Dark Days at TAC

by Richard Pinkerton

The following Monday, Pete arrived at school with only a few minutes to spare before the bell rang for the first class of the day. As soon as he’d dropped his bag off at his locker a girl approached him and told him he had to report to Mr Luxton’s office.

  ‘But I only just got here,’ Pete said. ‘I haven’t done anything.’ All he could think about were the stolen camp fees. Had someone seen him when he secretly threw the stolen goods into the office? He was sure no one had, but the horrible thought wouldn’t go from his mind.

  When he arrived at Mr Luxton’s office, he found Rex seated on a chair outside.

  ‘Apparently you’re first,’ Rex said.

  ‘What? Do you know what it’s about?’

  Rex shrugged. ‘It better not have anything to do with what you stashed in the bike shed roof.’

  ‘Oh man, I hope not.’

  ‘If it is, you are dead.’ Rex’s eyes pierced him and sent a chill down his spine. Pete felt tense and as he rose to knock, he noticed his hand quiver. He knocked.

  ‘Come in!’ came Mr Luxton’s voice.

  Seconds later, Pete sat before the principal, who continued typing on his computer for a few seconds before finally he looked up at Pete. ‘We received a surprise gift on Friday.’

  ‘Cool,’ was all Pete could think to say.

  ‘Quite an expensive gift at that.’

  ‘Is it your birthday?’

  Mr Luxton smiled wryly. ‘The camp fees have been returned.’

  ‘That’s great! All of it?’

  ‘Every single penny.’

  ‘So everything’s OK then?’

  ‘Not quite. Sure, we are thankful that the money has been returned, but the matter doesn’t end there. The police are involved now. To them, the matter is still open and they intend to find out who took the money in the first place.’

  ‘Well I hope they bust the jerk! Or jerkess.’

  ‘Pete,’ Luxton said sternly. ‘Is there anything you need to tell me?’

  ‘Like what?’ Pete felt his heart beat faster.

  ‘Do you know anything about who took that money?’

  He tried to keep his face as straight as possible. ‘No, nothing at all.’

  ‘It would be to your advantage to be honest in this matter.’

  ‘I don’t know anything. Honest.’

  ‘Ok.’ Mr Luxton’s expression, nor his tone changed. ‘I’m afraid I’m going to have to play hard ball on this one, Pete. We know that it was you that took that money.’

  Pete’s face paled. ‘What? But it wasn’t me, honest!’

  ‘There’s no point in denying it, Pete. We have evidence.’

  ‘What evidence? I didn’t take the money!’

  Pete was about to tell him someone had planted it in his locker, but Mr Luxton spoke first. ‘As you are aware, someone reported seeing you with the money and just recently we have received an anonymous letter from someone who claimed to have seen you take the money from the desk where it was sitting.’

  Pete’s jaw dropped. This had to be some kind of sick joke. There were no doubts about it now. This wasn’t just a matter of some desperate thief trying to offload the evidence of his or her crime, this was a clear set up. ‘What letter? Who? It’s not true, I didn’t steal that money, there’s no way someone could have seen me do it!’

  ‘Well remember, there was that money you had in your bag. Fifty dollars...’

  ‘But Rex lent me that.’

  ‘That’s what you both told me, but frankly I don’t know whether to believe you or not.’

  ‘But it’s the truth! Whoever wrote that letter is lying! They’re trying to get me into trouble.’ Pete shuddered. The strain was becoming too much to bear now.

  ‘Now Pete, Rex is waiting out there right now. Shortly I will be talking to him. It would pay to tell me the truth now, because if I end up with two conflicting stories, I will know that at least one of you is feeding me a load of nonsense.’

  ‘I’m telling you the truth Mr Luxton. I didn’t steal that money. I was watching that scrap the whole time, out there with the other students!’

  ‘Was there anyone there who saw you watching the fight? Anyone that can confirm that you weren’t still in the classroom?’

  ‘I... I don’t know.’

  Mr Luxton studied the expression on Pete’s face for a moment. ‘I admit that there is a chance that letter is a hoax and that whoever wrote it was lying, but in the long run, it’s going to be the police you’re going to have to convince.’

  ‘The police? But I didn’t take the money!’

  ‘I hope not, Pete, but one thing’s for sure, the police will find out if you have. Although they’re not doing much when it comes to finding out who’s supplying P to students at this school, but still, if you had anything to do with it at all, or even witnessed who took the money, you’d better tell me now.’

  ‘I don’t know! I don’t know anything.’ What else could he say? The money ending up in his locker was something different all together and there was absolutely no point in telling Mr Luxton that, as it would only put more suspicion on him. It wouldn’t lead to any clues on who put the money there in the first place.

  ‘What about Rex. Is he involved in anyway?’

  ‘No way! Why would he steal the money, he’s rich enough!’

  ‘Well with his knock over the head affecting his memory and seemingly is mind, we don’t know what he’s capable of now. And just because someone comes from a wealthy family doesn’t mean that they won’t steal if given the chance. Sometimes it’s just a cry for attention.’

  ‘As if Rex needs any extra attention. He already gets more than his fair share!’

  Mr Luxton rose to his feet slowly. ‘All right, Pete. I’m going to let you go now.’ He walked around the desk towards the door. Pete took that as an invitation to rise as well. ‘The police will be in contact with your parents in due course.’ He reached the door and turned to face him. ‘In no way are you being accused of anything, but I’m afraid there’s nothing else that I can do at this point.’

  ‘You’re going to tell my parents?’

  ‘If you’re innocent, you have nothing to worry about, have you?’

  Pete left the office feeling sick. He only got to exchange a concerned glance at Rex before Mr Luxton called him into the office. On exiting the office block, the grounds were quiet. Everybody was in class except for one person who came running up to him – Melissa Mason. ‘Pete! What’s going on? Where’s Rex? Are you two in some kind of trouble?’

  ‘Big trouble, that’s what kind it is.’

  ‘What? Where’s Rex? Didn’t he come out with you?’

  ‘I’ve been accused of stealing those camp fees.’

  ‘What?’ She stared at him wide-eyed.

  ‘Someone wrote an anonymous note claiming that they saw me take the money.’

  ‘No way!’

  ‘Way! I told Mr Luxton I didn’t take it, but I don’t think he believes me.’

  ‘What about Rex, is he still in Mr Luxton’ office?’

  ‘He’s just gone in. I’m not sure why Mr Luxton wants to see him, but Rex lent me some money the other day, so he may be wanting to question him on that. Mr Luxton thinks that the money I had was from the camp fees.’

  ‘And it wasn’t?’

  ‘Of course not! Rex lent it to me.’ At this point in time, he intended to stick to his original story. He wasn’t willing to put his full trust in Melissa just yet, besides, if she thought for a moment that he had stolen those camp fees, she might decide that she hated his guts again. He didn’t want that. Things were going too well between them to risk it.

  ‘I hope that they don’t think Rex is involved in any way.’

  ‘I hope not too.’

  ‘Have you been spending a lot of money lately, have you?’

  ‘No, not really. Besides, all that money was handed back in. That’s what Mr Luxton was saying. None of it was spent.’

  ‘It’s been handed in? When?�
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  ‘Friday apparently.’

  ‘Wow. So why haul Rex into his office? If the money’s been handed in, why continue to make a big deal about it?’

  ‘Because the police still want to find out who took it.’

  ‘Oh, I see. They’d better not try to pin it on Rex. He wouldn’t do anything like that.’

  ‘What about me? I wouldn’t either. I’m the one that’s really in the poo!’

  ‘It’s so unfair.’

  ‘You’re telling me!’