The teenager walked into the High School, or really the young woman. She was eighteen after all, just about to graduate in a little less than two weeks. It was Wednesday, but it was the last day for seniors. She had already packed up most of her contents of her locker the previous day. Now all she had was her back pack, a check out sheet, and all the text books and a calculator she had to return to the school to be able to check out and be gone for good.

"Hey Charlie!" Charlie's brown hair swished as she turned to see who had called her name. Her friend Victoria stood there, grinning like an idiot. Her short blond hair perfect as ever, with the slight aroma of hairspray keeping it in place.

"Hey Tori." Charlie replied, opening the door to their homeroom class.

"So, today's kind of pointless, isn't it?" Tori muttered, rolling her blue eyes.

"Pretty much. We turn in a text book and sit here, reading a book." Charlie received an annoyed look from Tori.

"Okay, well I'll be reading a book while you play on the computer." she added.

"Much better." Tori praised. "So, what are you-" Tori's question was cut off by someone calling Charlie's name, or rather her last name.

"Ms. Garrison?" Charlie glanced at the door to see a teacher standing there. He looked as if he was trying to keep calm, but sweat beading around his face said otherwise.

"Mr. Taber? Is something wrong?" she asked him, standing up and walking over to him.

"I um... need to see you in my office. Please." He turned, automatically expecting her to follow. Charlie glanced back at Tori, who shrugged her shoulders, before following him.

Once in his office, he sat down in his chair. He did not relax, he just leaned forward until she sat down.

"What's this about, Mr. Taber?" she asked, not really sure why she was there.

"Charlie. I don't know how to tell you this." he started. She saw the worry in his eyes and she became very concerned.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Somebody-" before he could barely even finish the word, she heard glass break and almost at the same time, Mr. Taber's body pitched to the floor.

"Mr. Taber?" she asked, standing cautiously and moving around the desk. When she looked down, she saw a hole in the back of his head with blood spilling out of it.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, running out of his office.


The police car pulled up to the curb. A rather tall man in a brown trench coat stepped out. He had square glasses and white hair.

"Bullock, what's the story?" he asked, walking with his partner up the steps of the school. The students were in lock down inside. All the window shades were pulled, and no one was to leave the building.

"Well, a teacher was shot in the back of his head while in his office. Looks to be the work of a sniper." Bullock explained.

"Any witnesses?" The Commissioner asked after they had already entered the building.

"Uh, yeah. Looks like an eighteen year old female..." Bullock said, reading from his notepad. Gordon stopped, looking up to see a female senior sitting next to the principal's office, a blanket around her shoulders as she sipped at something in a Styrofoam cup.

"Miss?" Gordon said, coming up to her. She looked at him, her gaze almost blank. Her skin was a pale ghostly color.

"Yes?" she finally croaked.

"Are you the witness?" he asked her.

"I am." she said, her senses seeming to come back to her a little at a time.

"Are you able to come downtown with us for questioning?" he asked her. She only nodded.

"Alright. I'm Commissioner Jim Gordon." he introduced, trying to make her more comfortable.

"Charlotte Garrison." she murmured, standing up. She looked back to make sure the secretary saw her. She had and she waved to her that it was okay that she left. They had been expecting the cops any minute and the staff had already planned on them taking her for questioning.

As they walked outside, reporters had finally started to gather.

"Commissioner Gordon, what happened here today?" he ignored the question.

"commissioner, there's rumor that a man was killed here today. Is that true?" again, he ignored them.

He got Charlie in the front seat of his car before going around to the driver's side.

"Sorry about that. They get pretty nosy when things like this happen." he apologized.

"It's okay." Charlie said, staring out the window. She was scared, confused, and most of all really wanted to know what Mr. Taber was going to say before his untimely death.


Michael was working profusely at his desk. He had to finish filing these shipments tonight, or his boss wasn't going to be too happy. Getting into the mob was easy. Pleasing the boss? A whole other story. He was on good terms with his boss, though. In fact he had worked himself to the top fairly well, even being on a first name basis with Sal. He sighed out, glancing at the clock. By the time he got home, his little girl would already be up and getting ready to school. Maybe already be heading to school. The shipment had had some complications, and it hadn't arrived until two that night. Somebody had gone through and marked down the crates that had arrived and now it was Michael's job to go through this list and enter in the serial numbers and codes and make sure all the crates were accounted for. He yawned, rubbing his eyes.

"Tired, Michael?" Sal walked in, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, no. Just... you know, finishing up this report." he said, going back to what he was doing.

"Michael, I know when you're tired." Sal said knowingly.

"I know, boss. But don't worry, I'm not leaving until the work's done." he promised as any good employee would.

Sal smiled. "That's what I like about you Michael. You're hard working. How far do you have left to go?" Sal asked rhetorically as he glanced at the paper for himself.

"mmm... I know all of them are accounted for, Michael. Go ahead and finish out this page. The rest can wait til tomorrow. Go on home." Sal said.

"You sure, boss?" Michael asked, not wanting to get blame later when Sal realized how nice he was being.

"I'm sure. Go home to your family." Sal said, smiling as he walked away.

Michael sighed with relief. It was nice sometimes, being on the boss's good side. He finished up the report, saved his work, pulled the disk out, and shut off the computer.

By the time he had gotten home, his daughter was already up and getting ready for school, as he expected. He was so tired, he could barely wish her a good day before laying down and passing out on his bed. He'd make it up to her later. Right now, he needed sleep.


"So, go ahead and describe in detail what happened." The commissioner said, sitting across the table from Charlie.

"Well, Mr. Taber called me into his office. He was acting strange and kind of shifty. He sat me down and said he didn't know how to tell me something. But before he could say anything else, he just... collapsed." she looked away, not wanting to think of it anymore.

"Any idea what he might have been trying to say?" The commissioner asked. She shook her head. She was so confused by everything that had happened today.

"But, he said somebody... I don't know who and I don't know what. I don't know if somebody was trying to get him. Trying to get me. If somebody won a tennis tournament... I have no idea what he was trying to say... but, his tone sounded as if he was trying to warn me of something."

"Um, Charlie. Does.. um, did Mr. Taber... like, what did he do at the school?" The commissioner finally asked.

"He was English teacher and, along with that he was kind of a secretary. At the end of the day, all the tardies or attendance went through him... kind of were reported to him. He had everyone on file. Every student." she kind of explained, trying to remember exactly what Mr. Taber was in charge of when he wasn't teaching English.

"He had access to student files?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Bullock, run back over to Gotham High and see if any student files are missing."

"But that could take all day!" Bullock exclaimed.

"Then I guess you better get started." The commissioner replied, kind of almost smirking.

Bullock kind of muttered something before storming off.

"He's right. It could take a while. Would you like some coffee?" The commissioner asked.

She smiled. "Actually, a cup of tea would be fantastic."