A Just Cause.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Following the crowd, I ended up at the cafeteria. 12:15PM, the bell dismissed all the students, once again allowing the students to pour into the hallway on their way to spend their lunch somewhere other than here. I kept my eyes open, looking out for the two people I had just met this morning. Meeting Ava went decently smoothly since she wasn't the challenge I had expected her to be. However, the period after was a different story. The second period was English studies, and that class contained a top suspect in this case. His name was Tristan Jones, but he went by Teddy, which may shift people to think of him as a big soft guy, but I was only right about the big part. I hadn't gotten a chance to meet Teddy personally or even speak to him, but he did come into class this morning though. Again, I managed to take a seat right behind the suspect. He was a massive guy; I would've guessed at least over six feet four in height and a good two hundred-something pounds. He would tower over the over students like a pro athlete. He had light brown skin and short, curly hair and looked a bit older than the other students.

During class time, I couldn't find nor make a way to interact with Teddy, but I didn't really mind. I knew I had nothing to be intimidated about when it came to this case since I had the law on my side, but one thing that would be concerning was the size of a person. Ever since I was young, I understood that although you can be more intelligent than someone bigger in size and have all the power over them, they would still have the ability to beat your ass. Learned it the hard way. Most people seemed to not understand or maybe even forget that people can still easily commit physical harm to one another. Such a shame that all people have their minds focused on is just their media-hijacked lives.

Since my brain was empty of any ideas to continue on with meeting Teddy, I just sat in my seat, waiting for the bell to ring, freeing me to continue my little investigation. As I was gazing at Teddy, my mind was running, calculating different possible outcomes, and possibilities when the bell rang again, letting the students free for a break.

It wasn't hard to follow Teddy through the hallways since his head would be poking above all the other students. And soon enough, I spotted the targets, Ava and Lucas, walking toward the cafeteria like the rest of the crowd. I must be a couple students behind Teddy when the two others change their flow in the crowd to join Teddy's path. I had already known that all the suspects were friends, which obviously made sense. I just had to get to know them more to make an actual decision.

Walking alone through school felt odd; I didn't belong there. I stare at the steam being produced in the kitchen as multiple lunch ladies serve food to the students in their stained aprons. I figured I'd give it a try since I would be attending here for the next couple of weeks. How bad could it be? The prices weren't that bad either; during the time I attended school, the lunches still went onto a tab you had to pay later on, but I supposed they changed their policies to "pay first" now. I lost track of the suspects, but it wasn't a big deal anyway; there was no slick way to start hanging out with them without slowly moving in. Acting too quickly could backfire; the kids know we're ruthless.

"Hello honey," the lunch lady said, "what would you like?"

"Hey, ma'am, I'll just get the ham and cheese, please," I replied as she quickly began to package the premade sandwich. While standing there, behind the warm glass covering the containers of pre-cooked dishes, I realize it'd be resourceful if I could get closer to some of the lunch ladies in order to hopefully get to know a thing or two.

"I'll be honest with you, sweetheart, I would get the just cheese instead. The ham can be funky here and there, and I think today isn't the best day for the ham," she said, tilting her head. I could tell she was obviously a lovely woman, and I'm guessing she was in her late fifties or early sixties. This was great news. Only my first day, and everything was going so well.

I made some small talk with the lunch lady after agreeing to go with the plain cheese while thinking of ways to ask around about some of the students here. If anyone was to know something about these students, it would probably be the lunch ladies.

I stand at the counter with a ten-dollar bill in my hand, ready to pay. She rings my food into the register when I decide to introduce myself, hopefully being able to get her to speak out about my suspicions.

Placing the bill on the counter, I began to introduce myself.

"I'm new, by the way; not sure if you heard," I said, obviously hinting that I wasn't just another regular student. I look up, now staring at her eyes, when I realize she has no idea what I meant. I guess the lunch ladies didn't need to be informed. "My name is Carl."

"Nice to meet you, Carl. It's gonna come out to $6.97," she replied, swiping the bill from the counter.

"Does everyone get lunch here? Or do they go outside and stuff – you know, like to the hotdog stands or something?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation alive.

"Well, that was the case until the thing happened back there," she says, pointing directly behind me. I turn around to face the forest of the school. It wasn't my first time seeing those woods.

"Such a tragedy, whatever happened there, haunts me – having to look at that forest every day. You make sure to be a safe sweetheart; you really never know," she said with a disgusted look. Her lips were now pointing down, and her eyes slightly squinted.

"I've only heard about it on the news, but – yeah, such a tragedy," I said back while collecting the change from the bill I had handed her. What a sweet and innocent woman, I thought to myself. I stuff the change into my pocket and begin to walk toward the primary office. The hallways had opened up now, and there were clear paths between all the students who were now forced to stay inside the building. I found the whole situation slightly funny, how due to the most significant thing that happened in the neighborhood of Brownsville, the result of the school was the students not being able to leave the premises. Truthfully, it was a smart move.

As I walk into the office, I explain how I was scheduled to leave the school that day, during lunch hours, to go speak with my Sergeant. Principal Johnson was just as friendly as he was last time, explaining that I must leave through the side door to avoid any suspicion with the other students. Swinging open the door on the East side of the building, I'm faced with a gravel pathway that I can see leads onto the sidewalk of the street, and on that street is the same off-duty vehicle that had dropped me off this morning. I got a feeling of relief and quickly began to walk toward the car.

"Smells good; what is it?" Sarge asks, raising her eyebrows at my sandwich.

"Ham and cheese– took the ham out, though," I replied jokingly.