I don’t know how she managed it. How she was able to investigate my name without bringing it to the attention of Grizz’s network of informants, law enforcement and otherwise. I’m pretty sure she didn’t know if I was a runaway or had been abducted, but she did somehow find out I’d disappeared in 1975, never to be heard from again.
This was her first step in getting custody of her boys. She was going to bring down Blue by bringing down the gang. By bringing down Grizz.
I had to admit she was one gutsy woman. She was working with authorities to go into the Witness Protection Program. Blue was wrong. Jan knew far, far more than he thought.
I was never certain how she tracked down Froggy without causing notice to herself. Froggy had never gotten over what Grizz had done to Willow. He’d started to slowly withdraw from the group after her exile, and even more so after her death. It was obvious by his testimony on the witness stand that he totally despised Grizz for what he did to her. Froggy was more than willing to tell the authorities everything he knew in exchange for his protection.
The police showed up at our house in Shady Ranches with a warrant and arrested Grizz. He didn’t put up a fight as they handcuffed him and read him his rights. He was calm. He was certain his attorney would have him out on bail within hours.
Grizz had been arrested before. It was never a big deal in the past—always minor charges that were an attempt to harass him. He was never arrested for any serious crimes. But this was the first time he was arrested in my presence. He stared at me and listened calmly as they read him his rights and started reciting the list of charges.
“Jason William Talbot, you have the right to remain silent—”
It was the first time I’d heard his whole name.
I’d gotten over my obsession with learning his real name years earlier. I never saw the gang’s use of fictitious names as anything but a means for them to cause confusion, anyway. I never saw it as the big deal that they did.
But suddenly, as they listed the charges, Grizz’s demeanor changed. He went ballistic, even with his hands behind his back, when they called me by my real name and started asking me questions.
“Are you in fact Guinivere Love Lemon, who disappeared from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on May 15, 1975?” I couldn’t answer. I was in shock.
“Were you a runaway or abducted by this man?”
Grizz knew then that this arrest wasn’t for a list of trivial offenses. This would be different. They knew who I was. The big question was had I been abducted or was I a runaway? And how involved had I been in Grizz’s criminal activity?
One of the officers said to me, “Answer very cautiously, Guinevere. If you were abducted by this man in 1975 against your will, that’s one thing. But if you were a runaway and participated willingly in the Satan’s Army gang, it’s a whole different ballgame.”
“Don’t answer a fucking thing until we talk to our attorney,” Grizz snapped. “Don’t say a word, Kit. Nothing. Get the fuck away from my wife.”
He head-butted one of the men and sent him sprawling backwards into our stone fireplace. The man was dazed but didn’t appear to be hurt.
I’d started crying, and even though the men were kind to me, I was afraid. Two of them started beating on Grizz. He barely flinched.
“Stop it,” I cried. “Please, everyone. Just stop. We’ll go with you. Please, no more.”
“You can’t take her to jail,” Grizz snarled. “She can’t be in jail. This has nothing to do with her. Leave her alone.”
“We’re not arresting her, just you, fuckwad.” This from the guy Grizz had head-butted. Of course, he said it from a safe distance.
“It’ll all be settled at the station,” the oldest of the men said.
It was a line right out of an old black-and-white police movie. The detective reminded me of a kindly grandfather. He was probably close to retirement and wanted to be anywhere but here.
He added, “She’ll be fine. She won’t get hurt. Calm down. This is just procedure. You know how this goes down, Jason.” He turned to me and gently took me by the arm. “I’m Detective Banner, and it’ll be okay, Guinevere. We just need to ask you some questions. It’s all part of the process. Your husband is overreacting.”
I looked at him sadly. “He’s just worried about me because I’m pregnant.”
* * * * *
I’d just found out a week earlier I was pregnant again. I wasn’t far along at all, but Grizz and I still let ourselves get excited.
“Call Mark. He’ll have me out by tonight,” Grizz told me as they walked him to our door.
“Not this time, Talbot,” one of the officers, a young one, said. “I don’t think a judge will give you a bail option. Kidnapping is a federal offense. You’ll stay locked up until trial.”
“Just call him, Kit.”
“No, Grizz,” I called after him. “He’s not good enough for this. I’ve got someone else in mind.”
I’d been following the career of a very powerful and well-known defense attorney. He was young, but was making a real name for himself in South Florida.
“Who?” Grizz yelled back over his shoulder. I was now following behind him with Detective Banner at my side.
“Matthew,” I told him, resolve firm in my voice.
“Matthew who?” he asked as they put him in the back of the police car.
“Matthew Rockman. The kid from my porch.”
The car door slammed, and he was gone.
I’d told no one, not even Sarah Jo, that I’d been back in touch with my friend from high school. It just didn’t seem necessary.
Matthew had found me back in 1980. It wasn’t hard. It was during the time when I was living at the motel and had found out I was pregnant that first time. It was no secret the leader of Satan’s Army lived at the Glades Motel.
Matthew pulled in one day pretending to be a lost motorist. Chowder told him he’d passed Flamingo Road miles back. He would have to turn around. He’d casually asked Chowder if the motel was open for business. Chowder had eyed him cautiously and didn’t answer, just pointed to the road. But not before Matthew spotted me.
I’d come out, gotten in my car and, without knowing I was doing so, actually followed him onto State Road 84. Armed with information—that I lived there and what I drove—now he could plan a way to see me.
Matthew could have followed me the first day he saw me, but he was worried he’d raised Chowder’s suspicions. So he’d parked in Pete’s parking lot, facing the highway, for two days before he spotted me driving my Trans Am. He followed me to the grocery store and waited until after I got out of my car to approach me.
I’d recognized him immediately. He told me he didn’t want to make trouble, just wanted to talk. And that’s all we did. I told him almost everything—everything except my knowledge of Grizz’s criminal endeavors.
“You don’t need to try and hide what the guy does, Gin. His gang is notorious. I just want to see how you’re doing.”
“I’m good, Matthew. I know Grizz threatened you that night. I’m sorry for that. But honestly, I’m happy with him. He’s good to me. I’m going to have his baby.”
This surprised him. “I just needed to check on you before I did anything. I’m not that kid anymore. I’m not afraid of him.”
“Well, you should be afraid of him. Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean he can’t get to you. That’s not a threat, Matthew. I’m just stating a fact. I’m telling a friend, who I care about, to stay away. Please just leave us alone.”
“You’re certain of that, Gin? I’ll keep it to myself if you’re telling me the truth.”
“I’m certain, Matthew.”
I’d given a long explanation then, about how I didn’t approve of or participate in Grizz’s gang activity, but had found myself falling in love with him anyway. Matthew couldn’t equate the straight-A, mild-mannered girl with the grown woman who was married to the brutal leader of a motorcycle gang. But he also remembered my neglected home life, and how much I loved the attention his family lavished on me.
Our conversation went from me convincing him to leave us alone to two old friends catching up on each other’s lives. I had been sitting in his car talking to him when he got very quiet and stared out over his steering wheel. I guess he just couldn’t let it go.
“You know, your abduction influenced my decision to go to law school.” He looked at me now. “I didn’t like being threatened, feeling helpless. I knew the guy who took you was a criminal. I’m going to law school to bring down scumbags like him.”
I noticed that the knuckles on his left hand had whitened. He was clenching the steering wheel hard.
Tears sprang to my eyes. “Please don’t call him that.” He started to interrupt but I held up my hand. “He has treated me better than anyone ever has. I love him, Matthew. I’m doing everything I can to get him away from this lifestyle. Please leave us alone. He promised me he would quit when the baby comes. I believe him.”
He sighed and looked back out over the steering wheel. The conversation turned lighthearted again. He told me how he loved law school. I joked that I was glad the end of my tutoring him didn’t interfere with him going off to college. It was a nice talk.
I hadn’t seen or spoken to Matthew since that day, but I read the newspapers and watched the news. He was young, but blazing a trail through the justice system by winning impossible cases. Don’t think the irony wasn’t lost on me that he told me years ago he was going to law school to put the bad guys away, and now he was the best in the business at setting them free.
I reflected on all of this as I waited in Detective Banner’s office, sipping watered-down coffee and waiting for Matthew to show up. When he finally did, Matthew brought a man with him I didn’t know.
“Gin, this is Cary Lewis. He’s not with my firm. I can’t represent Jason because of our history. But I’m putting you in the hands of someone who is better at this job than anyone I know. You trust me on this, I hope?”
I looked up at him from where I was sitting. “If you tell me you have no hard feelings toward him, if you can look me in the eye and tell me that, then yes.” I took a breath. “I trust you.”