Karma (Wattpad Exclusive)

12. Digging Further

Thompson sat in his office going through his file with notes of the ongoing case. He held his head as he found no loopholes in the investigations. He knew something or someone was responsible, but no one was willing to let the truth out. Suddenly there was a strong breeze, and the papers ruffled. Thompson quickly closed the folder before the papers could fly. Something white whooshed passed him and then more of it went flying to the wall. Thompson walked up to it and squatted down. He collected all the papers and skimmed through them. They were test papers. All belonging to one student. Jennifer Stewart. Thompson grinned as he knew he found his loophole. He went back to his seat and spread the papers in front of him. There were only two grades that he found. Either an A or B+ nothing less. As he went through them, something caught his eyes. On one paper, which was dated 5 days before the victim's suicide, the name Jerry Stewart was written. He verified it with the other papers and found the handwriting to be similar.

   "Sir?"

   He quickly pushed all the papers in his file as he heard someone call him. He looked up and saw Lakewood. "Can we leave? It is past 10.30?" she asked. Thompson nodded and gestured her to go. Once the door shut, He grabbed his file and grinned. Thompson couldn't wait for the next day.

   Bulcock was shocked when Thompson came knocking on his door the next day. Thompson sat down and looked at Bulcock. He smiled as he wiped his forehead. "I'm just here to collect Ms. Stewart's test sheets. You said she got poor grades, right? Can you give me the papers of Ms. Stewart's and Ms. Davis's?," Thompson asked as he leaned forward and rested his hand on the table.

   "O-oh we don't have them. We give them away once we evaluate them."

   "Well, I'm sure you must be having some records of their marks. Can I see them?"

   "What does that have to do with their suicides?" Bulcock ask dumbfounded.

   "Well, Mr. Ballocks- sorry, sorry, I mean Bulcock." Bulcock looked at him and nodded as he wiped his head once again. "According to my investigation and what I found, Ms. Stewart had killed herself because she got poor scores. So if you gimme a print of her marks, I'll close the case," Thompson informed.

   Bulcock nodded and started typing on his computer. "Let me see," he said and went on typing something. Thompson leaned back in his seat and twirled around in his chair. Bulcock looked at him. "W-we don't have any records right now. It was just a mock test that we conducted," Bulcock stammered.

   "The weather is rather pleasant today, isn't it Mr. Bulcock?"

   "Yes. Yes, it is."

   "They why are you sweating?" Thompson inquired.

   Bulcock's eyes went wide and then he nervously chuckled, "Oh, I just sweat a lot."

Thompson nodded and pulled out the pile of papers from his coat. He placed it on the desk and grabbed a paper. Bulcock observed him as he did so. Thompson held out the paper as he spoke, "Is this what you are looking for?" Bulcock took the paper and looked at it. He stared at it without saying a word. "All these are Ms. Stewart's test sheets and Ms. Stewart proves to be an outstanding student. Every sheet, including the previous test, is here. A student like this cannot fail," Thompson continued.

   "She did fail in her last test."

   "I have every sheet until four days prior to her death," Thompson replied.

   "No. We had a test after that."

   "So you are saying she failed one test, and you called her parents," Thompson cross questioned.

   "Y-yes."

   "But Mr. Bulcock, you were the one that said your school wasn't strict about grades. Why would you call this student's parents if she failed just one time?" Thompson asked as he stood up.

   "We aren't strict but it's just- it's just.." Bulcock trailed off.

   "You have no words, uh?" Thompson asked as he leaned forward, resting his hand on the table. "I'll tell you the truth. All that student ever wanted was to be a boy. So they cut their hair and wrote their name as Jerry," he pointed at the name on the paper, "and your school had a problem with it. So you called their parents. Now finding their parents and school being unsupportive of them, Stewart commented suicide."

   "No. No. That's not Jennifer Stewart's paper. We are a very supporting organization. Please don't accuse us of such nonsense," Bulcock replied.

   "Nonsense? Okay, well then, show me who this Jerry Stewart is."

   Bulcock stood up and gestured Thompson to follow him. They walked down the empty hallway. Bulcock looked around nervously. Then he spotted a student walk out of a classroom. He grabbed him by his shoulders and pointed, "This is Jerry Stewart. Ms. Stewart's cousin."

   "My name-" the boy came to say something, but Bulcock gave his shoulder a tight grip. Thompson saw it but said nothing since he didn't want to cause a scene. "This is the boy whose paper you showed me. It probably got mixed up cause they are in the same class."

   Thompson nodded. "I know you are lying, Mr. Bulcock," he said as he wrote something in his notepad. He flipped it over and looked at him. "I'm leaving now. But I won't stop until I figure out what you are hiding and what caused both those students to die."

***

When the bell rang, both the friends left the classroom hand in hand. "Ey did you hear the news about Jennifer's gravestone?" Ila whispered.

   "No. What about it?" Ruth asked as they walked to her locker.

   "Someone scrapped out the name Jennifer and painted the name Jerry over it," Ila whispered as she leaned against the side locker.

   Ruth put her book away and closed the locker as she looked at her friend in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

   "Bruh for real. News is that they were transgender, and the school opposed."

   "Damn, news do spread fast in this town. This is one small heck of a town, uh?" Ruth replied.

   Ila noticed Mrs. Kent approaching them and nudged Ruth. They both wished her. "I need some help to arrange the books in the library. Can one of you help me?" she asked.

   Dear readers, remember how I said Ruth was Misses goodie two-shoes? Her teachers adored her. So obviously Ruth volunteered to help and went with Mrs. Kent to the library.

   When she left the school building, she noticed two people fighting. She started walking faster and realized Dorian was holding Marcel's collar in his hand. She swiftly ran up to them. "Dorian, what are you doing?" she asked as she grabbed his hand and tried to pull it away.

   "He was the one!," he growled as he shook up Marcel. "Tell me! Tell me why were you speaking to the cop then."

   "He asked me something about the school," Marcel squeaked.

   "Dorian, leave him," Ruth pleaded as she tried to pull him away, but it was useless. He was more stronger.

   "I'm telling you it was him, Ruth! He slipped those things in our locker and made Ryan fall," Dorian yelled as he continued holding Marcel's collar.

   "First Ila, now him. Dorian get a hold of yourself. You can't keep blaming everyone," Ruth yelled.

   One of Dorian's friends came to their aid and pulled Dorian away from Marcel. Marcel set his collar as he gave a dead stare at Dorian. Dorian noticed and yelled, "Look how he looks at me! He always looks at me like that! He is the one." He tried pouncing on him again, but Ruth and his friend stopped him.

   "Dorian, please. Until we get more clues, we can't keep hitting people," Ruth said.

   "Mate, let's go. The teachers will be leaving soon," his friend coaxed him and they left. Ruth looked at Marcel and he muttered, "T-thanks." Without another word, he turned around and started walking.

   "Hey wait!" Ruth yelled as she ran behind him. "Can we talk?" Marcel ignored her and continued walking. "C'mon you owe me a conversation."

   "I owe you n-nothing," Marcel muttered.

   "I just saved you from getting your butt kicked," she threw her hands in the air in disbelief. "You gotta give me something."

   "I didn't ask you," Marcel replied.

   Ruth rolled her eyes and stopped for a moment while Marcel continued walking. Ruth shook her head and followed behind. Marcel took Ruth by surprise when he fell behind, for he had tripped. Ruth gasped in surprise, but was quick to lean forward and catch him. Marcel looked at her and he quickly straightened his posture. "Well, looks like now you owe me," Ruth said, and smirked. Marcel hesitated. "C'mon Nemo."

   "How did you know that name?"

   "I watched the videotape ."

   Marcel sighed and finally obliged, "F-fine, I'll tell you."