Bass Case

Chapter 23: Brief Case

    Angelica stands, adjusting the sleeves of her black buttoned up shirt. Her hair is pushed back in an elegant fashion, and the curves rest lightly on her shoulders and down her back. "How do I look?" She asks, a smile wavering on her face in a battle between excitement, seriousness, and nervousness.

    "As good as you did last time." I reply, with a smirk creasing the edge of my face.

    "Alright then." She says, picking up her thick viola case, "Time to go."

    "Remember. this is for Sarah, not for yourself."

    "Yeah. I know, but still, the better I perform, the more attention drawn away from you two." Angelica states.

    "Yeah. Just don't get yourself involved other than this audition, and be careful. Got it?" Angelica gives me a mild look of annoyance but reluctantly agrees.

    We make our way down to the performing arts department. Surely enough security is littered all around the building. They wouldn't even let me in as far to see Angelica off like last time. The front entrance to the stage is as far as I could traverse. Angelica looks at me with a straight face, nodding to me. Signaling me good luck. I fall back and wait until Brenda arrives. She approaches me from behind, nearly causing me to jump in fright. She looks at me with worry. "This'll be hard." Brenda states.

    "Yeah. They wouldn't even let me walk in with Angelica. How are we suppose to get in?" I question her.

    "There's a back door I saw, off where the choir room is. There is still security though. Just less." She states.

    "That's a lot to maneuver through once we get inside though...we have no idea how much security there is inside as well."

    "We may just get caught just as fast through a place with more guards as well though."

    I ponder the thought for a moment, watching as the doors click shut to the entrance of the building. The security continues to guard the front entrance. They're all on high alert, like a pack of watch dogs, ready to strike down anyone who comes near. There is no way we are making it past anyone. "We need a distraction." I say.

    Brenda sighs, "I guess we don't have much choice do we?" She pushes a hanging black strand of hair out of her face and readies herself. "I'll be the distraction. You get the case."

    "Are you sure you want to be the distraction?"

    "Yeah. Besides, you never told me where your house is."

    "Right..."

    We make our way over the the east side of the building. Just like Brenda said, there is only one security guard in front of the door. Brenda sucks in a deep breath through her nostrils and exhales through her mouth, calming herself. "Here we go." She runs up to the guard in a hurry, panting as though she is out of breath. "Please! Help me! My friend is missing! She was with me only a moment ago, and then this guy came out of nowhere....she's gone!"

    The security guard recoils his head in shock, probably wondering how he could have missed such a thing. He questions her where they were, and Brenda leads him away to where her "friend" had disappeared. I take the chance and slip my way in through the back door. Luckily for me, there doesn't seem to be much security walking about. I see a light from a guard here and there, but besides that it should not be that hard to slip through the building. I wait until the guard in front of me turns around and walks down to patrol the next hallway. Thank you video games for preparing me for this moment.

    I make my way down the halls, occasionally hiding behind a shelf layered with trophies or around another corner to dodge some patrols. Just as I'm almost to the orchestra to room, to my surprise, Mr. Forte comes walking by. I freeze, and my heart feels like it's about to break through the ice concealing it in.

    He spots me.

    "Daniel," Mr. Forte scowls, "students aren't allowed in here at this time."

    "Oh, sorry, I just...came to grab my instrument. I forgot it..." I reply, shakily.

    "Forgot? I watched you leave with it yesterday." Mr. Forte states, his voice hollow. Nothing but pure annoyance fills his grey eyes.

    "I didn't forget it in the classroom..."

    A security guard takes notice of the scene and approaches us. Shoot, more trouble. "Is there a problems here?" The security guard asks, looking at me suspiciously.     "No." Mr. Forte states, glaring at the security guard to move on. My heart pounds in my chest as the adrenaline slowly lifts from my clouded mind. At first I was relieved, and then I realize that I'm alone with the killer himself! "Daniel what—"

    "Daniel!" Mr. Vibrato shouts from down the hall. "There you are. I've been looking for you. Sorry, Forte. Your student here was helping me with a little project."

    "Y-yeah!" I reply, "I was helping him with a new concert band piece. He said he needed a violist, so I offered to help...I left my viola in his office and came to get it..."

    Mr. Forte looks at us both with a slight grumble in his throat. "Is that so? Well I guess it can't be helped then. Can't have you negatively effecting the entire orchestra for something as silly as leaving your viola behind. You're really not suppose to be in here though. You should have been escorting him Vibrato, and I expect you to do that on the way out or I will."

    "Yeah, yeah. I got it." Vibrato mumbles. "Come on Daniel. To my office."

    As I walk beside him to leave I hear Forte grumble from behind, repeatedly trying to swipe his keycard in front of the sensor. He flips the keycard to see that it says "choir" on it. The professor growls in frustration muttering, "Must have grabbed the wrong card...I'll need to use Dana's." Then he quickly walks past us back to the theater.

    "Dana is here?" I question.

    "Yeah. She's helping with auditions again. I swapped her card out with mine. It won't fool them for long." Mr. Vibrato says, handing me the orchestra keycard. "Be quick. You have less than two minutes. Hurry."

    I make my way down to the orchestra room, swipe the keycard over the sensor and watch as the door turns green, signaling that it is open. I walk inside the dark orchestra room with nothing but the glow of the window to light my way. I scramble to the office door that is pitch black. I swipe the keyboard once more, and the room lights upon entry. Surely enough, the brief case is resting flat on the table. I look around, seeing if there are any other clues I can pick up on. Nothing. Then I swipe the brief case and go. I hear down the hall footsteps fast approaching with the nagging professor chastising the band conductor. I leave the keycard in the little pocket for mail at his door and vanish off into nothingness.