It was exactly 4:32 p.m. when Mona O'Connor pulled into the Miller Creek High School parking lot. School was over for the day, and only a few cars remained. Mona guessed most of them belonged to teachers and other faculty. She climbed out of her car, her green eyes scanning the area before she walked toward the front door and pushed it open. She made her way through the school, getting curious looks from the few staff still inside.
No one stopped her to ask questions, and it didn't take her long to get to the back door. In the distance, she could see the shed, and her eyes widened when she noticed the janitor was removing the last of the police tape from around the perimeter.
Mona rushed over, her voice sharp with disbelief. "Ah! Ah! AH! What do you think you're doing?" She pulled out her badge. "Mona O'Connor, police officer! This case is still under investigation!"
The janitor stopped what he was doing, watching as she hurried toward him. His eyes scanned her badge as he crumpled the police tape in his hands. "That's not what I heard. The principal told me to clean it all up today."
Mona looked at him, confused for a moment, before putting her badge back in her pocket. Why would the school principal let the janitor clean an active crime scene? He could be destroying valuable evidence if he hadn't already. "We haven't even looked around the area. Why would they let you clean this area!?" Her loud tone of voice made his eyes widen slightly.
He held his hand up, the crumpled tape tight in his right fist. "I was just doing as I was told. Personally, I think it's awful that your chief authorized this, just brushing over this poor girl's death like it's nothing. If it makes you feel any better, the principal wasn't happy about being ordered to clean the area so quickly either. That's all I know about the situation. I'm sorry if you're upset, but this is my job."
Mona pushed a hand through her red hair, walking in a tight circle. He watched her, hesitating to continue his job, while she fumed, realizing that all roads of this crime led back to the Chief. She stopped pacing and pointed a finger at him.
"While you were cleaning, did you find anything? Anything at all? Hair, blood, anything?" She knew it was a long shot, since he had probably destroyed whatever evidence was there unintentionally.
He thought it over for a moment, looking down at the ground. "Well, I found a black glove. There was only one; I couldn't find the other one. It was behind the shed door. I didn't think it was important..." He pointed toward the trash can behind him. "I threw it in there." she barely let him finish before running toward the can. "Eejit," she whispered under her breath.
He crossed his arms, clearly having heard her. "I thought if it was important, the Chief of Police would have taken it in as evidence or something. I mean, maybe he has the other one; this one was kind of hidden behind the door."
Mona began digging through the trash.
Finally, she found the glove, examining it closely. Just from observation, the size seemed small, which meant the culprit was female or someone with smaller hands. She slid the glove into her pocket before turning back to him "I was never here, you understand? Just continue to clean as you were before I came."
He nodded his head, and she walked past him, her mind racing. The letter... the killing... was it all connected somehow? Who was this killer? What was the motive? she thought while making her way through the school. She stopped short when she saw another janitor, a female, closing a locker and putting the last of its contents into a small cardboard box beside her. The woman hummed while walking to the office, and Mona followed behind her at a few feet distance.
The woman walked inside the office and sat the box on the countertop. "Excuse me," Mona called from the doorway, making the woman look up. She pointed to her badge. "Lieutenant Mona O'Connor, Miller Creek Police. Is that box from the deceased girl's locker?"
The woman nodded as Mona walked closer, looking into the box. "Yes, it is. The poor girl's father is so riddled with grief, he told us he didn't even want to look in the locker... to just throw it all away. What an awful man. His poor daughter was having a horrible year. Being pregnant in high school is hard enough, but add losing all your friends... all your scholarships on top of that..." She shook her head in disappointment.
Mona looked into the box; it looked like a lot of ripped-up papers of different sizes and colors. "Poor girl must have been devastated," the woman said, running her finger through the shredded paper.
Though it just looked like a bunch of random pieces of paper, there might be evidence in there. "May I take this with me for the investigation?" the woman shrugged before nodding. "Sure, go ahead. I was about to throw it away anyway." Mona nodded, picking up the box. She knew she was going to have a long night sorting through all this paper by herself.
On a normal case, it wouldn't be her doing this all by herself, but her whole team. To get it done as quickly as possible. But she didn't know who she could trust at the police station. She had to do this on her own, and there was no time to wait. She stopped walking at the door and turned to the woman "Please keep my coming here today... just between us." the janitor nodded while Mona turned and made her way back to her car.
YOU ARE READING
It Started With Hello
Romance***** Emma Pear knew she wasn't the most popular girl in high school. Her nose was usually buried in a textbook, and her grades were as spotless as her reputation for always following the rules. "Nerd" was a label she'd long since embraced. Her pare...
