Junior Year Box Set полностью

Lucy: “Then who did you get to hit her?”

David: “Ms. Previse, I don’t know what your agenda is, but it’s becoming clear that you’ve got one. To answer your question, I didn’t get anyone to hit her. I was shocked when I was shown that picture of her. Now, I think we’re done here. Before you leave, I would like a copy of the footage from both cameras, as you promised.”

Lucy: “Oh, you’ll see footage of this, I guarantee that. But I never actually promised to make the raw footage available to you.”

I heard a commotion, and unfortunately, the camera picked up Dad holding my mom back. I wished he had let her go. Now that would give Lucy a story she could put on their website.

◊◊◊

The two women left in a hurry. I had to keep my mom from throwing their equipment after them. The joy of getting one up on me showed on their faces as they packed. They finally finished loading their gear into their car and left.

I turned to Mom, who had tears of rage and frustration on her face.

“That was ridiculous!” she exploded.

“Mom, don’t worry, I had them figured out before the interview even started,” I told her, and then turned to Dad. “Do you remember when that women’s activist came onto the property and tried to grab my running buddy Rachel? It was back when the whole uproar with Pam had just gotten started, and Rachel came over to go running with me.”

He nodded, and I continued.

“She appeared on Hollywood Central and showed an edited clip of me ‘assaulting’ her with the Bo staff, but not showing her jerking Rachel around. When Duke growled at the videographer when they first showed up tonight, something clicked, and I recognized her. She was the same activist who’d tried to yank Rachel away and then tried to smear me in the press.”

Just then, Fritz came around the corner of the house, accompanied by another man. I recognized Detective Kitchens.

“I asked Detective Kitchens if he’d moonlight a bit with me to see what we could see. We witnessed everything. I also have an added bonus.”

Fritz and Detective Kitchens walked to an electrical box by the curb near where the women’s car had been. He pointed, and Detective Kitchens bent down to retrieve something. The detective put it into an evidence bag. It was a small video ‘spy-cam.’ They did the same at the box across the street. Fritz pointed, and Detective Kitchens bent down and picked up three tiny devices from the pavement. They were near the trunk, the driver’s door, and the passenger door of the car where it had been parked. Each of the items was put into its own bag.

They came back with the devices in Detective Kitchens’ possession.

“I put these where they’d pick up sound but weren’t likely to be stepped on or run over. Still, we got lucky,” Fritz explained.

We went into the house, followed by my questioning parents. Once in the kitchen, I pulled my shirt up to reveal my bodycam and picked up the pen I’d placed on the table.

“David, let me take those so I can establish the chain of custody,” Detective Kitchens said.

I explained what all I had to him.

“This is a bodycam I was wearing during a video interview conducted over the past hour by the two women you just saw leaving. We also have a photocopy of their driver’s licenses. This pen is actually a microphone. It was used to preserve an audio record of the interview in its entirety. If you’ll go with Fritz, he’ll retrieve the videos, front and back, from these two clock cameras,” I said, pointing to the two large clocks on opposite walls. “We had them installed for security.”

Detective Kitchens gave me a thin smile.

“I appreciate your helping me catch a rapist, but after this, we’re even. I’m going to open a file on a potential fraud case with this information. While I have to keep them for now, I’ll note the recordings are your property, to be returned to you when appropriate. I’ll also do as Fritz asked earlier and oversee his making copies before the originals are bagged for evidence. After that, I’ll just wait for further developments.”

He and Fritz left with their loot, and I stepped over to hug Mom and Dad. Mom was still shaking.

“Mom, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what was going on earlier, but I had to have you acting naturally. If I’d told you beforehand what I thought they were up to, those women might not have lived two minutes after coming into the house. Once I knew what was going on, I called Fritz, and he told me what to do. If I hadn’t, they would’ve just found some other way to ambush me.”

“David, don’t ever do anything like that ever again.”

I felt horrible.

I retreated to my apartment to get some much-needed Duke-loving. Then I remembered I had one more thing to do and placed a call to Frank.