Second Chances Pt. 03

Richard again tried to close the door but Peta stopped him again and moved inside.

"You owe me an explanation." She extended one arm straight into the centre of Richard's chest with her palm flat pushing him backwards. "You have to tell me why you led me on." Again Peta pushed him back.

"Led you on?" Richard retorted, "fended you off more like."

"You fucking arsehole!" Peta shrieked as she launched herself at Richard.

He hadn't expected it to escalate like this. He swayed out of the way of Peta's first attempt to slap him but then found his retreated blocked by a saw horse. As he tried to manoeuvre around it Peta's other hand caught him flush across the face. Momentarily stunned it forced him to change his tactics of evasion and the next blow Peta swung at him he seized her wrist. She tried again with the other hand and he grabbed it as well, then swung her around and pinned Peta against the wall.

"Let me go!" Peta shrieked as she tried to bite his arms while lashing out with her feet.

"Calm down!" Richard ordered.

"Fuck you!" Peta spat, her fight diminishing but her defiance still burned strong. "You... you... you gave me the worst thing in the world. You gave me hope," she hissed as tears started to flow. "And then you took it all way."

As Richard looked at her crumble something inside him crumbled to. He lent in and kissed her hard on the lips.

"No... no stop," Peta's complaints were muffled as Richard's lips pressed against hers.

Richard pulled back and felt a satisfied smirk play across his face.

"Don't you dare." Peta hissed again.

Richard let her hands go. Peta stayed in the same position with her hands up either side of her head. She looked at the grinning man in front of her and she slapped him hard again.

"Don't fuck with me," she warned in a low whisper.

The hand that had slapped him returned to his face but this time as a caress. Peta pulled his face close again but this time she kissed him. It was tentative, almost furtive. Their lips parted yet their heads stayed close, noses almost touching. The only sound was their ragged breathing.Then the dam broke. Their mouths joined, tongues duelled, hands roamed. Just when it appeared to be completely out of control Peta broke away.

"Wait! Wait!" She said breathlessly. "Your daughter, Marci said she was here?"

"Marci took her ice skating." Richard replied then tried to kiss her again and fondle her breasts but she twisted away.

"Damn she's a piece of work." Peta muttered then she faced Richard again. "We know we can fuck, that's not the issue. We've got to find out if we can talk."

Richard slumped against the wall. His hard cock bulged in his pants.

"Okay," he replied as he pushed himself upright. "Better go into the lounge room. The kitchen is a mess."

He led the way. While it may have once been a lounge room, at the moment it only had a portable table with a small television and two plastic chairs.

"Got anything to drink?" Peta asked.

"Umm, no." Richard said apologetically. "After the court case when I got joint custody back I started doing the dry July thing. That became abstaining August and so far I've refrained in September. I can get you some water?"

"Ohhh, yeah okay." Peta said trying to hide her disappointment.

Richard returned with two tall glasses of water with a few ice cubes in them. He passed one to Peta then sat down.

"Where do you want to start?" He asked.

"Let's try the beginning."

"Well one day my mum met my dad and..."

"Funny one dickhead. Why is it so hard for men to just sit down and talk like an adult to a woman?" Peta's rebuke seemed to have the desired effect.

"Alright sorry." Richard dropped his head took a deep breath then started. "We'd been separated for six months and the D word was being openly discussed. We'd been sharing the kids. No formal arrangement, she had them more because of the hours I was working but I had them most weekends."

"Were you still on good terms with your wife?" Peta interjected.

"Not really. I was still feeling pretty raw about the betrayal. I felt blindsided. Seemed like everyone I knew were more in the loop than I'd been." Richard stopped and rubbed his forehead. "Looking back now I shouldn't have been surprised. I guess a lot of the relationships I grew up with... like my mum and dad, were volatile at times. They used to carry on but there was never any thought of splitting up. I thought what I had with my wife was the same."

"So when did all the police and court stuff happen?"

"I was going to pick up the kids on a Friday night. I'd been to the pub and had a few beers with my employees before I got there. When I pulled up there was a police car in the driveway. I didn't think much of it really. Just walked past it and went to the front door. I was just about to ring the doorbell when a voice called out behind me. There were two coppers, one I knew one I didn't. They introduced themselves said they wanted a chat. I had no idea what they wanted and didn't feel threatened so I said sure. Then they wanted me to come down to the station, just wanted to clear a few things up they said." Richard sighed, "I was naive, I'd done nothing wrong, it couldn't be that bad..."

"But it was." Peta finished off Richard sentence as he paused to drink some water.

"Yeah it was. Took me a long time to work that out though. I went with them in the police car. My darling wife had the kids on the front lawn as they drove me away. The one copper I knew did most of the talking, it was all very conversational. Asked if I had a laptop and I said I did at work. Asked if we could go get it, just to clear up a misunderstanding... yeah sure... bend me over and fuck me up the arse while you are at it." Richard added bitterly.

"So at the police station they started giving me a bit more information. They were still my best mates of course. Always referring to my 'bitch ex-wife'. Seen it all before, making accusations to get the upper hand in a divorce settlement, just tell us the truth and we will straighten it out for you."

"And the truth shall set you free." Peta added.

"Yeah complete bullshit. The truth will be twisted to make you seem as guilty as possible. I had no experience with the police I just followed along. Gave them my computer password, answered their questions. Ever let your daughter sleep in your bed? Ever watch porn on your laptop?"

"Well do you?"

"Oh come on," Richard blurted out. "I'm a man. Ninety nine percent of men who can turn on a computer have watched porn on it."

"You pled guilty to possession of underage porn," Richard looked up surprised so Peta explained. "The police told me after. They came out to see if I'd make an official complaint."

"They bought my laptop into the interview room, played a short porn clip and asked if I'd downloaded it. I really didn't know, I didn't think I'd downloaded anything, just streamed stuff. Maybe you pressed the wrong button you know, innocent mistake, they said. It was eighties porn which I guess is my go to stuff. Big hair, terrible make-up, but real women. Real boobs that bounce and sag, they don't look like they've got two rockmelons stuck to their chest. Hell, some of them even still have pubic hair." Richard chuckled at his little joke but soon realised his intimate knowledge of pornography wasn't winning him any credits with Peta.

"So, anyway, um... it turned out the clip they'd shown me, that I didn't deny downloading, was of a young Tracy Lords. She was big in porn for about five years then quit to go mainstream. Trouble was afterwards when she enrolled in acting classes at college and she listed her age as twenty one. Big scandal, in her first porn films she was only fifteen. They were immediately banned but that was in the days when you had to buy a video. Now with the internet all that stuff is out there again."

Peta looked at him for a long time in the silence that followed. Searching for a hint that this was a fabrication. Then she spoke again.

"Okay, So that's the child porn bit. What about molesting your daughter?"

Richard sighed and rubbed his hand over the short stubble on his head.

"More innocent this time. Julia was afraid of thunder storms. From the time she could walk if there was a storm at night she would come and get into our bed. You know, my wife and I..." Peta nodded. "So that's what had happened the weekend before. All perfectly innocent except now I'd admitted to having underage material on my computer. That's when things started to heavy. They asked if I slept in pyjamas which I don't. Could Julia have seen me with an erection? I was told they'd received a report from a school counsellor about Julia. Did Julia have access to your computer? Did you show her the porn? Could she have found it? Shit like that, I freaked, wanted to talk to a lawyer. They said it made me look guilty, what was I hiding? I'd been there for about four hours by this stage answering questions."

"So you cracked?"

"Yeah I suppose I did. They left me for about an hour in the interview room. Just me and a uniform officer to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. When they came back they had an offer. All very chummy again.

'We understand, innocent mistake, could happen to anyone...'

'... just sign this record of interview, admit to possession of restricted material, allowing access to a minor... '

'... probably just get community service, no criminal conviction...'

'...save a messy trial and Julia having to make a formal statement.'

So I folded. Signed at the bottom, was processed and back out on the street. Court date in four weeks. Thought my life would just continue on, a little bump in the road."

"But it didn't," Peta reached across and placed a hand on Richard's leg.

"No, not at all. In fact my life pretty much ended. The next day my ex-wife got a court order preventing me from being with the children without supervision from the Department of Community Services. The local paper picked up my arrest from the police reports and ran it on the front page on Monday. A thirty eight year old local man arrested on child pornography charges. Then to top it off a presenter on the local radio station, with dreams of being a big city shock jock, jumped on top, ranting for a week about a pedophile on bail roaming the community in search of more victims."

"But they couldn't use your name could they?"

"Didn't need to. My ex saw to that. Some people stuck by me, at least till the court appearance."

"So why did you plead no contest?"

Richard stood up and walked towards the window. He continued talking while looking out with his back facing Peta.

"The deal. You know, misdemeanours, community service. I took the police at their word and they fucked me. I didn't help myself by using my family solicitor who'd only seen the inside of a court room for drink driving offences. He thought like me it would be five minutes in and out. Real story gets out and we move on."

"Isn't that stuff signed, sealed so it has to be delivered."

"Only on television. My statement in the hands of a politically ambitious prosecutor and a judge scared of a media backlash meant the charges were upgraded. Ended up being sentenced to three years in prison. Half of that was suspended because of my cooperation. My lawyer objected the whole way through to no avail." Richard fist clenched as he remembered standing in the court hearing the judgment. "The only 'favour' I got that day was the judge granted me continuing bail pending our appeal."

"So that's when you threw your swag over your shoulder and became a nomad?"

Richard turned back and began pacing back and forth across the room.

"Not straight away. Tried to keep going with the concrete stuff but our business dropped by ninety percent within a week. The guy who's house I'd been renting suddenly decided it required renovations, I was given two weeks notice to vacate. So I 'sold' the concrete business to a shelf company. The two guys that worked for me bought fifteen percent each I kept the rest so it reopened with 'new owners' and I took off."

"Do you still own it?"

"No, you are sitting in it now. When I bought this place I sold the rest. My first plan was to go away for a while then drift back when things had calmed down. I soon learnt that wasn't ever going to happen."

"So what changed at the appeal?"

"Firstly, after I left here I changed my legal representation. Went to a new solicitor and we immediately briefed a barrister. He had a big reputation and he charged like a wounded bull but as soon as he took it on we got a court date. Then the prosecutor wanted to deal. Whoever said everybody is equal in the eyes of the law is full of shit. If you're willing to spend more money you get a better hearing."

"What did they offer?"

"Same deal as the first time. My name would be taken off the sex offenders register. No jail time, just some community service. We told them to shove it up their arses. It was the same as before, nothing in writing just trust us. Anyway, my name was mud, nothing short of public exoneration would do."

"So you went to court to clear your name. How did your ex-wife and ex-mate get into trouble."

"You're jumping ahead. The court date came and I was psyched up for a showdown but it was a very slow day. We weren't first case up and some of the earlier stuff dragged on and on. Just before the appeal court adjourned for the day my barrister got his chance. He ripped into the police case for half an hour before they stopped him. Court was adjourned and we were carried over to be continued first off next morning."

"The ex..." Peta butted in.

"Wait for it. We had a meeting after the adjournment. Barrister thought it was going well. I did too until I got back to the little flat I was renting and found the police waiting for me. They had a search warrant. They turned the place upside down and confiscated my mobile phone and computer. I was taken to the police station but I'd learnt my lesson and I didn't utter a word except to request legal counsel."

"Isn't that a right?"

"You've been watching too many American cop shows. No bill of rights here. Depending on the offence you can be held for between one and seven days before they have to put you before a judge. I was lucky in a way that they thought they had such an open and shut case. They bought my laptop into the room and asked if it was mine. I didn't reply. They opened it and turned on a very distressing video of a young Asian girl being molested by a middle aged man. Asked if I had downloaded it and again I didn't reply. Then they charged me and I finally got to see my solicitor."

Richard stopped his relentless walking and sat down again.

"When my solicitor turned up he invited the cops back in and said I wanted to tell them something but that I wanted access to a mobile phone. They were reticent at first but must have thought they were about to crack a major child porn network so they relented. I wasn't allowed to have the

phone but I gave solicitor a web address and he bought up the site. I gave him a password and the cops all gathered around peering at it with excitement. They were pissed when it turned out to be a live feed of one of three cameras I had placed in my flat so all they could see was there forensic team pulling the place apart."

"Bit paranoid aren't you?" Peta asked.

"When you've been bashed, had your stuff trashed, spray painted and burnt you get paranoid."

Peta looked down remembering the flames dancing around his old caravan.

"All the camera feeds are recorded and saved to the cloud for seven days. I was sure that video wasn't on my laptop the day before so I told the solicitor to access the saved data. He went to eight thirty that morning and they saw me leaving. Hitting fast forward they saw my ex-wife's new man enter though a window at one hour later."

"Holy shit! Sure sounds like TV." Peta said with a grin. "Haven't you heard of passwords?"

"Part of my bail conditions, my electronic devices have to be accessible to law enforcement at all times."

"Bullshit."

"At first they weren't going to let me have a mobile phone. How was I supposed to run a business?"

"So that was it? Game, set, match?"

"Not quite. Still had to front court the next day. Our matter was held over while police questioned the guy. Apparently he denied it at first. When confronted with the surveillance tapes he changed his tune and blamed my ex. They hauled her in and she denied it. To one up her accomplice she implicated him in planting the first clip on my computer. So at the end of the day the prosecutor withdrew all charges and apologised."

Peta got off her chair and knelt on the floor in front of Richard. She took his hands in hers and clenched them tight.

"Why didn't you tell me this in the first place?" She looked intently at his face. "Why didn't you trust me?"

Richard's reaction wasn't what she expected. The softness disappeared as anger flared.

"What was I supposed to do? Walk up to you and say hi I'm Richard, I'm a convicted sex offender? There was no happy ending back then."

"I would have understood..."

"Bullshit!" Richard cut her off. "Did you try to understand at the hospital? Did you give me a chance to counter whatever that dickhead policeman said?"

"That's not fair!" Peta was on her feet.

"Fair? Fair? What the fuck is fair in this world? Even after I was exonerated people I'd known all my life still crossed the street rather than walk past me in my own home town. This thing is going to be a millstone around my neck for the rest of my life. No matter where I go somebody will do an internet search or the local constabulary will whisper in someone's ear and I'll come home to find my tyres slashed or my dog poisoned."

"Bundy?"

"Yeah, came home to find him having fits and vomiting. Someone had lobbed fox-off baits around his kennel. I took him to the vet but there's nothing they can do for 1080 poisoning." Richard's sudden anger had evaporated. He stood up and walked towards the door. "It would probably be best if you got going."

"Is Marci due back?" Peta asked.

"No it's not that," Richard said slowly. "There's not much point starting something again, I'm leaving as soon as I get the house's repair and sale organised."

"Who said I'm staying?"

Richard snorted, "Where would you go? You've got the farm, you've got a job." Richard pointed to the IGA logo on her shirt. "The boys are in school, you're not going anywhere."

"What would you know?" Peta sneered, her anger flaring. "The farms leased..."

"I know Marci told me but you don't have to sell it this time." Richard shot back.

"It doesn't say I have to sell but I'm not going to have much choice. In five years time it will be one big block of crop and I haven't got the machinery or the expertise to look after it." Peta said bitterly as she walked towards Richard still standing close to the door. "And I lost my job this morning sticking up for you." She poked her finger into the middle of his chest. "Fat lot of good that was. You're an arsehole just like the rest of the males in the world."

Pushing past him Peta made for the front door.

"So is that why you reeked of rum when I opened the door?" Richard asked as she stomped away.

Peta spun around her eyes blazing.

"I could smell it on you when I opened the door." Richard explained. "Starting on the hard stuff pretty early aren't we?"

"Fuck you... you... You sanctimonious arsehole!" Peta screamed.

Spinning back to the front door Peta reefed it open then slammed it shut behind her. The ancient glass in the window above the door rattled dislodging some of the ancient putty holding it in place. As Richard watched the pane tumbled out of its frame and smashed on the hallway floor.