-25-

Interviews

They all stood around a desk somewhere in the back of the police station. The carrier bags full of DVD's had been taken off them by the policeman and they had been told they would be interviewed separately.

A man wearing a suit stuck his head out of the room he was in and smiled warmly "Kyle! You're turn to make a statement first. We're going by the alphabetical order your last names, so Stan, you're next and we'll finish off with you, Kenny.

"Ok" Stan and Kenny replied and nodded

Kyle got up and ambled into the interview room where the officer who had brought them down to this end of the station was sitting with a large pad and a pen. He sat down in the only available chair on the opposite side of the table.

"Right" the suited man said as he shut the door. "Kyle, I think it's safe to say that you know you're not in trouble here, but we have to do statements in this fashion, simply so as your friends can't hear what you're saying and lie to back it up. Do you understand?" He asked

Kyle Nodded

"Right, that said, I'm DC Dixon and this is Sergeant Lock. Basically we want you to tell us what you know. We'll throw a few questions at you, and we'd just like you to answer them as honestly as you can."

"Ok" Kyle replied with a smile

"Right, so lets start from the beginning. What's happened? How did you come to be in the situation where he wanted you to sell the fake DVD's?"

"Well, Stan and I were at the cinema, not watching the film, just kinda…erm….you know…" Kyle turned bright red and looked away

"Know what?" DC Dixon asked

"We were…Kissing." Kyle turned bright red

"Ah! I see! Go on"

"well, the thing was, Cartma- er…Eric was there. He's always hated me, he's always wanted something to hold over me so as I'd do all his dirty work for him. The thing was, he was there with a video camera, and he caught us on tape at it. He knows what the Jews think of gays, that my mum would hit the roof if she found out, and that coach would drop me from track & field. So that's how it all started." Kyle leaned back in his chair

"Ok then" DC Dixon sat back and folded his arms "So that's how it started, but how did you come to be selling pirate movies?"

"Well, as I said, he knows what kind of an impact it would have on my life if people found out, so he started telling us he wanted things doing in exchange for keeping his mouth shut."

"aah! I see where this is headed, go on"

"well, at first it was just homework. Stan and I thought we would be able to handle that. We'd just spread the assignments between the two of us and that would be the worst of it. We were wrong. He approached Stan and I in school, collected his homework and dumped the DVD's on us. We told him that we didn't know anyone that would want them, but he said we would find a list of the people that did."

"Right. Well, the list isn't what concerns us, so lets just ignore that and focus on the discs and the blackmail"

"Well, that's pretty much it, I think"

"Did you sell any of the DVD's?"

"None what-so-ever. I'm a terrible salesman and like I said, I don't know anyone that would want any" Kyle responded

"And you didn't buy any yourself?"

"Nah"

"Ok then. Approximately how many DVD's did he give you? Did you count?"

"I didn't count, but I'd guess about fifty."

"What about the quality of the copies? Did you check any of them?"

Kyle thought carefully about his answer. The honest truth was Yes, but he had to think about how to word it, since he might end up incriminating himself for something he was innocent of. "Well, yes but only because we thought he might have done something like include a video of Stan and me in one of them or something, so we quickly scanned through all the discs"

"Ok then, but would you say the quality of the copies was sellable?"

"some were, but some were pretty lousy. He DID use a video camera in the back of a cinema to record them, after all."

"Ok then. And you're sure you didn't buy any?"

Kyle didn't like having to repeat his answer, but he thought better of letting his impatience on the matter show. "I already said, No."

"Ok then. How about the others?"

"I know Stan hasn't had any, and I doubt Kenny would have"

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, My room at home is being painted, so I'm staying with Stan…and I don't think Kenny owns a DVD player, so there'd be no point him buying any"

"I see" DC Dixon said as the sergeant wrote down everything that was said. DC Dixon looked over the Sergeant's shoulder as he finished writing "Is there anything else you know Kyle? Anything you would like to add?"

"No, that's everything I know, as far as I can remember"

"Ok then" Sergeant Lock finally spoke "Ok, Kyle. Could you just re-read what I've written, just to make sure I got everything right, please?" He asked as he handed the statement paper over to Kyle

"Ok" Kyle replied, taking the paper and reading it. Kyle is a quick reader, and he knew almost exactly what had been written, so he sped through the page and handed it back with a polite smile.

"Ok then," DC Dixon took the page, signed it, then handed it to the sergeant who also signed it before passing it and a pen back to Kyle again "Kyle, Just sign the bottom of that, Print your name where is asks you, and write today's date please, which is the third of June, two-thousand and five."

Kyle did as he was asked, making sure to make his name and the date readable, then passed the page back once more.

"Ok then. You're all done, Kyle!" DC Dixon said with a smile. "We'll be in touch with you soon, as we may need you to go to court, it all depends on how things progress. In the mean time, you're entitled to witness protection, but I'd say a lad like you, with someone like Stan around you all the time, You won't need it" he said with a smile, standing up and offering his hand over to Kyle.

Kyle shook his hand "Thanks" he said as DC Dixon led him out. They walked back into where Kenny and Stan were sitting with another officer, playing cards with him.

"Sir!" The other officer stood up and addressed DC Dixon "I was sent here to keep these from talking about what they are going to say or have said"

"Fine by me." The DC shrugged "Stan, You're up!"

Stan stood up and handed his hand of cards to Kyle. "Try not to lose" He kissed Kyle on the cheek and walked into the interview room.

Kyle sat down where Stan had been sitting, getting a tingling feeling from Stan's lingering body heat in the seat. "So, what're we playing? Strip poker?" Kyle smirked

"Yeah, You wish." Kenny laughed. "Try Blackjack, and it was Stan's turn".

Kyle looked at the cards in his hands and smiled.