“It says his lawyer is Thomas Fox. He is so screwed,” I said and then returned to my reading.
Thomas Fox was the lawyer Pam’s dad had used. That could only mean that Don Rigby and Brandon’s dad must be calling the shots behind the scenes. They didn’t want to get their hands dirty.
“Mr. Rigby has agreed to return to Massachusetts to face charges,” Fox said.
Harvard University said in a statement released Tuesday that it was ‘shocked and saddened to learn that several Harvard students have reported being sexually assaulted by a former fellow student.’
Police urge anyone with information about Mr. Rigby to come forward.
“Does Tami know?” I asked Mom.
“She and Alan were contacted by Detective Kitchens yesterday. They will both be giving statements today. The Cambridge police are sending someone to talk to them.”
I read the election results, and the governor and Senator Dixon had won easily, while Bev Mass had lost in a close one. After breakfast, on the ride to school, I called Tami.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“It became real yesterday. I’m coming home to talk to a detective and give him my statement today.”
“Do you want to talk?” I asked.
“Maybe. Let me see how today goes. If I need to, I’ll send you a text,” Tami assured me.
◊◊◊
Today was the big test for Alan’s lunch-buddy app. He’d set me up to be a host, and I’d taken care of that first thing this morning. As I walked to lunch, I checked to see if anyone had signed up. I smiled when I saw it was the regular crowd.
Alan was quite good at this stuff. I would never have guessed a high school kid had put this together. It was plain to see that he’d actually listened to Stacy Clute because it, in fact, looked sharp. When you opened the app, our Lincoln High bulldog logo came up. Alan had figured out how to have students sign up via social media or do it manually. He used social media so he could steal their picture.
When I’d gone into the app to host a table, it showed me a layout of our lunchroom, and there’d only been one available table that was green. I tapped on that table and confirmed I would host it. The table icon now showed my picture in one of the seats with my name and the title ‘Host’ under it.
When we were getting dressed after PE, I showed Wolf how to use it. When we logged him in, Alan had already claimed a seat, as had Zoe, Brook, and Cassidy. I wondered what Alan would do if people didn’t sit in their assigned seats. He was just OCD enough to throw a fit.
At lunch, he sat next to me and made me check off everyone as they arrived. If someone didn’t show up, the host could remove them, and it would open up the seat. He’d had Stacy sign up, but she ate at her usual table. Gina had been the odd man out, so I deleted Stacy. Gina was on the waiting list, so her picture popped into the slot, and it sent her a text. She confirmed, and I checked her off.
I found it amusing that Alan had enlisted his ex-girlfriends to help him. He wasn’t amused when I pointed out that little factoid to the table. What are best friends for?
◊◊◊
I had planned to stay out of the whole Brandon situation. That plan flew out the window when I was called to the office during my last period. When I got there, I found Detective Kitchens with another man. One look told me he was also a police detective.
“We were wondering if we might talk to you,” Detective Kitchens said.
“Have I done something?” I asked.
“I don’t know, have you?” Detective Kitchens replied with a straight face.
“Maybe.”
The other detective, who hadn’t been introduced, was suddenly interested.
“Perhaps we’ll talk about it later. This is Detective Dale of the Cambridge Police Department. He wanted to get a better idea of the whole story. I called Ms. Dixon, and she said she would listen in,” he said, addressing one of my concerns.
At my request, they followed me to the Field House, where I told Moose that I would be late for practice. He let us use one of the conference rooms there. I called Ms. Dixon and put her on speakerphone.
“Detective Kitchens gave me a brief outline as to why you want to talk to my client. Before we get started, would you please explain the intent of the interview?” Ms. Dixon asked.
“I want to get a timeline of his involvement in case we need it for the prosecution,” Detective Dale answered. “We’re sure that once this gets started, Mr. Rigby’s lawyers will try to tear down the foundation of the case any way they can.”
“Okay, but I want you to remember that David is not the focus of this investigation and that he is voluntarily helping here. If I get a whiff of ill intent, I’ll pull the plug on this.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I then recounted what I’d told Detective Kitchens. The only sticking point was who had I hired to investigate Brandon and how they’d gotten the information. Ms. Dixon shut that down, for now. When I talked to her after the call, she told me she hoped they had enough other details to worry about.
She gave me the heads-up that Detective Kitchens had said the journals that were found were a gold mine. He wouldn’t tell her what was in them, but she’d been told that Brandon was in serious trouble if everything proved to be true.
We both hoped that would be the last we would see of Detective Dale.
◊◊◊
Halfway through baseball practice, I spotted Alan. Cassidy had made him start going to her sixty minutes of hell sessions. I was impressed he’d stuck it out, and it was apparent he was losing weight. I was practicing batting while three other players observed. Moose asked me to explain what I did at bat and would send a handful of guys to watch each day. When I was done, I took a moment to talk to Alan.
“How’d it go today?” I asked.
“Fine. Tami wants to grab dinner before she goes back. Can you skip the dojo?” he asked.
“I need to tell Cassidy, but sure.”
“I’ll tell Cassidy,” Alan said.
“Dawson!” Moose bellowed.
“Gotta go,” I said and got back to practice.
◊◊◊
I was surprised when we didn’t end up at Monical’s. Instead, Tami wanted to go to the Chinese place by the park. Since I’d been introduced to more types of Chinese cuisine when I was in New York, I used that knowledge to order for my friends. We started out with mu xu pork as the appetizer. Alan loved fajitas, so I described it as Chinese fajitas to get him to stop whining. He just wanted to get some egg rolls. I think the poor boy had been to too many Chinese buffets.
“The interview went well. There wasn’t much I could tell them since Brandon drugged me,” Tami said.
Alan stiffened up. I think he was afraid of how I might react to a discussion of that night because I’d made it clear I didn’t want to talk about it. I suspect Tami had purposefully brought it up so I could get past it. Still, I felt my stomach tighten at the memory of seeing the two of them in bed together. Rationally, I knew it had been staged, but that didn’t mean I was happy about it. I remembered Tami admitted that she’d kissed Alan. I realized they weren’t in their right minds at the time, and I should cut them some slack. But the old Alpha Male in me didn’t seem to want to let it go.
“It still pisses you off,” Tami stated.
I looked at both of them and nodded. She could always read me; that hadn’t changed. Alan looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.
“David, if I could do it over again …” he began.
“I know, Alan. I understand what happened, and I realize that neither of you intended to hurt me. And I also understand that I have no right to be upset. Tami made it clear she wanted to explore without me.”
There it was, the root of everything. The feelings of betrayal almost overwhelmed me. It was as if I were right back at my apartment after Tami walked out of my life when I gave her the promise ring. I thought I’d gotten past all this, but obviously not.