Tripod Chapter 10

The following story is a work of erotic fiction. If you are under the age of 18 or if this type of fiction is prohibited in the location where you are reading this, do not read any further.

All characters and names are creations of the author. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Please show your support for Nifty, a great organization that gives opportunities to all types of authors to express themselves. To find out how you can contribute, go to donate.nifty.org/donate.html

Please send comments to cagey507@gmail.com and I will reply as soon as I can. This is my first work of fiction and I welcome any and all comments.

Chapter 10:

At 6:29, my phone rings. "Hey, mom.

"Hola, hijo. Sorry to call so early. I've been up since 4AM to shoot the sunrise over a border crossing. Is everything OK? Your dad filled me in last night. What an awful experience for you and your friends. What's the plan for the day?"

"I'm fine, Mom. My alarm was just about to go off anyway. Tyler's folks let me stay over. We don't have any plans, other than meeting up at He Brew for coffee before school, then figuring out next steps."

"I hope you got some sleep," Mom said, with a touch of sarcasm in her voice.

"Yes, Mom. We didn't stay up too late. Tyler is the perfect host."

"Yeah, I bet," Mom smirked. "Well, I'm glad you guys are doing OK. Please, please be safe. Watch your surroundings. Stick together with your friends.

"Will do, Mom. You have a great shoot. See you in a couple weeks. Te quiero mucho."

"Te quiero mucho también, Baby," mom said.

Tyler rolled over and said, "Te quiero mucho, Tripod Boy," making fake kissing noises and miming stuffing a dick into his mouth. I slapped his oh-so-cute butt.

I checked my phone for messages. There was one from my Dad:

Dad (5:20AM): At O'Hare about to board a flight to Boston. Be back in time for dinner tonight. Worked until 2:20AM.

Dad (5:20AM): Hope you got some...(sleep) last night. (wink emoji)

Dad (5:21AM): BTW Your incident is all over the news. Some of the national news networks have picked up on it. I suspect there are going to be media trucks all over the place at school. One network is using shots of Tyler's car to promote a special they've already produced called, "The State of Hate."

Dad (5:25AM): Looks like some students at WEHS are planning a rally at 3PM. You might want to stop and pick up your birthday gift at home. A steady mount will come in handy.

Looks like the world was busy last night while I was screwing Tyler.

"Can we stop at my house for a minute? I need to get some clean clothes and my steady mount. There's a rally against hate today at school. I want to film it."

There was no time even for a quick blow job. We needed to get ready. His mom had offered to drop us off at school. I could hear her down in the kitchen making coffee as I ran into the bathroom. We were showered and dressed in half an hour, quite the record for two teenaged guys who use hair products!

Tyler had offered me a pair of his underwear, but honestly, there are only a couple of brands I can wear and his wasn't one of them. I really need boxer briefs with a big pouch in front, otherwise my boys get squished. I can really relate to big-busted women stuffed into a too-small bra.

When we got to my house, it only took me five minutes to change clothes and grab my camera mount. Ten minutes later we were at He-Brew.

"Thanks, so much, Carol, and please thank Josh for me. You guys are a lifesaver," I said to Tyler's mom. "And please thank Tyler for having such a cute, fuckable little ass and hot body!" I thought to myself and smiled.

Tyler and I went inside to order breakfast and wait for Eddie. As luck would have it, my favorite barista was working the cash register. His name is Miguel. I'd always been too self-conscious to engage with him for more than my order, but that was about to change.

"Good morning, welcome to He Brew. What can I get for you today?" He has a million-dollar smile and amazing eyebrows and eyelashes. He's about 5'6" tall, so not much bigger than me, and with hardly a pore visible. He was sporting just a little stubble on his chin. I blushed from thinking about what exactly he could get for me.

"Hi there, Miguel. Pretty crazy what's going on across the street," I said, smiling and looking him straight in the eye.

He held my gaze and smiled, "Yeah, some poor kid's car got trashed with nasty graffiti last night. Now, all the TV outlets are here to make a show of it. You should have been here when we opened at 6:00. There was a line of reporters and camera crews desperate for caffeine."

"By the way," I said, "that car belongs to my friend Tyler and the graffiti and noose was directed at Tyler, Eddie and me,"

"Now why would they pick on such handsome, smart, hot guys like you?" Miguel asked.

"It's a little complicated," I said, "But in the last couple of weeks I came out as gay, Tyler and Eddie came out as bi and as boyfriends, and well, Eddie and I are each part African-American and whoever painted the car obviously doesn't like any of those types of people."

"I'm really sorry. That sucks. Maybe a nice coffee and something to eat will make you feel a little better? What would you like?" Miguel asked.

"I'll have a large, extra hot, vanilla café con leche and an everything bagel with a shmear," I said.

"What kind of leche would you like and how hot would you like it?" Miguel grinned, knowing full well that we both knew that the Spanish word for milk doubles as the term for cum.

"Whatever kind you're offering, I want it really hot" I said, raising my eyebrows.

"Well, since I'm at work, we'll have to stick with whole, skim, almond, oat or soy, but once I get off work, there's another kind I could offer you that I make myself," Miguel smiled.

"And that everything bagel? Do you really mean "everything?" he asked.

"I sure as hell do," I smirked, "And I want it hot with a thick, white schmear of cream...cheese."

"How many pumps of vanilla?" Miguel continued?

"It depends on how well you handle the pump," I winked. "I'm usually good for nine to twelve shots."

"Oh, brother," Tyler interrupted. "Get a room, boys. By the way, Miguel, he's hung like a fucking horse. Now exchange numbers and let me get my coffee already."

Miguel and I burst out laughing. I gave Miguel my full name and number, then something hit me.

"Hey, Miguel. Does He Brew have security cameras?"

"Of course, all over the place," he said.

"Do any of them face out to the street?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure, but I can ask the owner and send you a text once I know. Why? Do you think that maybe we could see who trashed Tyler's car?"

"That's exactly what I'm thinking. You guys close at 4PM, right? So, there would have been no one here yesterday between 4PM and 5PM, when we found the car wrecked. Where's the dumpster and when does the trash get collected?" I asked.

"It's right out back and the trash gets picked up on Tuesday and Friday afternoons," Miguel answered.

I handed Tyler a $20 bill and said, "This is for putting me up...and you putting out...last night. Order yours and I'll be back in two minutes."

I raced outside and ran out back. The dumpster was sitting there with the lid closed. I managed to get the lid open, but I'm too damn short to see in. Then I spot one of those plastic milk crates that the half-gallon milk cartons get delivered in. I flip it over and stand on it. Laying on top of the trash is a can of white enamel spray paint. I get down, close the lid, and reach for my phone.

"Officer Kuczinski? It's Jaime Fine-Cruz. How are you doing? I'm good, thanks. I've got some important information about our case."

I relayed to him about the possible existence of security camera footage at He Brew and also that the spray can that was probably used to commit the crime was sitting in the He Brew dumpster right now, but that they collect the trash this afternoon.

"Did you touch the can or move it at all?" he asked.

"Hell no. I've seen enough of those crime shows. I'm no idiot," I responded.

He laughed out loud, "Good boy." I'll send a tech over to collect the can right away and to check the security footage from between 3:30 and 5:00PM yesterday, if it turns out they have a camera that covers the angle we want."

"I just had another thought," I said. "There's a hardware store just a few more doors down on this same street. Spray paint isn't legal for sale in the city of Chicago, so chances are good that they would have had to get the paint locally in a smaller hardware store here in town. Since Tyler and Eddie only came out in their social media post on Sunday, it's kind of doubtful that a whole lot of planning went into this crime. I'm guessing that the perpetrator probably picked up the paint can right before he or she sprayed the car. I can almost guarantee that the hardware store has security cameras at each register. Do you think someone from the police department could head over there and review the security footage from yesterday afternoon? Do you need a warrant for something like that?"

"You're a pretty smart kid, Jaime. Good theories. No, we don't need a warrant because the stores are not in any kind of trouble and they're usually all too happy to cooperate in situations like this. By the way, Tyler's free to take his car, but he might want to leave it right where it is until the end of day today. The public relations angle, with all of the media there, can only help us to catch the perp involved."

"I'll let him know. And please let me know if you need anything else from me or my friends. Thanks, Officer Kuczinski." He thanked me and we ended the call.

I ran back inside. By then, Eddie was there, had placed and received his order, and he and Tyler were sitting at the table, drinking coffee, eating blueberry muffins, smiling at each other and staring deeply into each other's eyes.

"Break it up, lovebirds," I said. "I've got some news." Between huge bites of bagel and sips of the delicious coffee, I related, with a full mouth I might add, what had just happened.

I ran over to Miguel and told him not to let anyone near the dumpster until the cops came.

Then, I leaned over the counter and gave him an innocent kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks. The coffee and bagel were perfect. And you're pretty hot, too. I'd love to get together for coffee sometime, but not here. That would probably be too weird for you, right?"

He chuckled, "Yeah, that would be weird. I'd really like that. Boy, all the other times you've come in here, you were too shy even to make eye contact with me. You're like a different you entirely."

"Not shy, just self-conscious. Something happened a couple of weeks ago that made me take a good look at myself. I came to realize that some of the parts of myself that I disliked the most, actually made me the most unique and interesting. I have some good friends like Tyler and Eddie and some amazing family members who gave me the push I needed to see things in a different light."

It was 7:55 and we needed to run. We finished our food and drinks and ran over to school and up the front stairs. I later learned that something very interesting was happening at about the same time.

At 7:52, Brandon Grimes had entered the school and headed to his locker. The second he opened it, the principal, the school's security officer, and a plain-clothes police officer approached him.

"We need to take a look in your locker, Brandon," said Principal Pappas.

"What for? He asked."

The security officer began, "I understand you've been giving some students a really hard time about their sexual orientation and ethnicity lately. I'm sure you heard that a fellow student's car was vandalized yesterday. We have reason to believe that you could be responsible."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Brandon declared indignantly.

"You hadn't heard that nooses were hung on three students' lockers and that one student's car also had a noose hung on it, and racial and homophobic epithets were spray-painted on it and a window smashed?" Principal Pappas inquired.

"Oh, yeah. I heard something about someone's car getting trashed. By the way, don't you need a warrant to search my locker? I mean, I got private stuff in it," Brandon asked.

The plain clothes officer leaned in, "No, a school can legally search a student's locker without a warrant, as long as they have a good reason. Son, they have a good reason. Please stand aside."

Brandon knew this was not a fight he was going to win and took a step to his left. The officer looked in the locker, but found nothing more than a few pairs of dirty sweat socks, bunches of candy wrappers and a local Christian publication with his dad the Very Reverend Bradley Grimes on the cover."

"See, I told you. I didn't do nothing," Brandon snarled.

"Can you unlock your cell phone, please?" asked the officer.

"What has my cell phone got to do with anything?" Brandon asked.

"I don't know. Why don't you unlock it and let me take a look," the officer replied.

Brandon, who really only used the phone to talk to his mom and dad, shrugged and handed over the phone.

When the officer launched the phone's browser, he opened the search history. Since the phone synched with all of Brandon's other devices, the officer saw plain as day that on Brandon's laptop the search term, "how to tie a noose" had been used in a search.

"Do you mind explaining why you were searching how to tie nooses?" the office asked.

The color drained from Brandon's face. "Ummm, uh, I just like to tie knots," he blurted out.

"Brandon, we have security cam footage that clearly shows you tying a noose to the car and vandalizing it," which was not true, since the school doesn't have security cameras and no one had yet checked at He Brew.

"You're lying. I didn't spray paint or smash anything," Brandon pleaded.

"As much as I hate to say this, using nooses as a hate symbol is not a crime. If you cooperate with the police, you're looking at a lengthy school suspension, but you're not looking at jail time, right officer?" said Principal Pappas.

"If it turns out you're lying, you're looking at jail time. Hate crimes have longer sentences...and you just turned 18. Very sad for you. Now care to tell us exactly what you know?" asked the school's security officer.

Brandon took a deep breath and looked as though he was about to cry, "My dad keeps saying how he hates gays, bisexuals and trannies and how this town was so much nicer before those deviants and blacks, Hispanics and Asians moved to town. He keeps telling me that I have to work every day to make sure that people like that don't take over. They need to be put in their place. He says that that is what Jesus would want me to do. Every day I have to report to my dad about what I did that day in the name of Jesus.

"In the past week or so, Jaime, Eddie and Tyler all came out as deviants. And, also my dad says that if someone even has a drop of black blood in `em, then they're nig... still black. And that's Jaime and Eddie right there. Tyler's a Jew and daddy doesn't like them either. Says they killed the Lord and run all the banks. So, I thought to myself about what I could do to make my dad happy. I came up with the idea of tying pink nooses `cause that covers queers and nig...black people and keeps them in their place. At least that's what I thought my dad would want. I went online the night before to see how to tie a noose, then yesterday at lunch time I bought some pink rope at the hardware store down the block. I went into a stall in the boys' room and tied four nice little nooses. I'd watched out for Jaime, Eddie and Tyler during the morning to see where their lockers were and had wrote down their locker numbers. I'd already looked at those three's profiles to see if any of them had a car, found shots of Tyler's, and since I knew he'd be at gymnastics practice after school, at around 3:30, once everyone had left for the day, I stuck the nooses on their lockers and ran out to the parking lot, found his car and put a noose on it, too. I swear I didn't paint anything or smash a window. I just wanted to scare `em. I really didn't want to wreck anything."

"We'll check the security footage from the hardware store from between 12 and 1 yesterday afternoon to corroborate your story. Remember, if we saw you buying paint, you're looking at jail time," said the police officer.

"I swear," said Brandon, "I just hung rope."

"Do you have any idea who might have caused the property damage? Are there other students who you hang out with or you know who share your same opinions about LGBT people and minorities?" the officer continued.

Brandon looked deflated. "No, officer. I don't hang with anyone. I don't have any friends, really."

As this was taking place, Eddie, Tyler and I headed to our homerooms, which were assigned by last name alphabetically. Tyler and Eddie were in the same classroom. I was in a different one. Once attendance was taken, the usual announcements were made over the loudspeakers by a student who imagined he had a future career as a voiceover talent. When he finished, Principal Pappas took the mic:

"Good morning, students and staff. This is Principal Pappas. As I'm sure nearly all of you know, a terrible act of hate was perpetrated against three of our fellow students yesterday afternoon. While there was no physical violence, psychological violence and intimidation were used and are just as abhorrent. This kind of hate speech goes against our principles at this school and should be decried by every decent human being on the planet. Unfortunately, it is not. While we may not be blood relatives, we are still a family. We need to watch out for one another. Any act of bullying or physical violence against another student or staff, most especially those that stem from a person's ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender expression, will not be tolerated. Any student found to be engaging in this type of behavior will be severely disciplined. Students who witness this type of behavior and who report it should be applauded for defending our family and not looked down upon as `snitches.'

"We have been working with the police department since yesterday afternoon to ensure that whoever caused this incident will pay for it to the fullest extent of the law.

"I know that several students have organized a demonstration outside the school at 3:00PM. While the school administration has not participated in the planning of this event, you have our full support and are welcome to use school property, as long as the demonstration is peaceful. This is an excellent opportunity for you to understand what your First Amendment rights as US citizens and residents mean.

"Now, please be kind to one another. Give your friends a hug. The specter of hatred is among us and only love can drive it out. Thank you."

A few of the kids were crying. Everyone sat in silence until the bell rang to go to our next class a few minutes later.

Walking through the halls was like being at a school from a parallel universe. Lots of hugs, even between people I thought really didn't get along.

Tyler, Eddie and I met up in Mr. Choi's chemistry class. The first forty minutes of the class consisted of the usual stuff about covalent bonds and other chemistry subjects. Then Mr. Choi paused for a second:

"I want all of you to stop what you're doing, put away your notebooks or tablets or whatever you use to take notes. No, this isn't a pop quiz. No worries. I want to talk to you about a different chemistry topic, `The Chemistry of Hate.'

"As most of you have guessed, I'm Chinese. Hardly a secret. Many of you know that I'm also gay. Not much of a secret now either. I come from a very traditional family in Shanghai. Sons marry the `right' girl, have a child or two or now, I guess, three, as permitted by the Chinese government. I came to the US as a university student with an international scholarship. What none of you know is that I decided to come out to my family the night before I left for university. It didn't go well, to say the least. My parents helped me pack my bags. Then, when I opened the door to leave for the airport the next morning, they told me never to return and never to contact them again. My place in the family had been terminated. I am the victim of hate."

There was a stunned silence in the room.

"This story obviously has a happy ending, since I'm here now teaching all of you. I discovered the US to be a much more accepting place, although far from perfect. I've made friends who have become my new family. But we're not here to talk about me. We're here to talk about hate. I'm not talking about the I-hate-Tiffany-because-that-bitch-stole-my-boyfriend kind of hate. That is justified."

The class cracked up in a much-needed comic relief.

"No," he continued. "I'm talking about hating people for who they are intrinsically, not due to their behavior. How does that relate to chemistry? Well let's first ask what causes racist and homophobic hate. Any guesses?

Eddie raised his hand, along with a few others. Mr. Choi picked on Eddie.

"Fear of people who are not like us. Ignorance of the things we have in common as human beings. Lack of empathy," Eddie said.

"Give this man the prize," said Mr. Choi, "But just as all chemical elements and compounds, no matter how different they may be and how differently they interact with the chemical world around them, they must all obey the laws of chemistry. People are no different. What makes us the same, is a whole lot more than what makes us different: a desire to live in a safe, loving environment with enough food, education and financial security to make us happy. That is a universal constant of the human race, regardless of who you are, where you live or whom you love.

"Hate is the element that has kept us apart as a species. Now let's get back to chemistry for a second. Think of different groups of people like oil and water. They don't mix. No matter how much you shake them up, they'll separate. But in the chemical world we have things called emulsifiers. In the world of cooking, for example, lecithin, which can be found in egg yolks, is an emulsifier, you've probably seen it listed in the ingredients of any number of products. In the human world, love, knowledge and empathy can act as emulsifiers. If any of you are cooks, do you know what happens when you drop an egg yolk, which is made of proteins, fats and water, into a cup of cooking oil and try to mix it together?

I raised my hand quickly.

"Yes, Jaime?"

"It turns into a freaking mess," I said.

"Exactly," Mr. Choi laughed. "But if you add the oil drop by drop and whisk it like crazy, the emulsifier has a chance to work and you wind up with...any guesses, Jaime?"

"Mayonnaise," I smiled.

"Yup, and what would a tuna sandwich be without mayonnaise?" Mr. Choi chuckled. "Change does not happen overnight. Like mayonnaise, it happens gradually. Look at emancipation of the slaves, which took nearly 250 years to happen in the US. Look at women's suffrage, at least a fifty-year process. Gay marriage? Just from Stonewall in 1969 until the Supreme Court decision in 2015 was forty-six years. These emulsifiers are slow acting, but when they work, the results are amazing. It is up to you, my dear, dear students, to contribute to this process. Love one another. Understand what it means to walk in another person's shoes. Educate yourselves about other cultures, other sexual orientations and other types of gender expression and the struggles that groups other than your own have endured.

"I hope to see many of you at 3:00PM today. I will most certainly be there."

The bell rang and, unlike on a usual day where everyone races for the door, students stood up slowly, looked around, and started hugging one another. Then the whole class encircled Eddie, Tyler and me in a huge group hug. The three of us had tears streaming down our faces. It was the emotional release we had needed.

Between classes, I checked my phone for text messages. Just one:

Miguel Hot Barista: We have security footage of the parking lot. The cops are here now. UR so cute. Can we meet up soon?

I wasn't going to wait until later to reply to this one:

Me: Wow! Thx 4 the news! UR hot 2. Would like to get to know you. Name a day and time. I get out of school at 3 some days and 5 other days--gymnastics practice.

Miguel Hot Barista: That explains your amazing body and booty! Meet here Thursday at 4?

Me: Sure! Thursday's good. TTYL

That boy is so cute. I couldn't wait until Thursday. It was only Tuesday, but there was a lot I needed to get through first.

At lunch, our table was full of people who wanted to say how sorry they were for what had happened, members of Eddie's track team, the whole gymnastics team, and surprisingly, Megan and Mia, Tyler's and Eddie's former girlfriends.

By 3PM, the school was buzzing. The Art Club had spent their lunch breaks printing signs for students to hold up. The cheer squad had come up with cheers for the rally. The Science Club had assembled a remote-controlled robot that really didn't contribute much, but was cool to watch anyway.

By 3:30PM over a thousand students and teachers out of a school of two thousand stood on the football field adjacent to the parking lot where Tyler's defaced car was still parked. The media were ready and covered the rally, some of the news networks did live shots, the local stations shot video that they'd use for their reports later that afternoon.

I didn't want to just be a participant. I really wanted to document the event. My steady mount was in my backpack. I attached my phone and I fired up the device. Smooth as silk. I shot some wide shots of the event so you could see just how enormous the attendance was. Then I filmed some cutaway shots: cheerleaders cheering; the Science Club robot; close-ups of people chanting "2-4-6-8 stand for love, not for hate," and "What do we want? Equality! When do we want it? Now"; and signs with messages like, "No love, no peace, Know love, know peace" and one I particularly liked "Diversity In. Haters Out. Lovers In and Out (eggplant emoji) (peach emoji)."

Once I had footage I could use to transition between scenes, I started interviewing students and staff about what they were feeling and seeing. The messages of support and love were amazing. Sometimes, it takes a crisis to make people jump into action.

After I'd interviewed about ten people, some I'd known before and some I didn't, I saw one guy standing there who I remembered from a little over a week before. When I first walked into school after the "tripod" incident, there were a couple of cute guys who checked me out and smiled at me, but never said anything. This was one of them. Of course, I walked over to him and asked if he would like to be interviewed. He's about 5'9" (175cm) tall, Asian, with great cheekbones and amazing hair, the kind you just want to run your fingers through.

"Hey there, I'm Jaime," I said.

"I know," he smiled. "I'm Connor. Connor Kim." We bumped fists.

"Mind if I interview you about the rally and what's led up to it?" I ask.

Connor responded, "Before you start filming, I just wanted to say that I'm gay, too, and I think you're really cute. Would you like to get together sometime?"

"Why do you think I came over to interview you?" I laughed. "I think you're really handsome, too, and sure, I'd love to get together. What's your cell number?"

He gives me his cell, I send him a text message so he's got mine, then I start the interview.

"Why is it important for you to be here today?" I ask off-camera.

"Being targeted for being different is a scary and humiliating experience that no one should have to go through. It's important to me personally to know that so many people are here to support minority students and staff and to send a message that hate is not welcome here. My family is Korean. I'm gay. I could be the next victim, but having this much love here makes me feel safer."

"I couldn't have said it any better," I said to Connor, "Let's chat later." I leaned in and gave him a hug.

As I stop recording, I see that I've received a text message. It's from Officer Kuczinski.

Officer Kuczinski: You're not gonna believe this. We've got the suspect in custody, but lots more to the story. New conference live at 5:30.

I look up and while the rally is still going on, all of the news crews are literally racing to get back in their trucks and take off. It's 4:38PM.

I text Eddie and Tyler and tell them to meet me ASAP over by Tyler's car, which is still sitting where it was parked yesterday across from He Brew.

"Officer Kuczinksi just texted me. They've got a suspect in custody. But he didn't give me many details. I guess there's a news conference at 5:30. Let's go over to my place and watch it live."

We swept the bits of broken glass off of the passenger seat, but Eddie and I sat in back anyway, just to prevent shards of glass from cutting his ass, and drove the short distance to my place.

We still had about fifteen minutes to go until the news conference. We were too focused on what was coming up even to think about sex, so I grabbed a couple of avocados, an onion, a roma tomato, a serrano pepper, a lime and some cilantro.

"You're unbelievable," said Tyler. "At my house, I'm lucky to get canned salsa. You're going to whip up homemade guac? And check out those knife skills. I would have lost three fingers already."

Eddie grabbed a bag of totopos (tortilla chips). I didn't have time to fry up fresh ones. And we sat down in front of the TV just as the news conference started.

The police chief introduced himself, along with the mayor and an FBI agent. He said, "The Chicago office of the FBI has recently been conducting an investigation into international wire fraud and money laundering in the area. At the same time, the local police have been conducting an investigation into the hate crime committed here yesterday involving high school students at Evanston West High School. It became apparent early this afternoon that both agencies were looking for the same person. An arrest warrant was issued at 2PM. About an hour ago, the FBI, assisted by the local police force, raided the Sweet Dreams motel. Local police had spotted the suspect's vehicle in the parking lot. Through the door, the suspect could be heard by police screaming, `Oh, yes, I feel the devil leaving her body now!' Agents entered the room, and apprehended the suspect, the Reverend Bradley Grimes, as he was allegedly engaged in a sexual act with an eight-year-old girl. The girl's mother was also in the room as an active participant. The Reverend Grimes is being held without bond on federal charges of financial crimes, as well as state charges of vandalism, sexual assault of a minor and endangering the welfare of a child. The suspect is expected to be charged with hate crimes under both federal and state statutes.

"With regard to the incident at the high school, the Reverend Grimes' son Brandon allegedly placed nooses on students' lockers and on the vehicle at the center of the incident. He apparently was unaware of his father's actions. While placing hate symbols is an abhorrent act, it is not illegal, so Brandon will face the school's disciplinary action, but will not be charged with a crime.

"I'd like to thank the FBI, local police and the public for their support.

"We will not be taking questions at this time. Thank you."

The three of us sat there with our jaws gaping open.

"Holy guacamole!" Tyler screamed.

End Chapter 10