Everyone burst out laughing. Dare didn’t talk the rest of lunch, but he would glance up every now and then. He would be fine.
◊◊◊
After baseball practice, Paul was waiting to pick me up. I’d agreed to go with Cassidy to the dojo tonight, so she was at my side.
I had almost reached the car when a large man rushed towards me.
“David Dawson!” he yelled and reached into a bag.
“Gun!” Cassidy yelled and knocked me to the ground.
When I finally looked back, Paul had taken him down and had him subdued. Cassidy ran to the back of the SUV and got zip ties to restrain the man. I was in shock when Paul took two guns off of him, one on his hip and the other in an ankle holster. While they did that, I called 911.
Cassidy made me get into the car while she released the drones to make sure no one else lurked nearby.
A police car came roaring into the parking lot with lights flashing and siren blaring. You can guess what that did to my fellow students … they decided that watching
I was happy to see that the police officer was Billy, my friend on the force. That stopped him from shooting Paul with his one bullet. With Billy on the scene, I figured it safe to get out of the car. I cringed when I saw a news reporter with his phone out taking pictures. I started to have a bad feeling this was a setup.
“Well, look who we have here. Deputy Sheriff Anson Park,” Billy said.
“Get these restraints off of me,” he barked at Billy. “I want to press charges against this man for unlawful restraint and assault of a police officer.”
“Three quick questions,” Billy said.
I noticed that he hadn’t made a move to release Deputy Park. When the deputy started barking orders, I had a bad feeling this might go south in a hurry.
“Did you identify yourself as a police officer?” Billy asked.
He glared at Billy in response.
“Are you on duty?” Billy asked next.
Another icy stare.
“What were you trying to do?” Billy asked.
“I have papers to serve on David Dawson,” he finally said.
It suddenly became clear, and I smelled a rat. I wondered where Thomas Fox was lurking. This was the same tactic he’d used when they served me the restraining order to stay away from Pam a year and a half ago. That explained why the reporter was taking this all in.
“Bringing guns onto school grounds is reason enough to arrest him. I subdued him because he was rushing David, and he was armed,” Paul explained.
Even Deputy Park blanched at that. Every time there was a school shooting, the politicians postured and made noises about one side of the issue or another. They didn’t agree on much, but they all agreed that if you brought a gun on campus, it was something you should do serious time for.
Billy became all business and put his cuffs on Deputy Park and called his supervisor. Great! I wasn’t getting to leave just yet.
◊◊◊
While the entire local police force showed up and Detective Kitchens took charge, I did what I probably shouldn’t have: I talked to the reporter.
“Care to comment?” he asked.
“I’ll give you full access if you answer one question for me. Who tipped you off?” I asked.
“Sorry, I can’t do that.”
“I’ll just call another reporter and give him my story,” I said like I didn’t care.
“Wait!” he said when I pulled out my phone and showed him that I had Jeff Delahey’s number on speed dial. “Thomas Fox.”
That confirmed my suspicions.
“I was walking to my car in the school parking lot when an armed man called out my name and rushed me. Luckily, I had my security team with me, or who knows what he would have done,” I said dramatically.
Frank was always preaching to get out in front of the story. I made sure I mentioned the man rushed me, was armed, and on school grounds, to do just that. Lost in all the noise that would create would be the reason Deputy Park had been there: to serve me papers of some kind.
The reporter nearly peed himself when I told him that my security team wore bodycams, and I would see if I were able to get him the video. Of course, I would have to ask. He gave me his card and then rushed off because he had to get his story in before he got scooped. I promised I wouldn’t give the video to any other reporters before he saw it. I left unsaid that he probably wouldn’t see it, either.
Once he left, Cassidy suddenly appeared at my side.
“Aaron, your former manny, is suing you.”
I suddenly was mad all over. Aaron had signed an agreement not to sue me, or anyone else for that matter, if my parents didn’t press charges against him for assaulting my son and dog. In return, we paid for his medical insurance, and we picked up any additional fees due to his injuries.
Cassidy had popped his elbow out of its socket, which was both painful and potentially life-threatening. He could have ruptured a blood vessel and bled out. He had recovered and moved on with his life, from what I’d heard. Aaron did get in a spot of trouble when the soccer mom he was banging at our house turned out to be married, and her husband found out.
