Worlds Apart (Teen Wolf)

21 - Flashback

Mr.  Stilinski hovers over the yearbook on Stiles' desk. Red sharpie marks are all over the two pages, along with several red circles around Matt's picture. The circle is conntected to a sloppy arrow that points to his name on the side. "So, this kid's the real killer?"

"Yeah." Stiles nods. His head lifts up to see how his father is reacting to all of this. 

"No." Mr. Stilinski disagrees with a shake of his head. 

Stiles gapes at him in disbelief. "Yes!"

"No." Mr. Stilinski firmly shakes his head again. To prove how much he disagrees with us, he folds his arm over his chest and his posture becomes straighter. 

Stiles climbs to his feet and stands in front of him. "Dad, come on. Everybody knows that the police look for ways to connect victims in a murder, okay?  So, all he had to do is, like, look their transcripts and figure out which classes they all had in common."

"Yeah, except for the fact that the rave promoter, Kara, wasn't in Harris' class." Mr. Stilinski points out an obvious fact. 

I throw my hands up in defeat. Mr. Stilinski seems very determined to prove the three of us wrong. 

Stiles matches my hand movements, sarcastically. "All right, okay. You're right. Sorry. Then I guess they dropped the charges against him?"

Scott and I stand beside each other, eyes darting back and forth between the two of them. Honestly, I think we kind of expected Mr. Stilinski to be against this fact. He liked to be the one to figure things out himself and he is never thrilled when Stiles wedges himself into a case. The three tend to bring trouble when we become too stubborn and determined.

Mr. Stilinski's eyes squint together, like he is trying to figure out what his son is up to. "No, you know what? They're not dropping the charges."

Stiles turns his head around to glance at the two of us. He gives us a look to show that he already knew that was going to happen.

"But that doesn't prove anything." Mr. Stilinski finishes while pointing at his son.

Stiles' hand move out in front of him, palms facing each other in disbelief. "How-"

A finger is held in the air to prevent Stiles from finishing that sentence. Mr. Stilinski peers around Stiles to look at Scott and me. His hand motions to the yearbook on Stiles' desk. "Scott, Carter, do you believe this?" 

"Oh." Stiles throws his hand in the air. He shouldn't be too surprised that his dad is asking us. To him, we are more rational.

Scott and I share a look before nodding. 

"It's really hard to explain how we know this, but-" I begin to say until Scott interrupts.

"But you just gotta trust us. We know it's Matt." 

Stiles takes a small step back to stand on my right side. "Yeah, he took Harris's care, okay?"

I nod my head. "Matt knew that if a cop found tire tracks at one of the murders, and that if enough of the victims were in Harris's class, that they'd arrest him." Maybe if I'm the one to explain it to him, he'll believe me. 

"Alright, fine." Mr. Stilinski heaves a sigh. "I'll allow the remote possibility, but give me a motive. I mean, why would this kid want most of the two thousand six swim team and its coach dead?"

I peek at Stiles. Okay, so we haven't figured that portion out yet. 

"Isn't it obvious?" Stiles exclaims, throwing his arms out on either side of him. He pauses and earns questionable looks from all three of us. "Our swim team sucks!"