Triangles
Previously: Charlie shows Jeannie his room.
To catch up on The Spring, please visit the chapter index here:
5:38 PM - Thursday, November 6, 2014
50 Laurel Street, Presidio Heights, San Francisco
Jeannie made her way back downstairs with Charlie in tow. Mark, Paco and Margot Dagonet were waiting on the landing across from the massive Steinway, the large windows now showing a dark street outside.
“We appreciate all of your help today, Charlie.” Mark began. “But I need to warn you, if I have to come back here again because you haven’t given us the full truth about something — “
“I’ve told you everything.” Charlie’s voice was low and tired. Mark considered him for a long beat, his blue eyes hard.
“Okay, well, we’ll see, won’t we?”
“I don’t like your implication.” Mrs Dagonet said, crossing her arms in front of her.
“Ma’am, we questioned your son on Saturday morning and he was less than forthcoming on what went on on Friday night.” Mark’s voice was controlled but terse. Charlie squirmed slightly behind her, digging his hands into his pockets. “Then, we questioned him again on Sunday, and while he clarified quite a bit, he never mentioned his intimate relationship with Alexa Thomas.” Mark stared at Charlie and then turned to his mother. “I’ve been tolerant about his discretion, but I need to reiterate that the more we know now, the better it will be for everyone.”
“I — I understand, I’ve told you everything.” Charlie said firmly. “But if you want to ask me anything else, I’m — I’m around.” Charlie gestured with a hand, looking helpless. “I want to help.” He whispered finally.
The SUV lights blinked at the curb, opening the doors. The nighttime chill went deep into the space between Jeannie’s shoulder blades as she pulled open the car door. Her thin suit jacket wasn’t meant for brisk autumn nights.
“He’s telling the truth, Mark.” Jeannie said quietly as she tucked herself into the back seat.
“He’s always told the truth, but he hasn’t been direct.” Mark countered, checking his phone for messages.
“Fair enough. I don’t appreciate that he’s obfuscated, but on Saturday he had every reason to think Alexa was alive. He didn’t want to blow their cover by admitting to the relationship.”
“I get it. I get it.” Mark said, nodding as he looked out the window. “I think he could have told us about Alexa yesterday though.”
“But yesterday we had no reason to even think they were involved. We asked him about July 4th and he told us what he knew. He went where we took him.” Jeannie sighed. “I understand why you’re pissed —”
“Oh do you?” Mark snapped. “Because I think you’re giving him a long leash.”
“Mark, he didn’t kill her. He wasn’t even there.”
“You’re soft on him.”
“I’m not. He’s one of our best witnesses, and he’s clearly broken by the whole thing.” Mark’s anger put Jeannie on the back foot.
“Three interviews and he’s one of our best witnesses?”
“He never lied though.”
“He told us Alexa Thomas was a friend, not a girlfriend.”
“True, but that’s semantics. He loved her. And it doesn’t change the fact that he had nothing to do with how she died, other than not being able to stop it, which is clearly torturing him.” Jeannie countered. “It’s irritating but I don’t understand why you’re so angry at him. Where are you going with this?” Mark was silent.
Paco sat silently listening to both of them banter, Jeannie talking to the back of Mark’s head in the front seat. Looking between the two of them, he finally started the car and it rolled slowly toward The Presidio at the end of the block. Taking a right, they went past Carolina Parker’s house on Pacific as they made their way back to the gate of the park.
“I feel like we’ve been circling this neighborhood all day.”
“We have been — all week, actually.” Jeannie said. “And Tally Briggs probably saw everything that went on in Charlie’s room. I’m glad I have that photo of the dress — it shows how the telescope was placed.”
“I think we need to talk with Jen Tyson,” Paco offered. “If we can actually get her to be clear-headed in the interview.”
“I agree.” Jeannie grumbled. “If Jen knew that the Tito’s she gave Alexa was spiked —”
“Then she’s toast.” Paco finished. “But where does that leave Tally?”
Jeannie made a low, non-committal groan in response, leaving the car quiet again. They meandered back down the dark Presidio Boulevard, and Jeannie stared at the stripey trunks of the eucalyptus trees in a dense formation on both sides of the curving road. Paco looped around the Main Post, passing the national cemetery to connect to the roads that would take them into Fort Winfield Scott.
“How are we going at Dash Reilly?” Jeannie asked to no one in particular, but hoping Mark would contribute.
“My guy from the DEA is on his way.” Mark said quietly. “But we should ask him a few more things ourselves first. Like, I want to know what he knew about Tally’s cocaine habit. I also want to know why he sent her that photo of Jen giving Alexa the shot — I know you asked, but something about that photo bugs me.”
“I think we go at Dash with Charlie.” Jeannie offered.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s all triangles. Seb-Alexa-Jen, Seb-Dash-Jen, Jen-Tally-Dash, Dash-Seb-Tripp, Tripp-Dash-Tally, Tally-Carolina-Alexa, Tally-Carolina-Charlie, Charlie-Tally-Dash, Tally-Charlie-Alexa…Three is always a crowd one way or another. If Dash is into Tally, but Tally holds a torch for Charlie, but Charlie is in love with Alexa?”
“Then Tally gets Dash to squash it?” Mark asked. “Not a bad idea. Even if it’s against what Dash may want.”
“But Tally’s the manipulator — she could have charmed Dash into anything.”
Paco pulled into the parking lot at the Park Police and the three of them started to climb the back stairs, metal clanking under foot. Paco opened the door at the top with his badge to find Steph pacing the hallway. Seeing the three of them flooded her face with relief.
“You guys are late — the Reillys are here. They were early.”
“Good.” Mark said, making his way into the large conference room. “They’re in the back?”
“Yes. They keep asking where you all are.”
“Okay. Tell them we’ll be in in a minute.” Emerging into the conference room, both Raj and Owen were bent over laptop screens.
“What’s happening?”
“Not much.” Raj answered, pushing back from the table. “I went back to Alexa’s Pr3pSF account from the summer, and there was a lot of bullying going on for sure. It’s weird that the ghost isn’t around any more. Feels a little lonely.”
“Anything from the Admin?”
“The conversation Jeannie told me about was definitely there, so was the video that went up this morning.” Raj looked at Jeannie. “It’s all there.”
“Anything else?”
“Well, yeah —” Owen began. “We went into the phones more, like you asked. You were right, Jeannie — Tally Briggs has a big black hole in her timeline.” Owen pushed back from the table to stretch. “I’m compiling everything with the time stamps, but after about 9:30 on Friday night, there’s nothing. No one has any pictures of her or with her until around 11:30pm.”
“What was the one at 11:30?” Jeannie asked, bending toward the computer.
“It was a selfie on Carolina’s phone, but it looks like Tally is the one taking it from the angle. Also, Carolina looks pretty blitzed.” Owen moved to open the photo, which revealed a photo of the two girls with a bright flash on their faces. Carolina’s eyes looked puffy and half-closed, while Tally’s smile was bright and well-posed. “Look at what she’s wearing,” Owen offered.
Jeannie guffawed. “Wow, Tally keeps being sloppy.” Mark and Paco moved to stand behind them to look for themselves. While Carolina’s green flapper dress was visible under a parka, Tally was wrapped in a familiar-looking tan trench coat that covered her costume. “Is Amanda still downstairs?”
“I think she is.” Raj answered from across the table. “But I have something else for you guys.”
Jeannie stood and all three looked at Raj, who stood up to close the conference room door. He picked up his laptop and brought it to them, placing it next to Owen’s. “I went back into Alexa’s phone, and late in the summer, there were pictures — well, they were in a hidden album on her phone, but these never made it onto Pr3pSF.” Owen scooted out of the way and then stood to let Jeannie, Mark, and Paco get closer. Raj went to an open window on the computer and opened the photos. “I almost went by them, but I’m glad I looked.”
The images were dark and somewhat blurry, but looked like the same room at the Hartman’s Tahoe House as in the two previous videos.
“Are these stills of a video?” Mark asked, his brow furrowed.
“To me they look like someone took screen grabs, yeah, but I checked and they’d been edited. I reverted them to their original and…” the image had been cropped, but reverting it zoomed out to reveal an iPhone being held by someone’s hand.
“So someone took photos of a phone? Why not just send the video of whatever — this is?”
“Well —” Raj went to the next photo, which showed the darkened face of Seb Podesta, looking passed out on the bed. He was lying on his stomach, and someone was standing behind him at the end of the bed, shooting the video showing Seb’s naked body stretched out. Raj continued to change the photos. “It’s Seb right? So then I was looking for Jen, but she isn’t in these photos. And then I thought the guy was Dash, since they were together with Jen, but then the phone flips.” The next photos showed a different angle from the top of the bed, where someone had propped the phone up with a pillow. This angle gave the perfect view of the person standing behind Seb. It was Tripp Hartman, and he was naked.
Jeannie gave a short gasp and looked away. “But these are pictures…of a video? Where’s the video?”
“Probably on Tripp Hartman’s phone?” Raj ventured quietly. “That is, if that phone in the photo is Tripp Hartman’s phone.”
“Did Alexa take these?” Mark asked quietly. “How would she get access —”
“No, they were sent to her. By Ryan Dominguez.”
Jeannie’s eyes were huge. She licked her lips and swallowed, darting out of the chair to somehow move away from what she’d just seen — or at least what was implied by it.
“Okay, that makes sense, actually.” Jeannie began in a warbled whisper. “Ryan admitted to seeing a lot of things on Tripp’s phone from when they were hanging out over the summer. He said it was like Tripp was bragging about things he’d done. May-maybe Ryan took the photos so he could…I don’t know prove to Alexa how rotten Tripp was? Back up her story about Tahoe?”
“If — if Tripp Hartman shot this video, and it looks like no one else is in the room,” Paco began, “then it’s possible it’s like, some kind of souvenir?”
“Of a conquest.” Mark’s voice was grave.
“But these are just pictures,” Raj offered. “Third-hand pictures. We’d need to find the original on the phone. I couldn’t find any other photos or videos that looked like this on any of the phone’s we’ve scanned.”
“Not even Ryan’s?”
“No. He probably sent them to Alexa and deleted them. I can go deeper and trace them, but it’ll take time.” Everyone was quiet. Jeannie moved toward the evidence board and looked it over, trying to piece things together somehow. She replaced the small plastic bag that held Charlie Dagonet’s signet ring, pinning it back into place. The parts were all moving too fast.
“If this,” Mark swallowed hard, “if the video that seems to be in these photos still exists — AND if it is what I think it is, it’s evidence of a crime. Multiple crimes. Assault would be just the beginning.”
“Seb never said anything —” Paco ventured.
“He wouldn’t.” Jeannie quipped. “A guy like Seb? One of the kings of a prestigious prep school, who gets all the girls he wants? He wouldn’t admit to something like this, but I don’t think Seb knows. Nothing about him has ever indicated he’s any kind of an assault victim. Plus, he’s admitted, because Tripp admitted to him, that he’d been dosed with GHB that night. I’m guessing when Tripp admitted to that he probably left out a few details.” Jeannie sighed. “This is awful. It would shatter someone like Seb — it would shatter anyone.” She finished quietly. “Women are targeted by date-rape drugs all the time, but high school boys? This is a different level.”
“It could be leverage.” Mark offered, taking a wide-legged stance next to Paco. “If we can prove that Tripp assaulted Seb and took video of it — well, we could possibly get him to talk about his role in spiking Alexa’s shot, and plenty of other things.”
Jeannie knocked on the door of lab again, finding Amanda across the room at the same table where she’d been when she left her with the grocery bag.
“Oh there you are — I have something for you.” Amanda began. “Come in, and get gloves on.”
Jeannie moved next to her, tugging on a pair of the nitrile gloves from the wall dispenser. A tan trench coat was spread out on the table.
“So, you were right. Trench coat from J.Crew — I knew they didn’t sell them at Whole Foods.”
“Womp.”
“I still need to swab and print it, but it’s kind of dirty on the other side — like mud, so I’m definitely going to dig into that. But there’s two other gifts I have for you.” Amanda moved to a side table where a pair of clear trays were covered with thin dust cloths. “Get ready, this is going to change your life.” Amanda pulled the first dust cloth to reveal one of the rubber wolf masks.
“Um — how is this changing my life? We’ve already seen the wolf masks.”
“Not this wolf mask. You saw the four wolf masks we found in the fairy house in the Redwood Grove. This wolf mask was found rolled up inside the left-hand pocket of the trench coat. It’s the same, but the coloration is slightly different — probably from a different lot or manufacturer.”
“There’s a fifth wolf mask?” Jeannie’s eyes were huge again, connecting what this could mean.
“Oh, that’s not all.” Amanda was buzzing with excitement. “Are you ready?” Jeannie didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded. Amanda pulled the second dust cloth off of the second tray.
“Oh holy shit.” Jeannie whispered in awe.
“Isn’t it pretty?” Amanda practically did a pirouette.
“Very. And I even know someone who can tell us all about it.”
Back upstairs, Jeannie relayed Amanda’s finds to the team, offering to run down more information in the morning.
“You two ready for the Reillys?” They were already late and Jeannie felt like the day was stretching into the night right in front of them.
Mark shrugged and tilted his head toward the bigger office space. “Let’s talk in here.”
Jeannie and Paco followed him into the larger room, moving over toward Paco’s desk.
“I’m sorry about earlier, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” Mark perched on the edge of one of the desks. Jeannie shrugged in response.
“We’re all a little on edge. It’s been a very long day — long week.” She told him. “Let’s chat with the Reillys and go home.”
“I think you should go home.” Mark said in a low tone, looking at the floor. “Paco and I can handle the Reillys.”
Jeannie was stunned. “What? Are— are you bumping me?”
“I’m not bumping you Jeannie, believe me. I want you to be in there.”
“Then — I don’t understand.” She looked between Mark and Paco.
“You said not to tell you.” Mark rolled his lips and looked at her. “I told you the DEA guy is on his way. He’s going to be here in a few minutes. I don’t think you should be here when he arrives. I’ve already told Owen and Steph to go home, so you should go too.”
“Mark —”
“Jeannie, you wanted it clean, we’re going to do it clean. I want you to be there, but I think you’re right — just for now.” He offered her a half smile. “I can’t have you being right all the time, but for this, you’re right. If we’re going to get the Hartmans, we can’t have it get walked back because of…whatever it may be.” Jeannie huffed a sigh, feeling like this was unfair, but also realizing it was her idea in the first place. “Go home and get some rest. I’ll text you — like you said.”
Omgeeeeeeeeee