Chapter 6 - JASON STARTS TALKING
Jason Cole was twenty.
Less arrogant alone.
His parents made him hire an attorney after police opened an investigation into the shove.
Jason had not touched Emma.
But he had recorded.
Then posted the edited clip.
Why?
“Tyler told me to.”
Police asked:
“Did you know he was going to push the child?”
Jason hesitated.
“No.”
Then:
“He said he was gonna mess with Rachel.”
“What does that mean?”
“I thought talk trash.”
“Why Rachel?”
Jason looked down.
Because Rachel had confronted Tyler about filming women in the gym.
Then Martin’s name came up.
Jason said Martin had complained at family dinners that Rachel was “the face of everything wrong with Franklin.”
Too loud.
Too confrontational.
Too resistant to redevelopment.
Rachel had spoken at one board meeting months earlier.
She said:
“This gym isn’t valuable because the land is cheap. It’s valuable because people can afford to be here.”
Martin hated the clip when it circulated locally.
Apparently.
Then Tyler began mocking her.
Could that have motivated the incident without any direct instruction?
Yes.
Then Jason admitted:
“Tyler said if Rachel lost it on camera, his uncle would love it.”
There.
Not:
Martin ordered him.
But Tyler understood what kind of incident would be useful.
Then why kick Emma?
Jason started crying.
“I don’t know.”
Police said:
“You were holding the camera.”
He whispered:
May you like
“I know.”
Responsibility without physical contact.
