Talking with Luke

As they finished up, Sarah surprised Aaron with a tub of ice cream and two small spoons.

"I'm surprised you're not going saying something about me needing to keep my figure."

"You've had a long day. Why don't we relax on the couch and watch something mindless."

Aaron smiled. Seemed a bit cheesy, but he could do with taking the break.

Soon they were sprawled out on the newly arranged couch, taking turns in taking a spoonful from the tub, while some 90s office sitcom played out.

It was a nice angle to view the TV at. In fact Aaron had to admit, Luke and his police crew had done a great job in unpacking and arranging things. Something that he'd been dreading summoning the energy to do was now done without him barely having to lift a finger. Looking around there was no sign that they were "camping" here, the house actually looked like a home. Normally that would be a good thing, but was mildly unsettling to Aaron right now as he was reminded how every person who helped set it up believed that this was the home of a mother and daughter, and they were all cops to boot. It was a home alright, but for "Aaron" or "Erin"?

"Great to have things unpacked isn't it?" said Sarah, noticing her "Mom" looking around the living room at where all the various items had been arranged. Among the items were family and wedding photos, though none too recent.

"They seemed okay to you, the officers I mean? Don't think they snooped around our stuff?"

"I don't know, I saw them as much as you did except when you went upstairs. I really only talked with Luke, though I did see the officer that arrested me the other night."

"WHAT?"

"He he didn't do anything, just helped unpack everything."

"Right... Of course... Have you heard much about what's going to happen next?"

Sarah shrugged, "Luke didn't say anything. I don't need to turn up at court or anything do I?"

"I..." Luke sighed and brought his hand to his made up face, "I don't know... Great, another thing to talk to Luke about...."

"If you want to do it now, his phone number is right here!"

"What?"

Sarah got up briefly to take a paper pad from a the hall table, and returned it to Aaron. Written on it in ballpoint was "Luke Cosgrave - Police Sargent. In case you need anything" and a phone number below it. Aaron didn't even need to ask, of course he'd left his phone number.

Aaron wasn't sure that he wanted to deal with this now, but so many things were building up, he couldn't just keep running form them. And of course this involved Sarah. A lot of stuff was distracting him, but his daughter was facing actual legal charges and it had completely slipped his mind. What sort of Mother... dammit, FATHER!... would let that happen?

With a sigh, Aaron stood from the couch and picked up the phone. He muted the TV as the sitcom outro was playing, and read out the number from the pad while dialing it into the phone.

After a few rings "Hello?"

"Hello, um, Luke?"

"Yes?"

"It's... Erin."

"Oh Erin, I'm sorry, I didn't have your number in your phone. I'll make sure to add it." Aaron winced, something he didn't need to add to the situation, but no way to take it back.

"Sorry for calling you so late..."

"Oh, no problem call me anytime! Everything okay with the house. Hope everything is in a good position. Some good officers helpe dout"

Aaron winced again. He suddenly realised he was expected to thank the man for all the moving help. Despite the fact they'd also helped throw away all his regular clothes and left him with... he looked down at his gown and felt the panties and bra underneath... THIS. But he obviously had to pretend that even that was them doing him a favour.

"Oh yes," he said through gritted teeth, "your moving was magical." He gave a glance around the room and found genuine inspiration. "I mean, I wasn't sure Sarah and I were ever going to get everything unpacked, but you've managed it so well... it's really a load off my chest to see everything arranged so well. It's like we've been living here forever."

"Well I hope you stay forever too!"

Aaron tensed at the thought and ploughed on. "Well we'll see.... Speaking of my daughter... I don't if I'm allowed to ask about this but I have to be sure... how is she legally?"

Luke seemed surprised. "Legally? Well.. she was arrested for stalking and possessing stolen goods, and then released."

"But she didn't do that."

"Hence, she was released."

"So what's next?"

"Next? Ohhhh, I understand. You don't need to worry. She hasn't been charged."

"Charged? Doesn't that need to happen within 24 hours of the arrest?"

"What? No that's..." suddenly Luke burst out laughing which he quickly tried to restrain, "Look, you're clearly not experienced with this, so leave the legal thinking to me. Basically your daughter was arrested because we thought she did something bad. Then we discovered that it wasn't as clear as that and let her go."

"So no charging her with any crimes? No court?"

"There's... a possibility of that but honestly unlikely from what I understand. I wasn't directly involved in the case but I looked through it to make sure you were safe. Short version is that it doesn't seem serious or clear cut enough to make prosecution worth it. The general impression is between her short stint in the cell and her Mom knowing what she was up to, there's no real need to punish her further."

"But what about the bail?"

"Bail? Bail is only to ensure that the person appears in court after they've been charged."

"But Ted said there was bail. $1000 dollars!"

"WHAT? That snake! There was no bail! You didn't give him any money did you?"

"No, he said he paid it all himself."

"Urgh! Such an obvious trick, make a **** woman think she has to pay a huge amount of money, and swoop in and save the day by pretending to pay it. Suddenly the woman feels indebted and that she has to 'pay him back'."

Aaron felt horrified, how did he not see it? That's exactly the sort of thing Ted would do. "How could I..."

"Don't blame yourself, you were worried about your daughter. Snakes like this swoop in when you're not expecting it."

"I just..." Aaron shook his head.

"Look, you're here in a new place, trying to get to know everybody and trying to see who's safe and who isn't. Why don't we meet up tomorrow, something casual? I can show you around and talk about the sort of people here."

What was this? Once again Aaron felt he was losing control of the situation. "I... I mean..." Dammit his head was fuzzy. "The wallet, the wallet my daughter was arrested with. It's obviously not stolen. What happened to it?” Aaron asked, thinking a subject change would help him regain control, and with the cards back he might finally be able to end this charade..

"Oh, that? It’s been turned over to the Property clerk. He will contact the owner, and they’ll have 120 days to come get it, or it’ll be destroyed.”

“Destroyed?” Aaron asked nervously.

“Yeah. Can’t hold onto things people lose or have stolen forever.”

“And what if the man the wallet belongs to is busy? Or on a trip or something?” Aaron asked, trying to figure out how he can get his wallet back.

“It’s simple. All they need to do is get a letter notarized that says, ‘This is my item. This person is allowed to pick it up for me.’ With that letter, the designated person shows up, tells the clerk the right invoice number, shows their ID so the clerk can see that it matches the name on the notarized letter, and it’s theirs. It’s simple.”

"Yeah... simple, “Aaron said as suddenly getting his wallet back had gotten a lot more complicated.

“Why are you so worried about that wallet?” Luke asked.

Aaron didn't like how that sounded, but wanted to wrap it up. "Oh, just curious how the police handled things like that,” he said with a nervous laugh.

Luke chuckled. “Okay, so... I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 1pm?"

"I... I mean...” Aaron started to say, starting to come up with an excuse not to spend the day with Luke.

“1 pm it is,” Luke said. “See ya then!”

Aaron hung up. That hadn't exactly gone as well as he hoped.

Still, looking at Sarah who was still on the couch, he had to admit that the most important thing had been dealt with.

"So I'm home free?"

"Free as a bird."

"And you're meeting Luke tomorrow?"

"Yeah. He wants to show me around town.”

"And your wallet?” Sarah asked hopefully.

“It’s been impounded. Either I as your dad show up, with ID that I don’t have because it’s in the wallet.... or I get a notarized letter allowing me, as your mother, to get it. But again, getting something notarized here requires an ID as your Dad....”

“...which is in your wallet that the police have,” Sarah finished for him.

“And if it’s not picked up in 120 days, they destroy it,” Aaron said.

“Well, then, we have a few months to get some money, buy you some clothes, butch you up, get a new ID, and go claim it,” Sarah said, as if that was as easy as turning on a light.

“That’s a lot to get done,” Aaron said.

“We can do this!” Sarah said, inwardly feeling awful that she had inadvertently gotten her father stuck as her mother. She changed the subject. “So what’s the plan for tomorrow?”

"I don't know. We’re low on cash, and have no credit cards. I really needed to start that stupid receptionist job two weeks ago for all of this.” Aaron sighed. It seemed like he was sinking in satin and lace quicksand. The harder he tried to get out of playing the part of a woman, the deeper stuck he got.

Sarah nodded. However if her "Mother" planed to spend the day with Luke, "she"'d need the right outfit.