Chapter 2
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Questions, Answers, and Riddles
Captain Montgomery's office is almost exactly as I remember it, large and clean. The only difference is, there is only one chair in front of his desk instead of six. His awards still glinted on the wall and his desk looked as organized as ever. Captain Montgomery was sitting at his desk, an open folder laying on the desktop. He was typing quickly on his computer and I assumed he was writing up something about Parker's interrogation.
He glanced up over his laptop and gave me a stern look. "Sit down, Miss Wentworth," he commanded. His voice was deep and powerful, the kind you wouldn't even think about interrupting.
Obediently, I sat down in the chair directly across from him. He continued typing for a few more seconds, and then closed his computer. He then proceeded to flip through the large file until he found a few pages that I assume related to me. I began feeling self-conscious knowing he was reading stuff about me. His eyes moved quickly across the page, glaring up at me every few seconds. Calm down, I told myself as my breathing quickened at every stare. This was just a scare tactic—and an effective one at that. This was another one of his famous interrogating techniques. It combines the informational overload technique with the silencing stare. He's using the informational overload by letting me see the large file folder, making me believe he's been keeping tabs on me and knew a lot about the things I've been up too. The silencing stare is another good one—it's pretty simple too. You literally just sit and stare at the person menacingly for a few minutes. It doesn't work on all people though. I did my best (which, might I add, is exceptionally good) to mask my facial features into an indifferent, cocky smile. I thought about appearing ambitious and excited, but judging by what I know about him, he'd be most interested in someone who is unfazed by a tough interrogation. The tricky thing was to figure out who should talk first. Would it impress him if I said something, or would it make me look weak, as if I couldn't stand the silence?
After a few very long seconds he finally spoke, his deep voice controlled. "Miss Wentworth, you have been training here for nearly a decade." He didn't continue; he just stared at me with cold eyes.
"Yes. Almost ten years," I answered.
"What have you learned?"
I stared at him in disbelief. What kind of a question is that? That's like asking a doctor to tell you everything they've ever learned since kindergarten. "Would you like me to go into depth or just give you a run down? Ten years is a lot of information," I replied coolly.
"I will rephrase that. What are you best at?"
"That's hardly a less extensive topic," I said with an arrogant smile, "I am exceptional at language, manipulation, interrogation, problem-solving, and going undercover. I am excellent at everything though. Those are just the ones I am supremely accomplished at." I am not normally this cocky (I can't stand people who are this big-headed), but I knew that in order to impress Montgomery I needed to play the part of someone who is completely unperturbed.
"Language..." Montgomery repeated, "How many languages do you speak fluently?"
"Twelve," I answered carelessly, "and I also know all of the corresponding accents."
"Name them," he ordered.
"English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Polish, and Bulgarian. I am learning Swedish, Danish, and Greek."
He nodded slowly. "Speak French with a German accent."
I frowned and replied in French/German. "Well that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. Why on earth would I want to prance around in France with a German accent? The French aren't too fond of Germany even today and speaking with a German accent would only make them suspicious of me."
Montgomery looked impressed against his will at my good my accent was and replied to me in rapid Russian, "You make an excellent point. Tell me, where am I from based on the accent I'm using?"
I smiled. These questions are only too easy. "Scotland. You are speaking Russian as if you learned it around age seven."
Montgomery nodded. "Correct," he stated slowly, as if I had done something wrong by knowing the right answer. "Which language do you like best?"
This was not the sort of question I was expecting. What's the right way to answer? Maybe he was trying to see how I responded and should answer presumptuously. Maybe I should say the hardest one so he thinks I'm really good at that one. Or maybe, said a voice in my head, you should just be honest.
"Italian," I answered truthfully, "or French. Maybe Spanish, too."
Montgomery cocked his head to one side and narrowed his dark eyes at me. "Why?"
"Because..."I began, but was lost for words. It's hard to explain why you prefer a language over another. It's like trying to say why you like a certain color—you just do. "Because...when you speak it—it just rolls off your tongue."
"So you like them because they're easier than the others?"
"Not exactly, no," I tried to explain. "There's a beauty—a sort of finesse to the western European languages. It just sounds...nice. It's beautiful to listen to."
If Montgomery thought I was crazy, he was doing a really good job hiding it. I'm sure I sounded crazy, going on about beauty...why on earth didn't I just tell him I liked the easy ones?
"You say you're good at interrogation. What tactics did I use at the beginning of our meeting?"
"The informational overload with the silencing stare."
"Why is it used?"
"Because it's effective. It gives you a better understanding of how easy the suspect, or person you're interrogating, will be to crack. If they get squirmy with the silencing stare, you've got an easy one. In the case of the informational overload, one should only use that when they have actual information to cite that could scare them, otherwise you could risk them calling your bluff and losing the leverage."
Montgomery nodded and gave me a piercing glare. He seemed to be sizing me up. "Are you good at spotting lies?"
"The best," I replied with an arrogant smirk.
"I am going to tell you two things about myself and you are to pick out which one is the truth and which one is a lie."
"Alright then." I could feel my pulse quicken in excitement. This is one thing I thoroughly enjoyed doing. Aaron, Sami, Parker and I would practice with each other all the time. The trick was to notice the person's tell—that is, their sign that they are lying. The only problem is, Montgomery was very self-aware and doesn't seem like the type to let that slip.
"The FBI hired me before transferring me to the GGPC three years later." he stated without hesitation, staring directly into me eyes, "The first ever interrogation I performed alone was thirty-one years ago to the day."
This was hard. I wasn't going to get anywhere with body language—he's too smart to give me a tell. That meant that I would have to rely solely on his word usage. I considered what he said. Intuition told me that he was telling the truth for the second one because he used the word 'I'. When people lie they tend to avoid referencing themselves in that way. If the second one was the truth then that left—
"The first sentence. That's the lie."
Montgomery almost smiled. "Correct. I was a police officer, not an FBI agent," he paused and gave me a piercing glare, "How did you know I was lying?"
"You used the word 'I' in the second sentence."
He nodded slowly. "I must say you seem...quite capable," he paused, as if considering how to continue, "However, you and your friends seem to lack good judgment based on the complete and utter disregard of the rules set in place for your safety and the safety of others. The purpose of the GGPC is to protect, not to endanger. I only send agents on assignments if I have full confidence that they will not act recklessly."
"I would never be reck—"
"Last week, you and Miss Barnes snuck onto the roof of this twenty story building and climbed down using the window ledges as support. I believe that is the very definition of reckless."
"How in the world did you know about that?" I asked, completely bewildered. Sami and I had done that in the middle of the night. The only people who knew about it were Aaron and Parker. The only reason they didn't come was because Parker was writing a new computer program and Aaron hadn't finished his essay on observation. It was a ton of fun. Sami and I had raced to the bottom. She beat me by about ten seconds, something I still need to live down.
"I know everything that happens in this building. Everything."
"Well...technically Sami and I weren't in the building, we were on the roof so—"
"Enough." Montgomery didn't raise his voice, but the icy tone made it clear that I was done.
"This is not a game."
"I never said—" I began, but he sent me a glare that told me to shut up.
"I understand that you are very able as an agent, but if you go on an assignment where lives are at stake, I need to be one hundred percent certain that you will not take unnecessary risks," he stated menacingly.
"You can be." I promised, "The only reason why we sometimes do reckless things is because we can. Surely you can understand that."
He nodded, giving me a piercing look. We were silent for a minute before he asked me his last question.
"Who would you say, of the four of you, is the leader?"
I frowned, thinking. It's definitely not Parker. While he's intelligent, he's not very streetwise. Sami is my best friend, but of the four of us, she's definitely not the leader. She is a bit too impetuous and headstrong. While I could be considered leader material, of the four of us I'm not the leader (although I'm probably the second-in-command) because I don't make the final decisions. Aaron does. Aaron is the leader of our group. He is the one who keeps us together and we listen to him. He is also the most likable person I have ever met. He's not a stickler for the rules, but he does know where to draw the line between fun and stupid.
"Aaron. He's the leader."
Montgomery nodded. "Mr. Schmitt said the same thing," he said, "I have one more test for you. I've tested your interrogation, language, and accent skills. There is one more, probably the most important skill of an agent, especially one who is undercover. I'm going to test your acting skills. Tell me, were you anxious after seeing Mr. Schmitt exit my office?"
"A little." I answered, narrowing my eyes.
"That is because I told him to leave my office looking as terrified as possible," Montgomery smiled, "I hoped it would give you all reason to believe I was to be harshly interrogating you, when this has been far from harsh for my standards. I want you to act as if you did terrible this entire interrogation and now your hopes and dreams have been crushed forever."
I nodded and started to cry. Not a 'someone just died' cry but a 'how could I have done so badly' cry. I carefully slumped my shoulders and loosened my body to give me the 'I'm devastated' effect. I arranged my facial featured to give me the 'I'm so crushed but I don't want to show it' look.
"Very convincing," said Montgomery, "you are dismissed."
I stood up and left the room, being sure to walk quickly to give the appearance that I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
When I stepped out of his office, Sami and Aaron looked at me as if I were a ghost. I never cry, ever. I ran across the room and sat down next to Parker, who still looked pale. Then I proceeded to bury my face in my hands.
"Excellent performance," Parker muttered.
"You too," I whispered back, "I seriously did not know you were faking it."
Colette glanced from Aaron to Sami. "Who's next?" she asked brightly, unperturbed by my emotional appearance.
"I'll go," Aaron and Sami said in unison. They glanced at each other.
"I call going next," said Aaron quickly.
"What are you, seven years old?" said Sami sarcastically and strode towards the door, "and it's ladies first," she shot him a smile and walked into the room.
After about fifteen minutes, Sami emerges. I sat up; eager to see how Montgomery would have Sami act. She banged out of the room loudly and slamming the door behind her. She looked absolutely furious. It was pretty convincing, especially when she began kicking the wall hard.
Aaron silently walked over to the door and entered, his hands trembling. The moment the door closed, Sami stopped kicking the wall and smiled. "Nice acting you two. I thought he had, like, tortured you or something."
I smirked. "You too. If I didn't know you were acting, I would've thought you were actually mad."
"Well...I wasn't completely acting," Sami said truthfully, "That language test? Ugh, I wanted to shoot him in the face. Seriously, when will we need to know how to speak Dutch in a Spanish accent? Who even speaks Dutch anymore? You can't even see Dutchville on a globe because it's so small!"
"The Netherlands," hissed Parker, "and for your information, twenty-eight million Dutch-speaking individuals would disagree with you that no one speaks Dutch."
"I had to do French in a German accent," I replied with a superior smile at the looks of outrage on Sami's face.
"So I have to speak freaking Dutch like a Spaniard and little miss 'I know twelve languages' get the easiest two on the planet?!" Sami yelled incredulously.
"Yep!" I said cheerfully, "Which ones did you get Parker?" He and Sami know six languages, and Aaron knows nine.
"Portuguese in a French accent. It was relatively easy. I wonder what Colette had to speak on her final examination. Did you know Montgomery examined her personally? She was the only one he passed."
Sami rolled her eyes. "Really? Oh- we had no idea, it's not like she's told us this a thousand times," Sami said sarcastically, "Hey, Colette?"
Colette looked up; she had been on her phone. "Yes?"
"What language did you have to speak in your final?" Sami asked.
"Umm...wait a moment- let me think," Colette hesitated, remembering. It was eleven years ago after all.
"I had to speak Japanese like I was Greek and living in Russia," she said, "There's a reason I was the only one examined by him who passed," she added at our shocked expressions.
"What stuff did he ask you?"
"Everything. He started by testing me on interrogation, then language, then profiling, then..." Colette began and continued listing the various things. We asked her a lot of questions about the specifics. The way Colette retold the many extremities she went through to meet his standards made it seems as if Montgomery went very easy on us. After about fifteen minutes of hearing Colette's many stories about her interrogation, Aaron opened the door.
"Hey—c'mon in. Montgomery wants to talk to us all." Aaron looked completely unperturbed. He was walking with a sort of swagger I associated with someone who had just won a considerable amount of money, and he wore an arrogant smirk. He tipped me a wink as I sat down and I shot him an annoyed glare. What was up with him?
Apparently, Aaron had dragged four more chairs into the center of the room so we all had a place to sit. We took our seats and Colette, being the last person in the room, closed the door. I took a moment to put myself back into cocky 'I-can-do-anything' mode. In reality, I was feeling rather nervous. You never know what to expect with Montgomery.
The five of us looked up apprehensively at Captain Montgomery, who stared menacingly at us. After a long pause, he finally spoke. "After careful evaluation, I have come to the conclusion that the four of you are the best equipped for this job."
The tension in the room seemed to melt away as we let out a collective sigh of relief. I dropped the arrogant act and simply beamed. This is happening, I thought. We are going on an assignment. I glanced around at everyone else. Aaron was smirking in a manner that suggested he knew this all along. Sami had dropped the arrogant act and was now beaming brightly and sitting on the edge of her seat. Parker, however, had a curious, analytical look as he gazed unblinkingly at Montgomery through his glasses.
"Not only are you four best suited for the job, but you seem to work well as a team. Each of you brings a special skill to the table. Parker, you are extremely intelligent and your ability with computers is quite impressive. Your memory is quick and you seem to have a knack for knowing facts. You play by the book—something that some of the others," he paused and gave Aaron, Sami, and I a look, "...lack." He turned to look at me. "Meredith, you are a fast learner. You can easily adapt to your surroundings. You are also superbly accomplished in not only language, but also, more importantly, manipulation. That will greatly help your team in this assignment. You can also problem solve and compensate very well. You think outside of the box," he gave me a nod and then continued on to Sami, "Sami, you are extremely good at observation. You see things others miss. Also, profiling seems to be your strong suit. You are also good at getting the job done quickly and efficiently." Finally, he turns to Aaron. "Lastly, Aaron. You are probably the cleverest of everyone here. Your cunning personality fails to disappoint and your nonchalant attitude works well when you are manipulating others. You also have a knack for profiling and observation, but in a different way than Sami. You see the big picture and can point out what is relevant or not. You are also very good at distraction and acting, as you clearly proved in our little chat." He glanced at the rest of us, "For those of you who don't know Aaron managed to steal five of my awards off the walls during our interview before I even realized it. Quite impressive. The four of you together...it works out perfectly. There are, however, some things about the assignment that are unique.
"This assignment," Montgomery continued, "is very different than what the GGPC usually takes on. We normally work alongside the FBI or the CIA, assisting them and, in some cases, taking over for them whenever we have superior expertise. But in this case, it is the police department who have transferred this job."
Parker raised his hand and shook it eagerly. Montgomery gave him a strange look and said, "Mr. Schmitt, there is no need to raise your hand. What is it?"
Parker began to speak very fast, "There's nothing in the GGPC handbook that gives any reference to protocol for an assignment given by the local P.D.. I don't think it's within our jurisdiction to allocate agents whether certified or not on an assignment though the poli—"
"Mr. Schmitt, I don't believe you have any jurisdiction to allocate to me how to do my job." Montgomery berated, followed by an awkward pause.
"Sorry sir," muttered Parker.
"You better be." Montgomery said, shooting a death glare at Parker, "This is a unique case, which is why we're taking it. This is completely within the law and our jurisdiction."
"You're winding us up," said Aaron, "What exactly is this assignment and why do you need to send us? I'm sure there are lot's of certified agents up for the job."
Montgomery looked around at our eager, curious faces, and said, "In the town of Brigham, New Jersey three high school students have been murdered. All three were found dead in their own school, Elvira High—"
"The Elvira High?" asked Parker. I frowned, thinking. I knew that school; I just couldn't quite remember the details.
Montgomery raised his eyebrows. "So you've heard of it?"
"It's the most prestigious private school on the East Coast," I blurted out, remembering. "I read about it in America's Prep Schools and Private Schools. The tuition is insane—35 thousand dollars a year, I think."
"Actually," replied Parker quickly, "It's 37, 426 dollars. That book is outdated. And, it's the most expensive private school that is non-boarding."
My mind was spinning with thousands—no millions—of questions. It's extremely rare that a student is killed at a school, much less at a school like Elvira High. Why would the killer take such a risk? Why not wait until they left the school's grounds to kill them? It's possible that they were killed somewhere else, but why then put the bodies in the school?
Aaron had a skeptical look on his face. "Well—why do the police need our help? The GGPC usually doesn't deal with murders," he said. "I mean—if you think about it—the police has dealt with much worse than three murders."
"You're forgetting one detail," said Colette not unlike the way she is when she's giving us a lesson. "This is a private school that costs nearly forty grand a year and it's non-boarding. Now," she paused and looked over us rather like a teacher, "why do you think the police aren't allowed on this case."
I thought about it. A private non-boarding school costing over twenty thousand dollars was rare, especially when you take into account that a lot of the costs of boarding schools go to room and board. That must mean that this town—Brigham—is probably either very large, very rich, or both. Still, thirty-seven grand a year is a lot of money even if you are really rich. Which would mean that—
"It's the parents." I blurt out. "When parents spend as much money as some people make in a year on their kid's high school education, they have a lot of bargaining power. They wouldn't want their precious baby talking to the police about a murder investigation. I mean—they are paying thousand of dollars so their child gets a 'private' education. Plus, police don't quite have as much access to a private school as a public school because it isn't public property. And the Dean probably makes keeping the rich parents happy his top priority, so his cooperation with the police would be at a minimum."
Colette smiled. "Very good. Yes, Meredith is absolutely right—the police only have so much power above the school and without cooperation they can only go so far."
"But don't the parent's realize what's on the line?" asked Aaron angrily. "I mean—these are lives at stake here!"
"That isn't how they see it," replied Colette. "In their eyes, the murders will always happen to someone else."
"And," added Montgomery, "without the parent's and student's assistance, this investigation will not go very far."
"How do you know it isn't random?" inquired Sami. "If three people have been murdered wouldn't that be a good indication that it's a serial murder and not specific targets?"
"Normally, yes," answered Montgomery. "And that is what we thought when we first heard about it. But we have reason to believe that these are not acts of randomness. For one thing, the victims were different ages and genders, and most serial killers target certain types of people. I believe these are revenge killings."
"Why revenge?" asked Sami.
"Because," said Montgomery with the air of someone about to say something of importance, "the killer left behind a note next to each body." Montgomery pulled out a peace of paper from the large file folder and continued, "The first person murdered was a sophomore—Elena Merritt—she was shot in the head. Here's a picture of first note."
He handed us the photo and Aaron took it and held it out so we all could read it.
It was neatly typed, just one simple line.
With murder comes a price to pay, if you hope to get away.
"It rhymes?" said Sami, outraged.
"They all do," replied Montgomery gravely. "The second murder was of senior Jessica Levant—shot."
He handed us another photo. This one was, again, typed.
Long ago you made the wrong turn, but maybe now you will finally learn.
"And the last person was freshman Dwight Paley—died from lethal injection."
Lying there is such a sin; did you think I would give in?
"So," said Montgomery taking back the photos and stowing them in his file, "we need to find out everything we can about these students, which is why the police are sending us in. There is one more thing you need to know. Based on the location of the bodies found and the narrow time window, we have reached the conclusion that the killer is someone in the school—either a student or a teacher," he paused, staring at us. "Your assignment is to go undercover in Elvira High and catch this killer."
"That's why we needed teenagers," added Colette.
"Also," continued Montgomery, "as of now you four are officially agents, and will be treated as such. We will not be breathing down your necks—the GGPC has far more important things to worry about than a murder case. I will give you this," he handed Aaron a large file folder. "That contains all the information about the murders that we have so far. Also," he handed Parker a USB drive, "this will give you access to our ID printer. And—will I ever regret this—here are the keys to one of the company cars because you will be driving yourselves there," he handed them to Aaron. "Not one single scratch. In addition, I also have credit cards that are only to be used when necessary. If I see one single charge for anything unrelated to this assignment..." he muttered and handed the four of us grey credit cards. As I took it, all the glorious possibilities flooded through my mind. I could buy so many things with this card. I grinned at Sami, who grinned back.
"Two more things," said Montgomery. "You may go down to the ground floor and choose one gun for each of you. I very much hope you don't use it—you're in a school—but it would be unwise not to have one. Lastly," he reached into his desk drawer, "here are four temporary GGPC badges." He handed us the badges. They are a lot smaller than the regular ones, but impressive all the same.
"When will we get the real badges?" asked Sami.
"If you successfully complete this assignment, you all will get official ones. You should leave soon, though. The drive will take about four hours. That is all." We all stood up. "One more thing: Aaron is the unofficial leader. He seems to show a great aptitude for leadership skills, and I trust he will make good choices."
We all began walking towards the door. I was giddy with excitement. We were going undercover in a high school to catch a killer. Not too bad for a first assignment.
A/N
Hello everyone!
I hope you guys liked this chapter. The four of them are off to go on their first assignment! Now that the plot is established, I can work from there.
The past two weeks have been super crazy. Finals ended, I got my braces off (finally!), and I got a job working at events with my park district.
Thanks for reading! If you liked this chapter, don't forget to click on the tiny star at the bottom of the screen and vote—it means a lot to me. And I have been getting some really nice comments, so thank you if you sent me one.
Question of the Day: What do you think the riddles mean? Any thoughts as to how the four of them will try to go undercover in Elvira High?
Also, let me know what you think of my writing, how I can improve, and stuff like that. It really helps me.
Have a super fantastic week and don't forget to smile!
💜Sarah Grace
Expect an update every other Saturday
Next update: 2/13 (at the very latest, I might update earlier)