Michelle didn't show up for the second night in a row at the Cheyenne Social Club. Sharon, the other waitress who worked with her, wondered what was wrong. Michelle had always been reliable; she would usually call whenever she was going to come late or be absent from work. She hadn't been absent for as long as Sharon could remember.
"What do you think happened, Mike?" Sharon asked the bartender. "How come Sharon hasn't called?"
"I don't know. Funny isn't it."
"I know. When I get a chance I'm going to give her a call."
Sharon was being kept very busy that night since she was the only waitress due to the fact Sharon hadn't shown up. Luckily, it was a Thursday night and so was not as bad as it would have been if it had been a Friday or a Saturday. The Cheyenne Social Club was a country and western music bar that mainly attracted people in their '20's. Many of them had known each other for years since they had attended the high school nearby. Finally, Sharon got the chance to call. She let the phone ring for a long time but there was no answer.
"I still can't understand what's wrong," Sharon said. "I hope it's nothing bad."
The next night Michelle still didn't show up for work. The other workers were also getting concerned. Another woman had to be brought in as a substitute for Michelle on this busy Friday night. When she had a chance, Sharon again dialed Michelle's phone, and this time Michelle answered.
"Hey, where you been"? Sharon asked. "We've missed you over here. We're really busy tonight. We had to get Dolly to come substitute for you."
"Oh?" Michelle sounded hesitant. "Sorry, I haven't been feeling too good."
"Really? What's wrong?"
"Oh, it's nothing."
"Nothing? It's not like you. You never stay that long from work. I was just telling Mike you never miss any days, and you always call in whenever you're going to be late or something. I figured it must be really something different." At that point Michelle started crying. "What's wrong? What's wrong, Michelle"?
"Oh . . . ." Michelle was having trouble getting the words out. Then she blurted, "I got raped."
"Raped?" exclaimed Sharon. Sharon couldn't believe what she'd heard, but she decided to wait to let Michelle continue the conversation. Michelle didn't say anything more but just kept sobbing. Finally, Sharon went ahead and asked, "Why didn't call me before? When did it happen?"
"Well, it was Tuesday night. Lawrence did it."
"Lawrence?"
"Yeah."
"Why that bastard." After a pause, Sharon asked, "When was it? After work?"
"Yeah. Remember I was the last one out? That you were all waiting for me because I had to clean those tables? I didn't get a chance . . . . I had that party that was there until late."
"Yeah, I remember."
"Well, I went out to my car and got in. Then Lawrence came up and started talking. Well, that didn't worry me. Of course, you guys went ahead and left. You didn't see anything."
"No, I didn't notice. I do remember now that I didn't see you leave at the same time as us, but I didn't think nothing of it."
"Well, we talked. Lawrence was outside the car at first and then asked me if he could get in because it was getting cold. So I said O.K. I mean, you know I've known him for years. I didn't . . . . I didn't worry. He's always has been a little strange, but I'd never been afraid of him. He was pretty drunk that night, and who knows what else he had taken, but he wasn't that out of it. He knew what he was doing."
"I'm sure he did." There was another moment of silence as Michelle tried to stop sobbing. Sharon asked, "Did he make you drive somewhere else?"
"No. He just did it right there."
"Oh, really? God, I wish I'd noticed. I'm sorry, Michelle."
"Oh, don't worry about it. My car, I had to park it in the back, in the shadows that night."
"Yeah, I remember now that it was back there that night."
"So nobody could see it from the street. So after a while he started grabbing me and trying to take my pants off. I told him to stop it, but he wouldn't. He took out a knife and told me if I did anything or tried to get out of the car, that I'd get it. It was terrible. I wouldn't want anyone to go through that."
"I can see how terrible you must feel. Hey, if it's O.K., I'll come over after work and we can talk a little more. O.K.?"
"That's fine. See you later."
Sharon immediately went to tell Mike and some of the other people sitting at the bar. They couldn't believe what they heard.
Mike blurted, "No wonder that guy hasn't come around here since."
"He better stay away from here, too," said Joe. "I can't believe that son of a bitch did that. He's no right doing that."
"Especially somebody like Sharon," added Mike.
"She's a good looking woman, but she never comes on to anyone," Joe said.
Word spread quickly that night through the bar. Most everyone knew Michelle. Even the few newcomers expressed outrage. It was discussed meticulously for the next several days as everyone who was a regular patron found out. The men were angry and said they would do something like break Lawrence's thumbs if they ever saw him.
"He's laying low," said Hank, "and it better just stay that way 'cause we're not going to forget it."
"He was coming just about every night," said Mike as he cleaned the counter in front of Hank who had just arrived.
Matt had just come over from shooting pool at a table nearby. "I'll keep an eye out for him. He lives down the street from me. I wonder if he's still in town."
"If he's smart, he left a long time ago," said Joe.
"Yeah, I don't want to see him around," said Jerry sitting two stools away. He had moved from Michigan only six months before to look for work but had quickly become accepted by the regular crowd. Joe had been working for the Southern Pacific Railroad for ten years. Hank was a mechanic who worked for a garage five blocks away. "I've known Lawrence since high school," Hank said, "and I can't say he was a bad guy. He was actually sort of quiet back then, didn't get into too much trouble, but I never did trust him too much. He always kept too much to himself, and you just couldn't get to know him too well."
"I didn't know him too well myself," said Matt, "but I think you're right. He seemed sort of sneaky to me." Matt then went back to the pool table to take a shot. There was then a period of silence as people thought about the situation.
Jerry then pondered, "I wonder what Michelle is going to about it"?
At that point, Sharon came to counter to pick up some drinks for customers.
"Sharon," Jerry asked her, "has Michelle reported it to the police"?
"I didn't ask her, but I get the feeling she hasn't."
"Boy, she sure better, "said Jerry.
"That's right," said Hank. "That guy shouldn't be able to get away with that."
Two nights later Michelle came back to work. She was noticeably different from before. She looked dispirited, but everyone said they admired her for being able to come back and apparently take it so well. She was asked if she had reported the rape to the police. She said she hadn't but that she was planning to do it. In the next two weeks, several of the people kept insisting that she turn Lawrence in right away. She kept reassuring them that she would, but then the following week each time she would state that she still hadn't had the time.
Several weeks went by and Michelle still didn't report it to the police. She actually wanted to push it out of her mind, but other people wouldn't let her do it successfully. They kept insisting she make a complaint. She tried to avoid the subject. She did talk to Sharon and finally confessed to her to that she didn't want to file a complaint because she just wanted to forget about it.
"I bet he's left town anyway. What's the use," she told Sharon.
"Michelle, they can find him. And if they don't, I bet he'll come back into town before long and somebody will see him. He'll try to sneak back into town, and then they'll catch him."
"No they won't. I just want to forget the whole thing really."
Sharon passed the word on at the club about how Michelle felt. People, both men and women, tried to encourage Michelle again to file an accusation, but it became clear that she wasn't going to do it. One night at the bar, Hank told several of the men, "Michelle may not want to do anything about it, but I thought of something. You know we might be able to get some justice done in this case."
"Yeah," said Stan, another one of the group. "We track the guy down and turn him in ourselves." "I'm not real sure about that," Mike said. "Michelle would still be the one who would have to go file the complaint against him."
"Yeah," said Matt. "Without her they wouldn't be able to get anywhere. She's got to go be a witness."
"No," said Hank. "I wasn't thinking exactly that. The first part you got right. We'd go get him. But I wasn't thinking about going to get him to take him to the police."
"Oh, you mean take care of him ourselves, huh," said Joe.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking about."
They looked at each other smiling with thoughts going through their minds.
"Yeah," said Stan. "Got a point. That way he wouldn't be able to get away with it completely."
"That's right," said Joe. "That way Michelle wouldn't have to go through all the trouble. Making the complaint and all the other things women have to go through.
"That's it," said Hank. "That's the beauty of it. She wouldn't have to worry about it until we told her, until we told her we'd gotten justice." They then started talking in lower tones realizing they didn't want word of their plan to get out. They spontaneously started to try to come up with plan with different suggestions considered and then accepted or rejected. They met again for the next two nights and continued their careful deliberations. Matt who lived a block away from Lawrence was appointed to check for any sight of Lawrence at his house. It was actually his mother's house. For the next two weeks there was no sign of Lawrence in spite of Matt's constant lookout.
Finally, Matt saw him one morning coming out of his house. Matt alerted everyone in the plan that night. They then gathered around to review their final plan. Matt was to observe Lawrence for the next several days in order to have a good idea of his movements.
They were finally ready to put the plan into action. It was to be late at night, which turned out to be a cold night in November. At 11 P.M. the five men drove in Joe's car to a spot about a half-block away from Lawrence's house. In the last two nights, Matt had seen Lawrence coming home at that time. This time, however, midnight came and went and he didn't show up. The men got anxious. Lawrence lived with his mother and two sisters. The woman had brought the family up by herself. Near one o'clock, Lawrence finally drove into the driveway. Joe pulled the car near to the driveway. They all got out of the car and ran to Lawrence. They all had masks on, ugly, leftover Halloween masks.
"Hey, what's up?" Lawrence asked in a nervous voice. "Hey, Halloween came and went to weeks ago," he added with a slight laugh. "We don't have any treats left for you."
None of the five men said anything. One of the men on Lawrence's right quickly went around behind him. He took a small towel which he put on Lawrence as a gag as the others tackled him. The light was on in the living room in Lawrence's house, but the curtains were drawn. Lawrence struggled and tried to scream, but all that could be heard was muffled noises coming from under the gag. The men dragged him back into the front seat of his car. He was just over six feet and weighed more than 200 pounds. It was a quiet street and few cars ever passed by. No one was seen walking around. The men finally forced Lawrence to lie down in the front seat. Two of them worked to pull his pants down as the other three continued to hold him down. One of them then reached for a long hunting knife that was in a sheath on his belt. The blade was five inches long. He reached down and swiftly sliced the offending organ.
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