A crime-mystery lover Rhett Carver only wants two things in his life: first, to be taken seriously as a young detective, and second, to get rid of his never-ending bad luck that always gets in the way of reaching the first thing. Those goals bring h...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Rhett
At first, I was laughing right at Max's face after he'd done telling the story. He asked me to help his sister, Maxine—apparently, their parents weren't exactly fans of creative naming—the pre-med student who was suspended because she was accused of stealing prescription drugs from the pharmacy in campus clinic.
Maxine was working part-time at the pharmacy. It was fine at first, but the doctor then realized that they lost one prescription drug each on her shift. He reported her, but she swore she never stole them. She even begged them to search her stuff for the drugs, which they did and found nothing. The Dean took a wise conclusion and gave Maxine a two-week suspension until further notice.
I kept giggling, until Max slammed my desk and stared at me with his big eyes. "Would you help me or not, Poopfeet?"
Telling you now, it was scary. I didn't even dare to ask what major he was taking, but I was sure it wasn't a softy one like literature. Maybe if there was a wrestling major, he would be their best student.
"Only if you stop calling me that..." I thought he was going to laugh back at me while saying, No can do, brother! The name fits you like the glass slipper fits Cinderella's feet!—but he nodded. Oh, damn. He was serious about this case. I needed to think quick for another excuse. "And this is not free, just so you know."
"I'll pay you! How much do you need anyway? A hundred? Two? Five?" He took out his wallet and that just made me flinched.
"Max, max," I waved my hands in front of me. "It's, uh... It's not that I don't want to help you, but... I'm just gonna be honest here. Stolen drugs? Sounds like a police matter to me."
"Look, I don't give a single damn about the drugs!" He then slammed my desk again. One more powerful slam, I was sure it would break in half. "I want to free my sister from all the accusations. Even if the suspension is over, she will come back to school with eyes staring at her, thinking that she's both a thief and a drug addict. I don't want that to happen!"
I bit my bottom lips as I felt a guilt bloomed in my chest. "Max, my biggest case was 'The Wreck and Crack of Dorm A's Bathroom'—yeah, I named it myself. Pretty cool, right?" I grinned widely, but Max didn't even crack a smile. "Anyway... It was nothing compared to this one. If I wanted to clear your sister's name, I would have to trace the drugs first. If I found them, I'd find the thief, but... it's hard."
"Are you kidding me?" Max stood up. Holy heck, was he getting much bigger in just a few minutes? "You don't want to take this case because it's hard?"
"Yes, it's pretty much that."
Another slam. I took a quick look at my poor desk—oh, thank God, it was still standing strong.
"I wouldn't come to you if I didn't trust you." He leaned his face closer to mine and I could smell a cigarette smoke in his breath. "This is me giving you a case, Nancy, and you have to solve it. Do I make myself clear?"
