Trip+Wire

Trip Wire By Harrison Pyros

Janet McKenzie shut the door to her car and walked into the building where she worked. She smiled at the usual security guard and started walking down the hall towards her office. Fred Harper, her partner, greeted her in the hall. “Hey Janet,” he said. “’Sup Fred?” Janet replied casually. “We got a case,” he said getting to business. He had a file in his hand. His still shiny marriage ring glimmered on his finger. Janet had gone to the wedding a month ago. “All right,” said Janet. “Where?” “Burbank.” “Where the hell is that?” asked Janet. There was no town or city named Burbank in Virginia from her extent of knowledge of her home state. “California,” he said. “Why are we going to investigate a case in California? They have their own detectives, and believe it or not, they’re not incredibly stupid. I think they can handle it themselves.” “Carson has a friend there and the friend wanted you on the job. Carson said yes to it.” Janet sighed. “Fine,” she grumbled. “What time’s our plane?” He looked at his watch. “In three hours, so go home and pack.” He led Janet back out the door, Janet complaining all the way, and got her to her car. He handed her the keys and told her to get ready. She snatched her keys from him, gave one last degrading comment about Superintendent Liam Carson, and backed out of her parking spot. Janet drove home and was greeted by her black Labrador, Millie. Millie, you could say, was the worst guard dog you could ever get. She barked at the vacuum cleaner from a room length away, but if it got too close she would run and hide for about an hour or so. If someone crept into the house in the middle of the night, the faithful dog would greet the “visitor” with a grin and kindness. But Janet didn’t mind. Her and her 14-year-old son, Joshua, loved Millie. They had had her since she was a puppy. Found her on the street. Despite Janet rejections, Joshua, then seven, persuaded his mother to have them take home the starving animal. Eventually, the “rock-solid” detective caved in to little Millie’s cuteness and thus, a new McKenzie member was welcomed into the household.

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Janet untidily shoved her clothes into a suitcase as Millie watched with her pink tongue hanging out to one side. Janet zipped the suitcase closed and headed back down stairs; her trusty follower close at her heals, probably just seeing if Janet would give her some food. =====

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She walked back to her car, debating whether to put on her black trench coat she usually wore. She decided against it and proceeded to enter her car in just a gray shirt, faded blue jeans, and black Vans. She always held up her shoes to Josh and said, “Look, Josh, I wear teenage shoes. I’m hip.” =====

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She drove her way through the mass of cars on the freeway and pulled into Bucklenn Airport. Through a very noisy cell phone call to Fred, they were able to get together. He handed her the plane ticket, Air Global Flight 516, and they proceeded to go through the tedious, yet necessary security procedures. =====

As they waited for their permission to board to be announced, Janet and Fred sat together. Janet chewed on her salted pretzel she had bought and asked, “So who bit the dust this time?”

“Huh?”

“The victim in the case. In Burbank.”

“Oh. It’s some kid named Harrison Pyros,” he replied.

“That name sounds familiar,” Janet said as she took another huge chunk out of her pretzel.

“It probably is. He’s some writer. Did some novels and scripts on his own, as well as with some other girl named Emma Shannon.”

“Huh,” replied Janet. “Never read any of his stuff. You?”

“Nah,” said Fred. “I don’t like to read mystery.”

“But you’re a detective,” Janet pointed out bluntly.

“That’s my point,” he said. “I do my job. I don’t want to go home and read about it.”

Janet shrugged. It made sense to her.

There was an announcement to board and the pair obediently did just that. They took there seats on the plane and soon, the iron bird was up in the air headed towards Burbank.

The flight was smooth and Janet was satisfied, meaning she had a few cups of coffee on the way, and when the plane landed they were both ready and eager to start the case. They pulled into the parking lot of Theodore Roosevelt Middle School and got out.

Janet turned to Fred. “I thought you said the victim and suspects were in high school.”

“They are,” he started to explain. “Just the four of them always walk up here after school from the high school and practice.” A questioning glance from Janet provoked Fred into more elaborating. “Emma Shannon and Harrison Pyros practice drama. Luke Yee practices choir. And Alexia Hatun practices her violin for band.”

“Ah,” she said. “I see.”

Fred and Janet entered the appropriate hallway and were met by a police officer. He shook both of their hands and handed Fred the file with all the information. He then said to meet him in the auditorium where the body was when they were ready.

Janet surveyed the hall and Fred read the file in his hands. The hall, or what the school called the Arts Hall, was a small, narrow inside hallway. When you entered, you came up about five steps of stairs and then to your right was a very small open area that had a door that led into the backstage of the auditorium. Directly across from that is one of the entrances to the Drama Room. If you kept going straight, the hallway makes a right and at the corner on the left is the second entrance to the Drama Room.

Then you make a right and walk about five feet and on your left was the girl’s bathroom and across the skinny hall from the bathroom is another entrance to the backstage of the auditorium stage. Then another five feet forward and to your left is the Choir Room. And finally at the end of the hall is the Band Room.

The longest piece of the hall, the one showing the corner Drama Room entrance to the Band Room entrance was all monitored on video surveillance.

“You ready to hear who they think are the suspects?” Fred asked.

“Shoot.”

“Well, I said them before, but here they are again: Emma Shannon, Luke Yee, and Alexia Hatun. The victim was named Harrison Pyros.”

“M’kay,” Janet said remembering the names. “Let’s go see the body.”

They went into the auditorium and walked onto the stage. Janet and Fred walked to the front of the stage and looked down at the stairs below it.

The body, crumpled and in awkward angles, was lying atop the wooden seats. His face was downward and his neck was hanging disgustingly to the side.

“Cause of death?” Janet asked. “Broken neck,” Fred replied.

Along the stage was a long wire taped down to the stage. It was one of the wires that helped boost the volume of the actors onstage. At one part, the wire was broken. It was snapped in half and it was right above where Harrison’s body now lay. Almost like he had tripped over the wire and fallen into the stairs by himself.

Janet turned to Fred. “This wasn’t an accident, correct?”

“They think it was murder,” said Fred.

Janet walked over to another piece of the wire. She looked at it for a moment and then reared back and kicked it. The wire didn’t budge. She kicked it again with more force. Still nothing. She kicked again and again and again, but still the wire did not move. Then finally, at her last kick, she heard a squeak from the wire and it moved forward a little.

There was no way Harrison Pyros tripped over the wire and broke it at the same time. Someone else had broken it.

Janet turned back to Fred and said, “Homicide.”

Fred nodded in agreement.

“Was there a murder weapon?” asked Janet.

“Yeah,” Fred said reading off the file. “Most likely the sandbag over in the corner.” He pointed to a sandbag that was away from all the rest.

“Was there anyone caught on video?” she asked.

He looked up at her. “Do you really think they’d call you all the way over here if they caught someone on tape?”

“Good point,” Janet admitted. “So do you know where I’m going to interrogate the suspects?”

The police officer from before spoke behind them. “We actually have a police station for that, believe it or not.”

Fred chuckled and Janet asked, “Are the three people there already or what?”

“Yes, they’re there.”

“And they could be the only ones who committed the crime?”

“The front auditorium doors were locked on the inside and outside and there were no signs of struggle indicating that Pyros was taken by surprise from behind. And the only other people in the hall were the three suspects we have now,” he responded.

“I see,” Janet said. “We’ll meet you over there after we’re done looking at all the rooms. Can you give Fred the address?”

The officer obediently gave Fred the proper address and left with a goodbye. Janet and Fred left the other police officers in the auditorium and went back into the Arts Hall. Janet led the way and veered into the Drama Room. She looked around at the room. There were about six very large windows on the other side of the room and desks made up most of the classroom. She turned around and looked at the two exits.

“What are you thinking?” asked Fred.

“If I go through here,” Janet said pressing her hand against the first door, the one that wasn’t at the corner of the hall, “could the video camera see me?”

Fred looked at the filer and shook his head. “It says it only records the other part of the hall. Convenient, right?”

Janet rolled her eyes. “So if What’s-Her-Face, Emily?”

“Emma,” he corrected her.

“So if Emma went through this door and through the side entrance to the auditorium, then she could’ve never been caught on the video camera?”

“Correct.”

“Interesting,” Janet remarked. “I’ll remember that.”

They left the room and headed into the choir room. In this class there was the teacher’s desk in the corner and a large C of chairs that were on platforms so they were like steps. In the back of the room was another large window overlooking the parking lot Janet and Fred had parked in.

“Just a window,” Janet said. “Maybe there’s another way though.”

She exited and the two of them opened the door to the last room, the Band Room. Fred closed the door behind them as Janet surveyed the area.

It was a large room with a rugged floor and another large window on the other side looking out at the very edge of the parking lot. The teacher’s desk was near the door and a bookshelf was pressed up against the wall near the TV.

“Just another window,” sighed Janet.

“Where’s that door lead?” asked Fred pointing.

“What door?”

“Over here,” Fred answered walking across the room. He stopped in front of a door that was nearly invisible at the entrance of the room. He turned the knob and opened it. Inside was a small area for holding the instruments. Nothing else.

“Huh,” Janet said. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Fred replied and they left the building and headed for the parking lot. Janet cast one last look behind her at the Arts Hall before she stepped into the car and her eyebrows came together.

==== Fred drove them both to the police station, sticking to the detailed instructions the police officer had given them. When they got there, they parked the car and headed inside. Once inside, they were greeted by the same police officer that introduced himself as Officer Shaw. He directed them to the questioning room and gave them a file of what they knew. ====

Janet sat down in the chair, Fred leaning against the table. She read over the file. No fingerprints were found on the sandbag. No one was seen entering or exiting the hallway. No one else, but the three suspected persons were in the hallway at the time. Emma Shannon had found the body.

“Must be pretty shocking,” Janet remarked. “A murder in a quiet city like this.”

“Yeah,” Shaw said. “But it’s not the first shock we’ve had. About a year ago, a girl named Lauren McCarthy was killed in a hit and run. We never found the person responsible.”

Fred shook his head. “It’s so sad.”

“How old was she?” asked Janet curiously.

“She was only in her junior year,” he responded. “And she had written her first novel. Best seller too. And I heard that she was friends with the three suspects and the victim.”

Janet shot a glance at Fred that said: //Connection?//

His lips came together in a thin line and he gave back another look that spoke: //Probably.//

“Are you ready to see the first suspect?” asked Shaw.

“Yes,” said Janet pulling her thoughts back to the case at hand. “Bring me…the Shannon girl. Emma Shannon.”

Shaw nodded his head and left. Fred walked over to Janet.

“You think it’s suspicious too, right?” he asked her. “I mean that’s a huge coincidence that a girl should die mysteriously and then another member of the same group gets murdered.”

“We’ll see,” Janet said.

Fred shrugged and left the room as Emma Shannon was sent in. She had brunette hair that was rather wavy and fell a little past her shoulders and peachy skin with a little freckled nose. She was an average height and weight for a high school senior and she had a small gap in her front teeth that gave her a cute, childish impression. She had a gleam of intelligence in her eye that also gave her a challenging vibe. She moved with unconscious grace as she slipped into the chair across from Janet.

“Hello,” Janet said. “My name is Janet McKenzie and I will be asking you some questions about what happened earlier today.”

“Emma Shannon,” she said while shaking Janet's outstretched hand.

“Are you okay?” asked Janet.

“I’m dealing,” Emma responded flatly.

“Are you surprised at what happened?”

“Yes,” she answered truthfully.

“So,” Janet started now that the introduction was done. “Please recreate the events of today.”

“Starting when?”

“When school let out.”

“Okay,” she said. “Well, like always, Luke, Harrison, Alexia and I would walk up to the middle school and start practicing our assignments. You know, like Harrison and I were practicing our duo scene in drama, and Luke: his solo in choir, and Alexia: her violin.

“So Harrison and I were onstage and we were rehearsing. And—”

“Did you ever leave at all?” Janet asked interrupting her.

She thought back. “Well, I did go and use the bathroom once.”

Janet wrote that down on her notepad she always had. “Go on.”

“Okay, so we’re rehearsing. And after a while we think of some new ideas for our scene and Harrison asks me if I could go and get a notepad and pencil and stuff. So I’m like, ‘Yeah. Fine,’ and I go to the Drama Room.”

“Which entrance did you go into the Drama Room?”

“The one at the corner. Does it matter?”

“Yes, actually, it does,” replied Janet. “Keep going.”

“So I get the stuff and I head back to the auditorium and—”

“What entrance did you leave the Drama Room, and which did you enter the auditorium?”

She sighed. “The same one’s from before, okay?”

“All right,” Janet said scribbling the words down. “Proceed.”

It took Emma a moment to remember where she was in her story, but then her thoughts came back to her and she said, “Once I’m inside I walk onstage and Harrison isn’t there. And I’m like, ‘He’s probably going to jump out and scare me.’ But he doesn’t and I’m looking around and I see the broken wire and then I see Harrison. And I scream and flip out. I drop the notepad and the pen and I run out of the room into the hall. And well, that’s pretty much it.” She finished with a straight face with her hands folded on the desk.

“That’s what happened?”

“Yes.”

“I hear you and Harrison were writing your second book together,” she said while reading part of the file.

“Oh, yes,” she said like she just remembered. “Yes we were.”

“I heard the first one was a big hit.”

“I guess you could say that.”

“And that you made some money off of it.”

“Yes, we did good,” she said. Janet didn’t know if she was just being modest or purposely vague.

“Tell me,” Janet politely demanded. “Harrison was older than all of you. He could drive legally. Did he ever drive any of you to school with him last year or this year?”

“Only when we needed it,” she answered while pulling a strand of brown hair behind her ear.

“When could you legally drive?” asked Janet.

“Around last year. About the same time as Luke and Alexia. Harrison could earlier because he was older.”

Janet thought for a moment. Then she took a breath and looked into the hard glaze of Emma Shannon and said, “So here’s what I think: You and Harrison are authors, right? You get your first book published and you’re all happy and you’re making money and all the other stuff. Well, on the next one, Harrison starts to take control. He won’t take your ideas and threatens that he will walk away all together and just write the book himself. But you can’t have that, now can you? So you decide to strike when he is least expecting it. You leave the stage giving him some excuse and head for the Drama Room. You grab some notepad and pen and make sure the camera sees you and your prop so you have an excuse for leaving Harrison alone. Then you enter the auditorium silently, put on some gloves from your backpack, and you take a sandbag and creep up behind Harrison with his back to you. Then you bring down the sandbag on his head and neck in a flurry of rage and revenge. No one screws with Emma Shannon! You toss away the sandbag you lift his body up and push him offstage into the chairs and kick the wire until it breaks. And then once you’ve relaxed, you take off your gloves and hide them to be destroyed later, then you start screaming and run out into the hallway.”

Emma sat across from Janet, her face in neutral, her lips in a thin line and her eyes bearing a bored stare. After a moment of silence, Emma almost spat the words she believed as fact at Janet, “You are an asshole.”

Janet rolled her eyes. “I thought authors were supposed to be creative. I’ve heard //so// much worse.”

“With a personality and attitude like that, I’m sure you have.”
Janet raised her eyebrows. “Notice how you didn’t deny my accusation.”

“Fine,” Emma said shrugging her shoulders. “I deny it.”

“You’re so emotionless,” Janet commented. “Your friend was just murdered and you look like you feel nothing.”
“Emotions get in the way of productivity,” she said, brushing the comment aside. “And let me just tell you, Harrison and I are finished with our book. We were editing. And I wouldn’t kill him for a damn //book//. So next time, before you accuse, know your details.” And with that, she gingerly stood up and walked to the door. She opened it and turned around to face Janet. “I didn’t kill him.” And she slammed the door closed behind her.

“You are dismissed,” Janet said to the empty room. “God, where are her manners?” she added sarcastically.

“And this is coming from you?” Fred asked skeptically as he walked in.

“Oh, can it, Fred,” Janet said playfully.

“Sounded like she got inside your head,” he remarked.

“Well, she didn’t,” Janet curtly replied. “I got some useful information. So here’s what I want you to do: you are going to go and get as much information about the Lauren McCarthy hit and run case as you can. Find out if Harrison took any one of the suspects to school that day. See if any of the suspect’s vehicles tires match the ones at the crime scene. I need everything.”

Fred was taken aback. “Okay…Ha! I knew you were suspicious too!”

“When am I not? Bring me the boy. Luke, I think.”

Fred nodded and left. A few moments later Luke Yee stepped into the room. He sat across the table in the same seat Emma Shannon sat in and peered into Janet’s brown eyes.

He looked Chinese with naturally tanned skin and shiny black hair that was somewhat poofy and springy. His body was filled out equally, but its structure suggesting that he was rather delicate in his early youth. Like Emma, he portrayed little emotion and his thin lips were set in a parallel line to the white tiled floor and his dark eyes made you doubt yourself.

//Ugh. Smart people.// Janet thought already knowing what this boy had achieved. //Would it kill you to get some emotions?//
“Hello,” she started the annoying introduction again. “My name is Janet McKenzie and I will be asking you some questions about the recent events that have taken place.”

He shook her hand. “Hello Detective McKenzie,” he said. Janet assumed he had assumed she was a detective. “I’m Luke Yee.”

“So are you okay?” she asked sympathetically.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look surprised.”

“Well, I am,” he said. His face was still set in a neutral mode and his eyelids drooped a little, almost like he was bored.

“Really?”

“Yes, really,” he said in monotone. “I am genuinely surprised of Harrison’s death. Very sad…”

Janet blinked at him a couple times. He sure was an interesting young boy, even if he didn’t sound very interesting.

“Okay,” Janet started. “Take me through the events of today.”

“Well,” he started like he had been expecting this request, which he probably had. “Alexia, Harrison, Emma, and I walked up from the high school to the middle school for our usual practicing. I went to the Choir Room and immediately started practicing my solo while the others hung around in the parking lot for about ten minutes. Usually, I stay with them, but I needed this solo to be good. Soon, I heard all of them in the Arts Hall and I knew they had started working. So there isn’t much to tell. I didn’t leave the Choir Room until Emma started screaming.”

“Are you sure you didn’t leave?” Janet pressed. “Not for a bathroom break or for some water?”

“No,” he said.

“Nothing?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, did you hear anyone else in the hall?”

“I heard someone, either Alexia or Emma in the bathroom one room over, but other than that, nothing.”

Janet sighed. This boy was giving her nothing. Absolutely nothing.

“Do you remember Lauren McCarthy?” she asked trying a new approach.

“Of course,” he said, taken aback by the sudden serve in topic.

“You remember she was run over last year.”

“How could I forget? She was my friend.”

“Could you or Alexia or Emma drive by then?”

“It was around April so I was going to take my driving soon, Alexia I think was also waiting for her test, and Emma could take her test, but she desperately needed practice.”

“I see,” she said. “Harrison drove you to school sometimes, right?”

“Yes.”

“Was he a good driver?”

“Oh, yes. Very careful.”

“Did he take any of you to school the day Lauren died?”
“No,” Luke said. “Actually, he walked to school too. His mom needed the old truck Harrison was using because hers was in the shop.”

Janet raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

“Really,” Luke responded.

“So you never left the Choir Room?” she clarified.

“That is correct.”

“And you did not murder Harrison Pyros?”

He raised one eyebrow with a face that said Why-Are-You-Even-Asking-That? Nonetheless, he said, “No, I did not murder Harrison.”

“All right,” Janet said and scrawled the last note on her notepad. “You want to know what I think?”

“No,” Luke mumbled. She ignored him.

“I think you and Emma had a deal. You snuck out the Choir Room window and went around to the front. Emma unlocks the door from the inside and you unlock the door from the outside using the master school key you used to unlock the Arts Hall when you four came. According to the file, a teacher gives you a master key, and at the end of the day, you are supposed to lock up and return it to the office. Well once, you’re inside, you walk back to the stage and start talking with Harrison and Emma. You said that they needed you up in the office and that’s why you came down from the front of the auditorium. Then you say you need to get back to practicing and you go backstage and make it look like you leave. Emma leaves to make an alibi for herself and once she’s gone, you take a sandbag and kill Harrison from behind. Then you break the wire and Emma comes back. You leave out the front, locking it from the outside while Emma relocks it from the inside. You run back to the Choir Room and close the window once you are inside and when Emma starts to scream, you come out of the room like you’ve been there the whole time. As for motive, that is a work in progress.”

Luke sat there calmly looking into Janet’s eyes. He said, “Very interesting theory, Detective McKenzie. Though there is one flaw in your theory. Yes, I was given the key, and I unlocked the Arts Hall, but the entrance to the auditorium from the Arts Hall was still locked so I gave the key to Harrison and he unlocked it. He kept it in his pocket and said he’d lock up after. I didn’t care who had it so I agreed. So without a key, how could I have gotten into the auditorium from the outside without the key?”

“You could be lying and had had it the entire time, and then planted the key on Harrison’s body like he had it the whole time,” Janet said defending her theory.

“Yes,” he said. “I agree I could have done that.”

“You are very calm for a person who is being accused of murder,” commented Janet.

“Hysterical people annoy me,” he explained. “And I don’t want to be a hypocrite.”

“Huh. I see,” she said. “That is all I have to ask you. You may go.”

Luke nodded and politely left after he pushed in his chair. Fred opened the door and poked his head in.

“Find anything?” asked Janet.

“I’m working on it. You want me to send in the last one?”

She didn’t answer his question for a moment as she wrote down some more notes on her paper. Then she looked up and said, “Yeah. Now’s good. Send in the last one.”

He shut the door and about a minute later, Alexia Hatun stepped inside the room. As she walked towards the chair, her long dark, puffy ponytail swung side to side like a pendulum in a grandfather clock. She had an interesting face, one where you could stare at for a few minutes and see how each feature fit in to complete her pretty complexion. She had dark brown eyes, almost black, and a smooth nose that led down to her pink lips, and like Luke and Emma, they were set in an unemotional straight line.

//Wow//, thought Janet. //If these three emotionless kids were Harrison’s friends, I’d hate to see what Harrison was like.//

“Hello,” Janet said as she extended her hand out from across the table. “My name is Janet McKenzie and I will be asking you some questions about what has happened.”
“Hello Miss McKenzie. I’m Alexia Hatun,” she said shaking her hand.

“//Ms//. McKenzie,” Janet corrected her. “I’m divorced.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not,” Janet answered. “So. Let’s start. Can you please tell me what happened today? From getting to the school, to the death.”

“All right,” Alexia answered. “When we got to Roosevelt, Harrison, Emma, and I stayed in the parking lot and talked for a little. Luke, on the other hand, immediately went and got the key from the teacher and went to the Arts Hall and into the Choir Room.

“After about five or ten minutes, we headed into the hall. I remember Luke giving Harrison the key to unlock the auditorium and then I went into the Band Room. I was practicing my violin for a while. I didn’t leave if that’s what you want to know. The only time I came out was when Emma started screaming.”

“Okay,” Janet said as she wrote down the majority of what Alexia said. “Did you hear anyone out in the hall? Or maybe in the auditorium?”

“I heard someone going to use the bathroom or get water or something, but not in the auditorium.”

Janet looked at one of the pages in the files. “I see your house was robbed about a week ago.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said. “Some idiot broke into our house and trashed up the place. The police still haven’t found out who did it.”

“Do you remember what was stolen?”

She thought back. “My mom’s jewelry box, but most is just costume jewelry. The real stuff she keeps in the safe in the closet. They took a bunch of DVDs and they tried to take the DVD system, but it looked like they couldn’t figure out how to unhook it from the wall.” She giggled. “I told you they were an idiot. They also took some of my medals and for some reason, my diary and some other books.”

“Were you medals real metal?” asked Janet.

“Some were, but others just kind of felt and looked like they were real, but they really weren’t.”

“Do you know why they would want to take your diary and books?”

“Well, some of my books are kind of rare and I keep them in mint condition, so it really sucks that they took them. And my diary was on the shelf. I always say the best hiding place is in plain sight. And the diary’s cover was kind of expensive. It was made from some fancy material.”

“Why do you have a fancy diary?” asked Janet curiously.

“My parents got it for me when I got my scholarship to Stanford,” she explained.

“Wow. Stanford. What are you going to study there?”

“I want to study psychology,” she said. Janet was surprised. Not a lot of kids even consider of that as an option.

“That’s different.”

Alexia shrugged.

“Do you remember the day Lauren McCarthy died?” asked Janet.

Alexia was startled at the sudden curve in conversation. “Of course.”

“Do you remember if Harrison drove anyone to school that day?”

“I don’t think he took anyone. In fact, I think he walked to school.”

“Huh,” Janet said and wrote down something. “So. You want to know what I think?”

“What?” asked Alexia.

==== “I think that you and Luke had a deal. The boy is very good with computers from what I’ve read. So you and him make a deal. He sets up his computer in the Choir Room and hacks into the security cameras. Which, let me add, isn’t that hard. So he waits until Emma leaves and then he makes the hall look like there is no one in it, and that’s when you sneak into the auditorium and you sneak up from behind Harrison and hit him over the head with the sandbag, which you held in your gloved hands. And then you run back to the Band Room and Luke shuts off his computer so it returns back to normal. Then you both come out outside once Emma starts screaming all surprised.” ====

“Huh,” Alexia said. “I guess that could work, but it isn’t true.”

“And you know, I have another theory that you can be in,” Janet said. “It was the same one I gave to Luke, but you could easily have switched positions with him.”

“I know about the theory,” replied Alexia. “Luke told me rather hurriedly in the waiting room while after his interview. He called your theory stupid and ludicrous.”

Janet laughed lightheartedly. “Most of my suspects do.”

“Well,” Alexia said. “Let me just clarify that neither of those theories are true and I did not kill Harrison Pyros. Nor did I assist in his murder. Is that all you have for me?”

“Yes,” said Janet as she wrote some more. “You may leave.”

Alexia nodded at Janet, stood and left quietly. A few minutes later, Fred came in and sat down in the chair.

“What do you have for me?” asked Janet.

“Well,” Fred said looking at the paperwork in his hands. “They were telling the truth. All of them walked to school the day Lauren McCarthy was run over, according to backpack check that day.” Janet raised her eyebrows. “And the tire marks near the scene did not match any of the suspect’s cars. But they did match Harrison’s car.”

“Oh,” Janet said with newfound interest. “Is his car a popular model?”

“No,” said Fred with eagerness. “In fact, it was a ’78 brown Chevrolet that his father used to drive when he was in high school.”

“Interesting,” Janet commented.

“And later that day,” Fred continued, “Harrison brought his car to the automobile repair after he had accidentally run into the tree outside his house. He had, in fact done so like he said, but I think it was just to cover up the dent made by Lauren.”

“An intelligent cover-up,” Janet said thoughtfully. “Luke mentioned Harrison’s excuse for walking to school was that his mother needed his truck. Is that true?”

“No,” Fred replied quickly like he had been expecting this question. “She said that she drove her own car that day. Video surveillance from her work confirms that.”

“So that places Harrison Pyros in the driver’s seat of the vehicle most likely used to kill Lauren McCarthy?” asked Janet.

“No, Janet,” he said. “Think. Someone else could have run the girl over, but he was just covering for him or her. Or maybe he was drunk and he didn’t remember what he did and to cover, he ran into a tree and sent it in to be repaired. We don’t know for certain that it was Harrison Pyros that ran over Lauren McCarthy. For all we know, it could have been someone else with the same truck and all this was just an extreme coincidence.”

“Doubt it.”

“Me too,” he said. “But we still don’t know.”

“I want to see the video tapes. What are the police doing?”

“Searching the suspect’s houses. Why?”

“First of all,” Janet said standing up and heading for the door. “I want all three of those kids separated. They are talking to each other and for all I know, they all could have been in on a plan to kill Pyros. I don’t want them talking to each other and getting their story and details straight.”

They both walked out of the room and Fred told in a demanding, yet polite tone, to a police officer that all the suspects have to be separated and placed into different rooms. They then proceeded to another room with TV monitors and two different people watching different screens. It looks like they were looking for some specific detail, but it wasn’t part of her case so Janet didn’t care.

“Here,” said a police officer Janet hadn’t noticed and she jerked her thumb over towards a screen. Janet and Fred made their way over to the screen and sat down in the two chairs in front of it. The officer handed them a tape and then went back to her own chair across the room.

Fred slid the tape in and pressed play. Instantly, an image of the Arts Hall came on. Luke walked into the view of the camera and walked over to the Choir Room. He unlocked the door with a key and went inside. Fred fast-forwarded about ten minutes later and Emma came into view. She took a drink from the fountain and then went inside the Choir Room. Janet raised her eyebrows. Neither of them had mentioned this.

==== About two minutes later Emma left the room and started to leave the hallway when Harrison came into view. They exchanged some words and Harrison went over and opened the Choir Room door. That’s when Alexia came into view. She was carrying a case that held her violin. Luke came into the doorway of the Choir Room, said some stuff with Harrison, then reached into his pocket and tossed Harrison the key. Harrison said his thanks and then unlocked the auditorium door. He looked back at Emma who was speaking with Alexia and looked like he asked if she was going to come into the auditorium anytime soon. She held up one finger and he went into the auditorium. Alexia and Emma talked for a minute or two and then separated as they went in opposite directions. Emma left view and went into the auditorium. Alexia was walking down the hall towards the Band Room when Luke’s head popped out of the Choir Room door and she turned around to his voice. She walked back to him and he asked something. She shrugged, said something, listened to what he said, and then nodded. Then Luke pulled back inside his room and Alexia walked down the hall and went into the Band Room. ====

None of them had mentioned any of this before. Janet made note of that and Fred fast-forwarded some more.

He stopped when Emma’s figure came out of the auditorium and went into the bathroom. She came out a minute or two later and went back into the auditorium. Some more fast-forwarding and then Emma walks into the hall and into the Drama Room. A few minutes in there and then she exits and goes back into the auditorium. A very tense minute later and the auditorium door burst open and Emma is screaming. Luke and Alexia came out of their rooms looking confused. Then they all run inside the auditorium. A minute later all three come out and run from the Arts Hall.

Fred stopped the tape and looked at Janet. “That was very interesting,” he commented.

“Very,” agreed Janet. “I just thought of something. Call Shaw and ask him if he and the others found anything at any of the houses.”

Fred took out his cell phone and dialed quickly. He spoke with Shaw asking a question or two with a lot of “Uh-huh” and “Okay” remarks. Janet raised her hands in a “Well?” expression and Fred shook his head indicating they had found nothing of importance.

“Check the fireplace,” said Janet.

Fred repeated Janet’s command into the device and then after a few more seconds, hung up.

“Why are they checking the fireplace?” asked Fred.

“A reason to having a diary is putting your thoughts and feelings in it. But you also put your secrets in it. And what if you don’t want those secret to be read? What do you do with the diary? You burn it and destroy it.”

==== “Oh,” Fred said getting what Janet meant. “Someone didn’t want Alexia’s secret getting out. Or maybe they thought she knew something. So they rob her house and steal a bunch of stuff to avert attention from the missing diary. And then they burn it.” ====

“Or perhaps Alexia already burned her diary and the person tore her house apart looking for it,” Janet proposed. “But what secret could be so valuable and dangerous that she couldn’t risk anyone from knowing it, but herself?”

“A confession of murder?” thought Fred.

“Or maybe she saw who ran over Lauren McCarthy,” Janet said.

At that moment, Fred's cell phone rang and he picked up the call from Shaw. The conversation was short and quick and to the point and soon, Fred was off the phone again.

“Well you were right. They found a piece of cover in the fireplace that looks like it’s the same material from Alexia’s diary,” he said.

“Where’d they find it?” asked Janet curiously.

“In Emma Shannon’s fireplace.”

“Really?” said Janet. “This case was worth flying from Bucklenn to get to.” Janet sat back and looked up at the ceiling. She chewed on her thumbnail as she thought of the murder.

“What are you thinking?” asked Fred after a few minutes.

Janet jumped to her feet, her brunette hair bouncing. “I just remembered something. We need to get back to the Arts Hall.”

Janet and Fred hurriedly rushed out of their current room and as they exited, they blurted where they were going to the person at the front desk. Fred quickly drove, probably illegally fast, back to the middle school and pulled into the parking lot. Some officers were still there and the body had been taken away. Janet led Fred back into the Arts Hall, and they both veered into the Drama Room. Janet looked around, absorbing the architectural design, and then rushed out and into the Choir Room. Again, she surveyed the area, and once she was done, she headed into the Band Room. She took in every detail of this room, like she had done with the others and then she went into the auditorium.

She kept looking around at everything. The stage, the house, backstage. Everything. And then she saw it. She called over the photographer and told her to take a picture of a slouching sandbag on top in a pile of other sandbags. Obediently, they did their job and then she demanded someone with gloves on to open the top of the sandbag. Someone came over and opened the top and revealed the evidence inside. Janet and Fred looked down into the open sandbag and Janet smiled deviously.

“I knew it.”

In the sandbag was a pair of black gloves.
Janet looked at the three people assembled in front of her. Emma Shannon, Luke Yee, and Alexia Hatun. All suspects of murder.

“And now comes the part where I tell all of you who killed the victim. Your friend: Harrison Pyros,” Janet said as she took turns staring each of them in the eye. “I’m sure you’re all //dying// to know.” She put extra emphasis on the word “dying.” No one flinched.

==== “Miss Emma Shannon,” Janet started. “You had the best chance to kill Harrison Pyros. You could have easily come up from behind him and hit him over the head with a sandbag and then ditched your gloves in a different sandbag so that no one would take it as evidence. Your presence on the video cameras leaving and entering the auditorium before the death occurred has a perfectly acceptable excuse.” ====

==== Janet moved to the next person. “Mr. Luke Yee. As I had said to Alexia, you could have easily hacked into the cameras and made a false image while you, or Alexia, or even Emma, went into the auditorium and killed the unaware Harrison Pyros. Or you could have gone around and unlocked the door with a copy of the key you could’ve made a while ago while Emma unlocked the door from the inside and then you kill Harrison once onstage and sneak back around to the Choir Room window and get back inside the room like you were there the whole time.” ====

==== Janet pursed her lips and then moved over a step to Alexia. “Miss Alexia Hatun. You could fit in Luke’s place where he went around and unlocked the door. You could’ve made a copy of the key earlier too. And if Luke hacked the cameras, you could have been the one to administer the blow to the back of Harrison’s head, couldn’t you?” ====

==== “You killed her, didn’t you, Alexia? It was Harrison’s truck, but he let you drive this time.He distracted you or you lost control and you swerved and you ran over Lauren walking on the side of the street. And you fled the scene like a coward!” ====

==== “Harrison made you leave, didn’t he? You wanted to stay, but he made you leave, didn’t he?” asked Janet. “He told you to walk to school and he would fix up his truck and no one had to know. And he told you not to tell, or you would go to prison for manslaughter, didn’t he?” ====

==== “You had everything to lose: a scholarship, friends, a life. Everything. You couldn’t go to prison. So Harrison made an anonymous phone call from a pay phone and he parked his truck at his house after he runs it into a tree and he appears at school and makes the excuse his mother needs his truck,” Janet said. ====

==== “But you couldn’t take it,” Janet said. “You had to tell someone. And Harrison got scared, so he threatened you that he would tell and he twisted words around and made it sound like he could get out of the whole ordeal with an innocent charge while you were dragged away. So you had to get him the hell out of the picture, right?” ====

==== “And today, on the video camera, I noticed that Emma and Luke were in the hallway alone at one time, which means you two were still out in the parking lot. What were you two talking about? Did you beg him not to tell? What did he say? Did he say something cruel like: I don’t now, I’ll think about it. Or: Justice must be served?” ====

==== “And now comes how you did it,” Janet said. “You involved no one, and yet you still got it done. What I didn’t notice at first was the Band Room had an entrance to the backstage of the auditorium. It led to the opposite backstage side compared to the entrance of the one in the Arts hall across from the girl’s bathroom. But you pushed a bookshelf over in front of it so it looked like there was no way to get to the auditorium. But I saw the torn up carpet and that’s what made me suspect you. But you were very clever, you wait till Emma leaves, put on your gloves, and then move the bookshelf and enter and kill Harrison from behind using a sandbag. You leave that sandbag separate from the others, out in the open, and then you open another sandbag and put your gloves in that one, and you would come back later and get rid of them, right? So you reopen the door back to the Band Room, but before you go back, you pull the piano in front of the door as it closes so it looks like you couldn’t have gotten in from either side. Then you replace the bookshelf and wait for Emma’s screams.But I found those gloves, and they were covered in your fingerprints and on the inside was little chips of your nail polish. You killed Harrison Pyros and Lauren McCarthy.” ====

==== Alexia stared at Janet in horror. Her chest heaved up and down as the thoughts registered in her head of what was going on. It was silent for a moment and then she screamed, “He deserved to die! Harrison deserved to die. That evil bastard ruined my life. He distracted me when I was driving. He was the reason I hit Lauren! She should have never died. Harrison should have died, and now he did. And now it’s fair. He deserved to die!” ====

==== **Emma stood up and stared at Alexia in the face. “You killed them both,” she seethed in a dangerous whisper. “I hope you burn in hell.” And then she slapped Alexia across the face. Emma screamed with rage and cocked back to deliver a punch to Alexia’s nose, but was pulled back by Luke’s grasp.** ====

==== **Later that day, Fred and Janet took a plane back to Virginia. They were the same. It didn’t matter that a child had murdered another one, they did this ever day. It didn’t affect Janet. Though sometimes, she wished she wasn’t always around death and lies, and she got that wish. She returned home to her son Joshua and her faithful dog Millie. And there was no death or lies here…for now.** ====