Death of the Perfect Girl Book 2

5- Two Hours of Footage

          Crowder sighed as he slowly placed his film equipment on his desk. How could someone's life take such a drastic turn? He was, a month ago, a twenty-two year old college drop out who had found himself begging for a job as janitor at a school a block away.  Funny, how having a little bachelor's degree in Art History and Creative writing could bounce him from janitor to sub, and now from sub to permanent teacher. He picked up his camera and sat on his desk, letting out a louder sigh than his first one. He wasn't ready to go through all of the footage of him and Sadie. All of the times they'd practiced her lines. The play was going to start his career in cinematography...hopefully. He held the camera on his lip and touched the button to look back at the photos and videos when...

"What the...," Crowder held his tongue. His brows arched as he scrolled through the footage. The camera seemed to be covered by a sheet. He had found it under one with a few cans of paint. The sheet covered most of the lens but he could see and hear a bit of the audio. He suddenly stopped on something. His heart felt as if it had increased its bass. Sadie had crawled the into view on the tape, laying on her back. A shoe suddenly covered the shot. A white sneaker with little specks of broken Christmas ornaments blocked his view of Sadie. "Oh my God," one of the voices cried.

Crowder listened as one by one, each murderer spoke. He could make out the voices clearly; Charlie...Mason...Jenna...and Charlotte. In that order, each revealed who they were by shouting and hollering at each other from shock. Crowder's eyes filled with tears as everything Poppy had said began to make sense. She wasn't telling him some conspiracy theory she'd put together over the winter break. She was telling him the truth. He was about to take the footage to the principal when he heard Poppy's voice. "I shot Sadie's brother." Crowder froze. He brows fell. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I woke up thirsty. And it was dark out and my sister was in bed. I went downstairs for water and when I got to the kitchen, I heard noises outside. I called out to my sister and she didn't hear me. And I could swear I heard someone in the house. So, I went to my dad's study and got his gun. Then I heard Sadie's brother in the living room. I thought he was a burglar or a murderer or something. And he was dressed in all black...so I just... shot him. And my sister took the fall for it because she didn't want my parents treat me differently. Shelter me the way they've sheltered her."

Crowder felt a pressure in his chest. Too much information was clouding his mind. He didn't want to get involved in any of this. He didn't want to know but his camera had all of the proof that two murders had occurred. He couldn't move. What was he going to do with this? He listened to the police raid the auditorium. If he went to the police, they would see Poppy's confession. He wasn't sure how far that rabbit hole went and what that hole situation was about. But he couldn't give the police the tape just yet.

"Mr. Crowder?"

Crowder flinched and turned to the open door. "C-Charlotte," he quickly shut off his camera. "What are you doing out of assembly?" His body began to tremble.

Charlotte scratched her head. "I couldn't sit in that auditorium anymore. You know?"

Crowder squinted at her then turned away. "Yeah, I understand-"

"Are you okay?"

Crowder tried not to seem suspicious. "I was just looking at pictures of Sadie." He looked at her at the corner of his eye. "It's insane, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"How Sadie chose the school to kill herself." He looked at her. "And that way. Why would she stab herself? It makes no sense."

Charlotte crossed her arms to comfort herself. "It doesn't...but do these things ever?" She snickered.

Crowder stared at her, analyzing her behavior. He nodded. "Yeah...," He looked at his camera. "You might be right... Do you need something?"

"No...I just...saw you in here and wanted some company-"

"From your teacher?"

Charlotte froze. "Yeah...I mean, you were nice to her. I thought-"

"That I would suddenly be nice to you?" Crowder said a little too harshly. "Have you ever been nice to me? You spoke in my class all of the time and disrespected me without a care. I don't know if it had anything to do with me being a fan of Sadie, but it's just plain ridiculous that you think that I would drop everything to be nice to you." Crowder caught his breath. He looked at Charlotte.

She was glaring at him with a death stare. His eyes grew wide enough for her to suspect something. "What's on the camera, Crowder?" She lifted her brow.

He gulped. "Do you want to see what's on the camera?"

"Sure," Charlotte stepped forward.

Crowder quickly stood and stepped back.

"Show me." Crowder began to tremble...visibly tremble. Charlotte squinted at him. "Okay," Charlotte nodded. "I understand, completely." Charlotte stepped back, then walked out of the room.

Crowder quickly stuffed his camera into his box. He grabbed his things and rushed out of his classroom, sweat lacing his forehead and armpits. He had to go. He couldn't stay in that school. Not if Charlotte was onto him. Not if a group of murderers were about to be.