At Gunpoint

Chapter 11

Harry gave me a ride back to school, his face shifting between thoughtfulness, unwillingness and an occasional smug look I assumed came from his upperhand over Anthony during the phone call. He dropped me off at the parking lot and drove off to park the car.

"See you later!"

"You're just gonna leave?" Harry said, with fake gloom.

"Yup!" I danced away over the parking lot with the late autumn sun in my face. I was off to a private session with my favourite teacher, Mr. Cohen who taught biology. He was new at the school, but his vernal ways had quickly put him in my top category. He was only 5 years older than I was, and we shared some common interests. Especially for biology. The reason he worked privately with me was because I wanted to learn more than what was taught in class. He was the only teacher who seemed to have time for me, while the rest of the faculty weren't willing to give up their coffee breaks.

"Kasey! Early as per usual."

"Marcus." I greeted. We had quickly agreed to go by first name basis with each other, since neither of us really cared for being formal.

The session went by quickly, any I left Marcus's office in an even better mood than I had been in when I had arrived. I bounced through the hallways towards my next class. I stopped to remember that I hadn't eaten lunch today, ironically I hadn't had anything at the coffee shop with Harry because I'd been too engaged in the article, and I had just spent the entire lunch break with Mr. Cohen. I wasn't really hungry though, so I decided I could wait and grab something when Harry and I went to see Anthony. We were meeting him in a cafeteria after all. I arrived to math class, where I entered with a smile. That was until I saw everyone's faces. Being in a good mood and all, I had completely forgotten about this morning's incident. The third seat from the left in the second row was quiet since it was empty, but to me it appeared to be screaming out Max absence. Suddenly my chirpy spirits seemed awfully misplaced. Discretly I sank into a seat in the back, trying not to draw any more attention.

After classes were done, Harry and I went over the case in the car on out way to Lockport Township High School. In total, there were five victims as suspected, in which four were male and one female. The first two victims had been claimed in June, the third in August, forth in September and Max yesterday, which was October.

"We should get one of those detective boards, pin it all up and draw red lines to connect the dots."

I grinned behind the tens of papers I was holding up simultaneously. I was aware I could keep everything on the laptop, but what if decides to crash all of a sudden? I had a habit of encountering misfortune at the worst times. Besides, I liked having it on paper. For the reason Harry had just mentioned as a joke, completely clueless that it was exactly what I was aiming for. I had printed the article about Anthony's brother we had read at the coffee shop, plus the articles about the rest of the victims and put everything in a beige folder, which I kept intact with a rubber band wrapped around it. That was until I decided it was a good idea to open it right before a sharp turn.

Lockport isn't a big town, and it only took us 10 minutes to get to Anthony's high school. One of the buildings was decorated with large, white letters spelling out "Cafeteria", not everything had to be detective work. Once inside, I gave Harry the part of acting look-out for Anthony while I got a sandwich from the desk. When I turned around with my turkey sandwich in hand, Harry had already found Anthony, who didn't look too happy to have been left alone with Harry. Neither put a lot of effort into making conversation. None at all actually.

"Heeeey!" I did a lame try to break the awkward silence. Both looked at me like their knight in shining armor. So naturally I took a way too big bite of my sandwick to ruin the great entrance.

"Hi Kasey, long time no see." Anthony greated, got up from his seat at the table and gave me something that could barely be counted as a hug. I assumed it was because of Harry standing right next to me, towering over both of us. I hadn't really given much thought at Harry's height, but it started to dawn on me he was easily close to a foot taller than myself. Anthony and I sat down at the table, while Harry remained standing, not being very discret about his rush to leave. I decided to ignore him.

"I'm really sorry to bring this back up Anthony, and I'm also truly sorry about your loss." I gently patted the back of Anthony's hand on the table to show my condolences, which he seemed grateful for. Anthony flashed a smile, thenceforth inhaled so deeply his white t-shirt expanded tightly over his chest.

"It was last month, the 19th of September. Gabriel had just got back an math exam and was really upset about his grade, which he kept telling us over and over how he could never get anything above a D. Or, maybe it was a physics exam. Doesn't matter. He was on the phone with his girlfriend about it too, and they seemed to be arguing which was confusing, because what did she have do to with his terrible grades? I was getting really annoyed with him, so I was going to storm into his room to tell him to shut... Shut up for once. He threw his phone at me as soon as I showed up at the door. No wait, it was a remote. Anyway, so I closed it entirely behind me and left him alone. His door is pretty much soundproof so I thought it'd keep his whining out. I walked out into the kitchen to grab something to eat, when I figured I'd offer a peace offering to calm him down. No, I came up with the idea of a peace offering first, then I had some cereal before heading back to his room, thinking I'd give him some space. I knocked on the door, announcing I brought food to avoid another tantrum. He didn't answer, so I p-pushed it open. That's when I found him..."

Anthony stopped to fiddle with his fingers, his grey eyes were foggy and he had a deep crease between his eyebrows. Even Harry threw him a concerned look.

"He was on the floor, slashes as from a knife on his arms and upper body like he'd been putting up a fight. It wasn't until I heard a crack to my left, I noticed a figure fleeing out the window. It was a man, average height, dark hair. He was wearing a red flannel, but that was about as much as I registered."

I noticed retelling the story was hard on him. He repeated words, his voice broke a few times and never really stopped fiddeling with his hands. He was really shacken up still. I apologized for everything once again and kicked Harry's shin to make him offer his condolences too, my not so gentle kick almost making him lose his balance. I had completely neglected my half eaten sandwich, but I decided my aptite wasn't really there anymore after the heartbreaking narrative. Harry and I said goodbye to Anthony, and I offered he could call anytime he needed to talk.

"Something weird was up with his story." Was the first thing Harry said when we were out of hearing distance.

"Seriously? Do you want another kick in the shin?"

"He kept forgetting details and switching up the order of things." Harry continued, while stepping out of my kicking-radius.

"He was upset about his brother!" I cried out, and suddenly Harry was making me angry. "What's your problem with Anthony?"

"I'm not saying he's lying about his feelings for his brother, something's just off with the story. Also, I don't have a problem with him." He peered into the distance.

"Sure you don't. You two just beamed with friendship."

"Some people simply don't click."

"I wonder why..." I muttered under my breath. Either Harry didn't hear my comment, or he chose his battles and decided to let this one go. Wise choice.