A single lie discovered is enough to create doubt in every truth expressed.
~Anonymous
***
Marcus, Jeff, Michelle and Luis exited school in a hurry once the day was over. The worry on their faces was noticeable, each one trying to make their pace quicker than the other. Their minds went back to the time Calvin had called Michelle later that day.
"Come to Old Bob's Abandoned Garage after school. Make sure nobody's following you. And for your sake and safety, stay out of Stevens' sight."
As they approached Old Bob's Abandoned Garage, they tried to guess why they were being called. Each one was so occupied in their own thoughts that Michelle was almost run over by a car while crossing the road. Jeff was the most pissed of the four of them. Everything was surely going perfectly until Calvin decided to call them. Luis noticed him fidgeting and held his hand, calming Jeff instantly.
"We should not enter the garage from the front gate," Michelle said as the garage came into sight.
"We can search for an opening in the fence. I'm pretty sure there is one," Jeff suggested.
They all nodded and made their way to the back of the garage where they found an opening big enough for them and sneaked in through it. Once inside, they moved stealthily, using cars as their shields and keeping an eye out for any other people who might have been there.
They reached the shed they had hid before and squatted being the iron sheets. Michelle then dialled Calvin's number. They all suddenly jumped when they heard a ringtone sound from behind them. The four then heaved a sigh of relief when they saw Calvin, who was looking at them with the same expression of surprise on his face.
"Calvin, you gave us quite a scare!" Michelle started. Calvin offered her his hand for support and she took it, hoisting herself up. The other three thrust themselves up and looked around.
"Yeah," Jeff chimed in. "With that ginger hair of yours, you look like a scarecrow. Your eyes were actually about to pop out."
"Sorry for the fright," Calvin apologised. He scanned his eyes around the area and then turned back to the students. "Has anyone followed you?" The four shook their heads vigorously. Calvin then motioned with his finger for the four to follow him and they went up to the back corner of the garage. There was a trap door on the ground. Calvin went ahead and motioned for them to enter. To his astonishment, the four teenagers took a step backwards.
"How do we know if this isn't a trap?" Marcus asked.
"There is someone in there. You'll have to take my word for it," Calvin answered them.
"I'm claustrophobic. I can't enter there," Michelle spoke, and the three boys nodded in agreement. They were afraid to enter an unknown room, especially one that was underground. Calvin looked at them inquisitively and shrugged in approval. He then went to the trap door and called whoever was inside out.
The four took another step backwards when Maxwell emerged from the trap door. Alarmed, Luis grabbed a steel rod that was nearby and pointed it to Maxwell, ready for attack. Calvin sensed the tension and stepped in-between the two parties.
"Okay, let's calm down everyone," he told them.
"What's this puta doing here?" Luis asked, the rod still pointed at Maxwell.
"Relax. He and I are only victims," Calvin replied.
Jeff stepped forward. "Victims? Victims of what?"
Calvin glanced at Maxwell and nodded? Maxwell then took out his phone and played the audio, the voices cutting through Calvin's flesh even deeper than before.
The four were left speechless when the audio was over. They could not believe what they had just heard. Their leap of faith in Stevens had almost cost them. Marcus was the most shook out of all of them. He was the one who had made the decision to tell Stevens what they knew and the guilt coursed through his blood, igniting negative emotions along the way. He couldn't take it anymore. He marched forward to Luis and grabbed the steel rod from him. He then went to the nearest junk of a car and started hitting its bunker and windows, shouting all kinds of curses. Luis had to pull him back to stop him from doing any further damage.
"You need to chill out man! With all that noise you're going to get the whole neighbourhood here!" Maxwell scolded him.
"It was my fault. It was all my fault," Marcus kept on muttering to himself, his hands on his head. Michelle approached him and held him by the shoulders.
"It is not your fault Marcus. You didn't do anything. We all trusted the wrong person," she tried to comfort him.
"Yeah," Jeff added. "We were fools for thinking he was a good guy."
"Me too," Calvin said, his eyes gazing far away, absent-minded.
Marcus eyes suddenly widened with realisation. The five looked at him with concern as he paced up and down.
"Guys," he started, his tone serious. "I am now really sure Stevens may have been involved with Sheila's death."
"What! How?" Michelle exclaimed.
"Think about it. Maxwell here had said that Stevens was at the parking lot at the time of Sheila's death. What if he was covering for either Arnold or Clement who had gone inside to murder her?"
Marcus' logic surprisingly made sense. They let it sink into their minds for a while.
"But that doesn't answer the question of why," Maxwell was the first to react.
"Maybe she heard him or the others say something incriminating at his office. After all, his office is just next to the hallway," Jeff guessed.
"Alright my people. Maybe we might have gone overboard with this thing. I haven't really seen the three actually murder someone," Calvin commented.
"Obviously you didn't cause you were kept in the dark about the true nature of their work," Luis replied.
"But where are we going to get the evidence of our claims? You do realise that Timothy's still a bad cop," Michelle questioned.
"Yeah he is, but he is a bad cop to the other side of bad, not Stevens',"Marcus countered.
"We have a problem," Maxwell said, stepping forward. He had a look of panic on his face. "If you go ahead with that you might actually put a target on my back."
Everyone kept quiet, Maxwell's words launching them into deep thought. This theory had crossed out Maxwell as a suspect, but the four teens still had their doubts about him. Given their experience with Stevens', they were certain that maybe he would double-cross them. However, if he had lied to The Shadow and they found out, he would then be in serious trouble.
"I think that we should all sleep on this," Calvin suggested. "We can regroup here tomorrow to figure out how we can attack this in the best way possible. You closed school today for the summer holiday, right?"
"Yeah. I support him," Jeff replied. He needed a break from all these things that were happening.
"Okay then. We'll come here at exactly ten in the morning. Goodbye," Michelle told Calvin.
"Goodbye," Calvin answered the four as they left the garage. After they left, Maxwell approached him.
"They are never going to trust me, are they?" He asked him.
Calvin turned to him with a weak smile.
"Trust must be earned."