Matthew Nath – Author

Chapter 3

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                    Chapter 3

	“Well,” Jim began, “why don’t you tell me about yourself?  What were you doing in that house tonight?”

	Tyler sat on the bench with his back to the wall.  His feet were on the bench beside him and he had his knees pulled tightly against his chest.  Jim was surprised to see the young man shaking.  He looked much younger than he would have guessed at the house.  He was barely a kid, maybe 20 years old.  His thin, frail frame looked almost feminine except for his broad shoulders and obvious Adam’s Apple.  His thin, blue/purple hair hung over his eyes; eyes that alternated between fear and anger as he watched Jim talk.

	Fear seemed to win out as words started spilling out of the young man’s mouth, “They were supposed to be gone! They were never supposed to come home and I didn’t know what to do. I panicked! I heard the door opening and I just froze. I just stood there as the two people came in the kitchen.  They turned the light on and the lady let out a little scream. I almost did too but then I said that I got a gun.  I don’t know why I said that. I didn’t actually have a gun, I promise. Anyways, they listened and put their hands up.  They got me some rope and we tied them up but it was just so I could get a chance to get away, I swear.  It wasn’t my fault that the guy fell, he just slipped.  And then I helped him, right? I got the stuff and covered it up.  And if I hadn’t done that I wouldn’t’ve been caught, just saying.”

	Jim just sat in silence, unsure how to respond.  He stammered for a second and then watched with concern as Tyler started sobbing.  This was not going how he had expected.

	“How long am I going to be in jail?” The frail voice broke Jim’s heart.

	“Oh my gosh. Sir, I promise you. You will not be going to jail,” Jim replied, earnestly.  A light of hope flickered in Tyler’s eye as he looked at Jim.  Jim continued, “Mr. and Mrs. Dreyfus won’t be pressing charges.  She said you were so kind to them and gentle and were especially impressed that you stayed to help bandage Mike’s head.  So you don’t have to worry about that.”

	Tyler seemed to be questioning whether or not to believe him.  But he looked much calmer and more hopeful.  He had stopped crying and looked at Jim.  He looked around himself and the cell he was in.  He stood from the bench, seeming more in control of himself and more confident.  “If I’m not going to jail then let me out now.”

	Jim felt a twinge of guilt at his choice of words.  “OK, so that maybe was a little premature of myself. I can’t promise you won’t go to jail now.  It’s up to the judge, but there is no way they are going to keep you.”

	Tyler looked a little angry but confused.  “Keep me for what?” he asked.

	“Breaking and entering.” Jim replied.

	“But you just said they aren’t pressing charges,” Tyler replied flatly.

	“Right,” Jim said.  “They aren’t.  But the city, might.”

	“How would the city charge me if those guys aren’t?” Tyler asked.

	“I know, right?” Jim replied.  This had happened a few times before and he never understood the reasoning.  If the property owner didn’t sue the person, why would the city have any authority to?  Nathan had tried to explain something about the city having the responsibility to ensure the safety of its residents but Jim had stopped listening.  It didn’t make much sense, but he had to go by the law.  He was an officer of the law after all.

	Jim attempted to redirect the conversation, “I wish I had an answer for ya. But, we gotta wait ‘til morning to get this cleared up by a judge.  So, while I got ya here, why don’t we get to know each other? Tell me about yourself, Tyler.”

	Tyler glared back.  He stood tall and Jim assessed him again.  The wiry frame seemed to have filled out now that he stood.  His arms and shoulders were larger than Jim expected.  The man looked much more fully his age now that he was in more control of himself.  He seemed fairly angry and smirked slightly at Jim before he started replying.

	“Well, there Jim,” Tyler said, “shucks. I don’t know what there is to tell.  What do you want to hear about?”

	“I don’t know, what are your hobbies?  Your interests?” Jim asked

	“Ah, hobbies and interests.  To have time for such frivolities.  No, I do not have any hobbies or interests here.  I don’t have time for leisure like that when people are suffering.  No, I am active. A fighter. A rebel.”

	Jim’s attention was piqued.  “Oh really?” he asked, skeptically.

	Tyler smiled as he looked at Jim.  He seemed to be taking stock of how Jim looked, almost as if to decide if he could trust him or not.  Tyler stared into Jim’s eyes for a moment and Jim stared back.  He felt start himself grow somewhat eager with an odd anticipation as the silence continued. Suddenly, Tyler broke it with a loud clap.

	“Son of a bitch,” Tyler said as he jumped up.  He was almost bouncing around the cell for a minute.  He shook himself and then took his seat again, smiling and staring at Jim.  Jim had been sitting and watching with growing curiosity at the behavior.  Tyler cleared his throat and said, “Sorry about that.  Just did not expect to see another one here.”

	“Another what?” Jim asked.  He was literally sitting on the edge of his seat.

	“An ally,” Tyler almost whispered.  Jim felt a wave of pride slide up his spine as he heard the word.  He nodded to himself, thinking of the rainbow flag that proudly hung on the steeple of his church.  “Yeah, I am an ally aren’t I?” He thought to himself.

	“How could you tell?” Jim asked quietly.

	Tyler smiled to himself.  “We have ways.  You get pretty good at figuring out who you can trust and who you can’t.  Figuring out who’s cool and who’s dangerous.  If you can’t, you get caught and put into your place.  So yeah, I can tell.”

	Jim was a surprised but also felt like his chest was full.  He was very glad Tyler felt him worthy of such trust.  “I can tell. I can trust you.  And I can tell you the real reason I was in that house tonight.” Tyler said.  Jim felt his chest fill more as he was drawn into Tyler’s inner circle.  “First, though, you gotta tell me what you know about Mike Dreyfus.”

	“Who?” Jim asked, surprised for a moment.  His mind took a second to connect things right now back to the rest of the night.  He cleared his head and replied, “Oh, right. He owns the house you broke into.  He is a pastor at the church in town.  I don’t know, Nathan was telling me something earlier about how he yelled at some kids for spray painting I think but then he helped them after, I guess.  I don’t know. I don’t know much.”

	“No, you don’t know anything about him,” Tyler replied seriously.  He took a deep breath and then said, “I was there to find child pornography we know is on his computer.”

	“What?!” Jim yelled. He almost jumped out of his seat and then quickly looked around the room.  They were alone.  No one else there except for whoever watches this on the security camera.  Jim felt his thoughts going to the security camera and felt a wave of fear spreading over him.  If Pastor Mike has child porn on his computer could he be connected with any of those other child porn rings?  Those rings that evil people like Jeffery Epstein were part of.  They seemed to have a lot of power.  Enough power that if they heard about someone talking about them, they might kill anyone involved.  Jim ran out of the room and disconnected the cord for the security camera in the observation room, barely conscious of what he was doing.

	He walked back into the room and found Tyler standing against the wall in the cell.  He held his body rigidly, legs crossed out front of him, sticking out into the light, but the rest of his body shaded in darkness.  Jim found his figure almost sickeningly alluring and felt his gaze locked on for a moment as he entered the room.  Tyler seemed to notice and smiled as he said, “Well officer Jim, what was that about?”

	Jim took his seat again and shook his head.  He tried to get his thoughts clear as he looked at Tyler.  He said a quick prayer asking God for clarity and felt a quick burst of energy.  He took a breath and looked to Tyler again.  “Nothing,” he replied simply.  “Nothing.  Sorry.  I had to take care of something, but I’m back.  Now that was a pretty bold claim, do you have evidence?”

	“The file is in the computer?” Tyler asked with a mock shocked and confused look.  Jim was confused but felt a memory stir in his mind.  

Jim thought for a second before yelling out, “Zoolander?!”

“You got it!” Tyler exclaimed.  “Now I know you’re in the club.”

The pair laughed together for at least a minute until Tyler was finally able to catch his breath.  He said, “Sorry, I couldn’t help it.  Ugh, that’s funny.  No, the files are ON the computer.  The computer at Mr. Dreyfus’s house.  That’s all, just need to send someone there and you’ll find them.”

	Jim shook his head, shocked the kid even knew what Zoolander was, let alone make a reference from it.  He smiled and then replied, “Shoot, I don’t know if that will be enough.  There are laws to protect this type of stuff and I don’t know if we can go on just an anonymous source to get a warrant like that.”

	Tyler looked genuinely disappointed.  “Oh, what if I had a zip drive with a file I copied FROM his computer?  Would that do it?”

	Jim thought about it for a second.  “Is there any way to show what computer a file like that came from?”

	“Yeah!” Tyler exclaimed.  “Yeah, there is!  Yeah I can do it!”  He was excited and almost dancing in the cell.  “Let’s go get it now!”

	Jim’s heart sank a little.  He knew they still couldn’t go anywhere tonight, no matter what Tyler said.  “Well you can’t go. I can radio my partner to grab something though?”

	Tyler deflated some as he looked around, taking in the cell again.  “This is a real pain in the ass, ya know?  Why do I have to stay again?  Can’t you just let me out?”

	“No, I’m sorry, but I can’t.  The law is that you have to be seen by a judge and have him or her hear your case for the city to drop charges.  I’m sorry, but where is that zip drive? Nathan can bring it in and we can get to work on it.”

	“I can’t tell you that,” Tyler replied, simply.  He turned and sat on the bench, crossing his arms and legs.  Jim was surprised his sudden change in demeanor.  He felt cold all of a sudden.

	“Oh,” Jim said.  He felt his chest deflate a little.  “Well, once we have the evidence, we can start writing up what we need for a search warrant.  Until then, it would be better if I got to you know so we could maybe use you as a character witness?  Would you be willing to do that and share how you discovered the child porn?”

	Tyler thought for a second and then nodded to himself and said, “I could do that, yeah.”

	Jim felt his excitement grow at getting to know Tyler better.   He didn’t know why but felt like he looked up to Tyler a little even though the man was obviously younger than himself.  He leaned back in the chair as one thought jumped to his mind.  He quickly asked the question before he forgot, “Oh, is the zip drive somewhere safe?”

	Tyler seemed annoyed by the question but said, “Yeah. Yeah I put it in my van, yeah it’s safe.”  Jim nodded and motioned for Tyler to take a seat.  When they were both sitting Tyler continued, “So how do we do this?”

	Jim shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know.  I’ve never done such an informal interview before.  Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

	“Alright then, the beginning.  Well, I mean, in the beginning there was God, right? And the Word was with God. And the Word was God.” Tyler’s demeanor darkened as he continued, “And my master turned from God, dragging humanity down with him.”

	Tyler stared at Jim with a dark look in his eyes as silence filled the room.  Jim didn’t know what to do and just stared back, feeling the tension build.  A slightly crazy twinge filled Tyler’s face and then in a second he burst out laughing.  He sat back against the wall of his cell, slapping his knee.  “Man you are too easy, you know that?”

	Jim didn’t know what he meant but found himself laughing somewhat uncomfortably along with Tyler.  Tyler continued, “I suppose that’s too far back, huh?  Well how about my childhood?  Yeah, let’s start there…