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Chapter 42 - Crimestoppers

Noises from outside their room woke Tamara Sunday morning. It felt early, so she reached for her phone to check the time. It was 7:08.

Jeez, it’s early, she thought. Who’s up now?

Then she realized the sounds were actually coming from outside the cabin. She sat up and peered out the window. It was Barbara, and she was speaking quietly. Craning her neck, she could see Terence and two others; they were facing away so she couldn’t tell who they were. And Barbara was apparently leading a little tai ch’i lesson. That was interesting. Now fully awake, she ran her fingers through Peter’s hair and kissed his ear. He muttered something in response.

“Okay, sleepyhead. Your sister’s out greeting the sun and you’re vegetating in here? Up and at ‘em!”

Peter groaned. “Yeah, yeah, okay. I’ll bet she’s doing tai ch’i. She does that early when we’re out here. She says doing it in the open is spiritually refreshing.”

“Well, she’s got a group doing it too.”

“Last year she got Audrey and Janice into doing it,” Peter yawned.

“Okay, that’s who those are. And Terence. I’m a bit stiff; let’s stretch out and go for a run. That gets my body revved up for the day.”

“Slavedriver,” Peter muttered.

When they left the cabin, they waved at the group outside, and did ten minutes of stretching on the lawn. Then, just as they were to begin a light jog to the trailhead, three of the cousins emerged from the cabin next door, Susan, Ernie, and Mike. Then JoAnne popped out of her cabin wearing running shoes and a sports bra.

“You guys going for a run?” Ernie asked.

“Yep,” Peter answered. “Want to join? Need to stretch?”

“I already did,” JoAnne said. “I’ll run with you to start.”

“We did a little stretching inside,” Audrey answered. “You run on the river trail?”

“Right,” Peter replied. “Let’s let Tamara set the pace; she keeps a good one and she’s steady. JoAnne, you can run ahead if you want. I know you other three were good for the five miles last summer. Still good?”

“Sure,” Mike replied.

They began the run and Tamara started out next to Mike, both running in front of the group.

“How are you doing with Theresa?” Tamara asked him as she set a moderate warm-up jogging pace.

“Oh, it’s awesome. She’s great and so is Marcia. I like them both but Theresa’s special. I think she likes me.”

“I think so too, but don’t push her and don’t be a jerk either. I’m sure you’re not like that, but I have the feeling that she’s a bit sensitive; maybe she’s had a bad relationship.”

“Damn, Tamara, how’d you know that? She tell you?”

“Nope. So she shared a painful personal experience with you already? Mike, she really trusts you, you know, if she did that. She’s telling you two things. First, that she’s been hurt and wants your support to help her heal. And that she likes you enough that she trusts you to be that support.”

“I know what you mean. Marcia told me something like that too.”

“Well, stud, looks like you have two conquests, then. But be careful; romantic attachments with two gals can be awkward. Did you talk to their brothers?”

“Oh yeah, and they’re tight. Jack and Toby are both gonna be freshmen and Toby’ll be in my school too, so I told him and Theresa all about it. Say, you know about Toby’s real name?”

Tamara laughed. “Yeah. I do. Funny. Okay, enough jawin’, as Terence says. Here’s the trailhead; time to pick up the pace now.”

As Tamara picked up the pace, JoAnne took off, sprinting, and quickly left them behind.

The remaining five of them finished the run mostly in silence now; only a few words of encouragement were exchanged when one or another of the runners began to flag during the last mile.

They showered after the run and when they returned to the cabins, the odors of breakfast cooking drew them to the main house.

When Tamara walked in, Shelly, Mike’s mom, looked up from the bowl of batter she was mixing and rushed over to her, grabbing her in a big hug.

“I want to thank you, dear, for helping Mike. He’s like a new person now.”

She looked over at her son, who had gone over to his father and sister and was talking happily with them.

“He told me how you helped him over his shyness and introduced him to, um, Theresa, right? And her dad will be at the labs. Dave and I are going to invite her family over for dinner here in a few days. Maybe you could come too? Mike says that Theresa likes you too.”

“Oh sure. She seems to be a sweet person and her brother is a real hoot. Too young for Janice though; he’s just starting high school.”

Shelly laughed. “Yeah, well, Janice has her eye on someone. She met him in her accounting class last spring and they’ve dated a few times. We’ll see how that goes.”

After breakfast, Ernie and Frank grabbed Peter before he and Tamara got to the door to leave the house.

“Hey Peter,” Ernie asked, “Question. Frank and I were talking to a couple of your friends yesterday, Herb and Gary...”

“Yeah, I saw you guys talking... what’s up?” Peter answered.

Ernie went on, “Gary’s family is having a reunion later this week at the resort. He’s got cousins in the Atlanta area goin’ to high school there and they have a new kinda program that started up there. It’s called the ‘Avery Program’ and Audrey and I heard that my school was lookin’ into startin’ it up.”

“Is it like the Naked in School crap?” Peter asked. “That’s just what the world needs, a new social-engineering program in schools.”

“We don’t know anythin’ about it and neither does Gary. But his cousins came in yesterday evenin’ and he said they’d all be hangin’ at the pool around 9:30. All of us are gettin’ together—us high-school kids, that is. I wonder if you can meet with us, talk to them, since you were the only one in the naked Program, so you might know what to ask.”

“Sure, I could try to think of something, when I hear a bit more about it.”

A little while later, the cousins’ entourage left for the pool. With Peter and Tamara were Audrey and Ernie, Mike, JoAnne, and Frank. Barbara decided to come too and Terence followed. When they got there, they found Gary talking with five new kids. He introduced them.

“Hi, Peter, all you guys too. These are my cousins from Atlanta and Athens in Georgia. Joe and Grace go to high school in Athens, they’re a junior and freshman this fall, and Nora, she’s a senior and Nate and Nick, sophomores—you can see they’re twins. They live in Chamblee, right outside Atlanta.”

Everyone introduced themselves to each other and then Gary spoke. “So the high school that our Atlanta cousins go to started this new thing this past fall, the Avery Program—it’s named after the university there—and Nora told me that it was the brainchild of an Avery student two years ago? Right, Nora?”

“Yeah,” Nora answered. “The official name is Avery-Denison Program. This gal and a few of her classmates had an education course project. They had to do some kind of curriculum design using the Naked in School Program as the design basis. But we heard that her group objected to that, and since the naked Program was being dropped all over the state, they came up with this new version. It has her name on it ‘cause she organized their project and was the primary designer of the whole thing.”

“So there’s no nudity in it?” Ernie asked. “My school is considering starting it.”

“Nope, all textile,” Nate said. “And we think it’s pretty gucci, too. We had it this past fall, right when we started high school. Nora had it in the spring. The whole class does it together and it was wicked fun.”

“What do you do in it?” Audrey asked.

“I’ll tell them,” Nate said and his siblings nodded. “It was like two weeks long, ten school days with a double period each day. It was instead of the P.E. class but there was P.E. as part of it. We began with this kinda bonding exercise—like making out with your girlfriend but no kissing, just touching in ‘safe’ places,” he made finger quotes. “And almost every guy gets to pair up with each gal, to hold her and caress her. And all the gals get to do that with the guys too, caressing us, that is, caressing our hands, arms and backs. That was wicked awesome—some of the girls in my class are stone foxes. That was only a little part of it, too.”

“Damn,” Ernie said. “This sounds really good.”

“Yeah, it was. The next part they had us doing had lots of tough physical activities and the bonding part helped lots, ‘cause we had lots of boy-girl close contact, like guys needed to pick up and carry girls—and a few times, a gal even carried a guy. That was frikkin’ awesome. That was part of doing some problem-solving games and most of them were super-hard, both mentally and physically, but were really fun to figure out how to solve it and then to do it. Another part was role-playing as a whole class. In those sessions, we learned about how to ignore peer pressure to keep someone from trying to make us do something dumb. Another thing we learned was how to set sexual limits like on a date, if someone gets too pushy. And we also had some role-play sessions about gossip and slander and the damage they can do to reputations and relationships.”

“Wow,” Peter exclaimed. “This is nothing at all like the Program—in fact, it’s just the total opposite. And this was invented using the Program as a design template?”

“Well, I told you that the Denison group was opposed to the naked Program,” Nora said. “We were told that they used the official Program objectives and followed them exactly and came up with this version. It was designed to build a trusting and respectful relationship between the kids and emphasized teamwork through cooperative problem solving and taught how social stigmatization of other people hurt not only them, but you too.”

“Again, wow. Nate, was that all? This sounds like you all had a great time with it,” Peter said.

“For real. We absolutely did. You know, we even had sessions where we learned how to give each other massages. We did the girls and the girls did the boys. That taught us how to give pleasure to each other with our hands without needing to do any sexual stuff. We wore bathing suits or some girls wore sports bras and yoga pants for the massages. The best part? Maybe after three or four days, I felt so close to everyone in my class, that I hated to leave school every day. And after doing the Avery Program, it feels like all my classmates are like family—brothers and sisters. Nick and I can’t wait till we get back to school in a few weeks to see everyone again.”

“That happened in my classes too,” Nora said. “Most of the kids really liked it, but a few kids in my year had problems with some of the more intimate stuff.”

“What kinds of problems? How intimate did it get?” Barbara asked. “It sounds to me, like, how the Avery Program works in schools would be a fascinating thing for psychologists to study.”

“Some kids didn’t want to do the bonding part,” Nora answered. “That was the most intimate part and there was lots of cuddling and close body contact with the kids just wearing their P.E. shorts and tops. A few kids in my group were squicked out by that and refused to do some of the cuddling stuff.”

“But they weren’t forced?” Peter asked.

“Oh no. The teacher let them do as much as they were comfortable with. They did do all the games and role-play parts just fine. They skipped the massage parts too. They just didn’t want to do anything that came close to personal touching—the two girls had serious boyfriends, but a couple boys didn’t like it too. All the other kids were fine with them skipping those parts; no one cared that they didn’t want it.”

“Oh, wow,” Audrey sighed. “I was worried about that program coming to our school. Now I’m not. Ernie? Whatta you think?”

“It sounds good to me. So this is like a P.E. class, like in the gym?”

Nora nodded. “Yep. That’s how it was done last year but we heard that this fall, they’re gonna stretch it out over the full term instead of concentrating it all into two weeks. Makes the scheduling easier and if a kid is absent one day, he won’t miss so much.”

“Well, it sounds like a great activity, so I hope they start it by us,” Ernie commented as Audrey nodded.

“Hey, guys,” Gary piped up, “if you’re done asking questions, how ‘bout some water volleyball? We can play till lunch. But don’t let Tamara and Terence be on the same team or we’ll all get creamed!”

Everyone laughed at that and after showering off, they got in the pool and began playing. That’s when the group learned that having Tamara and Barbara on the same team was bad news too. For the opposing side.

Soon it was lunchtime and the group broke up to go to their respective sites. Tamara’s group walked back, discussing what they had heard about the Avery Program. Barbara resolved to look into the Avery Program when she got back to school. Maybe there could be a research project in there somewhere; that would look good on grad school apps.

After lunch, all the kids had decided to split up. Some gals wanted to do the minigolf and the guys wanted to shoot some hoops. Tamara decided she wanted to take a dip in the pool and just lay out for a while. She asked Barbara what she was doing.

“I need to find Nora to pick her brain. I thought of a few questions; I might check out the Avery Program as a research topic in school. Gary said he reserved a pickleball court for his gang after lunch, so they’ll be there. Then I need to stop in the convenience store. I’ll get to the pool after that.”

When Tamara and Peter arrived at the pool, the area around the water slide was busy with about eight tween girls who were using it and frolicking in the water below the chute and on the deck next to the slide’s ladder. Tamara and Peter got showered off and then went down the steps into the water.

Peter looked at the girls, then told Tamara, “There’s supposed to be an adult here to watch them, but I don’t see any of their folks around... oh, there’s Jamie.”

A teenaged girl had just rounded the corner from the snack bar, carrying several bags.

“She must have left them to get some food,” Peter went on. “She’s fourteen and I know that she’s had junior lifeguard classes, so the kids are okay with her. The other people on the deck weren’t paying any attention to the kids.”

“Yeah, but look at that guy sitting opposite to the slide,” Tamara said. “He’s been watching them but in a, well, covert, way. And he’s a little too far from us for me to read him, but I’m getting some bad tingles when I look at him.”

“Yeah, I also noticed him when we got here, and something’s been bothering me about him too. Let’s keep an eye on him and see what happens,” Peter said.

A few minutes later, Jamie called the girls over to a table where she had set out the bags and the girls in the pool hopped out and the others ran over to her. She had brought them drinks.

“You guys need to get drinks now—keep yourselves hydrated,” Tamara heard Jamie say, and then felt Peter stiffen beside her.

“What?” Tamara asked.

“That guy,” Peter said. “When the girls went over to Jamie, he reached over to his cooler box and shifted it a little. I noticed him doing that a few times, but he never opened it to take something out.”

“Now that you mention it,” Tamara replied, “I remember seeing that guy at the volleyball games yesterday. I thought it was strange how he had that cooler sitting on a folding chair next to him. Everyone else’s coolers were on the ground—if they had one with them at all.”

“Damn,” Peter cursed. “I heard about guys concealing cameras in coolers or beach bags before. I’ll bet that’s what he’s doing. Let me go find out.”

“Will you be okay?” Tamara asked. “I’ll stay a bit behind you and back you up. You know, my superpowers.”

They both chuckled. They got out of the pool and Peter walked over to the guy.

“Say, mister,” he addressed the guy, “I represent the resort owners; my family is an owner here, and I’d like to do a rules check.”

“What’ya mean, ‘rules check’?” the guy responded.

“We have a strict ‘no cameras/no photography’ policy. You need to open your cooler so I can check it.”

“Hell, no, you have no right to...” he started and stood up.

Peter interrupted, “When you registered here, you signed a form that said that you agreed to follow the resort’s rules. One of those rules gives us the right to examine the contents of any bag, cooler, or container you possess while you’re in our community areas. That, sir, is a legal contract you signed. Please open the cooler or I will.”

“Fuck off,” the guy growled and reached to pick up the cooler.

Peter put up his hand. “No, you’re not leaving until I see inside that...” he began but quickly reacted as the guy swivelled around and threw a punch at him.

Peter used his open hand to intercept and block the punch, pushing the guy’s arm off to the side. Now the guy was unbalanced; his weight had moved forward sightly with his arm to the side. Peter grabbed the arm and used the guy’s forward momentum to execute a basic hip throw. The guy threw his arms forward in an attempt to break his fall but still landed face down on the concrete deck. He screamed in pain as Peter dropped his knee to the man’s back to pin him.

Tamara was watching, impressed. Shit, Peter’s good! That jerk’s nude, and hitting the deck like that? Serious road rash, baby, she thought.

All of the other adults at the pool had seen the encounter and one of the men ran up to Peter.

“Need help?” he asked.

Peter looked up at him.

“Oh hey, Tim,” Peter said as he stood up. “You saw what happened, right? Hang on, yeah, help me restrain this jerk.”

The guy was trying to roll over to sit up, moaning in pain and cursing, but Peter put his foot on the guy’s back, holding him down.

“You little shit, I’m gonna fix you for that...”

“You just stay right there and shut up,” Peter growled at him. Then to Tim, “Hold him there for a sec.”

“Yeah, I saw him try to sucker-punch you,” Tim said. “What the hell was that all about?”

“Tell you in a bit.”

Peter pulled a bungee cord off of a nearby umbrella; it was used to keep the wind from lifting the umbrella out of its stand. With Tim’s help, he grabbed the guy’s arms and tied them behind him with the bungee. The guy was trying to struggle but Peter showed that he was much stronger.

“I asked to look inside his cooler,” Peter said. “He was acting suspicious.”

Meanwhile the guy was yelling and cursing, attracting a crowd. Someone must have gotten word to the office, because Ron came running up just then.

“Hi, Ron,” Peter called as he saw the owner appear. “Guy here tried to slug me. I think he’s been taking photos. I asked him to open his cooler.”

Ron went over to the table and opened the cooler.

“Damn!” he exclaimed. “That looks like a fuckin’ professional movie camera! The opening in the side of the cooler is really well hidden too.” He reached inside. “It’s even shock-mounted... and there’s a little control pad inset into the top lid, damn.”

Peter nodded, “Yeah. Tamara saw him with the cooler at the volleyball games yesterday and it looked like he was using it to shoot the kids over there just now,” he said, pointing at the group across the pool, all of whom were watching in fascination.

The guy was still cursing, but several other men had arrived and finally convinced him to stop yelling by threatening to gag him.

“Where’d you learn to take him down like that?” Tim asked. “You moved so quick.”

Peter shrugged. “Judo. Took it for about six years regularly but now I only do refreshers from time to time. That was a chudan uke block and hip throw. Basic defensive kata.”

Ron had figured out how to play back the camera’s memory on the view screen.

“Okay. He’s got a lot recorded here. The kids too,” Ron said. Then to the guy, “What’s your name?”

“You can’t do this to me,” the guy said. “I have a private investigator license and that allows me to take photos and videos.”

“Not on private property and not when you signed an agreement that you wouldn’t use any device capable of taking images,” Ron retorted. “We can get your name from our records. I’m going to call the police; we’re charging you with criminal trespass, assault, and attempted battery. The DA may also decide to bring you up on child porn charges. And, according to the agreement you signed, you’ve forfeited the ownership of the devices you used for the photographs.”

The guy started in again to threaten everyone with lawsuits.

“Shut the hell up!” Ron ordered. “Peter, you want to press charges?”

“Absolutely. We also need to find out if he used a cell phone and if he’s uploading the images.”

“You’re right. Hey, Tim. Look in the guy’s bag. See if there’s a cell in there.”

As the guy howled that it was personal property, Tim went to the table where the guy’s backpack was sitting on a chair and dug into the bag.

“Cell phone,” he announced as he pulled it out. “It’s locked. Hmm...”

“Maybe his face will unlock it,” Peter suggested. Then he noticed the look of alarm on the guy’s face. “Yeah, his face will work. You know how to do that?”

Tim said, “Yeah.”

When Tim unlocked the phone, they did discover additional photos on the device, plus ones taken at other locations. They also found his web-storage site and got its address.

“Let’s not go too far, guys,” Peter advised. “Change his phone unlock to a PIN and we’ll give that to the cops. If we dig much more, we can hurt the DA’s case. The jerk’s got some deep scratches too, so when you call the cops, mention that he’s got that road rash.”

“Sure,” Ron said. “Okay, let’s go. Give him a hand to stand. We’re going to the office.”

The guy began resisting, so Ron told him, “You’ll walk there, or we’ll dump you in a wheelbarrow and cart you there. Either way, you’re going to the office.”

When they got the guy to the office, Ron called the police. Peter went along and Tamara followed.

“This is exciting, Peter,” she told him. “I didn’t know you were so good at martial arts. I can’t wait for you to meet my dad. What will the police do?”

“Oh, the resort has a great relationship with them. The county police have their training facility not far from here and a few resort members are on the force. We rarely need to involve them with rule-breakers. We just confiscate the photo device and kick them out. They get black-listed here and we let the national organization know the details. We contact the other local clubs to let them know, too. If we need to call the police in, then they know it’s serious.”

About a half-hour later, a patrol car pulled in, followed by a detective in an unmarked car. One officer began questioning the guy, whose name from the resort registration was William Foster. Foster refused to talk, even to say where he was camping—but the office record showed he was a tent camper and gave the site number. Ron gave the officer a printout of the digital image of his driver’s license; it was from out-of-state, but a quick check with that state’s licensing department revealed that the licence was an excellent fake.

Vicki went with the other officer to Foster’s tent site; his car was parked there and was unlocked. A quick search of the car found two more fake driver’s licenses but also the car’s registration form. It revealed Foster’s probable real name, William Henderson, and an address in the state that matched the plates. The officer ran that name and Henderson came up as a sex offender.

Meanwhile in the office, the detective was getting the statements of the witnesses to Henderson’s attack on Peter; then Ron and Peter led the detective to the pool and showed him the scene. They had left everything just as it was, with a few adults stationed there to keep the curious away.

Among the curious now were Barbara and Terence.

Barbara went over to Tamara, who had tagged along with Peter.

“What’s all this about?” Barbara asked. “A guy tried to punch out Peter?”

Tamara told her what had happened.

“Shit, my little bro still got it in him. So he did a judo takedown, then?”

“Yeah, it was sweet. The jerk tried to throw a punch and went flying onto his face.”

Vicki came back then with the other officer and he spoke to the detective.

“Sergeant Lynch, can we get someone to pack up that camping site, get the stuff into the car? I found more fake ID in the perp’s vehicle but got a hit on the registration. Got the real name and he’s a listed sex offender. Do you need to check out his camping site?”

“Well, I think not, Larry. To search further, we’d need a warrant. You’re okay as far as looking for the perp’s ID because we’ve got probable cause over the fake ID. You’ll need to supervise the campground people putting his possessions in the vehicle and certify that only the possessions from his site were loaded. Then I’ll get a warrant for the vehicle. Is it a big tent?”

“Negative. It’s a popup, three-person size; air mattress and sleeping bag.”

“Fine,” Lynch said. “We’ll get everything secured and tow the vehicle. Say Ron, can you get some guys to go with Larry here to break down the perp’s site?”

“Sure thing, Gary. Are we finished here? Do you want to take custody of this stuff now? I had Michelle take some photos of the scene here, showing where the guy was sitting and the view of the pool and slide. I’ll give you those.”

“That’s good thinking, Ron. Sure, we can load it up. I don’t have an evidence bag big enough for the cooler, though.”

“How ‘bout I give you a 40-gallon trash bag? It’ll fit in there.”

“Sure. Thanks. And Peter?”

“Yes sir?”

“Good work, son. Both being observant and your judo; glad you’re keeping up with it.”

“Thanks.”

Ron called a few guys who were standing around watching and asked them to go back to the tent site with Vicki and Officer Larry to pack it up. Then Larry told them that he needed to write down each item as they put it in the car, and to break down the tent last.

Soon the turmoil died down as everyone left to do their assignment, leaving only Tamara, Peter, Barbara, and Terence. And eight tween girls with their chaperone. Who all came rushing over when the detective left.

“Peter! Peter! Peter!” the shrieks came as the girls surrounded him, all trying for hugs.

“Okay, you rugrats,” Peter smiled, “calm down.”

“We’re grown up now, so we’re not rugrats any more,” one of the girls groused. “That was awesome, how you knocked that guy down—he was much bigger than you!”

“I was taught that, Steffie,” Peter said. “You can learn it too; Barbara did. Ask your folks; it’s called judo.”

“Oh, I heard of judo,” another girl piped up. “So he was taking pictures of us?”

“Yep, Marie. He had a hidden video camera,” Peter answered. “Let me introduce you all, okay? Tamara, Barbara and I know these young ladies since they were little; they’re all grown up now, but Barbara’s like their big sister...”

They all screamed, “Yeah!” and one girl said, “We were just talking to her and... um ... Terence, right?”

“Right, and this is Tamara, my girlfriend.”

“She’s soooo lucky,” another girl sighed.

“I sure am,” Tamara grinned. “So who are all of you gals?”

Before anyone could respond, Peter pointed at each girl and gave her name.

“And their fearless leader, Jamie,” he finished. “The girls listening to you okay, Jamie?”

She snorted. “Like herding cats. I told them to stay out of the pool while I went for the drinks, but...” she spread her hands in frustration. “But that guy over there... I never noticed him until you walked up to him over there.”

A few girls piped up that they hadn’t seen him there either and Tamara got a thoughtful look. Peter signaled a question to her with a little gesture and Tamara said, “Later.”

“So he had a camera in his cooler?” Wilma asked. “How’d you know that?”

“Hey, now that’s an awesome question,” Peter answered. “And it’s important for you guys to know this, okay?”

He got a lot of solemn head nods.

“Nudist resorts are about the safest places for kids, you know,” he began and there were more nods. “But we can only keep them safe by watching out for you, all of the time. And I mean, all the time. You ever notice that when adults are around, they keep an eye on you—even if they’re not your parent?”

“Sure—so annoying,” Melodie grumbled.

“Well, that’s for your own safety, not that we want to keep you from having fun. What you don’t notice, I think, is how we watch over you when any strangers are around. If we don’t know someone, we kinda watch out what they do, particularly when kids are nearby. So that’s how Tamara and I noticed him. He wasn’t behaving like other resort visitors; he seemed more furtive, in some way. When Tamara and I saw him playing with his cooler, I remembered from somewhere that people have been known to hide cameras in things and secretly take pictures. So that’s what caught my attention. Any strange behavior around here needs to be checked out. That’s so you guys can enjoy being here and not have to worry about bad people.”

The kids all thanked Peter, got another round of hugs, and went off to play again.

Tamara turned to Peter. “I’m learning more and more stuff about you all the time, and I’m liking everything I’m learning,” she told him. “Those girls really love you, don’t they?”

Barbara, who had been listening, spoke up. “Peter’s been their unofficial big brother since they all were tiny.”

“Yeah, and I mentioned that Barbara was their big sister,” Peter said. “They were a big part of my recovery. I could be with them and be myself. I used to sit with all of them and read them stories and Barbara and I would watch them at the pool when their parents were busy.”

Tamara chuckled. “They all have a big crush on you, Peter. I was watching them. And the fight, such as it was, made it into a little hero worship.”

Peter made a dismissive gesture.

“No, it really is,” Tamara insisted. “You’re a good role model for them for a future boyfriend. Anyway, you heard what Jamie and a few others said about not noticing that jerk?”

Peter nodded.

“So, I felt something about him when I got closer to him and wasn’t sure what it was. Now I know. He has an ability similar to mine, but I think the only part that works for him is the ability to not be noticed. He can be like a chameleon and become part of the background. That’s how he’s been able to get away with filming stuff at resorts, like you saw on his cameras. Our own empathic senses could cut through his screening—which is probably something he’s not really conscious of—so we could notice him. Now I really want to get back to work to find out how I can do this stuff.”

“Okay, now some of that stuff I haven’t heard about before,” Barbara said. “When were you planning to spill all the beans?”

“In good time, girlfriend,” Tamara grinned. “Say, Peter, it appears you know the detective pretty well. Right?”

Peter shrugged. “You pick up on everything, Tamara. Yeah, Barbara and I learned at the dojo Sarge Gary goes to and sometimes we got to be sparring partners, despite our age differences. The dojo didn’t have many teens three-four years ago. There are more there now. Anyway, Barbara’s much better than I am.”

“Really? I saw you, remember?” Tamara objected.

“Ah, that was just one move and a basic kata. It’s a form we got drilled in a lot. She’s more athletic than me—look at her volleyball playing. I run and lift. Judo frequently needs explosive movements and volleyball certainly helps developing that.”

“Well, Peter and Barbara,” Tamara giggled. “Any more exciting events scheduled this week? You never told me that this vacation would include an episode of ‘Crimestoppers.’”

They all laughed and settled down in some loungers to catch some sun.

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