Slaughter of the Next Degree

"Thank you for calling. If you notice anything suspicious please call me," said Detective Crull as he laid down the phone. He finally had a suspect. Jonathon Case. He started going over the facts in his head. He was down the hall from Billy's classroom but not Tyler's. He disappeared when Tyler did. And he didn't call in sick or have an excused absence for the day. Everything seemed to finally be line up in the case. It was 10 o'clock and Crull decided to call it a night. He grabbed his coat off the back of his office chair and headed out. As soon as the door shut, the window opened.

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Cassidy had calmed down and was sitting in the office waiting for her mom to get off work when Mrs. Williams walked in. She noted that her teacher looked absolutely fine now. "Hi Mrs. Williams," said Cassidy not wanting to be rude.

She looked around for a second before realizing the voice had come from Cassidy. "Oh, hello Cassidy! What are you still doing here? I thought your mom was coming to get you," she said concerned.

"She is at work so she told me to wait here till she could get a break." Something flashed across Mrs. Williams face but Cassidy couldn't tell what it was.

"Well, I will wait with you," she said, giving the secretary an encouraging look also. "So Cassidy, what do you do for fun?"

Cassidy thought a moment before replying, "I like hanging out with my friends and playing card games and playing house."

"Really now? I loved playing that when I was little! That is why when I grew up, I went to acting school so I could play house all the time!" she said excitedly. "Do you want to be an actress too when you grow up?"

"Maybe. I really like watching movies and I would like to see myself in them too. That would be cool." Cassidy smiled for the first time in a long time. Mrs. Williams smiled back.

"Do you want to call your mom again to see if I can take you home? I really need to go and I would hate leaving you here," she said with concern in her voice again.

"Francine, that probably isn't a good idea. Not with the cops looking for suspects in the case. It would look bad on your part so I will wait here with her so you can head home," said the secretary.

Mrs. Williams looked at Cassidy and then at the secretary before saying, "Ok." She walked out of the office with a certain... hurriness. Like she really had something to do. Cassidy thought about it for a moment before letting it go.