Odd Man In College

Ernest Bywater

All rights reserved and copyright © 2013

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. All rights are reserved by the author, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

Product names, brands, and other trademarks referred to within this book are the property of their respective trademark holders. Unless otherwise specified there is no association between the author and any trademark holder, nor are any expressed or implied. Nor does it express any endorsement by them, or of them. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark, service mark, or registered trademark.

Cover Art

The background image is Odd Man Out by Amos Doyle usage is allowed by Creative Commons Attribution Licence. The adding of text is by Ernest Bywater. All rights to the cover image are reserved by the copyright owners.

7 April 2021 version

Published by Ernest Bywater

E-book ISBN: 978-1-312-77283-0

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Author's Note: Due to difficulties in getting official approvals I've not named the college used in this story, but it is very loosely based on the colleges in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area with components used from the different colleges there and other places in the USA. Nothing in this story is intended to represent any of the real colleges in the area in any way at all.

Note: UK English is used in this story, except for dialogue by a US character where US English is used in the dialogue and some nouns.

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The titles in use are a Chapter, a Sub-chapter, and a section.

The image is also available in high resolution at:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ebk8ve052m0c1rs/AACohN7e_x8OuRFrn0EbQ2L6a?dl=0>

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to all of the hard working professional law enforcement personnel around the world, at whatever level they work at, especially the police on street and highway patrols. Each day these people go to work and put their lives on the line while not knowing if the next person they pull over or speak to will be some desperate criminal on the run or a crazy person out to harm someone. Yet they do this each day, and the great majority interact with people in a calm and friendly way, despite meeting people at some of the worst times of their lives.

I also wish to honour the paramedics, firemen, and ambulance crews who also risk their own lives and well being when they race to calls to help other people, and while they help them in dangerous situations.

From the bottom of my heart,

I thank you all for what you do.

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Another Big Thank You

Law enforcement where I live, in New South Wales, Australia, is very different to how it operates in the USA. I wish to thank Captain Jack Oakman of the Henry County Sheriff's Office for helping me to better understand how the law enforcement units in the Atlanta area are organised and how they interact. In order to better suit the story I've had to use some 'poetic licence' on the public information supplied to me. However, without his able assistance I would've had some very serious errors in that part of the story.

I found Captain Oakman to be very helpful and professional in my exchanges of emails with him. Henry County is well served to have officers of this calibre working in their law enforcement organisations.

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Foreword

In most of the USA the head of the local law enforcement in an area is the County Sheriff, usually with a Sheriff's Office employing deputies to do the hands on law enforcement work. However, in some areas they also have city, metropolitan, and special police forces; such as a college police force. There are also differences in the law enforcement structure which varies from State to State. In each case they have authority only in their area of jurisdiction, and they then also have jurisdictional issues with matters that may also fall under the legal authority of the other law enforcement organisations like the relevant State Police Force (usually called state troopers) or federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), US Marshals Service, Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Secret Service, and many others. In general, they all get along and work well together, but not all of the people involved get on well with those from the other groups; this is especially true for some of the local - federal people's interactions due to their individual personal attitudes.

In Georgia, USA, the Sheriff receives his law enforcement authority from the State Constitution, along with approval to give this authority to Deputies. The Sheriff and his Deputies have county wide jurisdiction with some minor limitations while the police departments receive their law enforcement authority through their elected local governing body which is authorized via a Charter from the State government when a new city or county or special authority is formed. In general, the local police forces are limited to their legal jurisdiction under their authorizing charter. The Sheriff's Office is not a department under their local county government, although they are funded through the county government.

The Sheriff is identified by the State Constitution as the county's Chief Law Enforcement Officer, but does not normally have direct authority over police departments who derive their police powers through a State charter. As of 2013 there are 159 counties in the State of Georgia. Only 12 have county police departments, but the State Constitution requires them all to have a Sheriff. The counties with police departments are generally in close proximity to large cities. In the remaining 147 counties without police departments the Sheriff's Office performs the police work in addition to their other State Constitutional duties.

The Henry County Police Department (HCPD) is responsible for handling the police activities in Henry County (unincorporated) areas that don't have their own police departments. This includes routine patrol functions, criminal investigations and enforcement, as well as the traffic investigations and enforcement. The Henry County cities of McDonough (the county seat), Hampton, and Locust Grove have their own police departments and Stockbridge is in the process of forming one in 2013. HCPD does have shift commanders who are Lieutenants, while Captains and Majors are Unit Commanders.

The Henry County Sheriff's Office Deputies do enforce all of the laws from serious crimes to traffic tickets, and they make many arrests in their county; so do the other city, county, and state law enforcement agencies within the county. However, the Sheriff's Office Deputies' primary Constitutional duties include: operating the county Detention Centres (jails); serving arrest and fugitive warrants and civil processes; providing security at the county court facilities as well as the transport and guard of inmates to and from the courts; transporting inmates to prisons after their convictions, also to and from other jails for court appearances there. In addition to his required duties Sheriff McBrayer provides the School Resource Officers for the Henry County Board of Education county public school system and also provides personnel to assist other local and Federal law enforcement agencies (ICE, DEA, and US Marshals).

In general, law enforcement agencies in the Atlanta Metro area work well with each other and share information, especially so when jointly working on cases. Deputies and Police Officers get to know each other through training and by working together, so there is some sense of community. Sharing of the Law Enforcement Intelligence around the Atlanta Metro area is good, with Be on the Lookout alerts being emailed to surrounding areas. Also, many agencies post useful information on the Internet via official websites like the Henry County Sheriff's Office website. Items like Most Wanted alerts and information about persons being detained in jails, etc. This saves people from driving to places to get basic information. There is also a network of information available to law enforcement agencies through local, state, and federal databases sharing and updating data from agencies anywhere in the country.

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Changes

Helen and Lyn Davies are both smiling and chatting while walking past the end of the fountain in the mall. For the first time in some weeks both are smiling as neither has felt like smiling since Allyn Davies died a few weeks earlier. Helen lost a husband and Lyn lost a father when a building under construction collapsed while he was in it checking out some aspect of the internal build-out work. The investigation and court case is going to take many months, but it's already clear someone was skimping on the structural materials required by the plans.

The two are discussing the writings of an author who sets a lot of his stories in this part of Tampa, Florida, USA, and they spent the morning going over the ground the stories are set in. They've found them to be accurate, even down to the layouts of the businesses mentioned, except for the few which have closed since the stories were written. Lyn grins while saying, “I agree, the details are exactly as stated in the stories, and they're good. But his writing skills need improvement because he has a number of technical problems I find so annoying they detract a lot from the story by dumping me out of it while I try to work out the meaning of some parts of it!” Helen agrees, and they discuss the writer's skills.

Lyn finished his high school studies two weeks before Allyn's death, and after Allyn's funeral neither felt they can continue in the family home. So they sold everything to move to live with Helen's father who's been alone since his wife died last year. They're having a little holiday before getting serious about finalising Lyn's college enrolment next year.

Mall Mess

The pair are just entering the short entrance area on their way out when six men charge in the doors with machine pistols firing. Neither mother nor son can see the weapons, but they both know the sound from hearing them on firing ranges. When she sees heads a few paces closer to the doorway dropping Helen grabs Lyn and spins around. She just has time to get her back to the entrance when she staggers forward due to bullets hitting her body. She falls down with Lyn under her. She's unable to make a sound because of the damage to her lungs from several bullets striking her in the back. Lyn knows Helen is dead or dying due to the impact of the bullets being transmitted through her body while she fell, and Lyn is extremely angry when the gunfire ceases. The sound of the gunfire causes many people to scream and some to run away. When the screams move away Lyn hears, over the moans of the wounded, footsteps and laughter go by, along with the sound of a man speaking in Farsi - a language Lyn recognises.

A moment after the footsteps pass them Lyn moves out from under Helen. Lyn opens Helen's purse to take out her semi-automatic pistol and her two spare fifteen round magazines. Lyn works the slide to put a round into the chamber while coming up to a kneeling position facing the backs of the gunmen walking down the short hallway.

A quick check of the situation shows only the six men in Lyn's sight while they walk toward the main corridor to the side. Careful aim and six rapid-fire shots while saying a short prayer of thanks to Grandpa Richards for the training in the use of handguns. The six gunmen drop their weapons as they all fall to the ground while holding onto their mangled groins, which Lyn deliberately targeted to cause the maximum physical and psychological pain due to their suspected religious beliefs.

Lyn stands and walks up to the men. Wearing a wry grin Lyn grabs the first man's hair and turns him around to say to his face, “Allāhu Akbar, arse hole! Yes, God is the greatest because He allows me to kill you,” before shooting him in chest at an angle to tear apart both lungs. The scene is repeated with each of the gunmen. When the last one is shot Lyn hears more shooting from elsewhere in the mall. After hitting the release button and removing the almost empty magazine Lyn slides a full magazine into place while racing toward the sounds of gunfire.

On reaching the court near the next entrance Lyn finds a group of hurt people on the ground while several more gunmen turn to shoot at more frightened shoppers. Lyn drops to a knee and opens fire on the gunmen; again deliberately targeting their groins. All seven are soon down, and Lyn moves forward to execute them in the same way as the first lot.

Lyn is speaking to the sixth member of this group when two police officers charge through the other mall entrance this group of killers came in. The cops have their guns out and in front of them. Lyn finishes talking and shoots this one before calmly walking over to the last one.

One of the police officers shouts, “Police, put the gun down!”

Lyn glances at the officer, grabs the head of the last killer, delivers the message, and shoots him. Lyn stands up and walks away toward the other entrance while slipping the gun into a pants pocket.

The other police officer shouts, “Halt, police!” Lyn just walks away.

The officer is raising his arms to get better aim when the first one puts a hand on the man's gun and pushes it down while saying, “Forget it, Joe, she's not hearing you. Take charge here, I'll deal with her.” The younger officer nods yes then he starts talking on his radio while he walks around to move the weapons away from the downed killers.

While slowly shaking his head Police Sergeant Browning walks after Lyn to see what's going on. He knows Lyn isn't a threat to any shoppers.

Peter Browning watches when Lyn sits on the floor beside Helen to roll her over and pull her up into a cuddle. Stroking Helen's hair Lyn quietly says, “Oh, Momma, I so wish we'd never stopped here.”

The Sergeant moves around to be in front of Lyn before walking up close. He squats down. Catching the movement nearby Lyn looks up at him, and then goes back to looking down at Helen. Peter catches his breath at the total lack of expression on Lyn's face. Slowly he reaches forward to take the cell phone clipped to the waist of Lyn's pants. He gets another blank stare when Lyn reacts to the light contact.

Browning opens the phone and he scrolls through the contact list. He ignores the one labelled 'Mum' due to what he's heard, not seeing one for 'Dad' he clicks on the one marked 'Gramps' with a Georgia number.

The phone rings and a man asks, “What's up, Lyn?”

Peter replies, “Excuse me, Sir, is the person you expect to be on this phone about five foot four or five inches tall, slight to medium build, well tanned, and with collar length mousy brown hair.”

A very concerned voice says, “Yes! That's Lyn Davies.”

“This is Sergeant Peter Browning of the Tampa Police Department. Lyn isn't physically hurt, but she's in severe shock and cuddling a dead blond woman I think is her mother. She was shot by some gunmen here in a mall.” There's a very large intake of breath on the other end.

The man asks, “Sergeant, why do you think Lyn is in shock?”

“Sir, are you familiar with the expression 'Thousand yard stare?' I ask, because that's what I see when she looks at me. I'm the first officer on the scene and I saw Lyn execute two of the gunmen. There's about a dozen of them, all appear to be shot in the groin and the chest. I suspect Lyn took them all out after her mother was shot and is now in shock from the combined effect of both events.”

“Damn! Yes, Sergeant, I know what you mean about the stare. Even seen it a few times myself. Look, Lyn is my grandson and knows ...”

Peter interrupts, “Excuse me, Sir, wait a moment.” While he puts the phone down he reaches out with his left hand to grab Lyn's right hand when it comes out of the pocket with the pistol, “I'll take that, Lyn.”

For a moment Lyn resists, but Peter is stronger and in a position to apply more leverage. After a few seconds Lyn surrenders and lets him have the pistol when he looks up at Peter while saying, “Bastard,” before starting to cry while stroking his mother's hair again.

Browning picks up the phone again, “Sorry, Sir, but I had to take the pistol off Lyn. I was concerned he was going to use it again.”

“Sergeant, can you see to it Lyn is placed under medical supervision with a suicide watch, please? His father died just a few weeks ago and he's still grieving about that, and now you say my daughter's dead. He may very well be suicidal at the moment.”

“Yeah, that's why I had to put the phone down. When the kid pulled out the gun again it looked to me like he wanted to eat it, so I took it.”

“Sergeant, how come Lyn still had the gun?”

“It was clear to me the kid wasn't going to shoot any of the innocent people, so I wasn't in a rush about forcing him to hand it over.”

“Two other things, Sergeant. Lyn is a few weeks shy of eighteen and is also a high IQ; high enough for there to be some emotional stability issues at this time. I'm heading that way as soon as I can. Please see he's looked after and cared for until I can get there.”

“Will do, Sir. I'll ...”

He breaks off talking due to Lyn waving a hand. Peter looks at Lyn and tilts his head. Lyn says, “Tell Gramps he should bring Aunt Dorie.”

Peter nods acknowledgement then says into the phone, “Lyn says you should bring his Aunt Dorie. Also, I'm assuming you're now his next of kin and adult authority, so I'll use this phone call to place him in protective custody in response to your request to look after him.”

“Good thinking, Sergeant. I'll contact your HQ and send them a fax about that. You'll probably be off shift before I get there, but I'll see you as soon as I can in the morning. Thank you for calling.”

“Goodbye, Sir.”

While he's on the phone a veritable horde of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and police arrive to check on people. The EMTs are checking each person on the ground. They smile when they find people who are still alive. By the time they finish checking all of the people they know only six shoppers are dead with forty-seven wounded, plus the thirteen dead gunmen. The wounded are soon treated and are rushed off to hospital by the dozens of responding EMTs and ambulances.

When the Crime Scene Analysis Unit (CSAU) starts processing the scene Peter asks for an evidence bag, then he places the pistol in it after he unloads it. Lyn voluntarily hands over the other magazines.

Peter's partner arrives a little later and says, “The detectives are here and taking over. We need to get back to write our reports.”

Browning nods agreement and replies, “Get me a blanket from the car as we need to take this one with us.” Although this isn't the way it should be done Joe simply nods yes before he goes off for the blanket. Peter turns to Lyn and asks, “Have you got a change of clothes nearby?”

Lyn looks up, “Yeah. In the rental car outside. All packed to head to Georgia when we finished here. We were walking out when ...”

The Sergeant turns to a nearby CSAU person to say, “The kid needs to change, can you get some large evidence bags and come with us?” The woman nods yes, and she goes outside to the CSAU van for some bags.

Lyn gently lays his mother down and stands up to go with Peter. Lyn stops only to take Helen's purse off her shoulder to put it on his shoulder.

A few minutes later Lyn is in clean clothes while the CSAU woman puts the blood stained clothes in an evidence bag with his name on it.

“Sergeant, I suppose we best return the car to the agency, there's a branch just up the road,” is Lyn's statement while closing the car boot.

Car Capers

Peter drives the car two blocks down the street to the rental agency while Joe follows in their police cruiser. They park side by side and transfer the luggage to the boot of the police car before going inside.

Lyn places the paperwork on the counter as he says, “I'd like to hand in this car, please.”

The clerk checks the paperwork, goes out to check the car, takes it over to refill the tank, and returns to enter figures into the computer. A chime sounds and the clerk looks up before going into the back office. A woman walks out and asks, “Excuse me, why are you returning this car here and now? The system has it down to be returned in Atlanta!”

Sergeant Browning responds, “The woman who hired the car,” as he places a hand on Lyn's shoulder, “this one's mother, was killed a little while ago and another family member is coming down for the kid. I see no point in locking it up in our impound if you can take it back.”

“We have a problem, Sergeant. Because the car was hired with an intent to return it interstate we insisted on a large deposit. Our rules are to return the deposit only to the person we got it from, so we can't just process it like a normal hire return.”

Lyn says, “Mother paid for it on her debit card. I have a card on that account, is it OK to just deposit it back to that account?”

“I'm sorry, it has to be on the same card it came out of.”

Lyn is about to speak again when Peter asks, “Do you need the same signature for the refund to that card?”

She replies, “Usually we do, but I think I can get away with the kid's if you'll counter sign it, Sergeant.”

Peter turns to Lyn, and says nothing because Lyn is already going through his mother's purse. He pulls out a card folder, extracts a card, and hands it over. The woman checks it against the computer record, smiles, and runs it through the machine while typing commands into the computer. In a moment a slip is produced for Lyn's signature. Peter also signs it as well as adding his name and police badge number. All is done and all are happy when the card plus the papers are handed to Lyn.

They return to the police car and drive off. Ten minutes later they're parking outside a major hospital and the three of them get out of the car. After a few more minutes they enter the hospital with Lyn carrying a small bag with a couple of changes of clothes and toiletries for him.

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Atlanta, Georgia

In a house on the southern outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, an elderly man is still coming to grips with the death of his eldest daughter while he packs a bag to travel to Tampa, Florida. The bag is soon in the car, and he sips a hot coffee while waiting for his other daughter to arrive. He's already sent a fax to the Tampa Police HQ about Lyn's care. His thoughts are a little morbid because he realises he now has only one living child. Also, Doreen and Lyn are all the family he has left since both his wife and brother died during the last year, and his brother never married or had any children.

While he waits Dave makes a phone call to book a hotel in Tampa. They have about a seven hour drive to cover the almost four hundred and sixty miles down Interstate 75 to get there. It's just going on noon now and it'll be about nine tonight before they arrive, after a few pit stops along the way for food, fuel, and the like.

Ten minutes later a car pulls up and Doreen Grey, nee Richards, gets out of the car after saying goodbye to her husband. Dave Richards locks the door behind him as he walks to the car while Doreen puts her bag in the back then she gets into the passenger seat. By twelve fifteen they're on the road driving to Tampa and a very troubled Lyn Davies.

Doreen is going because she's a trained psychiatrist and she's also the senior counsellor at the college Lyn will be going to. She's already been helping Lyn with his father's death and now she'll be helping with this.

After a worry filled drive they arrive at the hotel at nine thirty that night. They sign in and go to bed for some sleep while knowing there's little they can do at the police station until the next day.

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At the Hospital

Peter says, “Don't worry about the other gear, Lyn. I'll look after it myself. It'll be safe.” Lyn nods yes while the hospital front doors open as the three of them walk in. After a few words with the receptionist it's up to the police ward where they check Lyn in while the officer on ward duty checks the bag for contraband material. Since he's in protective custody Lyn can keep and wear his own clothes, but he will be kept in a locked room and under observation by trained medical staff due to the reason for Lyn's stay in the hospital being a mental health concern.

A doctor examines Lyn prior to signing off on the admission papers after noting on them Lyn is admitted for protective custody as a witness who is on a suicide watch. Which means the nursing staff will be checking on him all of the time. The doctor asks, “Will the police psychiatrist being doing the evaluation or do you want ours to do it?”

Lyn responds, “I'm already under the care of Doctor Doreen Grey and she's on her way here. Can you please wait until she arrives to do that. Then you may want both, since you may need three for the court.”

Sergeant Browning nods to agree and says, “I think we can wait until tomorrow for the full evaluation. I also suspect we will need a full court level evaluation before we're finished. In the meantime, can you please witness Lyn giving a statement of the events today. I won't go beyond that until after the evaluation, due to the mental health concerns.”

Both Lyn and the doctor nod agreement. A few minutes of Lyn talking while he tells what he saw and his actions while Peter writes, and then Lyn signs the written statement of events. The doctor makes several copies so all of them have copies. Peter and Joe leave Lyn with the doctor and head off for their station to do their reports on the events of today.

A few minutes after the police leave them Lyn is locked into a plain hospital room with a camera in the corner watching him. He turns the television on then he flicks through channels until he finds an old movie he likes, and he's soon settled down watching television while eating the simple lunch the nurse organised when he asked for something to eat.

Police Reports

On reaching their station the first thing Sergeant Browning does is to move the rest of Lyn's luggage to the boot of his personal car because it's very likely the cruiser will go out again before he finishes his paperwork. A few minutes later he and Joe are typing up the relevant reports on their morning activities: their daily logs and the incident reports.

They check each other's reports to make sure they both included all of the relevant information, make copies, and put them on the proper files before taking copies to their shift commander and the detectives.

When they reach their commander's office to leave the reports the commander calls them in, and the lead detective for the mall shooting is also there. When they walk in the door the detective, Lieutenant Harris, demands, “Where's the murdering kid you spirited out of the mall?”

Joe looks at Peter who simply shrugs while he hands the papers to Captain Harry Miller while he says, “Here's our reports, Captain. There's even copies there for the detectives, if you can find one that can read multi-syllable words.”

The Captain tries hard not to smile while he accepts the papers then reads them. He splits them into two groups and passes one set to Harris while asking, “I see the doctor's seen this kid. What's your take on him?”

“It was touch and go getting the doctor to approve me getting just a basic statement today. But no questioning of the kid until after they do a full psych examination tomorrow. Our psych, theirs, and a specialist being called in by the kid's guardian. He's not eighteen, so we have to wait until the guardian arrives, anyway. The guardian should arrive late tonight and will call in tomorrow morning.”

Harris is angry when he says, “If you hadn't spirited the kid away I could have done the questioning before the doctors got involved.”

Browning turns to him, smiles, and says, “Yes, you could have. And in doing so you would've made anything he said totally useless due to the major violation of the kids rights. This way it's all legal.”

Harris turns and storms out of the office.

Peter turns to the Captain, “I'm not sorry, Sir. The kid had watched a bunch of assholes murder his mother and then he had the gumption to take them down with the mother's gun. But it had a severe impact on his psyche. I wasn't going to let another asshole harass him.”

The Captain takes a deep breath before saying, “OK! I know you did what's right. But I can't help thinking it may have been best to let Harris at the kid in the mall. Then everything he has against the kid is tainted and useless in court.”

“I thought of that, Sir. But I also thought of the effect on the kid and how he was likely to react. I don't think it would have gone down well with the media or the general public to have a detective severely injured by an enraged kid being harassed by the detective while the kid's standing beside his dead mother.”

The Captain raises his eyebrows as he looks hard at Browning. Silence reigns for a moment. After a short wait he waves the two officers out of his office. So they leave while Miller goes back to his paperwork.

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Two floors below them Detective Harris is working hard while he puts together a case to charge a juvenile with the murder of thirteen armed gunmen because of his excessive use of force. His sole concern is his arrest and conviction record with no concern for what is fair or right. A pile of already dead criminals doesn't help his personal record or career in any way.

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Thursday's Turmoil

Dave Richards and Doreen Grey are up very early this Thursday morning. After a filling breakfast they're off to the police station Peter told Dave he works out of. They arrive there at seven fifteen in the morning and Dave asks for Sergeant Peter Browning. They're told to wait a moment because the shift is still in their morning briefing. So they take a seat and sit down to wait for him to finish with the briefing.

At twenty past seven Sergeant Browning walks up to the counter and he's directed toward them. Dave holds out his hand when he stands and says, “Sergeant Browning, I'm Dave Richards, Lyn's grandfather. This is Doreen Grey, my other daughter and Lyn's psychiatric counsellor.” They all shake hands and Peter leads them to the Commander's office.

The Captain looks up when they approach his office, and Peter is surprised to see the Captain rocket to his feet to salute while saying, “Colonel Richards, what brings you here?”

Dave returns the salute, holds his hand out, and says, “Captain Miller, I expected you to be a major or colonel by now. I'm here about my grandson, Lyn Davies! Also, this is Doreen Grey, his shrink.”

Miller half grins while he slaps his left leg, “Had to change services and that's slowed me down a bit. But the authority levels of a Police Captain are about that of a Marine Major.” He frowns while his memory works. He has so many cases he sees and he's not tracking this one yet.

Peter says, “The kid from the mall in protective custody Harris is upset about not being allowed to interview yet.”

“Oh, is that the kid's name. I thought that's a boy!”

Dave grins, “It is. His father was Welsh and Lyn is named after his paternal grandfather, as per the family tradition. Over there Lyn is used for both genders, but the girls usually get an extra 'N' on the end.”

“OK. Let's go down to the incident room and see what they have.”

Arriving in the incident room the Captain doesn't introduce Dave or Doreen. He just goes about showing them what they have. Doreen asks for a copy of the map and the video footage when they get to the map of the mall showing where everyone fell and the cameras. One officer is very quick to copy it all for her and also places the video on a CD. She puts it all in her large shoulder strap handbag. They also get a copy of the work Harris has done to lay charges against Lyn, which makes the four of them very angry.

Miller asks, “Where's Harris?”

One of the officers replies, “He left for the hospital just before you arrived, Captain. He said something about getting an interview. I don't know who from, because we've interviewed everyone who survived.”

Miller replies, “Except the boy who took the gunmen down!”

“But we can't interview him until after the psych gives the OK.”

“It appears Harris has other thoughts on the matter.”

Dave smiles as he asks, “Anyone got the hospital number?” When he's given it he punches the number into a phone while telling Doreen, “Tell them who you are and convince them to be extremely reluctant while they let the son of a bitch interview Lyn. Also have them tell Lyn to use the Mine Protocol.” While giving him an odd look Doreen takes the phone while all of the police around them half smile and half frown at once.

After identifying herself and passing on the instructions she hangs up to ask Miller and her father, “OK, what have I missed out on?”

Miller answers her, “An interview without the approval of his legal guardian and against medical advice. It means anything he gets from Lyn or from other sources arising from the interview is not legal to use in the court. He wants to charge Lyn for killing the killers, this means his whole case is totally destroyed. But what's that Protocol, Colonel?”

“It's for Lyn to know I want him to string him along while giving him the shaft, big time. He'll bury the guy in total bullshit.”

All present laugh, making it clear none of the other cops like Harris.

Miller goes back over everything while he makes sure Doreen and Dave have copies of everything about the case, including copies of all the statements and the forensic reports so far.

They leave the station in two vehicles. Sergeant Browning takes Dave to the morgue to formally identify Helen while Captain Miller takes Doreen to the hospital. The police psychiatrist will meet them there because he's based at the main police headquarters offices in another part of the city.

Hospital Interview

Harris enters the police ward at the hospital soon after Doreen's call to alert them. He signs in and he has the duty nurse send for the doctor in charge of this ward because she has a number of wards under her direct control and she's in one of the other wards at the moment. The doctor arrives and Harris hands her a court order while saying, “I'm here to interview Lyn Davies about yesterday.”

Doctor Jefferson examines the court order while saying, “Lyn needs to be examined by a panel of psychiatrists before you do anything.”

“Forget it, Doc! That court order says I can do it now!”

“Until Lyn is properly examined I can't be sure anything said will make sense or even be the truth. Right now Lyn's mental state is fragile and Lyn is not fully with us due to the shock from yesterday.” She sees Harris is about to interrupt, and adds, “I know I have to obey the court order and I will. But I'm doing so with great reluctance and I'm telling you Lyn is not fit to be interviewed at this time.”

Harris ignores the advice and is soon shown into the room with Lyn. When he goes to take Lyn out of the room he's angry when told, “The court order requires I allow the interview, it doesn't require I let you take my patient away. You can interview Lyn here where I can maintain my medical supervision of this suicidal patient via the monitors that have repeaters at the nursing station.”

Harris looks at the various monitors Lyn is hooked up to. There are several on the two mobile racks beside Lyn that display his heart rate, pulse, and brain activity, as well as many other functions. The nurse set it all up after the phone call, including a camera for recording the meeting hidden in the gear. They intend to get a good record of the interview.

He's not happy about this, but Harris nods yes, waves the doctor out, and says, “Since you have him on remote monitoring you can leave and let me get on with my interview now.” Dr Jefferson nods yes and leaves.

While placing a tape recorder on the small rolling table at the bed Harris says, “I'm Detective Lieutenant Harris of the Tampa Police Department. I'm here to do a formal interview of you about the incident in the mall yesterday morning. What is your full name?”

Lyn replies, “I'm Lyn Davies and I want to see Doctor Grey and my lawyer right now.”

“I've a court order saying I can interview you right now, so I am.”

“Last I heard the laws say I don't have to answer a thing without my lawyer being present, if I want them. So fuck you, arse hole. Why don't you drop your pants and bend over so I can fuck your arse hole?”

The monitors show Lyn is angry, and it's easy to see Harris is too.

Harris presses on, and he gets answers to a few more of his questions to establish Lyn was in the mall before they go over the statement he gave Sergeant Browning yesterday. With that out of the way he asks, “How well can you use a handgun?”

Lyn gives him a grin as he says, “Not as good as Mum as I don't rate marksman yet. But well enough to blow those bastards' balls off at that range. I believe in gun control, and I controlled that gun real well. I hit exactly where I aimed when I shot them. Then I went up and executed the scum since I didn't want any idiot prosecutor letting them off easy. The buggers murdered my Mum so I killed them to end their killing.”

Harris smiles with triumph while he closes off the interview then he packs up. Within twenty minutes of arriving there he's leaving to go and prepare paperwork before seeing a prosecutor who's a friend of his.

Lyn grins when the odious man leaves the room. Soon after Harris leaves the nurse and doctor are back to unhook Lyn from the sensors and to make copies of the camera recording for each of them.

Second Interview

Miller and Grey arrive at the hospital several minutes after Harris leaves. They wait for the Police Psychiatrist, Tom Wilson, and the duty psychiatrist of the hospital, Jim Farmer, to arrive on the ward before the four of them follow Dr Jefferson to Lyn's room. After a short talk they all go to a specially set up interview room where each doctor gets out a recorder to supplement the three video cameras recording the event.

They all sit down at a rectangular table with Dr Jefferson on one end, Lyn on one side, the three psychiatric staff on the other side, and Captain Miller on the other end. Two cameras are focused on Lyn from the corners and one is focussed on the panel from behind Lyn.

They take a moment to go through the usual identification of all the people present, plus a set of starter questions for Lyn before they ask a lot of questions designed to evaluate his current mental well-being. After twenty minutes they take a short break for the psychiatrists to discuss the results of the questions before they resume and start on a set of questions to evaluate Lyn's actions yesterday, plus his current mental state as a result of the shooting incident. The whole interview takes a sudden turn when Dr Farmer asks, “Lyn, just what happened yesterday that triggered you to take action to shoot them the way you did?”

He says, “I was angry because they killed Mum and made me an orphan, so I was determined to deal with them. But when they walked by one of them said to the others 'It's a shame we weren't allowed to use the new guns in the storeroom behind the movement offices at the mosque. We could have killed all of them with those beauties.' At that point I knew they were Muslim extremists so I wanted to really hurt them and their leaders.”

Miller says “That's not in the statement you gave Browning!”

“No, it's not! All the Sergeant asked for was a statement of what I did. And that's what I gave him.” The others keep quiet while the Captain follows this up.

“You're sure that's what they said?”

“Captain Miller, I speak Farsi like a native because many of my friends at home did and they taught me. I understood very clearly what was said. It was even an Iranian dialect I'm very familiar with.”

“Shit!” Miller stands and heads for the door, “I'll be back! I've got to get someone looking into this and to get a hold of those weapons.”

He leaves to make a call and Lyn grabs Dr Grey's notepad, he folds the front page over then writes out a formal statement of the whole event of yesterday. He has the doctors witness his signature before handing it to Dr Jefferson to have copies made for all involved. When Miller returns he's handed a copy as well. It's soon passed on to a police officer to take to get a court order to organise a search of the stated offices.

The interview continues with the doctors probing Lyn hard on his feelings yesterday and today. They've a good laugh about his talk with Harris, but are worried about his disgust for people in authority, like Harris. They spend two hours with Lyn, examining him in great depth.

Just after the middle of the morning they break for a snack and drinks with the doctors discussing the exam and coming to a consensus of Lyn's mental status yesterday and today while they eat.

Sergeant Browning and Dave Richards arrive at the hospital during the examination and they wait until it's over before joining Lyn on his way back to his room. While they wait they talk about the shooting and how it's likely to affect Lyn and his future.

It's time for lunch when the doctors walk into Lyn's room and they deliver their evaluation. Dr Jefferson says, “Lyn, it's the consensus of the medical evaluation panel you're sane but are emotionally unstable at the moment and you need to be under psychiatric supervision for some time. Also, you're not to be allowed to live by yourself until your long term counsellor says you're stable enough to do so. We've also confirmed while you were in full control of yourself yesterday you were also in a state of disconnection at the time of the shootings, so you can't be held responsible for your actions at that time. In short, you suffered a case of temporary insanity when you grabbed the gun and started shooting. The fact you were able to recognise valid targets as against innocent targets is why we see it as a case of being a controlled disconnection and not total insanity. Do you disagree with any of this or do you have any comments to make?” Lyn shakes his head no. “Unless you object, Doctor Grey will continue with your long term counselling and will set up a schedule with you when you get home.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured that one out already!” They all laugh at the laconic tone of his reply.

Miller and Jefferson sign off on releasing Lyn into the care of Dr Grey and Mr Richards then they leave to go their own ways; most back to their offices and other duties. Browning takes Lyn and his group back to his place to collect the rest of Lyn's luggage and then back to where Dave's car is parked at the police station. Lyn and Dave thank him for looking after everything by buying him lunch, then they head to their hotel.

Afternoon Events

Lyn, Dave, and Doreen spend the afternoon in the hotel talking about Lyn's future. That changes when Dave gets a phone call from Captain Miller about what Harris is up to, because he's just seen the file copies of the paperwork for the District Attorney (DA) and the arrest warrant. They discuss the issue, and agree on a course of action to deal with Harris.

Dave's next action is to call his lawyer in Atlanta to update him on the situation and to get a contact in Tampa. Fifteen minutes later Dave is on the phone to a top lawyer in Tampa and giving him a quick brief as part of making arrangements for Lyn's legal support. Two hours after Miller's call Dave rings him back to give him the go ahead to act while telling Captain Miller where Lyn will be for the rest of the day.

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Harris' Harassment

While Lyn is being evaluated Harris is in his office completing the paperwork to have Lyn charged with homicide. He thinks a very quick conviction for thirteen homicides will look good on his record. A group of already dead terrorists going crazy in a mall isn't much good for his record, and he's sure they won't get anything more out of the gunmen because he believes they've no leads to follow up.

Harris leaves for the office of the DA two minutes before Miller calls to get people active on investigating the mosque and the offices of the movement there. Using an abridged file and working with a friend at the DA's office Harris soon has papers to take to court to get an arrest warrant issued for Lyn Davies for multiple homicides.

Processing the paperwork and getting the warrant keeps Harris out of the office for most of the day, so he has no idea about what else is happening with the case. He returns to the office to drop off the copies of the paperwork from the DA and the court. Without speaking to anyone he heads to the hospital to arrest Lyn. Once there he gets a big shock to find Lyn has been released while he's been doing the paperwork.

It's back to his office and the phone to call all of the hotels and motels to locate a registered guest named Lyn Davies or Doreen Grey, but no luck as the booking is in the name of Dave Richards and Harris doesn't know that name. It's late in the afternoon when Harris goes to Miller's office for approval to issue a 'be on the look out order' (BOLO) for Lyn Davies. Harris walks into the office while saying, “Captain Miller, I need approval to issue a BOLO for the arrest of Lyn Davies for homicide.”

Miller looks up, “Are you crazy, or what! The kid takes out a group of crazed terrorists and you want to do him for homicide?”

“He used excessive force and killed them after disabling them! So it's homicide, thirteen counts. The DA's office agrees with me and so does a judge. But they let him out of the hospital while I was getting the paperwork. Now Davies and Grey have vanished into the woodwork, so I need a BOLO to find them.”

“I think you're crazy to take this line. Plus, you've convinced some fool at the DA's office and a judge. If you're set on arresting him why not go over to the hotel he's in and get it over with?”

“I would, except neither he or Grey are registered anywhere.”

“Well, duh! Browning called the kid's grandfather, want to bet the booking is in his name! Try Dave Richards, that's his name.”

Harris races out of Miller's office to go to his room to make calls to find a registration. He soon learns Dave Richards has a suite at the hotel a few blocks down the road from the police station. His next move is to take a couple of officers in uniform down to the hotel to arrest Lyn.

At the hotel Harris heads for the suite, only to have Dave tell him Lyn is down in the hotel swimming pool. When he gets to the pool he finds Lyn resting on a lounger with a woman on the next lounger.

Lyn is aware Harris is out to arrest him, so when he sees Harris walk in he stands and starts to put on a tracksuit he has beside him, he also slips on some sandals. By the time Harris reaches him Lyn is fully dressed, so is the woman beside him: his aunt, Doctor Doreen Grey.

Harris makes a production of marching up and saying, “Lyn Davies, I have here a warrant for your arrest for multiple homicides.” Lyn takes the paperwork and immediately hands it to Dr Grey before Harris can object or the officers can get the handcuffs on Lyn. He offers no resistance to the officers at all as Harris reads him his rights while he's handcuffed.

Everyone in the hotel pool area is watching the show. Also, two have quality cameras out recording it because they're being paid to do so.

Doreen Grey grabs her bag and says, “Where are we going so I can tell someone to pick us up later?”

Harris replies, “My prisoner and I are going to the station. I've no idea where you think you're going, but it's not with us.”

“Lyn is assigned to my care and I have to be there.”

“He's under arrest now and not your worry.”

A few minutes later Harris has Lyn in an interview room and asking questions. Lyn looks about the room as he says, “Well, arse hole, where's my guardian and my lawyer, and why haven't you turned on a recorder to tape this bullshit interview? How about taking these cuffs off?”

Apart from his clothes the only thing Lyn has on is a digital watch which has a built in microphone and camera. Lyn put it on record mode when he stood up. All this is being recorded and the system is set to low quality video to extend the amount of time it will record for, but even that way it'll only be good for three and a half hours of recording.

Harris starts asking questions and Lyn sits in total silence. After twenty minutes of no response Harris takes Lyn down to charge him.

Lyn still has his hands cuffed behind his back, so he shuffles along instead of striding because he has to ensure he keeps balanced. Harris grabs Lyn's upper left arm and pulls him along for most of the trip down the halls to the charging room. A police officer leaving the room holds the door open for them and Harris shoves Lyn through the doorway.

Making good use of the opportunity Lyn turns with the force and he goes over forwards to land heavily on his left side while his feet kick out behind him to knock Harris' feet out from under him. Harris falls sideways to hit his right shoulder on the door-jamb as well as cutting his face on the door-jamb. He's rough when he lifts Lyn up by the arm and he all but throws him at the desk the Sergeant-in-charge is sitting at.

Lyn hits the front of the desk rather hard and he topples onto it. In the process he makes sure to knock as much gear off the desk as possible. Due to the force of the impact Lyn slides along the desk and he knocks the Sergeant's computer monitor off the desk's side extension onto the floor. The flat screen monitor makes a nice noise when it breaks up on hitting the concrete floor. The Sergeant isn't happy about it being broken.

The Sergeant calls another officer in to take charge of Lyn while he sorts his desk out again. It's over ten minutes before that's done.

While they're waiting Lyn says, “My arm and stomach are sore from that idiot throwing me about the room. Get the doctor in here.”

Harris snarls, “You'll get whatever I say you can get, and no more.”

They're halfway through the charging process when the Sergeant is made aware Lyn isn't eighteen yet. So the process stops while he gets the Child Welfare Officer down. All of the delays are annoying Harris since he can't get his bruises and cuts attended to until after Lyn is processed.

Two other people are brought in and processed while they wait. An hour and a half after his arrest Lyn is charged, relieved of his watch which is the only thing other than clothes he has, and handed to another officer who leads him away to put Lyn in a cell by himself.

About an hour later the officer in charge of the cells is about to place another person in the cell with him when Lyn says, “Hey, you can't put him in here because you're not allowed to put adults in with juveniles.”

The officer asks, “How old are you?”

“Seventeen. I've not yet been allowed to see or speak to my guardian or my lawyer.”

“Damn!” The officer places the man in another cell then he goes back to the charging desk. For some reason lost in the past the officers in charge of the charging and cells work different shift times to the rest, and they changed shift about thirty minutes after Lyn was locked up.

The officer in charge of the cells checks the files, then he has Lyn taken to the juvenile holding facility because he needs these cells for adults. He also makes notes on the system for Lyn to be collected to be taken to court for his charging and bail hearing in the morning.

An hour later Harris returns from having his injuries looked at and eating his dinner. He's not happy to find Lyn has been moved, and even less happy to find the Juvenile Centre is locked down for the night.

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Legal Games

While Harris is still walking Lyn through the hotel Dave and Doreen are talking with Chad Hall, the local lawyer recommended by Dave's regular lawyer in Atlanta. The three of them troop down to the police station and are told Lyn isn't there. The Desk Sergeant really believes this because Harris didn't sign Lyn or himself in when he arrived.

After twenty minutes at the station they go to the courthouse to get copies of the documents Harris lodged to obtain his two court orders. Using those and the other papers they prepare documents of their own to get court orders issued for a number of matters.

Without knowing where Lyn is there's little more they can do after they have the wanted court orders. The last action they take today is to arrange to have certain papers served by an authorised process server as soon as they can serve them in the morning.

Neither Dave or Doreen are happy they aren't able to get Lyn out of the system yet, but they accept they did all they can while they hope nothing untoward happens to Lyn before they can get him shaken loose again on the morrow. They know Lyn can look after himself, but they're worried about his current mental balance and how that will change his attitudes and actions in the current situation.

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The Investigation

With Harris focussed on Lyn Davies and ignoring the rest of the case the two junior detectives working on the mall shooting follow up on the information from Lyn passed along by Captain Miller. They've already identified all of the shooters from their driver's licence photos in the state database. That gives them their residential addresses, and, since they all live close together it also identifies which mosque they go to.

On receipt of Lyn's signed statement they check the mosque to get the name of the entity renting the office space: the Advancement of Islam Movement (AIM). One detective stays to watch the offices while the other returns to the station to complete the paperwork to obtain a search warrant for the AIM offices and storerooms.

Judge Miles is concerned when he's presented paperwork to search a mosque, due to the long legal history of religious sites being protected grounds. He looks at the detective as he says, “Officer Downe, I'm not happy with the idea of issuing a search warrant for a religious facility.”

“Judge, I'm not asking for a warrant to search the religious facility itself, but to search the rooms the owners have on commercial lease to a political organisation. At this time I don't know what the rent or lease terms are because there are none listed, but the office and rooms in the area under the back half of the building have commercial artwork signs with their own car parking lot off the side-street. The entrance to the mosque is at the front and off the main street. From its design I think it was a storage space they now let others use. We have no indication the mosque itself is involved in this matter and we've no intent to enter it, except to ask for a key-holder to allow us entry to the rented area.”

“I see. Just to make sure all are happy I'll include the basics of that in the warrant so the mosque management know it's their tenants you have an issue with and not them.” He writes on the papers on his desk then he hands them to his clerk to prepare the formal documents for his signature. Ten minutes later Officer Downe is walking out with his search warrant for the offices and storerooms of a political entity that's a tenant of a religious entity, which is a touchy situation at the best of times.

Downe takes time to get two extra detectives from the main office. One of them is a Sunni Muslim so it'll be easier for him to enter the mosque to find a key-holder to speak with. When they reach the AIM offices they're still locked up with no staff on hand yet.

Detective Malik Jaffari takes a copy of the search warrant around to the mosque entrance and he goes inside. A few minutes later he returns with three men. He introduces them as Imam Hadi Ali - the head Imam of the mosque, Imam Gamal Shirazi - the manager of AIM and the reason they were able to lease this space, and Mister Halim Aziz, one of the main leaders of the local community that attends here.

After the introductions Imam Ali asks, “Why are you searching our mosque?”

Senior Detective Turner replies, “We aren't searching the mosque itself, we're here to search the rooms you rent to a political group. We have information they have unlawful weapons stored in the rooms.” Ali and Aziz both notice Shirazi loses colour at that statement.

Mister Aziz holds out some keys while saying, “Here are the master keys to the building. We will watch you while you search.”

Turner accepts the keys and hands them to Downe, “Thank you. At this point we'll only check each room the A I M have access to for illegal weapons. If we find none we'll leave, but if we find any we'll do a much more thorough search of everything in their rooms for anything else of an unlawful nature. We welcome official observers from the owners.”

Downe accepts the keys and he opens the front door of the office. He walks in, followed by the others with Jaffari coming last. The reception area and the first two rooms are simple offices with desks, chairs, and computers. They take very little time, just a glance in the cupboards. The first storeroom they come to isn't locked and it's full of boxes from a printer that include many brochures in both English and Farsi. Two rooms are unlocked and they look like empty offices turned into meeting rooms with lots of chairs in them. When they're deep into the building they come to two locked storerooms, but none of the keys open them.

Imam Ali turns to Shirazi, “Why are these rooms not keyed to the master keys? Gamal, hand me all of your keys.” Shirazi is not happy when he hands over two bunches of keys which Ali hands to Downe.

While Downe unlocks the first door Shirazi moves toward the exit, only to find Jaffari standing in the doorway. The door is opened. All of them can see many boxes marked as explosives and a few boxes have Claymore mines sitting on them. The other locked door is opened to reveal a room full of military standard firearms and ammunition.

Ali turns to Turner, “Please have your people search every room on this level and to remove all of the dangerous materials as well as anything else relating to illegal activity.” He turns further to look at Shirazi, “Due to you being involved in a felony your employment as an official with the mosque is ended. Do not look to us for any help with this as you knew we don't want this sort of thing.” He adds, “Halim, please start letting the other community leaders know we've been betrayed by some of our own. I doubt Gamal could've got all this together by himself or without the others involved in the management of this organisation knowing about them.” After a quick nod to the detectives he leads Aziz out of the AIM offices as he goes back to his work in the mosque.

Jaffari places handcuffs on Shirazi while Downe reads him his rights as Turner places a call for more search help plus the relevant specialists to remove the explosives and weapons. Within four hours three tonnes of explosives and seven tonnes of weapons are removed from the four back storerooms while others go through all of the organisation's records and court orders are obtained to freeze the bank accounts of AIM.

Turner takes the lead role in this part of the investigation and he gives a media interview where he praises the mosque and community leaders for their help in tracking down and dealing with a small group within their membership. For the next few weeks Turner and his team are very busy following up on leads and in having related groups in other cities checked out.

Due to being involved in other issues Harris misses out on all of this activity so he isn't aware of the investigation results for a few days.

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Lyn's Day in Court

In the morning Lyn is fed and taken to court for his initial hearing. A lady from the Child Welfare Office accompanies him to the court. Due to him being a minor the hearing is held in a closed court with only the relevant people present. Because of that Doctor Grey, Dave Richards, and Chad Hall are denied access as they don't have with them all of the legal papers to prove they're Lyn's guardians.

In the court the bailiff reads out the charges. The judge looks at Lyn and asks, “How do you plead?”

Lyn glances at Harris and the Assistant District Attorney before he grins as he says, “I'm a miserable pleader, Your Honour. However, I'm not guilty of any crimes and I've been denied all of my civil rights in this matter. Since I was arrested I've been denied access to my guardian, my lawyer, and my psychiatrist. I was deliberately injured by the police and I've been denied a medical check of my injuries. Nor have I been legally interviewed about this matter at any time. I wish to see my guardian, Colonel David Richards, USMC, retired; my counsellor Doctor Doreen Grey; the solicitor they've organised for me; and to have my injuries from last night examined by a doctor before anything else happens.”

Judge Maklin glances between Lyn and Harris a few times before saying, “Bailiff, remove the prisoner's handcuffs as I want him to show me these injuries he's claiming.” In a moment Lyn's hands are free and the welfare lady helps him remove his sweatshirt to show the beginning of bruises on his arm and stomach. The judge isn't happy.

The judge looks at his clerk, “Write an order. I want to see the video of every minute this boy was in the police station. I also want his guardian and counsellor found and brought here, now.” Looking at Lyn he says, “The papers before me state you admitted killing some men in an interview yesterday morning.”

“Your Honour, my understanding of the rules requires an interview of a minor to have his guardian or an acceptable responsible adult on hand, he be read his rights, and to be informed it's an interview to be legal. Also, it's usual for it to be recorded and a lawyer on hand if wanted.”

“Yes, that's all true.”

“None of that has happened yet. I was only read my rights when I was arrested late yesterday. My guardian has not been with me when talking to any police, nor has a lawyer. Defective Harris did bulldoze his way in to speak with me yesterday morning while I was in hospital. I was in the police ward awaiting a psychiatric evaluation. He angered me. So I fed him a load of bullshit because it was just the two of us and he refused to wait. The day before yesterday I voluntarily gave a basic statement to a police sergeant, and yesterday I gave a much more detailed statement to another police officer while my counsellor was present. They weren't interviews and Defective Harris wasn't there for either one.” The judge and the bailiff both half grin at his use of the word 'defective.' Lyn takes a sip of water and adds, “For the record, as per my statements, I shot and killed thirteen men the day before yesterday after they murdered my mother and several others and they also shot many others in the mall. I've no idea why Defective Harris is supporting terrorists by charging me for killing such murdering scum.”

The judge is very busy flicking through the paperwork before him because there's no mention of the terrorist attack in them, none at all, just the wilful shooting of thirteen men in the chest. He's about to speak when the main door to the courtroom opens and another bailiff brings in four people, one of them is Doctor Tom Wilson, a police psychiatrist known to the judge. They're all introduced and they take seats in the court.

Wilson stands and hands over several papers that include the two voluntary statements Lyn gave the police, the psychiatric evaluation report, and a copy of the official police summary of the mall attack. Judge Maklin takes ten minutes to go through it all then he reviews the original paperwork. He scowls several times while he reads it all.

Looking up the judge glances around the court and says, “From the documents here and the testimony given it's clear the prosecution has no legal evidence to offer in this case at all.” Both the Assistant DA and Harris go a bit pale because this will adversely affect their careers. He looks at Lyn, “Young man, I can rule the charges unproven or follow the recommendation in this psychiatric evaluation, what is your wish?”

“Your Honour, it's best you go with the evaluation recommendation. That way you put this matter permanently to rest since it's not as if it'll adversely affect my future because it'll only stop me from working in fields I shouldn't be working in. If you rule unproven some idiot may decide to resurrect the case at a later date.”

“OK, if that's your wish. Although the prosecution hasn't provided any evidence the defence has offered evidence supporting the charges and evidence of exonerating circumstances. In answer to the charges against Lyn Davies I rule he is innocent of all charges in that his first set of shots were in self-defence as per the law and his execution of the killers were due to temporary insanity brought on by the situation he was in at the time and the emotional turmoil of his mother’s murder in front of him. He's not a danger to the community as a whole and he is free to go.” He looks at the Assistant DA and adds, “I also recommend the District Attorney see to it his staff are given more training on the proper gathering of evidence along with its preparation of cases to go before the court.” Both the Assistant DA and Harris are upset by this ruling due to it totally destroying their case and adversely affecting their careers.

Lyn's understanding of the psych report and court ruling is they deny him any future employment where a firearm is involved or the right to carry a firearm in most states, but that's all.

He's allowed to join his family and they all leave the court while the bailiff calls the next case. In the hall outside the court Harris and the Assistant DA are served papers for civil lawsuits on their actions in this matter.

Several minutes later Lyn is at the police station collecting his watch.

Within the hour Lyn is showered and changed then the three are on their way out of the city of Tampa while they head for Atlanta, Georgia.

Arrangements have been made for Helen's body to be shipped to Atlanta for burial after the coroner releases it some time in the next few months, depending on the needs of the investigation and the courts.

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Legal Outcomes

On Dave's instructions Chad Hall sues Harris and Assistant DA Bell as individuals as well as the Police Department and the DA's Office for the actions of Harris and Bell in their mistreatment of Lyn and the poor procedures that allowed it. Later, after the details of the investigation into AIM shows some good results and are seen by him Hall lodges a claim on Lyn's behalf against AIM for the wrongful death of Helen.

The civil lawsuits against Harris, Bell, the Police Department and the DA's Office are settled out of court with Harris paying ten thousand dollars in compensation, Bell paying five thousand, the DA's office pays one hundred thousand, and the Police Department pays two hundred thousand dollars to Lyn. Surprisingly, it takes only a few weeks for it to be settled. It all goes straight to Lyn because since the day in court he's turned eighteen and he's now a legal adult able to accept the payments directly. However, he has it all sent to his accountant in Atlanta who is also his investment manager.

The case against AIM has to go to court because the others who were hurt or lost family in the attack bring additional lawsuits and the AIM bank accounts are frozen by court order; thus it takes a court order to release any of the funds. One aspect of the investigation the police were not able to sort out was why the Tampa AIM office had so much money in their bank account, enough to pay the families of each person killed one and a half million dollars plus a half a million dollars to each wounded person as well as all of the immediate medical and funeral costs while leaving many millions of dollars for the government to confiscate from the terrorist organisation's account. Several other AIM offices are closed down around the country with lots more weapons and explosives being confiscated, but none with such big bank accounts as the Tampa branch. The AIM office bearers are all given long prison sentences and the ones not yet US citizens are listed for deportation when their sentences are finished.

Due to the long time taken in the investigation into AIM the court hearing on the deaths is delayed many weeks, and so is the release of Helen's body delayed for many weeks.

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Time for College?

On arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Lyn sets up house with Dave in his home in Stockbridge on the south-east edge of the Atlanta metropolis. The original plan was for Lyn to live in the three bedroom flat on the side of the house while Dave lived in the main house, then it was Lyn and Helen in the flat. Now Lyn and Dave are living in the main house since Doreen doesn't want Lyn to live alone to be able to brood unseen.

Lyn's schooling now needs a bit more thought, since he and Helen hadn't decided if Lyn will start college in the new year or August when the new scholastic year starts. They agreed he'll be going to the college Helen went to in Atlanta and he's already been accepted there.

Helen was born and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and Allyn came from a small mining town in the mountains of Wales. Both of them got jobs in Sydney, Australia, soon after obtaining their degrees; and that's where they met and got married. Now, twenty years later, Lyn is in Helen's home-town to live. The Australian educational year is February to December, but Lyn's year finished with the final exams in October. So there's no need to take immediate action since the US school year starts in August with plenty of time to get organised. Lyn is already accepted due to an application lodged months ago. In September the US Embassy staff supervised Lyn doing the SAT Reasoning Test and the American College Testing: doing both on the same day, and surprising the supervising staff. When Lyn completed a section the staff sealed it and set it aside to be marked in the US. Following Allyn's death the address for the results to be sent to was changed to go to Lyn's grandfather's house in Atlanta.

Now is the time for action if Lyn is to start college in January. As they need to get papers and arrangements sorted before Christmas due to a break until after the new year. This is a very difficult time for Lyn as so much has happened. From mid September to late October he was tied up with studies and exams which was followed with his father's death and his funeral. They pack up and go to the US early then his mother is killed within two weeks of arriving in the US. It's now late November with only a few weeks to his birthday in mid December, and Lyn is now an orphan. Plus he has to make decisions about his future while still depressed about his parents' deaths while he's not yet finished grieving for them.

Money isn't an issue for him because Helen sent it from Sydney a month ago after making arrangements with an Atlanta based accounting and investment firm to handle their money in the USA. Both Allyn and Helen had been on high salaries and invested a lot of their money, also, they both had large insurance policies. The court case on the building collapse is still to be heard and the family solicitor in Sydney has a civil suit for wrongful death against the construction company for not having better on-site supervision to see the building was properly constructed.

A week after arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, a meeting of Lyn, Doreen, and Dave is held to discuss what Lyn should do now. Doreen says, “Lyn, I know you'd like to take time to relax and settle down from the recent events, but if you don't start college in January you won't be able to start until August because the Summer Semester has no starting Freshman classes. Nearly nine months is too long to wait. I suggest you enrol with a light load. I also want you to live in a college dorm.”

Dave asks, “Why live in a dormitory? I know it's a longish drive, but it's an acceptable commute to the college from here.”

“Two reasons: I don't want Lyn to have the aggravation of that much Atlanta traffic each day, and I want him to have the extra socialising the dormitory living will give him as the social interactions will help a lot.”

Lyn asks, “Will the college take me at this late a date? They normally want students enrolled well before now, not just before the semester!”

Doreen says, “Lyn, they already have you approved to start in August as a full fee paying student. Plus your tests are back and they can't wait to get you enrolled. They don't get many people who score an almost perfect SAT or ACT. When you start at the college you'll be the student with the highest scores on the campus, of any year. They want you on-board a.s.a.p.”

With a sigh Lyn says, “OK! Let's look at the course work I can do and to organise the housing.” He really wants a holiday, but he understands his aunt's concerns about his mental health. Also, it's not as if he has much else he can do or wants to do for that long a period.

After a quick study of the available courses they work out he can do the majority of the compulsory Freshman general courses this semester and then see about the subject courses in the summer and next year. The courses they're looking at are normally spread out over the first year a student is at the college while intermixed with the chosen subject courses, but they will fit in to make up two thirds of a single semester course load. Lyn and Doreen agree he can do that, and he'll also do some audit checks of the subject courses he's interested in doing later.

They complete the on-line paperwork and enter the number already assigned to Lyn's application, this is so they can match the paperwork to give it priority treatment. Now it's a matter of seeing if the college will accept him and assign him dormitory housing at this late date.

______________________________________

At the moment Lyn is finding things rushed, due to the pressure and lack of time to recover from the shocks he's had of late. Add this to his current issues with anger management and emotional stability, and it's easy to understand why they're worried about his mental health.

Because Lyn doesn't want a birthday party they settle for going out for a fancy dinner to celebrate his turning eighteen and being a legal adult. He also passes his Georgia driver's licence test that morning as well as getting a local cell phone plus some cards printed with his name and cell phone number on them.

__________________________________

Housing Hiccup

A week after his birthday, on the Monday a week before Christmas, Lyn gets a phone call to visit the college Housing Administration Office to finalise and pay for his dormitory housing. Mid-morning he walks in and he gives his name to a woman. She hands him some papers while she tells him to sign them then pay the invoice via one of the options on it. He has two days to pay or the room will be re-assigned.

Lyn looks at the lady and asks, “Why the rush to pay?”

Lucy Smith replies, “This is the very last bed in the college and we have other applicants wanting housing. Since those are Seniors wanting back onto campus after a time off and you're a Freshman, you're getting a priority chance at it. If you don't take it quick we'll give it to another.”

“Thank you for the explanation.” Lyn moves away from the counter to a table and chair to spread the papers out to read them. One paper is about the use of the laundry and bathrooms; it states 'All washing is to be dried in the clothes driers or hung on the clotheslines at the rear of the building,' a surprising note is: 'Under no circumstances are bras or panties to be left hanging to dry in the laundry or bathroom areas.' Not understanding this Lyn carefully goes back over the papers, then he calls Dr Grey.

Lyn is waiting for a return call from Dr Grey when a young woman walks in and spots him. She walks up and asks, “Are you Lyn Davies?” He nods yes, and she adds, “I'm Nancy Danes, your new bunkie!”

Lyn half frowns as he queries her with, “Bunkie?”

“Yes, bunkie. Oh, are you a Freshman?” Lyn nods yes. “Well, the bulk of the dormitory housing is apartments or rooms for two or four people to stay in. When two people share the same bedroom, be it a two or four person unit, the two in the same room are 'bunkies' since they bunk together. If the students have different bedrooms they're 'roomies.' Got it?” Lyn nods yes. “Good. The Leslie Building units are two bedrooms with two beds each, plus a common study and lounge area per unit. So we have a bunkie and two roomies, got it? Each end of the floor has a toilet shower area and a common lounge near the stairs and elevator.”

“So, you and I share a bedroom and we have a common study area with two others sharing another bedroom off it, that it?” He gets a nod yes in reply. He starts to giggle as he can't help himself. It's now obvious he's been booked into a female dorm and he can see how it's happened. A name usually used for females in the US, he's a little short for a male his age, his fine hair is collar length, and he has an androgynous face. Some would say he's very feminine looking for a male, and he also wears baggy sweats most of the time. So he can easily be mistaken for a girl.

Dr Grey arrives to find Lyn sitting at the table while giggling, she asks, “OK, Lyn, what's the problem now?” Emphasising the last word.

He looks up, “Ah, Doctor Grey. This is Nancy, my bunkie. I've got the last dorm bed available on campus and it's in the Leslie Building.”

“What!” She grabs the paperwork and goes through it. It does list Lyn as a male, but the attached photo has him looking very feminine. She slowly shakes her head, “If your bunkie has no issues with it they can't have any. So take it and be glad of the room and bed.”

“But, Doc, I can't live in the Leslie Building!”

Nancy interrupts, “But you have to! You seem a nice person and the others at the top of the waiting list are all super bitches. I don't want a bitch as a bunkie. Please, you must take the assignment.”

Lyn sighs and gets out the college ID he got a few days ago. It has a name, photo, description, gender, and ID number. He hands it to Nancy while pointing at the gender box where it has 'M' and says, “Read this.”

Nancy looks at it and goes, “Oh! I see what you mean.” She gives a very big smile and adds, “Take the room, please. I'll do anything you want, if you do.” Both Doreen and Lyn are shocked at this.

With a slow head shake Lyn asks, “Anything?”

“Yes. I'll be your slave and sex toy. I'd have to be that for the others; but I doubt you'll beat me up the way most of the others will.”

Both Doreen and Lyn are shocked by this last comment. Lyn thinks to up the ante so she'll back off, and he says, “If I agree I'll need some long term security. You'll have to be my slave on a permanent basis.” Nancy goes to speak, and he adds, “I don't mean just this year, I mean forever - a permanent arrangement.” Nancy's eyes go wide while Doreen takes a small step backwards in shock at Lyn's statement.

After a little thought Nancy says, “Yes, Master. I'm yours for life.”

Doreen looks from one to the other in stunned silence. Lyn is also surprised by the reply. He thinks, then he suddenly smiles, looks at Doreen, and says, “Doctor Grey, it seems I can do the Pets as Therapy program after all. It's just my pet will be a bit different to most of them.” Doreen raises an eyebrow, looks at the smile on Nancy, and slowly nods. Lyn turns to Nancy, “I accept you as my slave for life. I'll call you Dorei and you'll call me Sensei. Both are Japanese words, the first means slave or servant while the second means master or teacher. Understand?” Nancy nods yes. “What year are you in and what are your study plans?”

“This is the end of my first Freshman Semester, Sensei, and I only plan to do undergraduate studies because I can't get a bigger student loan.”

“Right. You're now my Dorei and I'm responsible for all of your care, which includes housing, feeding, clothing, and education. Since I'll be doing summer classes and graduate studies you will too. I'll pay for it. I need the stability and I can afford it. Now let's get the room sorted.”

The three of them go to the counter and Lyn asks the woman, “I've an issue which requires I have some long term stability in my housing. Is it possible for me to lock down my housing in this same room by paying for it all in advance for some years?”

Lucy smiles as she replies, “Yes, you can. But you have to accept who we put in the other bed in the room.” She's happy about being able to get some extra income up front and have less to worry about booking in the next few years. Also, the college can do with the money right now.

“If I pay for the other beds as well can I say who gets them?”

“Ah, we've not had a request like that before. I'll have to ask the Housing Manager about it. Wait here.” Lucy goes to an office at the back of this work area and spends a few minutes talking to the woman in the office before returning to show the three of them into the office and placing Lyn's file on the desk along with the building's thick file.

Lyn opens the conversation with, “Look, I know this is unusual, but I have some major emotional stability issues and to help with that I need to get as much as I can of my college life locked into place for the next five years. It'll help a great deal if I can sign a contract ensuring I've the same room for the whole of my studies and I can vet whoever shares them with me. Nancy has agreed to do extra studies to stay my bunkie. Now I need to also secure control of the other bedroom. I realise the college has to see the room is used, but I'd like to have a say over who is assigned to it. To get this special treatment I'm prepared to pay for the use of the four places, in advance, for all three semesters of the next five and a bit years.”

The woman sits up at that because he's talking about paying many thousands of dollars for the four housing placements for both the regular semesters and the shorter Summer Semester as the housing and meals are twelve thousand five hundred dollars a year per person for the three semesters. They talk for several minutes to confirm Lyn is talking about all four beds for the three semesters for five years starting in the coming summer and two beds for this semester about to start. It's a total of two hundred and sixty thousand dollars in one payment now. The talk moves to payment discounts and terms to select students for the other two beds because the other two current students are graduating Seniors.

The manager, Mary Heinman, finally says, “OK! Two hundred and twenty thousand dollars paid today and you're locked in for the next sixty-five months with approval of the other two students being given by Doctor Grey. You can change the furniture at your expense and ours goes into storage in the building storeroom. The housing fees collected from your roomies will be credited to your college account for you to spend on other college activities and costs. Also, you'll consider writing off some of the costs for the roomies as sponsorship of poor students if Doctor Grey approves of them. Is that all agreed to?”

Lyn nods, “Yes. Please write the contract to make it ironclad and prepare an invoice that shows the full cost plus the discount.”

Mary starts typing while saying, “Now all I have to do is get the President to sign off on this.”

Doreen smiles as she picks up the phone on the desk. In a moment she has the College President on the line to explain the deal to her, and why. A few more minutes while the relevant documents are printed in the main office, signed by the President, and delivered to Mary for signature. Once they're all signed Lyn gets on the phone and calls his accountant to arrange the payment direct into the college's bank account. After another few minutes Mary confirms the arrival of the money with a note of the invoice number, then she issues a formal receipt for the payment.

When they stand Mary adds, “It's a good thing your roomies for this semester are Seniors who are moving on instead of doing graduate work. I'll start vetting the applications for the coming Summer and Fall semesters so we can get them sorted out as soon as possible for you.”

Lyn shakes her hand, “Thank you, Missus Heinman.”

“No, thank you, Lyn. We have some work that needs doing, and now we have more of the money to do it instead of having to borrow it all. That's why I was able to offer the larger than usual discount rate.”

Nancy leads Lyn and Doreen over to the nearby Leslie Building. One good aspect is this dormitory is very well placed for Lyn's studies and he'll be able to walk to most buildings he needs to go to for a few years.

Their room, number 325, is on the western end of the top floor. Up the elevator or stairs and left in the hall. It's opposite the doorway to the toilet and shower unit at this end of the building. Being on the end they have a window on the front of the building facing the main campus from each bedroom and the common study room plus one in the end of the bedroom Nancy and Lyn share. The centre room has a computer desk in each corner with a lounge and mini-kitchen between them and opposite the door, plus a lounge chair on each side of the hall door.

The bedrooms have a single bed, a wardrobe, a set of drawers, and a bookcase on each side of the door as you walk in. On seeing the layout Lyn takes measurements and pictures, and when he says he'll remove the two single beds to put in a king-size one Nancy smiles at the idea.

The Leslie Building is the oldest block with only a few minor internal changes which is still used in the same way as when it was built back in the 1960s. The only upgrades are the air-conditioning, communications network, power lines, bedroom doors changed to sliding pocket doors, the false ceilings were raised, and all of the cabling changes are in the false ceiling. The environmental gear is in the mechanical area on the roof due to the installation of new and more powerful units a few years back.

Counsellor Grey stays with them until the other two students living in the room return. She takes them into their room to explain, “Right, there's a tricky situation here and I hope you won't cause any trouble. Lyn has to have dormitory housing due to mental health issues related to the recent deaths of both parents in two incidents, the last being the murder of his mother right in front of him.” Their eyes open wide at the use of the pronouns. “Lyn is named after his Welsh grandfather and is an eighteen year old male. The housing staff think he's a girl and they insisted he takes this room. Nancy is aware of the situation and she's happy with it. Lyn won't invade your privacy, but if his gender worries you just make sure you wear a robe when outside of this bedroom. OK?” They both grin as they nod yes. “Good. I don't want you to broadcast his gender about the building, please. The longer before it's made common knowledge the more people will get to know him first, and we'll get less complaints from people.” Two more nods then they all join the others in the main room. Doreen leaves them to talk and to get to know each other.

After an hour long talk Nancy has to go to a class and Lyn goes to do some shopping before getting some clothes to move in because Mary told him to move in right away. It's still a couple of weeks before the start of the semester he's paid for but Mary wants him in the room, for some unstated reason. He will have to pay for his on-campus meals since his meal card isn't valid for food until the start of the semester on Thursday the third of January.

__________________________________

Shopping and Moving

While Lyn goes down the stairs with Nancy he rings his grandfather to let him know he has to move into the dorm right now. Dave has a huge laugh when he's told it's a dorm for women. He promises to start packing some of Lyn's gear into boxes and to put the boxes in the pick-up for Lyn to take to the dorm, so Lyn is free to start his shopping now.

Outside the dorm Nancy goes in one direction for her class while Lyn heads in the other to go to a recommended furniture store.

Walking into Barry's Furniture Emporium Lyn asks for someone to help him furnish two rooms, and he's introduced to one of the decorators on staff there. She takes him to her work desk and they download the images of the existing rooms Lyn took with his pocket digital camera, they also put the room dimensions into the program on her computer.

The decorator, Alice, asks Lyn about the type of furniture he wants, but Lyn doesn't know enough about that to reply properly. So he simply says, “Better than this. I suspect I need to see what you have and to then see what will fit. But I need to start with a king-size bed.”

Alice leads Lyn to where the beds are and she shows him many beds; some are king-sized, but most are queens they can get in a king. One takes his fancy so he asks about it, then they sit down with a brochure to look at the various options for it showing its many modular extras.

The bed Lyn selects is a specially made one that's ninety-two inches long and wide with a forty-two inch wide single bed over the top end you get to by a built-in ladder on the side of the main bed. The main mattress is eighty-four inches wide and long with the extra width being taken up by the four inch frames on the sides. The single bed is eighty inches long with a bedhead for the rest of the space, and thirty-six inches wide. These rooms are higher than usual because the original false ceilings were cut to four inches when the new power and network cables were put in, thus making the rooms one hundred and sixteen inches tall. The area above the single bed is only twenty-two inches due to the four inch mattress and slats, sixty inches for the main bed space, and the top of the main bed mattress being thirty inches from the floor.

That was a preview of Odd Man in College. To read the rest purchase the book.

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