The Night Shift (13 page)

"Hmmmm…well, guess that answers that question," Teneire admitted. "Now what exactly did you do with that knife when Jess gave it to you?"

"What do you think I did?!" Nick yelled. "I just really used it until mine came!"

"Uh huh…and what did you do when your knife came?"

"You trying to be stupid or something? I gave Jess hers back. Duh!"

Heh, heh, heh,
Collin chuckled to himself.
Gotcha.
"Sorry, Nick, but I don't think so."

Nick looked as if he had just been punched in the stomach. "What are…"

"I'll tell you what I'm talking about. Jess's knife was the one that killed Scott. And there's no way you could've given it back to Jess!"

"Why's that?"

"Because this knife was found buried in the sand at the lake!"

Nick looked like he was about ready to faint. His teeth were gritted and it even looked like a line of sweat was starting to build up on his forehead. "But that's…"

"If the knife was buried, then that means Jess never got it back! Which means you never
gave
it back! I'm more than willing to bet you killed Scott and hid the knife!"

Nick started gripping hair on the side of his head and his teeth were gritting even harder. "I know it looks bad, but…"

"Let me guess. You told Jess
you
lost her knife so you had some reason why she wasn't
about
to get hers back?"

"Gah!"

"So I'm right?" Collin asked, figuring he now more than earned Teneire's trust. "That's exactly what happened, isn't it!"

"I…I know it looks that way, but…"

"Just admit it! You can't come up with something to defend yourself anymore!"

"Collin, calm down," Teneire said sternly. "I think you're getting over-reactive again."

"But I
have
him!"

"That's what you said yesterday when we were talking to Jess, and we know how
that
turned out, don't we?"

Collin's face dropped and he suddenly became surprised, annoyed, and even betrayed. "You can't
possibly
be thinking about letting him off…"

"Don't make the same mistakes you did last time," Teneire insisted. "You didn't have a motive for Jess, and Nick doesn't have one either."

"Y…yeah!" Nick said. It was the first thing he had really said to defend himself ever since he almost started falling apart.

"I don't think Nick has told us the whole story yet. And he
is
entitled to say anything to defend himself."

"But…"

"Mr. Fust, I apologize for Collin. He's still a 'rookie'."

" 'Rookie'?! I'm not even on the squad anymore!"

"Exactly my point. Mr. Fust, is there anything you haven't told us? Anything that'll take some suspicion off you?"

"Actually…now that you mention it…"

BWWAAAAAAAH??!! HE'S GONNA COMPLETELY GET AWAY WITH IT!

"Collin, are you all right?" Teneire asked. "Your hands are shaking and your face just got kinda red."

"I'm…fine," Collin lied. In actuality, he was furious that Teneire just gave Nick
a
golden opportunity to make a full recovery.

"I forgot to mention one thing," Nick explained, sounding a bit guilty. "I should've told you guys I wasn't working at Arbur Winslow when Scott died."

"What?!" Collin yelled. "What do you mean, 'you weren't working there'?! You've been there since the
beginning
of last summer, and Scott died in the
middle
of that summer! Middle! Comes after!
Beginning!
"

"Dude, chill out," Nick suggested. The tone of his voice made it sound like he was trying to irritate Collin more than anything. "Anyway, yeah. I wasn't working then."

"You mean you didn't have the job yet?"

"Ugh…well, I had it, but I didn't
show
up for work once the entire week."

"You didn't?" Teneire asked. "Were you on vacation?"

"Something like that," Nick cryptically answered.

"But does that really matter?!" Collin interrupted. "So what if he wasn't working there?! Scott died at
night
, not during the day! He could've showed up at night and killed Scott then!"

"Oh, please," Teneire moaned. "Collin, you're getting anxious again. If Nick was on vacation like he said, he probably wouldn't travel all that way back just to kill Scott."

"What
are
you, his lawyer?!" Collin raged. "And of course he'd do something like that! That way he'd have an alibi or something!"

Teneire sighed. "Nick, is there anything else you'd like to add or say?"

Nick sighed. "Not really. Sorry, I'm just kinda fried from everything just now."

"All right. Well, don't think suspicion is completely off you yet, but if you were away at the time Scott died, then I guess it would pretty much rule you out."

"Thanks," Nick said, not knowing what else to say.

"And again, I apologize for Collin."

"Hey…he can apologize to me
himself
the next time he sees me at work."

"All right. Don't forget…we probably aren't done talking to you, but we are for now."

"Great. See ya."

Collin watched with his mouth hanging open in disbelief as Nick walked away from the questioning room and out of the building.

Chapter 8

Digging Deeper

Collin sat slumped in his chair. He still couldn't take his eyes off the door that Nick had just exited out of. He was so sure Nick was the one who committed the crime, but Teneire still seemed to think differently.

The awkward and irritating silence filled the room almost like it was a type of gas that was being poured in from the vents.

"Look, I know you're upset, but…"

"Just…whatever," Collin coldly said, not even letting his former boss finish his sentence.

Teneire sighed. "I know you tried."

Collin's fists started clenching. He did his best to restrain himself, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. He couldn't even bear to look at Teneire. "I…was onto something."

"Maybe you were. Maybe you weren't. All I know is that I wasn't
about
to let you start callin' out another innocent person. I mean, if I could just arrest
anyone
I wanted, why, half the people in town would be…"

"I know! Look…I don't want to talk about it."

With a last sigh of grief, Collin got up from the chair and slowly started walking towards the door as if he had just lost all his loved ones in an accident. His head was hanging low the entire time, and once he got to the door, he didn't even turn around to look back. "Thanks for letting me help out, anyway."

Teneire watched as the teen walked out of the office and down the hall. His face seemed
a
bit sad and disappointed with himself, but he also seemed to be telling himself that it was the smart and logical thing to do.

As Collin walked through the hall, he continued staring down at the floor. He wasn't paying too much attention to where he was going, which caused him to almost bump into a few people on the way out.

Guess I'll have to figure this out on my own, then. I'll show Captain Teneire! I'll show EVERYONE!

"Collin, wait!"

He froze up and turned around. Teneire was now power-walking over to him, and it looked like there was something somewhat urgent on his mind.

"What is it?"

"Look, I know you were trying to help, and I really appreciate it…"

Collin stared at Teneire as if there was going to be more to what he was saying, but no words came out. After several awkward seconds, Collin muttered, "Aaaaand?..."

"And…you picked up on a lot of things pretty quickly. And I mean,
really
quickly."

The glimmer of hope was starting to return to Collin. "What are you saying?"

Teneire sighed again. "I can't really think of you as a competent police worker. I mean, you just started blindly accusing two innocent people of killing someone. That violates pretty much every major aspect of being a cop, you know."

"It wasn't 'blindly'!" Collin insisted, but he soon shut his mouth, sensing that it would only cause him trouble.

"Just listen to me, will you?! Doesn't that mouth of yours ever
stop
?!"

That remark silenced Collin for a good few seconds. Now having completely shut him down, Teneire continued.

"Like I was saying, you were pretty good picking up on some details that may be of interest to us from Jess's story or Nick's story or whatever. Not to mention you found that knife at the lake, and that was enough to breathe some life into this case, so without you that wouldn't have happened…"

The excitement was starting to return to Collin once again. Was this going where he thought it was?...

"So…if you still want to help out, I'd let…"

"I'D LOVE TO!"

The sudden outburst was enough to cause Teneire to jump backwards slightly. Collin's depressed face now looked bright and cheerful.

"Whoa, easy there…"

"YOU REALLY MEAN THAT?!"

Teneire started chuckling. "Can I take that as a 'yes'?"

"You betcha! Oh, man, sir…I owe you an apology."

"What for?"

"Ha. Ha ha ha ha! We just sat through two questioning sessions, and because of me we didn't get anywhere! Oh, man, I'm sorry."

"Well, you don't always catch the big fish the first time out," Teneire said, doing his best to cheer Collin up and encourage him to keep trying.

"You're really letting me go at it again?!"

"For the last time, yes!"

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Collin profusely yelled as he grabbed Teneire's hand and started shaking it rapidly up and down. "I promise I'll find
something
next time! The next person who steps into that questioning room won't be leaving until we know
everything
!"

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, Coll. It's never that easy. But I'm sure you could help."

"And I will! Trust me!"

"I believe you. Now go home, before you give me even more of a headache than you already have."

"Yes, sir!"

*  *  *

"Oh, maaaan! Who's good?!" Collin yelled excitedly. He was sitting in the computer chair in his room and spinning around while looking up at the ceiling and having his arms spread out. "
I'm
good! That's who! Oh, man…I REALLY gotta find a way to thank Teneire for this. I know! I'll figure everything out!"