Disclaimer: I do not own Fillmore (if I did the show would still be going) nor am I making any profit off of this fiction other than my own mental happiness. Enjoy the story.

Assassination of a High School President

A Fillmore Fan Fiction

Act 1: A Leader Falls

"You owe me Fillmore." A dripping Ingrid spat at her partner.

"Hey at least Bruno here took the brunt of the hit. Let's get him back to HQ so we can go home."

The two escorted the sulking young man back towards the safety patrol headquarters leaving behind the busted cartons and large puddle of milk behind.


"The cafeteria milk shipment Fillmore? A full week's worth of milk for a school this size and you manage to destroy it in a minute. Do you know how much that is going to cost to replace?" Vallejo yelled.

"Hey Vallejo, no point in crying over spilled milk." Fillmore said coolly.

"I should put you on permanent desk duty. In fact, you two are going to be on desk duty until I say otherwise."

"But-"Ingrid started.

"If I hear one more word out of either of you, you'll be off the force."

"B-" Ingrid started again but Vallejo glared at her challenging her to keep going.

They exited Fillmore slamming the door behind him muffling the sound of falling picture frames and Vallejo's following yell of "Fillmore!"

"Desk duty." Fillmore sighed.

"At least you don't have milk everywhere. Ug it's even seeped into my new boots. I just got these not too long ago." Ingrid complained from where she was ringing out her hair.

"You head home Ingrid, I'll finish filing the report on Bruno before I leave."

"Ok. See you tomorrow Fillmore."

"See ya."

Not much had changed for the pair since they first became partners in 7th grade. They had continued to be partners after moving up to the X High School division of the Safety Patrol and had continued to prove they were the best. They refused to work with other partners unless they absolutely had to. They had proved that point during the brief period that Vallejo had been replaced by a new Commishiner and the new guy had tried to reassign partners.

Fillmore and Ingrid had told him in no uncertin terms that they were either partners or they weren't on the force. When Vallejo had returned, he had been properly horrified at the idea when he heard about it.

Fillmore finished typing up the report on Bruno and his forged sick note scam and filed it before packing up to go home.

He was just about to sit down for dinner with his parents when the phone rang. He moved to answer it, his parents had long ago accepted that he was always on call with the Safety Patrol and had stopped commenting on it.

"Fillmore's." he said simply as he picked up the phone.

"Fillmore, we need you to come down to the school right now. Derek Edwards body was just found in the auditorium."


Ingrid and Fillmore slipped under the yellow tape that covered the doors to the auditorium flashing their badges at the guard at the door. Most Safety Patrollers knew them by site but X High School had a large force that was always getting new members.

"So what have we got?" Ingrid asked Vallejo who was standing by a young woman.

"This is Sara McEllen. She's the one who found the body. She was on her way to set up for the press conference that was going to take place tomorrow. The Student Body President was supposed to speak on what measures we are taking to ensure that this year's prom will be secure from any dangers that last years suffered."

"Uh huh. So what happened?" Ingrid asked the girl.

"Well I came in and noticed that all the lights were off which was weird because Derek had mentioned that he was going to be here when I got here because he wanted to make sure that the powerpoint worked. I talked to him only about fifteen minutes before I got here. I walked in and it was dark so I switched on the lights. I noticed Derek's backpack in front of the stage and figured maybe he just ran to the bathroom or something. So I went to put the pamplets backstage and I found him laying there by the control pannel. I shook him to wake him up and then noticed the blood on the floor. I called the nurse and now here we are."

"How did he die? Did the nurse say?" Fillmore asked.

Tehama sidled up to them. "Cause of Death was a stab wound to the chest just below the left pectoral muscle. We found the knife but there were no prints on the knife."

"So we are dealing with a murder? Did Derek have any enemies that you know of?"

"No. He was a well loved president. He was a member of Student Council, he talked to just about everyone. He was known to visit different clubs. He was very liked."

"No one had a grudge against him?"

"Not that I can think of. Even his running mates weren't upset he won."

"You said you talked to him before you came right?" Ingrid asked.

"Yes. I called his cell phone."

"Is the record on your phone of what time you talked to him?" Fillmore asked.

"I think so. Here." She handed him her phone.

Fillmore flipped it open and checked the history. The call to Derek was made at 6:27pm, the call to the nurse went out at 6:54pm. Somewhere in those twenty seven minutes, Derek was stabbed."

Fillmore handed Ingrid the phone. Ingrid scanned through the history to make sure he didn't miss anything before handing it back to Sara.

"Thank you for your time."

The duo looked around for clues they might have missed. "So where should we start?"

"Let's go see what we can find out about Derek." Ingrid said leading the way to back to Safety Patrol HQ.




"Let's see. Derek Edwards. Age 17. Voted School president at the beginning of the school year. Won 76 to 24. Member of Student council for three years. Student Council president last year, Senator year before that. Volunteers at the Happy Days After School center. Member of Nature's Friends, the Pottery Posse, Volunteers for the Drama department, member of the zoology club. No disicpline problems."

"So where should we start?" Fillmore asked again.

"Let's go talk to his parents."

They arrived to find the police already there. They went up to the door and knocked. A middle aged man answered the door, he looked like he had been crying as he looked at the two teens. "What can I do for you kids?"

"I'm Safety Patrol Officer Cornilius Fillmore this is my partner Ingrid Third. We're investigating the murder of your son Derek. May we ask you a few questions?"

"Of course come in." He moved aside to allow them entrance.

He led them into the living room where his wife was speaking to one of the officers. "Honey, these kids are Safety Patrol Officers from the school and want to ask us some questions."

She looked at the pair with haunted eyes. "Why are you investigating? We have police for that."

"Yes ma'am. But the more people investigating, the more likely we are to find out who did it." Ingrid said polietly.

The officer looked at the pair. "They are the best the school has. We regularlly watch the Safety Patrol Kids to see who would make good officers. These two are the best of those and hopefully one day the best on the force."

"Thanks." Fillmore said simply. "Now then. When was the last time you spoke to Derek?"

"Afterschool today. He called to tell us that he was going to work on his speech for tomorrow morning." Mr. Edwards answered quickly.

"Did he ever get any threats or mention anyone acting hostile towards him?"

"No. He only ever got people here to thank him and just spend time with him. He never said that anyone was ever hostile or even rude to him. He spent most of his time at school and with his girlfriend." This was from Mrs. Edwards.

"What was his girlfriend like?" Fillmore asked her.

"Oh Liz was wonderful. She's very pretty. She was always polite, never rude, she cared a lot for our Derek. She always came over to check on him when he was sick. She would come over here and help me bake for the school bake sales, she'd sit with Derek helping him with his history, he was horrible at it, and they'd watch tv together some nights. She is a wonderful young lady."

"Were there ever any fights between them?"

"None that I know of. They were inseperable usually."

Fillmore and Ingrid glanced at each other silently making sure neither had more questions. "Thank you for your time Ma'am. If you think of anything that can help us with our investigation please give us a call." Fillmore handed her a card and he and Ingrid turned to leave.

As they were headed toward Ingrid's house, they talked of the case.

"Any ideas on where we should start tomorrow?" Ingrid asked.

"I'd like to ask the girlfriend a few questions. Mrs. Edwards said that they were inseperable at times so she would know if he was having any arguments with anyone."

They reached Ingrid's house and she took out her keys. "So I'll see you at the corner at six tomorrow?"

"Of course. Then we can go through the files on the girlfriend before we start asking her questions. Who ever thought that there would be a murder at X of all places?"

"I don't know but we are going to find out. Night Fillmore."

"Night."