The next few days went quietly. Or at least as quiet as they could manage. Columbia Falls had a road game on the following Friday, so Officer Barnes and I had no responsibilities to maintain security at the football field, which was a plus. But, the riot and attack on Amy and Marcella remained the front issue, particularly at the high school. And much of what Officer Barnes and I knew came from we had been told. And the morning after the riot had occurred, one call came in in regards to it.
Officer Barnes and I had just made our way into the DARE office, when the phone rang. Officer Barnes answered it to find it was Officer Howard on the other end of the line.
"Good morning, sir," Officer Barnes answered, "what is the problem?"
"No real problem," I heard Officer Howard reply, "at least none beyond what's already blown up lately."
That was likely a reference to the riot from the day before. Before Officer Barnes could answer, Officer Howard continued.
"I'm going to need you and Officer Wayne to come in after school starts," Officer Howard continued.
"You're wanting a report, sir?" Officer Barnes asked.
"It couldn't hurt, but I'd prefer to wait on a full explanation until you're here," Officer Howard told him, "With all the reporters buzzing around, I'm not taking any chances."
"Reporters aren't allowed to tap lines," I commented.
"Doesn't mean they can't eavesdrop," Officer Barnes spoke back to me while muffling the phone. Once he'd finished that, he turned back to the phone, "We'll be there as soon as we can, sir."
"Very good," Officer Howard replied, "I'll see you then."
Officer Barnes then hung up and sighed and looked up at the clock, "Guess we have a report to give in ten minutes or so..."
"That'll be when we leave here," I reminded him, "I'm going to the front door to keep an eye on things here as they come in."
Officer Barnes nodded and stayed near the phone, "and I'll be ready in case something goes on at the middle school."
Things were quiet as the high schoolers came in. Non of the teens that had participated in the attack came in. That was to be expected. They had either been caught or were hiding out somewhere, and wouldn't come to the school until they thought things had cooled down. Of course, since the High School Secretaries had written the letters of suspension, and the principal had signed them, the teens all had to know that they wouldn't be allowed on school property for the rest of the school year.
Marcella came in alone, which I guessed could also be expected. Amy had six weeks to heal from the beating she had taken when it came to the healing of her broken ribs and they Tyerees likely kept her at their home for awhile. Now, since her lungs weren't punctured, the broken ribs weren't that serious, but I had no expertise on how the bones were to heal and made no question of it to Marcella. If they wanted Amy to rest for a while while she recovered, that was their decision.
The two girls that I had seen with Amy and Marcella, Sally and Julie, met up with Amy as the female Maine Coon went into the school. They appeared to sound supportive, which made me sigh. There were at least some decent people... of course that was an exaggeration on my part. There were decent people everywhere, as I knew from Molly's and my own experience. But it felt good to see that there were still people would would be friends with Amy and Marcella.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Once everyone had made it into the school, Officer Barnes and I loaded ourselves into the assigned DARE car and made our way into the station. Things seemed fairly quiet there, although there was a lone news van from CBS parked in front of the station. As we drove in, I noticed that they were packing their things up and were preparing to move on. My best guess was that they had come in for additional responses to the riot that had happened the day before, and either got a brief statement from Officer Howard or were told to buzz off. What that result was, Officer Barnes and I didn't know, and decided not to try and find out what it was while we went in.
Officer Howard was in the front desk area of the station pouring himself a pot of coffee as Officer Barnes and I made our way in. He sipped from his mug and then motioned for us to follow him. We did so. However, he did not lead us into his office, but continued on toward our station's holding cells.
"I don't really need a report on what happened, yesterday," Officer Howard answered, "Officer Wainwright and his partner did a good job on explaining what happened and showed me the security camera footage of the attack. Nasty stuff, all around."
"Mostly all happened because we were babysitting the reporters," Officer Barnes answered, "We could have done more if we were closer... in our office there for example."
"You two did all you could," Officer Howard dismissed that, "It's the press that's really the problem. We have to be on our toes because they're going to be hanging around until the election is over... and now they're all interested in covering yesterday's riot... and in addition, the mother of the cat girl has already called asking if she could level a civil suit against the kids that had the idea to pull a stunt like this."
"Could she?" I asked.
"Not until the criminal case is over," Officer Howard sighed, "at which point... what would it matter? They'd be bankrupted by paying fines to either the school district of the city... getting some sort of financial settlement isn't going to help other then give her some personal gratification of being in the right..."
"From what the "cat-girl", Marcella, has told me, sir," I commented, "the girl who needed medical treatment has been living with them because her father essentially threw her out for the statement she made to the press on her sexuality. Which likely means that the victim's current "caretakers" don't have the insurance policy that would cover the treatment of the victim's injuries. So getting a financial settlement might be necessary to cover the medical costs. And given the viciousness of the attack... I'm not sure it could be called a nuisance case, sir."
"Maybe not, Officer Wayne," Officer Howard sighed, "that doesn't mean that it makes a complicated situation even more complicated."
Officer Barnes and I nodded and followed Officer Howard into the Holding Cell area. Seated there on the benches provided were the three teens that had been messing with Marcella in one cell, with another male in with them. In an adjacent cell were the three teenage girls that had fled with "Donnie" when I broke up the fight. It appeared that all of them had been arrested eventually.
"Do you recognize four here as the ones that got away?" Officer Howard asked.
I looked to all three girls and the fourth male. I slowly nodded. They were the ones who had gotten away when I had broken up the attack on Amy and Marcella.
"These are them," I told him.
Officer Howard nodded in response, "Good. That confirms everything we got from the security camera footage."
"How were they caught?" Officer Barnes asked, "if I may inquire?"
"All were caught in the course of the day and into last night," Officer Howard sighed, "Blake went back to his ranch and claimed he'd been there all along and had never gone into school. His father backed him up, and we had to rush things with a warrant to do the job... which we did... and hurried warrants through for the rest of the group as well. I doubt we're going to get any favors from the judges and prosecutors for this..."
Officer Howard sighed and turned to Officer Barnes and I before continuing.
"By the time Wainwright and his partner made it back to the Blake ranch, the father had gotten the notice of suspension from the school and handed his son over," Officer Howard answered, "seemed more upset thought that his son had gotten caught rather then upset that he'd started a homophobic riot. Tyle and Wyre went quietly... mostly as if they didn't expect to be tracked down once they'd gotten away from the school..."
He glanced to Officer Barnes and I. There was the obvious reference that could be made to Las Vegas's city motto, but the situation left me in a very non-joking mood.
"The hardest case came with Tin," Officer Howard finished the story, "she had apparently snatched up the school's letter before Officer Tin returned home for the night, and when one of the night shift officers went to make the arrest, warrant in hand, Officer Tin took the lead in trying to defend her daughter... however, when she saw the warrant and saw how the officers there weren't going to back down... she... she broke I think. Like she couldn't believe or process that her daughter could have done something like this... and from what I found out this morning, she had to be restrained by arresting officers from attacking her daughter. She was that mad."
"She took pride in her daughter," Officer Barnes said loud enough so that all of them in the cells could hear him, "and tried to teach her right from wrong... and then her daughter betrays her by doing something unthinkably stupid and wrong. It probably broke Officer Tin's heart."
Officer Howard nodded.
"And all you needed from us was to identify them?" I asked.
Officer Howard nodded again.
"How long are they going to be here?" I wondered.
"Until they can make bail," Officer Howard answered, "and it appears that their parents are still "co-signees" on their own bank accounts, so they need parental consent to make a bank transaction, and for the moment, their parents are too angry with them for their own reasons to consent to that transaction. We're still working on setting court dates for the criminal proceedings. The question is for the moment whether they'd be tried as adults or as minors."
Officer Barnes and I nodded.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And for a few days, that had been the only major action that had gone on. The High School football team departed on their road trip on Friday. Amy did return to the school on Friday, though she was also wearing a padded vest under her clothes. Likely to pad things and to make sure her injuries weren't aggravated. Marcella also walked close by and looked ready to be very protective of Amy. Hopefully they got a bit of an easier time. Officer Barnes and I never saw anything more go on at the school. As if the riot was enough of a shock to the school's system to take additional measures. I found a paper flier talking about the wrongs of bullying and other things taped to the wall above the drinking fountain near the DARE office.
With the end of the weak, I settled into what I hoped would be a quiet weekend with Molly. And for the most part things were quiet. We took care of all the house hold chores that we had that commonly waited till the weekends, laundry, basic cleaning, etcetera, etcetera.
However, the school board elections and the fallout from the riot was still a major issue. The reporters seemed to flock to the two stories and tried to tie them together. And in some sense, they were tied together. Amy and Marcella had been attacked because of a statement given to the press in which Amy essentially told all of Columbia Falls she was a Lesbian. And she made the statement because of Hireman's charges that Officer Barnes and I were out to turn everyone into Animal-People. In that, the two things were linked, and the reporters liked getting at the connections.
They caught Patten at his home. He managed to give them a tactful and careful response that explained his take on things, and what would likely be Tabby's position on the subject in the election. They'd also met with Mr. and Mrs. Tyeree somewhere to get their thoughts. Their response what would be expected from a pair of angered parents in response to having their daughter attacked... and one could almost say "daughters" by the way they talked about Amy.
These things hung on in the background through to the next Monday night. It was the night of the next debate between Tabby and Hireman, and it would again be held in the Elementary School's gym. And after having a relatively quiet day, Molly and I did attend the debate. This debate had more people in it, and was in fact closer to the size of the previous debates that had to be held in the High School gym. This one was even bigger as all of the news cameras were there with on site reporters. They were all completely set up as Molly and I made our way in.
And the debate focused on the latest issues that had been raised.
"Mr. Hireman," the moderator asked, "in the last debate, you leveled charges against Officer Wayne that he was plotting to turn us all into Animal-People... a charge which has since been proved both false and in a breach of a student's privacy on your part. How do you respond to the charges now being leveled at you? How do you explain to the people that you are the best candidate for the post of School District Superintendent?"
"I defend my actions in that I am defending this school district and the students there," Hireman answered, "the Tiger-People that have seen fit to invade our town are legitimate threats and are far smarter then their mundane relatives. My proof was iron-clad. Officer Wayne urged a human teen to take the Animatrix Serum. End of story."
"Mr. Hireman, the statement made by Amanda Vin to the local press proves that you were wrong, and accuses you personally of invading her privacy," the moderator answered, "not the board... not Officer Wayne... YOU. How do you respond to the charges she has leveled against you?"
"As I said, the local tigers are smarter then you think and truly are legitimate threats," Hireman answered, "more then likely, they realized that I had uncovered their plot, they urged the girl to make some ridiculous statement to cover their tracks."
A bold faced lie.
"Do you have proof of this?" the moderator asked him, sounding as though she was tired of the way Hireman had run his campaign.
"That isn't relevant to the race," Hireman answered, "I have told you the truth as I see it. I can not go around and collect all the of the proof the the plots Officer Wayne and his wife have made. I am busy defending this school district and my methods are the only thing that will keep the children safe."
"Safe from what?" Tabby charged, "From your paranoia?!"
"It is better to be safe then sorry," Hireman growled back her.
The two traded a couple of barbs before the moderator managed to restore order. Once she did so, she turned to Tabby.
"Mrs. Choir, what is your response to these latest events?" the moderator asked, "the news statement? The riot at the high school?"
"The recent events are nothing more then a sign of the racist and fanatical actions and stances taken by Wayne Hireman," Tabby spoke, "he has continually pulled underhanded tricks to try and either implicate Officer Wayne or Molly Rhoer-Wayne in some crime... or bring down everyone else with him. These statements have been made without thinking and that is the real problem, because it reinforces many of the tendencies that we like to believe are not problems for us."
Tabby paused for a moment before continuing.
"Mr. Hireman knew his latest attack was false and that he was hiding the truth," Tabby continued, "but yet he used it anyway. It offended the innocent girl would ultimately make the statement to the local press to explain to everyone that Mr. Hireman's attack was false. And now fed on the hatred of Beauregard, Hireman, the anger of the Culture Warriors, the girl was attacked during school hours because of what was said in her statement. Because Mr. Hireman saw fit to invade her privacy, she had reveal matters that should be private... hers, and hers alone to try and regain some vestige of her dignity. And she was attacked because of it."
Again, Tabby paused before finishing.
"And as I have said throughout my campaign, that is where the real threat to our children is," Tabby spoke, "Hireman's racism will infect our children if he is allowed to continue his polices... and then what will happen? We will become a recreated version of all the things we say are wrong and will lose our moral center... all to back one man's hatred."