It Was A Prank
Previously: The team gets information at the library and from Chris Rossi.
Need to catch up on The Spring? Visit the chapter index here:
05:55 PM - Wednesday, November 5, 2014
US Park Police Office, Ft Winfield Scott, The Presidio
“Okay, I know it’s the end of the day,” Jeannie began, coming back into the office after sending Chris on his way, “but I’m thinking we should pay Dash Reilly a visit before the morning.”
“I was thinking the same — should we go?” Mark asked.
“Why don’t you let me and Paco do this one,” Jeannie looked to Paco who nodded. “Don’t you have a pregnant wife at home?” Mark shrugged a little and sighed, smiling slightly.
“You’re probably right…and the next few days will be a lot.”
“Get going, man.” Paco said, pulling on his jacket. “Jeannie — I’ll follow you.”
Ten minutes later they pulled up outside a large but modest Edwardian house on 15th Avenue between Balboa and Cabrillo. Jeannie blocked the driveway and left Fergus in the back seat again; he panted a little and gave her a light whine as she gave his head a rub, waiting for Paco to park. The garage door was open and three girls of different ages were standing under the glare of a bright light above. It lit the dark street almost to the curb, casting a sharp geometric shape on the black sidewalk. They stood in athletic leggings and tops in identical positions, and then after the eldest counted off, began a step dance, raising their knees high and kicking their feet while they spun in unison. They wore tap shoes instead of the traditional Irish jig shoes, and danced on hard planks on the ground to pick up every hard crack of the steps. The eldest stood to the back and called it off after a few beats, giving criticism to the younger two after watching their movements. They readjusted and began again.
Paco stood next to Jeannie and smiled slightly at the girls.
“You never had to do that, did you?” He whispered.
“God, no. But I always secretly wished I had. My mother wasn’t into it.” She chuckled a little thinking about how Maevy loved traditional Irish things but never enough to explore them as a hobby for any of her children. “Let’s go.” They approached the garage and the three girls eventually paused their dance, breathing heavily.
“Hi — we’re here to see Dash Reilly if he’s here?” Jeannie asked the eldest girl, who looked annoyed at being interrupted.
“He’s upstairs — hold on.” Jeannie thought the girl was about 16 or so, maybe a year younger than Dash, but they had identical eyes and coloring. A wooden stairway stretched upward, concealing the larger washer and dryer underneath it. A line of laundry hung from one side to the back of the garage, with an array of clothing hung up. “DASH!!!” She bellowed from the third step, yelling upward. “DASH GET DOWN HERE!!!” Jeannie jumped internally at the force of her voice. A faintly indistinct response from above sounded, but footsteps could be heard hammering on the floor. “DASHIELL—”
“Jesus Jos —” It was Dash’s disembodied voice from the top of the stairs. “You don’t have to yell like that — what is it?” He yelled back.
“There’s people here to see you.” She snapped loudly, clearly annoyed by everything and everyone, typical of her age. Loud thumps made their way down the stairs quickly, and Dash appeared, disheveled and sweaty in his basketball gear. He saw Jeannie and Paco and slowed, making his way toward them warily.
“Hi Dash — “ Jeannie began, “we have a few questions for you if we can have five minutes?” Dash lowered his chin at her slightly. “Are these your sisters?” All three of the girls were looking at them now.
“Yeah. This is Josie — Josephine, and then Brigid and Nora.” He gestured to the group. The younger girls were probably about three or four years younger than Dash and Josie.
“I’m Jeannie, this is Paco.” Josie nodded at her. “I’m envious of your dancing — I never had a chance to learn.” Jeannie told them.
“Well, St. Patrick’s Day is always coming, isn’t it?” Josie retorted, regrouping the girls into position while they moved out to the dark sidewalk with Dash.
“Why’d you come here?” Dash asked them quietly.
“Well, we had a few things to clear up, and we didn’t think we should pull you out of school in the morning, yeah?” Paco said. “Are your parents home? Do you want one of them to be with you?”
“Nah. It’s fine.” Dash folded his muscled arms across his chest, “let’s make this fast. What do you want?”
“We want to know if you’re dating anyone?” Jeannie asked it coyly, almost flirting. At least, Dash wouldn’t be able to tell if she was flirting or not. His eyes got slightly large.
“Why the sudden interest in who I’m dating?”
“Are you dating Tally Briggs?” Jeannie shot out. Dash got very still, eyes wide.
“Why’d you ask me that?” He mumbled.
“We heard it might be a possibility.” Paco replied.
“Tally —?” Dash faded, almost in disbelief. “I like Tally. She can be fun. But I wouldn’t say that we’re dating, no.”
“Why not?” Jeannie pushed. “She’s beautiful and smart — you’d make a nice couple.” She tilted her head a little and blinked at him innocently. “But if not Tally, we’ve heard some chatter that you were interested in Alexa yourself, especially now that she and Seb were over.” Dash scoffed at this and rolled his eyes. “Oh, right. Alexa rejected you, didn’t she?” Jeannie gave Dash a hard stare. “We heard about Tahoe too. It’s all coming out, Dash, so you should probably come clean and tell us what we want to know.”
“Look —” He began loudly, but lowered to just above a whisper, glancing at the girls in the garage. “I’m, I’m not dating anyone at all, okay? And no, I wouldn’t make a play for Alexa while Seb was still so hung up on her.”
“And Tally?” Paco asked, moving his arms akimbo as he faced Dash.
“Tally — Tally and I, I don’t know, we make out sometimes? It’s nothing. It’s definitely not serious. She’s not into me.”
“Who is she into?” Paco insisted.
“I dunno, but I think she has a thing for Charlie although she’d never admit it. Carolina and Charlie dated in freshman year, but now that he’s been to Europe and everything —”
“Tally likes his pedigree, is that it?” Jeannie asked. “And yours doesn’t stand up, does it?”
Dash’s face turned to stone but Jeannie kept going. “You’re just a distraction for her, aren’t you? Just someone she makes out with — maybe more?” Jeannie shrugged. The look on Dash’s face confirmed there was definitely maybe more. “But she’d never date you officially, right? Just like how Seb would never date Jen officially. Is that it?” Everyone was silent for a long moment as Dash stared at Jeannie, connecting her analogy.
“What do you want to know?” He finally asked quietly.
“I want to know why all of you went after Alexa. Why you bullied her, scared her, and made her want to file an honor code violation against you, Seb, and Tripp. I want to know if Tally was a part of it, and why she had it out for Alexa too. That’s what we want to know.”
“I didn’t do anything to hurt Alexa on Halloween.”
“I didn’t ask about Halloween, Dash. I was asking about Tahoe, because that’s when this really began, isn’t it? You all had bets going about when Seb was going to pop her cherry, right?” Jeannie felt sick even saying it. “And yet no one got there, not Seb, not you. And Alexa went away for the summer and hooked up with someone else — she took herself off the market and broke the betting pool, didn’t she? So what was the plan for Halloween? The drinks, the wolf masks— ? No? You don’t have anything to say?”
“It was a prank!” Dash flared at her. “It was just a prank — we were scaring everyone on Halloween with those wolf masks. It was Halloween and we were out in the dark in the open and it was a prank. I didn’t do anything to Alexa.”
“Okay. Where was Tally Briggs while all of you were having your prank at Inspiration Point.” Paco interjected. Jeannie realized the two of them had a good rhythm with their questions, or Paco was finally realizing he could have more of a voice in them.
“I don’t know. I didn’t see her there.”
“When did you see her, then?”
“I don’t know. I was drinking —”
“How many Trick-or-Tito’s did you have?”
“I can’t remember. A few — maybe three or four?” Dash looked down and licked his lips. “I don’t really know — it was a party. We were having FUN.” Jeannie saw his eyes get wet. “It was fun — we never thought anyone would be hurt.”
“Okay but again, WHY Alexa?” Jeannie insisted.
Dash heaved a deep sigh, his eyes squinting against his tears that were coming. “She — she was just…I don’t know. She was just cooler than anyone we’d ever seen. So pretty. Nice. Smart. Played great soccer. And then she walked away from Seb — I don’t know, I guess we just thought we had to settle the score.”
“Settle the score.” Jeannie felt chilled. “She didn’t walk away from Seb, Dash” her ire was right below the surface. “She didn’t WALK away from him — you all bullied her and tried to coerce her into group sex while you coerced Jen Tyson into demonstrating how to give a blow job to her boyfriend. And from what we heard, you blocked her way when she tried to leave the room, is that right? And she told you off.” Jeannie stared at Dash who was looking at his feet, his arms tightly wound around his body. “Look at me, Dash.” Jeannie growled at him. She waited while he slowly raised his head to her, a tear staining his cheek. “Alexa told you off and made it very clear she wasn’t interested in you, nor would she be interested in Seb ever again. And you knew she’d be trouble for all of you, so you had to settle the score? No one says no to Seb — is that it? We heard that from a few people. And you’re always there for your buddy, aren’t you? You say she walked away? She was terrified. She didn’t even want to go to Tripp’s party on Friday because she wanted nothing to do with any of you ever again after Tahoe. But she went because she wanted to make a cool costume, and she was trying to have a normal senior year of high school.” Jeannie paused while Dash stared at her, brow furrowed. “Don’t you EVER say that Alexa walked away from Seb ever again. You know exactly what you all did to her.” Dash shuddered. “So, since we’re clear about all of that, let’s get clear about one more thing…”