by Laura Greene
Amy is just as startled by Tina’s entrance. “What are you talking about?”
“My interview with Ella. Are you applying undue pressure on the students? Is that why Anna took her life?” Her frustration is relentless and quickly turning itself into anger. Tina wants answers. She knows that if someone is hiding something, it’s best to face them head on when they least expect it.
Amy is not so easy to crack. “Agent James, I understand these tactics work out there, but you cannot come into my office with accusations like this.” Amy says this as she is walking to the door where Judy is peeking in and gestures for Judy to take her calls before closing the door behind her. “Unwanted ears. Now, how may I help you?” Amy offers Tina a chair.
Tina leans her hands over the chair and leans in to Amy. “You are yet to answer my question. Is it true?”
“I told you I have a lot of pressure on me from the board. It’s not easy to maintain high standards without the students feeling the effects.”
“And what effects are those exactly? A suicide now and again scrubbed under the rug?”
“That’s uncalled for!” Amy launches to her feet.
Tina is getting to her. It’s working. The confession is next. Tina thinks and she’s right.
“This has nothing to do with the suicides.” She is tense, but she’s delivering answers and that’s what Tina needs to make progress in the case. “The only pressure my administration puts on the students is in the testing process.”
“In what way?” Tina asks, intrigued by the sudden confession.
There’s a disturbing smile on Amy’s face; one of pride for what she has done. “Do you know how elite schools maintain competitive testing scores and dominate entrance into ivy league schools?”
Tina has a guess, but nothing solid. Her parents opted to put her in a public school to keep her grounded.
“We squeeze out the fat elsewhere. It’s just the right incentive for kids who want to get into their top school.” Amy turns away from Tina and walks towards her window indicating she’s done talking.
“I know exactly how you trim the fat Amy.” Tina walks right in front of Amy and looks her in the eye. She’s not one to back down easily. “I’ve read about people like you and you should be ashamed. You set impossible standards for the kids then if that doesn’t work, you decrease the number of recommendations your school gives out to top schools in the country; a golden ticket that you and the students both know ensures their entry into their school of choice. Did I miss anything Amy?” Tina is just glad she read an article on this a month ago.
Amy’s eyes are wide, her mouth is pursed. She’s been found out.
“Do you know how many studies directly link administrative pressure to suicides? I may not have the answers yet, but if I find something to show that your administration is behind these suicides, I am taking you down.” She knew there was something off about Amy and now she has her confession. Tina storms out of the office determined to find the answers. Her urgency is further alarmed at the thought which begins as wonder and then materializes into suspicion. How far is Amy willing to go to protect her school?
Now walking in the hallway. She slows her march to a purposeful walk.
It’s getting late. As much as Tina wouldn’t mind going home to unpack, there’s nothing waiting for her; more specifically, there’s no one to rush to. Dale text her earlier confirming he was packed and heading back to Boston. He wants to get settled before he reports to the office on Friday. Still, Tina is anything but excited to walk into an empty home.
To get her mind off Dale for a moment, she thinks of what she can eat for dinner. Her mouth is salivating at the thought of beef stroganoff with a side of asparagus and one of those sweet dinner rolls Dale makes for her… Even thinking of her favorite topic, food, doesn’t stop Tina’s mind from wandering to Dale. Round about now he would joke that she is such a Foodie.
Never mind dinner, she’ll pick something up on the way home. Tina hasn’t tried any of the restaurants in the area yet except for Julie’s. It’s time she started getting to know the town and its people. And what better way than with food. Maybe she can find a new hobby along the way too.
“Agent James! Please, stop.” Tina turns around to find a heavily panting Charlie Clark hunched over with both hands hinged on his knees for support.
“Janitor Charlie,” she can see that he’s been running for a while. The poor janitor is doing all he can to catch his breath. “What is it?”
“I…” he sighs, one hand holding his side now. “I didn’t mean to reveal how out of shape I am Detective,” Charlie flashes a friendly smile that was not present when they first met. This time he is flashing pearly whites. “But you need to see this. I think I found something.”
Chapter 7
What began as a simple Tuesday, following up leads at Hartford Boarding School for Tina has taken many turns and is quickly coming to a close, but not in the manner she suspects.
Now Tina is about to stumble upon something big; perhaps big enough to solve the case.
She follows him down the main hallway, around a corner. This unveils a set of stairs that Tina is seeing for the first time. “Where are we?” Up until now she has accessed a rather new elevator on the west wing of the school leading up to the dorms. Amy was sure to point it out to Tina during her brief tour on day one announcing that a donor recently made a handsome donation that paid for the elevator to be installed. Tina didn’t need an announcement. The elevator stuck out and quite frankly was out of place amidst all the school’s historicity like a hot summer’s day in the middle of winter.
“We’re almost there.” Charlie unhooks a metal ring of keys from his belt buckle, relieving the partially ripped pants from a heavy load.
He enters the stairs.
It’s dark.
Tina can’t see Charlie or hear his footsteps so she follows the sound of keys clanking as they hit against their owner’s side. Along the wall she caresses her hand to steady her steps and find her way up the steps. The walls are rough with ridges similar to walls mounded in Victorian times. Before she can grab her phone to use as a flashlight, a light appears atop.
When they reach the top of the stairs, Charlie’s pants catch a glimmer of light shining from a street lamp through a small rustic window. Charlie’s pants are faded with a graying black tone in need of replacing.
Tina is glad to be out of the dark.
At the top of the stairs, Charlie jingles the keys in his hands and unlocks the door.
“Why is the stairwell door locked?”
“Because of what’s behind door number two.” Charlie opens the door releasing them from what was beginning to seem like a modern-day dungeon.
Right outside the door is as Charlie promised, door number two. He unlocks it and swings the door wide open. Carefully he sets his keys and jean jacket on a wall hook, and grabs a seat at a computer.
Tina is amazed a room like this exists in the school. She’s read about secret rooms and even seen some on her beat, but this is a room from the future. Surveillance videos are playing on eight computers lined up in a row, each magnifying the happenings on every hallway of the school. Camera number five is set up in the courtyard, but Charlie sits at the second computer.
“What is this place? I didn’t see any cameras when I came in.”
After typing a few passcodes and gaining entry into some files on the desktop. Charlie says, “You did, you just didn’t recognize them. Do you remember seeing paintings along the hallways? These cameras are strategically hidden inside certain paintings and hanging flowers all around the school.”
“But I only see eight cameras in progress.” Tina says as she looks closely into each computer to see if she can recognize what hallway is being portrayed.
“There are more, I just have the main eight up constantly for easy access.”
Tina is starting to feel like she’s watching Big Brother. “I assume Amy knows about this operation. Why didn
’t she tell me when I first arrived?”
“Now let’s see here. There. I was looking for a taping of the night Anna p… pa… passed...”
“It’s okay Charlie, I’m sure this is still very hard for you and others here. Thank you for doing this. What did you find?”
Charlie clicks a video of one of the hallways. The time reads, 8:56PM. A female student appears on the screen.
“That looks like Anna.”
“It is. Watch.”
They watch Anna’s last known moments as she walks down a hallway. She knocks on a door. Looks both ways. Tina notices the staggered sequence of the doors on either side and says, “Is that in the dorms?”
Charlie answers, “Yes.”
The door is opened and she quickly disappears inside.
9PM A hall monitor walks the hallway next, but there is still no sign of Anna leaving the room.
“A male hall monitor. Is this the boys’ dorm?”
“Yes.”
They keep watching.
9:15PM Anna walks out of the room and turns in the opposite direction from where the hall monitor went.
“She knew that curfew is at 9PM. That’s why she waited for the hall monitor to pass.”
On the video, they follow Anna’s steps through the courtyard and back to the girls’ wing of the dorms. She vanishes into her room for a moment and returns with a bed sheet. Tina knows what it’s for. She’s silent.
9:45PM They watch her walk towards the back door of the school. She’s muttering something, but it’s not audible.
“Can you get audio?” Tina is trying to hear what Anna’s dying words may have been.
“No, unfortunately we chose the discreteness of the cameras over the audio.”
“You mean the students don’t know you’re watching them?” Tina has turned to look at Charlie. “That’s a felony.”
“Th… they know, but they don’t know where the cameras are. We don’t monitor their dorm rooms.” Charlie clicks a few buttons. “Most of the students think the cameras are a myth anyway. Mrs Roberts probably didn’t tell you because I didn’t find anything irregular on the tapes until now.” He clicks on a few more cameras to keep up with Anna’s movements as she makes her way to the end of the hallway and into the night, never to return alive.
They sit in silence, then, “It’s the bed sheet that she was found in. Can you go back to the footage in the boys’ dormitory again? There. Do you see that? She walked in with a sweater and left without one. If anyone knows what happened to Anna, it’s whoever she visited last. I’ll bet we will find her sweater still in there too. Whose room is it?” Tina says. Strategies are forming in her calculated mind.
“I’m checking now.” Charlie says and types a few strokes on the computer. “We have two students in there: Ben O’Conner and Olsen Hunt, both seniors.”
Tina is now pacing around the room when she stops and says, “Wait, Olsen. Is that the smirky kid everyone seems to be scared of around here?”
Nodding his head, Charlie pulls up the faces of both boys from a file on the computer and confirms them to Agent Tina. “I’m honestly not surprised.”
Before long, Tina and Charlie pack up in the CCTV room to go and question both boys, but not before she makes an important phone call. As far as she’s concerned, the two boys were the last ones to see Anna alive yet, they failed to mention it yesterday. They are suspects.
A sudden rush of excitement fills Tina’s blood. This is what she loves about being in the force – catching bad guys. In Boston she would have had a team of highly trained agents with her, but now it’s just her, and Charlie will have to replace her squad.
There is urgency in their step and there is also caution. What they will find in that dorm room is uncertain, but Tina is determined to get there quickly. She knew from the moment she met Olsen that he was not to be trusted.
“Shouldn’t we tell Mrs Roberts first?” Charlie says keeping in step with Agent James.
“No.” The last thing Tina wants is for Amy to drag out her investigation. Tim and Amy both assigned her to find out why Anna Grayson committed suicide and that is exactly what she is going to do.
As Tim once advised Tina in private, Take action first. Paperwork will come later. At first it took her by surprise that her superior would suggest this. Tina is a stickler for rules and rules are to be kept. But after a while, she found herself doing exactly as Tim said.
Maybe I started changing way back in Boston. One thing is for sure, she is no longer the Tina she was when she first joined the force.
One more turn and they’re at the door.
It’s 8:45PM. Fifteen minutes until curfew.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“Olsen, Ben, open up now. This is Agent James.” Tina threw out discretion along with her refusal to tell Amy that her and Charlie were headed to the dorms.
A couple of seconds go by. And before she bangs on the door again, undoubtedly waking up the entire wing, a ruffle-haired, dazed Ben comes to the door. He is confused by the sudden intrusion.
“We need to come in and search your room now.” Ben complies. Immediately after a quick glance around the room, Tina asks, “Where is Olsen?”
Ben walks to a desk on what looks like his side of the room and sits down. Tina tasks Charlie with making sure he doesn’t let Ben out of his sight. “I don’t know. He should be back soon. What is this about?”
“The sweater Anna was wearing the night she died, where is it?” Tina is ransacking the room drawer by drawer. She finds a few raunchy magazines. She moves to the closet, a pile of clothes smelling like gym socks pervade her nostrils before she has a chance to step out of harm’s way. She backs away from the closet for a moment, Ben looks down, face flushed with embarrassment.
Just then, her eye catches a glimpse of some strange piece of lavender clothing under the pile of clothes stewing like mulch. Tina is dreading digging under there but she has no choice. She braves it trying her best to breathe as little as possible.
It’s Anna’s sweater, lavender with white lilies sprinkled on like snowflakes. She recognizes it from the video. “Ben O’Connor you’re under arrest for withholding evidence in an investigation.”
“Wait, that's not even mine. I don’t know whose it is.” Ben has no chance to resist Tina’s tough grip as she handcuffs his hands behind his back.
“Then tell me how it got there.” Ben hesitates. “Don’t worry, you’ll have a chance to explain it in prison.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll tell you.” Tina sits Ben back at his desk.
“You have two minutes to talk or I take you in now.”
“I really don’t know what it’s doing in there. I just know that Anna came in for a hit.”
“You mean drugs? Where?”
If eyes could speak. Ben glances over to Olsen’s side of the room. Under Olsen’s bed is a brown box with a lock combination.
“4-3-8-2-0. I…” Ben is looking down again. “I sometimes handle the product when Olsen is not here. He… he told me to and he gives me a small cut.”
It’s 8:53PM.
Tina can’t believe her good fortune. She came in looking for a sweater and now she has a drug bust. The box is heavy, and rightly so. When she enters the code, the bag opens to reveal a cornucopia of assorted drugs. She really can’t believe her luck. “You mean you two are dealing drugs to students in the school? Do you realize that when the toxicology results come back, and they connect you to Anna the night she died, you could go away for a very long time?” She is sorting through the clear bags, small enough for a student to sneak into their clothes and walk out undetected.
It poses an issue for Tina, she can’t identify the drugs in tiny bags. She can’t tell if they are prescriptive or hard drugs. To wait for a lab to assess this, if there is one in the area, would take at least two weeks for a stash of this size, so she prods at Ben further. “What are these roofies?”
Ben nods his head, “Yes, just a small supply. Most of them are...�
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Door opens. It is Olsen Hunt, Ben’s roommate who is standing at the door.
“Agent James.” Olsen, like a bullet shot at a race track, takes off running.
“Charlie, stay here with Ben,” Tina says as she dashes out of the dorm room with one goal, catch Olsen. “Stop! Olsen!” The curfew for quiet time is out the window. Olsen runs past the evening’s hall monitor who is adjusting his clipboard to ready himself for his rounds. He is running in the direction Agent James and Charlie just came from. He’s headed for the front door, Tina thinks while she paces herself and readies her breath for a long chase, she has to get to Olsen before the night shields him and the forest swallows him out of sight.