What's a little petty vandalism between friends? Nothing, that's what, especially if it's you and your friends doing the petty vandalism. That was Denise's considered opinion, anyway.
They'd been doing it for a few years now. Nothing major which might bring the law down hard, but petty stuff that was a bit of harmless fun. Occasionally one of the group would be caught but they had a firm rule not to talk. Just shut up and let your lawyer handle everything.
That was easy to do as their parents were all well off and would just naturally bail them out of any minor trouble. Some of the parents might not be so lenient on anything major but on the stuff they pulled? Grounding would be about it.
Normally the police wouldn't even press charges and when they did the Judge could be talked around. Judges tended to be lenient of kids from rich families who were only doing minor things. The couple of times it had reached court the culprit had been reprimanded and that was it.
Even better, from Denise's point of view, was the fact that she'd never been caught. Not even suspected as far as she knew. If she ever did get caught she'd be a first offender and everyone knew first offenders got off. Even her father would only ground her for a week.
It was late Friday night when Denise and her friends decided to rearrange the local nursery. That was going to be a safe target. Even if old Higgins was lucky enough to catch them he'd known them all since they were kids. He'd just yell at them and complain to their parents and that would be it.
They had just started their rearrangement when lights came on. They all promptly bolted but Denise had the unfortunate luck to run into a brick wall. She yelped and would have fallen flat on her back if the wall hadn't reached out and grabbed her.
She looked at the man who was scowling down at her. Who was he and why the hell was he in the nursery?
"Who the hell are you?" she demanded. "Let me go."
"Let you go? You have to be kidding. I caught you fair and square. Come along."
The man marched her over to the nursery offices, opening the door and pushing her inside. Once inside he turned on the lights and the two looked at each other.
Denise saw a big broad man in his twenties of around six foot plus in height. As far as she was concerned he looked as though he'd been chiselled out of rock. Looking at her he saw a young girl around the age of eighteen. Quite a pretty girl, with a nice figure, and a scared look.
"Who are you?" Denise demanded again. "Why did you grab me?"
"I'm Otto, the owner of this nursery that you and your friends were robbing. And who might you be, my pretty little thief?"
As far as Denise was concerned that statement was so wrong.
"You are not the owner," she snapped. "Old man Higgins is. And we weren't robbing the place."
"Mr Higgins sold out to me a month ago. You're a bit behind on the news, aren't you? If you weren't robbing the place what were you doing that has you sneaking in in the middle of the night? What's your name and how old are you?"
"Denise. What does it matter how old I am?"
"Just curious as to whether you'll be charged as a juvenile or an adult? You're facing some serious charges, you know."
"I know no such thing," Denise retorted. "We didn't steal anything."
"You did if I say you did," observed Otto. "Who are the police going to believe? The owner who caught a thief or the thief who got caught?"
"You can't accuse us of something we didn't do. We were only mucking around. Petty vandalism at the most." Denise was appalled to think he might do such a thing.
"You still haven't answered the question about your age?"
"Eighteen," she practically spat at him.
"Ah, an adult, then. Let's see, breaking and entering, trespass, burglary, theft, and vandalism. Quite a raft of charges you've run up."
All that, thought Denise? Tell me he's kidding.
"Now be reasonable," she said, trying to speak calmly. "I only did a tiny little bit of damage and I'm sure your insurance will cover that."
"Yes, it probably will, especially as I've got the culprit and am pressing charges. The insurance people will come onto you for the cost and for their legal and processing fees."
This was going from bad to worse where Denise was concerned.
"Ah, listen, I'm quite willing to pay for any damages we may have caused. There's no need to bring in the police."
"Really? Who was with you? I noticed that there were several other people present. I wish to have a word with them. After all, why should you be the only one prosecuted?"
Denise promptly shook her head.
"I forget," she calmly told him.
"I see. Loyal to a fault. See the computer?"
He indicated a computer on the desk. A computer that she was surprised to find was actually running even though it was the middle of the night.
"Sit there," he ordered, pointing to a chair next to the computer. "I think you'll enjoy the show."
Otto opened up his security system, running the tape back a little. Then he started it running in normal time. It was dark and you could see glowing figures moving around on the screen.
"Infra-red. It tracks on heat as well as light."
The nursery lights snapped on and the figures all turned to look at the lights. Extremely stupid of them, Denise realised, as it gave the camera an excellent opportunity to take their pictures. She could recognise everyone there and the police probably would as well.
"I don't think your silence is going to help your friends much," Otto observe, smiling wickedly. "Shall we call the police now?"