Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given - Duane Dog Chapman [23]
Beth told me that my son Tucker had recorded a phone conversation that he and I had had several months earlier. I had to think back to exactly when that call took place. And then it occurred to me, it must have been back in March 2007.
Beth had been suspicious that there was something going on with Tucker for some time. None of us liked his girlfriend, Monique, from the very start. She and her friends had been hanging around the back door of our office in Honolulu trying to hit on Leland and Duane Lee. Ironically, the girls were working at the Kirby vacuum store, the same vacuums I used to sell when I first got out of prison. Whenever the boys were out back on a break, these girls would hover around them. We called them “Lot Lizards” because they were like the lizards that crawl all over our back parking lot.
Beth kept telling everyone to stay away from those girls. She worried about them right from the start. Whenever one of the boys would make a comment like “They’re really nice,” Beth would quickly say, “Stop it! You’re not going to start socializing with people you met in a parking lot. You don’t know who they are or what they’re capable of.”
While everyone thought Beth was being a little paranoid, the bottom line is that she is usually right. One day Beth hit her threshold of tolerance and finally told one of the girls to get lost.
“You’re not a client and you’re not a tenant. I don’t want you hanging around here anymore, got it? Now, go!” She literally shooed her off the property. The girl was pissed and ran as fast as she could to tell her friends, including Tucker’s girlfriend, Monique, that Beth had been mean to her. That’s when we believe they hatched their plan to catch us doing something really bad on tape.
Monique is an African-American woman. I am sure she heard from Tucker that from time to time I used the “N” word. After the Michael Richards and Don Imus catastrophes, that would have been a perfect way to set me up or, worse, bust me in the press. Tucker must have said it upset him whenever he heard me use that word so he could seem sensitive and heroic for defending his girlfriend’s honor. Shortly after Beth chased off the girl in the parking lot, an anonymous note was left under my office door that had the word “N***er” written on it over and over again. Who would send me such a note? It was a message, but I had no idea what it meant. I gave it to Baby Lyssa, who handed it off to Beth.
“This goes into the shredder.” Beth was certain she knew who was responsible for such a reprehensible thing.
Beth warned me. She said, “Duane, these girls are nothing but trouble. In fact, they’re outside our door again. I’m sure they’re up to something no good. Don’t fall for any of their tricks.”
Beth was right, but she didn’t realize one other important thing: These girls were out to get her every bit as much as they were me. Tim “Youngblood” Chapman came to us to say he’d overheard the girls scheming, and their alleged plan was to call Beth a “f*cking wop,” which they were certain would start an argument or some type of altercation. They would tape-record Beth’s reaction, hoping that she’d say something damaging and trying to get her to throw the first punch. It was a good plan, because everyone knows if you start calling Beth names, you’ve grabbed the bitch by the horns and it’s on like Donkey Kong. Beth fights back, but she generally fights fair. If you call her a name, she’ll come back by calling you a name. If you talk about her family, she’ll go after yours. If you throw down a racial slur, she’ll respond with one about you. There was no doubt she’d let loose, and throwing the first ethnic slur was the trigger they hoped would get Beth to say something