around the corner.” Donnie grinned, showing a faintly stained dentine.
“Well, I am,” Mrs. Wilson said. She moved away from the door and caught sight of her face in a small mirror mounted on the wall. She had turned awfully pale in such a short time, her strands of blonde hair flying every which way. “I’m feeling really sick, and you’ve just made the situation worse by locking that door.”
“Mrs. Wilson, if you’re feeling sick, you have every right to walk out of this room, and no obligation at all to stay here in the first place. In fact, go out now, talk to Cheryl and Blake and Jennifer. Encourage them to stay calm and focused so they can monitor the kids. Everyone should get back inside the class and stay put until the cops arrive.”
“Yes, I will do that. Need some fresh air, anyway.” There were two and a half men inside the office, with Mrs. Wilson being the only female. But hitherto, she hadn’t noticed the boy cowering against one corner of the office toilet. Perhaps Mrs. Wilson’s oversight had occurred as a result of her nervousness when she had come running in. Or perhaps because the northern wall of the office had been in the way, and unless one crossed the border a little to the south, there was no way to glimpse the boy. Anyhow, he was there, curling up at one corner of the toilet with his back to Mrs. Wilson, just about three feet away from Trevor, closer to the dead man than any of them were. “Holy Sister of Mary! Isn’t that Robert Smallwood?”
Brad nodded.
“What’s he doing in there with the dead?”
“He got here first,” Brad said. “In fact, he was already in here, screaming at the time we opened the door.”
“Yeah, but what’s his business in that corner right now? Isn’t he supposed to be with the rest of the kids?”
Donnie said, “He’s waiting for justice.”
“Oh, I see,” Mrs. Wilson said with unmasked irritation,
Donnie ignored her question, unlocked the door instead. “Are you ready to step out for some fresh air now, Mrs. Wilson?”
“Open the door and let me out,” she said, turning to Robert, who was now sobbing quietly in the corner. “And you-get your butt up right away and follow me.”
“Not in a million years, Mrs. Wilson. Unless you’re craving to be charged with abetting a criminal,” Donnie said, stomping towards Mrs. Wilson, as if in preparation to wrestle with her if she so much as moved an inch closer to Robert.
“What’re you talking about?” asked Mrs. Wilson. “Who’s the criminal?” She wheeled around towards Brad. “What’s this all about?”
Brad shrugged. “I don’t know.” Then, turning to Donnie, he said, “See, you can’t be so sure yet of what you’re accusing the boy of-”
“Stay out of this, Brad,” Donnie snarled like a wild dog. “He’s the culprit here, and I don’t need your okay to say what I know. He’s a murderer!”
Mrs. Wilson flinched.
“Yes,” Donnie pressed on. “He’s a murderer, and he’ll pay the full price that is required of a heartless killer like him.”
Outside, sirens and the wind wailed in unison.
Chapter 2
“Mr. Murphy, you should have a sufficient understanding that a crime scene isn’t a place to violate but rather vacate. You-and your colleagues-weren’t supposed to be in that office after you’ve discovered the body and called the cops,” Sheriff Brian Stack said, standing in front of Donnie’s office after the men from the Coroner’s Office had set to work and the kids had been dispersed home.
“I know perfectly well, Sheriff. And trust me, I took every necessary precaution to avoid screwing something up back in there. I made it my responsibility to warn the guys to stay away from touching anything-to not even try sweeping the sandwich that littered the entire floor,” Donnie said, as if anyone would have wanted to clean up the mess in the first place.
Brian shook his head gently. “Taking adequate precaution at a crime scene goes beyond keeping away from things while you’re still present at the place. Apart from the objects you’re liable to touch, which your consciousness forbids you from doing, there’re also myriads of things your movement displaces-things outside your awareness.”
Donnie made a move to say something, but then decided against it. The corners of his mouth twitched momentarily.
“Not to mention the alien particles you carried in there with you,” Brian added. “See why staying away from the crime scene altogether is the best choice?”
Donnie nodded.
“And why were you so bent on staying in there, by the way?”
“The kid, Sheriff. I didn’t want him to escape. I wanted him to be in there and get arrested when you arrive.”
“Come on, Donnie, I don’t think that should have been necessary.”
The men from the Office of the Coroner recovered the knife-six inches of glinting blade-from Robert Smallwood.
They found several strands of red hair in the bathroom as well as on the desk and floor. Robert was a redhead-the only one present at the scene of murder.
The stab wound on Trevor’s neck appeared to contradict the supposed weapon of murder. It wasn’t a gaping gash wide enough to poke a thumb through, but a narrow, near-circular impalement that seemed to
Although a few bits and pieces picked up at the scene were strongly indicative of the boy’s presumed act of homicide, forensic principles demanded that all necessary procedures be painstakingly executed first, leaving no room for rashness. A number of tests would be run to affirm that Robert indeed committed the crime.
Robert was brought to the Sheriff’s Office. His mother, Holly Smallwood, had been contacted at her home on Bran Street. She sat in the lobby of the department, the closest she was allowed to her son at that point in time.
“Coffee or tea?” Sheriff Stack opened a cabinet and brought out two cups. “I’ve got some orange juice in the fridge, too. Feel at home and take your pick.”
Robert shook his head.
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Brian got himself some coffee and sat down in his chair, across the desk from Robert. “Listen, kid. Don’t you be afraid at all. I just wanna ask you some questions like your teachers do. Let’s just say I’m helping them to look after you so you don’t get all lazy and rusty.” He favored Robert with two winks. “Your school’s closed down now, and you might not be back till Monday, maybe a little later. You wanna be a lazy student?”
Robert shook his head again.
