An official meeting (Jorge)

Stalkings. Those were never the cases to take lightly. The detective knew as much when he was working in Miami. That was why he had arrived early at the mansion. Gemma had contacted him that one of the mansion student’s was being stalked, strange photos sent to him from points in his life that he didn’t think were possible. The whole idea was rather creepy to Detective Cervantes; to suddenly be receiving mail like that for on conceivable reason? Gemma said that the kid, by the name of Locke Tori, had been rather shaken. Jorge hoped he could help.

Sitting in the living room of the mansion, the detective sat across from a small table, taking out his notepad and pen. He clicked it once, twice, doodled on his sketch pad, and then stood up and shoved his hands in his deep gray long coat.

Idly as the detective stood, he paused to look over the fineries that were in the living room. He had to admit that he was always impressed by the beauty that the mansion managed to uphold. Especially considering the students that stayed here. Teenagers were a handful enough but teenagers with mutant powers seemed downright impossible. It made him wonder how many times certain furniture, art pieces, and knick-knacks were destroyed and replaced.

That would be a question for Gemma.

As he paused though, he smirked when a pair of young kid’s right back, between nine and ten years old. One was a girl who looked like a giant grasshopper and the other was a boy crackling with electricity. He smirked as they dashed around, small cowboy hats askew on their heads. As they passed by they kept firing with invisible guns.

“Hi Mr. Cervantessss!” they announced as they ran by, giggling and firing at each other.

He smirked as he gave them a wave. The students were getting to know him rather well as time passed. He was glad for it. “Hello kids! Be careful! You know Ms. Taylor said no running in here.”

“Yessir!” they announced as the sound of running feet ceased and they instead walked out of the living room.

Jorge shook his head with a smirk as he returned to his seat and waited for the boy, Locke, to appear. He hoped that the fact that most of the kids here seemed to like and trust him, that word would spread to Locke that he could be trusted. But Jorge would not know until he appeared.

Flipping opening his notepad, Jorge began to jot down a couple of notes, initial thoughts about the case when suddenly…

>> ”Detective Cervantes?”

He looked up when he heard the voice. He noted the hair, the shy look, the posture, and the stacks of photos he had set down on the table in front of him. Yup, this had to be the kid. He offered him a kindly and understanding smile.

“Mr. Tori, yes, but please, call me Jorge,” he said as he waved to the seat across from the table. “So,” he said as he tilted his head down to the all the photographs on the table. No wonder Locke was freaked out. “Ms. Taylor tells me you’ve been having some trouble. Um, may I?” he asked as he motioned to the photos.

>> "Locke,"

Jorge nodded. “Locke, nice to meet you.” He said as he stretched out his hand to shake. Once Locke had done so, it seemed that the boy had motioned to the plethora of photographs with a couple of printed out ones.

>> "Go ahead,"

He nodded once again. Once Locke had taken his seat, Jorge had turned his attention to the photos and pulled a few to him. Slowly the detective began to look them over, carefully, trying not to miss anything. The photos were so varied though. Obviously they were all of Locke but at various stages in his life. It was almost as if someone was anticipating Locke making a scrapbook of his life and sent him all the material that he would ever need.

Definitely, truly, odd. He shook his head in thought as he set down one stack and began to go through yet another one. It was not just what was in the photos themselves that was important but it was that actual, physical object itself. How were they printed? Collected? The majority of them looked quite uniform so was it home printed or done from some drug store? Too many questions and not enough answers.

>> "Ms. T said that I should write down when and where the pictures were taken."

He glanced up as Locke produced folded sheets of paper. That was definitely a good idea that Gemma gave him. Maybe with a written record of these photos, it could shed light on where and how all these pictures were being taken.

>> "Oh and uh... there's this,"

His head tilted curiously as he looked up to see Locke pull a folded envelope from his pocket. What else could there be.

“Locke, I’m sure this is been asked before,” he said as he set down another group of photos and jotted a note down on his notepad. “But, is there any one that you can imagine would do this?”

>> "No clue. Nobody knew that I was going to come to New York, so it probably wasn't anyone back in San Francisco right? But I don't know anyone in New York that would have the younger pictures…Nobody that I know. But isn't that the way all stalkers are?"

Not necessary, Jorge thought. But he did not want to scare the kid so he did not voice that point. The norm was that stalkers usually tended to be strangers, people who grow obsessed and watch from afar, not want to disturb their illusion be interjecting into the subject’s life until absolutely necessary or it could not be helped. Yet, there were the occasions where the stalker turned out to be a neighbor, a friend, even a family member on rare moments.

Which was this though? Photos of a young man sent to him from various moments in his life? It was extremely odd. The stalker was not sending gifts of affection but was instead sending him notices that they were watching him. Viewing him from all aspects. But was that the whole message?

>> "I figure it has to be someone I know. My dad was always the one getting the pictures developed and putting them in photo albums, so it's not like they were going to some stranger. Not unless it was the guys at CVS.”

Jorge nodded and jotted another note. Maybe he could take a picture or two of Locke’s to see where he could trace them. Were they originals or were they copies? If they were the originals then did the parents and family know the person stalking the boy? If they were copies then who had access to the originals? At the moment everyone and anyone was a suspect.

He sighed as he tilted his head to look at the photos. So many of them…

>> "What's going to happen? Do I just stay inside the school forever or do I go into the witness protection program? Or do we just set me out in a park and see who comes to chop off the rest of my hair?"

He looked up. Locke was obvious tired of this and wanted answers. Jorge could only imagine.

“I know you’re creeped out, but…I don’t believe that there is cause to send you into witness protection just yet,” he said seriously. “I do think that for the time being that you should try to remain here on campus and if you do have to leave you pair up with someone you explicitly trust. I know this school, Locke, this is probably the safest place that you can be.”

It was going to be tough and he feared Locke feeling like he was imprisoned in his own home, but this school was safe. He hoped Locke realized it.

He sighed, though as he glanced at his notes, then to Locke. From what Gemma told him the kid was rather shy, good at school though. This was definitely not something that he deserved.

“Locke, do you have any family I can talk to,” he said cautiously. “Preferably family that has access to family photos?”

>> "Just my step mother Kendra. My dad died six years ago… Those are my brother and sister. Kendra took those pictures last New Year's eve. I uploaded them to the internet. This was way before the letters started coming…The letters started coming after my last birthday, so almost six months now."

Jorge nodded as he jotted down his notes.

“You have my sympathies,” was all he said as he glanced up at Locke momentarily before returning to his writing pad.

He really did feel for the boy. The pain of losing a parent was not something that was easily forgotten that followed people for the whole of their lives. The pain of it never went away; it only got slightly more bearable to deal with as time ticked on and on and on. Though Jorge had let to lose a parent, he knew what it was like to lose some he cared deeply for. It was an experience that the young should never have to go through.

But Jorge didn’t want to dwell on that. Instead he wrote down the names of family that Locke had given to him. That would have to be his best bet at getting a jump start on this investigation.

>> "I know this is serious, and that you'll probably have to talk to her at some point, but if we could keep things quiet from Kendra?"

Or not.

He tiled his head as he peered at Locke. He didn’t want his own stepmother to know about it. At first it would seem like a foolish request. After all, family should be warned if someone was stalking them. But in the end, he could see why he did not want to tell her. Though Jorge did not know this kid’s stepmother, nor did he know their relationship, it really did seem as if Locke was trying to spare the woman knowledge of this. If she cared about him, at all, the first thing she would want would be to pull him out of school and keep him nearby. Parents always believe that parental protection will trump all.

That was not the case here. Jorge knew that the safest place for the kid was here at the mansion.

On top of that, the last thing he was sure the boy wanted to do was to make her worry about him. No parent could take it easy when hearing that their child, born or step, was being stalked. He sighed.

>> "It's not going to happen though is it."[/’i]

A calming breath and Jorge looked over all the photos that had now been laid out in stacks. He then turned his attention squarely onto Locke.

“That’s up to you,” he said with a nod. “I will work as best as I can without telling your stepmother. But you need to know that if someone is stalking you and has access to all these photos, then it is very likely that they could already know who your stepmother is. You may not want to worry her, but I would at least advise that you caution her.”

>> "You don't think my brother and sister are in danger do you?"

Jorge inwardly groaned. His expression did not show it but for that moment he felt a little sorry that he had said anything. He did not want to put ideas into Locke’s head and force the kid the panic. After all, he was going through enough just knowing that someone had access to family photographs that no stranger was supposed to have had. Now he had to worry about whether or not this same person was actually having access to his own family.

Way too much stress on an already stress situation. Jorge sighed as he turned his attention up to Locke, trying to speak in a calming voice so that he did not freak out the boy farther.

“There’s no need to panic, Locke, okay?” he said reassuringly. “To be honest, I just don’t know. But I don’t think it would hurt to at least give your family a call just to see how they are doing and to make sure that everything is well.”

Stalkers were predictable only in the sense that they were unpredictable. But Jorge did his best to not inform Locke of that, not just yet anyways, until he got all the facts. He still was not 100% sure exactly what he was dealing with here. So far Locke’s stalker was remaining at a distance, only sending Locke photographs. But Jorge knew that with stalkers such a thing never lasts. Eventually it would escalate. When and how, Jorge had no idea.

He glanced at Locke again.

“In the end, it’s up to you if you want to tell them. If you like I would be glad to inform them, but the decision is yours Locke.”

>> "I'll bring it up next Skype session…the second that she hears you're a detective she's going to drag me out of here. Forget stalker, she'd be the biggest threat…Not to me. To anyone who tries to get in her way. She's kind of over-protective."

Jorge smirked at the comment.

“Trust me, I understand,” he said.

The truth was, being a detective, Jorge met a lot of different mothers: negligent, concerned, loving, spiteful, angelic, monstrous, so he was well versed on the gambit of emotions that they could possess. But judging by Locke’s words, it quickly became apparent that even though she was Locke’s stepmother, she did care about him a lot. He knew that was all it was. Her caring for him, wanting to keep him safe would probably drive her to do anything to get Locke back in under her roof.

At least Locke had someone like that to care about him. The unfortunate truth of the matter was that he knew far too many kids who did not have that system of protection. Locke was lucky in that aspect. It was just unfortunate that he needed to be in this situation.

>> "Uh, I noticed something with the um, pictures…There's this gap of like, almost ten years with nothing, like I didn't exist then."

Jorge arched a brow as he looked at the photos that Locke had presented to him. A glance from one to another and it was obvious that the kid had a point; there was a whole span of time that was missing. But…why? Lack of photographs? Started late and went back to get the older pictures? There was a reason, but one that he could not see right off the bat.

He nodded to Locke.

“I’ll look into it,” he said as he turned back to the photos. “Would you mind if I took a couple of those? Maybe run them for prints or origin?” he asked. Once Locke had given him an answer he reached into his pocket and pulled out a contact card. “Locke, this has my number at the precinct, as well as my cell number. I want you to keep this on you, if you ever need to call me,” he slid the card over to Locke. “If if makes you feel better, you can give the information to your stepmother and she can talk to me directly if she needs to. I always have my phone on.”