Another time, Another place [Sally Face Reader Insert]

[10/15]

~Chapter 10~

It's not beef

Leaning against the counter you watch as Todd pokes and prods at the dismantled bologna sandwich in front of him. "Hmm, I can't get much out of this until Sal and Larry come back with the ingredient list." You nod at his comment, taking a few steps forward to stand beside him. 

"So..." he pauses, "find your secret admirer yet?" Letting out a defeated sigh you toss an envelope onto the free space of the table. "What's that make, 15? 20?" You simply shake your head dismissively, pushing the note to the edge of the table before glancing over at the chunk of meat that had started this investigation in the first place. 

With oddly perfect timing Sal enters the room, his gaze catching your slightly hunched form before peering at the contents on the counter. After a moment you move your head to look at him, his eyes met yours for a second before you shake your head at your friend's concerned gaze. Sal simply nods, walking a few feet away to pick up something from the floor before he approached the two of you.

"Find anything?" His familiar muffled voice rang out through the room.

Todd shakes his head dismissively, "Not yet," he takes a glance down at Sal's hands, "Were you able to get the bologna ingredients?."

Sal shakes his head, glancing down at the table, his pigtails swaying with the movement, "No, not yet." He paused for a moment glancing around the open space of the lab, "Where's Ash?"

Todd's gaze drifts from his masked friend to the door then over to you before going back to his blue haired companion, "she went to get some materials for me. I recommended she look in the janitor's closet." 

You teetered slightly on the balls of your feet as you glance at the ticking clock across the room, your hand drifts to your mouth as you lightly begin chewing on your thumb nail, "She should have been back by now," a soft whisper leaves your lips as you throw a worried look to Sal and Todd.

Sal gives curt nod, "I'll be right back" and with that he exited the lab leaving the two of you alone again. Silence overtakes the room as Todd stares down at the chunk of slimy pink meat under the microscope.

"You really shouldn't make a habit of that, its defiantly not good for you," Todd voice rings out as he continues his examination, his eyes not leaving his specimen. 

Quickly you shove both of your hands in your pockets, giving a look of a child getting caught by their parent, "I'm trying, I've just-"

"Got a bad feeling?" Todd cuts you off his worried gaze now on you. You simply nod leaning yourself back against the counter once again.

"Let's just hope it's wrong this time."

~~~~

It took a good twenty minutes for Sal to return with Larry in tow and a package of bologna grasped in his hand. Somewhere in that time Ash had joined you after losing her paperclip to the janitor's door. "Got more bologna" Sal tells the group, placing the package onto the counter you and Todd had been hunched over. Todd nodded in approval and Sal continued, "Kim said that it's made by Mrs. Packerton.

Larry gave a confused look to his shorter friend, a look that you shared, "Whoa, no way dude," he pauses for a moment slightly hoping he had heard his friend wrong, "She lives in the apartments, how can she make her own lunch meats?" You nod in agreement, your mind already rushing to any possible explanation for this, but the pit in your stomach made you sick with every possibility you came up with.