Pokrewne

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Drew Hayes [Super Powereds 02 Super Powereds Year 2 (epub) i
Beth Harbison [Shoe Addict 02 Secrets of a Shoe Addict (epub)
Cate Masters [Blue Moon 02] A Wedding at the Blue Moon Cafe
Anne Zoelle [Ren Crown 02] The Protection of Ren Crown (ep
C C Wood [Bitten 02] Once Bitten, Twice Shy (epub) i
C J Barry [Body 02] Body Thief (epub)
Anthony Burgess Enderby 02 Outside Enderby
Amanda Mackey [Instinctual 02 Instinctual 2 (epub)
Cygnet 02 The Cygnet And Th McKillip, Patricia
B L Mooney [Striving 02] Striving for Perfection (epub)

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.Times have changed.”“I guess the Internet is the new hallway,” Woody said, shaking his head.“The video has kind of run its course around here.All the kids have seen it, and most seem to think it’s no big deal.But the police say they’re concerned about it getting posted online and more people seeing it.So that’s my question—who would want to see that?”“That’s the magic of the Internet,” Brandt said.“There’s something out there for everybody, and there’s somebody out there for anything people might post.”The coach shook his head.“I just don’t get it.I’m surrounded by kids changing clothes every day, and there’s just nothing”—he lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned close—“sexy”—he looked sheepish, then stepped back and continued—“about it.”Donnelly seemed up to the challenge of explaining further.“Would you say the same thing about a hidden camera in the women’s locker room?”The coach gulped.“Well… I… um, I’d have to say that… um….”“Yeah, it’s like that,” Donnelly said, mercifully interrupting the coach’s embarrassed stuttering.“There are some people who wouldn’t mind seeing women athletes changing clothes, and there are other people who enjoy watching the men.”“Huh,” the coach grunted.“So there are perverts out there who look at my wrestlers like normal guys would look at women?”“I don’t think the labels ‘pervert’ and ‘normal’ are really helpful here,” Brandt said.“Let’s just say we’d like to make sure it doesn’t get posted online in the first place.”Woody shook his head again.“That poor kid.”BRANDT AND Donnelly stopped for lunch at a small, old-fashioned diner in the middle of town, where they were served what could charitably be termed “comfort food,” involving heavy plates of meat and gravy.“Whew,” groaned Donnelly, pushing his half-full plate away from him.“It’s a wonder everyone in this town doesn’t weigh three hundred pounds.”Brandt chuckled.“Most of the people I’ve seen are well on their way.Coach Woody seems like a notable exception.”“So there’s a homophobe with sixty good years left in him.Yay.”“Well, aren’t we cynical today?” Brandt winked at his partner while he took a sip of his iced tea.“Sorry.It’s being back in this damn town.Every person we meet manages to work in some gay-hate without even seeming to be aware of it.It’s kind of toxic.”“Given that, I appreciate how thoughtful you’ve been about Jonah the wrestler.You and Powell came at it from different sides, but your conclusion is pretty much the same.”Donnelly grunted.“Huh.Much as I hate to agree with that guy about anything, he’s right that this video could pretty much screw the kid’s chances.Another ten years, it won’t matter.But for now, if we can help him, we should.”Brandt looked at his watch.“We’d better get back to the station.Jonah and his parents will be there soon.”They walked across the street to the police station and were back in the conference room by two fifteen to await the arrival of the Fischers.Promptly at two thirty, they were brought in by Chief Powell.“Mr.and Mrs.Fischer, Jonah, this is Officer Brandt and Officer Donnelly.They’ve come here to help us get a handle on this situation.”“We were so relieved when Chief Powell said the State Police would be coming to help,” Mr.Fischer said, energetically pumping Brandt’s hand and then Donnelly’s.“Thank you.”The family shook hands all around and then sat down at the conference table.Powell retained his seat at the head of the table.“We’re pleased to meet you, Jonah,” began Brandt.“I’m sorry it has to be under these circumstances.”“It’s not the way I imagined my senior year going, that’s for sure,” Jonah replied, the corner of his mouth tucked up in what was likely intended to be a stoic grin.“Do you have any idea who might have taken the video of you?”Jonah sighed as if he’d been asked this question a million times.He shrugged and said, “I don’t.And it seems like a really weird thing to do.I mean, I get that it’s supposed to be embarrassing and stuff, but it’s not like I was doing anything weird.I’m not actually sure why everyone’s making such a big deal out of it.”“Because it’s sick and wrong,” announced Powell.“It would be terrible if this kept you from getting a scholarship for wrestling, now wouldn’t it?”Both Fischer parents nodded emphatically.“I know, I know.It’s just really… awkward.I mean, I’m missing practice so we can all sit around talking about my butt being on the Internet.”“Now, we don’t have any evidence that it’s on the Internet, buddy,” said Mr.Fischer in a fatherly “buck-up” voice.“That’s what we’re trying to avoid.”Jonah replied to his dad with a voice that clearly conveyed how little he thought his dad understood how the Internet worked.“There’s not really anything we can do about that, is there? People post stuff like this all the time.So what if it shows up on someone’s Tumblr? It’s not like I’m some celebrity who’s going to get reposted all over the place.”“Young man,” boomed Powell, “you have to understand that no university wrestling coach is going to take on a new athlete who’s got something like this hanging over him.They just won’t want to deal with the scandal and bad publicity.”“Well, then,” Jonah replied, “maybe I don’t want to go to a university that sees it that way.”Powell shook his head and emitted short bursts of mirthless laughter.“They all do, son, they all do.”“We’re supposed to meet with the wrestling coach from State next Wednesday,” Mrs.Fischer broke in.“What are we supposed to tell him? Do we say something about the video, or do we keep it a secret and hope he never finds out about it?”“Mrs.Fischer, I understand your concern,” Donnelly replied.“How about this: give us a few days to do some investigating, and we’ll be able to evaluate what the risks are.How about we meet next Tuesday and talk about what we’ve found, and then you’ll have a better idea how to handle the coach from State?”The Fischers looked at each other, conferring wordlessly.Mr.Fischer nodded to his wife.“All right,” he said.“We can do that.Until then, we won’t say anything and just pray this all goes away.”“And we’ll be working on finding out who was responsible for recording the video,” Brandt said.“If we can do that, we can keep them from circulating it any further.”They all rose from the table and moved toward the door.“Thanks for your help,” Jonah said.“And I really have no idea who might have done this.I’ve thought about it a lot over the last few days, and I can’t come up with anything.I’ve always tried to be nice to everybody.”“I’m sure you have, buddy,” said Donnelly, clapping his hand on Jonah’s shoulder.“Don’t lose any sleep over this.We’ll take care of it.”Jonah smiled for the first time during the meeting and then followed his parents out of the conference room.Once the Fischers had disappeared down the hall, Brandt turned to Powell.“Chief, you said the student who brought the video to the school counselor wouldn’t say who had sent it to her, right?”“That’s right.” Powell shook his head.“She’s a good kid—probably scared to point the finger at whatever deviant did this.”“It might be helpful if the school counselor could explain to her what the stakes are for Jonah.She may be willing to help out.If we can trace the chain back, it would bring us a lot closer to the origin.”“I’ll talk with the counselor.See if she can draw her out.”“Great.In the meantime, we’ll start working the other end of this [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]