The Girl Who Couldn't Kill

Chapter 3-Trouble Calls

"Ajax Chang, Autumn Kowalski, and Noel Carter please report to the principal's office immediately."

Ajax was the last to enter the room, Autumn sat in the far corner of the room, her legs resting against the wall, and Noel, a nerdy kid with framed glasses fidgetted on a leather sofa that encased him. An officer in a navy blue uniform entered the room with a storm, carried by her combat boots. She wore her jet-black hair in two long braids, she looked around 45 years old, and had skin the color of porcelain. This didn't make her look fragile but instead brought out the years of hard work in the creases of her stern face.

"Officer Hong, pleased to see that all of you have arrived." The room seemed to shrink, collapsing in on the pressure. "All of you here are the under the investigation of the murder of Connor Lee and under the authority of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the NPA." She paused for a quick scan of each of our faces before she continued, "We will be legally going through your files and personal information through the school and you will be required to have private interviews with an interrogator." She tapped her fingers against a wooden desk, "This conduct will start tomorrow at 3, be on time, or we will have our team search for you. Please do not interact with each other until tomorrow's session, the school will be in close contact with all three of you. Any comments, questions, concerns?"

"This is so unfair, do you have any proof?" Autumn protested.

"We received a rational anonymous tip. But everything else will remain strictly confidential." She nodded, "This is just a trial, nothing will be certain until after the interrogation has been conducted.

Noel confided, "Will this potentially harm our future and university applications?" Concern growing on his face.

"Again, this all matters if you plead guilty or not," she paused. "But right now, that is not our concern. That is all. You're dismissed."

Ajax walked out the icy chill of the office and collected back his cool. That officer was quite intense, he thought to himself. So he was a suspect now, but who could've seen him besides Rory? No, Rory wouldn't have turned him in and especially her best friend Autumn. For some reason, Ajax had pretended to not know about Rory's existence. He hadn't mean to, but Rory was one of the girls he actually paid attention to, he was just in the heat of the moment and didn't want to come off as awkward and stalkerish. Something about her attitude was so apathetic, it felt kind of sad, but when Rory was with Autumn, he could see a spark of life that lit the wallows in her dark brown eyes. Ajax turned the corner and headed towards the boy's washroom. He swung the door open and while allowing a gust of air to escape, he spotted the familiar boy earlier, the one with framed glasses, "Noel, do you have any idea about what is going on?"

A slight tremble escaped Noel's thinned lips, "I have no idea, I swear I didn't even know about Connor's death until yesterday after school. I was at a math contest for nationals," he hesitated. "But I did find something weird..." He eyed Ajax anxiously.

"Spill it now," Ajax's eyes begged for a lead to escape this ongoing nightmare.

"On the night of Connor's death, I saw Autumn wandering aimlessly in the boy's dorm."

Ajax could not fathom what he was hearing. Autumn was present at the crime scene, had she seen him? And if so, what was she planning to do?

Was she the one that killed Connor?

But why?

Although Autumn was one of the most popular girls at school, she didn't let anyone humble or disrespect her, she swore off interacting with boys her sophomore year when her toxic ex dumped her because she genuinely wanted quality time with him, whereas he only used her for popularity to boost his status and ego. The whole showdown was broadcasted to the entire school for days.

Ajax thought he should confront Rory about this intel but his instincts were holding him back. He needed to earn Rory's trust first because he didn't want her to discover her best friend's involvement from anyone else but him. He didn't know why but he had the urge to be possessive, however, the only thing binding their connection was Connor's death and it felt liberating to have a reasonable alibi.