We Come Alive 5

The Investigation Begins

Tuesday morning, Mateo made the familiar walk from his car to the athletic building where he already knew he was going to be sitting in a meeting with the school principal, the guidance counselor, and whoever the school board hired to do the investigation.

Mateo slammed his car door closed and started his walk to the athletic building. He glanced to his left and noticed Victor parking his car in his usual spot. The moment Mateo walked inside, he smirked to himself seeing Sam standing there talking with Ricky.

"I don't get why I gotta be here." Ricky complained, fixing the hood on his jacket over his head. "I don't even work here anymore."

"But you did this year." Mateo explained. "You associated with us. Especially with being an athlete for so long."

Ricky didn't respond, just stared at the school principal, Mr. Simpson, walking up to them. He put his hands together and gave the men a small smile just as Victor walked inside.

"Men, we're starting the meeting in the conference room." Simpson informed, then glanced at Ricky. "I see you haven't changed, Ricky. Hood off in the building."

Ricky glared at Mr. Simpson and walked past him with his hood firmly planted on his head. Victor snickered as he followed behind Ricky to the conference room. The moment the four men walked in, they noticed Danny already sitting at the table texting on his phone.

The four men sat on either side of Danny and got prepared to be bombarded with questions. None of them really payed much attention to Nicole, being more focused on the short, scrawny brunette woman sitting across from them writing in a file.

Principal Simpson sat down next to the woman while Nicole was sat on the other side. Nicole cleared her throat to get all eyes on her just as the woman clicked on a recorder to record the questioning.

"Thank you for showing up." Nicole greeted. "This is Charlie Shay. She's going to be the lead investigator in the investigation."

Charlie gently smiled to the men then dropped it. "Head coach Mateo Sanchez, coaches Sam Brown and Victor Petrov, assistant coach Richard Barnes, and athletic trainer Daniel Williams." Charlie read off her file then made eye contact again. "How long have each of you been working for Grand Ridge High School?"

Mateo answered first. "Eight years."

Victor leaned forward and rested his forearms against the table. "Six years."

"Five years." Sam revealed.

"My first year." Danny answered, scratching his beard.

Charlie's eyes landed on Ricky who was leaned back in his chair. "I don't work here." He sighed. "But, like, seven months. Then I got fired."

"Why?" Charlie asked.

Ricky shrugged his shoulders. "Little mistake. Misunderstanding gone wrong."

"Who fired you?"

Ricky nodded his head to Mateo. The older man answered for Ricky noticing he was going to be difficult throughout the questioning. "Like he said. Misunderstanding on the baseball field which could've put some of the athletes in danger."

Charlie read the file word for word. "Mr. Barnes, you invited a known gang member to the baseball field where twenty students were located. He almost assaulted one of the students, Baylor Santos."

Ricky nodded slowly, listening. When she finished, he spoke up. "I kept Baylor and the rest of the team as safe as I could. I shielded them with my own body. I wasn't going to let anything happened to them. I was willing to die before any of them were harmed."