The Blood of a Tarnished Badge: Tracks to Nowhere

V. Said the Spider to the Fly

There was one thing that Mikala was sure of in life and that was that both her Uncle J.B. and Curt hated Sheriff King, often warning her to stay away from him. For some reason, Curt's pleas became more adamant than usual, Mikala was older therefore she thought she was smarter than Curt, so she blew off his warnings choosing to ignore his advice.

When Mikala arrived at the ZipThru later that evening, the store looked vacant and dark with no one else around. After about 15 minutes of waiting, four of the Sheriff's Deputies, Chief Deputy Samuel Greene III, Lieutenant Derek Cooke, Sergeant Randy Hall and his son, Corporal Terrance Hall, drove up and parked their patrol vehicles in front of the store. They informed Mikala that Sheriff King would be along shortly, but she was curious to know what happened to her classmates because they were extremely late too. While I waited patiently for another 30 minutes for someone to finally show up, the deputies began hauling video equipment inside the store which seemed peculiar to Mikala. After some 45 minutes past their scheduled meeting time, the Sheriff finally made an appearance.

"Hey darling have you been waiting here long?" Sheriff King said with a smile on his face. "You know it's not safe out here for a young lady like you all by yourself. Why don't you come in the store for a little while and sit a spell?"

Mikala often showed her emotions on her face, but she didn't know whether he was serious or just pulling her leg, so she replied by giving him one of her "you're late" expressions as she glanced down at her watch. Sheriff King appeared to be in a good mood, so she saw his attitude as a great sign to gather the information they needed to complete their project, once her other team members arrived.

"I guess it's just me and you Sweetie, because your classmates called my office saying that they had family plans that were difficult to change. You know there are plenty of activities going on in town because of the Spring Festival this weekend and it would appear that their plans were more important than school work."

Mikala became furious because there was absolutely no way that she could carry their entire work load on her shoulders. She started to believe their project was doomed for failure, but since she had the Sheriff's attention, she thought she would proceed with questioning him about key factors. Not having her classmates there with her was not a smart move on her part, in fact, it was the worst mistake of her life.

How could Mikala, who had both common sense and street savvy, been so naive sticking around after she knew no one was coming just to get an inside scoop on their project. She especially started to feel alone in that store with all of those men, where she did not feel comfortable with her surroundings at all. She let her guard down and thought Sheriff King cared about her, her family and most of all, her education. Mikala thought she was invited to the Sheriff's store under the pretense that all of her classmates would be in attendance and he would answer whatever questions they had about their final project. Sheriff King kept evading her questions, saying that he was invited back to help out Sgt. Jackson with his class next school year. He wanted to give her a preview of what was to come. He told her it was an important part of what they would be working on called the "Principles of the Arresting Procedure". He said he wanted to demonstrate the handcuffing techniques on her, but she told him that she didn't know how the handcuffing technique worked. Mikala was already very apprehensive, so she asked Sheriff King what handcuffing techniques had to do with their project. He ignored her question and insisted that he demonstrate the technique on her. Mikala never realized until that point how widespread his deceit was and she thought he was genuine by demonstrating the handcuff technique on her for class purposes.

Mikala's mind was still racing and she questioned him several times about being the only one who showed up from their class. She wasn't buying his story about them having other plans. He simply laughed and surprised her by handcuffing her to the chair in the corner of his office where she was already sitting. He used not only one but, both sets of his handcuffs tightening the left one too tight. At first, he playfully taunted her by baiting her to try and escape from the handcuffs that were cutting into her bony wrist. Mikala didn't find this little stunt of the Sheriff's amusing at all and she lashed out by asking him if he thought she was Harry Houdini. She didn't like being restricted and Sheriff King sensed it. The whole situation was beginning to make her feel both very uncomfortable and uneasy. Sheriff King was notorious for his pranks and he was naturally a jokester. It was evident that Mikala was extremely ticked off, as he continued to toy with her. Mikala knew playtime was over when he did the unthinkable and slapped her. Sheriff King's facial expression changed and his paranoia began to surface. He interrogated her asking if she had an ulterior motive for her visit. Mikala never wanted to cause anyone bodily injury before, but she was quickly escalating to that point. She was mixed with emotions because she was confused, scared and angry. However, she only heard part of his questioning because she was still reeling from his slap.