Hungover and completely out of my element I thought, ‘did I black out and rob Danny’?

 Hell no!   I’m not a thief or burglar.   All kinds of crazy and paranoid thoughts come into your mind when you get hauled off like this. On the drive to the police station I hear one officer call the detective, ‘Jerry’. When Jerry responded I instantly heard his accent. He’s from Manhattan, NY. We’re New Yorkers so we have something in common even though I’m in cuffs and scared out of my wits that I’m being framed for a crime I knew nothing about.

 I start getting really irritated and ask, “What am I being charged with and why am I in cuffs?”

 Jerry responds with a sneer and that Manhattan accent, “Nothin’ yet Richerd. We’re conducting an investigation and you’re a person of interest. Exactly what your boss told you Richerd. Do you have anything you want to tell us?”

 What happened to my Miranda rights? They don’t do that here in Florida? I respond in a contentious tone of innocence and frustration as these damn cuffs were starting to hurt.

 ”You’re not under arrest. Yet!” he exclaims and continues his good cop, bad cop routine with a barrage of questions. ‘How well do you know Danny?’  ’Where were you at three a.m. this morning?’ ‘Do you have a set of keys to Danny’s apartment?’

 I reply in a surly tongue, “I’m going to exercise my rights to say nothing to you.”

 ”Listen Richard.” With a nicer tone, ”I’m from ‘New Yauk’ and you’re from ’New Yauk’, so let’s not start off on the wrong foot here. Okay?” Again with that good cop bad cop routine. Unfortunately I’d been through the drill before.

 It was a short ride and I started getting more nervous as they took me out of the cruiser and lead me into the station house. When they walked me through this vestibule I could see Bryan in the other room but with no cuffs on. He looked even more pissed limping around with his ankle injury and gives me an eye of What’s up?

 Jerry chimes in again as he releases the hand cuffs from my reddened wrists, “We would like you to co-operate with us Richerd and get your fingerprints. If they don’t match up you’ll be immediately released with your buddy Bryan. If you want, you can talk to him now.”

 I walk over to the room Bryan was in and noticed his fingers were still wet with ink and ask, “Bryan, what the hell is going on here?”

 ”I don’t know a damn thing. Danny’s apartment was broke into. That’s all I know. Just go with the program. Their not going to frame us man. They don’t do that for small time shit like this here. I’ll tell you one thing though, Danny is a real son of a bitch for giving our names out. Just because we live above him, we are suspects? What about the other seventy tenants in the complex?” He states with a pissy growl.

 ”I hear that.” I said.  Jerry calls me back in and brings me to the fingerprinting table. He had a pretty firm grip on my hands to make me feel more nervous or superior but Bryan’s affirmation to move forward gave me the impression we would be out of there momentarily. I really didn’t have any choice in the matter. These guys meant business.

 After giving me the directions to the wash room where Bryan was stewing, Jerry took my prints into a conference room where he and two other officers examined the prints. Within fifteen minutes we were both told we could go. If we heard anything to give Jerry a call as the dispatcher passed us both business cards to the station house we were in. Bryan stammered out the doors in the sweltering heat. I looked at the dispatcher and asked, “Will you give us a ride back at least?”

 ”No drive backs! Police policy!” He exclaimed with a shiny grin of content and power.

 I exited just as pist as Bryan and just couldn’t believe the level of injustice and arrogance by these cops.

 Bryan barks, “What, do you want a badge for innocence? This is South Florida Bud. They’ll kick your ass if you get to lippy with them. New York is a far cry from Broward County so you better get used to showing more respect or say nothing at all. That weasel Danny gave them our names. He’s your target for an ear ringer and mine for a swift kick in the nuts!”

 Bryan luckily caught a bus headed back South to the complex as I walked back at a brisk pace getting more pissed with each stride back to the restaurant. It was HOT!

 The whole situation put me in such an ugly mood. I wanted to rip Danny’s Lungs out and I had a plan on arrival.

 I stomped back into the restaurant soaked from head to toe in sweat and fury. Steadfast I headed for the soda fountain and sucked down two cold root beers in seconds. The waitresses walked on eggshells around me as Mike headed in my direction and with a sorrowful tone asks, “What happened?”

 I bark back, “You friggin’ tell me what happened!” “Where’s Danny? I want to give him something too!”

 ”Calm down Rich.”

 Before he could say another word I demanded, “Give me twenty bucks right now for general friggin’ purpose.” “C’mon, I’m not kidding! Right now!”  With my hand extended and his look of surprise eyes wide open, he reaches under his apron and flips out his bill fold and slips me a twenty spot while leading me into the back for a talk.

 ”Here’s the deal. Danny took the morning cash to open with and in the wee hours of the morning someone slipped into his apartment and snagged the cash in his trousers hanging on the bed post. They then slipped away into the night and mistakenly we thought you or Bryan may have some knowledge regarding this crime. We were obviously wrong and let’s move on. We now no it was not you or Bryan.” Mike explains with some resolution in our hearts.

 ”Does that mean you are sorry?” I ask

 ”Yes. We are all sorry and Danny is just a little freaked out.” Mike says with real concern.

 Being this the situation I began to worry myself now about burglars. It was quite remarkable considering Danny slept with a loaded twelve gauge shotgun. He was paranoid but did get robbed. What does that tell you about Danny?

 Maybe Danny knew this burglar and the burglar cased his patterns? Maybe Danny had a few enemies? Maybe Danny knew all along who did this and diverted the attention away from this thief!

 The next day I return to work and Danny approaches me with genuine sincerity, “Rich, I apologize for mentioning your name to the cops. Are we all square?”

 ”Yah, we’re square Danny. One question though, Did they catch the guy?”