“Indeed,” Principal Mary Rogers said. “I can’t believe it.” She closed her eyes then reopened them, as if she hoped to wake up from a bad dream.
“Still there,” I told her.
“Indeed,” she echoed her words from earlier.
“What can you tell me about the owner of the locker?” I asked her.
“Well, technically the schoolownsthe locker, Detective, and the kids are permitted to use them.” She tilted her head to the side and lightly tugged on her ear. “This particular locker hasn’t been assigned this year. It’s one of the few unassigned in this hallway.”
“Someone knew the locker combination,” Adrian said. “Do you have record of who was assigned to this locker last year?”
“He or she would’ve graduated,” Principal Rogers said. “All these lockers in this hallway belong to the freshman class. They’ll keep the same locker for their four years of high school. Before the seniors graduate, we check their lockers to make sure they’re not damaged. Then we assign the lockers to the next group of incoming freshmen. We don’t keep lists of previous assignments. We’ve never needed to do so.”
“Someone knew this locker wasn’t being usedandthey knew the combination.” I looked back at the locker and watched as our team dusted for prints inside and out. “Anything we can use?” I asked.
“No, sir,” Officer Kasey answered.
“Video footage?” I asked.
“The assistant principal is looking through it now with an officer, but we have no idea how long the drugs have been in the locker. We haven’t had the K-9 unit in for several months so it’s hard to say. The videos are only saved for thirty days before they’re recorded over to save space in the mainframe.” Principal Rogers ran her fingers over her pearl necklace nervously. “I don’t like this, Detectives. This isn’t a joint or two a kid has tried to sneak in. That,” she pointed to the stash of drugs that officers were photographing and documenting before it was taken to the evidence room at the station, “was brought in with the intent to deal. I do not want dealers setting up shop inside my high school.”
“Neither do we,” I told her. “We need to interview any staff members that have access to the video equipment, the locker assignments, locker combinations, or have master keys to open any locker.”
A small woman came running down the hallway toward us. “Mrs. Rogers, news vans from Cincinnati and Dayton just pulled into the school parking lot.”
“I will make them available to you later today,” the principal told us, “but right now I need to do damage control.” She turned away and started walking back toward the school office. “Don’t buzz them in,” I heard her say. “They can stay outside until I’ve had a chance to speak to the superintendent.” I couldn’t help but smile when I thought about the vultures being locked out in the cold.
“Well, I guess there’s nothing left for us to do now except to help them bag and tag the evidence. Then we can get some lunch,” Adrian said.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I have lunch plans with Josh,” I told Adrian.
“Does he know this?” Adrian asked.
He had me there. Josh had no clue I was coming. He was regimented about his day and might not like me dropping in the salon during business hours, even with delicious food, but I felt like I needed to try. Something in the way he reacted to Billy Sampson’s name struck me. It was almost like he folded in on himself rather than standing proud like I was used to seeing him. I didn’t want to wait until after work to talk to him because it would allow him too much time to bury his emotions.
“It’s a surprise,” I told Adrian. “I’m hoping it’s a good one.”
I sat at the counter and drank a cup of coffee while I waited for Emma to cook mine and Josh’s food. I had no idea what Josh might be in the mood for so I just picked something and hoped he liked it. If not, I’d take it home and reheat it for dinner.
“Long time, no see,” said a familiar voice on my right.
I turned and looked into the bright blue eyes of the man I used to share a home with. His eyes used to make my heart race when we first got together, but any romantic feelings I felt for him had been gone for more than a year–even longer if I thought hard enough about it. Instead, I saw a handsome guy with a great personality who passionately loved his job as the town veterinarian. I also saw a guy who deserved to find the man who was meant for him.
“Yeah, I haven’t talked to you since before Christmas,” I replied. I had run into Kyle at The Brew when I showed up hoping to run into a certain platinum blond with hazel eyes. Josh and I had been split up for over two weeks at the time, although I guess we weren’t a couple at the time, and I was dying to see him again. Josh saw me having coffee with Kyle and got the wrong idea. I chased him out of the coffee shop and we took the first steps at amending our fragmented…something,as we both called it.
“I’m glad things worked out for you and Josh.” His soft words reminded me that he had been nursing some frustrations that morning also.
“No luck with gamer dude?” I asked. I was shocked to hear that Kyle had started playing video games to pass the time once we broke up. Some guy he talked to online grabbed his attention and Kyle couldn’t get him out of his system. Kyle wanted to meet the guy in person, but the guy disappeared before Kyle could mention it.
“Not yet, but I’m not giving up.” Kyle smiled, but I noticed that his normal twinkle wasn’t present in his eyes.
The waitress, Daniella, brought over the carryout bag with my order in it. After I paid her, I turned back to Kyle and patted him on the shoulder. “I hope everything works out for you.” And I meant it. He was a good man who deserved to find happiness.
“See you around,” Kyle told me before he placed his order with Daniella.
Josh was nowhere in sight when I walked into the salon. I noticed that his two partners in crime were also missing, so I suspected there was a pow wow of some sort going on. I didn’t think they’d go upstairs in the middle of the day, which left the small kitchenette in the rear of the salon. As I approached the room, I picked up a piece of their conversation.
“Babe, we would’ve told you if we knew that asshole had returned to town. We’d never let you get caught off guard like that. How in the hell did we not know he was back?” Meredith asked. “Are you okay, Jazz?”
