Maxwell Rohan was having a drink at O'Toole's bar and thinking of the mess that his half-sister had gotten herself into. She had called his line when he was busy and had dropped a panicked voicemail. The main thing he had been able to get from her ramblings was d***s, arrest, and "I don't want to go to jail.".
The girl had always been whiny, so it had not been a surprise for Max to hear the thread of desperation in her tone. Maxwell knew it must be serious this time if she had willingly called him; the last thing he heard from her after he helped her with her mother's burial years ago was, "I don't need you or your help.". But then short-term memory seemed to be quite convenient for her mother when she wanted it to be. He could see that the girl had inherited that from her too.
Maxwell had tarried long enough before going over. He could almost feel his father looking down at him with a disapproving look as he clucked his tongue.
"Family is everything, boy." Andre Rohan would have said, if he could hear Max's first thought of "Not my business,"
So, weighed by the responsibility he did not want to feel towards the ungrateful daughter of the woman who had made life hell for him after his father's death, he made calls and confirmed that she was indeed detained at the place he initially thought: the Kayooma D**g Law Enforcement Agency.
Steve at KDLEA had informed him that she might serve if she was unable to prove that she truly had no knowledge of how the white stuff got to be in her possession, which she had been quite vocal about, but at the end of the day, that won't help her if she can't give them solid evidence that someone truly planted it in her belongings, as she had been saying.
Maxwell asked how long she might serve.
"For 100 grams, Max? Nothing less than three years. No, she would be damn lucky to get a day less than that," Steve replied.
"Which means she might get more than that?" Maxwell asked
"I shouldn't be telling you these things, Max," Steve responded uncomfortably.
"Remember that favour you are owing me? I figured this might be the right time to cash in on it."
Steve sighed before looking around and then back at Maxwell.
"Damn, your sister said she got that powder from a store alongside other things."
"What powder?" Maxwell asked in confusion.
"Well, the stuff was sealed tight in a dusting powder can. Could have fooled me for a talcum powder."
"What?"
"Yeah, so we went to the store you mentioned to verify. Yeah, they recognised her, but there was nothing in there to indicate that what she bought was swapped or anything. We checked out their CCTV recording for that day; nothing was out of place. We even checked the whole row of powder. Damn, I had no idea there was that much powder. Whoever needs about a hundred powders to choose from?"
Maxwell shrugged.
"Well, we scanned everything. Every damn thing pissed the owner off in the process as we were holding up the business, but at the end of the day, we got nothing. Nothing at all. The only close we got to any d***s was the whiff of mari***na on the salesboy's breath, which he said was from his cologne. So, yeah. There you have it. Almost a whole day was superbly wasted. So, your girl there..."
"She is not my girl; she is my sister," Maxwell bit out.
"What? Do you have a sister? How come I never heard of that?" Steve asked in amazement.
"You and I are not so close, Steve, that you get to know everything about me," Maxwell replied drily.
Steve nodded his head. "Right, right. Yet here you are asking me for all the details I could bring up for you. Not close at all," he said in a droll tone.
"You owe me a favor." Maxwell replied, "Now, do you want to tell me all I need to know about this, or do I have to spend the rest of my life here waiting for you to quit carrying on like an old woman?"
"That is an insult to all old women around the world, and that includes my grandmother, who is fond of you, by the way," Steve replied with a taunting smile, then raised his hand when Maxwell narrowed his eyes. "Okay, okay, okay. That is all for now. Apart from her declarations, your sister has nothing else working for her. If you want to do anything, and I mean anything legal,. I just said I should mention it. You have to do it fast enough because she goes to court on Monday," he said, spreading his arms with a shrug.
"What do you mean by anything legal? Do I look like someone who would do something illegal to get her out?" Maxwell asked with feigned innocence.
"Do I look like I have grown horns on my head? Do I need to remind you of how we met, Maxwell Rohan?" Steve asked with a steady look at his friend.
"Must you have mistaken me for someone else?" Maxwell said as he stood up and adjusted the lapels of his suit, "I am a law-abiding citizen doing things the right way, a businessman for that matter, and might I add that a successful one? Check the cover of Success Under 40's," and you will understand. They even called me the hottest CEO in town," he added with a wink.
"Blech, they must be blind in two eyes. What am I if they call you the hottest thing in town? Talking of hottest, my wife has this cousin that...
"Hold it, hold it. I will not be around that day, and I am allergic to dinner, going to the parks, or any other thing you were about to say." Maxwell cut him off, as he already knew what Steve was about to say; his wife was always trying to match him up with one cousin or the other. The woman must have legions of them.
"You don't even know."
"Don't I? Don't I, Steve?" Maxwell asked with suspicion in his eyes.
Steve sighed "Fine, I did my part anyway. You would have to explain to Antonia why you chose to be absent at...
"I did not hear that. I did not hear that." Maxwell placed his hands on his ears.
Steve laughed, "Rascal."
"Where is she?" Maxwell asked in a more serious tone.