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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Skitters woke from a long nap on top of the DVD player.\u00a0 He was still a little groggy.\u00a0 He ambled through his apartment sniffing at the corners as if they could shed some new light on the roadblocks in his mind, his ongoing struggle with the Mooney case.<\/p>\n
Doubt began to creep into his mind again, doubts about whether he still had it, the quick access to logic and emotion needed to grill a witness, to catch them in perjury and dismiss them at will.\u00a0 He\u2019d need everything he had and a little more to tear down the \u201cexperts\u201d that weasel Cliff Hingle would throw at them.<\/p>\n
Skitters poured himself a finger of whiskey in his bowl and lapped at it before returning to his notes.\u00a0 Jury selection was in three days.\u00a0 Hopefully they\u2019d be able to keep it from getting too stacked up on the longhair side.\u00a0 He hated to think it, but they always sympathized with their own.<\/p>\n
Just then the phone rang.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello?\u201d he mewed inquisitively.<\/p>\n
\u201cSkitters, it\u2019s Rachel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skitters groaned inwardly and refilled his bowl.\u00a0 Late night calls from his ex-wife never went well.\u00a0 She was probably well into her second bottle of Riesling by now.<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel, it\u2019s late.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSkitters, I\u2014I\u2026\u201d she broke down sobbing.\u00a0 Skitters grew concerned.\u00a0 His hackles began to rise and the fur on his tail started to puff.<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel, talk to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSkitters\u2026they took Robbie!\u00a0 They took him!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRobbie?! What are you talking about?\u00a0 Who took him!?!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know\u2026I don\u2019t know!\u00a0 But someone called and asked for your phone number and\u2026and\u2026they had one of those voice things!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA voice modulator?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes! Yes!\u00a0 They wouldn\u2019t answer my questions!\u00a0 They just hung up!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long has Robbie been missing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know\u2026two, three hours?\u201d<\/p>\n
Skitters seethed.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I suppose that glorified security guard boyfriend of yours\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou leave Scott out of this!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere was he when all this happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least Scott comes home once in a while!\u00a0 At least Scott knows a family needs more than a wave hello and goodbye and a check in the mail!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel, you\u2019re getting hysterical!\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel wailed and hung up.<\/p>\n
Skitters stared into the darkness for a moment, his tail wrapped around him, thinking.\u00a0 The phone rang again loudly.\u00a0 He bolted from the room in fear then returned a moment later to answer it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDistrict Attorney Skitters?\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice was dry, his tongue scratchy and parched.\u00a0 \u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have your son.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sick son of a bitch.\u00a0 If you so much as\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour son will be fine so long as you do what we say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind of twisted moral quandary are you about to lay on me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll in good time, Skitters.\u00a0 All in good time.\u00a0 We just need you to use your influence to turn the tide in one little case.\u00a0 One tiny, inconsequential case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skitters held his breath.\u00a0 \u201cWhich?\u201d<\/p>\n
The voice on the other end held a wicked laughter behind its words.\u00a0 \u201cYou only have one decision to make, Skitters.\u00a0 What is more important?\u00a0 Your son\u2019s life or the Mooney case?\u201d<\/p>\n
The clock in the hall struck twelve midnight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[68,77],"class_list":["post-650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","tag-cassander","tag-skitters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":688,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions\/688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}