Bret Devers

**Bret Devers** (Ashley LeConte Campbell) is the hidden main villainess of the 2015 film *Crimes and Mister Meanors*. She was the chief of staff for Congressman James Adams, being friends with his 13-year-old daughter Katherine ("Kat" for short).

## Events

The film's events have Kat and Jake Harvard (the film's main protagonist) becoming entangled in the disappearance of scientist Alfred Meanors, who they found was involved in The Timepiece Group--an organization they found to be developing a time travelling device. The preteens also discovered that the four other scientists involved in Timepiece were killed in the past two days, causing them to believe someone was after the group's invention.

Jake and Kat also found that a patriot impersonator they encountered was actually a man from the 17th century transported to the present. After learning that James was connected to the committee involved with Timepiece, Jake and Kat went to speak with him, meeting with Bret in the process and opening up to her about their investigation. While Bret initially appeared to believe the kids were making up what they'd found, she later revealed belief in their claims after having them released from government custody, having been detained and interrogated after the government took notice of their sleuthing. After giving them keys to undo their cuffs, Bret warned them that what the were investigating was serious before taking them to an isolated cabin.

## Reveal

   At the cabin, Bret questioned the kids on what they had uncovered in their investigation, becoming frustrated when they revealed they had found little and had lost evidence they'd unearthed from the forest near Alfred Meanors' house. At that, Bret began her heel turn by having her colleague Lance Atkinson handcuff Jake and Kat, revealing herself as the mastermind behind the nefarious plot.

When asked by Kat and Jake for an explanation, Bret revealed that she was "making a name for herself"; something she proclaimed she could never do working as James' assistant. After revealing her intention to use the time travel device to become the first President of the United States, the evil Bret ordered Lance to keep Jake and Kat trapped to be killed later, cementing Bret's heel turn, all the while claiming to a heartbroken Kat that she was sorry for her getting involved in her villainous plot and that she'd actually liked her.

The next morning, Jake was able to remove his and Kat's handcuffs with a pen spring and fake an explosion to escape the room where they were confined, with Jake managing to escape Lance's clutches while Kat was re-captured. Kat convinced Jake to flee in order to stop Bret, who managed to find the time travel device in the basement of Gadsby's Tavern, which consisted of Alfred's laptop and an electronic ball. Upon finding the device, Bret appeared armed with a pistol, sarcastically congratulating Jake and Kat's investigative skills while boasting that she intended to use the time machine to cover her tracks, even declaring she would arrange events to make sure Jake was never born. Jake briefly threatened to destroy the device with an axe, only to stop when Bret had Lance bring Kat into the room at gunpoint.

As Bret prepared to make Jake handcuff himself to a pipe, the patriot arrived, with the villainess expressing pleasure at being able to get rid of all her loose ends at once. When asked by Jake what she had to gain from her plot, Bret revealed her ambitious persona by declaring she was motivated by the money and power her actions would grant her, intent on using her 21st century knowledge of technology to rule the 17th century; an attitude chided by the patriot due to his friendship with George Washington. With that, Bret prepared to shoot and kill the man, only for him to be saved when Jake used the time travel device to send him back to his own time period.

After slapping Jake and forcing him to retrieve the ball before cuffing himself to the pipe, Bret held Alfred Meanors at gunpoint after finding he had been returned to the present day, having swapped time periods with the patriot during a test of the time machine. Bret prepared to use the machine to escape back in time and fulfill her megalomaniac goals, instructing Lance to destroy the equipment and kill their three captives after she was gone. At that moment, however, federal agents burst in and ordered Bret at gunpoint to surrender, only for the arrogant villainess to refuse and claim they should be proud of her actions, right before tossing her gun at them and using the device to escape, ignoring Alfred's warning that the device wasn't fully charged. Afterwards, Benny Harvard (Jake's uncle) came in carrying a large dinosaur egg, serving as the reveal that the device had sent Bret to prehistoric times rather than the 17th century as she intended.

## Quotes

* "What I am doing is something that would have never happened working as your father's little assistant. I'm making a name for myself." (Bret revealing herself as the mastermind behind the time travel conspiracy as Lance handcuffed Jake and Kat)
* (Jake: "Why are you doing this? What's in it for you, anyway?") What's in it for me? Well, I don't know, hmm....unlimited wealth. Power. Prestige. With my knowledge of 21st century technology and fire power, I will *rule* the 1700s. That little monument across the river, that'll be known as the Bret Devers monument, and no one will even know who George Washington was. I'm just sorry that you can't all be around to enjoy my city!" (Bret revealing her ambitious goals with the time travel device)