Chapter 125

There were no emergency e-mails or calls during the night. That was a welcome relief on the drive to the college. I drove around the college to check out the street by the construction entrance. There were signs posted to 'Drive slow - loose gravel". It was like driving down a well kept gravel lane, a little rough but level, and no pot holes.

The door to the office had hardly closed before both Shirley Short from HR and the head of IT came in. The IT guy said, "I don't know what you said or did but there has been a mass deletion of files and folders last night and most of the morning."

"Maybe I put the fear of God in them," I said laughingly. "I still want you to pick up those computers on the list and check all of them."

Shirley said, "So far your tactics have worked. I went to get coffee at the cafeteria this morning and she was sitting by herself for the first time in a while. So was Rodney Cotter on the other side of the cafeteria."

"I am glad to hear that. All my girls are going to listen closely to the rumor mill for the next week or two, you do the same thing," I said.

The town's roads manager stopped by just before lunch, "The fix is holding up a lot better than I thought it would. What time are you planning to grade it every day?" he asked.

"The plans are to grade it at the end of each construction day. That way locals will have good road to come home to and leave in the morning on, and any time during the day if there is a problem," I said. We talked in general conversation for another half hour.

Patti, the day guys and I were just getting ready to order lunch when all hell broke loose. There were multiple alarms from the cafeteria. All the day guys and I responded. We walked into the middle of a 10 person brawl. Rodney Cotter was being held by two guys and getting pounded by two more, Jordan Small was in the same predicament two tables away. It took ten minutes to get the situation under control even with the help of two coaches.

Rodney and Jordan were both going to need medical attention and I was going to have one bruised hand. Luckily among us we had enough hand and flex cuffs to restrain all of them.

I took Rodney and Jordan off to the side, "I guess we know who the other person that was posting pictures is now, don't we? How bad are you? If we take you to the hospital there are going to be police reports and an official investigation. I really don't think either of you want that. At least they were smart enough not to mess up your faces. I think you should spend some time at the nurse's station before you make that decision," I said.

Bob Jackson, who had been standing behind me, spoke up, "I think BJ is right. It's time to find out if you are men or still boys."

"I want them separated and no talking while they are over there," I said.

Bob replied, "I will carry them over there and then bring them to you after they are finished."

I looked around for Corry. There was a group of girls in the far corner. I was pretty sure she was there. As I made my way to her the group opened up to allow me to get to her. She had one hand print on the side of her face that was going to be a bruise in a few days.

"Who hit you?" I asked. She started to say, "No one," but was interrupted by one of the girls.

"Roseanne Bates, her boyfriend got the BJ that she would not give him and now he told her to fuck off. She is a tease anyhow, a real pillow princess. She wants to get guys all worked up then turn them down cold. Just serves the bitch right that she got dumped," a brunette said.

I asked Corry if she was alright.

"It stings a little but I am OK," she said.

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing interrogations. I made out the reports and sent all of it to HR. It was their problem. For the eight guys it was a matter of the pictures being posted that had them all upset, of course pissed off girlfriends did not help anything. The brawl was as much to restore their standing as 'macho' with the girls.

Jordan Small was another matter. He and his computer got the same treatment as Rodney. He deleted all the pictures he had posted. His computer got cleaned and he joined the ankle bracelet crowd for awhile.

Roseanne Bates on the other hand was going to get a wakeup call. The video showed that she simply walked up from behind and just plain bitch-slapped Corry. Corry did not know it was even coming. I would have been more forgiving if there had been a face to face confrontation but that was plain outright assault.

I called Jenny just to make sure that I was on the right thought process. Then I called Bob Jackson to come to my office to review the video clip and have a discussion. I ran the video from the beginning of the fight to a minute after Roseanne put Corry on the floor and walked away without saying a word. Sarah had finished her classes for the day and was in the cubicle that we let her have in the office. I asked her who Roseanne's boyfriend was at the time. He was not one of the eight from the fight.

Since Sarah as the student union rep was going to be with Roseanne when we confronted her I ran the video a couple of times for her to see. The only thing she said was, "That was not a smart move on her part."