Growing Company.
The John Witherspoon Bank was the most important bank in Jamesville, which made sense since most of the money earned and spent in Jamesville eventually ended up in the pockets of the Witherspoon family anyway. There were a few smaller local banks but none close to the size of the John Witherspoon Bank.
Jamesville, of course, had all the amenities you find in most American small towns, two Grocery stores, a couple of decent restaurants, most of the fast food joints, a few bars, a decent size mall, an athletic club, a golf course, a bowling alley, movie theatre, a fairly well equipped medical center, and whatever else the citizens of Jamesville would had a need for.
Jamesville was situated far enough from any major city to risk annexation by them. But nobody worried about that possibility because if that ever became an issue the Witherspoon's friendly relationship with the Governor would take care of it. The Witherspoon fortune was established in the late 1890's during the Texas oil discovery in the Beaumont area. The Witherspoon clan was fortunate in that they had substantial interests in the Spindletop fields and when in 1901 the Lucas Gusher blew and produced 60,000 to 80,000 barrels of oil a day their future was secured.
The Weatherspoon's invested this windfall profit not only in the oil industry but in many other, nonrelated businesses such as rice cultivation, banking, automotive, and various other enterprises all of which were very successful. The Weatherspoon's seemed to have the Midas touch and it was no secret that the Witherspoon family was filthy rich, by any standard.
The summer vacation had not started yet but the teachers and students from Jamesville's Alfred Witherspoon High School were already making plans and dreams of the things that they were going to do during the coming summer vacation. As with most dreams and plans very few would actually materialize. The majority of students and faculty members would come back and start the new school year in the fall, unsatisfied with how they had spent their vacation and realizing that another boring year lay ahead of them.
This day was one of those hot, humid, lazy days that only the Texas gulf coast area seems to produce. Although it was only early May, the temperature was in the high eighties with the usual high percent humidity and not a stitch of wind. The few puffs of clouds high up in the sky looked like they were anchored in place and unable to move.
John Witherspoon Jr. and his buddy and cousin, Glenn Evans, were hanging out in front of the high school unaware that a police car had passed by and the cops were talking about them. Not that this would have scared them one bit as they were well aware of what they could get away with in Jamestown due to their family's status. Both boys were juniors, both good looking, fairly intelligent and players on the high school varsity basketball team. They were by no means superstars, with no chance of NBA recruitment or even any of the major universities. But being on the varsity team in a town the size of Jamestown and the fact that they were the offspring of two of the most affluent families in the community multiplied their popularity tenfold. There wasn't a student or faculty member who did not know who they were and how important it was to remain in their good graces. Of course, the female students all aspired to much more than that. To be the girlfriend of either was a sure ticket to instant popularity and the envy of their friends.
They never seemed to be low on cash, so dating them assured they would be treated to the best Jamesville had to offer. It wasn't uncommon for their dates to end up in bed after a night out, but the girls knew in advance that was part of the deal. After all, there is no such thing as a free lunch. The few girls that refused to go all the way with them were never invited again and were soon labeled as possibly being lesbians and became social pariahs.
The conversation that afternoon between John and Glenn was focused on how boring and non-eventful this Podunk town was and always would be. Getting drunk, drugged and laid with the same girls no longer excited them. They were sure there must be something new and different to be found. There must be something exhilarating that they had not experienced yet. John was the one doing most of the complaining while Glenn just nodded his head in agreement.
"Look," John said pointing at the kids streaming out of the school. "Look at all these damn foreigners. What are they doing here? Why don't they all go back to their shit-hole countries where they came from? We don't need them here".
Glenn just listened to John's tirade. John frequently felt the need to vent his dislike of various people, especially those who looked different than he did. He always claimed that he was not a racist but Glenn knew better. Glenn knew all too well that John's views mimicked those of his father and grandfather. However, Glen knew better than to challenge John or point out that they weren't living in the 19th century anymore. John had always been the leader of the twosome and Glen usually just went along for the ride. So it wasn't surprising that once John finished his tirade he informed Glen that they must come up with something that would rejuvenate and excite them, sexually or otherwise. It was not a suggestion, but a statement.
Glen responded, "Well, what do you think we should do?"
John stared at Glenn with exasperation. "If I had a plan, I would have told you already. I swear you can be such an idiot sometimes. I just know there has to be something we can do to make this summer exciting and one we will never forget. That's why I'm mentioning it now. We have to start thinking and thinking hard. Summer will be here in no time and I want to have a plan in place."
"Okay. I just thought you already had something in mind." Glenn said in an apologetic tone.
"Well, you thought wrong. So put your shit for brains to work and come up with some helpful ideas. Surely between the two of us we can come up with something that will juice up our miserable lives here. I've got to do something different this summer before I go nuts."
This was the way most of the conversations between the two of them ended; John walking away asking himself why he was friends with an idiot like Glenn and Glenn wondering why he tolerated being friends with an egomaniac like John. John knew that he was going to be the one who came up with the brilliant idea and Glenn knew that even if he came up with a great idea it would be shut down by John simply because he hadn't come up with it.
Glenn also left feeling hurt by the insults his friend always seemed to throw at him, although he didn't know why he took it personally. John treated all his friends that way. Glenn could never find an appropriate response but then again even if he could he probably wouldn't say it. Pissing John off and risking being his enemy was not a situation he wanted to be in. This is a lesson Glenn learned by witnessing the wrath of John towards friends that had crossed him in the past. There were always consequences and none of them were good and you can forget ever earning your way back into John's good graces. That was something he would never allow. Once an enemy, always an enemy was his motto.
The weekend passed without the two of them seeing each other. John was out on the water sailing with his father and a couple of his father's friends, the usual assortment of lawyers and other business acquaintances. John did not really enjoy these outings but his father felt that it was necessary for his future development; John was slated to join the Witherspoon Empire after graduating from college with a degree in business.
Glenn's father who by the way was the son-in-law of John's grandfather and CEO of the Witherspoon Banks, was less demanding and let Glenn decide what he wanted to do on weekends.
So this weekend Glenn spent most of his time with his girlfriend Melissa and also racked his brain to come up with something that John would approve of. This was not an easy task because there was little left that John had not already tried. Glenn came up with a list he hoped John could be interested in:
Skydiving
Deep sea diving and fishing
Speedway racing
Week-end at the beach house with some hookers
Party at the beach house with high school kids
Week-end in Houston or Galveston
Go to Vegas for the week-end
After that Glenn gave up, knowing that none of the above would be daring or exciting enough for John. Those were the activities that John claimed were boring and they had done before. So, Glenn said "To hell with it. Let the fucking smart ass know-it-all come up with something himself."
Monday during their lunch break at school John and Glenn got together and John immediately asked. "Well genius, are you going to tell me what wonderful ideas your imagination has come up with?"
Glenn showed him the list he composed and immediately knew by the look on John's face that all hell was going to break loose, he was not disappointed.
John, with a look of disbelief and anger on his face said with a malicious grin, "This is exactly what I expected from you. Absolutely nothing. What you suggest is something we have been doing for years and what we agreed upon was boring and we needed something new." Glen mumbled, "You said it was boring, I never did." John did not think that this deserved a response from him but instead said. "Well I came up with something that will blow your mind. I'm not going to tell you any of the details because I will present you with a perfect plan for something exciting, sexy, maybe against the law, something we have never done before. All I will tell you is that it is all about a sexual experience you or I never had and probably will never again have in our lives."
Glenn said," I hope it's not like the last time you had this great idea that would spice up the Baptist church members."
John's idea was that he would replace the video that was projecting the pastor's sermon on a giant flat screen with a porno flick.
He managed to sneak into the church early in the morning and switched the disks in the projector system. This caused quite an uproar in the Baptist community and nobody suspected John or Glenn but John was so proud of it that he started bragging in school that he was the man and that was when all hell broke loose.
Glenn's father was one of the Baptist church laymen and when he heard that his son could have been involved he went ballistic and took all Glenn's privileges away. No car, no allowance and a curfew. But since there was no proof that they were the guilty parties, this storm blew over after a couple of weeks.
John chuckled and said, "Okay, it was a close call but you have to admit that it was funny."
Glenn said, "Funny, not for me it wasn't. My dad still doesn't trust me."
"Well, this is nothing like that. Let's go to our beach house this weekend and I'll tell you all about it. Count on spending the weekend so we can plan our strategy and timing in detail, John sensed that Glenn was not excited, looked doubtful and maybe a little scared. John said. "Well, are you in or do I have to look for somebody with guts to do this?"
Glenn responded, "How can I tell whether I'm in or out if you won't tell me what it is we are planning to do."
"It's not important what it is. "John said" It's a matter of trust. We have a non-written understanding that whatever we do we will do it together. No ifs or buts, no excuses. A total commitment to each other. Have you forgotten what we did a couple of months ago, when that little bitch Marissa dumped you for that football jock. I still remember, you had that brilliant idea of setting her parents house on fire. I also remember that I told you that this was a stupid idea but I went along with it and helped you torching the place. It backfired and we almost got our asses thrown in jail. Thanks to my dad's interference we got away with it. But if loyalty to your best friend means nothing to you, just forget it, I will handle it by myself. I don't need you. You are easily replaceable."
Glenn, afraid of the consequences said, "No that's not what I mean. Of course I'm with you all the way.
Whatever it is, we do it together". Glenn's thoughts went back to when they had set fire to Marissa's house. He had just wanted to start a little fire, cause some damage to the garage as revenge for the misery he felt at that time. He really liked Marissa and was hurt when she broke up with him. The real reason, she had said, was John. She did not like him and she felt that he was a bad influence for Glenn.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Wrong Girl by Rik Wuyts. Copyright © 2014 Rik Wuyts. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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