Matt is discouraged

The lawyer dropped Matt off at his apartment. The door was wide open, the lock broken even though he'd opened the door for the cops. He stepped inside... to a complete mess.

The cops had yanked computer equipment, cameras and lighting from the walls, leaving holes in the drywall. All of the bedding had vanished... presumably as evidence although evidence of what, Matt couldn't imagine. And nobody was home.

Which shouldn't have been that big a surprise... after all, it was a school day. His sister was probably at school and his mom at work. But still. Couldn't someone have arranged to meet him, at least? Surely if she was going to pay for a lawyer, Mrs. Phuan could have given his mom half a day off.

He made a few attempts to clean up some of the wreckage but his heart wasn't in it. The streaming service was their only hope for staying on the Hill, unless they broke down and decided to rely on Mrs. Phuan's charity. Which Matt wasn't in a hurry to do. He already owed that family so much. Besides, there was Mr. Phuan to be concerned with. Sure, he'd pretty much abandoned his American family for the hot girls of Viet Nam, but that didn't mean he wouldn't object to some teenage boy moving in with his wife.

Matt rounded up a broom and was sweeping around hunks of drywall when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He whirled around, the broom in front of him before he realized how crazy that was. If the cops had come back, threatening them with a weapon... even an improvised one like a broom, was likely to get him shot.

Only it wasn't the cops.

Mr. Adams backed away from him, his hands up in the air. "Whoa, son."

"What are you doing here?"

"Looks like the cops made a real mess."

"Yeah."

"Back when I was getting started in the business, I had the same problem more than a few times. It's funny, cops don't seem to mind watching porn, and they sure as hell line up for the titty bars, but they get a kick out of spoiling the fun for the rest of us."

Did Mr. Adams expect to bond over a shared distrust of the police? "I can't say that I'm enamored of our local Sheriff deputies."

Mr. Adams looked around. "They took all the camera equipment I lent Tanya."

"Plus the computers, the microphones, the lights... even the damned sheets on the bed."

"Yeah, Tanya told me."

That was interesting. Apparently Tanya was back in touch with her father. Matt wondered whether that was a good thing... and decided it probably wasn't.

"Listen, let me buy you a cup of coffee. I have some things I want to discuss with you," Mr. Adams said.