The next afternoon Cindy sat at her desk working the story for the latest homeless attack. She had spent the morning in the park and at the hospital gathering as much information on the woman as she could. She hoped that if she could show who the victims really were then the public would hopefully start to care about these attacks. She was so intent on getting the article done right that it took her a few moments to realize someone was hovering near her desk.
"Derek, what are you doing here?" Cindy asked, surprised to see Claire's 17 year old son.
"I need to talk to you," he responded while glancing around the room, "privately."
Confused by not only his visit but also his demeanor Cindy stood, "There's a break-room down the hall, I'm sure we can find a quiet table." He followed her quietly down the hall, once in the small room she motioned him toward a table in the far corner, "I'll grab a couple cokes while you go sit down." Derek moved away as he was instructed.
With two drinks in hand Cindy joined him at the table. "Okay, so what's up?" She smiled at him, trying to ease his tension level.
After staring at his drink for a few seconds he finally began, "I have information on the attacks on the homeless people."
Trying to mask her surprise Cindy reacted calmly, "why come to me? Why not tell your parents, or Lindsay?" When he looked at her Cindy wasn't sure if she was still seeing nervousness or if it had changed to fear.
"I don't want to upset my parents and if I tell the police then they will know who told on them."
"These people are killing, the police need to stop them."
"I know," Derek almost sounded defeated, "I don't want my family to get hurt. I just thought, maybe, if I tell you then you can go to the police without using my name."
She reached over and took his hand as she out a contemplative breath, "okay, lets start with you telling me what you know. Then I will figure out how to deal with it."
He looked up and smiled at her. "My friend Bobby has an older brother in college. Last night Bobby asked me if I wanted to hang out with his brother and some friends. I thought it would be fun so I said yes. We met up with them at the park. A couple of the guys had baseball bats, which I didn't think was too strange at first, but they were all wearing dark clothes. Then Bobby's brother looks at us and says 'you boys are gonna grow up fast tonight.' I saw the girl pull a camera out of her bag and she says 'let's get going.'" Derek looked away and took a drink before looking back to Cindy, "I swear I had no idea what they were going to do."
"I know." Cindy smiled reassuringly, "What happened?"
"We walked through the park until we saw a woman by herself. One of the guys says 'she looks good' and then they started moving toward her. I just froze, I looked at Bobby and told him that I wasn't going to do this and I took off. When I got back to my car I called the police. I heard mom talking about the attack with dad this morning."
"Calling the police probably saved that woman's life. They beat her pretty bad but the police got there before they killed her."
"I should have stopped them."
"No, they could have killed you. You did the right thing." She squeezed his hand. "I'm still not completely sure why you can't go to the police. Once they get arrested they aren't going to be able to hurt you."
Derek took a deep breath, "one of the boys was Henry Vandeweghe."
Cindy's eyes went wide, "as in Judge Vandeweghe?" Derek just nodded. Unfortunately Cindy knew this judge, and he was not a fan having thrown her into jail once for contempt of court. "Do you have the other names?"
"My friend Bobby Johnson and his brother Joe. The other two I only have first names, Paul and Rachel."
"Have you talked to Bobby?"
"Yeah, today at school. I told him that I didn't call the cops and that I took off because of my mom. I said that I knew she would investigate and that she had friends on the case. I convinced him that I was afraid I would leave evidence behind and then they would get caught."
Cindy nodded, "good thinking. Keep treating him normally, I'll figure out what to do." She stood up from the table. "Wait. You said the girl had a camera. Do you think they are taping the attacks?"
"I assumed so." Derek stood and they began to walk out of the break room.
"Do think you could find out what they are doing with the video? But only if you can do it without getting yourself into trouble."
"I'll try."
Cindy walked him to the elevator, "don't worry." As they stood on opposite sides of the closing doors she smiled at him, "we'll figure this out." Once back at her desk she sat staring at the screen, conflicted. She still wanted to give her victims a voice but how far could she push this new information.
The next morning Cindy walked into Claire's office to find, Jill and Lindsay already there. "You summoned?" an irritated Cindy asked Lindsay as she moved past them and slumped onto the couch.
"You couldn't have called me before you printed this." Lindsay asked waving the morning paper at her.
"What? I told you yesterday that someone mentioned kids."
"This is more specific than 'some kids', you have the number of attackers, their gender. Also you didn't mention anything yesterday about the attacks being recorded. You didn't think I might want to know."
"I just found out yesterday, I thought it was important to get it in. I don't get why you are mad at me?"
"I'm not mad, I'm frustrated because I just spent twenty minutes having Tom ask why you know more than I do. We have been in the park since the first murder and haven't gotten anything."
"It's not my fault that I'm easier to talk to than you are." Cindy responded with a smile, trying to alleviate the tension before her next bombshell.
Lindsay just leaned back in her chair and shook her head.
Jill leaned forward in her chair next to Lindsay and looked at Cindy, "well Claire and I are mad."
"What for?" Cindy asked surprised.
"How long were you out in the park?" Claire asked in her concerned motherly voice.
"It was the only way to get people to talk to me." Cindy gave Claire a quick glance before looking to the floor. "I was perfectly fine the whole time," she added quietly.
"Well its done now." Jill informed Cindy before turning to Lindsay. "So how do we find these kids?"
Lindsay leaned forward again, "I was thinking we could take a cue from Cindy and send some guys to hang in the park and hope they show up."
"Um..." Cindy reluctantly began, still staring the floor. Three sets of curious eyes turned to her. She gave Claire a brief look before turning to Lindsay, "I may have their names."
Lindsay went to stand up when Jill grabbed her arm, "You have the names of the attackers." Jill asked in a calm quiet voice. Cindy reached into her pocket and took out a small piece of paper. This time Jill was no match for Lindsay when she stood up and moved toward Cindy.
"How did you get those?" Lindsay asked as she grabbed for the paper, only to have Cindy jerk it away from her.
"No, that's my rule. You don't get my source."
"You aren't pulling that this time. If there is a witness I need to talk to him." Lindsay demanded holding her hand out for the paper.
"No. I will give you the names but you have to figure out how to deal with them without my source."
Cindy put the names in Lindsay's hand while shooting another quick glance to Claire, to which Claire gave a curious glance back.
Lindsay studied the names, "Henry Vandeweghe?" she asked with a frustrated sigh.
"As in judge?" Jill asked as she stood to look at the names. Cindy merely nodded.
"If a judge's son is involved then I have to have solid proof. I have to talk to your source. How do I know I can trust this information?"
"No." Cindy replied adamantly. "Did you ever consider my source might be someone worth protecting." This time Claire caught her glance which made Cindy looked away quickly.
"What are the other names?" Claire asked, intrigued by Cindy's desire to look at her but unwillingness to do so.
"Joe Johnson, Paul and Rachel." Lindsay responded to Claire then turned back to Cindy. "No last names on those two?" Cindy shook her head. "Your article said possibly four males, is there another one?"
"Joe has a younger brother but I couldn't confirm he was involved." This only elicited a glare from Lindsay. "I don't know the name." Cindy stared at the floor as she answered the unspoken question this time forcing herself to not look to Claire.
"Fine." Lindsay accepted that she wasn't going to get the source's name at this point, "I'll take the names and Jacobi and I will figure out how we can use them." She turned to Jill, "why don't you come with me to talk to him and Tom. I want to make sure we can use what we find." As they were leaving the office Lindsay gave Cindy one last look but continued talking to Jill. "Plus we may need to find a way to get the source's name." Cindy understood the meaning and simply shook her head.
When the two were gone Claire looked to Cindy, who was making a move to leave. "Do you know anything about the younger brother?"
"Not really," Cindy responded quickly. "I should go before Lindsay throws me in jail."
"Wait." Claire stood up and moved around her desk. "Derek is on the track team with a Bobby Johnson and I think he has an older brother."
Cindy reluctantly looked at her, "it's a common name. I'm sure its not the same one." Cindy winced when she realized she just gave the undisclosed information.
"If he's not the same then what were all the quick glances for? If Derek is involved I need to know." Claire asked almost begging for the answers she didn't want.
Cindy laid her hand on Claire's arm, "you know I can't lie to you so please don't make me try. Trust me, you have raised two great boys, neither one would do anything to hurt you or anyone else."
"Cindy?"
"I will tell you this. The person in question is having hard time because he feels bad running when he saw what was going to happen." Claire went to turn away but Cindy held onto her arm. "But I think it was pretty brave, they could have tried to stop him. He ran and called the police and I think that may have saved that woman's life."
"But why not come to us? Why you?"
"Because of who's involved. He's afraid that the judge could make trouble for his parents." Cindy looked Claire in the eyes and smiled, adding, "not that I know who they are." Claire tried to smile back. "Now I really do have to go because while I am willing to go to jail to protect my source I'd like to make it somewhat difficult for Lindsay to find me."
Claire pulled her into a quick hug, "you shouldn't be in this position."
"Don't worry," Cindy said as she moved toward the door, with her hand on the knob she turned back, "trust me."
