By Robmacz

‘Well,’ Billy said, ‘it all started soon after I became a cop. I was on patrol one evening and I pulled this guy over. It was a standard DUI, the guy was just slightly over the limit. As I started to read him his rights he started to plead with me not to take him in, that he needed his car to see his daughter who was sick in the hospital and his ex-wife didn’t want him there. It was a real sob story, but I felt sorry for the guy. Then he offered me $200. I don’t know what came over me, but I was overdrawn at the bank and I had to pay off a loan that my brother took out with a loan shark. I was finding it hard just to make ends meet. I took the money and told him to be on his way. It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

‘A few days later I get some mail, which contained a photo of me accepting the cash.  It told me I should be parked on the corner of a street someplace, I can’t quite remember where. Anyway a minute or so after I arrived this guy got in my car. He told me that if I didn’t want that photo to see the light of day, I was to provide certain information when requested. That it wouldn’t be regular, but every now and then. I agreed.  What else could I do?

‘So, after that, every now and then I got a request to give details on police activity, procedure, and so on. It was all inconsequential stuff, things they could have found out themselves if they’d bothered to look in the right places. Then one day I was asked to find out about surveillance on one of Carter’s clubs. They were right, it was under surveillance by vice. I fed that back and they made sure the activity moved elsewhere.  Once I was asked to ensure that some evidence went missing. I managed to do that too without being suspected.

‘Then every month I would get $1,000 put through my mail box in cash. At first I just stashed it in a locked cupboard, but then I thought what use is it there?  So I started to use it. New car, nice clothes, good restaurants. Nothing too heavy. I told guys at work I got an inheritance.

‘So that’s about it. I fucked up real bad and I know I’m not going to escape this.  Paul, I’m really sorry. We were good together and we could have made a go of it, but you need to move on now. Forget about me.’

I didn’t know what to say. Billy had been a real jerk. But I was so horny for him right then. He looked so hot in his suit and I just wanted to take him to bed. I seemed to have sex on the brain all the time.

‘Well, I’m not going anywhere right now,’ I said. ‘Let’s see how this plays out. Mike, what are the chances of making a deal with the DA?’

‘Virtually none, I’m afraid. This is a big case for him and he won’t want to do anything that means he doesn’t get a conviction for corruption. If you plead guilty he might be willing to go for a reduced sentence.  He’d rather the case was resolved before he officially launches his campaign.’

‘What’s the likely sentence if I’m found guilty?’ Billy asked.

‘I would say at least twenty years is likely. The DA may accept a reduced sentence in exchange for a plea. The thing is, we don’t really have much of a defense. The DA has the photograph of you accepting a bribe. They’ve been going through your bank statements and credit card bills, and you spend far more than you earn. Your income is unaccounted for. Look, I’m gonna leave you guys to it and get back to the office.  I’ll order an Uber. We’ll pick this up again tomorrow.’

I showed Mike out and thanked him for all he had done. He gave me a hug.

‘Anytime, Paul. You take care now.’

I went back into the living room to see Billy on the sofa. ‘I’m sorry, Paul, you got yourself hooked up with a bent cop.’

‘Yeah, but a hot bent cop, my hot bent cop.’

He grinned.

‘You know, I can’t decide whether you look hotter in that suit or your orange jail uniform. Probably the latter, since you were all cuffed up.’

‘I have to say that was kinda horny. I’ve been cuffed before but only in training.  Never had to wear legcuffs and a belly chain before.’ I could see by the twitching in his trousers that he was getting aroused. ‘Maybe you should see what I look like chained up and wearing this suit,’ he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Billy had left some cuffs and chains at my place since he usually liked cuffing me up, but this was the first time I had even considered cuffing him. I fetched them from my bedroom, and when I returned I found him standing in the middle of the room with his hands behind his back. I snapped the cuffs on his wrists, hearing them click into place. Then I grabbed the legcuffs and locked them around his socked ankles.

‘Fuck you do look hot,’ I said as I turned him around and kissed him, my hand feeling his hard cook, which was leaking through his trousers. Then I took his arm and led him to the bedroom.

Over the next week Bill and Mike spent hours going over the case and looking at where to challenge the evidence presented by the DA. But the case was overwhelming. Even the guy Carter initially used to set Billy up all those years ago was prepared to be a witness for the prosecution in return for no charges being brought against him. They decided that the best course of action was to seek a deal whereby Billy would plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Mike went to meet with the DA. The only thing he had to play with was timing. If there was a deal this would all be over in a few weeks; if it went to trial then it would run into election year and Mike promised to play dirty. The DA also knew that Mike was one of the best lawyers in this part of the state and that the last thing he wanted was his election campaign getting side tracked by complications in a police corruption case. Much better to just have a guilty plea. Mike pushed for a sentence of 10 years, but the DA wouldn’t move from 15.  So Mike brought the deal home for Billy to decide.

‘If I take the plea, how long till I go to jail?’ Billy asked.

‘Probably only a matter of weeks,’ Mike replied.  ‘I also agreed with the DA that you would be in the segregation wing, not with the general population. You being a cop would not go down well in there.’

‘And if he goes to trial and gets found guilty it will be 20 years?’ I asked.

‘At least.  It depends on the judge and also on public opinion. This will be a headline case and if it shocks the public then they might send you down for longer. All in all, 15 is not a bad deal.’

‘Set it up then, Mike,’ Billy said.

Three weeks later, Mike, Billy, and I walked up the steps of the courthouse. The press was there again, trying to thrust a microphone in Billy’s face and shouting questions at him.

‘We have no comment at this time,’ Mike shouted back.

As we entered the building the noise abated and Billy and I stood there not knowing what to do.

‘You guys take a seat.  We’re early.  I’ll be back in a few minutes.’

We sat down. Billy was wearing the same charcoal grey suit he wore before with his black loafers. I had bought him a dark blue tie to go with his crisp white shirt. This time I had made him wear a pair of briefs, since I didn’t want his trousers to tent when they cuffed him. He hadn’t thought of that but agreed when I pointed it out.

‘Now listen Paul,’ he said. ‘I want you to do a few things for me. I’ve boxed most of my stuff up in my apartment. But can you take it to a storage place and then let Mike have the details? He is going to rent the place out while I’m behind bars.’

‘Of course,’ I said.

‘And the second thing is that once you’ve done that I want you to forget about me. I’ve said that before, and I mean it. There is no future in this relationship. Find another guy and make a life for yourself.’

I didn’t know what to do. No one had made me feel as good as Billy had, but could I seriously wait 15 years for him?

‘We’ll see,’ I said. Billy was just about to respond when Mike appeared. ‘We’d better go,’ he said.

We followed Mike to the courtroom, and as we entered we saw it was full. Journalists and members of the public had come to see this cop get sent up. Billy turned to give me a hug. ‘I’ll see ya around,’ I said, and he went with Mike to take their seats at the front of the court. The bailiff called for us to rise, and the judge walked in and called the court to order.

Mike stood up and said that the defendant would change his plea to guilty, and then there was a lot of legal talk that I wasn’t really paying attention to. My eyes were looking at Billy. Then Billy was asked to stand and the judge read out his sentence: ‘William Patrick Cooper, I hereby sentence you to a period of not less than fifteen years and not more than the rest of your natural life in the custody of the Department of Corrections.  You will be remanded to the county jail pending transportation to a correctional facility. Bailiff, take the prisoner into custody.’ The bailiff was already on his way towards Billy and taking his cuffs from his belt. He snapped them around Billy’s wrists and he was escorted out of the courtroom. Mike came to join me. ‘Fancy a drink?’ he said.

‘Yeah. I do.’

To be continued…