Dawn opened the dismissed files first. The paper contained the twenty names of the previous employees and the reason for their dismissal from, or for the teachers' choice to leave the school. The teens hurriedly began to scratch down the names in their spirals and reasons for leaving. When they were finished, they scanned their lists for possible felons. The group had agreed to put a check by the suspicious names on the list.
"Oh, this teacher had an incurable disease. That's terrible." Dawn said sadly. "This one was dissatisfied with her wages. No check there." Lee said, his eyes moving on down the paper. "This maybe a possibility," Fletch said, a low level of excitement in his voice. "Mr. Harold Barnes upended a desk after an argument with a student." The others nodded in agreement and each one put a check after the man's name.
"Here's one, a Miss Brenda Clooney who....oh, never mind, too many absences." Glenna said with a frown. "Hey!" Dawn said excitedly, "Mr. Edgar Wilson was accused of stealing gym equipment." "That's a possible," Lee said, marking his paper. "Look at this one!" Fletch said eagerly. "George Lockes. It just says dismissed. No explanation." Fletch wrinkled his brow and added, "I wonder why?" "That is suspicious." Dawn admitted. Alex had a gut feeling about this one, but he didn't say anything. Mr. George Lockes earned a check mark.
Having their lists on Dismissed, they started on Retired. But nothing there looked suspicious. "Well, at least we have three names to check out." Dawn said, trying to be positive. "I was just thinking," Lee said. "A student couldn't have done this, could they?" "I don't think so," Dawn said with a brow raised. "Do you know anyone who would do such a terrible thing?" she asked him.
"Well no. But we don't know everyone in the school, do we?" Lee said defensively. "How about a former student?" Glenna posed scratching her head and dislodging a small spider that fell to the floor and scurried away. Glenna shrieked and shivered, then rubbed her head furiously, fearing there may be more. The boys laughed heartily, and Dawn smothered a grin that was creeping up her face.
When Glenna had composed herself, she questioned, "That's a possibility, isn't it?" "I would say yes," Dawn agreed. "At this point, anything's possible," she added while chewing on her pen cap.
Everyone was silent for a few moments, lost in their own musings. Then Fletch spoke up, "I was just thinking, there were at least twenty cars in that parking lot. But the bomber only blew up those five. It's like he targeted the owners of those cars because they had wronged him in some way." Fletch ended with a thoughtful look on his face. "You know Fletch, I think you've got something there." Alex said nodding. "You know what I think?" Lee said, "I think this case is going to be harder to solve than the last one, and we don't even have Mrs. Books' cookies to sustain us."
End of Chapter 12
Dear Readers, I know this was very short. I didn't realize when I sent the previous installment that I was so close to the end of the chapter. As Always, thanks so much for reading my stories.
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Book 1-Alex Bishop and the North Side Detectives
Mistero / ThrillerAlex Bishop is the new kid in town and he's not happy about it. He misses his home town of Fairling Indiana and the friends he had to leave behind. He has been deposited at his new address in Elkhart Indiana where he knows no one. But much to his...
