Knights And Pawns

Chapter 17: It Came Through the Window

Mr. O sued Mace Sansters?" I cried. 

Why? I thought he and Sansters are friends. He told me and Ben good things about him, he even hired us for pete's sake!

Just then, Mace's mother snorts then reached into her pocket for a cigarette and a silver lighter. 

She stick the cigarette in her mouth, lit it, and put the lighter back in her pocket. 

"Oh, come on!" she laughed. "Do you honestly think those two are friends?"

"Mr. O has been fighting his way up the top, ever since my son got promoted twice."

She blew the smoke into the air, and stick the cigarette back in her mouth.

"After his 'best friend' sued him, Mace was a wreck; he tried ways to scrape up the cash together, but he just didn't know how."

"So, he went to Smiles Incorporated to drink away his problems?" I ask. 

Ms. Sansters nodded as she puffed out her smoke. 

"Do you know what the project is about?" I ask. 

"It's name is H.A.P.P.Y." she said.

I raise my eyebrow at her to make sure she wasn't bluffing.

"Happy?" I snickered. 

"It's not the song, kid." the mother groan.

 "It's stands for Helping Adolescent People Purge Yelling."

"What?" I say. "That's the stupidest title I have ever heard."

"It's a working progress," she sigh. 

"Jordan Hollis is working on some antidepressant pill in order to end children's depression and increase their cognitive and social abilities."

That's not surprising, I thought. 

"What does antifreeze have to do with H.A.P.P.Y.?"

The woman looked at me, then tossed her shriveled cigarette in the sink. 

It's damp surface stopped the trail from the burnt end of the cigarette, however, it didn't waver the scent in the bathroom.

"Antifreeze?" she smirked. 

"Does the pill have any symptoms?" I ask. 

"Well, there are no symptoms, just positivity." 

"Positivity?" I repeated.

"Jordan Hollis is giving teens suicide pills!"

"That's not true," Ms. Sansters insist.

"He gave your son a suicide pill, which he took with a bottle of antifreeze."

"You're WRONG!" she shouted, shaking her head.

"H-he promised to take care of my Mason. I did whatever he said: I stabbed that backstabbing creep, I framed the slut, in return, he promised to give me the thirty million dollars."

I blinked my eyes twice to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

"You killed Mr.O," I whispered, taking a step back.

Ms. Sansters nodded.

"Yes," she says, taking a step forward.

I rushed to the door and tried the knob, but it was locked.

"What the hell?" I jiggled the knob a few times, but it wouldn't budge.

"Oops," a voice giggled.