The Deception (24 page)

Scott looked up from the lawn mower to see a white
SUV
pulling up in front of the house. Two men, wearing jackets identifying them as
FBI
agents, exited the vehicle and started walking up the driveway. As they approached, they produced their badges, and Scott shut down the mower.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?"

"Are you Scott Andrews?"

"Yes, I'm Scott. So what's this about?"

"Sir, I'm placing you are under arrest for identity theft and forgery."

"What!"

One of the agents pulled out his handcuffs, telling him to raise his hands in the air while the other patted him down and read him his Miranda rights. As they were handcuffing him, a woman came running out of the house.

"What the hell is going on here?"

"Ma'am if you would please go back inside," barked one of the agents.

"I will not. This is my house, you're on my property, and this man is my
fiancé
."

"Ma'am, I warning you for the last time, go back inside the house."

"It's okay, Nancy." Scott tried to reassure her. "This is Maggie's doing. She set me up. Are you people taking me back to Phoenix?"

"Eventually."

"Nancy, I need you to call my attorney. Hillary Johansen. Her card is on my desk."

"But Scott--" 

"Just do it, Nancy, please," he shouted as the agents herded him back to the white
SUV
. "I love you. It'll be okay, I promise."

They shoved Scott into the backseat and quickly sped away. As soon as they arrived at the field office, he was taken into a small room where he spent the next hour being grilled. He steadfastly maintained his story that his wife called his office that morning, asking to borrow his laptop, and that he had no knowledge of anyone's signature being forged on any kind of document. He finally leaned back in his chair. Folding his arms across his chest, he informed them that he was through talking and he wanted his attorney.

"Okay, Mr. Andrews," said the agent, "you can call your attorney, but before you do, I have one last question for you."

"All right, I'm listening."

"How long do you want to sit in a holding cell?"

"I don't." Scott's voice was firm. "I've already told you. I've done nothing wrong. This is my ex-wife's doing. You've arrested the wrong person."

"So you say, but that'll be up to a jury to decide. In the meantime, you have an important decision to make. You can fight extradition to Arizona, and maybe spend the next thirty to ninety days sitting in a holding cell, or you can cooperate with us and waive extradition. If you do that, we'll send you to Phoenix on the next available flight."

"What happens then?"

"After they book you, you'll get to see a judge. If you're able to post bond, you'll be free to go."

"I see. So, how soon can you get me there?"

"I take it you want to waive extradition."

"Absolutely," replied Scott. "I want to post bond and get this cleared up as quickly as possible."

"All right. Let me see what I can do."

Scott was turned over for booking. He was led to another room to be fingerprinted and have his mug shots taken. Afterwards, he was returned to the interrogation room, where he waited for nearly three hours until another agent and a deputy U.S. Marshal entered. The deputy was carrying a small duffle bag.

"You just got lucky," he said. "We managed to get you on a flight to Phoenix that leaves this evening."

"Don't I get to pack first?"

"Sorry, but I'm sure the folks in Phoenix will be more than happy to provide you with a toothbrush and a change of clothes."

"Don't I at least get a phone call before we go?"

"Look, you're the one who wanted to waive extradition, so now we have a plane to catch. You can make your phone call once we get to Phoenix."

Once again, Scott was handcuffed and placed in the back of an
SUV
.

It was a long, uncomfortable and unpleasant flight. It was after ten o'clock by the time the plane finally touched down on the runway at Sky Harbor International Airport. Scott was immediately escorted off and handed over to two waiting
FBI
agents.

"He's all yours."

"Thanks for bringing him in."

"No problem. He didn't make any trouble on the flight."

Scott was taken out of the terminal and loaded into the back of yet another
SUV
.

"You're not taking me to jail, are you?"

"Gee, how did you know?" joked one of the agents. "I told you, Chris, these computer guys are really smart."

"Yeah, they're real small all right--until they decide to steal their girlfriend's identity and forge her signature."

"Look, I didn't steal anyone's identity, and I didn't forge anyone's signature," argued Scott. "I was told I'd see a judge as soon as I got here. So, when can I make my phone call? I need to call my attorney and I need someone to come and bail me out."

"Look buddy, it's Saturday night. You won't be seeing judge until sometime on Monday. So for now, why don't you just sit back, relax, and enjoy our free hospitality."

Scott let out a sigh. He was trapped in a nightmare he couldn't wake up from. They arrived at the jail and once again he was taken into another small room for questioning. The door opened and a thirty-something blonde woman entered, taking her seat across the table from him.

"Finally, a friendly face."

"Hello there, Scott. My name is Deputy U.S. Marshall Diane Hall, and I'll be taking care of your booking. After we're finished, Billie Hughes, with the Phoenix
FBI
office, wants to talk with you."

She handed Scott over to two male deputies. Once again, he was taken away be photographed and fingerprinted. When they finished he was escorted into another room.

"Okay," said one of the deputies. "I want you to slowly and carefully remove each item of your clothing, one at a time, and hand it over so we can inspect it."

"Why?"

"It's routine, sir. Take off the shirt, then your shorts, and your shoes and socks."

Scott did as he was told. When he was done, he was standing in his underwear.

"Did you not hear me, buddy? Remove your drawers and hand them over."

"What? Then I'll be standing here naked."

"That's why we call it a strip search."

Scott removed his underwear and handed it over. As he stood naked, one of the deputies looked inside his mouth, ears, and armpits before looking down to closely inspect his genitals.

"Don't you dare touch me!" Scott felt both embarrassed and humiliated.

"I'm not going to touch you, however, you're going to lift it up so I can have a look underneath."

Scott had no choice but to comply. It was a horrible experience. Once the deputy was finally finished the other picked up a flashlight.

"All right, spread your legs, bend over and grab your ankles. You'll remain in that position until I tell you that you can move."

"What! Are you kidding me? Why are you doing this? I've been accused of a non-violent crime."

"Sorry, it's routine. You're going into the general jail population. We have to search you for contraband."

Scott bent over. For the first time in his life, he knew the feeling of being violated. It was the most humiliating experience of his life and the deputy seemed to be taking an unusually long time. When they finally finished, they led him to a shower. They watched him while he showered, and handed him an orange jail suit with a pair of open-toed rubber shoes when he was done. As soon as he was dressed, he was taken to an interview room, where Billie Hughes was waiting. As he took his seat, she opened her folder, removed a photo, and pushed it across the table toward him.

"My name is Agent Hughes. Do you know who this woman is?"

"Yes. Her name is Carrie Daniels."

"So, you know her."

"Yes, I used to know her."

"How do you know her?"

"I had a relationship with her."

"What kind of a relationship did you have with Ms. Daniels?"

"I had sex with her, okay," admitted Scott. "And she was a really great piece of ass, too."

"So I take it you weren't exactly in love with her?"

"Nope. I admit my intentions toward Ms. Daniels were far less than honorable. I met her last February at Louise Dickenson's opening at an art gallery in Scottsdale. She'd posed nude for some of Ms. Dickenson's photos. I saw the goods and she said something about having recently broken up with her boyfriend. I figured her guard was down and I was determined to have her, so I pretended like I was a nice guy who was interested in getting to know her better. It worked like a charm. I got to hump her brains out."

"So, did Ms. Daniels know that you were married?"

"Are you kidding?" Scott rolled his eyes as he was speaking. "I wasn't about to tell her something like that. I could tell, that in spite of her showing off the merchandise for Louise's camera, she had some scruples. She wasn't the type who'd hang out with a married guy, so I lied to her. Big deal. She's over the age of eighteen and I wasn't aware that adultery was a jailable offense in this state."

"It's not," said Billie, "however, identity theft and forgery are. So tell me, Mr. Andrews, how many times did you see Ms. Daniels?"

"Twice. I wanted to take her out a third time, make it a trifecta, if you know what I mean, but then she stopped emailing me. That was also about the time I heard from Nancy."

"Nancy?"

"My
fiancée
, in Kansas City," explained Scott. "The one you all hassled today, because she wanted to know why you were harassing me, on her property."

"I see," said Billie. "So, before Nancy came along, you were seeing Ms. Daniels, and then you said she'd suddenly stopped emailing you. How did that make you feel, Scott?"

"Disappointed, but then, like I said, I heard from Nancy. We'd had a prior relationship that didn't work out and I didn't expect to hear from her again. As soon as I found out she was free and available, it was no contest. I decided to leave my wife, and Carrie, and go to Kansas City to be with Nancy. She's the only woman I've ever truly loved. I was happy too, until you people came along and grabbed me and started accusing me of a crime I didn't commit. Just so you know, the truth will come out, and when it does, I'm going to sue all of you for false arrest."

"Whatever," said Billie with a shrug.  "So, you say you were disappointed when Carrie stopped responding to your emails. Did that make you angry? Were you angry enough to want to get even with her?"

"What? No! Are you kidding? Like I just said, Carrie was a really great piece of ass, but no, I certainly didn't wish her any harm. By the time Nancy came back on the scene, I'd already conquered Carrie so I was ready to move on."

"I see, so if you'd already conquered Carrie, as you say, then why did you take the two photos of her with you to Kansas City?"

"I guess I wanted a souvenir, a memento. The photos were limited edition prints. They have a certain value to an art collector, although they'd been taken out of their original frames."

"What was that?"

"Maggie, the stupid bitch. Two days before I left town I come home from work and Maggie tells me she'd accidentally knocked one of the prints of Carrie off the wall while she was making up the bed that morning."

"Making the bed?"

"Yeah," said Scott. "We had them hanging on our bedroom wall, right over the bed. Then the stupid cow goes and knocks one of them off while she's making the bed. She said it broke the frame."

"So what did she do after that?"

"She told me that she took them to some arts and crafts store to get them reframed."

"Both of them?"

"Yeah. We'd bought them as a matching set, and she said she wanted them in matching replacement frames."

"When was this?"

"Two days before I left town."

"Do you know what store?"

"I think she said Taylor's Arts and Crafts, but I'm not sure. When I got home, she told me that she'd accidentally broken one of the frames, so they were being reframed and she'd pick them up the next day. When I got home from work the following night, both of the photos, in their new frames, were back up on the wall."

Billie jotted down the information. Scott watched her as she wrote. His patience was beginning to wear thin.

"Look, are we done here? I want to call my lawyer. I'm not saying anything more until I get my lawyer."

"Okay Scott," said Billie, "you can call your attorney, but I doubt if he or she would be answering the phone this late on a Saturday night. Besides, you're not being arraigned until sometime on Monday, so why don't you just make yourself comfortable until then?"

Billie stepped away while Scott was taken to a holding cell. Monday would be an eternity away.