Page 94 of Pooh

Horse Nuts: Cops at the gate. Looking for you.

Me: Why?

Horse Nuts: Won’t say. Want me to tell them you’re not here?

Me: No. Be there in a couple of minutes.

“Stay here with Tammy, babe. I’ll be back in a minute,” I tell Pippa as I stand up to leave.

“Where’re you going?” Pippa asks.

“To the gate. Guess there’s a cop there looking for me. Don’t know why. Be back in a few minutes.”

As soon as the words leave my mouth, Trigger and Vex stand up, ready to follow me to the gate. We draw the attention of Gunner and Petey and Trigger tells them where we’re going. They too stand up to follow.

Walking down the club’s driveway, I’m wondering if this has anything to do with the beat down Cal received. If so, I have no problem doing some time for assault on that woman beating shit pile.

I’m a little surprised to see an unmarked detective’s car along with a patrol vehicle. As we approach, the uniformed officers step out of their vehicle and casually place their hands on the butts of their service weapons. The detective separates himself from Horse Nuts and waits next to his car for us.

“What’s this about, Detective?” Gunner asks before I can.

“Are you the one that goes by the name Pooh?”

“No. I am.”

“You have a real name, Pooh?”

“Cole Murray but I won’t answer to it.”

“I’ll get straight to the point then. We’ve had a complaint lodged against you for rape.”

That rocks me back on my heels for a moment and has my mind whirling about who would lodge that kind of complaint against me. I come up blank.

“What the fuck are you talking about? Who told you that kind of shit?” bellows Trigger.

“The fuck you say!” Gunner shouts angrily. A guy Gunner’s size shouting normally backs anyone up, but the uniforms take one step forward and now grip their guns in a threatening manner.

“Someone has blatantly lied to you, Detective,” Vex calmly says. Well, I should say, he’s the calmest of us anyway.

“I’ve never raped or hurt any woman, ever,” I bark.

“A Ms. Anita Combs is saying different. You need to come to the station with us and give a statement concerning the night in question. And we have some questions you need to answer, Murray.”

“Am I under arrest?”

“Not at this point. Answer some questions and you may get yourself clear. If not, you leave me little choice but to arrest you to get the DNA samples I want.”

“What’s the night in question?” I ask with my mind still whirling.

“We’ll discuss that at the station. Are you going to come by choice or not?”

“Go, Pooh. I’ll call the club’s attorney and get her ass down there. Until then, say not one fucking word. Got me?” Gunner growls out.

“Yeah, I’ll go with you,” I tell the detective.

-*- -*- -*- -*-

I’m sitting in an interrogation room with Detective Northrup while waiting for my attorney to show. He’s offered me coffee, water and pop but I know enough to know that’s just his way of obtaining my DNA in case I refuse to give some or he doesn’t have enough evidence to obtain a search warrant for it. I also make a point to keep my hands in my lap and not on the table in front of me.

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