Each of us has a story to tell (Completed)

Chapter 18- James

Trigger warnings- Drug dealing mention and blackmailing mention.

Later that afternoon, we are sat in the cafeteria. The only one missing is Laura. She texted saying that she's got something to show us but that's all she said.

"Where is she?" Ryan asks.

I reply "no idea. She said she's on her way here."

Finally Laura arrives. "I have an idea of who the culprit is," she says "but can we run through everything to make sure it all fits?"

"Sure," Jessica replies "I'll start. So last Monday on the 20th of September between 4:30 and 5pm Mr Grey was killed in the science lab."

Ryan continues "then James and Laura found him in the lab and came to report it to Rogers."

Laura now takes over "then on Tuesday Mr Rogers said that we were the only four in the school even though there were several teachers as well."

Now I speak "then the blackmailing began. So to get it to stop we all told Rogers our secrets before anyone else could do it for us."

Jessica goes on "then Mr Rogers showed us the list of elements that spelled out my mother's name."

Ryan continues "then I got arrested after the police supposedly found the video tape from the science corridor in my locker."

I go on "then we questioned the teachers and discovered that they all had alibis apart from Mr Harris. But it wasn't him so who's left?"

Laura replies "ah well I think I've worked it out. Jess, do you still have the note you found in Mr Rogers office?"

"Yeah," Jess replies, pulling it out of her pocket "why?"

Laura replies almost immediately "well look at the note that Mr Grey had in his pocket." She brings up her phone and shows us an email. There in the email is the list that was found in Mr Grey's pocket. The one with all the elements on it.

"I pretended to be a police officer from the station so that Mr Rogers would send me the picture. I said that the list had been sent off to be analysed." Laura explains.

"Clever," Ryan says "but....wait the handwriting on the notes are the same. We all look and see that he's right. The 'm' in the word 'murder' on the note Harris left for Rogers and the 'm' in 'Lanthanum' on the note from the list of elements have the exact same tail at the end of the letter.

"That means the same person wrote both notes," Ryan says "but we know that Harris is innocent."

Laura replies "yes but Mr Harris didn't write this note. If he did then surely he would have mentioned it when Ryan questioned him."

"So then who wrote it?" I ask.

"I'm getting to that," Laura snaps "after emailing Mr Rogers pretending to be a police officer I did the same to his secretary. I asked her whether Mr Rogers was in his office from 4:30 to 5 last Monday and she said that she knew he was in a meeting from 4:15 with Mr Harris but she didn't know what time the meeting ended. He returned to his office at 4:50."

"But why would he leave his office to go for a meeting. Surely he would have just had the meeting there." Ryan says.

"Exactly," Laura says brightly "but we know that Mr Harris was sorting out the gym cupboard at least between 4:30 and 5 so even if this meeting did take place between 4 and 4:30 why did Mr Rogers take 15 minutes to get back to his office?"

We all gasp. "Because he was killing Mr Grey first," Ryan says "but what evidence do we have to prove it?"

"This" Laura says, holding up the tape. She pulls up a video on her phone. It's her in the CCTV room recording the screen. The numbers at the top show it's from last Monday and the time says 4:10pm. The screen shows the gym corridor and there is Mr Harris walking into the gym cupboard. He started sorting it out at 4:10. That means the meeting Mr Rogers claimed he had been in had not occurred.

"So Rogers must have done it," Ryan says "but why?"

Jessica nods as Laura says "remember how James found that Mr Grey had sent that email to some of the teachers? Well I looked through his emails again and I found that he not only knew about Ryan and James' secrets but Jess' and mine too. He had them in his deleted folder. He had a whole bunch of attachments in emails he'd sent to Mr Rogers and all of them were the notes the blackmailer sent us. Mr Grey wrote them as well as his intentions to use them on us. He told Rogers he wanted us to pay for what we were doing. James and Ryan for supplying drugs to the school. Me for being in a higher class than I should be and Jess for cheating on him. Yes Rogers knew our secrets all along."

"But I don't get it," Ryan interrupts, "why not expel us all immediately after Grey told him?"

Laura has an answer for this too "ah well the answer to that is one you're not going to like Jess. Mr Rogers sent Mr Grey an email that he said he was thinking of sending on to Mrs Greenwood. It was a rather...romantic piece."

She shows us the email and...yeah. Rogers genuinely asked Mrs Greenwood to go out with him...eughh.

"Then a few days later he forwarded Mr Grey Mrs Greenwood's response."

Laura shows us this email as well. Rogers was completely shut down by Mrs Greenwood. Grey emailed back saying he would talk to her and make her see sense. Grey emailed again telling him not to but Grey insisted. The last email Grey sent said that he was going to speak to Greenwood after detention on Monday and say to her that she was stupid for not giving Rogers a chance. Then of course...

"So it was Rogers all along?" Ryan questions.

"But why frame my mother?" Jess asks.

"'Cause she wouldn't go out with him" Ryan replies.

"That's such a stupid reason to frame someone for murder" Jess says and I can't help but agree.

"Oh and remember when Mr Harris dropped the key outside the CCTV room," Laura says "I asked him if all the teachers had a key and he said that Mr Rogers let him borrow the key a few days before so he could get the video tape for camera 7 to give the police. Of course Mr Rogers never did give the police the tape but it made me realise. The engraving on the key were the letters AR. I thought it was the name of the engraver who made the key but AR are Mr Rogers initials!

We all realise she's right. Everything fits. The notes. The timing. The evidence. We even have a motive. The only question is how do we go about accusing our headteacher of murdering a member of his staff?