This can't be possible, how does he know about that? No one has access to that information I made sure of it, the program helped me delete anything left in my past. I suspected that Morgan had people on the outside feeding him information, but this goes way too deep he not only knows about my surname but also my dad too? If he knows this much how much more could he know? I began to feel my breath becoming unsteady, my chest felt tight, my mind began to race and soon became cluttered like I couldn't think straightly, and my heart was pounding and beating so fast that it felt like it was trying to rip a hole and jump out, I felt like curling myself into a ball and hiding away.
"W-Who told you about that?" I said trying my best at an act of confidence, I could tell looking at the mayor's smug grin that he knew he had me cornered. He wasn't just one step ahead of me, it was like he had been playing me since the start, not even before our arrival.
"Don't go digging too deep Ms. White I don't want you becoming a sinner. I don't want you and your partner getting hurt." Mayor Johnson said his eyes piercing directly through me. "Well look at the time, I must get going I have a lot planned for you and your friend." Mayor Johnson said.
After Morgan left my breath slowly became steady again, my chest began to release itself from the tight pressure it held on me, my mind began to focus and I was able to think once once again. Morgan , just how far does his reach spread? No, I can't waiver, especially at a time like this. After we find Tim our main objective should be finding out just how much the Mayor knows, but confronting him would be stupid because if he finds out that we are on to him all the secrets I've spent so long burying will come out and be exposed to the world.
Just how much money do these guys have, I mean look at this place I thought while looking at the school. The school itself wasn't very massive It was only one story and was smaller than most other public high schools, but the exterior of the school was beautiful. It was composed of peach-colored bricks, green stairs leading up to the school that had no rust on them at all, and the scenery was breathtaking: A bridge on top of a river, an expanse of trees as far as the eye could see, and what's more the kids were outside talking, running around and having a blast without any technology. Well, I guess when you grow up in a small place like this you find the little things more entertaining. I started making my way inside when I was greeted by a very average man in all manners of the word.
"Hello, Tim Dean the principal of this fine establishment. Who might I have the chance of speaking to?" He asked me reaching his hand out without breaking eye contact.
"I noticed you didn't give me your last name, is there a reason for that or do you just not have one," I said, obviously if he didn't tell me his last name it was for a reason, but I asked because I was hoping I could pick up a slight hesitation from him or an answer by looking at his eyes.
"Apologies, I don't usually like to give out too much, especially to people who are unknown factors," Dean said without the slightest hesitation. "How about you give me your name and I'll listen to your request about why you're here."
"I'm Detective Ace or you can just call me Ace if you like. I'm sorry but I also don't feel comfortable giving out my surname to others." I said attempting to match his nonchalant energy.
"I guess that settles things then, we can discuss matters while we head to my office," Dean said.
While we were heading into his office he was showing me around the school, as I thought not only was the school nice from the outside, but the inside was also pretty incredible. The halls were clean, with floors so shiny that when looking down it's almost like another you are staring back up at you. Dean showed me a good majority of the school before we arrived at his office. I made a mental note about the most notable places that we visited that a high school senior would be interested in.
"Hmmm, your office is very uhhh... interesting," I said trying for my best attempt at a compliment. I mean that's all I could say seeing how his office was nearly empty and lacking in any sort of artistic design.
"Thank you for the compliment I supposed, I tried my hardest to design it to the best of my ability," Dean said blankly. "So from what you discussed you want unrestricted access to go and interview and question our students here, am I getting that right?
"Yes, we have an investigation going on right now and I would like the chance to go talk to some students preferably seniors and juniors about the ongoing case," I said.
"Ok, that sounds good to me". Dean said after a while of silence.
"Wait seriously? You're just going to give me unrestricted access to move around the school and question students here? You're not afraid that I'd do something to harm them?" I asked puzzled. For him to just let me wander around and question anybody his either very confident in himself or his unreleasicly stupid I said in my mind.
"I have nothing to worry about because this school no I should rather say that this town does not accept sinners, those who have sinned shall face their due punishment," Dean said ominously.
The tension in the room was slowly building up, I decided to take my leave after getting a full report on every student, what grade they were in, and their club activities. I never took Dean as the religious type I thought while walking, he doesn't strike me as someone who puts his faith in higher powers or does he mean sinners in another context, no that can't be possible the term of a sinner is heavily tied into religion. This is something I have to relay back to Ruben, too bad our lines are still down I'll just have to wait until we get back to discuss what we have so far.
I walked into the school cafeteria to see many students decorating it with posters, banners, and confetti. I saw a student on a ladder attempting to hang up a banner that read "LETS GO PINEWOOD SEALS!!!" If I wasn't mistaken that should be their football team. Oh that's right this should be right around the time of homecoming, so they have a game coming up. I decided to go and approach the student on the ladder.
"Hey, so you guys have your big homecoming game coming up huh?" I asked trying not to sound awkward, because football is one thing I find to be abnormally uninteresting especially high school football.
"Yeah once we win this again this will be like our...honestly we've won so much I don't even know how many times we won." The boy said laughing.
"Seriously? That's impressive you guys must have a very good football team if you are this confident about landing another victory." I said
"I mean yeah of course I'm the starting tight end, and coach said I'm one of the best tight ends his seen so far in his career." The boy said while climbing down.
"Then is it okay if I ask you some questions about your game? I'm Detective Ace and I'm running an investigation on your school's accomplishments, especially in the athletic department" I lied.
"My bad my name is Finn Oaks, yeah we can sit down if you want." The boy said.
"Finn Oaks you're a senior this year correct?"
"Yep"
"Were you friends with any seniors last year when you were a junior?"
"Yeah since I was on the football team I practically knew every senior."
"Did you ever have any kind of interaction with a student who went here named Tim Jacobs?"
"Nah, that name doesn't sound familiar."
"Are you sure, he was a senior here he was Caucasian around 5'10."
"Ok, I'll still be here for another hour or two, so if you can help me go around asking other students that would be very helpful." I sighed.
"Alrighty I got you, Miss," Finn said
"Finn I do have one more question."
"Shoot"
"You said you won the homecoming game last year, right? What team did you guys play against?" I asked Finn.
"I think we uh- no we played against...We played against th-." Finn's nose started to bleed and his face was getting bright red as he tried harder to remember.
"That's okay, I need to go ask some teachers some questions anyways I'm going to let you get back to your friends, sorry for holding you up," I said.
It looked like his head was going to explode just from trying to remember who he played against last year. Does he just have a really bad memory? No, it looked like he was trying his hardest to break through a mental block, if he probably tried any harder he would have hurt himself badly.
I started going around interviewing more students and teachers about the homecoming game and the disappearance of Tim, but I kept getting the same answer:
"Tim? Who's that?"
"I've never met a Tim before."
"Last year's game? Uh, I know the team that we played against wasn't too good."
"I did make it to the game, but if I'm being real here I don't even remember much about the game."
How does no one at all remember Tim or the homecoming game? They could be covering for his disappearance to cover the fact that a crime happened in this so-called "perfect little town". I need evidence to figure out how Tim disappeared the same day the homecoming game happened. I have to get into Deans office and access his computer. How do I get him out of his office though, wait a science lab that's it! I thought. I ran as fast as I could into the science lab making sure I couldn't be seen, luckily for me, the class was empty. I immediately started searching the room until I found what I was looking for Hydrogen and Oxygen gas. I began releasing them together into a tube and ignited it, causing a loud boom to go off.
"What was that!" I heard a voice yell.
"Everyone calm down, don't panic It's most likely nothing, but just in case I called Principle Dean over to have a look at what happened." Another voice said.
This is my chance I thought I ran and hid behind a cabinet close to the door, and when Dean came inside I immediately snuck out behind them using the distraction to close and jam the door with a broom I grabbed. I started running and got into the Deans office shutting the door behind me.
"Ok Let's see what your hiding," I said under my breath.
What is this?!? Theirs nothing on Tim here, no pictures of him in previous yearbooks, no class schedule, and no clubs listing Tim as a member. The strangest thing of all though is that there was no record of anyone coming into the school on October 5th of 2023. I looked through it and every year it's the same, no other schools or nobody, in general, has been coming into the town for the past homecoming games. If no one has been coming here, then that would make me and Ruben the only visitor in god knows how many years. Then why go through all the trouble of getting everything set up if you're not going to play against anyone?
"He-Help me please, I be-beg of you." A low whisper came from the carpet beneath me.
My heart stopped what is that, is someone trapped underneath me? Before I could pull open the carpet I heard banging at the door.
"WHOS IN THEIR?!? GET THE HELL OUT OF THEIR NOW."
(Next Chapter:???)