Finding Opal

Chapter 8

I stared blankly at the large men that stood in front of me.  Why on earth would an FBI agent want to talk to me?  I was fairly sure I hadn’t done something extremely illegal lately.  This must have been what the kids in the hall were talking about; they were saying FBI as in Federal Bureau of Investigation not FTI as in some crazy acronym Kimberly had made up.

I realized I still hadn’t acknowledged the officer and nodded, sure my terrified expression was enough to explain my delay.   

“Please, have a seat Miss Ruby.” One of the officers said.  I took the chance to study the two unusually large men with really deep voices, talk about stereotypical.  One was clearly two to three inches taller than the other and had coal black ear-length hair.  The shorter one that had suggested I sit leaned casually on Mr. Grogman’s desk while he ran a hand through his light brown short hair.  “Candace, may I call you Candace?” He went on without my consultation. “We have received anonymous news that you have made contact with one of our cases right now.  The Opal Read case.  We heard that you recently talked to the Read’s, Opal’s parents I mean.”

My heart stopped.  They knew I was talking to them.  They’re probably mad that I interfered with their case.  How could I have been so stupid?  What made me think could solve a case that was so dangerous that they had the FBI in on it.  I was probably going to be sued and thrown in federal prison for my whole life.  I must have looked really terrified and probably on the verge of having a heart attack because the taller agent took a step towards me.  I eyed a gun that was poking out of his belt.

“Don’t worry, Miss Ruby, you’re not in any sort of trouble.  Not with us, anyway.”  I took a breath of relief and leaned back in my chair.  It was a really uncomfortable chair.  Now I knew why the delinquents of the school were always looking irritated.  

“W-why are you here then?”  I asked probably making a total fool of myself because of the pure adrenaline running through my veins. 

“Well the anonymous source informed us of some things.” The short one said.

“Wait, before we go any further, is the ‘anonymous source’ Opal’s parents?”  I surprised myself at how bold I was for asking the question.  The tall men standing before me exchanged glances before the taller one nodded.

“Yes, we figured you’d know.  So anyway, the Read’s said some things about your visit.”  I heard the first warning bell ring from the hall.  I glanced towards the door.  Mr. Grogman was standing by it staring “casually” at the clock.  He glanced at the agents. “Don’t worry about class right now.” The tall one said.  I nodded and focused on looking straight into his eyes to signal him to go on.

“They told us about many things about your visit, mostly the questions you asked and what you did while you were there, the usual stuff.  They told us all this because we instructed them to tell us about any visitors that ever came by from the moment Opal went missing to the day she comes back home.” 

“Anyway, they were telling us all the boring details of every move you made while in their presence,” The shorter one cut in.  “when we were caught on a few details.  Your age for one, being only 14 and wanting every detail of Opal’s life was crazy enough.  Then they said when one of them asked why you wanted to know all the information you responded ‘I want to try to help find her.’  This was strange all on its own.  But then you all heard a crashing sound coming from upstairs and Dustin went to check out what happened.  That was when you heard nothing of Dustin for about a minute after he went up.”  He paused to look at his notes of some sort on a clipboard I didn’t notice him having earlier.  “Mrs.  Read then went on to describe how you both went up and heard noises coming from their missing daughter’s room.  Both of you proceeded into the room and saw a ‘large, scary looking man attempting to hurt Dustin’, and to make a long story that you’ve already lived through short, he tried to attack the Read’s and you basically ‘beat him to a pulp’ as Carrie put it.”

I cracked a grin at Carrie’s overstatement of what happened.  “Did she give you all the details or did she just leave it at that?” I said.

“Oh she filled us in about every punch, kick, or claw that occurred in that room at that time.” The tall one said.

The short agent gasped all of a sudden.  “We didn’t ever tell her our names, Jason!”

The tall one, Jason, grinned.  “Whoops.  We aren’t usually allowed to tell anyone who we really are, it becomes a habit.  Well I’m Jason, as you probably figured, and this is Mark.”

I smiled.  “I’m Candace.”

They gave a small laugh.  Mark coughed and pushed off the principal’s wooden desk.

“So what we really wanted to talk to you about… how would you be interested in being a spy for the FBI on the Opal Read case?”