by Jim Riley
Donna nodded. "Me neither at first. They cut out all the time between plays, between quarters, and the halftime when they edit the film we can download."
"Okay," Niki said, unsure where the conversation was leading.
"That version did me no good, so I call the guy up at Huddle. He does the editing on all the film. He told me that was the only version allowed with your new subscription."
"My new subscription?" Niki did not know she had one.
"Yep. You are now a customer of Huddle. Anyway, that version didn't help, so I asked him if he could get me the unedited version."
"And he agreed?" Niki asked.
"Nope. He said he couldn't do it without the owner's permission. He just works there. You know how these computer geeks are. Not very radical, to say the least."
Niki nodded, secretly hoping to get to the conclusion of the story.
"Anyway, I could tell he was a geek, so I asked him if I could treat him to lunch. He agreed, and we met at Linda's. I didn't have any trouble spotting him, and I made sure he had no trouble spotting me."
"Huh?" Niki blurted.
"I wore a blouse from a couple of years ago before these grew out," Donna pointed at her chest. "That's all Norman, that's the computer guy, looked at the whole time. He didn't even eat his catfish."
"I bet," Niki said. "So now I'm out a subscription to Huddle and a lunch for two at Linda's for something you didn't see."
"Yes, Ma'am. But I got the full version of what they filmed. The cameraman kept rolling after the game, and they sold some of the celebration footage to a local TV station. You know, with everybody jumping up and down and running onto the field."
“Okay,”Niki said, still not sure why Donna was so excited.
"Here," the young partner said. "Sit at my computer and watch. Their software lets me highlight anyone I want. Just put the spotlight on them and they stay in a spotlight until you turn it off."
Niki changed positions with her partner and saw that Donna had keyed the film to the spot where the game ended. She had also highlighted Billy Bailey on the sidelines.
Donna reached over and moved the arrow key to the play button and clicked on it. The figures on the field jumped into action. The circle of light around Bailey followed him onto the field where he celebrated with his players. Then it followed him across the field when he went over to shake the hands of the opposing coaches.
After that, the film showed the coach returned to the celebration. By now, the fans, parents, and cheerleaders had joined the joyous affair. The cameraman kept filming until the elation died down and the field cleared.
It showed the coach walking to the locker room midst his players, slapping each one within reach on his shoulder pads.
When he got to the sidelines, the film showed his wife, Sara Sue, jumping into his arms for a long embrace that lasted almost two minutes. Many players walked by, grinning at the young couple in each other's arms.
When Bailey set Sara Sue back on the ground, he gave her one final kiss, and jogged out of sight to the locker room. A few seconds later, the film shut off.
Niki was tempted to run it again. "I didn't see anything."
Donna beamed. "Me either."
Niki shook her head. "How does that help us?"
Donna pointed at the monitor. "If Coach Bailey molested those two cheerleaders after the game last Friday night, we should have seen it on the film. It wasn't there."
Niki frowned.
"But there were times when he was in the crowd, and we can’t see who he was hugging or where his hands were."
"True. That's when I went back and highlighted each of the cheerleaders during the celebration. Watch this."
Donna hit the button again, the focus highlighted on Flavia Foster. The third run of the celebration, she had a circle of light around LaDonne Elgin. When the third run finished, she sat back in her chair and grinned at Niki.
"They never got close to Coach Bailey, not one time," Niki exclaimed.
"Nope." Donna continued to grin. "And there's more."
"What more could there be? This is amazing."
Donna ran the film to the last part where Billy and Sara Sue were in an embrace. She stopped on one picture.
"See anything familiar?" She asked.
"No—Hey, it can't be."
"It is," Donna shoved the photograph of Billy with his hands on LaDonne Elgin's buttocks over to Niki.
"It's the same exact shot of Bailey as in the file. Same expression and everything. The only difference is that the butt belongs to his wife, not LaDonne Elgin."
"They photo-shopped it. This proves it. But the result was phenomenal. How about the photo with Flavia?"
Donna shook her head. "I haven't been able to find it yet, but this film is from a different angle than the photographs. My guess is that someone was taking pictures from the stands."
"That makes sense. Now we know how they did it. Next we have to figure out who did it." Niki stated.
"One thing is for sure. Both Flavia and LaDonne are in this up to their pretty little necks. We can probably put enough pressure on them to make them help us."
Niki went back to her desk.
"LaDonne, yes. I thought she was about to break when I talked to her, but now if I show her this film, she'll cave. I don't think Flavia will. She had me going in circles when I talked to her. Very believable. Plus, we don't have an exact image to confront her. She can always claim he did it while in the crowd of students and fans."
"But she didn't get that close to him. He was never close enough to her to grope her boob."
"It doesn't look that way from the film. I'd rather go after LaDonne. She's the weaker of the two."
"Want me to go with you? I'm free tonight."
“No,” Niki answered. “I think I'll call her and set up a time to see her tomorrow at school. That will give her all night to worry about what we found. She'll be a nervous wreck by tomorrow.”
Donna laughed. "That's evil."
Niki smiled. "No more evil than what those two girls had done to Billy Bailey and Sara Sue."
28
Central
"Hello, LaDonne. This is Niki Dupre," the private investigator said into her cell.
"Hi." A timid reply from the teenager.
"Hey, we found some new evidence in the case. I need to show it to you before I take it to the police."
"Police?" LaDonne barely whispered. "What evidence?"
"I'd rather show it to you than tell you about it. Once you see it, then we can talk."
"I'm busy. I don't have time. I've got a ton of homework tonight."
Niki chuckled.
"No problem. What time is your study hour tomorrow? I can come by the school then."
"Uh—Tomorrow is not a good day. I have a lot of studying to do. I have three big tests next week."
"Okay, I'll come by at lunch. I don't mind having the other kids around if you don't. But I have to warn you. You may want to be alone with me when you see what I have."
Niki heard a deep intake of breath on the other end.
"Come on by during study hour. I can meet with you in the library again. My study hour is the second class period."
"Great. I'll see you then."
"Wait," LaDonne yelled. "Can you at least tell me what you found. If you’re gonna show me tomorrow, you might as well tell me tonight."
"I'll wait," Niki replied. "After you see it, I’ll have a few questions for you. Those will better be asked face–to–face. See you tomorrow."
Niki hung up, leaving a worried teenager on the other end of the call.
29
Central
"What do you think it is?" LaDonne asked.
"There is no telling," Flavia replied into the cell.
"I'm scared. What if she knows?"
"She will have to prove it. There is no way she has proof or she would have already gone to the cops."
LaDonne blubbered. "Why is she coming to see me? Why not yo
u?"
"I don't know. Maybe Niki thinks you’re a lot easier to scare than me. Maybe this is just one big hoax to get you to admit something."
LaDonne continued to cry. "I don't think so. She sounded too sure of herself, like she had some kind of evidence. What could she have?"
Flavia was getting frustrated with her friend and concerned at the same time.
"You've got to keep it together. If we fall apart now, we'll both be in hot water, maybe with an appointment at the juvenile center or jail for a long time. Is that what you want?"
The sobs increased.
"Jail? I can't go to jail. I wouldn't last a week in there. Do you know what they do to new girls in jail?"
Flavia’s tone was much more harsh. "Listen, you don't have a choice. We've already done what we've done. We can't go back and undo it."
"We've got to do something," the desperation in LaDonne's voice overrode all other emotions. "I can't talk to her tomorrow. Is there anything we can do to keep me from doing that?"
"We may do something. Here's what I want you to do. But you have to promise not to tell anyone. This has to stay between us."
30
Central
"Coach Bailey, this is LaDonne Elgin."
"LaDonne? Why are you calling me? I'm not supposed to be in contact with you or Flavia or I can go to jail."
The feminine teenager replied, "Don't worry. You didn't contact me. I contacted you. You can't control who I talk to. You won't to get in any trouble."
Bailey paused for a few seconds. He was debating whether to hang up and report the incident to Niki, or to listen to the teenager. While he was trying to make a decision, she continued.
"Please, Coach. I've done some terrible things to you, and I want to tell you about them."
"Okay, tell me," Billy made his choice.
"No. I want to tell you in person, not over the phone. You might be recording this."
Bailey shook his head even though LaDonne could not see him. "I'm not recording anything."
"Can you meet me tonight?" The teen asked.
"Sure. I'll need to let Niki know. She may want to come with me."
"You can't do that," LaDonne pleaded. "This is hard enough admitting what I've done to you. I don't want to have to explain it to her."
Another longer pause.
"How do I know you're telling the truth? How do I know this isn’t a trick that will get me in more trouble?"
A soft chuckle. "How much more trouble can you get in, Coach? It looks to me as if you're at the bottom of the barrel now."
Bailey sighed. "Tell me something that makes me believe you. I need to know something before I agree to meet with you."
This time, LaDonne was the one that paused.
"Okay." She finally said. "I know they've shown you the photographs of you groping me and Flavia."
"I saw them." The images had not left the young coached since Niki showed them to him.
"They're fake. They're not real," she said.
"Jesus. I knew it. I knew I would remember doing something like that even under those circumstances. How did you two do it?"
"Well," LaDonne began. "That's what I want to talk to you about. That's why I want to meet you."
"Can't you just tell me over the phone?" He asked.
"No, Sir. It involves someone else besides me and Flavia. I'm not going to tell you who that is that's over the phone. I will tell you if you meet with me."
Adrenaline flowed through Billy Bailey's body like flavoring through a sno-cone. The cloud that had been hanging over him for the last few days now had a ray of light piercing through. While his curiosity was strong, his elation was even higher.
"Where do you want to meet?" He asked.
"On the football field. By the bench on the home side of the fifty yard line. Come through the fan's entrance at the end of the field on the other side. That way, I can see you for a long time and I'll be able to tell if you're alone."
"What time?" He asked.
"Midnight. If I see anyone with you, I’ll leave and you’ll never know what I have to tell you."
Bailey let out a deep breath. It was not the best situation he could imagine, but it was a lot better than the one he was in before the phone call.
"I'll be there. But I have to warn you. No tricks."
He spoke as sternly as he could under the circumstances, though he knew his words held little threat to the teenager.
"Don't worry. You'll be impressed and surprised at what I have waiting for you." LaDonne hung up.
Bailey put the phone down and then picked it up again. He wanted to hit the speed dial button for Niki Dupre. But if he did, he knew she would not allow him to meet with an alleged victim alone in the middle of the night. He placed the phone back on the table.
31
Baton Rouge
Drexel Robinson watched Sleazy Slocum pull out of his driveway around nine o'clock. He followed the vehicle until he was sure it turned east on Florida Boulevard toward the posh hotel on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Robinson passed Slocum's car on the four-lane highway without glancing over at the target of his investigation. He sped past the remaining dozen blocks and pulled into the hotel parking lot minutes ahead of Slocum's car.
Drexel ran to catch the elevator to the lobby of the hotel. He wanted to get there before Slocum to determine where the elusive man was heading, and how he could get there. The senior detective took a seat facing the parking garage entrance where he could see the bank of elevators to the guestrooms.
He picked up a copy of the Morning Advocate, the daily newspaper in Baton Rouge. While the paper distribution was suffering like most other hard-copy papers in the country, the Advocate maintained an avid customer base with its online edition. Drexel rarely missed a day browsing through the website to catch up on the LSU sports teams.
The baseball team traditionally led the nation in home-field attendance among all colleges. Tiger Stadium, nicknamed Death Valley, was rated as one of the toughest places in the country for an opponent to play. The basketball team showed signs of becoming more than competitive in the Southeastern Conference arenas. The girls’ softball and basketball teams had national aspirations in most years.
But the purpose of the paper tonight was to camouflage the detective's presence. He did not yet want Slocum to know he was being shadowed. At least not until he knew what the sly man might be planning.
With the newspaper held at eye level, Robinson kept a steady surveillance on the parking garage entrance. Three minutes passed with no sign of Slocum. Drexel squirmed in his chair.
Five minutes passed. Still not a glimpse of his target. Drexel worried. A crowd of people suddenly appeared in the entrance. More than a dozen people moved as one toward the bar. Drexel laid the paper aside, studying the faces and bodies among the new contingent.
Slocum was not among them. A dreadful feeling overcame the investigator. With his pulse pounding, Drexel walked to the parking garage passageway and rode the elevator to the third floor, where the enclosed span reached across from the hotel to the garage.
He almost ran across the short enclosure and searched for Sleazy Slocum's F150. It was not in the same spot as the night before. A Honda Civic occupied that space.
Drexel ran down the ramp to the ground floor. He did not spot the vehicle. His shoulders sagged, and he walked back up the ramp. There were seven stories in the garage above the span across the hotel. Robinson walked up every one of them, carefully scanning each car and truck on both sides. Sleazy Slocum's vehicle was not among them.
Dejected, the detective returned to his car. He sat for several long minutes replaying the episode in his mind over and over again. Why had he left the tail to get ahead of his target? Does Slocum know he is being followed? Did he purposely lead Robinson on a wild goose chase? How could he have been outsmarted two nights in a row? The one thing bothering Drexel the most was the report he had to give Niki.
32
Billy Bailey parked in the small lot next to the main entrance gate to Wildcats Stadium. When he was first named the head football coach at the high school, he was not comfortable with the field.
In the past, the field was adjacent to the high school, as most facilities are located. But a new high school was built on a different road, more than two miles from the old campus. The football field remained behind.
The old high school was converted to a junior high school, and the varsity practiced by their new school, but played the home games on the old field.
Then a new junior high and elementary school were built, and most of the buildings at the original site were torn down.
No lights of any kind were available to break through the darkness when Billy shut off his headlights, his visibility limited to a few feet. No other cars were in the lot, making the coach wonder if LaDonne Elgin had changed her mind about meeting.
The gate was unlocked, and Bailey slipped through it and onto the oval track surrounding the playing surface. He could see nothing, but was familiar enough with the layout to find his way past the cinderblock concession stand.
Still, there was no sign of the cheerleader. Bailey continued to probe through the darkness to the edge of the stands. The red clay on the track separated the bleachers from the football field. A chain-link fence on the inside of the oval track prevented intrusion by the fans. The access gate for players and coaches was just before the fenced off section the cheerleaders occupied during the games. In this confined area, they were in back of the players and in front of the ardent fan base.
The coach groped along the fence until he reached the access gate. He called out.
"LaDonne. It's Coach Bailey. Are you there?"
He received no response.
The coach edged forward, feeling his way in the darkness. In less than a minute, he found the end of the bench. Using the structure as his guide, he walked toward the fifty yard line.
