When You're A Stranger
Josh felt the impact of the car on his legs and then he was flying through the air. His landing is what saved him. He landed in the lake. He was hurt, sure, but it could have been far worse.
Half the town was there for his rescue and followed the ambulance to the hospital. The other half held the woman, a stranger, in place until the sheriff could arrive. She was drunk or something.
Sheriff Tom Wade arrived and looked madder than they had ever seen. It was understandable since Josh was his son. He talked on his radio for a minute and then stormed up to the young woman who had hit him.
He appraised her and then smelled her. She just smelled of soap and coffee.
"If she's been drinkin', it's an alcohol I never heard of." He called for another ambulance, fearing some serious medical condition.
In the ER, he checked on his son again and found out he had a simple fracture of his fibula, so 'a cast for six weeks should do the trick', the ortho guy had said.
Next he went to the young woman. She was completely out of it and he didn't know how she had driven at all. The doctor attending her pulled him aside.
"Looks like someone drugged her, but she got away in time. Unfortunately, it hit her right about the time she hit Josh. I am doing a full drug test and we will know what it was, hopefully."
They both looked at her. She was young, but had no ID or even a purse. Her clothes were disheveled and buttoned wrong. She had on one shoe and it looked like she was very lucky to have gotten away when she did.
He ran the plates on the car when he returned to the station and found it was from the next town and had just been reported stolen by the Mayor's son.
Tom Wade slapped his forehead and his office staff moaned. The gesture indicated rage. He always hit himself before a lick went to anyone else. He said it grounded him.
Standing at the front of the office he reported on what he knew so far. Everyone looked at him and then at each other. Another town war was going to erupt. The Mayor's son was at it again.
***
Before long, the Mayor from Blueberg stormed into his office, son in tow. They couldn't have looked more different. The Mayor was short and fat, while his son was long and lean. He was dark and his son blond. Many said his wife had strayed.
"Well, Wade! Where is my son's car?" The mayor demanded.
"His car is part of a criminal investigation." The mayor reddened and the son paled.
"What are you on about here, Wade? You know my son is the pride of the town!" He puffed out his chest and almost fell over.
The son's eyes glowed with vehemence and were very dark against the pale skin. "Give me my car." He said quietly and it could have been threatening to anyone other than Tom Wade.
"Shut up, Junior and have a seat. You are also part of this investigation." The mayor tried to pull his son away, but the son pushed him off, preferring the sheriff to contact with him.
"We will see about this!" The mayor screamed and waddled out of the office.
"So, Junior, you wanna tell me what happened?" He said quietly to the young man.
"I have no idea what you are talking about other than the fact that my car was stolen." He put his nose in the air like a prissy deb.
"Did you leave the keys in it, for it wasn't hot wired and I have the keys."
"Just give me the keys and I won't file a complaint."
Tom Wade laughed and the office busied themselves to avoid what was to come next. If they didn't see anything happen, they couldn't report on it.
Junior was in the air about a foot above the sheriff who had lifted him up with one hand. "Don't threaten me you little piss ant." He said quietly. "You are in big trouble this time, Junior and I don't think daddy can save you from this one." He sat him heavily in the chair.
"You all saw that!" He turned to see not one set of eyes was watching the encounter. "Fuck!"
"Don't move!" Tom went to the phone and called the ER. He said few words and then came back and sat in front of Junior.
"I am going to give you another chance to tell me what happened before the young woman talks to me." Junior's head shot up.
"She's alive?" He asked. "I mean, I heard she had a wreck." He tried to recover.
"Oh, she is just fine. They are waiting for me in the ER to get her statement and I know we have some bad blood between us, but she's a stranger and us townsfolk gotta stick together."
Junior nodded. "Well, this little bit wandered into the pub at Grant and Lincoln and she acting all hoity toity and you know us townies ain't standing for any of that. So, she says her car is out of gas, but she can't push it to the station and can we help. We said we could and we did."
He sipped a cold Coke that a deputy, who was also recording the conversation, had handed him.
"Did she thank us? Well, yeah, she did, but not properly. So we just wanted to get a thank you. She starts getting all excited and yelling and screaming for help, so Jim Bob gave her the bottled water she wanted, but added a little city dope and then she quieted down."
"And then?"
"And then, nothin'! She was out like a light. I passed out on the couch."
"Who else was there?"
"Jim Bob, Wayne and Fremont. If somethin' happened, it was one of them." He stood and the sheriff let him leave. He wouldn't go far.
----
Back at the ER they were trying to flush whatever drugs were left in the young woman's system.
"She said anything?" He asked the head nurse.
"Just a few words: no, stop, let me go and help." The nurse then shuddered.
"Was she raped?" The nurse nodded.
"Crap!" He turned on his heal and called the Sheriff in Blueberg, a friendly, and told him the situation and that he needed the boys. The sheriff agreed.
They were brought in, fighting and trying to pull off the handcuffs. "One at each desk, please Paul. Thank you, brother." He told the other sheriff.
"My boys are searching the lodge and the grounds around it. I'll sit right over here and watch the door." I chuckled, for he was watching for the mayor of his own town, who would not be happy.
Tom took Jim Bob, the ugliest and most needy of the group of punks. "So, what happened, JB?"
"Jim Bob! What do you mean, what happened?" He asked defensively.
"Oh, okay, JB. I mean, what happened with the young woman last night?"
"What young woman?"
"The one you helped who ran out of gas."
"Oh! She ran out of gas, we pushed the car and she got gas and left." He said defiantly.
"Ah, she did? What did she look like?"
"Uh, young, blond, pretty, long legs and that's all I recall."
"What was her name?"
"How the hell do I know? Junior was the one all hot on her, as usual. Bet he knew all about her, if you catch my drift. She was asking for it anyway. Did you see what she was wearing?" He smirked and Tom slapped the smirk off his face.
The sound rang through the room, but not one set of eyes saw what happened.
"Gee, Junior figured it was one of you three." He said loudly.
"Hell no! He kicked us out and said she was all his. We left together." The other boys nodded in agreement.
"It was Junior! It's always Junior and he likes 'em young too! That's new. He can't find enough strange, so he goes after girls now!" Fremont volunteered.
The room became completely silent. It hadn't recovered before the mayor walked in with the other mayor and Junior.
Tom pulled Junior aside, cuffed him and read him his rights. He was in a cell in record time, the whole time accompanied my the mayor's screams.
"What's the meaning of this, Tom." The other mayor asked.
"Looks like Junior here is not only a rapist, but possible a pedophile as well."
Junior's father gawked at his son. "You told me it stopped! You after kids now too?" He was disgusted and sat at the desk waiting to give a statement.
"I ain't protecting no pedophile, I mean, what's a little sex with the visitors, you know? But kids? Hell no! Lock him up! I know, and the girls will testify, that Junior has raped several of the town's young women, but I paid 'em off to shut up, so you gonna have to arrest me too."
The two sheriffs helped the fat mayor up and into a cell, a cell with his son. The phone rang and it was the ER. The young woman was awake and said an tall blond boy raped her.
***
Josh recovered. The young woman, Cathy, recovered and was taken home by grateful parents. The question was would the town, and townies, of Blueberg recover?
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