WW-School’s Out

July 17, 2019July 16, 2019 ~ 2catsandalaptop ~ Leave a comment

Good morning! It is Wednesday and we are continuing the Winchester story. Another part and another piece of the mystery to be solved. Will Gemma be found? Will Winchester help to solve another mystery? I guess you will have to keep reading this Adventure story! Enjoy!

School’s Out

“I told you. You aren’t going to find anything here.” The secretary of Forester Elementary stood off to the side of the office with her arms crossed. She was very reluctant, and completely unwilling, to have Anthony and West looking through her computer, but they had a warrant and they were going to search.

West was sitting in the world’s most uncomfortable office chair, clicking around on the computer. He was trying to find anything that was helpful or anything that might lead them to Gemma. He finally found the admissions records file and quickly clicked on it to open them. His eyebrows furrowed. “Is there any way to look at a specific family?”

The secretary let out a sigh. “Yeah…just type it in the search bar.” She pointed toward the top of the screen. “There. Just click there. Geez, don’t you know how to use a computer?”

West ignored her comment and clicked on the search bar. His fingers flew across the keyboard, typing in the last name Hanaway. 2 names came up: Devon Hanaway and Ginger Hanaway. Ginger was 8 years old and in the 2nd grade class. That seemed odd to West. “It says here that Ginger Hanaway is 8, almost 9, and she’s only in 2nd grade? That seems odd doesn’t it?” He turned to Anthony. “Wasn’t I in 3rd or 4th grade at that age?”

“Uh…4th. You turned 9 while in 4th grade.”

The secretary nodded. “Yes, that does seem odd until you hear Ginger’s story. The poor girl has been in and out of foster care her whole life and has transferred to so many different schools. She’s a very quiet girl so I think it’s hard for her to grasp everything in her classes. Plus…it’s just hard to grasp all of the material from class when you are moving schools constantly. But the Hanaway family was so sweet and they adopted her halfway through the school year. Since then she has started to blossom in her school work.” She sighed. “Unfortunately she is still a very quiet girl who doesn’t have many friends to talk to. But she is doing much in her school work which is awesome for her.”

Anthony took a step toward the secretary and showed her the picture of Gemma. “Is this Ginger?”

The secretary shook her head. “Not at all. Ginger has dark curly hair, not this red hair. And she has a ton of freckles. I think I would know one our students if I saw them.”

“Do you have a picture of Ginger?”

The secretary groaned. “Why are you so interested in this family? Geez…” She walked around the desk and grabbed a yearbook from that school year. She flipped through the pages and stopped on the 2nd grade page. She pointed at one picture. “See…this is Ginger….” She paused and looked at the picture before gasping. Her face turned pale. “I need to call the police.”

West threw his hands in the air. “We are the police! We need to go get Gemma out of that classroom and take her to her family. Can you show us where to go?”

The secretary immediately lead them outside and they started to walk toward the classrooms. They turned a corner to see 3 rooms that all had a number 2 on it. The secretary opened the classroom door and the three of them stepped inside to 20 sets of eyes turn to them. The teacher understandably looked shocked that the secretary of the school, a police officer, and a teenager came bursting into her classroom. “Um…can I help you?”

West took a step forward and cleared his throat. “Uh yes ma’am. I am Winchester West, a consultant with the Northridge Police Department. We are here to take Gemma Edwards back to her home and her family who misses her dearly.” One of the little girls stood up and ran into West. She was crying as she grabbed hold of his legs, almost as if she was afraid to let go. He wrapped his arms around her and patted the back of her head. “It’s okay Gemma. We’re going to get you home.”

He picked her up and carried her out the door while his father collected her backpack and other belongings. The secretary stayed behind so she could talk to the teacher and get things settled. West carried Gemma to his dad’s car and unlocked the door. Gemma had calmed down a little but her eyes were still filled with tears “I wanna see my mommy and daddy. When can I see my mommy and daddy?”

Winchester set her down on the ground and knelt down to get on her level. He grabbed her hands and smiled. “Soon. We just have to ask you a few questions and then we can see your mom and dad. Would that be okay?”

She smiled and nodded. “Okay. I just wanna go home.”

The Final Exam

July 15, 2019July 14, 2019 ~ 2catsandalaptop ~ Leave a comment

Good morning! How was everyone’s weekend? Mine was a little busy, celebrating my sister’s birthday, celebrating my nephew’s birthday, and laughing so hard at Apples to Apples that I was crying. It was a very fun weekend even though it was busy.

This story is the different take on something that I’m sure most people didn’t like. Final exams. I hated final exams even though it meant the end of the semester. Especially the cumulative exams, those were the absolute worst! But, I’m getting off track. I’ll just let you read the story and see what you think!

This story is an Adventure, so enjoy!

The Final Exam

Stanley sat behind his desk and watched. He could see his students starting to sweat as they took their final exam. It was interesting to see who was struggling, those who didn’t care, and those who knew exactly what was on the test. It was always interesting to watch.

He looked at one of his students in the front row. She was a very studious student, paid attention in every class, asked questions, and did very well on all of her tests. She looked like she was doing very well on the test, taking each question very seriously as she read them. Her pencil filled in every little bubble for the correct answers. He knew that she would do great things once she graduated.

Then there was a student three seats behind and two seats over from her. He was the class clown, he was always loud, and always trying to draw attention to himself. He was a good student, he still did very well on his tests. Stanley just wished that he wouldn’t have been so loud. But it didn’t matter, Stanley knew this student would also do great things.

His eyes scanned the room to see one of his hardest working students. This student paid very close attention and asked more questions than any other student. She visited him in almost every office hour to ask even more questions because she needed the extra help. Stanley smiled. She was so sweet, bringing him a dozen cookies as a thank you for all of his help. He knew that she would always struggle with her classes, but he also knew she would always work extra hard to do well in her classes. He had told her that she was always welcome in his office and he hoped she would take him up on it.

Stanley continued to look around the room and his eyes landed on the biggest slacker in the class. This student never showed up to class, didn’t do fantastic on tests, and actually…only showed up for the tests. Stanley knew this student would have to take the class over again, but maybe with another teacher.

He continued to watch his students when one came up to the front with his scantron in his hand. Stanley looked at him. “Have you finished?”

The student nodded. “Uh yes sir. I have finished my test. Have a nice summer.” He handed Stanley the scantron and walked out of the classroom.

Stanley’s eyes fell upon a student who had managed to fall asleep. How in the world does someone fall asleep in the middle of final exam? Stanley stood up and he walked toward the student. He gently tapped on the student’s shoulder and the student woke with a start. There was a small puddle of drool on the desk and very few bubbles were filled in on the scantron. “Sorry…” Stanley walked back toward his desk and sat down.

The hour ticked by and all of the students turned in their exams, except for one. One boy still sat in the back of the classroom, tears filling his eyes. He knew that he had failed and he had taken every moment of the exam time to take the test. The boy stood up and slowly walked to the front of the classroom. His hand reached out and shakily handed Stanley the scantron. “Here you go sir…”

Stanley gently took the scantron and placed it in the pile with all of the other student’s tests. “Grades will be up tonight or early tomorrow. I hope you have a wonderful summer.” He smiled at the young student who nodded and walked out of the classroom. Stanley felt bad but there was nothing he could do. The test was over, the semester was over, it was time for summer.

Now Hiring (Gwendolyn, Emily, and Kelsey)

July 12, 2019July 11, 2019 ~ 2catsandalaptop ~ Leave a comment

Good morning! It’s Friday, it’s the end of the week. But today is my Saturday so I have today and tomorrow off from work. Hooray!

Today we are ending the Now Hiring series! It’s so sad! But next week we will be starting a new series so I am excited to bring that to you. I’m not going to give away too many hints, but this one will be very different from this story. So, without further ado, I hope you have enjoyed Now Hiring and I hope you come back for another story next week!

Now Hiring (Gwendolyn, Emily, and Kelsey)

Seasonal work for Portside Doggie Daycare. Starting at $10 an hour, part and full time positions available. Must be able to work as a team and work well with other people and pets. Feel free to come in and inquire about a job. We would love for you to join our team!

Gwendolyn

There are sometimes where the person that you interview fits everything in the criteria but there is one tiny thing that makes you question if you should hire them? Even if it’s something that seems super minor but you still don’t know if you could hire them? I remember getting an application for someone who I thought would fit perfectly for the front desk position. She seemed to have a lot of customer service experience which made her a great candidate. So I called her and set up an interview.

She was sitting in the lobby and she looked like a normal person. But as soon as I walked up to her I could smell a terrible body odor coming off of her. It was horrendous. But I stepped up and held out my hand. “Hello. I’m Tammy.”

The girl stood up and shook my hand. “I’m Gwendolyn, but you can call me Gwen.”

I smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Gwen. Let’s step in the office and get this started.” We stepped inside the office and I immediately opened the window to let the fresh air in. “It’s a beautiful day outside isn’t it?”

Gwen smiled. “Yes it is. I love the fresh air. The outdoors is probably my favorite place to be.”

I sat down at the desk. “So, why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

Gwen shifted in her chair. “Okay. I am a vegan, I love animals and I don’t want to harm them at all. And I am trying to live as off the grid as I can. I still have a bank account which is how I can hold down a job, but I live in my van and move from place to place everyday. Oh…and I use the smell of the land as my perfume everyday. I love nature and I love animals, I just want to be a part of it too. I don’t want to live anywhere permanently, I just want to move around and be free.”

I could feel my eye start to twitch. I quickly rubbed it before moving on. “Okay. So you don’t have a permanent residence?”

She shook her head. “No ma’am. I live in my van. If I have any mail or anything like that it goes to my parents and they take care of it. I see them at least once a month so I can collect all my mail from them.”

“I see. And I see you have worked in customer service before?” I couldn’t tell if the smell was getting stronger or if I was becoming weaker, but something bad was happening and I wasn’t a fan.

“Yes ma’am. I used to work in a couple stores and I worked in a hotel. Everyone said I was great with the customers and the customers loved me. So I definitely have worked in customer service and I loved it.”

I nodded. “That’s fantastic. We could definitely use someone with a lot of customer service experience. So, what is your availability like?”

“Well I don’t have another job but I would like to have mornings off so I can still attend morning yoga and meditation with all of my friends. Would that be possible?”

I shrugged. “I don’t see why not. What time does that happen?”

“We start at 10 and it ends at 3 Monday through Friday. So I work anytime after 4 because that will give me time to freshen up before coming.”

I knew then and there that I couldn’t offer her a front desk position but she could work in the afternoon. “So, I wouldn’t be able to give you a front desk position because we close at 6 so I couldn’t have for only work for a couple hours. But I could have you work in the back because we have people here until 9 or 9:30. Would you be interested in that?”

She shrugged. “I guess. I would rather work in with the customers but if that’s not possible I understand. So, yes. I will take a position in the back.”

I shook her hand and showed her out. I somehow dodged a bullet with having her work in the front. But I had a feeling that she would do really well, which she did.

Emily

I remember sitting in the office and trying very very hard to not slap this interviewee across the face. On the application, there is a mark for if the applicant has ever been to jail or had a criminal record. Emily had checked yes but in the comment section she put, ask. Ask? I wasn’t too sure but I thought I would bring her in for an interview anyway.

So when I asked her about it, she started with a sigh. “Well…it wasn’t my fault. I was driving my car when suddenly a car drove into me. I swerved off the road and hit someone else, but I kept driving when I saw they were okay. I didn’t see any damage on my car so I kept driving. I got home and there was a police officer waiting for me and they arrested me for a hit and run. I told him what happened but he didn’t believe me. The police never believe me. So I got sent to jail for a hit and run that wasn’t even my fault. I was hit first and because I got hit then I unfortunately ran into someone else. Apparently the person that hit me never got caught but I had to spend time in jail because I was apparently at fault. I caused a huge accident, according to police, and because I didn’t see it, I am completely at fault. So I got arrested and spend 2 years in jail for a crime that I never did. So that’s what happened. That’s why I have a criminal record. I went to jail for something I never did.”

I’m just going to let you know now, I did not hire her.

Kelsey

This last one I’m going to tell you about was a doozy. She was a special case who I could only describe as…odd. I honestly don’t have another word to describe Kelsey other than odd.

When she came in for her interview, she was dressed very professionally. I introduced myself and brought her into the office for the interview. “So, tell me about yourself.”

She scoffed. “Well. I am a registered vet with the state and no vet’s office will hire me so I had to come here. I have an IQ of 127 and school was not a problem for me. I finished vet school is just over a year and have yet to find a job at a vet’s office. So I had to take a bit of a leave just to make ends meet.”

I was slightly taken aback. A registered vet who hadn’t been hired by someone? Seemed odd. “So why do you think a vet’s office won’t hire you?”

She scoffed again. “I don’t know. I come in, go into the interview, give my demands, and they don’t hire me. I don’t understand why.”

I could tell that one of the reasons was because she always scoffed, but I was curious about her demands as well. “What were your demands, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Gah…I was demanding to be their head vet because obviously I am smarter than the doctors that they already have. I also demanded a 6 figure salary starting out, somewhere around $150,000 and going up every quarter. But no one thinks that my demands are fair and they aren’t willing to give me anything. They want me to start off as their lowest doctor and barely above minimum wage. Like…honestly. The audacity of these places.”

At this point, I was curious if she was going to give demands for starting at this job. “Okay…so do you have any demands for starting here?”

Kelsey nodded. “Obviously. I want to start at $20 since I am a registered vet and I can give any dog or cat their vaccinations and I can tell you exactly what’s wrong with them. And I want my pay to rise every quarter by $1 until I am making 6 figures a year or until a vet’s office hires me. Whichever comes first. And I want to only work mornings. Maybe 7 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday. I will not work weekends.”

This was the moment where I figured out that this girl was never going to get hired anywhere unless she lowered her demands. “Unfortunately I won’t be able to give you any of your demands. Pay starts at $10, which is minimum wage, and we can’t give you the hours you want unless you have another job or a reason for not being able to work certain hours. We can work around other schedules, but no one has a set schedule except for administration.”

I watched Kelsey start to become furious. “No! This is not fair! I am overqualified for this job which means that I deserve more than these measly people who have no animal experience. I am too smart to be working here but I need some sort of income.”

I shrugged. “Well. You can take the offer and have some sort of income, or you can leave. It’s your decision.”

Kelsey angrily stood up and marched out the door. She marched all the way to her car and sped out of the parking lot. She was definitely odd. There was no other way to say it.

WW-Finding Answers

July 10, 2019July 9, 2019 ~ 2catsandalaptop ~ Leave a comment

Good morning! How is everyone doing today? It’s Wednesday, it’s the middle of the week, but that means that the week is almost over! It’s almost like the week is over before it starts. No? Okay.

We are back with more Winchester Wednesday! Is everyone enjoying these? I hope so because I have had so much fun writing these. If you have any suggestions for what kind of cases that you want Winchester to solve let me know. I would love to work with your ideas to see what we can come up with together!

But without further ado, let move onto our Adventure! Enjoy!

Finding Answers

Winchester ran into the police precinct and went straight to the front desk. He smiled at the receptionist. “Hi. I’m Winchester West my dad is detective Anthony West. I need to speak to him immediately.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “What is this regarding?”

He felt his face starting to turn red. Why was this girl being so difficult? “Please. I need to talk to him about a case that I am helping him with. I know where is desk is, I just need to be buzzed in the back so I can go see him.” He felt his finger start tapping nervously on the desk.

She sighed. “Yeah sure whatever.” She pressed a button and there was a buzzing noise. West walked over to the door and walked through it. He quickly walked through the precinct toward his father’s desk. Anthony was sitting at his desk staring at the computer.

Winchester walked up and placed his hands on the desk in front of his dad. “I need your help to get a warrant.”

Anthony looked up to see West and his eyes widened. “Did you find something?”

West sat down and pulled out the folder with the information he needed. “So…I’m assuming you saw me asleep at the table this morning in the middle of all the papers. That’s besides the point, but when I woke up I saw this.” He pointed at the school name. “Forester Elementary School. The younger son, Devon, was 10 and in 4th grade when Gemma disappeared. He is just about to finish 5th grade in like…a week when school gets out for the summer. But I had this thought to call the school to see how many kids the Hanaway family had enrolled in the school.” He shook his head. “So that what I tried. But when I called, they got super defensive. Like…I introduced myself and told them why I was calling but they asked for a warrant. Honestly, I didn’t even tell them the last name of the family and they immediately asked for a warrant. So…I think I need a warrant for the admissions.”

Anthony sat back. “I hate to tell you this, but we checked their school records when the school year started. There was only one student with the last name Hanaway and it was Devon. So we already tried it.” He sighed. “Sorry Bug. I know you were so sure you got something.”

“But what if they had Gemma there under a fake name? Look.” Winchester flipped through the folder for a very specific paper. “From what I understand from this piece of evidence, Brad and Melissa Hanaway used to be foster parents meaning that a school wouldn’t find it strange that they suddenly had another child that wasn’t theirs. So it’s very possible that Gemma was actually attending the school but it was under a different name.”

He sat back and let out a long breath. “That poor girl could have easily been tortured over the course of the entire summer to make her believe her name wasn’t Gemma Edwards. Apparently it only take a couple days of intense torture to make an adult believe something totally different than reality. Can you imagine how easy it would be to change the mind of a 6 year old? If it takes a couple days for an adult to believe something different, how easy would it be to change the mind of a child?” Winchester shrugged. “It’s just a thought.”

Chief Dyner walked by as West stopped talking. He smiled and smacked West on the back. “Hey West. Helping your dad on another case?”

West nodded. “Yeah. But it’s a cold case from a missing child last year. Gemma Edwards, I don’t know if you remember. But I was here because I was trying to see if we could get a search warrant. I have reason to believe that one of the major suspects actually has little Gemma. There are a lot of holes in one of the families stories that make me believe that they had something to do with it. I just want to get a warrant for the admission records for the school that the youngest son goes to. I want to see if there is another child with their last name.”

“And what makes you believe this family has Gemma?” Chief Dyner seemed genuinely concerned and interested.

“Well…” Winchester looked at his dad, who nodded as if he was giving the go ahead. “I was thinking that they might have enrolled her in the school under a different name. The school was defensive after I had told them who I was. And the evidence says that the family used to be a foster family. I think that Gemma might be at the elementary school that the youngest son goes to under a different name.”

Chief Dyner nodded and looked at Anthony. “Well that seems very circumstantial. But…” He paused and shrugged. “Anthony, let’s see what we can do. We have gotten search warrants on less information.”

Anthony turned to his computer and started typing things out as the chief walked away. He cleared his throat. “If you are so sure about this then I am going to need your help to write this warrant. And I hope you are right about this because I really want to make sure that Gemma gets home safely.”

West walked around the desk to stand behind his father. “Me too dad. I just want to make sure she gets to go back to her family.”

They took a short time to write out their search warrant. And when they were done, they rushed out of the building and headed toward the courthouse to have a judge sign off on it. West still wasn’t one hundred percent sure what was actually happening or if was even right about this. But he was hoping that even if he was wrong about his hunch, this search warrant would somehow help find Gemma.

Together Forever

July 8, 2019July 7, 2019 ~ 2catsandalaptop ~ 6 Comments

Good morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I did a whole lot of nothing…except for writing. I did a whole lot of that this weekend. So be ready! It’s coming on the blog sooner than you know it!

Welcome to another blog post for Grammy’s Grid! For this one, I had a little bit of a difficult time figuring out what I wanted to do. But! I made it work! So the prompt for this link party goes as follows:

Who is the woman in that photo? Is it…

So here it is! Here is my addition to Grammy’s Grid Link Party 6. This story is an Adventure. Enjoy!

Together Forever

“Who is that woman in the photo? Is it someone I should know?”

Mitchell nodded his head. “Yeah. That’s my new girlfriend Mikayla. You should definitely introduce yourself if you see her.”

His roommate Joe picked up the photo frame and looked at the girl. “How long have you two been together?”

“2 weeks. It’s all still pretty new.”

Joe set the frame down on the desk and turned to walk out of the dorm room. “Cool dude. Next time she comes over introduce us.”

“Yeah. I will definitely do that.” He heard the door lock as Joe had left the room. He picked up the photo and flopped onto his bed and sighed. “Mikayla. Why are you so perfect? And how did I get so lucky to fall in love with you and for you to fall in love with me?”

He rolled over and opened the drawer of his bedside table, revealing some of the things he had of Mikayla’s. A notebook that she gave him in the library, a water bottle that she gave him in class, a small clipping of hair that he asked her for when she cut her hair shorter, and her tee shirt that she had worn to the pool but gave him instead. They were all so personal and Mitchell felt like they were connected through their items. Each item was so perfect, just like their relationship.

As he lay on the bed he could only think about their relationship. Like the time they met, when she purposely ran into him. She quickly apologized and kept walking; but Mitchell knew that it was fate for them to meet. They sat in the dining hall together and he would stare at her the whole time, admiring her beauty and poise as she sat and talked. Then there was the time at the pool where they swam side by side and their hands brushed against each other’s. It was all so exciting and new that Mitchell didn’t know what to do afterwards. They were meant to be together; they were meant to be a couple.

They were meant to be together forever.

Mitchell slowly stood up and looked out the window; Mikayla was walking out on the sidewalk going toward a class. He immediately put on his shoes and ran out of the dorm room, keys in hand. He caught up to Mikayla and started to gain onto her head start. As he approached her, his arm started to reach forward toward Mikayla’s body. Her body was perfect: every curve was just right, her red hair flew in the wind, and her step was bouncy and fun. Mikayla was perfect. Mitchell’s fingers reached out and were mere inches away from Mikayla’s butt. His fingers spread out and with a quick motion, Mitchell grabbed and squeezed her right butt cheek.

He quickly passed Mikayla on her left to make it look like he wasn’t guilty. His feet kept walking until Mitchell felt like he was far enough away that he was out of sight. Mitchell found a bench where he sat down and pulled out his phone, making it look like he wasn’t paying attention to the world. But in reality, he was watching to see Mikayla walk by. His phone camera was ready to record, ready for her to pass by at any moment.

And then she turned the corner.

Mikayla looked extremely disturbed, quickly looking over both of her shoulders as if she was still watching for Mitchell to show up. His finger pressed the red record button and he started following her movements, making sure to catch every step that she took. She was absolutely stunning as she walked through the campus and Mitchell wanted to make sure that he caught every moment of it. She was absolutely beautiful.

Mitchell slowly stood up and started to follow Mikayla again. He continued to record her walking to class, smiling to himself knowing that he was now going to have a video of her. He kept his distance even though he knew she would love for him to take this video.

As she continued to walk, Mitchell found himself falling even more in love with her. She seemed to speed up as she walked almost as if she was afraid of something behind her. Mitchell continued to follow her until she disappeared into a classroom. He stopped, it didn’t feel right to follow her into her class. Her education was important after all.

He decided to head back to his dorm and try to relax before he had to go to his night class. He was over the moon in love with Mikayla and he knew that she felt exactly the same way about him. They were going to be together forever and he was going to make sure that happened. They were meant to be together and they were meant to get married one day. Mitchell knew that Mikayla was the perfect match for him which is why they were so in love.

They were in love and that’s all that mattered.

Now Hiring (Kristen, Scott, and Charlie)

July 5, 2019July 4, 2019 ~ 2catsandalaptop ~ Leave a comment

Good morning! How is everyone doing after the 4th of July? My cats were okay, they aren’t too bad with the fireworks unless they are directly overhead. So it wasn’t too bad for us. Oh! And I ate too much food…but I think that comes with the territory of the 4th of July.

We are getting closer to the end of this series. It’s going to be sad when it’s over. But, we all have to move on So enjoy these last few parts of this Adventure story.

Now Hiring

Kristen

I will come out and say this right now, I like kids. I have 3 of my own and I have 2 grandkids so far. Now, I understand that family is much different from other people’s kids, but I still like kids.

I remember that this interview because it was nothing like I was expecting. I walked out into the lobby to see a young boy running around the lobby. There was only one other person sitting in the lobby, a young girl who was dressed in a simple maxi dress. She stood up. “I’m so sorry ma’am. I couldn’t find someone who could babysit my son so I had to bring him. I’m sorry.”

I put my hand up to stop her. “Not to worry. He can sit in the office during the interview. Let’s get this started.”

She held out her hand for her son. “Travis. Come on honey, mommy needs you to come with me.” The little boy ran over and grabbed his mom’s hand and I walked them into the office. Kristen sat Travis down in one of the chairs and sat down herself. She gave him her phone that had a set of overhead headphones. “Okay honey. Let’s put on some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while mommy talks okay?” She turned on the show before looking at me. “I’m sorry again.”

“It’s okay. If he’s occupied then we should be okay. But I do have a question for you. If you can’t find a babysitter for today, will you be able to find one for when you have to work?”

Kristen nodded. “Yes ma’am. My mom doesn’t work so she would be able to watch Travis whenever I have to work. Unfortunately today she had an appointment at the same time and no one else could watch him. And his dad isn’t in the picture so I couldn’t ask him to do anything for me.”

“Okay, good. So tell me a little about yourself.” I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this girl, but I still wanted to proceed with the interview.

She smiled. “Well. I’m 22 and obviously I have my son who is my whole life. I would do absolutely anything for him. But I love animals, my family has tons of them because we live on a farm. So there are animals everywhere.”

“Mama!”

Travis screamed and pointed at the phone. Kristen tapped on the phone screen a couple times and turned back to me. “I’m sorry.”

The interview continued on with Travis screaming every couple minutes for Kristen to do something on the phone. She seemed like a very sweet girl and her interview went well with the exception of Travis. When she left the interview I still wasn’t sure if I was going to hire her or not. But I knew I would make the right decision for the company when it came down to it.

I remember waiting a couple days before calling her again and letting her know that she was hired. She squealed in delight, thanking me over and over for giving her a chance and that she wouldn’t let me down. I smiled, thinking about how genuine she seemed during the interview and on the phone. I knew that I had made a good decision and she turned out to be a great employee.

Scott

We get some of the strangest people come through for interviews. And this guy was no exception. I remember sitting in my office and hearing some of the loudest music coming from the parking lot. I looked out the window to see an old car that was shaking from the low bass in the music. I watched the owner of the car walk into the lobby but I wasn’t expecting to hear that my interview was here.

I composed myself and walked out to see the owner of the car sitting on the couch. He was wearing a basketball jersey, saggy pants, dirty sneakers, and a bandana around his head. He was also sporting some large gold jewelry around his neck and big gold earrings. I stepped up to him. “Good morning. I’m Tammy.”

He stood up and pulled up his pants. “I’m Scott.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Let’s go in the office and we can get started.” We stepped inside the office and sat down. I got a sudden whiff of Scott’s cologne and it was very overpowering. I really had to resist the urge to vomit at the smell. “So…tell me about yourself.”

“Yo man. I’m a rapper who goes by Scotty Sly. I spend all my free time in the studio cranking out rhymes and beats. So I need a little extra cash to help fund my rappin’, know what I mean?”

I felt a little shocked. Like…this is an interview right? I wasn’t dreaming, this was actually happening. “Uh…yes. I know what you mean. But will rapping interfere with you being able to work?”

“Nah man. I need this job to help me become a rapper. So I need to work to get the money to start getting my album out. Actually…you got a computer or a player? I alway share my beats so I can get my name out there.”

“A player?” This man was now speaking in words that I did not understand.

“Yeah man. Like a CD player. I gotta mixtape in my car that I can play for you.” His eyes lit up, almost like he really wanted me to listen to this CD.

I shook my head. “No thank you. Rap is not my forte. Let’s continue on with the interview. So you will have no issues working to get money for your rapping?”

Scott shook his head. “Nah man. Give me a job and I will work until I have enough money to pay for my career.”

“Okay…so if you can use one word to describe yourself, what word would you pick and why?”

“Talented cuz I am.”

I had to try very hard to not let my jaw drop to the desk. I slowly wrote down the word before asking the next question. “Do you have any experience working with animals?”

Scott nodded while looking at his phone. “Yeah man. I have 4 dogs of my own so I have a lot of experience. One my girls is having puppies soon. You want a puppy?”

“Um…no thank you.” I continued on with the interview with Scott traveling off on different tangents. I finished the interview and led Scott out of the office. He walked out the front door and he got in his car and immediately turned up his rap music. We felt the windows start to shake in the building from the loud bass.

I didn’t know it was possible for someone to go off on so many tangents while in an interview. It was odd but I wished him well. He seemed very determined to be a rapper and someone with that much determination could actually do it. So I hoped that someone would be willing to hire him, but he might have better luck at a music store.

Charlie

One of the requirements of working at our facility is that you like dogs and cats because you are dealing with them all the time. I guess you could not really like them, but you have to be able to tolerate them. But Charlie here, he didn’t want any of it.

“You are afraid of dogs?”

Charlie nodded. “Yes ma’am. If one gets too close to me, I will scream and run away. I’m afraid they will bite me.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Did you get bit by one as a child?”

He shook his head. “No. But I didn’t want to take a chance. I’ve been afraid of them since birth.”

I looked down at my paper. “I see. So what are you hoping to do while you are working here?”

He shrugged. “I’m not too sure. Anything that doesn’t involve dogs or poop.”

That comment made me intrigued. “Why can you not deal with poop? Dogs and cats poop everyday the same as you and me.”

Charlie held up a finger. “That is a bold assumption. I do not poop. I will vomit if I smell it. So I have come up with this amazing liquid diet so I don’t have to ingest anything solid. I buy foods like yogurt, milk, protein powder, baby foods, and broths and mix them together in a blender to make sure that it liquefies. And don’t worry, I have consulted both a doctor and a nutritionist about this diet and they both say that it is good and that I am doing a good thing for my body. The last time I actually pooped was when I was in elementary school. And I started doing it because I would get very sick at school every time I used the toilet. So my mom started doing this for me and my life has forever changed.”

I stared at him with my mouth agape. How was I supposed to respond to this? I quickly composed myself. “Okay…so you are afraid of dogs and you don’t deal with poop. The only position that I have that you wouldn’t have to deal with either one of those is our reservation center. And unfortunately I don’t have any positions available in that department. So I don’t believe that this is the right job for you.”

Charlie’s face turned visibly red. “I’m sorry. I knew I shouldn’t have applied here. It was a terrible idea. I’m sorry I wasted your time. I will show myself out.” He quickly stood up and almost ran out the door. He hastily made his way to his truck and got in the driver’s seat. He sped out of the parking lot, never to be seen again.

WW-Cold Case

July 3, 2019July 2, 2019 ~ 2catsandalaptop ~ Leave a comment

Good morning! Tomorrow is the 4th of July! It is the time to celebrate with friends and family and eat some barbecue. Anyone have any plans for the 4th?

This is a new case for Winchester! We are moving onto to something new and fun and different from the last case. I have to say, I’m having a lot of fun writing this series for you guys and I hope that you enjoy reading it.

This story is an Adventure, so enjoy!

Cold Case

It had been one week since Winchester had interrogated Kayla and sent her to jail, but it still hadn’t hit him that he was working with the police. His father had taken credit for what happened which was completely understandable. West didn’t want the credit for doing what he did, he was happy knowing that he had helped the police with a case.

He sat at his desk and typed some things to the internet search bar. He had told his parents that he was going to look for scholarships to help pay for his college next year so he had to get busy. He typed in ‘scholarships for high school seniors’ and waited for the results to pop up. How was this going to work?

The sound of the front door slamming shut startled him. Winchester turned to see his father walk into his bedroom. Anthony smiled. “Hey Bug. What are you up to today?”

Winchester shrugged. “Not much. I was just going to look up some scholarships to help pay my tuition for college.”

Anthony stepped into the large bedroom. “Well that’s good. But…I think that’s going to have to pause for a while. I need your help on another case. The only problem with this one is that it wasn’t recent. It’s a cold case from a couple months ago. I want you to take a look at it to see if you could find anything. If you are up to it.”

West stood up and slightly stretched. “Sure. Did you bring it here or do I need to go down to the station?”

His father motioned out the door and West followed closely behind. “I brought it here for you. This case was one that I worked on for a long time last summer and I had to give it up because there was nothing else I could find. It was a missing child case. Her name was Gemma Edwards, she was 5 years old when she went missing two weeks before her 6th birthday. We searched high and low and no matter what we couldn’t find anything.” They stopped at the kitchen table where there was large box. “We thought it was the uncle who was a confirmed pedophile and had a restraining order against him, but we looked though everything we had on him and we had nothing on him. The next thing we thought was the strange family that lived down the street from the Edwards’. According to Mrs. Edwards they were too friendly and very strange. But we did look into that avenue and we found nothing.” He let out a long sigh. “Just…see if you can find anything. Anything at all.”

Winchester nodded as he looked at the box. “Yeah dad. I’ll take a look to see what I can find. Do we have any other information on that family?”

Anthony took the lid off the box and starting digging through the countless files in the box. “Uh…let’s see.” He opened a file marked ‘Hanaway’. “Yeah…right here. The Hanaway family. Brad and Melissa and their two sons Kenneth and Devon. Both sons were older than Gemma, 10 and 14 at the time of the disappearance. But we haven’t kept up with them since the crime.”

West started pulling out folders and spacing them out on the table. “I will see if I can find anything. Maybe tomorrow you and I can explore any leads…if I find anything.” He sat down and started flipping through the pages of the case. He started reading every document that was presented as evidence or that may have been useful for the case. He poured over everything to see if there was any sort of evidence that was missed when the case was fresh.

He grabbed a notebook and started writing down things that didn’t make sense or things that he wanted to double check somewhere else. West filled out two whole pages of questions before he was finally able to start crossing off some of his questions. But as he went through all of the files, there was one thing that kept popping up. The Hanaway family. There were so many holes in their story and West wasn’t even sure if he believed their story.

The time seemed to pass so quickly and West wasn’t even sure what time it was. His parents both arrived home from work, but he was so engrossed in his work that he didn’t acknowledge that they were home. Music blasted through his headphones to make sure he didn’t get distracted from his work. His mother Sarah set a plate of dinner down next to him that he slowly consumed while reading every piece of paper. They tried to talk to West but he didn’t want to be drawn away from his work.

Winchester worked through the night and poured over all of the information, trying to grab hold of anything that might be able to crack this case open. But his eyes started to become heavy and he fell asleep at the dining room table in the middle of all of his work. He didn’t sleep well, dreaming about poor Gemma and what she was going through if she was still alive.

When he woke up he felt some pain in his back from sleeping in a chair. He rubbed his face with his hands trying to help him to wake up from his slumber. As his eyes adjusted to the morning sun, he looked around at the papers in front of his and fixated on a set of 3 words. Forester Elementary School. He looked closer at it. According to the police report, the Hanaway’s youngest son attended Forester Elementary School. He was 10 and in the 4th grade at the time of the disappearance. West immediately picked up the phone and searched for the number for Forester Elementary School and dialed it. He was hoping that they were still in school since it was summertime, but maybe they had to stay later in the year. He waited as the phone rang a couple times.

“Forester Elementary School how may I help you?”

West felt his heart skip a beat. “Good morning ma’am. My name is Officer Winchester West and I am a consultant with the Northridge Police Department and I was wondering if I could speak to the person who deals with admissions.”

There was a slight pause on the other end of the phone. “Do you have a warrant?”

He had to think quick. “No ma’am. I’m not looking to cause any trouble. I am just curious if you have a family by a certain last name. I just need a yes or no, that’s all I’m looking for. Would you be able to provide that?”

There was another pause. “Not without a warrant. I’m so sorry.”

West nodded even though she couldn’t see him. “That’s okay. Thank you for your time.” He hung up and ran up to his room to get dressed. He had to get his dad to get a warrant to get the admission records. If he could see how many kids were enrolled with the last name Hanaway, he might be able to find Gemma.

The Hunter

July 1, 2019June 30, 2019 ~ 2catsandalaptop ~ 1 Comment

Good morning! How is everyone today? I know it’s Monday, but this week is 4th of July! Does anyone have any fun plans for the 4th? Having some good barbecues, spending time with family, lighting off some fireworks? I know I will be doing almost all of that. I don’t know about fireworks but I will definitely be spending time with family and eating barbecue.

I’m not going to explain much in this story, I will let it speak for itself. This is a Feel Good Story. Enjoy!

The Hunter

Ty sat in the tree with his bow and arrows. He had been sitting there all day hoping to find something on this hunt, but so far there had been nothing. Nothing! This was his first time hunting in months and he was going to be very upset if he ended up going home with nothing.

As he sat there waiting, there was a shuffle below him. Ty’s eyes drifted down to the bushes to see a deer walking out into the open. She was beautiful, or maybe he was just excited because this was the first deer to walk into his sights all day. But either way he was excited and ready to take the shot.

He slowly reached behind him to grab an arrow out of the quiver behind his back, trying very hard to not make a sound. His finger tips tapped the tops of all of his arrows, desperately trying to grab one of them. Ty finally gripped one of them and gently pulled it out of the quiver. The deer stopped. Ty stopped, hoping to not scare the deer off from the sound. The deer started to move again, completely unaware of Ty still sitting in the tree.

Ty finally got the arrow out of the quiver and loaded it onto the bow. His fingers gripped the string and he started to pull back. He brought the bow up to his eye, closing one to focus on his target. His arms shifted slightly to move the bow to the correct position. He breathed in and started to breathe out, about ready to release the arrow.

But before he could release the arrow there was a rustling beneath him. Ty’s vision shifted downward, keeping the arrow still at the ready. A fawn walked out of the bushes and ran over to his mother. The small baby stared at his mother, waiting to be shown where to go and what to do.

Ty still had the bow drawn but was now in a dilemma. He didn’t want to take a mother away from her baby but he also didn’t want to go home empty handed. His hand started to shake, unsure what to do in the situation. Ty took a deep breath and finally loosen the bow.

The bow and arrow fell to his side. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t take a mother away from her baby. He wasn’t that big of a monster and a bad person to do so. Ty sat there, watching the two of them munching on the grass in the field.

He waited until they left before he got down from his perch in the tree. He knew he was going home empty handed but he didn’t really mind. He spared a life today and that was something to be proud of. Ty wasn’t proud of the fact that he came home empty handed, but he was proud of himself for sparing a life and letting a baby grow up with his mother.

Now Hiring (Dante, Latoya, and Jamal)

June 28, 2019June 27, 2019 ~ 2catsandalaptop ~ 2 Comments

Good morning! It’s Friday and I cannot wait because I have a 3 day weekend for my birthday! I am turning 25 tomorrow which is absolutely crazy to think that I am a quarter of a century old. But, I very excited for a 3 day weekend to get more writing done.

And we are continuing on our Now Hiring series. I’m glad you are coming back and reading each part of this story to see it to the end. We still have a couple parts of this series and then we will move onto something new. Is there anything you would like to see after this series is over?

This story is and Adventure so enjoy!

Now Hiring

Dante

Being the manager of a small business, we do get people who need the job and are willing to do anything for the job. Like, they tell us everything that we want to hear just to get the job.

I remember seeing this well dressed guy sitting in one of the chairs in the lobby. He was wearing a three piece suit, shined shoes, and his hair was gelled back to perfection. I stepped up to him with my arm out. “Good morning. I’m Tammy.”

He stood up and shook my hand. “Good morning. I’m Dante, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I nodded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well. Shall we get started?” I led him into the office and he sat down opposite from me. I smiled at him. “So, tell me about yourself?”

Dante cleared his throat. “Well…I have been kinda struggling with a job. I really want to be open with you to make sure that I am being open and honest. I am willing to do whatever you need me to do just to keep the job. I could clean the toilets if you needed. I just really need a job.”

I nodded. There was always at least one or two people every season that desperately needed a job. I usually tried to get them a job, but sometimes it just didn’t work out. I started paging through his application and resume to see if there was anything that I should be aware of. “Okay. So it looks like your last job was Red Shell Game Center. Why did you leave?”

He nervously giggled. “Uh…I wasn’t really given a choice. I was told that I had to quit or be fired. So I decided to quit. It looks better on a resume.”

I felt my eyebrow start to lift. “Is that so? Why did you have to quit?”

Dante tugged on his collar. “Uh…I…uh…I took some money out of the cash register. But it was only like…$20. And I planned on giving it back once I was paid. But unfortunately my boss didn’t really agree with me and thought I was lying. So he told me that I had to quit or be fired.” His eyes fell so he was looking at the floor. “I did end up paying him the money back.”

“Well that’s good. But I am so sorry to say that I cannot hire a thief. I know you had good intentions and you planned on paying it back, but I cannot, in my right mind, hire you to work. I am so sorry. But I do wish you the best and I hope you can find something that works for you.” I smiled, trying to make him feel a little better.

He looked like he was about to cry. “Please…I need this. I haven’t been able to have a job in months because of something so minor. I try to be so open with every interview that I go into because I need this. Please. Give me a chance. I promise I won’t let you down.”

I stood up and walked to the door. “I’m so sorry Dante. But I have to say no. I will show you out. Thank you.”

Dante slowly stood up and walked out of the office. I watched him walk to his car and sit in the driver’s seat. I watched him start to cry, his hands flying up to his face. I had to leave; I had to go back into my office and let him go on his own. I felt bad, a small problem turned into something so much bigger for him and it would follow him around for a while. It was heartbreaking, but it had to be done.

Latoya

Have you ever had a day where you just can’t pay attention? Like, someone asks you something and no matter how hard you focus you just can’t answer it? That was this girl.

I invited her into the office and sat her down. I remember looking at my papers and looking up at her. She wasn’t even looking at me, she was just looking at everything around the office. I cleared my throat. “Why don’t we start off by you telling me about yourself?” Latoya didn’t even look at me, I don’t know if she even heard me ask a question. I asked it again. “Why don’t we start off by you telling me about yourself?”

Her head snapped around, almost as if I had scared her. “Huh?”

I had to do everything in my power to not roll my eyes. “Why don’t we start off by you telling me about yourself?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not super interesting…” Her eyes floated away from me and she started to look around the room again. What was wrong with the girl?

“Okay?” I wasn’t really sure what to think of this. Should I continue with the interview? I cleared my throat again. “Okay. So if you could use one word to describe yourself, what would you pick?”

Latoya’s head spun to look at me and her eyes were as wide as saucers. “What?”

It took everything in my being to not roll my eyes. “I said, if you could use one word to describe yourself, what word would you pick?”

“Uh…I would pick…” Her eyes started to travel around the room again. “I would pick…dogs.”

“Excuse me?” I couldn’t believe what was happening in this interview. “You would describe yourself as dogs?”

“Uh…no…uh…” Latoya was still not looking at me. “Uh…careful.”

“Careful?” I wasn’t sure if she was giving me a warning or telling me that she described herself. But I got no response from Latoya, she continued to look around the room and not pay attention to me or the questions. “Latoya if I don’t get 100% of your attention, then this interview will be over. So if you could please look at me, that would be great.”

Latoya continued to look around the room and not pay attention. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I stood up and left the room to see if I got any sort of response. Nothing. I walked out of the office and stood out in the lobby to watch Latoya.

She continued to sit in the office and look around at everything. After 5 minutes, she looked back at the desk to see it was empty. She stood up and walked out of the office and then out of the lobby. She didn’t say a word as she walked out. If was almost as if she knew she had messed up and was too afraid to say anything. Not that she had said much at all during the interview.

Jamal

When I schedule interviews, I usually have to schedule them around meetings and other things. So sometimes I have a very limited amount of time to do the interviews between other things. And for Jamal’s interview, it was one of those times where I literally scheduled it between two meetings. So I was hoping that it was prompt and I wouldn’t have to push my meeting back to a later time.

Well his interview was at 2 and at 2:05, he hadn’t arrived. I walked out into the lobby, hoping that for some reason my front desk girls had forgotten to tell me that my interview was here. I looked around the lobby to see no one there. “Has my interview showed up?”

My front desk lead shook her head. “No. Not yet. I’ll let you know when they arrive.”

I looked at the clock and walked back to my office. I got a couple things done when my front desk lead came back to my office. “Uh Tammy your interview just got here.”

My eyes traveled up to the clock to see it was 2:20. “20 minutes late? Okay…I guess I’ll get started.” I walked out of the office to see Jamal sitting on the couch. I walked up to him. “Good afternoon. I’m Tammy.”

Jamal stood up and shook my hand. “Hello. I’m Jamal.”

I took him in the office and we both sat down. “So, tell me a little about yourself?”

He nodded. “Okay. I work at Xscape Escape Rooms full time and I love it. I am basically just looking for something part time to have a little extra money. But I love working with people and enjoy helping people solve puzzles.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun. If you could use one word to describe yourself, what word word would you use?”

Jamal took a moment to ponder. “I would say inquisitive. I am always curious about things and I always want to find a good solution.”

I wrote that down. “That’s a great answer. Okay. Do you have any experience with animals?”

Jamal shook his head. “Unfortunately not really. I have owned a goldfish, but that was it. No dogs or cats.” He suddenly looked at his Apple watch and took a moment to read it. “I’m very sorry. But my other job is needing me sooner than expected. Will this take long?”

I was taken aback. This guy shows up late to an interview and now he wants to leave early? I wasn’t really sure how to take that. “Um…this is an interview. I don’t determine how long it will take. What determines the length is how long it takes you to answer the questions. But, if you do not wish to continue this interview, we can terminate it right now.”

His eyes quickly moved back and forth. I could tell he was trying to decide what to do. I watched him trying to decide if he leave for his other job or stay and finish out the interview. He let out a sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m already committed to my other job, so I guess I will have to finish for today. I would love to schedule another interview if possible, but I understand if you do not wish to do so.” He stood up. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience ma’am.”

And with that he swiftly walked out the door of the office and out the front door. It was a shame. He actually seemed like a genuine guy who could possibly work out really well on the team. But, maybe I would end up calling him back for another interview. It wasn’t something I normally did, but for some reason it felt like the right thing to do.

WW-Interrogation

June 26, 2019June 25, 2019 ~ 2catsandalaptop ~ Leave a comment

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, it’s the middle of the week, which means that we are a few days away from the weekend. I cannot wait for Friday…seriously it could not come any sooner.

And we are here for another Winchester Wednesday. Now! This is the last part of this case for Winchester, but there will be more cases starting next week. Each case is going to take 4 parts to complete and then there will be a new case. So in case anyone was afraid that this was the end of Winchester Wednesdays, fear not! They will continue.

This story is an Adventure so sit back and enjoy!

Interrogation

Winchester stood behind the one way glass, watching his father sitting in interrogation room across from Kayla. She was silent, not saying a single word to the detective as he asked her questions. West watched her movements, they were very precise and calculated. She left her hands on the table in plain view of the cameras, her left foot kept tapping the floor in nervousness, and her eyes kept gazing over toward the one way glass. It was almost as if she was looking for him.

“Hello…Kayla…if you don’t answer my questions I won’t be able to help you. Are you listening?”

“She’s shut down. I don’t know if we can get any information out of her.” Chief Dyner crossed his arms and shook his head. “I’ve seen this a thousand times. People confess to something and then they realize they are going to jail and then they shut down. I heard she denied a lawyer?”

West nodded. “Yeah. It was almost immediate too. Dad told her the Miranda rights and she immediately said she did not wish to be provided with a lawyer. But I have a weird feeling she is looking for me…I may be wrong, but she keeps looking over here as if she’s looking for me.”

They watched Anthony stand up and leave the room. He walked into the other room and let out a sigh. “She’s going to be a tough nut to crack. I think she has a lot of anger pent up inside of her but I don’t know if it’s every going to come out. I mean, she has confessed, but we don’t really know why. I don’t think Nancy’s family is going to accept that as a confession.”

“I could go in there.”

Anthony immediately shook his head. “No way. I am not going to let you in there with a criminal.”

“Why not? I feel like she is honestly looking for me. And who knows, maybe I can get some other information from her since I am a young kid like her.” West knew that his dad wouldn’t approve of him going into the interrogation, but he genuinely thought that he might be able to pull some information out of this girl.

“Just because she is looking for you doesn’t mean she means well. She could be looking for you to kill you.”

“Really dad? She’s handcuffed and you would still be in here watching the whole thing. If there’s something you don’t like you could always come in and interrupt.” He turned to the chief. “What do you think Chief Dyner?”

The chief shrugged. “I don’t see why it would hurt. The worst that could happen is that we just don’t get any information. Just tell her you are a consultant with the department and see what you can do. Anthony, let him in.”

Winchester walked toward the interrogation room door with his father. He let out a sigh. “Is there anything I should know before I go in there?”

Anthony put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Be confident in what you say. If you sound weak, they will know you aren’t actually an officer. Just…be careful.” He typed in a code and the door unlocked.

West walked inside and took a quick look around the room. There was nothing except for the table, 2 chairs, and Kayla. He sat down opposite of her and opened his notebook. “Hello. I am Winchester West and I am a consultant for the department. I am just here to ask you a few questions.”

Kayla looked up at him. “And I thought Kayla Short was a terrible name. Man, it must be rough having a name like Winchester.”

He shrugged. “It’s not so bad. I’ve gotten used to it.” He picked up the pen. “So, you used to be a competitive fencer until you got injured. Is that correct?” She nodded, but it was very slight. “What did you injure? I believe it must be difficult to sustain a horrific injury in fencing.”

She looked up toward the ceiling. “I tore every muscle in my right shoulder as I was thrusting toward an opponent. I had a minor tear that got worse in a single thrust. I could barely pick up my arm.”

“I’m so sorry. So you had to stop fencing competitively.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I went through PT and everything and I just couldn’t do that. When I told Mark, he was obviously disappointed, but he understood. I was just grateful that he let me still be a teacher for his school.”

Winchester wrote something down in his notebook. “So when did you meet Nancy?”

Kayla scoffed. “Ugh…she was a girl who showed up and said she had never fenced before and wanted to learn how. And she was good. Too good. Mark fell in love with her immediately because he saw so much potential in her. And I knew that I wasn’t ever going to get his attention.”

“Do you love Mark?”

West could see tears starting to form in Kayla’s eyes. She sniffled. “Of course I love Mark. He was my first love, my first crush, my first teacher. Once I turned 18 I told him that I loved him and I confessed my love for him and he totally rejected me. He told me he didn’t date students and he only saw me as a student. I accepted it and moved on with my life. So when I accidentally walked in on him and Nancy kissing then I knew I had to end her.”

“So you decided to kill her?”

Kayla completely broke. “I couldn’t believe that she stole my man. I had to end her. So I told her I was going to give her a special lesson after hours. Obviously I have the codes to get in the building so I told her to come an hour after we closed so Mark wouldn’t know. I took one of my old sabres and broke the safety off of it so it was sharp, and I hid in the corner and waited for her to come inside so I could kill her. She walked inside and never saw it coming. I stabbed her with the sharp sabre and stood there watching the blood drain out of her body. And when I realized she was finally dead I started cleaning up. I mopped and bleached the entire area to make sure that all the blood was gone and there was no evidence left behind. And then I stuck her in my car, locked up the building, and took her a little out of town to drop the body. I knew that it was only a matter of time before you guys would figure out that it was me.”

West leaned back in his chair and stared at her, he wasn’t completely convinced about her reason why. “Why? I understand that you were angry that your first love broke his own rule and dated a student that wasn’t you. But that doesn’t mean that you need to go and kill someone.”

She wiped the tears from her eyes and sniffled. “Have you ever been in love Detective?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. I’m still looking.”

She nodded. “You do crazy things when you’re in love. I have been in love with Mark since I first met him 10 years ago. I was 14 and dumb but I really loved him. I loved how he taught me and he really cared about me and cared about my feelings. He made me feel special. So I took a chance when I turned 18 and told him how I felt about us. Mark told me that he appreciated me telling him how he felt but he had made it a rule to not date students. I told him that I understood and tried to push my feelings aside. I continued to work there to make ends meet and help me through college even though I knew I was never going to get what I wanted. But when Nancy came around he fell in love with her immediately. I have never seen him spend so much extra time with a student in lessons. At first I thought she was just paying for a lot of extra lessons so I tried not to think about it too hard. But then I walked in on them and I was completely heartbroken.” She let out a sigh. “I guess you do crazy things when you are in love or when you get your heartbroken.”

Winchester stood up and walked out of the room, listening to her sobbing as his father let him out of the door. He felt his eyes starting fill with tears as he stepped out of the room. He knew she was going to jail for long time and he was partially responsible for it. West was congratulated by his father and Chief Dyner for helping with the case and sending a murderer to jail. It kind of felt good but it also hurt a lot.