Out of Time

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:


Chapter 9 (Bombshells)

Seated in Mr. Sikowitz's class for the final time, Jade was thinking of all the ways they could try to investigate or get anything out of him. Granted, she was aware doing anything without Sam's supervision or approval was not okay, there was a reason for such a manuever.

Tori mentioned to the couple that one of the other teachers in the school, one of the few classes she had without the group, was doing an ancestry project and for some reason Sikowitz had taken an interest in her results. So much so that she saw him take the results of the test off her desk when she stepped away for a minute. The man was denying this.

Beck wasn't sure if this was something to be concerned at, but he did acknowledge Sikowitz had no reason for holding onto a project that had been done for a different class. At the same time, Jade recognized the danger that this test could possibly have.

To her understanding, this ancestry test was supposed to reveal ethnicity and how far back it went. Mr. Vega was of Spanish descent while Mrs. Vega was French. Sasha Grayson had been half Puerto Rican and half German while Spencer Shay was of Irish descent. If Tori was in fact their daughter and she saw that she did not have a strong bloodline of Spanish or French, she might raise life-threatening questions.

What made matters more severe was that Sikowitz was holding onto these results. He was already suspected of being involved in this very organization that the Vegas were suspected to be a part of; so if they truly abducted Tori and did not want her to know who her parents were, certainly they would want these results to be withheld.

"Jade." Spinning her pen in between her fingers, she looked over her shoulder at Beck. He'd gone to the restroom, she hadn't seen him return. His voice was that of a low whisper as he crouched beside her desk. His arm folded over the surface and he looked over his shoulder for a few seconds. "I got off the phone with Sam just now." He turned back to her and she raised her eyebrows.

"What did she say?"

"She'll meet us after school. She's got the okay to search Mr. Sikowitz's classroom."

"What?"

"Turns out someone thinks they found drugs, so if he has any…" She furrowed her brow and cocked her head to the right. She pursed her lips trying to think of a response. "It's an actual thing that becomes convenient. There's a search warrant because he's already known to have a criminal record involving drugs." Beck sighed and emphasized his next word. "So that means if we find anything that could implicate him in another crime, it helps us."

"Oh. And that ancestry test?"

"Won't do a lot if we do find it. If it does show that Tori isn't related to the Vegas, it still doesn't say she couldn't have been adopted. Sam and Detective Malone are still doing all they can to work out an angle on this, but they did say it might be dangerous if Tori does receive that. Especially if the Vegas are as dangerous as they seem to be."

"If they are, her life's already in danger anyway…"

"So why shorten the length of time that she has left before they try anything?" She frowned at him. He had a valid point, there was no reason to let anything quicken the path of danger that Tori seemed to unknowingly traverse. "I'm just surprised there's a teacher in this school that would actually do that."

"The school's under investigation, that doesn't mean every teacher's a part of that criminal network."

"True."

Someone cleared their throat nearby and Jade saw a shadow fall over them. She turned her head up and mustered a smile as her gaze connected with the teacher. "Is there something you would like to share with the class?" Mr. Sikowitz folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes. "I was in the middle of a lecture."

"Sorry sir." Beck stood up and returned to his seat. Jade watched the teacher move away and looked over to Tori, who was busy writing something in her notebook.

Afterwards, the couple met with Sam outside of Mr. Sikowitz's classroom. She instructed them to stay out of sight while Gary spoke with Sikowitz regarding the search.

The teacher seemed annoyed and walked off mumbling something under his breath. When Gary returned to them, he poked his thumb over his shoulder. "Alright, you can go search the scene. Your teacher says he's gone to the auditorium for a bit, I'll keep watch.

With that, the pair followed Sam into the classroom. It was strange to be in the room without the teacher or other kids present. "It feels empty in here," she said while looking to the desks.

Her gaze became fixated on Andre's desk where a backpack sat open. "Andre forgot his backpack?" She looked to Sam and Beck, who were busy going through the drawers of Sikowitz's desk. With a curious hum, Jade slowly walked by Andre's desk, her fingers sliding along the surfaces of nearby desks.

She looked away and leaned right, eventually bumping her leg into the boy's desk and knocking the backpack off. A binder fell open on the floor and papers scattered everywhere. Jade let out an astonished gasp and moved her hand to her mouth. "Oh, clumsy me." Her lips twisted to a smirk and her eyes narrowed. "I should be more careful where I'm going."

Beck looked over with an arched eyebrow and she shrugged. Jade knelt to get a closer look, while embellishing the events. "Let me go ahead and clean this up. I hope you guys are having better luck."

"Actually we are," Sam replied with a light laugh. "I think I just found out what your instructor puts in his coconut drinks." Jade's heart stopped when she saw Sam remove a bag of white powder from underneath some folders in Mr. Sikowitz's lower desk. "Old habits die hard."

"So he actually does have something?"

"Yep."

"Shit…"

Beck cleared his throat and pulled a partially open envelope from underneath Sikowitz computer keyboard. "Found Tori's ancestry file." He handed it over to Sam and furrowed his brow at Jade. "So what are you up to?"

"I knocked over Andre's backpack by mistake." As she returned the papers to the binder, she glanced to a notebook which had also fallen out.

"Uh-huh."

Her eyes caught a peculiar list and she froze; it was a list of names. "What is this about?" Sam and Beck their way over and peered down at the list. "Monica Grant-eighteen. Amber Dean-seventeen. Erin Peters-sixteen, pregnant. Courtney Van Cleef…" The list was enormous and mostly centered on girls at the school that were either pregnant or nearly graduated.

There was a common trend Jade noticed aside from the pregnancies. "Most of these girls come from poor families or single parent homes. Courtney Van Cleef, that's Sinjin's sister, I remember her. Their parents died a long time ago and Sinjin had to take care of her."

Sam cupped her hand over her chin and started to hum. "Look, there's an X by Courtney's name." She pointed and Jade gasped. "I recognize her name too from a missing person's report." Jade cupped her hands over her mouth, holding back a scream. She watched as Beck started to tense and bow his head.

"You have to be kidding me…" Beck ran his hand through his hair and groaned. "Sinjin's job was a TA, he worked with Sikowitz." Sam closed her eyes as Beck's voice started to shake. "Courtney would've turned eighteen last summer."

"Where's Sinjin now?"

"Like right this minute? Probably at his house." Beck shrugged. "In general, I don't know. I think he's in college now, he stopped working here a while ago." Beck stood slowly and shook his head. "Just her name being in this book, all the girls in this book…what's Andre doing with this?"

Sam scoffed. "It fell out of the backpack he left behind and onto the floor. You stumbled across it as any passing student might and were concerned about some of the names listed. Pick it up." Jade nodded and grabbed the book. It felt heavy and hot in her fingers, as though she was picking up a hot poker.

As they exited the classroom, Gary turned to them and straightened his posture. "Find anything interesting?" Sam nodded and held up the bag she'd found.

"He's still doing drugs." Gary sighed and looked towards the book in Jade's hand. "We also found a notebook that fell out of a backpack belonging to Andre Shapiro. It has a list of names, with a few missing girls." Gary's eyes widened and Jade pointed to Beck. "Meanwhile, he did manage to find that ancestry result Tori said Mr. Sikowitz took. It was already open, so Sikowitz may have taken a look at it."

"I see." He raised an eyebrow and Beck gingerly spread the sides of the envelope outwards. He glanced inside and Jade watched the color of his skin start to pale. "Well? What do you see?"

Beck started to tremble and he handed the envelope to Gary. "I see…Tori has some German, Irish, and Puerto Rican heritage. Irish is stronger." Jade's throat tightened as though she were sucking on dry air and she wanted to take the envelope to look for herself. "Doesn't look like there's any French in her bloodline."

"So that means the Vegas are unlikely to be her parents." Gary curled a finger over his chin and closed his eyes. "Well, that was suspected. Due to the drugs, I can question Sikowitz. Is there anything to tie that list of notes to him, however?"

"We know that one of the missing girls has a brother who worked closely with Mr. Sikowitz before her disappearance. The fact that the list is in Andre's possession…"

"That means Mr. Harris will have to be questioned regarding it." Gary looked to Beck, then to Jade, and pointed. "I will do this part. You two will stay back, there's no need for either your teacher or friends to know you're a part of the investigation at this point. It would be dangerous for both of you. Am I understood?"

"Very," Jade replied with a brisk smile, "We will let you handle that part of the police work."

The only problem they might have with Andre was his father, they may have a hard time getting around the man to question his son regarding the notebook.

Hearing footsteps, Jade nudged Beck and he quickly moved with her around a nearby corner. Sam followed behind. When she poked her head around to get a look, she saw Andre walking down the hall with Mr. Sikowitz. "Sorry to bother you with this," Andre muttered to his teacher, "I was in such a hurry I forgot my backpack."

"Let's get it before someone finds anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Cops are searching my classroom, you said you had that list in your bag?" The pair froze in mid-step when they looked to see Gary staring directly at them. Andre's eyes fell to the book in Gary's hand and he frowned.

"Looks like your backpack had fallen onto the floor," Gary remarked, "Found an interesting little notebook." Gary glanced to Sikowitz and he shook his head. "You're going to have to come with me. Seems we found some drugs in your desk…"

As Gary spoke, some police officers still loyal to him approached the pair from behind. Sikowitz and Andre glanced over their shoulders, grimacing. If they had any hopes of running, those hopes had just been dashed.

As the officers were taking he pair away, Jade felt a rush of anxiety come over her. Rather than all of this making matters any better or easier on them, she felt like it was just the opposite.

They followed Gary and Sam out of the school and Jade spotted a familiar face sipping on a drink across the street. "Hey, there's Ian." She pulled on Beck's shirt sleeve and pointed. "Remember, we saw him before?"

Beck followed her motion and nodded. "Yeah, I remember him. We didn't get much of a chance to talk with him." Sam looked at the pair and followed their gazes.

"Ian Dennison, yes." Startled, the couple turned to her. "Came across his name when we were studying Tori's background. Seems the two were extremely close but fell apart when she started attending Hollywood Arts."

Intrigued, Jade fell away from Beck and started across the street. "I'm going to go talk to him." Beck hurried after her and Sam watched while moving her hands to her waist.

Ian was on the patio of a local café, watching with raised eyebrows as Jade approached him. "Hi there." She sat across from him, studying him closely while Beck took a seat. He leaned his head back and set his drink down.

"Can I uh help you guys?"

"We saw you before. You said you knew someone at the school, that's our friend Tori, isn't it?" Ian's eyes grew wide and he glanced at the school warily. "You didn't want to say that though, did you?"

"Not really…"

There was a distinct lack of trust in his eyes, something that Jade quickly picked up on. "Is it because you don't like Hollywood Arts? You think something's wrong with the school? Tori was your friend and you're concerned about her, maybe?" Ian's gaze darted back to her and he seemed to be holding his breath.

After a few seconds he let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, that's part of it. I know you guys are part of her circle, but I don't trust anyone that comes out of that school. You understand, that means I don't trust you either."

Beck started to hum, he rolled his head to the side. Ian's fingers were curling into his palms. The man stared back to the school and a low growl vibrated from his throat. "You're worried about Tori," Beck remarked. Ian's chest expanded slowly and his shoulders began to rise with his breath. "You can trust us, Ian. We're on the same side…can't tell you why or how, but that's how we came to the connection."

Ian glanced sideways at Beck, his lips pressed tightly together. "Why are you talking to me at all?"

Beck draped an arm around Jade's shoulders. "Meet Jade, this is my girlfriend." Ian raised an eyebrow and Jade did a double take, startled that Beck was now talking about her. "I care immensely about her, I would do anything to protect her, keep her safe. I know the look in your eye, Ian. There's something there, you want to protect Tori but you can't for some reason. What are you scared of?"

Ian turned his head fully towards Beck. His eyes darted past him and Jade glanced to see Beck and Gary making their approach. "You're with the police." Ian cracked a brief smile. "Really?"

"Sort of. The LAPD are a little suspect right now, we're more…on the private side…"

"Good." Ian leaned forward, his eyebrows closing together. "Because I don't trust the LAPD. I started asking questions, and Tori's sister threatened my life if I went near them again. Not only that, but when I went to the police, they laughed in my face."

"What did you go to the police for, Ian?"

"I found something in Mr. Vega's study I wasn't supposed to see. Did a little research, thought I could trust Tori's sister and asked her if Tori had a different family…Trina beat the shit out of me and said if I said or tried anything, she would finish the job."

Jade's jaw dropped and Ian cleared his throat. "Far as I know, she could still be watching and I may have just killed myself. I'm guessing since I wasn't murdered after having gone to the police, they're involved in something. Course, that doesn't stop you living in paranoia, my other best friend went missing last summer. Now, you're right, I'm worried about Tori…"

"Your other best friend?"

"Yeah. Courtney. Left Sherwood last year to spend her last summer at the school her brother worked at." Jade began to cringe and Beck slowly leaned backwards, wiping his hands down his leg.

Gary was the next to speak up, saying what they were all likely to be thinking. "Ian, if you don't mind coming in and talking to us, we can do what we can to protect you. If you feel your life is in danger…"

"I think Tori's life is in danger, I don't know who I can talk to."

"You can talk to us," Jade replied calmly, "We're investigating this. Why do you think Tori's life is in danger?"

Ian looked away, his tongue slicking across his lip as he seemed to shake almost with impatient. "Because of a file I saw on Mr. Vega's desk. They wanted to send Tori to HA to be watched, that apparently her mother had 'strong genes' or something so…" He cleared his throat and looked back to them, his voice breaking as fresh moisture appeared in his eyes.

"So when she turns eighteen, they're going to have her take her mom's place." Jade's heart stopped and the air around them rapidly grew thin, as though she were trying to breathe with a straw. Ian closed his eyes and scoffed, shaking his head. "Whatever that means. I don't think the Vegas are her parents at all."

Jade felt Beck's body tense beside her, he spoke but with a deeper tone in his voice. "Did you tell Tori about your concerns at all?" Ian scoffed and his jaw seemed to lock.

"I wish I had, but I was scared how she might react. I always thought Trina was protective of her, so I thought I'd ask her how I should approach. I didn't even think Trina might be a part of whatever sick shit that family has going on." Ian opened his eyes and his voice quivered. "Answer me this, is Tori really related to them? Who is her mother? What is even going on?"

"Well it's under investigation, so, not something we can talk about; but you're right to be worried. Detective Malone's offer stands, you're in safe hands if you'd like to come in and talk."

"Thanks."


So, looks like Ian may be a crucial witness if they can keep him alive. Andre's got some explaining to do, and Mr. Sikowitz may have just blabbed his own connection. Hmmmm...any thoughts anyone?