Lindsey says, “Nana…” Her face immediately blushes. “Oh, I’m sorry for the slip up. I meant to say, Missus Davenhill.”
Missus Davenhill smiles. “It is quite all right, Miss Godspeed. It is a logical slip,” she chuckles, “seeing as I am your grandmother. Please continue.”
Lindsey says, “I was appalled by what happened at Anthony Marvella’s memorial. I had glanced from behind the curtains and looked out at the audience. I almost cried when I saw the horrified looks on Mister and Missus Marvella’s faces. They were shocked with the ruckus that started in the audience when the photo slideshow ended.” A sincere, sorrowful expression appears on Lindsey’s face. “Missus Marvella was balling her eyes out. It was very heartbreaking to watch.
“Anyway, and I apologize that I did not inform you earlier, but I thought it might be wise to examine the slides. I did not watch the photo slideshow live, so I had no idea what was on it. Nonetheless, I figured that something on the slides might have prompted some in the audience to react the way that they did. Unless there was rebellion in the audience, which I doubted given the circumstances of the memorial, I figured the slideshow had something to do with the outburst. I went through the slides one by one.” Lindsey’s face suddenly blushes. “I am sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“What did you find?” Missus Davenhill asks. She says as an afterthought, “Please, don’t worry yourself about not telling me sooner. You weren’t a member of the investigative team until the other day. I must say, I am very pleased they accepted you on their team. Please continue.”
Lindsey reaches into her pants pocket and removes two slides. She pushes the slides across the tabletop to Missus Davenhill. Missus Davenhill examines them.
Lindsey says, “I found dozens of slides like this. All of them contain similar, suggestive cues. The cues are subliminal messages designed to provoke people, especially young people like us. They are designed to force youngsters to do weird things, things that we observed during Anthony’s memorial. The technician that operated the slideshow may have manipulated the speed of the slides so that the conscious minds of the audience would not recognize the cues.” Lindsey glances at Diana Jane. “Whether or not the technician did this on purpose, I cannot say. He may not have even known something had tainted the slideshow. However, I do know this fact for certain. I had never seen the technician before that day. Neither had Diana Jane. Perhaps he was someone new.”
Missus Davenhill shakes her head back and forth as she stares at the slides. The only thing that she can manage to say is, “Oh, my goodness!” She looks at Lindsey. She is about to say something else when Officer Bennett suddenly bangs his fist on the table yet again.
Officer Bennett calls out in an angry tone, “Okay, I have had enough of this nonsense! Marie, this is a waste of time.” He roughly pushes his chair from the table and stands. He thrusts his hands into his pockets. His face is beet red, and he is trembling.
“I will not put up with more of this juvenile garbage. Tainted slides. Subliminal messages.” He glowers at Lindsey. “I bet this kid planted the supposed incriminating slides herself.” He points his finger menacingly at Lindsey. “As you know, Miss Godspeed, I am the school resource officer! Granddaughter or no granddaughter, if I discover you or the others are pointlessly stating something false, you will find yourself calling your parents from juvey. I promise you!”
Lindsey suddenly collapses back in her chair. Her eyes mist up with tears. She begins to tremble with what Officer Bennett has said.
Missus Davenhill whispers in a stern tone of voice, “Goodness, Bartholomew, calm down. Let Miss Godspeed and the others say what they have to say.” She looks at Officer Bennett squarely in the eye. Furthermore, sir, for the record, I will not tolerate, I repeat, I will not tolerate you making threats or reproachful remarks to any of my students,” she glances at Lindsey, “whether she or he is a relative of mine or not!” She waves the slides in the air.
“Something weird happened at the memorial. Something weird happened in the cafeteria. Something weird occurred when someone removed the videotape from my desk drawer. Up until now, we haven’t been able to figure out who or what has caused this strangeness. However, we may be closer to the truth owing to these industrious youngsters. Now, please sit down, and let us continue our discussion in a civil, understanding, and open-minded manner.” She glowers at Officer Bennett. “If you do not control your anger, I will ask you to leave.”
With an accompanying loud harrumph, Officer Bennett sits down in his chair angrily. He reaches for his cellphone. Before he can grab it, Brenae sneezes loudly three times in quick succession.
“Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”
Everyone looks at Brenae. Gradually, the Septet team members begin to grin as they realize what has happened. Brenae’s unexpected sneezing was right on cue, precisely as they had discussed it during last night’s meeting.
Brenae is sitting next to Officer Bennett. When she pretended to sneeze, she had reached across Officer Bennett’s lunch tray for the box of tissues. Unbeknownst to the others, Brenae had pre-positioned the box of tissues before the meeting commenced. When she pretended to sneeze and reached for the tissues, she knocked Officer Bennett’s cellphone and the box of tissues off the table. The box fell to the floor at her feet. The phone slid clear across the table and landed on the floor on the other side of Sophia.
Sophia picks up the phone from the floor. She stares at it for a few seconds.
Officer Bennett hollers, “Give that phone to me, young lady! Give it to me now!”
Sophia glares at Officer Bennett as she hands the phone to Brenae. She says in a firm tone, “Here you go, Bre. Please give this to Officer Bennett.” She glances over at Lindsey. Lindsey is still shaking from the scolding she received from Officer Bennett. Sophia shouts, “You were correct, Lindsey. He is recording our conversation. He probably has been doing it for weeks.”
Brenae is holding the phone in her left hand at arm’s length. She says in a forthright tone, “He has been happily recording all this time, imagine that.” She looks at Officer Bennett. “Why would you record our conversation, sir? It appears suspicious to me, to say the least.”
Officer Bennett roughly pushes Brenae as he tries to grab the phone from her. Brenae falls headfirst to the floor. Her nose starts to bleed. She grabs a clump of tissues from the tissue box and holds it against her bloody nose. She scrambles to her feet. She still is holding the phone.
Officer Bennett yells, “Give that phone to me – or else!”
Brenae cries, “Or else, what?”
Officer Bennett growls, “I will knock you silly you insolent, disrespectful brat. Then I will place you under arrest!” He glares. “Do you want me to place you under arrest?”
Even though she is shaking from head to toe, Brenae manages to reply. “What will your charges be, Officer Bennett? What have I done? All I did was sneeze and knock your phone to the floor. Goodness!” She grins and says in a sarcastic tone, “I am sorry, sir.” She shows Officer Bennett the wad of bloody tissue. “See what you did? You assaulted me, sir, and I did zero to provoke you!”
Officer Bennett unclips his handcuffs from his belt. He says, “Tough. You deserved it. As far as charges are concerned, I will figure out a charge even if I have to make up one. Give me my phone, now!”
He grabs Brenae by her shoulders and shoves her face-first onto the table. Now, her lips are bleeding. Officer Bennett slaps one-half of the handcuffs around Brenae’s right wrist. He roughly pulls her to her feet.
“Do you want to go to jail, Bre? Give me that phone, now!”
Brenae hands the phone to him. Despite her usual self-assured expression, and notwithstanding her bold action a few moments ago, she looks like she is about to faint. Still, she finds the courage to fight back against an adult that has assaulted her for no reason!
She says, “Please do not address me by my first name sir! Only my friends call me Bre. You, sir, are not my friend! You are a consp
irator and a crook!” She points to her bloody nose and lips. “You assaulted me – twice!”
Officer Bennett barks, “Shut up and give me your other hand! You are under arrest!” He tries unsuccessfully to grab Brenae’s other hand. Brenae is squirming too much for him to get a firm grip on it.
Missus Davenhill shouts, “Officer Bennett, you release Miss Woodbine now, or I will call the police! Unclasp her hand. Do it now!”
“I am the police,” Officer Bennett says casually without looking at Missus Davenhill. “I am placing this young lady under arrest.”
“For what?” Colette yells. “For knocking your phone off the table? Is that an offense, officer? I seriously doubt that it is.” Colette is furious. She unconsciously says in her Scottish dialect, “Yer bum’s oot the windae! Your fellow policemen and women should arrest you for assaulting Bre when she did nothing to threaten you! You bloodied her nose and lips!” She points her finger at Officer Bennett. “Whit’s fur ye’ll no go past ye!”
Sophia jumps to her feet. She is about to say something to Officer Bennett when Missus Davenhill, who is standing next to Brenae, shouts.
“Sophia! Sit down! Do not do anything to provoke him.” Sophia sits back in her chair. She glowers at Officer Bennett. Her hands still are clenched into fists.
Missus Davenhill moves to stand between Officer Bennett and Brenae.
“Give me the key, Bartholomew, or, if you want, you unlock that handcuff yourself. Either way, you let her go right now, or I swear to God, I will call the police.”
Brenae stares wide-eyed at her right wrist. One-half of the handcuffs is gloomily dangling from it. All she can manage to say as she looks up at Officer Bennett is, “Please?”
Officer Bennett says in an unpleasant tone, “Marie, give me one good reason why I should unlock the handcuff." He glares at Brenae. “I knew these kids were nothing but trouble. You should never have trusted them in the first place. You allow kids to investigate incidents that happen in a school. How stupid is that?”
Missus Davenhill has her cellphone in her left hand. She has her right forefinger poised above it. She is ready to call the police. She looks at Officer Bennett and commands in a robust tone of voice, “Release Brenae now, Bartholomew,” she glances at her phone, “or so help me God, I will dial 911. I will ask the police to arrest you for assaulting one of my students. You pushed her to the floor forcefully as you reached for your phone, and you caused her nose to bleed. Then you roughly slammed her onto the table causing her lips to bleed as well. She did nothing to provoke you.”
“I was merely defending myself,” Officer Bennett replies. “Besides, Marie, if you know what is good for you, keep your two cents out of this. Moreover, as I just said, I am the police!”
“Not for long,” Missus Davenhill says indifferently. She stares at Officer Bennett. “You see, Bartholomew, my students were correct. Yes, I have been doing some investigating on my own. Would you like to know what I discovered, sir?”
Officer Bennett’s demeanor suddenly changes. He quickly unlocks the handcuff encircling Brenae’s wrist. The pair of handcuffs falls to the floor with a loud thump. Brenae rushes over to Sophia. Sophia immediately gets to her feet and hugs Brenae. Brenae turns around and glares at Officer Bennett.
Sophia mutters under her breath, “If you weren’t a policeman and we weren’t in school, you would be burnt toast!” She begins to step toward Officer Bennett. Missus Davenhill says, “Don’t make a move, Sophia! He’s armed.”
Officer Bennett seems to ignore Missus Davenhill and Sophia’s exchange. He has his head cocked to one side as he continues to glare at Brenae. He says in a whisper, “What did you discover, Marie?”
Missus Davenhill says calmly, “I found out you were working the graveyard shift the night Puppet escaped. I discovered you had a visitor that night. Your visitor friend dined with you in the jailhouse. Dining with a friend is no big deal. It is an excellent way to pass one’s time during boring shifts. Everyone at the jailhouse does it. After all, the prisoners are in their cells after nine o’clock in the evening. All that remains is a midnight bed check. Regardless of all that, do you know what I discovered, Bartholomew? I discovered that your visitor friend was none other than my vice principal, Neville Sorrie.”
Officer Bennett replies crossly, “Neville is but one of my many friends! Are you accusing me of something corrupt, Marie? What proof do you have?”
Missus Davenhill replies, “I am not accusing you of anything, Bartholomew. However, this much I do know. Your department is investigating the few things that I told them this past Friday.” She shakes her head with disgust, and then she says in a solemn tone, “Their investigations include the unexplained, serious injuries to your fellow police officer on Grider Street when the five other unexplained fatalities occurred. What I read in the Gazette may have been nothing more than a coincidence. On the other hand, what happened could have been intentional.” She smiles deviously.
“Bartholomew, wasn’t it Officer McCaffrey who discovered Puppet missing from his cell? Wasn’t it you who sent Officer McCaffrey on a bogus run in response to a bogus traffic accident that, incidentally, wasn’t logged in until days after the fact? Didn’t the bogus accident allegedly occur an hour or so before Officer McCaffrey discovered Puppet missing from his cell during the bed check?”
Officer Bennett suddenly shouts, “Why you, disgusting, sniveling, snooping, arrogant woman!” He reaches for his sidearm. “You are going to be—”
Before Officer Bennett can finish his sentence or even pull out his sidearm from its holster, Sophia brusquely pushes Brenae and Missus Davenhill’s shoulders forcing them to their knees. At the same time, she is shouting at the top of her lungs, “Get down Septet! All of you get down, now!”
A brief commotion follows Sophia’s shouts. Chairs fall over onto their sides. Food trays scatter upsidedown spilling beef stroganoff, green beans, and cups of ice cream onto the carpet. There is the sound of a loud “thump!” Muffled grunts and groans follow.
Within fifteen seconds, Sophia is shouting yet again. “Okay, everybody! It is safe for you to get up!”
When the others get to their feet, they cannot help but gawk at what they are seeing. Officer Bennett is lying on his back. He had collided with the carpet before he even knew what hit him. The surprised look on his face would be comical if the state of affairs weren’t tremendously grave. His nose is bleeding profusely. It looks broken.
Sophia is straddling the upper portion of Officer Bennett’s stomach. She has her hands clasped firmly around his wrists. Officer Bennett is desperately squirming to dislodge Sophia, but she is too strong, too well-trained, not to mention she is angrier than anyone has ever seen her up until now.
Sophia asks Missus Davenhill to unholster Officer Bennett’s sidearm. Missus Davenhill quickly complies. After Missus Davenhill removes the bullets from the sidearm and checks the chamber to ensure it is clear, Sophia says, “Thank you, ma’am. Now, please hand me the handcuffs.” She gestures with a nod of her head. “They are on the floor behind your right foot.”
Missus Davenhill pockets the bullets. She places the sidearm onto the table. She glances around the room as she points to the weapon. “Stay clear of that.” She retrieves the handcuffs from the floor, and then she moves to stand beside Sophia.
Sophia says to Officer Bennett, “Now, tell me, sir. Are you going to play nice? Or else, do you want me to break your jaw as well?”
Officer Bennett screams, “You assaulted a police officer! Let go of my wrists! Get off me, now!”
Sophia says in a condescending tone, “I did not assault you, officer. I simply stood my ground as you started to withdraw your pistol from your holster. You threatened Missus Davenhill with it!” She yells, “After you assaulted my defenseless friend who had done nothing to you! You assaulted her two times!”
She turns her nose up at Officer Bennett, and then she says in a mocking tone, “It wouldn’t take me but a split-second to knock
you out cold with one solid slam to your jaw. I would probably break your jaw in the process. Now, I am going to ask you one more time. Are you going to play nice?” She moves her face to within four or five inches from Officer Bennett’s broken nose. She stares into his eyes in a sinister way.
“You might as well give up, sir. It is useless to struggle. You are toast if you play nice, and you are toast if you do not. Either way, you are going to jail. Because, sir, my teammates have been recording everything that has happened during this meeting. Am I correct, Diana Jane?”
Diana Jane says in an anxious tone, “Yes, we have been recording everything since Bre pretended to sneeze.”
Sophia says, “Wonderful. Good going, everyone.” She looks up at Missus Davenhill. “Trust me, ma’am. This corrupt, bullying, former law officer is not going anywhere. If he struggles with me, I will knock him out cold before he can say ouch! Please put the handcuffs on him. Let us see how he likes it.”
Sophia continues to glare at Officer Bennett as Missus Davenhill slips the handcuffs around his wrists.
Missus Davenhill says, “Sophia, I have a few things to say before you let him up from the floor,” she quickly glances around the room, “because, as I said, I have been doing a little investigating on my own.” She places her hands on her hips and stares down at Officer Bennett.
“Bartholomew, you have been covertly recording everything during our meetings. I discovered this fact two weeks ago. You have been relaying everything that we discussed to my vice principal and others. You helped six of my students transport expensive audio video equipment from my school to the White Mansion. You repeated the crime when you supported the same six students to carry the material to the warehouse. All the while, you intended to allow my students to harass and bully other students!
“Afterward, you, along with my vice principal, stood outside the warehouse as six of my students bullied six others! What is worse, the two of you did nothing as two of my students threatened Sophia with weapons! Misters Ferguson and Silverman could have killed or injured someone!” She glances at Sophia. “They most certainly would have if Sophia didn’t have martial arts skills! Furthermore, you and my vice principal looked the other way as three of my students perched precariously in the rafters so they could bully six of their fellow students! If they had fallen from the rafters, they would have died! How could you do those things, Bartholomew? You swore an oath to uphold the law! All the while, you were breaking the law and corrupting the morals of minors!”
Puppet Page 36