The Suspects

On Monday, during the morning Math period, Clarissa had relocated her desk to the centre of the classroom again, far away from Sineas. She did not even look at him as Mr. Sawyer dictated notes. He had forgotten his Teacher's Textbook for the third time.

Sineas looked ahead at Clarissa. She was wearing a white top and a black, silk skirt. He could not see her face but he guessed she looked as calm as a light breeze. He kept staring at her so much that his teacher had to remind him to keep his eyes in his book.

It had been a loud morning. For ten minutes of the beginning of the lesson, students had been discussing Justin. Not in whispers but blatantly tossing around threats about whoever had killed him. One said something about the killer's mother being a deranged slut. Mr. Sawyer had to seek assistance from the no-nonsense Mr. Regwizini to restore order in the classroom. The lesson had finally started smoothly with fifteen minutes of Mr. Sawyer's time having been stolen by the vengeful students.

Moments later there was a heavy knock on the door. Mr. Sawyer opened it and in came two police officers fully dressed in their uniform. One was so tall that even after taking off his hat, he still had to lower his head a little to enter the room. Sineas got the strange feeling that he had seen this one before. The small moustache was willing to sell the officer out. The other officer however was much shorter and to Sineas' Surprise, he was black! For Sineas, it was like being the last species but then by some supernatural twist, you find out you're not alone. His face was completely hairless. He had short hair and marble-like eyes. No matter how much he hardened his face, Sineas could note that he was very young.

Sineas brought his eyes back to the taller officer. The moustache…that moustache, he thought. After thirty seconds of hard thinking, the moustache finally revealed to him that this was none other than Inspector Charles himself. The same officer who had arrived at their house following the death of his father. Sineas however was curious as to what they were doing in his classroom as the inspector whispered into Mr. Sawyer's ear just in front of the door. The shorter officer, on the other hand, was clasping the edge of his hat tightly in front of his waist. His frowning face slowly browsed the classroom, trying to look as experienced as possible. Sineas' heart froze for a split-second. He noticed the inspector and his teacher glance at him but briefly before returning to their whispers. They continued this routine for another minute.

Finally, Mr. Sawyer spoke. 'Sineas,' he called him from the corner of his mouth. 'Can you please step outside with these gentlemen?'

His heart did not delay the drumbeat as he began to stand up. What could they possibly want with him? Maybe Inspector Charles wanted to give him the good news that his mother was finally going to be released? He concealed his smile while making his way to the front of the classroom. The shorter police officer opened the door for him. He looked over his shoulder and saw the inspector whisper again into Mr. Sawyer's ear.

Mr. Sawyer turned his eye to the row in the centre of the classroom. 'Clarissa. Please follow these two gentlemen outside.'

Like Sineas, she also looked confused, and frightened. Nevertheless, she obeyed the instruction and followed closely behind Inspector Charles.

Sineas and Clarissa were walking side-by-side but none said a word to the other. They did not even look at each other. The police officers were three metres ahead of them, leading the way to the exit of the school building. A flashback of the police station in Breechwood splashed instantly in Sineas' mind. He shut it out right there and then. He did not want his mind to wander back to that day.

As they descended the steps, Sineas was now convinced that they were going to the police station. He thought of running in the opposite direction. He got rid of this thought too. Judging by Inspector Charles' age, he could outrun him by a mile, but he wasn't sure about the other officer. He looked like he had chosen the police force over the Olympics but had been good enough for both.

The officers led Sineas and Clarissa to the nearest table in the lunch area. Since it was quite hot, they sat by a table which was covered by shade. Sineas and Clarissa sat beside each other with their backs turned to The Thinker. Sineas on the left and Clarissa on the right. Across Sineas was the short police officer and opposite Clarissa was Inspector Charles.

The inspector took off his hat and placed it on the table. His partner did the same as if this was an unwritten ritual to be observed within the force. The inspector's eyes moved between Clarissa and Sineas for a moment. He rubbed his mouth then cleared his throat twice. He said, 'Alright, let's get this show on the road, kids. I am inspector Charles and this is my deputy; James. I don't know if you still remember me, Sineas, from about a decade ago?'

He nodded. He was still fighting his smile. He clearly could not wait any longer for the good news.

The inspector continued, 'Okay, as you know, your schoolmate, Justin Foyer was murdered last week and his body was sliced up into six different parts: the head, the arms, the legs and the torso. The pieces were found at a bus stop in WindleDrive. The legs were placed on the ground, the torso on the seat of the bench, the arms beside it and the head was balanced on top of the bench and secured onto it with his intestines. I'm pretty sure the killer did that for "comedic" reasons. However, our investigations have shown us that Mr. Foyer was not murdered at the bus stop but a short distance from it and the killer brought back the pieces to create his…artistic display.' the inspector finished and began rubbing his balding head.

Clarissa was now looking outside the school towards the pavement. One of her eyes did not waste time exposing a curious tear.

Sineas' presumptuous smile did not make it. It had vanished into thin air.

The inspector continued, 'Now, we've been conducting interviews like these with some of the other students at their houses but since you're the last ones on the list, we decided to go ahead and get it over with right here. We've talked to Justin's teachers, friends, closest friends and now…his enemies,' he concluded, tapping his fingers on the table.

Clarissa wiped her eye. 'I'm sorry, but did you say Enemies?!'

The Inspector scratched his nose. 'You dated Justin, Miss Sherman, am I right?'

Her entire body jittered nervously. 'Yes, but that was for about two months.'

'And then he broke up with you?'

She shook her head vehemently, 'No! I broke it off! Where did you even get this information? Oh, I know…' she folded her arms on the table, 'It's from those two brats; Sabrina and Doreen, right?'

Inspector Charles said, 'You must understand, Miss Sherman why we would consider this revelation into our investigation.'

'A two-month relationship?!'

'Where did you get that scar?' the inspector asked her.

She choked. She ran her fingers on the bandage above her eye.

Sineas realised that this was the first time he was seeing it.

'I fell,' she answered.

Deputy James was completely silent. It was as though he was just there to observe.

The inspector grinned at Clarissa. 'I'm sure you did, Miss Sherman. Are you sure it wasn't from a certain someone fighting to stay alive?'

She shot to her feet.

'Sit down, Miss Sherman,' Deputy James finally spoke. His voice was smooth but it had a certain power in it.

Clarissa immediately sat down and folded her arms. She pouted heavily and looked in the opposite direction.

The inspector grinned at her. 'Don't worry, I'll get back to you, Miss Sherman.' He turned his grin to Sineas. 'Sineas Murphy.'

Sineas was twiddling his thumbs under the table, his eyes staring on top of it.

'You got into a fight with Mr. Foyer on Tuesday last week, am I correct?' the inspector asked him.