Rigged

1 Aubrey Taylor looked up to the big man blocking her way. “I’d love to pass by please…,” she said as her eyes darted boldly past his broad and muscular body, “… Mr. Burrows.” She absorbed every detail on his uniform. She had immediately seen the tag with his name and Shinzo’s logo and saved it in her memory. “I can’t let you through,” Burrows said in a voice that vibrated so heavily that Aubrey could feel her heart tremble. Damn Keith, she thought. Where are you? I need you! She showed Burrows her badge. “Detective Taylor. Homicide,” she said calmly, assuming the guard would now let her into Grenfill High School. The coarsely built guard securely read her badge and far more carefully than Aubrey expected. “Mrs. Taylor, this school is currently under the responsibility of the Shinzo JCS intervention team. I’m sorry but I can’t let you in.” “I need to speak to the director,” Aubrey said ignoring his remark. “Philip Norman.” Burrows looked at her sternly. “Director Norman has been suspended.” “His replacement then, Redmond Norris?” she said persistently. She made an effort to slip past Burrows into the hallway, but Burrows’ big hands closed around her waist. “Director Norman is not here and his replacement has no time,” Burrows grumbled as he pushed Aubrey back out. Of course she knew Philip Norman was suspended. She had no reason to keep him at the police station any longer, so he had to go home. Even though he didn’t want to. He had to. Time would tell whether that was the right decision. However, Shinzo JCS itself had drawn conclusions and put Norman on hold. Now it was up to Aubrey to reconnect with Redmond Norris and Alex Thomas. The presence of Shinzo JCS’s intervention team here at Grenfill College came as an unpleasant surprise to her. “Okay, if Norris doesn’t have time I’d like to speak to Alex Thomas.” Burrows slowly shook his head. Annoyed, Aubrey reached for her phone. She hadn’t used his number for a while and doubted he would be willing to speak to her again. Fortunately, he answered immediately. “Coach Thomas?” she asked. “I have a, um, minor problem here.” She looked up to gauge Burrows’ reaction. But he didn’t budge. She listened briefly to what Alex Thomas told her. Then gave her phone to Burrows and said, “Listen to what the coach has to tell you.” “Don’t bother,” Burrows growled without even bothering to reach for her phone. “The director does not determine who can or cannot enter here. And certainly not the coach.” She looked at the Shinzo guard in disbelief. “Well?” she sneered at Alex. “And now what?” “I’ll come to you,” Alex Thomas sighed. While waiting for the coach, she looked around the square. The atmosphere was unpleasantly grim. Several guards from Shinzo JCS were walking around. Although they tried not to show their guns too flashy, Aubrey saw right away that the guards were armed. Upon the tiles of the schoolyard, she saw two faded drawings that her colleagues on the forensics team had drawn around the bodies of Jake Moncha and Trinity Witherspoon. The alleged suicide of Jake Moncha. That was where all the misery she and her colleagues had now gotten into had started. At this time there were no students outside the school. They were all inside now. She looked involuntarily at the plethora of cameras. It seemed that everything was working normally again. On the one hand, a pity about Whitaker’s work; on the other hand, it might be for the better. She couldn’t imagine the students being able to walk around here unsupervised. Not these students … “Mrs. Taylor?” Thomas asked formally. “Alex! Thank you for coming over to speak to me.” Alex Thomas looked timidly at the guard who was even taller and more solidly built than the well-trained coach. “Unfortunately I don’t have much time, so I propose that we meet this afternoon after classes. Then I will have plenty of time to discuss all kind of things with you.” The way Burrows looked at him and unabashedly overheard the conversation made him nervous. Aubrey would have preferred to have that conversation right now. But she knew better. “Fine. Where do we meet?” Before Alex could respond, she realized that not only Burrows was listening. The many cameras at Grenfill High were not only used to keep an eye on the young offenders who served their sentence here in semi-freedom, but were undoubtedly also used to record conversations as she and coach Thomas had right now, right here. “You know what? I’ll send you a text message later.” Alex nodded understandingly. “Please do.” He watched Aubrey until she left the schoolyard. “Does the interim director know about this?” Burrows asked. “Norris?” Alex asked. Burrows’s almost gruff look made Alex nervous. “Redmond knows everything,” he said truthfully. Burrows continued with a stoic look: “I was talking about the interim director. Duncan Bradley.” “I, um, I’m going to tell him later,” Alex said. “After class,” he called over his shoulder as he walked away quickly. Burrows tapped a message to interim director Bradley on his smartphone. “Do that,” he muttered. But Coach Thomas was too far away to hear him. Disappointed, Aubrey got into her black SUV. The presence of Shinzo JCS’s intervention team at Grenfill High School had taken her by surprise. Stupid. After Philip Norman had told her a few things about Grenfill High, she should at least have taken that into account. Now she was lagging behind once again. Nevertheless. Admittedly, the conversation she wanted to have with Alex Thomas and Redmond Norris could not take place due to Burrows’ rigid attitude. Luckily she was able to meet up with Alex Thomas later that day. She could still see him in front of her. There he stood, like a schoolboy, next to the great Burrows. A good opportunity for him to experience how his students felt standing next to him, Aubrey chuckled. Alex’s whole demeanor radiated displeasure. It was clear to her that the coach was not happy with the presence of the intervention team. The knock on her window sounded almost like a drum roll. Aubrey was startled by the unexpected sound. “f**k!” she cried. “Can’t you knock like a normal person? Or gently tap the window?” FBI agent Dustin Kramer pointed his finger at Aubrey. “This afternoon. You and me. At the station Taylor!” “Charmer,” Aubrey bitterly replied. Kramer wanted to say something in return, but did not get the chance. His colleague quickly pulled him into the schoolyard by his sleeve. “This afternoon, you can go ahead, and do all you want to do,” Merlyn Kramer said. “For now we will consult director Bradley first.”