7 – The Protest (4)

Jake spent what felt like hours locked in an empty room- aside from a metal table, and several metal chairs. At least he was no longer handcuffed. He'd call his father, but the police made him empty his pockets out into a bin, along with his watch.

As he waited for someone to let him leave, his thoughts wandered towards Axel. Where was he? Was he in a similar room? Or did the police let him go? Hopefully he wasn’t in a worse place. It would be Jake’s fault if he was.

Finally, two officers walked in. Their name tags read "Richard Baum" and "Neil McNeil." Despite the three chairs across from Jake, they opted to hover over him.

“You are Jake Williams, correct?” Baum asked.

“Yes. Can I go home?”

“No.” Baum tapped on his watch. “We're recording this conversation.”

“Okay?” Jake wondered if that was a bad sign, or if it was normal. He’d never had any run ins with cops before. There weren’t very many of them in California.

“State your full name and age,” Baum ordered.

“Jake Williams. Age 20.”

McNeil held a tablet in his hand. He scrolled on it. “Walker and Carter Henderson have decided to press charges against you. For kidnapping their sister, Maple.”

Were they serious? “I didn’t kidnap their sister. She came to me.”

“Uh-huh. We’ve got a few questions for you.” McNeil typed something on the tablet as he sat down in a chair across from Jake.

Baum sat down next to McNeil. “Why did you start that protest? Is it because you’re gay?”

Jake rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to be gay to support gay rights. Just like you don’t have to be a woman to support women’s rights. Or a POC to support POC rights.”

The officers stared at him.

“It’s true.”

“Are you LGBT?” Baum asked.

He neglected to say “plus,” or include a P. So Jake used that as an excuse to say no. It was probably best if they assumed he was straight. “I’m not L, G, B, or T.”

“Why the protest?” McNeil asked.

“I heard conversion therapy is real. I read about these horrifying camps parents send their kids to. To cure them. But they’re torture.”

“Oh boy,” Baum said, running his hand over his head.

“Look kid.” McNeil leaned forward with his elbows on the table. “Law enforcement gets all kinds of crazy reports from teens, complaining about these camps and schools for troubled youth. Gay youth. Whatever. They send people out to investigate. And you know what they see?”

Jake folded his arms, waiting silently for an answer.

“They see kids sweeping floors and washing dishes. Kids sitting in an empty room for an hour for misbehaving. Kids being served vegetables instead of sweets. The truth is, they were all spoiled. So whatever they’re saying is an over-exaggeration. Because they’re not used to being told what to do.”

“Are these places told ahead of time they’re being inspected?” Jake asked.

The two officers exchanged glances.

“That’s not the point,” McNeil said. “What’s it matter to you, anyway? It doesn’t affect your life.”

“It’s still wrong. Besides, I have a right to protest.”

“To peacefully protest,” McNeil corrected.

“It was peaceful until those counter-protesters showed up and started a fight!”

“Every counter-protester we’ve spoken to says otherwise. And given it was someone on your side who assaulted an officer, your case doesn’t look good.”

“The man who threw the water bottle wasn’t on any side. He was just some random guy walking by.”

“Sure he was.” McNeil looked over at Baum. “Go grab his phone.”

Jake raised his chin. “You don’t have a warrant to search it.”

McNeil and Baum guffawed at his words.

“A warrant!” Baum wiped his eye. “We don’t have those shitty ESA laws here, kid.”

Another hour passed, with Jake still in that room. He watched the officers snoop through his phone. Every so often, they’d stop to ask Jake about something they found. Occasionally, Baum would note something on his tablet.

Eventually, someone opened the door. Jake’s father and another man entered the room.

Jake brightened at the sight. “Dad! Have you come to get me out of here?”

“No. I’ve come to bring you a lawyer.” Will sat down next to Jake. He eyed the officers snooping through Jake’s phone. “Don’t tell me you’ve been talking to the police without a lawyer.”

“Was I not supposed to?” Jake asked.

“I’m Stu Rodney,” the lawyer said to the officers. “I’m here to represent my client, Jake Williams.” He took a seat on the other side of Jake, facing Baum. “Now, why do you have this man in custody?”

“He started a protest that ended in a riot,” Baum said. “One officer was injured.”

“Was it my client who injured the officer?”

“No, but if he hadn’t started the protest, that officer never would have gotten injured.”

Rodney turned towards Jake. “Tell me what happened.”

Jake explained everything. From the peaceful start of the protest, to counter-protesters showing up, to Maple joining in, to how the counter-protesters jumped to conclusions. And the fight that broke out.

“You can even ask Maple herself,” Jake said. “She’ll tell you.”

“Have you spoken with Miss Maple?” Rodney asked the officers.

“Indeed we did,” McNeil answered with a smile. “I’ve even got a date with her.”

“What!” Jake nearly stood up. “How?”

“Her brothers set me up. Right after pressing charges, of course.”

Jake gritted his teeth. He couldn’t imagine Maple willingly going out with a police officer. Not only that, but the man appeared to be in his late thirties. “You do know she’s 17.”

“So?”

Rodney cleared his throat as he faced Jake. “I advise you not to speak any more on that matter.”

“But-”

“Jake.” Will gave him a warning stare.

“Fine.” Jake kicked at the floor under the table out of anger. His foot slipped and collided with something hard.

McNeil jumped, then glared at Jake. “Did you just kick me?”

The color drained from his face. “I’m sorry! That was an accident. I swear.”

“You can add ‘assaulting a police officer’ to the list of charges!” McNeil snarled at Rodney.

“It was an accident,” Rodney stated.

“After he got upset with me? I’m not buying it.”

“You have no proof it was on purpose.”

“Can I go home yet?” Jake asked.

“Soon.” Rodney turned to McNeil. “What are the other charges?”

“Inciting a riot, and kidnapping a minor.”

“And lying to police.” Baum pointed at the screen of Jake’s phone. “Right on his social media. He’s listed himself as pansexual. We asked if he was LGBT, and he said no!”

"How is that question relevant to the case?" Rodney asked.

“It’s what the protest was about.”

“But not the riot or kidnapping.”

“The riot started because the protesters kidnapped a teenage girl to brainwash her with their LGBT ideology,” McNeil said. “I’d say that’s relevant.”

“Anyone of any sexuality can do that,” Rodney said. “Besides, my client did not lie.”

“Huh?”

“You asked my client if he was LGBT. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans. You didn’t ask him if he was pansexual.”

“Ha!” Jake exclaimed.

“Fine,” Baum grumbled. “But there’s still inciting a riot, and kidnapping.”

“Where is the evidence?”

“We have several eye witnesses who gave their version of the story. Each said the same thing. Jake kidnapped the girl, which started the riot.”

“Were all of these eye witnesses counter-protesters?”

McNeil studied the table while Baum fidgeted with the tablet.

“Of course. All biased sources. You’ll need more than that.”

“The protesters will be just as biased,” McNeil said. “There were no neutral people there.”

“Looks to me like you don’t have enough evidence to charge my client. You’ll have to release him.”

“Fine.” Baum scowled at Jake, slipping him his phone back. “You can go for now. But don’t think we’re giving up. We’ll find more evidence.”

Jake doubted that. At this point, he was more concerned about Axel. “What about Axel? Where’s he at? Does he have a lawyer?”

“Who’s Axel?” Rodney asked.

“My friend. They arrested him too.”

Rodney looked to the officers. “Why was his friend arrested?”

Neither officer answered.

“Well?”

“We needed to see what part he played in the riot,” McNeil said.

“He wanted to keep things peaceful,” Jake said. “He was the most innocent person there. He almost didn’t go.”

“Sounds like a decent witness.” Rodney jerked his head to the officers. “Have you heard his side of the story?”

McNeil scratched the stubble on his jaw. “Gish was talking to him, last I saw.”

“Can you bring him in?”

With a sigh, McNeil tapped at his watch. “Gish? Come to Room 2. Bring Axel.”

“What?” Gish’s voice crackled from McNeil’s watch. “Who the hell is Axel?”

“The man you arrested this afternoon.”

“The Hispanic?”

“You arrested a Hispanic man?” Rodney’s voice was filled with both interest and suspicion.

“Uh…” McNeil turned his back to everyone, and whispered something into the watch.

“I’ll be right there with him,” Gish said.

~~~~~

Axel lay on a thin mattress in the same jail cell he was locked in last time, wearing the same hot pink uniform as last time. Hopefully he wouldn’t be stuck here as long as last time too. Three days for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Given he was in the wrong place at the wrong time again, he guessed it would be three days.

The door to the cell room opened. Gish appeared. He pressed his finger against a fingerprint reader on the cell door. It unlocked. Axel blinked in surprise. “I can go already?”

“Turn around. Hands behind your back.”

Axel obeyed, and Gish clicked handcuffs on him.

Gish led him out the door, around the corner, and into a room. There sat two officers, Jake, his father, and a man in a suit. Axel guessed he was a lawyer.

Jake stared with his mouth slightly open. “Why are you in a prison uniform?”

“And a pink one at that.” The lawyer had his eyes on Gish. “You have some serious explaining to do.”

Gish shared a frantic look with the two officers. Axel recognized both of them, though had forgotten their names until he noticed their name tags. McNeil and Baum.

“To my knowledge, this man has done nothing wrong. Why is he cuffed? Why is he in a pink uniform?”

“Because he’s blacklisted,” Gish said. “All blacklisted prisoners wear pink.”

The lawyer narrowed his eyes. “Why is he being treated like a prisoner? You said you were only holding him for questioning.”

“We didn’t have any more rooms available to keep him in.”

“So you put him in a degrading uniform, and locked him in a cell. Why is he handcuffed?”

Gish muttered something under his breath. He uncuffed Axel.

Axel rubbed at his wrists. “Why am I here?”

“I’m Jake’s lawyer, Stu Rodney. My client has been charged with inciting a riot, and kidnapping a minor.”

“Bullshit,” Axel said. “Jake didn’t do any of that. It was the counter-protesters who started it.”

“Explain your side of the story,” Rodney said.

Axel did. How he wasn’t planning on going, because protests never ended well. How he felt guilty, for not supporting his friend. How he went to do that, and there was already a decent sized crowd. He had been surprised at how many people came out in support. But not surprised by the appearance of counter-protesters.

He explained how Maple was originally in the counter-protest group, and his hunch that her brothers forced her to go. How Maple had a thing for Jake. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she slipped over just to be near him.

“The counter-protesters misunderstood everything,” Axel said. “They got mad and accused us of brainwashing Maple. They started yelling at us, and the fight broke out. The police showed up. Everyone ran. I wanted to run too, but Officer Gish got to me and Jake before we could. He pointed a gun at us.”

“Interesting.” Rodney spared a glance at Gish. “What happened next?”

“I held my hands up. He grabbed me by the back of my shirt, and slammed me down on the ground.” Axel rubbed his sore chest. “He put me in handcuffs, and brought me here.”

Rodney turned his attention to Gish. “This man was compliant. Why did you feel a need to slam him on the ground?”

“He’s exaggerating.”

Rodney focused his attention on Axel’s hands. “How’d you get those scrape marks?”

“From when I was thrown down. I put my hands out to block the impact.”

“And the force of that caused those. It must have been a hard slam.” Rodney looked back up at Axel. “You were rubbing your chest. Did it get hurt? Are there marks on it?”

“What does this have to do with Jake’s charges?” McNeil interrupted.

“Nothing. But it sounds like this man can press charges of his own.”

“I can?” Axel always figured cops could do whatever they pleased. They certainly acted like it.

“He’ll need an eyewitness to prove it,” McNeil said. He glanced at Jake. “An unbiased one.”

Axel remembered how Sebastian came to his defense. “There is one. Sebastian was there. He saw the whole thing.”

“He called the officer out on it too,” Jake said.

“An unbiased witness and injuries to prove it,” Rodney said. “Sounds like better evidence than what you two came up with against my client.”

Baum rubbed his eye. “We’ll convince the Henderson's to drop their charges, if you don’t press any.”

Axel knew nothing about how pressing charges worked, but it sounded stressful. He did not have money for a lawyer. He did not have the time or energy to go to court rooms. He hated filling out forms. All he wanted was to go back to his van and sleep. Preferably with Jake in his arms. “I will if you let me go right now.”

Rodney looked to the officers. “You heard the man. Release him, and let’s all go home.”