Day 108:
"...Do you understand the plan?"
George nodded as he texted back "Yes."
He put his phone in his pocket and headed out the door of his hotel room. He closed the door behind him.
"George Shaw?" a voice called.
George turned and saw two police officers headed toward him. "Are you George Shaw."
"Yeah?"
"Mr. Shaw you're under arrest," one of the cops said plainly as he took out a pair of handcuffs. George took off running.
"Stop!"
He didn't he kept running, practically jumped down the stairs, and round the corner to find another cop racing towards him. "Freeze!"
George tried to turn and run, but the first two cops came up behind him.
"Put your hands up!"
With no other choice, George raised his hands.
"Mr. Shaw you are under arrest for stalking, exploitation, threats of murder, breaking and entry, and hacking of personal social media accounts. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning…"
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"Look," George sighed as he sat in an interrogation room. "Fine, okay. I hacked into the guy's social media and printed off racy pics and nudes his wife sent him to pass out, but I didn't break into his hotel room, okay! I didn't threaten to kill his wife! I wish no harm towards him. What I did was a prank that got out of hand, I was just trying to poke fun at the guy and got carried away."
"Then why was there a message sent to him saying you'd kill his wife if he didn't drop the charges?" the officer asked.
"I dunno," George shrugged. "Maybe someone is trying to frame me. I'm already in trouble with they guy, I'm an easy target I guess."
"Who is Stony West?" the officer asked.
"Just a guy I met in an online gaming lounge," Geroge answered.
"A guy willing to pay you to harrass his son-in-law?"
"Oh, you mean you haven't run into looneys online?" George asked. "I don't even know who his son-in-law is!"
"Who is Ben Shirrar?"
"Ben what?" George asked.
"Ben Shirrar, who is he?"
"I don't know any Ben She-Rah."
The cop pulled a cellphone out of a manilla evidence folder. "You have him listed on your phone as a contact…"
"Oh," George squinted at the phone. "Oh, yeah...I think I worked with him once at the Burger King. I didn't stay there long, kind of forgot everyone's names-"
"Mr. Shaw, you and I both know you never worked at a Burger King," the officer stated.
George swallowed shakily. "Eh, guess it was a Wendy's then…"
"Mr. Shaw you have never worked at a fast food restaraunt. You've been living off your parent's substancial and generous allowances to you, which they recently cut you off from after you got a DUI. You were looking for a quick paycheck, someone contacts you and says 'hey, I will give 10,000 dollars if you pester my son-in-law who happens to be in your class.' You did so, got caught, got put on behavioral probation at your school, and now you want revenge."
"Look, it's not like that," George said. "I didn't take the gig, okay? But when I met Dipper I realized that, hey, Stony was right, this guy is a douche. When I see someone who's a douche, I don't like it and I try to teach them a lesson, and I got carried away. That's it! I didn't break into nobody's hotel room, I didn't paint no blood-red message, I didn't threaten to kill a pregnant woman!"
"Mr. Shaw, I never said that there was a message painted in red paint on a hotel room wall," the officer said. George's face turned white. The officer leaned back in the chair and began going through George's phone.
"These are copies of the pictures that were left in the hotel room. They were sent to you by Ben Shirar, so let's try again, who is Ben Shirar?"
George sighed. "I don't know. I never met him, or talked to him. Stony gave me his number, he sent me the pictures. I never spoke with him."
"Who is Stony West?"
"Never met him either," George said. "I just knew he was willing to pay for what I thought was an easy gig. Look, officer, I never really wanted to hurt anyone! I was just trying to make ends meet, please, you've got to understand!"
The officer flipped through the phone again. "This message from Stony states you were planning to go shoot Mr. Pines-"
"With a stun gun! Just a little zap. I wouldn't have done anything-"
"You were going to take him to the woods and dump him there unconcious."
"Yeah, but not kill him!"
"Do you not think something bad could happen to an unconcious man in the woods?"
"Well….I...uh…."
The officer stood up, grabbed his files, and left.
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Preston dug at his pile of gruel in the jail cafeteria. There was a television with the news going on. He wasn't paying much attention to it until he heard-
"...Mason Roderick 'Dipper' Pines."
Preston whirled around. "States that Shaw, along with at least one other man, had been stalking and harrassing him and his wife for weeks. Police are still on the look out for the stalker…"
Preston hung his head and smiled softly. He knew that idiot would slip up eventually. Onto phase two…
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Pacifica ran her hand over her stomach as she watched the news. Dipper was safe! The man harassing him was in custody. Now, as soon as they could find her stalker everything would go back to normal. Oh, how she wished he was here. That she could hug him. Kiss him. Tell him how everything was okay now that she knew he was okay.
Her phone dinged. She looked down, expecting it to be Dipper.
"You see what happens when you associate with the riffraff?"
Pacifica insides grew cold. "Riff-Raff." There was only one person she knew who used that term.
"That boy hasn't been able to protect you, has he?"
Pacifica's fingers fumbled as she dialed to call the cops.
"I still can, though. I forgive, pet. I really do. I'll protect you from these stalkers. I won't press charges against you for slander or lysin if you just do the right thing now. Tell the authorities what you must to get me out, and you and your baby will be safe."
Pacifica sniffed as she hit the "call" button.