The Night Shift (23 page)

"That…I don't know about that," Teneire said softly. "So you don't even know if Scott was on the hiking trail when he died. Is that it?"

Collin gulped as he realized that he said "IF they weren't already there", which he thought would be something Teneire would jump all over.

"And on top of that, do you have any proof to back that theory up?"

Again, Collin felt as if a giant hole had just been drilled into his best guess. "Uh…no. But you said it yourself: there was nothing wrong with it."

"I didn't say that," Teneire said, now sensing the change in momentum that was happening and smirking about it. "I said I couldn't find anything wrong with how you thought the killer showed up for work. But now that you've given me your idea about what happened the entire night…well, I can find a bunch of problems with it."

"Uh…like what?"

"Well, for starters, just playing along and assuming your little theory is true…if someone was working the night Scott was killed, then Randy would've known about it. He would've told us who was running the night shift at the time."

"No, he wouldn't."

"What?"

"Sir, are you forgetting the work records? They say no one was there. Even if Randy remembered who was running the shift that night, he'd have nothing to back it up with. The name would have already been erased from the record and whoever he actually DID have working that night would deny that they had anything to do with Scott."

Teneire opened his mouth to say something in response, but he promptly closed it. "Uh…well…okay, you may have
a
point, but…well, you're going to have to find something to back up this argument of yours with."

"I…I…"
Don't mess up now. Isn't there SOMETHING you can use to prove your point?
"I…sorry, sir. But I don't think I have anything right now."

Teneire almost looked surprised to hear that. "You don't?"

"No…sorry."

Teneire sighed and slumped back in his chair. He was about to say something else until Collin spoke up.

"Sir, I want you to be honest…do you think I'm right about all this? Please, I want your honest opinion. I want to know if you think I'm wrong."

Teneire smirked. "You know I'd tell you if I thought you were wrong. And I think you are."

Collin's face dropped and his heart rate suddenly came to a dead stop for a split second. He wanted to say something, but he was at
a
loss for words.

"I don't think you have it right. I think more happened on that night then you're guessing."

Collin was almost ready to just give up now and walk out of the office. He had so much hope that his argument would hold water for once with Teneire, but that was obviously not what would come about from this discussion.

"But at the same time…" Teneire said, suddenly revitalizing Collin's spirits, "I think you might be on to something. I still can't disprove your theory about the killer signing their name on the work records and then whiting it out, so…look into this a bit more for me, will ya?"

All of a sudden, Collin's grim appearance changed back to one of hope and excitement. "You…really mean it?"

"Yes. I can tell you really want to do this, and until I feel that you're COMPLETELY inept…I don't really see the harm in letting you continue to work on this."

"Ha ha! Awesome!" Collin yelled as he charged his fist into the air. "Thank you SO much! Sir, I promise I won't let you down!"

Teneire chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. If I got a penny every time I heard that from you I'd be able to retire to Hawaii."

"Well, it ends now. THIS time, I'm gonna figure everything out! You'll see!"

Collin instantly got up and started running for the door, but Teneire stopped him. "Wait
a
minute! What exactly are you going to do?"

"…what else? I'm gonna look into things a bit more."

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Huh?"

"What's been your favorite thing to do ever since you started trying to piece this thing together?"

"Wha?...uh, figuring it out?"

"Yeah, but what have you always wanted to help out with? Even though it's a police-only job?"

"Uh…questioning people?"

"There ya go!"

"Sir, I don't think I understand…"

"Before you do some investigating, don't you think we'd be better off doing some more questioning? Now that you've figured out someone WAS there the night Scott died…"

"Yeah, but anyone we bring in is gonna deny that they were the ones working that night. And we've already brought everyone in for questioning, anyway."

Teneire grinned. "I think you're forgetting someone."

"No, I'm not. Nick, Ian, Jess, Lisa…we've already got'em all."

"Don't forget the latest piece of the puzzle."

"The latest piece? But who…Randy!"

Teneire smiled and nodded.

"Sir, you're REALLY gonna bring him in for questioning?"

"Yup. With that new bit of info, I'd like to hear what he has to say."

Collin actually began smiling and laughing. "All right. Let's bring'em in!"

-

"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Randy scoffed as he was seated down in the questioning room. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else on earth than in that same seat.

"Just cooperate and it won't be so bad," Teneire lightly promised. "Remember, we're not accusing you of anything. All we want you to do is answer some questions.

"Haven't I already done this friggin' thing once already? Isn't that enough?!"

"Sir, please calm down," Teneire again said lightly. "We've just got some new info and we just want to hear what you have to say about it."

Reluctantly, Randy growled and leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. When he looked to the side and saw Collin standing in the corner looking at him as if he really WAS the criminal, Randy sharply asked, "And just what the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help," he answered proudly.

"What the f…"

"Sir, please," Teneire ordered, this time less easily. "He's an old employee here. I let him help out. In fact, he's the reason I decided to call you in now."

Randy looked over to Collin and seemed to cast the nastiest glare Collin had ever received.
Great, why'd Teneire have to say that? Boy, am I gonna get spoken to after this…

"So, what is it?" Randy asked.

"Just some questions. Answer them fully and honestly and everything'll be all right."

"Fine. What is it?"

"Well, after doing a little bit of investigating, it looks like the work records of that night may have been
a
bit faulty. Would you please tell me a little more about who was working that night?"

What kind of trap does Teneire have in store?...
Collin wondered.

"I can safely say there's nothing wrong with the records," Randy answered plainly. "Seriously."

"I don't know," Collin interjected. "I just looked over them and…"

"You shut up, you little twerp. There's a reason you're making minimum wage, you know."

Wha?...I am NOT!

"Anyway, what did you think was wrong with the records?" Randy asked.

"Well, it would appear as if someone tampered with them…" Teneire tried to say as sophisticatedly as possible.

"Nope."

"I'm sorry, sir?"

"That didn't happen."

"Mr. Kayson, the work records CLEARLY show…"

"…that no one was there. Yes, I know."

"Mr. Kayson, that's not what I was getting at. We took a closer look at the records and noticed something kind of odd."

Randy suddenly looked a bit more interested in the session. "Odd? Waddaya mean?"

"Well, that one box at the top of the records…there was something weird about it."

"Weird?" In an abrupt moment, Randy seemed much tenser.

"Yeah. One of the boxes was different. It looked like something had been written there and later whited out."

In
a
split second, Randy completely lost his cool. He let out a small
gack
and nearly fell backwards out of his chair. Teneire and Collin both looked at him, awestruck and confused about what could have caused him to react like that. By that point, Collin's heart once again started beating incredibly quickly, sensing that something big was about to happen.

"I…"

Teneire was now beginning to look a little confused, yet excited. "Mr. Kayson, do you know anything about that name being whited out?"

"That's…you see…all right, I'll explain," he answered, suddenly regaining his composure.

Ha ha
, Collin thought as he grinned at Randy beginning to look a bit nervous.
He's already starting to crack. I'll bet we're gonna get something now!

"Yeah? So what if there was something that looked like white out of the paper?" Randy asked. "I really don't think that means anything."

"Mr. Kayson, that means someone intentionally erased a name from the work records," Teneire said in a very serious tone. "Let's not forget this was on the night someone got killed there. I think it's pretty important."

"So? There's no way you can prove someone was working that night," Randy said in a cocky way, but still sounding like he was very nervous about something. "The
records
even say so."

Teneire was about to speak up, but Collin instantly cut him off. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you, Randy?"

"What?!"

"As much as you'd like to pretend, there WAS someone working on the night shift the night Scott died!"

"H…how do you know?!"

"Remember that log book that the police confiscated after the murder?"

"Yes…what about it?..."

"There's something in that log book that completely tears your story to shreds. It was an entry that read:

Camper in space 21C complains of loud thumping noise a few feet from her cabin. I will investigate this myself soon and try to figure out what it is. I'll report back when I have found the source.

"The date…" Collin said very mischievously with an equally devilish grin spreading across his face, "…July 27th, 1:32 AM: almost
exactly
the time Scott died.
Someone was indeed working at the EXACT time Scott died!
"

Randy let out another brief startled cry as he looked at the heavily suspicious looks he was getting. "It wasn't me, I tell you!
It wasn't
!"

"Why are you suddenly getting so anxious, boss?!" Collin yelled excitedly as he tried to mount the pressure. "Why are you saying you didn't do it when neither of us said you
did
!"