Derby

When Brad and Karen got back from the emergency room, they were met at the front door of the fraternity house by Mountain.

"How's little Anna?" Mountain rumbled.

"She'll be OK. She's stable. The doctors said she was raped, but there was no semen, so apparently the bastard used a rubber. I guess we can thank him for that; at least she won't get pregnant. They tested her for STD's anyway, and so far that looks negative. They also found a very high blood alcohol level and traces of that damn date rape drug, Rohypnol in her system. But she's going to be OK, at least physically. What's happening here?" Brad said.

"The house is secure. The cops were all over the place, of course, but they didn't find anything except the sheets with her blood on them from the guest room. They asked a bunch of questions, but everyone either was ignorant or claimed to be. The worst trouble we'll get in is some underage drinking shit, but we've dealt with that before. We're cool," Mountain said.

"I'm going to go find that asshole, Jerry, and find out what he knows," Brad said. "I saw him talking to that kid Derby earlier in the evening, and when Derby came downstairs and left, I saw Jerry give him a thumbs-up. Where is that motherfucker?"

"We've already talked to him. Me, Drake, Joel, and a couple of the others," Mountain said.

"And?"

"We found his stash of Roofies and took them before the cops got here. Jerry's not a member of this frat anymore. He's not a student at this college anymore. He's also a very lucky guy, 'cuz the other brothers managed to keep me from killing him. But let me tell you, he's gonna be singing soprano for a long time," Mountain said.

"You mean you just let him go?" Karen shrieked. "You didn't turn the little pervert over to the cops?"

Mountain looked at her with genuine sadness. "Honey, the cops wouldn't have done to him what we did to him. He probably would have gotten away with a fine and probation. Like I said, if I had had my way, we would have been turning him over straight to the Medical Examiner so they could have figured out which of my punches or kicks killed him, but the other brothers stopped me and kept me from going to prison. It's OK, honey. He's going to need a lot of oral surgery before he can eat solid food again, and a lot of plastic surgery before his face stops looking like a Halloween mask. It's going to be a long time before he walks right, and if I did what I tried to do, he'll never fuck again. And he knows, if he ever says anything, we'll find him, and it will be a whole lot worse."

"What about that bastard Derby?" Brad asked.

"All anyone seems to know is that he's a freshman, and that he came here with Anna and with you, Karen," Mountain said. "We have people out looking for him, but it's a big campus with a lot of kids. But when we find him, I swear on my life, it won't be pretty."

"We have to find him," Karen said.

"There are thousands of incoming freshmen," Brad said. "Don't we know anything else about him?"

Karen said, "All I know is that he has some geek Trekkie for a roommate. If Derby said his name, I don't remember."

"I actually know a few of those weirdos," said Mountain.

"You do? How?" Brad asked.

"I do a mean Star Trek uniform insignia tattoo. You'd be surprised how many of those little twerps have cried their way through having me ink that on their chests."

"Call everyone of them you can think of and spread the word. Maybe we can get to this bastard through his roommate," Brad said.

"What if he does this again?" Karen asked. "How many of those pills did he get from Jerry?"

"I don't know," Mountain admitted.

"Shit, we have to work fast or some other poor girl could get hurt. If he does that, I'll hunt him down and kill him myself!" Karen sobbed.

"Calm down, baby. You'll have to wait your turn in line. But you're right. We have to make a plan to catch him, and to do that, we need more info. I wonder if he's done this before," Brad said.

"If he did, he didn't use Roofies," Mountain said. "Jerry said he had to tell the kid what they were."

"I would think if there were a violent rapist loose on campus, we would have heard about it," Brad said, "so maybe this was his first time. We just have to make sure it was his last."

"We should go to the police," Karen said.

"With what?" Brad asked. "There's no physical evidence to connect Derby with Anna's rape. Sure, we can all say that we saw him with her. So what? Any dumb public defender can point out how circumstantial that evidence is. The cops and doctors already hinted that they had nothing. No semen, no fingerprints, no DNA, no evidence. Even if Anna says she thinks it was Derby who raped her, they can say she was drugged by someone else, and it's only because she herself got so drunk before she got drugged that she doesn't remember any other guy. Hair samples? Clothing fibers? So what? They were together. One of the guys even saw them kissing in the back yard. There's no case. But, we know what happened, and we're going to take care of it."

Joel, who had been listening quietly, spoke up. "The little fuck has a nasty temper. You saw the way he came at me."

Brad said, "Well, you were out of line."

"You made that clear last night," Joel said dryly. "Shit, I was fucked up. I apologized. But with the way he blew up on me about Anna, are you sure they hadn't been seeing each other before?"

Karen said, "Anna told me she met him the for the first time the other day when she was moving in. He helped her with some of her stuff. Then he called her out of the blue last night and offered to walk her over to my house. I invited them both here. Oh, God, this is my fault!"

Brad hugged her. "Baby, don't say that. How could you have known he was like that? If he hadn't gotten to Anna, he probably would have gone for someone else. That certainly wouldn't have been your fault, would it? No, he's a predator."

"That's just what I was thinking," Joel said. "Did you ever see one of those nature shows when predators fight over their kill? That's what that douchebag was like. Some rogue killer animal fighting over his prey."

"So, how do you catch a predator?" Mountain asked. "Bait a trap?"

"I bet I could get one of my sorority sisters to serve as bait," Karen said.

"Pretty risky," said Brad. "Besides, they're all sophomores and up. This kid's a freshman. I remember when I was a freshman. I would never have dreamed of chasing an upperclassman chick. They were out of my league."

"Wait a minute," said Joel, "one of your sorority sisters, Maribeth, teaches a martial arts and self defense class. I took it last year. That little blond is a foot shorter and probably eighty pounds lighter than me, and she routinely kicked my ass. Maybe she could do a rape-prevention crash course type of thing for the freshman girls."

"Good idea," Karen said, "but we need to do something even more proactive. I know, my house can host a welcome party for the new girls. We have money in the treasury. When I explain to them the issue, I'm sure it will be a rubber stamp to appropriate the funds. We can have a bikini car wash later to replenish the money."

"I'll direct traffic," Mountain said, pulling himself up to his full height. "I'm sure I can persuade a lot of people that their cars need to be washed."

Drake, who had wandered in during the conversation, said, "I'll hit up my girl over at the Delta house. I bet if some of you girls get together, you can get all the sororities to chip in. That way, no one will think you're trying to get a jump on rush week, and you'll be able to reach more of the freshman girls. I'll go talk to the guys in the other frat houses. I'm sure some of them will help with the work. We can set up stands around campus, hand out invitations, that sort of thing. Make it into some kind of festival, but with a real serious purpose."

"Yeah," Mountain said, "if we attract enough people, maybe this asshole will show up, too. He can think it's an opportunity to stalk new prey, but there will be some safety in the sheer numbers. And if we spot him, I can have the fun of breaking him in half."

Brad said, "I like everything about this except the breaking him in half part. We have to do something to him that won't get us in trouble, but that will make sure that he's finished as a rapist. All right. Do we all know what to do? Let's go!"

In a matter of a few hours of phone calls and text messages, making plans, creating and printing materials, and general running around, every fraternity and sorority house had become involved in preparation for an entire weekend of activities. The events were to start the following evening, Friday. Different sororities would be hosting events at their houses all day on Saturday, and the fraternity houses would play host to still more activities on Sunday. A steering committee consisting of the presidents of all the houses had been formed to coordinate and manage all the separate events, and these people had created groups within their own houses to run events, whether the event was run by a single house or by the joint effort of several houses.

There were to be student speakers on date safety, date rape, responsible and safe sex, sexual predators, and self-defense. There would be "dry" parties, cook-outs, mingle sessions, and games. Signs and banners were made and hung all over the campus, fliers were distributed, announcements were made on the campus radio stations, and mass e-mails were sent to all students, with special invitations being sent to all freshman girls.

There were two purposes to these events. The publicized reason was to raise awareness of the potential for sexual predator activity and generally inappropriate or threatening sexual behavior, stressing the importance of the individuals' responsibility for their own dating and sexual safety, while giving the freshmen a social event where they could meet. The other motive was discussed on a need-to-know basis with a select few people working in the background: finding and dealing with Derby.

Surprisingly few people on campus seemed to know what had happened the previous night to Anna, which, in a way, was good. The point was not to spook Derby, but rather to catch him and punish him. Most of the people who had heard rumors about Anna's situation knew nothing of the suspect. It became clear that the police had no idea of Derby's identity. The college administration seemed only dimly aware of the whole situation.

Mountain had contacted some of his Trekkie-type clients, hoping to attract all the young men who fit the stereotype that matched Derby's description of his roommate. Karen had organized a squad of decoys consisting of a few young-looking girls from her sorority, each of whom would be closely watched by at least two men hand-picked from a few of the fraternities. Every one of these "operatives" had been thoroughly briefed by Karen and Brad about Derby's description and known methods. A few of the guys from Brad's fraternity had organized themselves into a team which would be responsible for tracking down any leads on Derby, and for apprehending him.

The response from the student body was almost overwhelming. Fraternity row was so mobbed by students that the campus police had to be enlisted to help with traffic and crowd control. Donation stands were hastily set up, and it soon appeared that the costs incurred for the weekend's events would easily be met. It was decided in a conference call by the steering committee that excess funds would be used to pay Anna's medical expenses, including on-going rape counseling, and any leftover money would be given to the school to use for additional campus security patrols.

Some of the kids came for the free food and the mixer/party activities, but a surprising number seemed interested in learning about personal safety.

By 11 o'clock on Friday evening, the first real information about Derby came to light. After one of the seminars, a young girl stayed to talk to a few of the sorority sisters. She told them of a frightening encounter she had had with a tall, good-looking freshman boy named Derby. As soon as she mentioned his name, Karen and Brad were called in to talk to her.

It quickly became apparent that Derby's outburst when she had refused to kiss him had occurred about a half an hour before Derby picked up Anna at the student union. The informant, Josie, was unable to tell them anything they didn't already know, but she did confirm one thing. Derby's attack on Anna was not the only encounter he had had with a freshman girl. Karen and Brad let Josie think that her dealings with Derby were an isolated incident, and they reassured her that she had done nothing wrong. They also advised her to stay away from him,

A female escort was provided to take Josie back to her dorm, and frat brothers were recruited to watch over her surreptitiously until Derby was caught. Karen and Brad hoped that Josie would never find out how close she had come to having been Derby's sexual victim.

Early Saturday morning, Mountain barged into Brad's room. "Get up!" he roared.

"What the fuck, dude, did you ever hear of knocking?" Brad asked as Karen tried to cover herself.

"Sorry, Karen. Damn, you look good naked," Mountain said. Barely stopping to breathe, he said, "We're having breakfast with Derby's roommate."

"No shit! How did you accomplish that?" Brad cried.

"My little nerd-net paid off. It seems that a freshman by the name of Martin was seen in the campus infirmary early Thursday morning for a black eye. He said he walked into a door, but the nurse on duty didn't believe him. She's an X-men freak, and last night she heard about our search for freshman geeks in some chat room. She e-mailed Martin to meet her for a soda at the student union and finally got him to tell her the truth about his injury. We're meeting for breakfast in a half hour at the apartment of a grad student who volunteered to put the kid up for a few days until he can find a new dorm room. Martin's roommate is Derby. So get your asses out of bed!"

"Martin is Derby's roommate?" Karen asked, jumping out of bed and searching for her clothes.

"Didn't I just say that? Move!" Mountain yelled.

Martin was sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of Fruit Loops when Mountain, Brad, and Karen arrived. Introductions were made. Martin was obviously terrified by his experience, and the older kids did their best to put him at ease.

Martin told them, "I really hadn't gotten to know my roommate when I first got to campus, so on Wednesday morning, I tried to talk to him, and he just went off on me. I didn't know why he was so mad at me, but he threatened me. He scared me. Then he left. I didn't see him again until about 4am Thursday when he came into our room. It woke me up, and I tried to talk to him again, to apologize for getting off on the wrong foot. He seemed really worked up, and he started swearing at me and threatening me again.

"I told him that a girl named Christy had come looking for him Wednesday evening. I had told him about her stopping by once before, and he had told me never to talk to any girls that knew him, but when she came by the second time, I invited her in. She was really upset, because she had been calling him but he wasn't calling her back. He had left his phone in the room, and I knew she had called because her name showed on his caller ID. Anyway, she stayed for a while waiting for him, and then she left. She seemed really nice, and she was really pretty, and she made me promise to tell him that she wanted to talk to him. So, when he came in Thursday morning, I told him about her visit.

"That's when he went nuts on me. He started throwing my stuff around and ripping up my Star Wars posters. He even broke my light saber. He hit me and knocked me on the floor. He told me to get out and never come back, and then he punched me in the face and gave me a black eye. I got out of there as fast as I could and went to the infirmary. When I got out of there, I went to the dorm room of a Lord of the Rings expert I had met in a chat room my first night on campus. He went back to my room with me and helped me grab some clothes and my laptop. That's how the nurse from the infirmary got a hold of me. And now I'm here."

"And you're staying here," Brad said. "I'll have one of my frat brothers here in ten minutes. He'll bring some money to pay your host here for letting you stay for a couple of days, and he'll be sleeping in the living room until we have a talk with Derby. You see, we have an interest in his activities, too. He hurt someone we care about. But don't worry, Martin. You're perfectly safe. Derby won't bother you anymore. Hopefully, by the time classes start on Monday, you'll be able to move back into your room. Now, give me your room key."

"Why?" Martin asked.

"If Derby's there," Brad said, "we're going to talk to him and help him move out. If he's not, we're going to pack up some more of your clothes and get all your textbooks and stuff so you can start classes on Monday. We'll keep you posted on what's going on. You'll be OK."

When Mountain and Brad let themselves into Martin's and Derby's room, Derby wasn't there. They knocked on a few doors, but none of the neighboring kids knew where Derby was. Rather than wait for him, the guys gathered the things they had promised to bring to Martin, and took them to the grad student's apartment.

"Martin," Brad asked, "you said that you saw Christy's name on Derby's caller ID. Were there any other girls that called that you know about?"

"Christy called about five times," Martin said, and some other girl called two or three. Her name was Melissa."

"Any last names?" Mountain asked.

"No."

"OK, well, you've been extremely helpful. Now that our frat brother Adam is staying here, you'll be completely safe. We'll keep you up to date."

As they drove back to the frat house, Mountain said, "OK, Brad, what have we learned? Derby's got a violent temper. We already knew that from the incident with Joel, from what Josie said, and from the way he abused Anna. We don't have last names on these two chicks that were calling Derby, but we know that this Christy wanted to see him. She must know him. Do you think she went through anything with him like those other two did?"

Brad said, "I was wondering if both Christy and Melissa are victims."

Mountain thought for a minute. "I have an idea. Let's get a bunch of those name tags they use at conventions, you know, the ones that say, 'Hello, my name is fill-in-the-blank.' Since we have a big mixer planned for tonight, we could give them to everyone who shows up. If we're lucky, those girls will come. We can just have everyone on the lookout for girls with those names. If we're really lucky, some little fuck will have a name tag on that says 'Derby.'"

Brad smiled and drove faster. "I like the way you think, big guy."

On Saturday evening, fraternity row was teeming with kids. The weather was perfect, and there were food, sodas, coffee, and non-alcoholic punch available at every house. There were seminars and discussion groups on the lawns and porches of some houses, and music blared from the windows of others. Everyone was buzzing about how much fun they were having, and a lot of kids were enthused about what they were learning.

Every fraternity brother and sorority sister was looking for name tags that had Christy, Melissa, or Derby on them. Most of them didn't know why they were supposed to find these people, but they all had cellphone numbers for someone to call in the event they were spotted. A number of Christys and Melissas were approached by people saying they were looking for their friend Derby.

Karen's phone rang. It was Drake. "Where are you?"

"In the backyard of my house, making burgers as fast as I can. Man, can these kids eat! What's up?"