First Dates Part 11

Eric paced the office back and forth. He kept glancing into the lifeless eyes of Valerie as she sat slumped over in the chair at Veronica’s desk. His mind was racing about what to do next. He had come here for revenge but now it was more complicated. He hadn’t intended to kill Valerie but she was at the wrong place at the right time. He was looking around the office for ideas when he heard a faint siren. He decided he would just try to get away and let the police take care of this mess he had created. He closed the door to the office and slipped out the back entrance and into the woods behind the school just as the first police unit arrived at the front gate.

Police cautiously entered the school by the front door. It could just be a routine run. Officer Johnson entered the school slowly and turned off the silent alarm that had summoned them to the school. There were no lights on in the classrooms and all the doors seemed to be secure. He continued down the hall and saw one light on at the end of the hall that lead to the administrative offices. He walked into the office and saw the door to the principal’s office open. As he got closer he recognized the smell of gunpowder. Leading with his flashlight he pushed the door open and was greeted by the dead woman behind the desk. He immediately called for back up and more units were called in. The proper procedure was to call the principal but it seemed like she may be the victim. The administrative assistant was called instead.

“Dead?! What happened?! Are you still at the school? I’m getting dressed to come right now!?” All of the questions were being fired so fast at Officer Johnson that he couldn’t answer any of them before the next one was asked. After she disconnected the line he continued to tape off the area so that the crime scene employees could get to work. He noticed the door to the back of the school was ajar and theorized that this was the way the killer got out. Eric was still sitting low in the field watching all the activity at the school. He didn’t know how long to stay or if they would even think to search the field. He knew he couldn’t stay there forever but he wanted to see if maybe his real target would show so that he could finish what he started. Wringing his hands together his mind raced about what to do next. “I could just go to her house and take her, as long as that boyfriend of hers isn’t there. I can’t believe she thought she could replace me. I told her. I told her. I meant what I said. I told her.” Eric’s rants became more and more garbled and unintelligible. He was losing it but felt he had to finish was he came to do. No one had ever rejected him and in his mind he knew he was doing wrong, but he couldn’t stop.

Shannon raced down the road with tears streaming down her face. She couldn’t believe that the woman she so gratefully worked with was dead. She had so many questions in her head. What was she doing at the office? Where was Brendan? Brendan! She had to call him and let him know. Shannon grabbed her cell phone and pushed in Brendan’s cell that Veronica have given her to use only in the case of emergency. It rang once and then twice. On the third ring he answered. “Hello,” he said. He sounded so happy. He had no idea I was about to bring his world down around him. “Um, Hello Brendan. It’s Shannon, you know, from the school.” “Yes, Hello, how are you?” Shannon took a deep breath. She hated what she was about to say to him. “Mr. Brendan, I’m afraid I have some bad news. I was just called by the police and they said.. they said… they found Miss Veronica at the school and she was… she was .. dead.” The last words barely escaped her mouth. Nothing but silence came from the other side of the phone. “Now Shannon, I don’t know what kind of trick you think you are playing but I will tell you right now that it is not funny at all!” A joke? Did he really think I would joke about this? “Veronica is NOT dead!” I felt that his denial was taking over and I know exactly how he felt. I felt the same way. “I know this is hard to believe and I know it is going to be hard to accept..” “Hello, Shannon, what is going on?” It was Veronica’s voice. Shannon almost ran off the road. This was all too much.