I Don't Make Mistakes

Previously: The team start to get answers from Talbot Briggs.

Need to catch up on The Spring? Visit the chapter index here:

5:08 PM - Monday, November 10, 2014

Holy Heart School, Flood Mansion, Pacific Heights, San Francisco

“We actually have a theory about where you may have been, Tally, so I hope you’ll just indulge me while I explain.” Paco had a slight smile as he moved to the next map on the iPad.

“Is something funny?” Tally asked angrily, looking at him.

“No no — not at all. I mean, Alexa Thomas is dead, isn’t she?” Paco looked back at hear meaningfully. “I guess if I’m smiling at all it’s because I get a kick out of figuring things out — kind of like you, but in an opposite way.”

“What do you mean, kind of like me?” She spat back.

“You like to figure things out, right? You’re all into game theory and chess — it’s all kind of puzzles in a way and so is investigating crime. The thing is though when we investigate things we check them and double check them and re-check them so we don’t make mistakes.”

“I don’t make mistakes either.” Tally said softly.

“Maybe.” Paco countered. “On a good day, when you’re thinking straight. Right?” Tally just stared at him. “We make mistakes when we get emotional and angry, at least I do.” Paco shrugged at her a little. “Luckily I’m kind of a patient guy.”

“And I’m impatient?”

“Well, yeah, you kind of are — at least in the handful of times I’ve talked with you.” Tally’s jaw went tight at the accusation. “So, you wanna hear our theory?” She gave him a slight nod. “Okay, so this is the same map, but we’ve added this route here which is what you told us you did on Halloween, right? You said you had to go home for a tampon?” Paco watched her face flush as her mother recoiled slightly.

“Yes.” Tally whispered.

“Okay fair enough. Do you remember what time you left the party to walk home?”

“I don’t remember. When the party was breaking up I guess.”

Paco raised his eyebrows at this. “Okay, so that would have been around 9:45, correct?”

“Sure.”

“So around 9:45 you leave for your house and walk the five blocks down Washington Street to your house. That would take you at least ten minutes. You do whatever you need to do at home, and then where do you go?”

“I — I went to Inspiration Point.”

“Really? So early? That would have landed you at the Point around 10:15 or so, right? So if you were at the party in the Presidio by then, why weren’t you in any photos?” Tally stared back at him in silence.

“Talbot — where were you?” Linda Briggs hissed next to her daughter, eyes narrowed. “Who were you with?”

“I wasn’t with anyone, mother.” Tally snapped at her and then huffed a long sigh. “I honestly don’t remember what time I left the house again.”

“Really?” Paco nodded at her skeptically. “Ready to hear our theory?”

“Sure — hit me with your best shot.” Paco chuckled a little in response.

“Okay Tally, maybe you did walk all the way home to get a tampon, but your timeline is all wrong.”

Tally scoffed at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Charlie Dagonet left the party right around 9:45 with his DJ gear and gave Ryan Dominguez a ride home so he’d make his curfew. He dropped Ryan off right around 10, then went home a dropped his gear, and then went back to Tripp’s house. So the earliest he could have been there would have been about 10:15 - 10:20 or so. And we know that he saw you at Tripp’s house when he got back there.”

Tally seemed to shrink back in her chair. “What did Charlie say?”

“He told us you were alone in the kitchen partaking in some drugs. Cocaine to be specific.” Linda Briggs seemed to vibrate at this, glaring at her daughter.

“Is that true?” She asked in a quiet threat. Tally sighed and pursed her lips. “You told me that was over, Talbot. Where did you get the drugs.”

“Tripp.” She said it simply.

“Tally — you said —”

“I know what I said.” Tally turned to glare at her. “It was a party. Give me a break.”

“So what they’re saying is true?” Linda gestured to Paco. “You were there doing drugs.”

“If Charlie says so, I guess I was.”

“Ma’am, if I can continue —” Paco said to the stunned mother, who slowly looked at him with a nod. “So, Charlie gets back to Tripp’s house around 10:15 - 10:20, sees you in the kitchen. He said it was odd because you were the only one there — the whole house was empty otherwise. He said you were doing cocaine off of a plate at the kitchen table when he came in, and that you had a second line of cocaine ready to go. Then you started to chat with him. Then you got up and poured him a Diet Coke.” Paco watched Tally’s face carefully. It had gone into a serene sort of mask, her pink lips starting to relax again, chin sliding slightly. “Tally, did you pour Charlie a Diet Coke?”

“If he says so.”

“I’m asking you.”

“I don’t remember.”

Jeannie glanced at Paco and saw the kindness melt out of his face. In a second he looked cold as stone.

“Okay, we’ll clarify that a bit later.” Tally glanced up at Paco, noting his shift in tone. “Charlie went to the bathroom, and says when he came out again you were gone. That probably would have been about 10:30 or so. Where did you go when you left the Hartman house?”

Tally looked to the ceiling, shaking her head slightly as her mouth gaped as she tried to form words. “I — I guess I went to Inspiration Point. I don’t remember.”

“So you didn’t go home and get a tampon.”

“I don’t remember.” She said more forcefully. Paco stared at her coldly.

“Okay, well let me see if our theory jogs your memory somehow.” Jeannie could tell Paco was nearing the end of his infinite patience. “So, here’s what we think: You stayed behind at Tripp Hartman’s house as the party wound up, likely because Tripp had given you a fresh stash of cocaine and you wanted to get high. So, you stick around, Charlie comes in seeing you using, you offer him some, but he declines because he’s sober.” Tally rolled her eyes again. “So you pour him a Diet Coke with some vodka in it.” Tally’s eyes flash back to Paco.

“Why the hell would I do that?”

“We’ll get to that, but mostly because you knew it would make Charlie sick.”

“Why would I want Charlie to get sick?”

“To get him out of the way.” Silence. Tally stared at Paco in disbelief, face starting to twist.

“Should I continue?” Paco turned his iPad around to reveal the next map to Tally. “So you’re alone in the house, Charlie goes to the bathroom as he starts to feel the effects of the spiked drink. You leave the Hartman house, probably around 10:30 or so, and you do walk yourself all the way back to your house on Washington St five blocks away. There was likely a lot of trick-or-treating and craziness still going on, so it would be easy to blend in with your costume on. You get home, maybe you do get the tampon you need, who knows? But what you do get is Carolina’s trench coat and the rubber wolf mask that you’d ordered to match the ones Tripp had. You then make your way back to the party, we think you probably took Jackson Street this time, because it would be much more lively than West Pacific, not to mention better-lit. Then, instead of going all the way to Arguello to go in the Presidio gates, you instead go the end of Cherry Street right here, and use the little set of stairs in the Presidio wall.” Tally’s eyes were huge as she looked at the map. “There’s a barrier gate right here — see the yellow triangle? — it’s in the trees that marks a connector path to the Ecology Trail right below where the party was happening. You took the lower trail around and up to the Redwood Grove. You probably make it there by about 10 minutes before 11 PM, unless you were really hurrying along.”

“Why would I do that?” Tally asked, trying to laugh.

“Because you didn’t want to be seen.” Paco stared her down for a long second.

Jeannie moved her iPad to the next photo, and continued the explanation. “Jen then lead Alexa over to that area, and maybe the boys were already running around scaring everyone, but you were there and waited for Alexa in particular. By the time Jen brought Alexa over to the Redwood Grove she had already been dosed with vodka, GHB, and opiates, which you knew because you had Jen pour the shot down her throat — the shot that Tripp Hartman had dosed — and you had Dash Reilly snap a picture of the moment it happened. He immediately texted it to you.” Jeannie flipped the iPad to reveal the photo Dash had taken of Jen pouring a Tito’s down Alexa’s throat, her blue sequin top pressing into Alexa’s dress. Tally almost sneered at the image. “So you knew she was drugged and drunk, impressionable, probably confused.” Jeannie stared at the girl who was staring at the picture. “What did you say to Alexa, Tally?” Jeannie asked quietly. “What did you say to her to scare her from behind your wolf mask?”

Finally, Tally looked up slowly and looked at Jeannie, her eyes full of fury.

“Why would I want to scare Alexa?” She rasped out.

“Because you hated her. Because you were jealous of her.”

Tally scoffed again. “Jealous? Of her? Are you kidding? Why would I be jealous of Alexa Thomas?”

“Because Charlie Dagonet was in love with her.”