Zugzwang

Previously: The team lays out the evidence.

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5:40 PM - Monday, November 10, 2014

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

The large bay window was dark now, a deep midnight blue cast itself over all of Cow Hollow and the Marina, with the hills of Marin just dark silhouettes. The towers of the bridge blinked their red beacons in the distance.

“Talbot —” Mrs Briggs’ face was pure shock as she stared at her apathetic daughter. “Tally, please say something about this.”

“They can’t prove it.” She looked back at her mother. “They can’t — and I certainly didn’t intend for Alexa to die.”

“But we can prove you did have intent to prank her.” Jeannie countered, prompting both of the Briggs women to look at her. “You were playing a game, weren’t you? Maybe it was just a prank, but you still had to win, didn’t you? You planned it as well as you could, but in game theory — your specialty — you can only plan on expected outcomes, correct? But in this case, the unexpected happened and your little game went to hell.” Tally stared at her wide-eyed. “Planning is intent, Tally, and you planned for something to happen to Alexa Thomas — both you and Tripp.”

“What—?” She asked quietly, face confused.

“You purchased the wolf mask that matched the ones Tripp bought,” Paco began, “you borrowed Carolina’s coat — both of these you did well before Halloween. That’s intent.” His face had gone to stone again. “You and Tripp decided to dose the Trick-or-Tito’s specifically for Alexa and made sure Jen dosed her — you had Dash take a picture and send it to you. That’s intent. You also had Jen pull her away from the party on some excuse so she’d be all alone in her inebriated state. Jen suggested the excuse was to retrieve a sex video from Tripp, but you knew that wasn’t going to happen. You scared her, watched her get injured, watched her try to get away, and you didn’t help her. In fact, by putting the jacket she was wearing into the trash, you effectively tried to erase that either one of you were ever on that trail. That’s intent. You intended to harm Charlie Dagonet, too, maybe not a lot but just enough. You knew that spiking his drink would make him sick — so sick he passed out. Never mind the fact that by drinking that drink he broke his sobriety.”

Tally’s eyes finally showed a well of fear as she took in an unsteady breath.

“We’ve also done DNA testing on the masks, Tally,” Paco continued. “The four from the Redwood Grove all have male DNA, and the one from the trench coat has female DNA. We’ll get DNA samples from everyone — even you — to make matches, but it will be fairly easy. We also have the bracelet and the sequins.”

“We also have an abundance of your online activity,” Mark began for the first time. “Messages on Pr3pSF, comments, plus the fact that you posted a non-consensual sex video onto a public forum — all of that we can prove and tie it back to an overall behavior of bullying and intimidation.” Tally stared at him, mouth parted. “You posted that video to intimidate Jen Tyson into not talking to us, didn’t you? Just as you sent her texts encouraging her to harm herself last Friday. We’ve seen the texts, Tally.”

Tally stared at him with a face between despair and hatred.

“Jennifer Tyson attempted suicide on Friday. Did you know that?” Mark continued. “She’s been under a psychiatric evaluation all weekend.”

Tally seemed to freeze at this. Mrs. Briggs gaped at Mark completely stunned and then spun on her daughter.

“Tally — why in the world would you do any of these things? I — I just don’t understand. This is illegal — it is illegal isn’t it?” She looked to Mark.

“Yes, certain points can incur charges such as posting the video and the online bullying, but overall it points to a motive to harm Alexa Thomas and anyone around her. So yes, I can charge your daughter with certain federal crimes regarding the online behavior, but we will also be handing our findings off to a Grand Jury to determine who will be brought up on charges and why. Conspiracy to commit bodily harm comes to mind; we’ve proven there was agreement, intent, and an overt act, which is what you need for that charge. Am I correct, Hagen?” He looked to Jeannie.

“Yes, that’s it exactly.”

“See, Mrs. Briggs, I always like to check with a legal mind before I confirm anything, and you should too. Your daughter needs a lawyer, a good one. The conspiracy charge to commit bodily harm normally carries a 5 year imprisonment, but in the case of a death it could result in far more, even life in prison. As you’re still a minor, I’m not sure. Of course, the conspiracy is just the entry point; the Grand Jury could pursue federal murder charges if they think that’s more appropriate.”

All of the oxygen went out of the room.

“Obviously, you don’t want that to happen, neither does the Dean here —” Mark gestured to the Dean who had been in stunned silence at the head of the table the entire time. “That wouldn’t look very good for Holy Heart if one of its star graduates was brought up on federal charges. Nor would it look very good for your family if you had to forego your debutante ball because of a criminal scandal. Nor would Princeton look too kindly at this development in one of their freshman admissions — it was Princeton, correct? Or MIT? I’ve forgotten.”

“I DIDN’T MEAN IT. I DIDN’T MEAN TO HURT HER!” Tally screamed from across the table, her face going to purple.

“I understand you think that Talbot,” Mark countered calmly, “but Mayfield and Hagen have already laid out your intent otherwise. You did want to hurt her. You were angry and emotional, as Mayfield said, and you weren’t thinking straight, but just straight enough to set it all up. Yes, Tally, you wanted to hurt her. Maybe not kill her, but you definitely wanted some kind of harm to come to her. Making the blanket statement that it was simply a “prank” isn’t going to absolve you of any of this.”

Tally’s placid face collapsed into deep caverns — a silent wail coming from her open mouth. Paco was stunned at how she’d gone from a cool beauty to an unrecognizable red-faced gnome in a matter of seconds.

“WHY DID SHE DIE? WHY?” Tally wailed.

Mark leaned forward, eyes flinty. “She died accidentally, Tally. She died because you scared her half to death when she was drunk and drugged against her will. She died because she tripped and fell onto a fence post and punctured her lung. She died because she fell into a spring of water and drowned. She died because you didn’t help her. She died because you didn’t stop yourself when enough was enough. She died because your prank was actually bullying.” His voice was low and dangerously calm.

Tally shook and sobbed, wadding up some of her mother’s Kleenex and pressing it to her face. Paco wondered if she’d ever look like the girl he’d first seen a week before ever again. Jeannie considered the girl and wondered if the histrionics were still part of her act.

“Wh- what, what do we do?” Mrs. Briggs faltered into a question, looking at everyone else at the table for some kind of an answer.

“Like I said, Mrs. Briggs, your daughter needs a lawyer.” Mark said simply. “However, if your daughter is willing to cooperate with an ancillary investigation, I could make a recommendation for clemency with the Grand Jury.”

“Wh- what do you mean? There’s another investigation?”

“Did you see the headlines over the weekend concerning the federal raids on the Hartman home?”

“Y-yes, was that something you did?”

“I was there, yes, but there were other federal agencies involved, namely the DEA.” Mark caught Tally’s eye as she looked at him helplessly over the wadded tissue. “If Talbot were to cooperate with them, providing information about Tripp Hartman’s drug dealing, and anything else she knows about the Hartman family, perhaps there’s a chance for a lesser-sentence, but it’s not up to me.” Tally gulped for breath, looking at Mark like he was her salvation. “Mind you, the information would need to be accurate, truthful, and verifiable. You can’t just pop off a bunch of lies to save yourself, Tally.”

The girl swallowed hard, her face wet and pink.

“I — I understand.” She whispered.

“That’s the only chance you’ll get.” Mark glared at her. “Now I recommend you find a very good defense attorney, Mrs. Briggs, one with experience with federal Grand Juries. Whoever it is will be expensive.”

“I — yes, okay. I’ll contact my husband. He needs to be home for this.” The woman was clearly in shock, but holding herself together. “You’ll have his attention now, Tally.” She finished ruefully. Tally looked at her mother and back at the tabletop.

“You know Tally,” Jeannie began, “my fiancé is in finance, so he knows a lot about the game theory you love, even chess. He told me that in chess there’s a name for when someone is out of moves, or when the only moves they have left puts them at a disadvantage. It’s a weird German word?—”

Tally sniffed and narrowed her eyes slightly. “Zugzwang.” She whispered. “A player is forced to make a move that worsens their position.”

“Right. Zugzwang.” Jeannie blinked at her slowly.

Tally took in a shaking breath, looked toward the dark bay window and finally pinched her eyes closed.