Kidnapped

Chapter 19: The Final Round

Ms. Jacob took us back to a different room and forced us inside. But this time, there was no doll or anything like that. The room was completely empty.

"What is this?" I asked. Ms. Jacob smiled very viciously. "The final round," Ms. Jacob answered. "But instead of figuring out who killed who, you two are going to figure out what happened to Tony Blair."

The butler came into the room, carrying a white table and setting it in the center of the room. Next, he reached into his pocket and pulled out five photos then set it on the table.

Luke stared at the table while I glanced around. "Where are the others?" I asked. "They all went home," Ms. Jacob explained calmly. "It's just only you two." I wanted to call her a liar, but I clamped my mouth shut.

Smiling, the butler reached into his pocket and pulled out a timer. He then set it to ten minutes. "You have about ten minutes to complete the round," he explained.

"What if we lose?" Luke asked. "Then you'll both die," Ms. Jacob answered, holding up a silver pistol. "We'll be watching." "Good luck you two," the butler said. Luke walked up to him, shook the butler's hand, and marched in front of the table.

"Begin!" he announced. The butler started the clock. Luke and I hovered over the table like mother vultures, protecting their eggs. There were five photos: one of them has Tony Blair, getting his gym clothes out of his school locker. The second photo has him waving at his mother sitting in her car.

The third photo has his jersey in the boy's shower, covered in blood. And lastly, the fourth photo was a photo of the entire football team, with Jeff scratched out of the picture. There was no fifth photo.

Nonetheless, we put the photos and lined them up as a sequence.  I put the one where Tony was waving to his mother first, and him getting to his locker. Luke placed the fourth photo next to the third and placed the picture of the football team last.

"Five minutes," the butler reminded. While Luke was scratching his head, I stared at the first photo. I was right, Ms. Jacob is the mother of Tony Blair. Luke said that he was the nicest kid around. He made no enemies and got good grades, but Jeff however is jealous of his success. But I didn't know how the bloody jersey get into the shower.

Wait a minute, I thought. I looked back at the photo where Tony was getting his things. His books were there and so was his rain jacket, but where was the jersey? What was more intriguing was, does Tony know he was being watched?

Luke raised his eyebrows at the photos and squinted at them. Good, he must be getting something. I thought. "Three minutes," the butler counted. I glanced at the first photo and gasped. Next to his mother, was a camera.

I looked back at the football team photo. Tony Blair doesn't have any enemies, but the mother does. "Time's up!" the butler said. "So what happened to Tony Blair?" "Jeff didn't kill Tony, you did." I answered. Ms. Jacob snickered. "That's a dumb answer." she laughed.

"I don't know," Luke said. "Cole does have a point. You were  a teacher of the yearbook committee." Ms. Jacob stopped laughing. "I remember that you use to take pictures of the football team." Luke continued. "You got it all wrong," Ms. Jacob said. "One by one, you took pictures of the members from Marcus, to Jeff."

"Then I heard the rumors that a fellow teacher has been very obsessed with them. So, you stalked them every single day." "You're lying," Ms. Jacob growled. "You stalked them and harassed them to take their photos," Luke continued. "Until one of them reported your obsession to the principal. It was Jeff, wasn't it?"

Ms. Jacob didn't answer. "Your son never wanted to be in the football team," I explained. "But you didn't believe him. After you were fired, you were completely powerless. You wanted Jeff to pay." "Shut up," Ms. Jacob said.

"You paid for the football jersey uniform," I added. "You tried to control Tony's life, but he wouldn't let you." "Shut up," she repeated. "One afternoon, you tried to manipulate Tony into trying out for the team. "You tried begging him when he said no."

"In anger," Luke said. "You pushed him down the stairs, breaking his leg. While he was bleeding, you soaked the jersey in blood and you put it in Jeff's locker." The butler looked at his sister and asked very softly, "Are they...telling the truth?"

"N-No," Ms. Jacob stammered. "My name is Ms. Jacob-" "You're Ms. Blair," I snapped. Ms. Blair looked at me then back at the butler. "Brother please," she snorted. "I will never do that to your nephew." "Then why do you have these photos?" Luke asked. "And what happened to the fifth one?" I asked.

"Sister," the butler sobbed. "You killed him? Why would you do that?" Ms. Blair tried to move forward, but the butler took a step back. "Are these kids telling the truth?" Mr. Blair asked. She didn't say anything to her brother. She took out her pistol and slapped it across his face, knocking him out unconscious.

She lowered her weapon and charged at me. We both tumbled and wrestled each other. Luke tried prying her off of my body, but Ms. Blair struck him as well. He flew onto the ground and laid still. Angry, I lashed at her dress, ripping the golden fabric and punching her in the face.

She recoiled and backhanded me with full force, sending me on the floor. Ms. Blair reached for her gun and pointed it at me. "Say goodbye, little brat." she rasped. I watched as she pulled the tiny trigger of the pistol and closed my eyes.

I waited for the pain, but it didn't spread in my body. I woke up to see Ms. Blair trying to shoot me. "Darn it!" she cried. "I thought this gun was loaded!" Luke slowly rose up and pulled me to my feet. Ms. Blair rummaged her dress for ammo, but it wasn't there.

She looks at us then snarled. "What did you idiots do?" Ms. Blair cried. "I took the ammo while you weren't looking," Luke confessed. She stared at Luke in confusion. "When did you do it?" she gasped. "When I shook your hand," Luke answered. "Before we went to the Game Room, I knew you had a pistol in your dress pocket. So after we won the game, I shook your hand with my left hand and unloaded your gun in my right. "

"The easiest part was, the gun was in your right pocket. So, I took the ammo." Luke reached into his pocket and took out the ammo. Ms. Blair darted her eyes at me. "Don't look at me," I said in a teasing voice. "He's the Sherlock." Suddenly, someone tazed Ms. Blair in the back.

She cried then fell on the ground. As it turns out, it was the police, lowering their guns when they saw us. "We're taking you kids home," the policeman beamed.