"Thomas, the police are here in my office. They'd like to ask you some more questions about what happened with Miss Lamontagne yesterday. You're not required to speak to them alone, son…" the principal paused, giving Tom an inquisitive look as they walked the halls leading back to his office.
"It's all right Mr. Donnovan," Tom assured the man without breaking his stride, "I've got nothing to hid from them, I can meet with the cops on my own."
"Very well, Thomas." The two men reached the office door and Mr. Donnovan opened it, ushering Tom in as she spoke to the officer who stood, in uniform, facing the window. "Here he is officer," the man announced, "you have the use of my office for as long as you need it." Casting once last side-glance at Tom, the principal turned and walked out of the room, closing the office door firmly behind him.
"All right Hanson," Fuller spoke, not even turning from the window," Ya got anything for me?"
"No, sir," Tom spoke, his voice betraying the frustration he had kept concealed throughout the day. "Either nobody's stupid enough to rat somebody out or nobody has a clue what happened." He paused as he crossed the room and placed both hands on the back of one of the chairs in front of the principal's desk. "Frankly, I'm betting on the latter." He stared at the seat cushion as Fuller turned around and walked over to him. Tom cast his gaze upward when his boss stood before him, surprised to see as smile on the man's face. Confused, he cocked his head to the side slightly, silently prodding for more information.
"I got off the phone with Hoffs just before I got here," Fuller began, "Tessa woke up long enough to I.D. her attacker this morning. She's still pretty out of it, but more than willing to press charges. You get one guess who our guy is." His eyes twinkled briefly as he shared the news.
"Lemme guess…" Tom spoke, an almost gleeful tone creeping into the words as he did, "Keith didn't have detention after school yesterday."
"Keith didn't have detention after school yesterday. Just wrestling practice for today's match that Coach Henderson confirms he was nearly twenty minutes late for." Fuller confirmed the officer's conclusion. "And, he skipped his last period class to boot. He must have gone out and waited for her, knowing she'd take extra practice time for the track meet whenever she could."
The two men quickly slipped into cop mode as they discussed the plan to find Keith and bring him in as soon as possible. Fuller had a cruiser out in front of the school but didn't want Keith to see a uniformed cop coming int. All they needed was for the guy to get skidding and bolt in the middle of the school day and they'd have one very big scene. The was a cop waiting at the kid's house in case he' cut out of school early, but the bet was that Tom would be able to find him around the gym department after school and arrest him on his way to the match. This way, it was less public, less fuss and easier to control if he tried to bolt. Hanson nodded as they worked out the last details of the plan and checked that his standard issue handcuffs were easily accessible before giving a mock salute as he walked out of the office.
"Wish me luck," he said as he glanced at the clock, "see ya in about… fifteen minutes."
Fuller smiled and nodded, waving the principle back into the office to brief the man as the "student" he'd been interviewing exited the office. Tom entered the hallway outside the office and headed purposefully, but not too quickly towards the men's locker room. Glancing at his watch he noticed he just had enough time to get situated there before the bell rang to end the school day.
Tom stood in the men's locker room, half behind an open locker, as he waited for Keith to show up. About half of the wrestling team, five or six guys all told, were already there chatting busily as they psyched themselves up for the meet. The coach had long since departed the room heading for the mat room to make sure all the last minute preparations were done. Several conversations flowed through the room, but Tom's attention spiked as eh finally heard, for the first time that day, Tessa's name being brought up.
"… So, looks like Tessa's off the market again," one voice cracked forlornly.
"Yeah, Keith said she and him made up yesterday. She apologized for being such a bitch or something," Tom craned his head around the corner of the locker, his eyes honing in on the grinning jock who'd uttered the phrase that irritated him exponentially. "I heard the make-up session went great; isn't that right, Keith?"
As the wrestler came into view, his buddy clapped him on the shoulder, looking for confirmation to the locker room rumor.
"Screaming and moaning for me the whole time," Keith confirmed, a boastful tone in his voice as he reached for his wrestling uniform in his locker.
Barely suppressing the rage that bubbled inside hi, Tom moved quickly to approach the wrestler, stopping to stand just beside him as he reached for his badge.
"You now Keith," he began, "A gentleman never tells." He flashed his badge right in Keith's face, a wholehearted grin spreading across his face as he continued, "You're under arrest."
Taking advantage of the Jock's total surprise and lack of resistance, Tom grabbed his arm and spun him into the locker, cuffing one hand and bringing the second down as the teen sputtered out his retort.
"For what!" he managed to sound indignant even in the middle of the shock.
"For the attack and sexual assault of Tessa Lamontagne yesterday on the Track field before practice." Tom spat out the words as he fined cuffing Keith and began to read him his rights as he ushered the still dazed kid out of the locker room and down the hall to the main entrance where Fuller and a uniform in a squad car were waiting to drag his sorry butt to jail. Not one of Keith's teammates moved as they exited the room.
"Hey man," Tom heard one say to the room, "That is so not cool."
"And he was telling everybody they got back together," a second voice added. "What a loser."
Feeling a hell of a lot better about justice in the world, Tom smiled as he walked the jilted ex out of the building and into the waiting squad car. He found he couldn't agree more with the guys in the locker room this time, what a loser.
FINI
