Chapter 10: An Ineffective Response

Oh, no! Is she ok? Wait, no ambulance and I can see her at the door looking out. Phew! What’s going on, then?

I pulled into the drive and two men in suits got out of the cruiser and came over to me.

One said, “Kevin Coris?”

“Yes? You want to talk to me?”

“We have some questions.”

“Can we go inside? Private and more comfortable.”

I led the way in and gave Aunt Helene a kiss. “It’s ok. The gentlemen want to talk to me.”

“I know. They wouldn’t say what about.”

I invited the men to sit and looked at them with an “ok, go ahead” gesture.

“Mr Coris, I’m Detective Conners from the city police. We’ve had a complaint from the school that you assaulted a school official.”

Aunt Helene gasped. I said to her, “It’s ok, just listen.” Then to them, “All right, is this something I need my lawyer for, or my rights read, or something? Or are you doing fact-checking and won’t use my statements for anything other than that?”

“Oh, pretty cool, kid. Ok, we’ll state right here that no recording of your answers will be made and no notes taken other than the names of anyone you mention. Is that ok?”

“Yes, fine. One sec.” I opened my bag and pulled out a notebook, then jotted that sentence on a sheet and passed it to Conners.

“Please read and sign this, sir.”

“Kid, you’re a bit young to have had legal training, you know?”

He signed with a glance at his partner, who did something in his pocket. Always negotiate from a position of strength.

“Now, detective, my name is Mr Coris, or Kevin, but not ‘kid,’ please. Can we be civil and polite?”

His jaw muscles tightened and his partner smirked.

“Yes, Mr Coris. A Mr Abover, the Program official at the high school, has made a complaint that you assaulted him.”

“It’s a false report and there were eight witnesses, the school principal, Dr Fletcher, included, sir. The actual event involved Mr Abover committing battery on my person so I simply restrained him to prevent his committing any more unnecessary violence.”

“Really? I’ve seen Abover. You could have never restrained him. He trains at the local boxing club and I’ve seen him fight.”

“Regardless. He first assaulted me by telling me that he was going to grab me, and then he battered me by grabbing my shoulder. I had to put him on the floor to keep him from any further injury.”

“Ha ha ha—wow! No. You couldn’t have done that—could you?”

“Yes, just check with the principal. I told Dr Fletcher that I thought Mr Abover’s actions were just done impulsively without much premeditation and I would forgive the oversight and not press charges myself.”

“God, kid—uh, Mr Coris—you’re a piece of work, aren’t you? Tell me. Eastern martial arts, right?” I nodded. “Ah. Yes. I see it in your demeanor and how you’ve handled my questioning. You’re a cool one. As a matter of fact, we’ve already spoken to Dr Fletcher and he’s already corroborated everything you said, except that he didn’t say that you overpowered Abover, he just denied any kind of assault on your part. We assumed he meant that there was no bodily contact, not that he was using the word ‘assault’ in its legal sense. Got a bunch of street lawyers here, George, need to be more precise in our questions now.”