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Email feedback can be sent to trager2275@gmail.com. © 2015 by Eric Trager.
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CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
"OK, what do we do?" Andy asked.
"Well, we can't just go charging in there, and we really don't know if they're doing anything to Miss Thing, or not," Sean answered. "Let's look and see if there's a back door, or something. There's gotta be one..."
"OK, so what do we do if we find a back door?"
"Well, first we scope it out and see what those guys want. If it's nothing, we leave. If it isn't nothing, then I'll video it on my phone and send the vid to you, and if necessary you'll call the cops."
"The cops?"
"Yeah. See, now that we're running for office we can't be vigilantes. We gotta go by the book. It'll be a news story and after that Sports Editor from the Gazette brought up the twins with me in that interview last Fall, I don't trust those press people farther than I can fucking piss."
"Well, they're gonna find out..."
"Yeah. What they'll find out is that YOU have a video of it and called the cops. You're running for the School Board, so that would make perfect sense. You were in the right place at the right time, got proof, notified the authorities and then you waited until the law got there. That's by the book, Brown Eyes."
"What about you?"
"Me? I was never here... Those Gazette people think I did it, and I wouldn't trust them not to imply that I was just looking for publicity. With you, you'll be a hero."
"You are SO fucking devious!"
"I'm cautious. Toldja, I don't trust those Gazette people."
"You really don't trust them, do you..."
"No. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
"You're right... OK, let's go."
Turning back down the hallway, they discovered a double door leading to a second hallway running in a perpendicular direction. They figured if there was a back door, it would be down that hall. About sixty feet down the hall, they came to another double door.
"Shhhh!" Andy said. "I'll try the door. Hope it's not locked!" Andy tried the door and found that it was indeed locked.
"Here, I'll open it," Sean said, removing his student ID card from his wallet, inserting it between the door and jam, jimmying it around until he popped the latch and opened the door.
"Slick!" Andy said.
"Shhhh!" Sean said again. "I'll go first!" he whispered. "I got my phone set to record!"
"OK!"
Silently, Sean and Andy crept through the unknown maze they found themselves presented with. The only thing they had to go by were muffled voices, and kept moving toward them.
Once close enough, Sean peeked through to where he could get a straight-shot view of what was going on and began recording.
"Fuck you, you little fucking faggot!" one of the bullies said to Tory.
"Look, Troglodyte! I fucking told you I'm never giving you any fucking money! What part of that is beyond your limited capability to understand?"
"You ain't got no money, yer gonna suck our fuckin' cocks..." the other one said, leering and rubbing his crotch.
"Don't make me puke!"
The first one grabbed Tory by the shirt collars, lifting him up. "I got him! Grab his wallet!"
"My wallet's in my locker you fucking geniuses!" Tory choked out. "You pea-brains couldn't even get THAT right! I'm not as dumb as Brad Fletcher, and don't think I don't know what you did to him last year, either! Now let me go, or I swear..."
"I don't give a fuck what you swear," said the guy fondling his crotch as he punched Tory three times in the head, once in the nose resulting in a sharp CRACK! "How'dja like THAT you fucking little homo. Now, get on your knees and suck my cock!"
"Fuck off!" Tory spat, blood streaming out of his nose.
Sean winced, motioning Andy to call the cops as he kept recording. Andy receded to the back of the area where he wouldn't be heard and punched 911 into his phone.
Sean recorded the first guy continuing to force Tory down and hold him immobile while the second took his pants down and started masturbating. "Yer gonna love sucking my cock, Princess... And yer gonna love swallowing my cum, too... One last chance. Cough up the money, faggot!"
With blood streaming down his face, Tory screamed "FUCK OFF!" to his assailant, earning him another fist to the face.
Andy came back to say he'd called the Police. Sean brought Andy close, so he had a view of what was happening. It was all Sean and Andy could bear not to go to Tory's defense at that moment, but painful as it was, they knew that in the long run to do so would be the wrong decision.
The seconds ticked by like minutes and hours.
One bully continued to hold Tory down while the other one crammed his hard cock down his throat.
Instantly, he shrieked, pulling out of Tory's mouth, and doubled over. More seconds went by, then a kick with a leather construction boot was delivered to Tory's chin.
"You fucking bit my dick! You CUNT! You're fucking dead, Trager! Fucking dead!"
Then came the sound of an electric charge as a Police Officer dropped him with a taser. He fell backwards with his pants down and his erect penis, bearing Tory's bite marks, standing like a flagpole.
"Hands up!" the Officer commanded the other bully. "Now! On your knees with your hands over your head!"
Sean and Andy could make out that there were two Police Officers on the scene, one of which had his service revolver trained on the downed bully while the other handcuffed the second.
Sean sent the video to Andy's phone, instructing him to save it and then to delete Sean's message. "This is your deal, Brown Eyes. You are the hero here. I'm gonna go out the back door, so why don't you go up to one of the Cops and let him know you taped the whole thing...
"You sure? I mean, well, I was gonna say I don't feel safe, but that's stupid, they're Cops..."
"I'll be in the Library. Come find me once you're done."
"OK, well, here goes nuthin'!"
Andy stepped out into the room.
"Hands up!" one of the Officers barked. Andy complied.
"I have a video of the whole thing," Andy said. "I'm the one that called you guys..."
"Hand over your phone," one of the Officers ordered.
"I can pull up the video if you think that's faster," Andy volunteered.
"We're in no hurry, and neither are you," the Officer replied. "This is nuthin' we haven't done before."
Presently, paramedics showed up and hustled Tory and the tased bully off to the Hospital. One of the Officers left to accompany the ambulances, and the other remained with Andy. "OK, mister, give me your name, address, and your year in school here."
"Andrew Churchill, 908 East Court Street, Senior. Am I in trouble?"
"It doesn't appear so. What made you video this incident?"
"What else could I do? I mean, when I started, I didn't know they were gonna beat him up so bad... Look, I'm also running for School Board, so I couldn't very well jump in the fight and take a chance on getting suspended, or expelled. Never mind that, it was the smartest thing I could think to do. Those other guys are way bigger than me!"
"Just between you and me, you did the right thing. You could have just made it worse than it was, or got hurt yourself. I'm afraid I'm going to have to place your phone into evidence, though. You can come down to Headquarters and pick it up in probably a couple of days. When you do, go in the main entrance and ask to see the Detective on duty."
"OK, I mean, I can get a replacement phone, I'm not really worried about that."
"Alright, I saw the video, so I need you to tell me what you saw. Start from why you were in this area to begin with."
Andy recounted faithfully why he was in that area, including Sean's presence there, as he felt at that point he had no choice.
"And why did Mr. Wyman leave?"
"Because I had the recording anyway, and I guess he had somewhere else he needed to be. I mean, we knew you guys were on the way... Really, you were already here. Does that mean Sean's in trouble?"
"Not if he wasn't involved with the assault, which at this time it doesn't appear he was. It was not the brightest move for him to leave, though. You have any idea where he might be right now?"
"He said the Library..."
"Very well, let's pay him a visit, shall we?"
"If you say so, Officer." Andy replied.
At the Library, the Officer remained outside in the hallway while Andy went in to summon Sean. Sean looked annoyed at the turn of events, but shrugged, saying, "OK, well, let's get this over with!"
In the hallway, Sean addressed the Officer. "I'm Sean Wyman. You wanted a word with me?"
"Yes. Two questions. First of all, why did you leave the area where Mr. Churchill was knowing a crime had been committed, and number two, I want you to recall in your own words for me what happened."
"OK, let's go to an empty classroom where we can talk privately."
"Lead the way," the Officer said.
Having found an empty room, Sean began. "OK, the reason I left is that we knew you'd already been notified and were on the way. I actually didn't leave until you arrived, so I knew the situation was safe. I wanted Andy to get the credit for being a good citizen, not me. And I didn't want my name in the paper. I don't like having my name in the paper. I'm a very private person. Now as to what I saw, it went like this..." Sean then gave materially the same account of the scene as Andy had given and it matched what the Officer saw on the video.
"I guess I can understand your reasoning, Mr. Wyman, although let me tell you that even though I understand it, it's a piss-poor reason to leave the scene of a crime even though you weren't involved. You might wanna remember that... I cannot charge you with anything, and even if I could, I think in this particular case I'd be disinclined to do so, but I need you to know that if the matter goes to trial, there's just about a certainty you'll be called as a witness."
"I understand that, Officer. Are we free to go now?"
"Yes. A Detective may wish to get a hold of you, so you both need to make yourselves available."
"We're available anytime, Officer," Sean replied. "If we're to be witnesses in a trial, we'll let our Attorney know. Just pro forma. We'll be home tonight after dinner if the Detective wants to come by then. If not, like I said we'll make ourselves available."
"Thank you, gentleman."
"Do you know what's gonna happen to those two guys?" Andy asked.
"The one who was tased is at the Hospital at the moment. Once they check him out, he'll be in jail pending charges. The other one, I suspect, is already in jail."
"Good," Andy replied.
"Just one more thing..." the Officer said. "You called 911. Did you notify the Principal's office?"
"We did not," Sean replied.
"Why?" the Officer asked.
"What could they have done..." Sean replied.
"Whadya mean?" the Officer asked.
"They're school administrators, not law enforcement, and we saw a fellow student being beaten and sexually assaulted. We had no idea how far they were gonna go, or if they had weapons, and it looked like it was going south pretty fast. At that point, Andy called the law. It didn't look like there was any time to waste. Besides, of what good would the Principal have been? He might have made the whole thing worse..."
"Good point," the Officer said. "Look, guys, if it wasn't me asking you these questions, it'd just be somebody else, and they still might ask ya again. We have to cover all our bases. In my book, you did the right thing. I think we're done here for now."
"Thanks," Andy said. "And don't forget, we're around if anyone needs to talk to us."
"Alright. You guys enjoy the rest of your day. Here's my card. If you need a pass to get to your next class, have them call me."
"Sure thing, Officer. Thanks!" Sean smirked.
Once away from the Officer, Andy looked at Sean. "That was a close one, Blondie!"
"Not worried. If we meet with a Detective and he gets snitty, I'm sure we can arrange for him to get a call from his superior telling him to back off. We'll just let George and Ginny handle it at that point. Not worried at all... You sure didn't break the law, and neither did I."
"Yeah, I know, but it's just one more involvement with the law..."
"You'll be glad when the Gazette runs an article on the incident and credits you with calling the Cops. That'll be worth its weight in gold."
"I guess so. Man, what have we gotten ourselves into this time..."
"Dunno, but we might as well relax and have fun with it. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? We lose our elections? So what?"
Just then, a hall monitor came up to Sean and Andy telling them they were both summoned to Principal McVay's office.
"Oh, Jeez..." Andy said sarcastically. "He's gonna act all like in charge and everything."
"I'll have to bite my lip to keep from laughing then," Sean snickered.
"Right this way, guys..." Principal McVay said with a stern look on his face when they entered the outer office.
Once in Principal McVay's inner office, he shut the door. "Have a seat. Both of you. OK, you tell me right now what went on."
"I'm not sure we should," Andy said.
"Excuse me?"
"I think Andy's right, sir," Sean answered. "You see, there have been arrests made, and as far as we can tell there's a crime investigation underway. The Police Officer told us we're probably going to be called as witnesses. I don't think we should talk to anyone except for our Attorney, or the Police. I'm sure the Police will contact you, too, and you can ask them what happened."
"So that's how this is gonna go?"
"Mr. McVay, sir," Andy said, "you can be as mad at us as you wanna be right now, but we didn't do anything wrong. Look, I'm gonna give it to ya straight. Tory Trager was getting beaten up by two guys and one of them shoved his cock down Tory's throat. And you want us to tell you exactly WHAT... I mean, help us out here, because I'm really not getting this. I mean, you've always been decent to us, you really have, but this is a little ridiculous, don't you think? Now, like I said, we haven't done anything wrong, so if there's nothing further, I think this meeting is kinda like over..."
Andy stared Principal McVay straight in the eyes while nodding his head in a `yes' motion letting Principal McVay know he needed to end the meeting. Now.
"Mr. Churchill, I'm the Principal here, and I will decide when the meeting is over."
"Could I have a piece of scratch paper?" Sean asked.
"Certainly."
Sean scribbled on the scratch paper and handed it to Principal McVay. "Here. The name on the paper is George Dickson. I believe you know him. He's our Attorney. His telephone number is under his name. I suggest you call him. As Andy said, this meeting is over."
With that, Sean and Andy rose, and left.
In shock, Principal McVay, slack-jawed, called call George Dickson. Once George got past listening to Principal McVay's opening, and replying with his trademark, "I see..." George advised, "Bill, look, as far as I understand what you've told me, I'm sorry to say that the boys were right. The Police have two suspects in custody and the charges would appear to range, among other things they may find, from Battery, probably with bodily harm, and including First, or Second Degree Sexual Assault. Both are subject to not insignificant jail time. Three-and-a-half years for Battery and up to sixty years for First Degree Sexual Assault. Forty if they go for Second Degree Sexual Assault. My advice to you here as a friend of many years, Bill? Stay as far out of this crap as you can. Co-operate with the Police. Tighten up the security around the school, and that's about the size of it. Like it, or not, what those two guys who beat up that kid did was out of your control, and taking it out on Sean and Andy isn't the way to go here. There's never been a felony committed at the school. You run a good school, Bill, and I know that because my three sons are alumni. Shit happens. I don't think anyone is town is going to blame you for what happened... Anyway, if I were you, after we hang up I'd call the Superintendent, and then the School District's Attorney right away before they find out on their own. That's really about all you can do... In the meantime, I'll advise Sean and Andy to apologize to you, but we both know they're smart kids and they'll think that's BS. So, if they don't seem totally sincere, don't sweat it."
"I guess I over-reacted, George... You know, I only got eight years to go before I can retire, and something like this? I need it like I need fucking jock itch. That Trager kid's parents are gonna be pissed, and a lot of times pissed off parents just don't listen to reason..."
"A lot of times a lot of people don't listen to reason, Bill. All you can do is let them know you'll stand behind their son. They can yell at you, nuthin' ya can do about that, but for what happened to that kid, it's not on your head. It's on the heads of the ones that did it. And the Police have them. They have them because of the actions of two fine young men who are also your students."
"Gotcha. You're right. Thanks again George..."
"You bet, Bill. I'll be in touch if there's anything, but probably there won't be."
Sean and Andy warily completed their day, but no one seemed to be giving them odd looks, or asking questions. Word spread that someone got beat up, and the Police came, but no one really had any details. Some of the rumors were a little bizarre. Someone was saying it was a terrorist, others just that the assailant had a gun, but no one seemed to know who was involved. Sean and Andy left it alone.
After school, they stopped at the Verizon store to get Andy a replacement phone. They telephoned Charlie Ditmar to let him know to deactivate the security apps on Andy's primary phone until they got it back, and on the way home they telephoned Joe to let him know what happened. Joe simply laughed at the two "getting your asses in another jam."
"You called George, I hope..." Joe went on.
"Not yet, dad," Sean said. "We'll give George a holler once we get home." Which they did. George had them put him on speaker phone, and they both told the tale. George advised them of Principal McVay's call and that they should apologize to him. Both boys laughed and said they'd do that at some point the next day.
After hanging up with George, a call came through to Andy's phone. The caller identified himself as Detective Michael Meinecke of the Janesville Police. The Detective asked if he could come by after dinner that evening, and an appointment was set for 7:00 that night.
"Sean-o, that was the Detective. Said his name is Meinecke. He'll be over at 7:00 tonight."
"OK, well, dad and I met Meinecke when we hadda go down and identify Jane Berrifield. He's a nice guy. He's been to the house before."
"Oh, yeah, I remember him... That's good. At least it's someone we know..."
"It'll be fine."
"You think we need George to be there?"
"Nah... I mean, we didn't do anything wrong, and this is a pretty cut-and-dried case. We can leave George alone tonight, Brown Eyes..."
"Sounds good..."
In a motel, just inside the north end of town off Interstate 90, a man busied himself on a laptop computer. "Jesus Christ! I've been here almost a fuckin' week already! I gotta fuckin' find `em!" he muttered, feverishly running his hand through his hair. Continuing to search away using Google, Bing and any other search engine he could think of, at last he hit pay dirt. A reference to both name and the address which had until now eluded him.
Checking the City of Janesville tax records online, the owner of record of the address that he found was shown to be one Joseph P. Wyman who purchased the home in August of 2014 at a sale price of $600,000. "Yup, that's gotta be it, for sure! I'm in luck tonight! Fuck, I wish I didn't hav to do this."
Entering the address into Goggle Maps, then switching to the street scene view, he whistled under his breath to himself. "Jesus Christ, that's a fuckin' shack! Well, better get ready... Don't wanna ruin the party! Well, wish me luck!"
At the Alamo, the topic of discussion around the dinner table that night was, naturally, the events at school earlier. John was the first one wanting to know what happened. Before Sean, or Andy could answer, Joe indicated in no uncertain terms that he wanted to hear the whole story with nothing added, and nothing left out.
Both John and Joe listened in rapt attention. Andy and Sean could have heard a pin drop. Even Mrs. Cheadle said nothing.
"So, that's the story, guys. The Detective is coming over at seven. It's the same one we met when we had to identify Jane Berrifield, dad." Sean said.
"OK, that's good. You guys meet with him, and we'll make ourselves scarce. That OK with you, Jonathan?"
"Yeah, dad... But you guys better tell me what happens with the Detective!" John said, jaw clenched.
"Don't worry, Bambino, we're fine... And besides, we can't letcha know too much. There's a Court Case now... So, it's too bad for you!" Sean laughed as he stuck his tongue out.
"You're an asshole, Sean..." John frowned.
"Yes, but I am also your Hero. So, you have an asshole for a Hero. Deal? We'll letcha know as soon as we can. I mean, it's not like YOU keep any secrets at all from us, right? I mean like..."
"OKOKOKOKOK!" John cut Sean off. "I get it!"
"Very good. I knew you'd get it..." Sean winked.
"Dick!" John spat.
Sean and Andy just laughed. Joe rolled his eyes at his sons' antics.
"Alright," Joe said. "The Detective's gonna be here at 7:00, so you guys get the table cleared off and the dishes cleaned up. Make sure there's a pot of coffee on in case the Detective wants a cup, and put some of this morning's donuts out, too."
"Donuts are already out," Sean said. "I mean, who would have a Cop over and not offer donuts? Honey glazed, of course..."
At 6:55 p.m., a car moved slowly eastbound on Court Street. "OK, this is the 600 block, so it should be three blocks down... There it is! Shit, there's no parking on this street! OK, well, it's a corner lot, so I'll just park on the side street..."
Parking on the side of the road, exiting the vehicle and making his way around the corner to the front of the Alamo, the person spied a Janesville Police unmarked cruiser pull up and park right in front of the Alamo in the no parking zone. It had to be an unmarked, he reasoned, as plain Jane Ford Crown Victorias with a spotlight on the driver's side A-pillar existed for no other purpose. Exiting the unmarked, and making his way up the Alamo front walk, was a man dressed in a cheapish-looking suit. Only the least observant of people would mistake the man for anything other than a Police Detective as he wore his badge pinned to his jacket. "Jesus Christ! I waited a fucking week for this! Can't go up to the door when there's a Cop there! What the FUCK! I guess I'll just hafta wait in the fucking car and see if he comes out..."
Back to his car he went. He moved the car to the opposite side of the intersection with Court Street so he had a clear view of the Alamo's front door. "I'll just wait a while... Damnit!"
Inside, the meeting with Detective Meinecke proceeded in a businesslike fashion. Meinecke indicated he had viewed the video from Andy's phone, and had downloaded it to the Police Department computer system. He returned Andy's phone letting him know they would have no further need for it. He basically asked Andy and Sean to recap what they had seen the same way as the uniformed Officer did at school. Indicating he was finished, although he might have further questions, he thanked Sean and Andy for the coffee and donut, "...nice touch with the donuts, guys," he chuckled. "Got any questions for me?"
"I got one," Andy said. "What happened to those guys who did it? I mean, I don't necessarily want to run into them at school, ya know..."
"They're both being held at the Rock County Jail pending charges. What the charges will be, I couldn't tell you. That's up to the D.A., but I can tell you that from what we know, the School Board and superintendent pretty much asked the D.A. to throw the book at `em. It's just about certain they will be expelled from school. Don't quote me on that, but I don't see how they wouldn't be. I mean, look, I know you guys aren't stupid... The School Board, Superintendent and the Principal are gonna cover their asses, so they'll expel them. Then they'll announce a bunch of new policies that don't mean shit and wash their hands of it.There's no way they could have prevented what happened unless they have every student followed aroundall the time, but they'll pretend they can do that. That's how it'll go..."
"Well, in all fairness, it really wasn't their fault," Sean said. "I mean, like you said, they can't follow everyone around, and it was in a corner of the school at a time when no one else was there. As rotten as it was for Tory, it really just boiled down to bad luck. I guess the only good thing was that me and And were there, and I recognized those creeps from last year..."
"What do you mean you recognized them from last year?" Meinecke asked.
"Oh, shit," Sean sighed. "Do I really hafta get into this?"
"I would advise you to. If you're called to the stand and you haven't told me, the D.A. is gonna find out that you knew them from somewhere before because you're gonna hafta to tell him while you're on the stand. That'ss be a surprise, and the D. A. doesn't like surprises. Especially like that. The D.A. could at that point, if he wanted to, move to make you a Hostile Witness. I understand you're running for the City Council, is that correct?"
"Yeah..."
"It might not look very good for a City Councilor, assuming you win a seat, to be taken as a Hostile Witness in a case involving the battery and sexual assault of a minor. To put it bluntly, to the public it would look like you're in cahoots with the Defendants. So, I mean, you can do whatever you like, but my advice to you is to tell me now. Understand, son? You got a Lawyer?"
"Yeah."
"Well, your Lawyer's probably tell gonna you the same thing I just did."
"I get what you're saying, but the only reason I didn't want to get in to it is to protect a friend of mine who, yeah, they bullied, too, but doesn't like attention of any kind. If he knew I told you without letting him know first, he'd be really pissed off at me. He'd consider it an invasion of his privacy. And he wouldn't understand. He won't want to get sucked into this. I can guarantee you that."
"What did they do to him?"
"Extorted money."
"And you witnessed it?"
"Yeah. Once."
"How much money?"
"They wanted fifty bucks. He told me he had to give them fifty a week."
"And you only saw it once, right? You follow me?"
"I think so..."
"Look, it's getting late. Here's the deal: you say you saw them try to extort fifty bucks from this guy one time, right?"
"Right."
"And you say from what your friend told you that they were doing it weekly, but you never saw it other than just that once, correct?"
"Yup."
"Then I don't think that's really germane to this case. It would be a side show. I'll have to put it in my report, but given the other charges, I don't think the D.A. will want to do anything with it, unless he decides he wants to show a pattern of behavior. Let's do this: could you reach this friend of yours on the phone right now?"
"I think so."
"Then call him, let him know what's going on and when you've done that, let me talk to him."
"Alright, if that's how you wanna handle it... I just hope he doesn't bite my head off." Sean then picked up the phone, called Brad, spoke to him for a minute, and put Meinecke on the line.
Outside, in his car, the man in the car was beginning to get impatient.
"OK, Mr. Wyman, your friend agreed to talk to me tomorrow morning at 9:00. He didn't seem upset, or anything. Actually, he didn't say much at all. Oh, he did say for me to tell you thanks..."
"Well, you'll find out he doesn't say much. About anything. He'll never use two words when one will do..."
"That's just the kind of interviewee I like. And with that, I think we're done here for tonight. Here's my card, and if you guys could, email me your class schedules so in case I need anything else, I can just drop by the school during a free period."
"Sounds good!" Andy said. "We'll see you out, Detective."
Sean's phone rang the second Detective Meinecke cleared the door. It was Brad. "It's fucking Brad!" Sean said to Andy.
"Why you tell the Cop about me? Don't like that." Brad said, deadpan.
"Brad, I didn't have a choice. If you don't believe me, the Detective can tell you why when you see him. I'd rather you heard it from him, anyway, but you have to believe me. I had no choice."
"How come..."
"Because if I didn't then I could get in trouble. That's what he told me, and you can ask him."
"I gonna," and with that, Brad hung up.
"Is he pissed?" Andy asked.
"Not sure," Sean said. "I mean, he didn't SOUND pissed off, but you know Brad... He's tough to read when it comes to that."
"He'll be fine. He's not a douche..."
"He wouldn't know how to be a douche..."
Seeing the Detective exit the Alamo, get in his unmarked and leave, the driver's door of the car parked kitty-corner across the street opened. "Finally!"
Approaching the front gate of the Alamo, he found it locked. "Shit! I didn't see anyone come out and lock the gate! Fuck! I wonder if there's a bell..."
Finding a button, he pressed it.
"Bloody hell!" Mrs. Cheadle exclaimed from the living room where she was with the twins, letting them crawl around the huge room to burn off energy before she put them down for the night. Knowing Joe was in his office, and Sean, Andy and John were in the Library, both in the back of the house, she picked the twins, up, put them in their playpen, and went to answer the bell.
"Yes, who is it?" Mrs. Cheadle said, seeing the face of a young man on the screen.
"I'm looking for Sean?"
"Pillock! I'm not the maid and that's not what I bloody asked! I can see ya alright! State your bloody name, man!"
Taken aback by the imperious British accent blaring out of the speaker, the man merely responded that if Sean was there, then maybe he could come to the speaker.
"Well, I see ya think yer important, do ya... Well, I'm fekkin' Queen Victoria, too... You stay right where you are!"
Mrs. Cheadle went to the Library and let Sean know there was someone at the front gate asking for him, but that he wouldn't give his name.
"OK, I'll check it out..." Sean said. "I'm not expecting anyone, though... It's not the Detective, is it?"
"No, sir. I don't know who it is, sir."
Once at the door, Sean gasped. `What the hell!" he thought to himself. He hesitated for a second, then pushed the button to talk. "Yeah, I can see you... It's late, you know. What in the name of God are you doing here?"
END CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO