OOGM: It was one of the two generic cops.
"I see. Now, the damage appears to have been done predominately to the machine, indicating perhaps a certain desire to end your use of it. Do you have any idea about who may have done this and why?"
"Uhh," Damien says, suddenly unsure and very, very uncomfortable. He looks to Jezreel for help, and, realizing he knows what she'll say, looks at Dodai, his eyes pleading for help.
"Tell him the Truth," Jezreel mouths...
OOC: Now there's a shock, right?
Dodai places a reassuring hand on Damien's shoulder. Very gently (and thus very slowly), she says, "I think you should explain to the officers, Damien. They need to know about the on-line group you've met," lowering her voice somewhat, she adds,"And the incident at their web site." Though she is ostensively speaking to Damien, Dodai's eyes are locked on Jezreel's.
Damien's eyebrows lower as he looks at Dodai, not sure that he's getting the whole message. "OK," he says meekly, before turning back to the officer.
There is a puase, and a very uncomfortable look in the direction of his father, before Damien goes on, hesitantly. "Um, see, officer, there was this online group that called themselves the Demons, that I just sorta, you know, came across when I was cruisin' the web. They look like they're pretty nasty people. I came on this really awful site that..."
Damien stops, and this time avoids looking at his father. However, the youngster is painfully aware of the presence of his father, and hates to think what is going through his fathers head at the moment.
He continues, "well, this really awful site, that showed all kinds of terrible things that shouldn'tve been on the web. So I, um, shut the site down."
[GM]
"Okay," says the cop, still sribbling, "so you shut down this site
because you deemed it, as you said, terrible."
Damien stops, praying against hope that nobody is going to ask anything more, and knowing that his silent prayer won't be answered.
[Jezreel]
"You should be proud of Damien, Mr. Morris," Jezreel says. "Not many
people are brave enough to stand up to the Demons like that."
"The Demons, eh?" says the officer, raising and eyebrow at his partner. "That would explain the little note on the wall. Okay, so . . . lemme get this straight," says the cop, "you shut ... down ... a site."
The lilt in his voice made it clear the statement was a probe rather
than a fact.
Damien nods, and says "Yes, sir. It wasn't too hard, I just..."
He suddenly stops and realizes who he is talking to, and who is listening. He finishes lamely, "um, you know, took them off the web, because they were doing, um, bad stuff."
"Okay, and you suspect that the managers of this web-site are the people who did this?" asks the cop.
Damien nods. "These demons are bad folks. I read some of..." Damien stops himself again before he admits out loud to reading others' E-mail, and finishes, "um, stuff, that made me think they do things, you know, for real, not just on the net."
[Cop]
"Can you give us a better idea of WHO you suspect the people who did this are?"
[Dect. Ross]
"I'm going to have to interject here, officer. As I am personally familiar with the group known as the Demons, it won't be truely necessary to talk about them as a whole."
[Dodai]
Dodai shoots Detective Ross a "Thank you" smile.
"Now, Damien," he says, looking down at the kid with a look of calm, this-is-serious-but-no-one's-going-to-hurt-you in his eyes, "Do you have any idea *which* of the Demons may have done this?"
[Jezreel]
Both Jezreel and Dodai wait for Damien's answer...
Damien looks back at Detective Ross, wondering how much he should trust the man. He looks towards Jezreel for support, but quickly realizes that she would probably just tell him to tell the truth and the whole truth. He also glances in the direction of Dodai for comfort. He deliberately avoids looking in the direction of his father, because he wants to avoid thinking about the hot water that he is in.
Seeing [his] glance, Jezreel says, "It's okay, Damien, you can tell him."
Picking up on your nervousness, Dodai gives [Damien] a reassuring smile, then nods. Reinforcing Jezreel, she says, "You can trust Detective Ross. He's on our side."
[Damien]
"Um, well, the main folks behind it were Secacah and Zalaph, and there was one named Cozbi too."
After mentioning this last name, Damien throws a quick glance in the direction of Jezreel.
Hearing Cozbi's name, Jezreel visibly flinches, flushing red. She closes her eyes as if against some personal pain. But she makes no comment.
Dodai nods as though none of the names seem surprising to her. And seeing Jezreel's dejected posture, she places her hand on her daughter's shoulder and gives her a gentle squeeze.
[Damien]
"They all seemed to be working for guys named Nybbas and Andrealphus. All these are just net handles, which is why they are such funny sounding names... but those are the only kind of names I could find in all of the demons' stuff."
"They're not just net handles," Jezreel starts to protest. They're..." But Dodai squeezes hard with the hard which is already on Jezreel's shoulder. When Jezreel looks up in surprise, Dodai simply shakes her head. Giving her mother a sort of sick, disappointed look, Jezreel sighs, but quits talking.
Damien looks back at Jezreel, and realizing who she is, he thinks he understands the rest of the sentence that she didn't say out loud.
Damien waits for a reply, hoping that he hasn't dug himself a deeper hole.
"Mr, Morris," says Detective Ross, "I'm afraid we're going to have to ask Damien to come downtown for some questioning."
"Are you placing him under arrest?" asked Damien's father, his voice full of worry and obviously upset (except to the naive Seraph, whose understanding of human emotions was still limited).
"No, no," says Detective Ross, "Nothing like that. I feel that Damien may have stumbled upon something significant and I'd like to find out what we can. If he cooperates, I'm sure any charges that might arise could be dropped."
Detective Ross turns to the cops, "Once you boys have finished the room, why don't you see if you can find how the perp got in, eh?" The officer dusting nods in agreement and the other takes off into the rest of the house.
[Mr. Morris]
"Very well." He turns to his son, the worry around his eyes clear to the Mercurian's gaze, despite her headache. Bending down on his knees he says to his boy, "Now, son, you should know that the penalties for hacking can be very severe. You might not be allowed to access the
internet for years for what you've done to these individuals. Detective Ross thinks that if you cooperate then you won't be punished for what you've done."
Jezreel watches all of this interplay without much understanding. She really doesn't quite know why they are all talking about punishing Damien for destroying a pornographic site in the first place. So, she just waits for Damien's response, sure that if it were a problem, Dodai would speak up.
Damien swallows, and says in a meek tone of voice, "Yes, Dad, I understand."
He looks back at Detective Ross, and gets cold feet. He looks first back at his father, and then at Jezreel and Dodai. Finally he looks back at Detective Ross. "Um, do you want me to go with you... alone?"
With a slight chuckle the detective speaks, "No, no, your father would be be welcome to join us on the way there and wait for you outside.
"I can go with you if you like," Jezreel offers. "Mr. Neelon wanted to talk to me anyway..."
[Dect. Ross]
"Yes, that would be fine, Jezreel. You could probably meet with him initially while Damien is giving his official statement. Mr. Morris, once the boys have finished looking over the house we can head on over to the station."
"Okay," Damiens father says with a sigh. The knots of worry are beginning to slightly move out of his face, but he's still far from relaxed.
"I'll go with you then," Jezreel says, then realizing that she technically should ask, "Alright, Mom?"
[Dodai]
"I thought Mr. Neelon was going to pick you up from the house," she says, not sure if this is a good idea... Then her expression gets kind of distant for a moment...
"Okay," Damiens father says with a sigh. The knots of worry are beginning to slightly move out of his face, but he's still far from relaxed.
Coming back to full awareness of the here and now, Dodai nods reluctant agreement. "On the other hand," she says, "I guess it would be easier for you to meet him there. I just realized that I have something I need to do this evening. Detective Ross, if you wouldn't mind seeing that Jezreel got there okay, I'm sure Mr. Neelon could bring her home safely when he was
done talking to her."
Jezreel looks both pleased and surprised at her mother's sudden change of heart. "Thanks, Mom," she says, sounding excited. Then, belatedly remembering her manners, she turns back to Detective Ross. "If that's not too much of an imposition on you, sir?"
[Dect. Ross]
"No, no, I can take you home even if Mr. Neelon is too busy."
The officers finish, oddly enough no evidence of forced entry is found; they explain that this must have been done either by someone with access to a key to the house, or someone who was very, very good. No finger prints were found.
"Mr. Morris, this may mean that someone you've lent a key to is somehow involved."
Mr. Morris merely hmmmed in response.
On the way out, Damien's eye catches the box of pencils in the kitchen by the phone, remembering that the one from his father's office is missing.
[Jezreel]
"I'll go with you then," Jezreel says, then realizing that she technically
should ask, "Alright, Mom?"
[Dodai]
"I thought Mr. Neelon was going to pick you up from the house," she says,
not sure if this is a good idea... Then her expression gets kind of distant
for a moment as she picks up the message in the Symphony...
[Dodai]
Coming back to full awareness of the here and now, Dodai nods reluctant
agreement. "On the other hand," she says, "I guess it would be easier for
you to meet him there. I just realized that I have something I need to do
this evening. Detective Ross, if you wouldn't mind seeing that Jezreel got
there okay, I'm sure Mr. Neelon could bring her home safely when he was
done talking to her."
[Jezreel]
Jezreel looks both pleased and surprised at her mother's sudden change of
heart. "Thanks, Mom," she says, sounding excited. Then, belatedly
remembering her manners, she turns back to Detective Ross. "If that's not
too much of an imposition on you, sir?"
Damien realizes that there is in fact a bit of a horror scenario going on, and that it's not all fun and excitment and rides in cop cars. "Dad! Your pencil!" he says.
After seeing the likely perplexed look on his father's face, Damien elaborates. "The pencil jar. The pencil from your office, with your office address, is missing! The Demons, they might go there, too!"
The officers do a quick look at each other then look to the detective. "Your officer number, Mr. Morris?"
"555-9675" Lines of worry cross Damien's father's face.
"We'll have an officer maintain some surveillance over the premises." Detective Ross looks at Damien with a smile, "Excellent observation, kid. You'd make a good detective."
[Jezreel]
Grinning at Damien, "Yeah, good catch. No wonder..." Jezreel pauses and
glances half guiltily at her mother, "We're gonna make such good friends."
She finishes.. Not the way she started, you think.
Detective Ross says casually, "We can probably have a squad car hang outside your building for a few days, Mr. Morris, just to be safe."
"I'd appreciate that."
[Detc. Ross]
"Do you two [looking at the kids] want to jump in the police car or ride with Mr. Morris?"
[Jezreel]
Always interested in trying new things, Jezreel blurts out, "Riding in the
police car would be cool," not realizing that maybe Damien might not be too
comfortable with that...
Damien, enough of a kid to forget, at least for a second or two, the
horrible plight he is in, feels a brief sense of excitement about the idea
of getting to ride in a police car. He looks at his Father, and says,
"Dad? Would it be OK?"
Sighing, Damien's father says ok. "You can ride with them, I'll be following close behind."
Jezreel skips to the car with unhidden enthusiasm. This is definitely cool!
Detective Ross accepts the card with a smile. "Okay, kids, to the squad car, we'll all fit in the back."
[see copcar-vancouver.jpg]
[Jezreel]
Jezreel grins with excitement and half runs, half skips to the door.
"Cya, Mom..."
[Dodai]
Shaking her head half in amusement, half with concern for her
oh-so-unworldly-wise daughter, Dodai says, "See you later honey. Be
careful. Mind your manners."
Before her daughter can get into the car, Dodai says, "Be careful,
Jezreel. This is serious business."
"I will, Mom," Jezreel promises with the easy acceptance of a child who has no idea what serious really is.
Dodai shakes her head, worriedly, but bravely waves good-bye to her
daughter, really understanding for the first time what human parents have meant when they felt they were losing their children when they sent them to kindergarten, or high school, or their first job, or whatever. "I love you, baby..."
Not looking nearly as embarassed as the average human middle schooler told that in public, Jezreel smiles back. "I love you too, Mom..." Then she scrambles into the police car and hazards a glance a Damien...
"I should want to talk with you, later," Detective Ross says to Dodai,
"I like to meet as many people as I can."
[Dodai]
Smiling broadly, Dodai says, "Any time you like, Detective Ross." She
pulls a business card from her wallet and hands it to him. "Here's my
number," she says. "Feel free to call whenever you like."
Detective Ross accepts the card with a smile.
[OOGM: And with that, we enter the police car and head to the station.]