[WP] In a school for assassins and mercenaries, you're a beloved lunch lady. You ruefully realize that you're the only person nearly everyone trusts. Then you get framed for placing hemlock in an administrator's meal. The school board rushes to fire you, throwing the academy into turmoil.
*****
Nina was the fastest of us, apparently anticipating it even more than us. Her torch came on almost immediately, and we scanned around the room for signs of movement. Actually, we were more concerned about Viper than anything else, since he was the only unknown in our midst.
But he wasn't even moving. He looked a bit more apprehensive, probably due to the lights going off. It was probably some Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, after all, the same circumstances had killed someone he was clearly close to. What was the nature of his relationship with Caprice? I couldn't say for sure.
I know Amanda did frown on any of such amorous relationships among students because she believed it made them weak and made them perform below the standards she sought to uphold. I didn't blame her anyway, Amanda was always focused on productivity, and that policy certainly did help her to achieve that.
His face was still frozen in the daze-like moony expression it was in when we found Caprice's body. It was clear that Viper was very much out of it, and would be useless to us during this long night.
I turned back to the screen, calling the attention of the others. Rachel had turned on backup lights in the room and she then wrote on a little whiteboard 'hemlock confirmed, consider was probably used for storage as it was brought in".
It seemed we had a lot of information, but all of it was just bits and scraps without a definite clue. I didn't know what it was, the evidence or discovery that would change the course of the investigation and solve it, but all I knew was that I needed som
And then I finally remembered it after forgetting it for a little while due to all the walking around and the damn blackout. Caprice entrusted that case to me, so I still had to check it. She might have known more than Viper on the matter. And then...
I looked at Amanda. "Caprice told me something. She believes that the student involved was one of those four who walked in front of her and Viper. They were probably following those students yesterday afternoon, trying to covertly dig up more."
Amanda nodded skeptically, before shrugging. "I honestly didn't want to accept the possibility, but then the source is a capable one, who seems to have known more about what was going on than any of us here-"
"Caprice was a major threat," Viper finally found his words. "They were very careful, knowing where they were and the caliber of the people they were dealing with. They did try to cover their tracks, but CapráÁice kept following the threads and getting close to finding out who they were and what they wanted."
I nodded.
Viper's eyes looked moist for a moment before he blinked it off. "The wasn't too careful though. As careful as she could be. Once they discovered Inosuke's involvement and killed him, Caprice's mission to retrieve the canister compromised her secrecy. They saw her, they killed her. Fin."
"But if they really want to kill me, why don't they just bomb me while I'm in here? Why go through all these unnecessary killings? Their objective is right here."
I opened the book, and I began to skim through it till I saw a title in bold, red ink: Possible Motives. Possible Motives? I thought. Did she mean -yes, she did.
"Check this out. Caprice thinks that it has something to do with a personal vendetta. somebody Amanda must have met in the line of duty, and someone she might have gotten on the wrong side of. The person must be quite familiar with you and your actions since they're targeting Spyder at the grassroots."
Amanda nodded. "I was beginning to see that pattern, but I tried to discard it, hoping things were not going like that, but then look at thins now. The deaths have been calculated to chip away at my core and destabilize me, tearing down all I've worked for and the embodiment of my effort after my father handed the island to me."
"They want to kill you, but they want to punish you first, huh? Any ideas come to mind?"
Amanda smirked weakly. "My job and situation can be likened to the state of being a bad dancer. It was normal for me to step on people's toes, I wasn't about sportsmanship, I was about getting the job done no matter what it took. Sabotage, Backstabbing, burning bridges; OI did all that sh!t. I can't remember any outstanding moments, all this could be the doing of any of the ghosts from my past."
"They were the ones who met Inosuke themselves, seeing that he had already spotted the men too from his vantage point. They discussed, and then they decided that they were going to leave it in the hands of Caprice and Viper to figure out who the guy was. Caprice immediately went and searched and discovered that at the time of the return of the Fenderson boat, the sophomores were having an ICT lecture and practical."
Viper nodded. "Yes, that puts them in perfect sync with the timeline Caprice drew for me."
"Caprice said that a student she had managed to ask a few questions without being seen as being suspicious informed her that six students had left during the lecture, and one of the instructors wasn't there, although she couldn't really note which one it was."
Amanda nodded. "We'll have to rest it for now. We'll be on the offensive some Sunrise. We're not going to be crushed like this!"
*****
To Be Continued.
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