Chapter 257: Petty Revenge! Chuck: I'm Coming Clean, I Hold Grudges!
"Shelly, is it true that you had a late-term abortion?"
Harvey's voice came through the phone.
Chandler immediately paused the broadcast.
"No!"
Shelly cried out, "How could I do that!"
"She's telling the truth."
Chuck glanced at Shelly in the rearview mirror and replied.
"Don't get excited, I trust Chuck's judgment."
Harvey said, "Now what we need to do is convince the jury in court."
Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in America: God, guns, gays, and abortion—the kind of issue that can truly spark a national debate and shake the foundations of society.
In this case, of course, it wouldn't be that serious.
But radio host Max Henson's revelation of this rumor put Shelly in the eye of the storm.
Abortion would naturally provoke strong opposition from pro-life activists, and with the amplification of the radio station's influence, harassment and vicious attacks naturally followed.
What's more, the radio host was talking about late-term abortion!
This not only drew strong reactions from pro-life activists, but also disgusted more neutral people.
Abortion, as a fundamental national issue, has been discussed countless times, with a key question being how to define whether a fetus has human rights.
Some states have enacted fetal heartbeat laws, meaning that if a fetus has a heartbeat around six weeks of pregnancy, abortion is absolutely prohibited unless the pregnant woman's life is in danger.
If a heartbeat at six weeks is considered such a serious matter, then the rumored late-term abortion is seen by many as no different from murder.
This is the root of radio host Max Henson's confident assertion.
Late-term abortion is extremely harmful to a pregnant woman's body, even life-threatening; abortions are generally performed in the early stages, rarely late-term.
But Max Henson clearly disregarded these concerns, only stating what his listeners wanted to hear.
"Any more questions?"
Chuck and Harvey asked a few more detailed questions, noticing Shelly's increasingly poor condition in the rearview mirror, and spoke up to remind him.
"One last question."
Harvey immediately understood and said, "Shelly, Tim, our bottom line is compensation, right?"
"No!"
Chuck interjected, "High compensation and a public apology, we want it all!"
On the other end of the line, Harvey teased, "Are you putting me in a difficult position? I've seen plenty of people like Max Henson. He might be willing to pay compensation, but he'll never apologize!
His style is to recklessly mock others, and his loyal audience loves that!
If he chooses to apologize publicly, he'll lose some listeners, which he won't allow.
Besides, even if you find Jamie, it's hard to prove whether he meant it or not.
Because as long as he believes what he says, whatever he says is free speech, protected by the First Amendment."
"Then that proves he knows he's lying,"
Chuck interrupted. "Otherwise, why do you think I contacted you?"
"…You make a good point,"
Harvey laughed. "Fine! High compensation and a public apology, we want it all! It's settled! A challenge makes things interesting!"
The call ended.
"You want it all? Sounds pretty ambitious!"
Chandler couldn't help but tease. "Want to keep listening?"
"Yes,"
Chuck nodded.
He was driving anyway, and since he had nothing better to do, he figured he'd find out what kind of person this so-called famous radio host, Max Henson, really was.
Chandler pressed play.
The program continued.
When Max Henson compared himself to a detective and asked others what they thought, a commentator immediately chimed in: "Detective Max? That's way better than Detective Chuck!"
"Exactly, exactly!"
"I just wonder if Amazing Amy will acknowledge it?"
"Of course she will! Wait until she changes her image and releases a new book, then she'll know how amazing the boss is—definitely more amazing than that expressionless guy!"
"Hehehe~"
A burst of smirking laughter rang out.
"These are Max Henson's crew of idiots."
Chandler glanced at Chuck, and seeing Chuck's lack of reaction, introduced them: "I'm not being sarcastic—they literally call themselves idiots. Idiot #1, Idiot #2, each with their own role, but they're all incredibly sleazy."
Chuck listened expressionlessly.
Chandler continued playing.
"What if Amazing Amy doesn't change her style? Her current style doesn't fit our radio station's vibe; she's never come here to promote herself."
"Every woman changes her style eventually."
"When she comes, I'll have her sit on your lap and say it's a charity visit to the disabled. I doubt she'll mind."
"Thanks, boss, hehehe."
Chandler paused again and introduced, "This so-called disabled person is a dwarf, Little Willie, Idiot #2."
Chuck glanced at him.
"Okay, obviously you don't care who he is."
Chandler shut up and pressed play again.
"From now on, besides Mad Max, I have a new nickname: Detective Max. I don't need to invite that expressionless guy anymore. And compared to inviting him and Amazing Amy, I'd much rather invite…"
Chandler paused again, asking Chuck, "He invited you to his show before, did you know?"
"I didn't know,"
Chuck shook his head.
Since Detective Chuck became famous, he'd received countless media invitations. He wasn't short of money; why would he waste his time on these random shows?
Especially not on a declining radio station.
This invitation had been filtered out by his secretary, Helen, and had no chance of reaching Chuck.
"I figured as much."
Chandler nodded. "He seemed to have invited you several times, but there was no response. He even made sarcastic remarks about it on the radio a lot, saying you weren't giving him respect, blah blah blah."
"You know I want to listen to the end, right?"
Chuck watched Chandler shift his attention and ramble on while putting away his phone.
"…You know I don't want you to continue listening, right?"
Chandler's lips twitched as he retorted.
"I know."
Chuck nodded. "I also know he'd rather invite Nora Bing."
"You know all of this…why am I not surprised at all?"
Chandler said self-deprecatingly.
"His style is based on shock jock humor, basically crude jokes and lowbrow comedy."
Chuck said. "Your mother, Nora Bing, is a world-famous romance novelist, her style perfectly matches his show. You've had a conflict with him recently, and you don't want me to continue. Isn't the answer obvious?"
"It is obvious."
Chandler retorted. "But you still want to listen to the end, right?"
Chuck didn't answer, just gave Chandler a knowing look.
"Okay."
Seeing this, Chandler could only helplessly pull out his phone and continue playing. Sure enough, it was about Chandler's mother, Nora Bing.
Max and his two idiot accomplices launched into a torrent of vulgar and obnoxious remarks about Nora Bing.
Crucially, Nora Bing's various novels were rife with sexual innuendos and double entendres.
Even Chandler, who was used to it, still felt uncomfortable, laughing awkwardly to himself.
"People always think I'm exaggerating when I say my mom is my nightmare, but now you understand the true meaning of that statement, right?"
After saying this, Chandler saw Tim and Shelly give him a sympathetic look in the rearview mirror, and his mood worsened.
Good grief!
Even Tim and Shelly, whose precious daughter Jamie had been kidnapped and whose fate was unknown, and who were being tortured by Max Henson, felt sorry for him.
He didn't want this kind of sympathy at all!
"Does Susie know about this?"
Chuck asked.
"She doesn't know,"
Chandler shook his head. "She's a makeup artist on set, she has to be with the crew, she doesn't have time to pay attention to this, and I don't know if I should tell her."
"Why not?"
Chuck asked.
"You know, that would seem a bit manipulative…"
Chandler hesitated.
"So you're a good boy."
Chuck nodded seriously. "No wonder she's still so fixated on you after all these years."
"…"
Chandler's lips twitched. "Okay, actually I admit, I'm not that noble either~ It's just that Susie doesn't have a good impression of me. If I say bad things about her boyfriend, I'm afraid she won't believe me, and she'll dislike me even more."
What good boy?
In sitcom parlance, this doesn't mean a good person, but rather a pushover, someone who gets walked all over.
He didn't want to be a doormat!
And Susie wasn't fixated on his kindness, but rather deeply resented his immature and cruel actions back then.
"You're right,"
Chuck said. "Adding your voice might backfire, but does it even need to?"
Chandler paused, then realized what he meant and slapped his forehead. "Right! I'll just send her the recording of this episode. She still holds a grudge against me for the Underpants Susie incident in fourth grade. Someone like her shouldn't be with that cruel bully Max Henson!"
He became much more animated, but before sending, he instinctively looked at Chuck. "Should I send it?"
"Send it!"
Chuck said calmly.
"Okay, recipient: Susie, click send!"
Chandler tapped on his phone, and after it was successfully sent, he let out a long sigh of relief. Then, realizing something, he turned to look at Chuck.
"Actually, you don't support me pursuing Susie at all, and you don't really care. You just want to get back at Max Henson, right?"
Chuck didn't say anything.
But Chandler already knew the answer and couldn't help but scoff, "I knew it... and this is probably just the beginning!"
As Chuck's assistant and friend, Chandler knew one thing all too well: if you offended the petty Chuck, would you expect a good ending?
"See?"
Chandler turned to Tim and Shelly and shrugged, "You should have come to him sooner. Then, Shelly, you wouldn't have even thought about suicide.
The one who should be devastated and wanting to end it all is that sharp-tongued Max! Mad Max? He really is insane!"
Even Tim and Shelly, who were in a bad mood, couldn't help but smile at Chandler's commentary.
The petty Detective Chuck was better for them.
That way, Chuck, with his expressionless face and cold demeanor, could better connect with them and put more effort into the case.
"It's done!"
A moment later, with a message notification, Chandler opened his phone and immediately beamed.
"She saw through his true colors?"
Tim looked at Chandler expectantly.
"I don't know that,"
Chandler joked. "What I do know is that she took it to heart. Look at her reply!"
He then showed his phone screen to Tim and his wife in the back seat.
"…"
Tim stared at the middle finger emoji in the reply on his phone, speechless.
What did this mean?
"That's friendly enough for me. I think I can accept it,"
Chandler said self-deprecatingly. "After all, she made me wear her underwear in public. I guess she's into that kind of revenge."
With Chandler helping to calm Tim and Shelly down, the nearly five-hour drive from Princeton to Pittsburgh passed quickly.
At Tim's suggestion, Chuck parked the car in front of the police station and led the three out. The detective in charge of the case was already waiting there.
"Ready?"
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Chuck got straight to the point.
"I've already notified them."
The detective nodded, then looked at Tim and Shelly for confirmation: "I just wanted to double-check, are you sure you want to offer a $100,000 reward?"
He was worried that Tim and Shelly couldn't afford it, making the reward meaningless.
After all, if others don't believe you can pay, how can they have any motivation?
"Hey, hey, hey!"
Chandler couldn't resist jokingly attracting attention, gesturing for the detective to look at Chuck: "Do you know what his greatest ability is?"
"Detective Chuck, I know."
The detective was somewhat displeased.
Of course, he knew Chuck's reputation, but he didn't think Chuck was truly a detective. Tim and Shelly bypassing him to find Chuck was actually questioning his abilities.
It was just that since he hadn't actually demonstrated his abilities by finding Jamie in time, he couldn't say anything.
But that didn't mean he liked hearing others repeatedly mention the word "detective."
"No, you don't know."
Chandler joked, "Chuck's greatest strength isn't his detective skills, but that classic line from Batman: 'I'm rich!'"
"..."
The detective stared speechlessly at the goofy Chandler, then looked at Chuck.
"Don't worry about the reward," Chuck said calmly. "I've already had it transferred to a special account.
The account number will be announced later; anyone can check it. As long as the information is useful, the reward will be paid out immediately."
"Then there's no problem."
The detective, amazed by Chuck's efficiency and financial power, said nothing more, leading everyone into the police station. Then, in the station's press room, he publicly announced the news to the local media reporters.
This was already hot news, and now with the involvement of Detective Chuck and a $100,000 reward, the local media, who rarely had any explosive news, were more enthusiastic than anyone else.
Not only were the reporters enthusiastic, but the local police, upon hearing that there really was such a readily available reward, also became even more proactive, with patrol officers increasing their patrols.
Meanwhile, plainclothes detectives actively contacted their informants or even reached out to criminal networks to search for news of Jamie.
Local residents, seeing the news, also began cautiously observing their neighbors, seeing everyone as a potential suspect and hoping to claim the reward.
This was a level of unity and determination never seen in just 13 days!
The power of money is terrifying!
(End of Chapter)
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