The Anger Within
                        A DJ and Debra Mystery
                by Frederick Vaughn
                
Copyright (C) 2008. Frederick Emory Herbert. All Rights Reserved
 
   DJ Lion knew better than to ask his parents if he could move out. Since 
they lived so close to campus, they wanted their son to live with them. But 
DJ had other plans. Mainly living with Moses Hall.
   “Moses is too old for you.” Mr. Lion said one day.
   “He’s only six years older. The age difference between you and Dihann 
is greater.”
Dihann was DJ’s stepmother. A beautiful black woman.
   Mr. Lion divorced his first wife, DJ’s mother, when she was sent to jail 
for stealing. DJ was only three. Douglas Lion married his second wife and 
they had a daughter, Debra.
   DJ was very close to his younger sister. He was a sophomore at State U 
while she was in her third year of high school. Debra couldn’t wait until she 
was in college.
   After DJ argued with his father, he listened to some music with Debra.
   “We’re lucky to have the parents we have. They accept that we are both 
gay,” Debra pointed out. “They didn’t take us to a doctor or a minister. 
You know what other people go through.”
   “I know. But I have enough problems trying to get Moses to date me. I 
don’t need to argue with Dad about it too,” answered DJ. 
   “If Moses doesn’t want to date you, why all the talk about living 
together?” Debra asked.
   “There are roommates and there are roommates,” DJ smiled.
   The phone rang. It was Moses Hall.
   Debra left the room as her white brother talked to the man he wanted to 
date.
   “What’s up, Moses?”
   “I know that you are always looking or stories for the Student News.” 
DJ was a producer of the campus news show.
   “Do you have a lead?” DJ asked.
   “You know Ron Harrison from the help line?”
   “Ron? Sure. We went to his party last month.”
   “He’s been arrested for kidnapping,” Moses revealed.
   “Kidnapping!” DJ repeated. “But he’s the gentlest guy I know. Can we 
get together? I’ll like to talk to you about this.”
   “How about dinner at The Pie?” The Pie was a pizza place near the 
campus.
   “All right.”
   When DJ got off the phone, he talked to his sister. “I have to meet 
Moses.”
   “Think you’ll finally win him over?” Debra teased.
   “It’s about a news story. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.”
   Debra was worried after hearing DJ’s tone. What was he getting into?
   At The Pie, DJ met Moses. The handsome black man shook his hand. “I’ve 
known Ron Harrison for years. I can’t believe that he’s involved with a 
kidnapping.”
   “Who is he supposed to kidnap?” DJ asked.
   “Linda Davenport.”
   “The model? Wasn’t he dating her?”
  “Yes. But she left him,” Moses answered. “You know that the prime 
suspect in such cases is the man in her life.”
   “What evidence do they have against him?”
   “I don’t know. But why don’t we visit him?’ Moses asked.
   “But I hardly know him. I mean, just from the parties.”
   “He’ll want to talk to the press. Even if it’s the student press.”
   Moses and DJ went to the police station. DJ wished that Debra was there. 
His sister was a smart girl. If Ron was in trouble, her brains could help 
him out.
   “DJ, maybe you can help me,” Ron stated in the visiting room. “Maybe 
you can solve the mystery.”
   “The police think that you kidnapped Linda,” focused DJ.
   “I wanted to get back with her. We were suppose to meet at her apartment 
at noon. But when I got there Linda wasn’t there. Her friend Kara said that 
Linda kept telling her she was afraid of me.”
   “What could the police have on you?”
   “A couple claim they saw me drive Linda on the highway. They didn’t get 
my number, but they had the make of the car and said they saw me in the 
front seat with Linda.”
   “Have you called a lawyer?” DJ asked. He felt that Ron was innocent. 
But even innocent looking people can be guilty.
   “Yes. My father called a friend. They’re trying to get me out on bail.”
    After Moses and DJ left the police station, DJ told Moses that they had 
to look for a car the same make of Ron’s. “I’ll try the used automobile 
lots. If someone is trying to frame Ron, they must have bought the car 
especially to do it. Probably used.”
   The next day DJ and Debra went to various lots asking questions. They 
discovered that a car was sold the day of the kidnapping that matched the make 
of Ron’s car.
   “The police still haven’t found Linda,” DJ told his sister.
   “If she isn’t alive, Ron could be charged with murder.” Debra thought 
for a while. “The witnesses said that they saw Ron and Linda in that car. But 
they didn’t say Linda acted scared. What if she didn’t know she was 
kidnapped? What if she’s out with another man for a week? This is a college town.”
   “Chucky at the lot said that the car was bought by a student in the 
dorms. Let’s look at the dorm parking lot to find a clue.”
   There were three dorms on campus. In them were four cars with the same 
make as Ron’s car.
   “DJ. Let’s go to the police. Maybe they can find out who owns these 
cars,” Debra suggested.
   The Lions went to the police station and talked to Sgt. Gould. “So you 
two decided to become amateur detectives. Your parents are both professors in 
Theater.”
   “Debra’s parents,” corrected DJ. “My real mother is in prison.”
   “Why do you want to help Ron Harrison?”
   “Ron Harrison runs the help line on campus. He deserves a few benefits 
of the doubt”
   “I’ll look into this list. And thanks for the help.”
   DJ took his sister to Melgrove’s for a sundae. “We need to do some more 
investigating. Everyone in the dorms know everyone else. I better talk to 
Francine Davis. She is also on the help line.”
   After the snack, DJ and Debra went to the dorms. Francine was studying 
her Russian. “DJ? Are you working on a story?”
   “Yes. It’s about Ron Harrison. This is my sister Debra.”
   “Hello,” Debra smiled. Many people gave a double take whenever her 
white brother introduced her. But Francine had no problem.
   “What can I help you with?” asked Francine.
   “It’s hard to believe that Ron tried to hurt Linda. Do you know Ron 
well?” asked DJ.
   “I know that it’s hard to believe that he would do that. But people 
like Ron can be known to secretly be angry people. They hide the anger within.”
   “But he’s been in custody for a few days. If he knew where Linda was, 
wouldn’t he say so?” asked Debra.
   “Do you think that Linda kidnapped herself?” Francine countered.
   “People have been known to take vacations on an impulse,” DJ pointed 
out.
   “But her mother kept calling her cell phone. For days.”
   “Is there somebody else that she started dating,” DJ asked. “I don’t 
mean to be nosey, but it might help her.”
   “She has been seeing Craig Foster. You must have heard of him. He 
starred in that musical last semester,” Francine reminded DJ.
   “And you think that Linda is dating him?” DJ asked.
   “They are very close.”
   DJ ended the interview.
   “Do you suspect Craig?” Debra asked her brother.
   “He’s very theatrical and a little crazy,” DJ stated. “He’s just he 
kind to buy a car and frame Ron.”
   “Are you for real?” 
   “While we’re in the dorms, let’s see if Craig is here.”
   When the Lions arrived on E Wing, they saw Craig Foster’s roommate.
   “I wanted to talk to Craig about doing a PSA,” DJ lied.
   “Craig isn’t here. He’s been gone for a few days. I’m starting to get 
worried.”
   DJ and Debra looked at each other. Another missing person.
   Debra suggested that they go back to Chucky’s lot. DJ had a picture of 
Craig Foster from when he auditioned for the Student News.
   “Is this the man who bought the car?” DJ asked.
   “Yes. That’s him,” Chucky said. “What’s going on?”
   “We’re still working on that,” Debra stated.
   At home that night, DJ and Debra talked to their parents.
   “Remember that class you’ve taught? Street Theater?” Debra asked her 
mother.
   “What about it?” Dihann Lion asked.
   “Some of the exercises. One time a student went to the mall acting like 
a blind person. One time another acted homeless downtown.”
   “What about it?”
   “Is Craig Foster in your class?” Debra asked.
   “Yes. He’s missed class this week.”
   “And they are doing the same kind of exercise?” DJ questioned.
   “What is this all about?”
   “DJ and I think that Craig was involved with a prank that went wrong,” 
Debra started. “I think he wanted to frame Ron for kidnapping, but something 
went wrong.”
   “I make it clear to my students not to break the law during the 
assignment,” Dihann Lion countered.
   “Yet, Craig did buy the car,” DJ stated.He told his stepmother what 
they had uncovered. “The question we must answer is if Craig took Linda 
somewhere, where?”
   Dihann thought for a while. “When we talked about performing outdoors in 
the park, I told the kids it was too cold. Craig said he loved going to 
Baxter Pond no matter what time of year it was.”
   “Let’s go to the campsites,” Debra insisted.
   “We will all go.” stated Mr. Lion.
   The Lion family went for a drive in their sedan. There will no campers 
at any of the campsites.
   Debra went to each campsite. At the fourth one  she saw a scrap of a 
recent newspaper in the campfire. It had been used recently. “Look around,” 
she told her family. “Maybe we’ll find some clues.”
   The four Lions searched the campsite. Behind a huge bush, DJ discovered 
a car!
   “Hey everybody. Look what I found.”
   The others came and saw the car. It was the same make as Ron Harrison’s.
   “I think we better call the police,” Mrs. Lion stated. They all agreed.
   Soon Sgt. Gould arrived to two other men. Gordon and Young.
   “I notice that this car is the same make as Ron Harrison’s. What is 
going on here?” asked Sgt. Gould.
   “That depends if the car ends up being Craig Foster’s,” DJ stated.
   “Care to share your theory with a professional?”
   Debra explained. “We think that Craig was playing some prank for a 
street theater class. He framed Ron with a fake kidnapping. But now something 
went wrong.”
   “Mrs. Lion, that class of yours needs to be reevaluated.”
   Mr. Lion spoke up. “She always tells the students not to break the law.”
   “So Foster took the model camping. But what happening to them?”
   “Linda is a model. There has been no ransom demands?” DJ asked.
   “No,” answered Sgt. Gould. “But I’m convinced that we can release Ron 
Harrison.”
   After a few hours, The Lion Family returned home.
   “Now what do we do?” DJ sighed.
   “Mother, you always said I should pursue modeling. Maybe if I snooped 
around Linda’s agency, I would find something,” Debra thought.
   “That’s a good idea,” DJ agreed. “Someone kidnapped the kidnapper. We 
need to see who has the motive.”
   “Sounds good,” Dihann Lion stated. “What will you do, DJ?”
   “Let’s see what Debra learns,” DJ answered. “Then we’ll make plans.”
   In a few days, Debra was in the office of Starfaces. There she met 
several young models.
   “Linda quit,” one of the models told the owner Jessica. “She can’t do 
the Campbell job.”
   “Nicki, Linda didn’t quit. She’s missing. But you have a point. If she 
isn’t back tomorrow, the job is yours.”
   Debra watched Nicki’s face. She seemed to be smiling. Did she know 
something about Linda’s disappearance?
   Debra watched people at the office all day. The only one that seemed to 
act guilty was Nicki.
   That night she talked to her brother. “It’s not much to go on,” DJ 
admitted. “But we have no other suspects.”
   “Do you think we should watch her?”
   “I do. But what about your school work?”
   “I have a quiz next week. But if we schedule our snooping right, it 
could work.”
   “Friday night I’m meeting Moses at ten. But I can follow Nicki with you 
until then.”
   “Great,” smiled Debra. “Nicki has a shoot at four. We could follow her 
from Starfaces after that.”
   So the Lions started their assignment that Friday. DJ picked Debra up at 
the Starfaces offices. He pretended to look at the pictures on the wall 
until Nicki left . Then the Lions followed the model.
   Nicki left in a car driven by a young man.
   “That’s her boyfriend. Mick Danvers.”
   DJ and Debra followed the couple in DJ’s car. Nicki and Mick went to a 
farm in Woodman Town. The Lions saw the couple take food into the red barn. 
Could their be captives there?
   “Don’t move.” Suddenly the siblings were aware their was a man behind 
them. “Keep walking.”
   DJ and Debra obeyed the man. They entered the barn and saw a caged room 
within a stall. There stood Craig Foster and Linda Davenport.
  Their captor took away their cell phones.
   Soon the Lions were in the cage.
   “DJ Lion? What are you doing here?” Linda asked.
   “We’ve been looking for you,” DJ admitted. “This is my sister. Ron 
Harrison was arrested for your kidnapping.”
   “That’s my fault,” sighed Craig. “I was playing a prank by framing 
Ron. But these people kidnapped Linda for real. I don’t know if they plan to 
kill us. I don’t think they know.”
   “That Nicki! Is she going to kidnap every model who is competition?” 
Linda asked in anger. “We’ve been in this cage for days.”
   “We have to find a way to get out of here,’ Debra stated.
   “But how?” her brother asked.
   “I’m scared,” Craig admitted. “What is the kidnappers get desperate 
and kill us? Or just leave us alone here to starve?”
   “I told Mom that we were following Nicki. If we don’t return home, 
she’ll call the police.”
   Later that night, Sgt. Gould went to talk to Nicki.
   “Do you know where Linda Davenport and her friends are?” Gould asked.
   “I hardly know Linda Davenport,” Nicki managed.
   “Two amateur detectives were planning to follow you tonight. Now they 
are missing too.”
   “You can’t blame me.”
   “Listen, Miss. You are in enough trouble. It’s time for you to 
cooperate.”
   Nicki sighed. She confessed and told Gould where the captives were held.
   Linda was extremely relieved that the cops came. “If I had to use that 
bucket again, I would go insane. Nicki was angry that I was the bigger star. 
She looked for a moment to kidnap me. When Craig started his prank, which I 
didn’t know about, Nicki made her move. Why can’t people control the anger 
within. I did nothing to Nicki. I was only being myself.”
   The four captives were led out of the cage. “We need your statements,” 
Gould stated. “Especially yours, Foster. Framing Harrison with kidnapping is 
a serious offense.”
   “Believe me, I’ll never play a prank again,” Craig stated.
   “Hope the DA is understanding.”
    Later that night, DJ met with Moses. Over ice cream, DJ told Moses 
about the mystery.
   “You did it,” smiled Moses. “Harrison is clear because of you.”
   “Don’t forget about Debra,” DJ added. “She’s a smart kid.”
   “Does she have a girlfriend?”
   “Not yet. But who am I to talk? I don’t have a boyfriend.”
   “I think you do,” Moses smiled again.
   “And all I had to do was the impossible,” laughed DJ. Moses wondered 
what mystery DJ would solve next. The answer came in “The Pride of The 
Closeted Corporal”.
   “Don’t you think I’m too young for you?” DJ teased Moses.
   “No, wise guy. I don’t.”