Be Gay Do Crime

“Okay, state your name and date of birth for the record,” the detective said. 

Ashe looked between the three officers in the room with her.  One was her mother, standing off to the side as her legal guardian, another was the man operating the polygraph, and the third was detective Adam Schwent, leader of the gang investigations task force.  He was an older man, long since relegated to a desk job after years of field work.  Ashe had only met him a handful of times in passing at police gatherings.  Funny enough, she missed him at the recent picnic, probably because her own activities were leading to a new gang forming and he had to stay on top of things. 

“Ashe Hamilton,” she answered.  “May twenty-eighth, two thousand nine.” 

The man smiled.  “Well, happy early birthday.  Any big plans for when you turn eighteen and are legally an adult?” 

Right, an innocent question that completely implied that she could be charged as an adult for whatever they tried to get to stick.  Plus, the casual conversation would serve to help the guy running the polygraph establish a baseline.  That wouldn’t stop her from having a spot of fun with them, but it did mean she needed to be careful.  Just because a polygraph wasn’t admissible, didn’t mean it couldn’t be used as probable cause for further holding or investigations. 

“Oh you know,” Ashe said casually, “go to college, hope therapy can keep me from having a lifetime of trauma from everything that’s happened the last few months, the usual.” 

The detective chuckled, grabbing a bottle of water from the table to take a drink.  Also a tactic, helping present the situation as casual when it was anything but.  Just because Ashe was there voluntarily didn’t mean she was safe from being arrested.

“I understand you also have some medical things coming up in early June,” Schwent said with a warm smile.  “Your parents each have some time off coming up during that.” 

Ashe nodded, not caring so much about the recording.  “They were originally going to be my caregivers, but my girlfriend has offered to help out there, which gave us an easier rotation to work with.” 

“Ah yes, your girlfriend,” he said, his voice a bit less warm and inviting.  “Can you state her name for the record?” 

“Crystal Ellington,” Ashe said with a heavy sigh.  “She turns twenty-one in September.” 

“A bit of an age gap there,” he said, a question hanging in the air. 

Ashe rolled her eyes.  “We met in January when she helped save me from being kidnapped off the street.” 

“Funny,” he said, thumbing over to a report in the file, “I don’t see her name on any of the documentation, I see a Crystal Fairbrooks instead.  Are you aware that she killed someone that day and didn’t submit to lawful questioning despite being completely in the right legally?” 

“I am aware, as was every officer present for the incident,” Ashe said.  “She saved my life, yet despite that, I am permanently impaired because of that incident.” 

She pulled the sleeve of her jacket up to show the scar that started at her palm and ran along her wrist and up her arm.  He looked at it for a long moment, remaining silent as he did. 

“Your girlfriend had some interesting tattoos on her arms,” he said instead.  “Are you aware of the significance of the widow on her wrist?” 

“I am,” Ashe said, knowing she needed to be careful with her wording.  “Crystal lost her mother at a young age, which left her father as a single parent.  A widower.” 

The detective sighed, taking his glasses off as he pinched his nose.  “Ashe, I am giving you the courtesy of not treating you as a child, please do the same and not insult my own intelligence with truthful non-answers.” 

Her cheeks heated at being called out so bluntly.  It was easy to get caught up in her larger than life reputation on the streets, but she had to stop and remember that she was still just a child in the strictest sense.  Experience could age a person unlike anything else, and Ashe had endured more than most over the last few months, but she was still reminded of her age and lack thereof at the oddest of times. 

“Very well,” Ashe said, slumping slightly.  “She got that tattoo when she was living on the streets as a teen.  The Viuda helped her survive those years when she wasn’t welcomed home.  She still isn’t allowed home unless her father has use of her.  That tattoo told others in the gang that she wasn’t to be bothered.”

“By marking her as one of them,” he said.  “We are both aware that tattoos aren’t enough to detain someone over, but it does cast reasonable suspicion.” 

This time, Ashe snorted.  “Tell me this detective, if you were to inspect the police force for tattoos commonly associated with the local gang presence, including the ones hiding behind religious freedom, how many officers would that include?  What percentage of the staff in this city?  Twenty?  Forty?” 

Detective Schwent held up his hands.  “Okay, point made.  You do see my concern though?  The incident at your prom resulted in three students injured, two of which were critical, and one deceased.  Not to mention the grown men killed, two of which were by your own hand.  This entire situation is volatile and we need to know exactly what happened so we can appease those seeking answers.” 

“Seems pretty clear cut to me,” Ashe said with a harsh glare.  “Gray staged the entire thing, all to help his buddies take another swing at Jason.  They turned violent, tried to kill a former bully of mine, and were surprised when we didn’t just roll over and accept things.” 

“Why not wait for the police?” he asked, growing frustrated.  “Your parents are both well respected and decorated officers.  Surely you could trust them to handle the situation after the initial exchange on the stage.” 

“Like your department handled those that attacked me in January?” Ashe demanded, slamming a fist onto the table before she deflated.  “I’m sorry, but after all the failures, I wasn’t going to wait and hope that my friend was going to be okay, not when someone willing to pull a gun in a crowd had him at gunpoint.” 

“That doesn’t give you the right to take the law into your own hands,” detective Schwent said.  “Now, we have the video of Jessica Stockton being named prom queen, your own nomination, as well as her speech.  Knowing that was planned does make me question what else that happened this evening might have been planned.” 

Ashe gave him a long look, knowing he was looking for any reason he might find to stick her.  She then looked over to her mother, who wasn’t allowed to speak, only observe.  They suspected her of being more deeply involved, hadn’t allowed her to speak to her parents since they were all taken in for questioning, and detained her in a private room until they were ready.  That courtesy was appreciated, even if the motives were suspect.  They wanted her to slip, then they could justify moving her to general holding with the rest of the men, and let the ‘problem’ sort itself out.  It was disgusting, and sadly, all too common of a tactic for police when it came to trans people being arrested. 

“You’re asking how many of those plans I was aware of going into today.”

“Plans?” the detective asked, leaning forward.  “Plural, more than one?” 

The funny thing about leading questions, they too could be led.  “I was not aware of every plan in motion tonight, but I did know of several, not all of which were my own.” 

The detective glanced at the man on the polygraph who nodded. 

“Which plans ‘not your own’ were you aware of?” 

Fuck.  She couldn’t answer that one directly, the only plan she hadn’t been aware of was Gray’s own.  She had been deeply involved with crafting all of the others right down to the group potentially ending Gray.  That meant she needed to distract him from the question with a juicier truth, otherwise she would be admitting to being far more involved than she wanted them to be aware of. 

“I knew Inferno would be there,” Ashe said.  “I didn’t know how it would play out, but there were plans in the event someone did something stupid.” 

Detective Schwent’s fingers steepled, and the man leaned forward.  “Is that why you and your date came armed?” 

“I’m always armed unless the law specifically forbids it,” Ashe said.  “I have a federal carry permit for a reason.  It isn’t safe to be me in this city, let alone this state.” 

“And a school event is permitted?” he asked. 

Ashe shrugged, glancing over at her mother.  After a moment, she nodded back. 

“My parents and I looked over all the rules, and it wasn’t forbidden,” Ashe said.  “So Crystal and I both brought our licensed carry weapons.  Better safe than dead.” 

“You expected trouble,” he stated. 

“Always,” Ashe answered.  “It’s not paranoia if you know people are out to get you.  I’m the most well known trans person in the city, and I’m dating a woman who is the fantasy of half the city’s male population.  I have one hell of a target on my back.” 

The detective frowned, opting to shuffle papers rather than address that line of thought.  At least she managed to get a smirk out of her mother, that was a win all on its own.  After a moment, he stopped on one particular page and set it back down. 

“The two students in the back halls,” she said.  “First, I am curious how so many were able to get access cards to secure areas.” 

“I don’t know about the others, but I had my card prior to the event,” Ashe said.  “I believe it would be prudent for the convention center to update their security and purge old cards more often.  From what I understand, the card I had was issued months ago.”

“You just happened to have a card?” he asked. 

Ashe shrugged.  “As for the two, they attacked us while we were looking for Todd, we only defended ourselves.” 

“Crippling someone for life isn’t defending yourself,” the detective sneered.  “They had bright futures ahead of them that are now up in the air.” 

Ashe held up her right arm, inspecting her scar.  “Oh yeah, totally familiar with that one.  How many of my attackers were brought to justice by your department?  None?  You can shove that fucking argument up your ass.  They made their choices, and they have to live with the consequences, just like we all do.” 

“And if the consequences of your actions tonight land you in prison?” detective Schwent said.  Ashe was more than a bit amused by how pissed off he was about the whole situation.  “Will you just live with them?” 

“Nope,” Ashe said easily.  He smirked like he had won something, only for Ashe to continue, and yank the rug from under him.  “I’ll be dead, so there won’t be any living with it.” 

He rocked back slightly, and Ashe’s mother sighed. 

“Ashe has repeatedly stated to us that due to Florida’s backwards laws on housing trans people, that if she were going to end up in prison over anything, be it her identity, or resisting an unjust law, she would die before she ever saw a cell.” 

Detective Schwent gave the Captain an appraising look.  “How long has she had this, suicidal ideation?” 

“Since I was thirteen,” Ashe cut in.  She wasn’t about to let them run with that one.  “When the state’s foster system put me in a religious butcher camp and I was almost tortured to death until I was able to escape.” 

The detective grimaced, and quietly slid his latest sheet aside and moved on.  He brought out a much thicker stack this time and spent several minutes going over it, whether that was to make sure he had his facts straight, or to break her focus, Ashe wasn’t quite sure.  He certainly was making it difficult for her to not just lean back and drift off for a nap after the evening she just had.

“This should be the last part,” he said after far too long.  “After that incident, you and Crystal Ellington made your ways down into the tunnels, where you proceeded to get into an altercation that killed five men, and one youth.  Can you provide details on what happened?” 

“We went looking for Todd,” Ashe said, keeping it vague.  “I heard Gray talking to one of the others, they seemed rather pissed with one another about the shooting.  Crystal and I ended up firing on the two outside sentries when one of them fired on us, but hit their buddy instead.  The guy talking to Gray earlier then tried to negotiate with us.  He offered us Gray, but insisted on keeping Todd.” 

Ashe swallowed, because the next part was the section that put her at the most risk.  Linking her to Inferno would mean prison, which was a death sentence as far as she was concerned. 

“Crystal and I weren’t sure what to do next,” Ashe muttered.  “Then we heard gunshots, and I just sort of, acted.  By the time everything settled, the mercenaries were dead and Gray had pissed himself in the corner.” 

“That covers what we knew, but I would like to know why you didn’t shoot Inferno or Riptide.  Both are extremely dangerous murderers, and from what I understand from Linda Hamilton’s statement, everyone seemed rather chummy upon her arrival.” 

She had cut it too close with that one, barely having handed her gun back to Keiko before her mom arrived on the scene ahead of the rest of her team.  Ashe had then stepped between them, her hands up with her pistol dangling from a finger.  She had just enough time to tell Keiko and Brie to get going before they could be arrested.  Once the rest of the SWAT team caught up, Ashe surrendered her gun, and submitted without complaint. 

She knew that her parents probably had all the questions, but they couldn’t ask them because anything said would be admissible.  Ashe had to ride it out and hope that she would be covered under the various self-defense laws and rulings that should work in her favor. 

“Anyone living in this city knows better than to antagonize someone who takes up a persona,” Ashe said.  “Jessica has vouched for Inferno, despite being on that side of the law.” 

“Yes, she did mention that it was Inferno that liberated the girls held at American Pawn,” detective Schwent said, pulling out another sheet.  “That doesn’t absolve her of anything, of course, and she is wanted for questioning in relation to the murder of officer Kendall.  So why work with her?” 

“Gray started babbling after that,” Ashe said with a shrug.  “Talked about how the Mayor hired the mercs using a dummy company, said someone put him up to it.” 

He scribbled something down, then looked back up.  “Linda’s report mentioned Gray yelling something moments before the gunshot, could you fill us in?” 

Moment of truth. 

“Inferno revealed her identity to Gray, said, ‘I am Inferno’ before shooting him.  I actually got a bit of his uh, bits on my cheek.” 

Ashe tapped her cheek where there had once been a splatter of blood from when she had administered the only known cure for being a Nazi.  The detective looked expectantly at the polygraph operator, and Ashe could only hope she had been careful enough.  After several agonizing moments, the man flashed a thumbs up. 

“No further questions,” detective Schwent said with a slouch.  “We’ll be in touch.”

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