Rachel Quinn turned out to be yet another person who had nothing good to say about the victim, Evelyn.
"According to Rachel," Amanda Rollins cleared her throat to better address the rest of the team, "Evelyn made an enemy out of everyone in the school. She doesn't think a parent did this."
"Maybe we should stop thinking about this as a two-person job," Fin said. "We thought that the accomplice lured Evelyn—it's why we assumed it was a woman in the first place."
Olivia nodded. "So far, all the female suspects were cleared."
"Exactly, so maybe this was always a one-man job."
"Should we go back and look at the male employees in the school?" asked Nick.
"Even if we did, it's not likely that their backgrounds are going to be flagged," Sonny said. "It's a school. Everyone gets background checks."
"Either way, it would be a good idea to start again," Olivia decided. "If we're going to look at this as a one-man job, we need to go back to the very beginning."
~ 0 ~
Emilia searched through her classroom cubby over and over until Alice came by. "What are you looking for?" she asked with bemusement.
Emilia wasn't so happy. She was puzzled. "I can't find my scrunchie."
Alice snorted. "Seriously?"
Emilia turned around to the woman, her lips curving into a frown. "We're doing art today and I really don't feel like getting red highlights too."
Alice laughed and headed for the tables. "Serves you right for not getting a haircut."
Emilia patted her long curls. "I like my hair." She groaned. The children would be arriving soon and they needed to be ready. "Whatever, I'm going to use a rubber band, I guess." She reached inside the cubby for her bag.
"You carry rubber-bands in your bag?" Alice snorted again after catching Emilia digging through her bag.
"You never know when you'll need one." Emilia's hands slipped and dropped the bag, letting out a few things in the process. "Dammit!"
"Don't let the kids hear that," Alice returned to help pick up what was on the ground.
"Ha, ha, so funny," Emilia playfully rolled her eyes.
"Oh, what's this?" Alice picked up her wallet that had fallen too. A white slip of paper was sticking out from one of the outside pockets.
"Give me that!" Emilia tried snatching it from her but Alice stuck her hand in the air.
"Isn't this the card that detective gave you?" Alice's eyes twinkled with mischief. "The cute one with the accent?"
Emilia shook her head. She focused on putting her stuff back into her purse so she could then battle for the wallet if necessary.
"Have you called him?" Alice asked, bringing a corner of the card to her chin.
"Of course not," Emilia stood back up. "He gave that to me in case of an emergency. Thankfully, I haven't had a need for it." Everything had been relatively calm in these few days and she wanted to keep it that way. She already had plenty of parents pestering her with questions about Evelyn's case anyways.
"Well, I think you should call," Alice handed the wallet back to Emilia. "Even if it's just to say 'hello'."
"Yeah, I'll think about it," Emilia said before throwing her wallet into her cubby.
"Something tells me you're not going to think about it," Alice watched Emilia shut the cubby.
"Noo, what would give you that impression?" Emilia smiled on her way past Alice. She stretched the rubber-band then picked up her hair into a high ponytail.
~ 0 ~
By the end of the school day, both teachers were ready to go home. They gathered their belongings and headed for the parking lot.
"I'm telling you, I'm going to need a double espresso shot tomorrow," Alice was joking on their way for the cars. "These kids are extra energetic lately."
Emilia agreed with a laugh. "Yeah, I know. Did you see the mess that Adrien made? I shouldn't even be surprised. He's all in for arts."
Alice nodded. "Oh yeah."
Their shared laugh was cut short when Emilia stopped in front of her car. She blinked several times before coming to the conclusion that she was seeing right.
"Is that…?" Alice started asking when Emilia headed for the car. "Emilia, wait!" The brunette stopped abruptly and glanced back at Alice. "I think...I think maybe you should make that call now."
Emilia was reluctant even when the sign was right in front of her. "I don't…"
"Emilia," Alice said again, her tone harder than before, "Make the call."
Emilia bit her lip and took another look at her windshield.
~ 0 ~
"There's only ten male workers in the school," Nick said as he placed the last potential suspect's picture on the evidence board. "You have the principal, four teachers, two playground supervisors, one maintenance and two janitors."
"Anyone standing out so far?" Olivia asked.
Amanda bobbed her head. "Nothing in the initial search."
"Let's make that search go deeper, then. Let's start with the men who had any disagreement with Evelyn."
"I bet we can start with the principal then," Fin smiled. "If he was the head then he definitely had incidents with Evelyn."
"Countless," Sonny added, earning an agreeing point from Fin. "I bet the supervisors had to have something too. If the daughter fell a couple times, Evelyn might have had a word with them."
"Get that going," Olivia gestured.
The timing was perfect because on his way to his desk, his phone started ringing. "Detective Carisi?"
"Detective, it's Emilia?"
Sonny stiffened before he even knew it. "Emilia, hi. Are you—"
"I don't know if it's important—"
"It's important!" Sonny was sure that the second voice in the background belonged to Alice.
"Emilia, are you in trouble?" He asked quickly.
"I-I don't...I'm not sure?" Emilia sounded nervous which only made Sonny feel the same way. "There's um...there's something on my car."
"Wh-what? What's...what's on your car? Emilia?"
"It might be nothing but, um...I think maybe you should come?"
"Where are you?" Sonny practically demanded from her; he would apologize later for his tone but right now he just needed to get to her and make sure she was okay.
"At the school in the parking lot. Alice is here with me."
"Okay, listen carefully, who's in the school right now?"
"I don't know. Lots of us?"
"Go back to the school and find a female employee—any female employee, alright? If possible a teacher so you can stay in that classroom."
"O-okay, I'll...I'll do that. Could you hurry? I'm, um, I don't really know what to do," Emilia swallowed hard. It was stupid and childish yet considering she was a grown adult who took care of children. She should know what to do!
"Of course, just do what I told you, okay? Do it!" Sonny ended the call quickly and turned to the others. They'd already gotten the just something was going on. "We have to go back to the school—Emilia might be in trouble." For some reason, it struck him more than it should've.
~ 0 ~
'You'll be safe now' was proudly written in a cardboard piece that now laid on the windshield of Emilia's car.
"Can we have the cameras from the lot?" Olivia was asking the principal of the school, ironically.
"They're not working right now," the principal, Jones, shook his head. "After the incident with Evelyn Korami, we decided to upgrade our security."
"Ah," Olivia pursed her lips. That clearly had not worked out so well.
"Hey," Amanda came by, "No one saw anything, as usual. The cardboard and the markers are all from the school. Anybody could've taken them."
"Are you sure this is even linked?" Jones asked. "It could be some prank."
"For now, we're going to treat it like it is," Olivia nodded. "And so I need to ask where were you in the last hour?"
"What?" Jones blinked. "Are you serious?"
"Very," Olivia put her hands together in front of her, making a show that was indeed waiting for his response.
Jones mumbled something under his breath but eventually answered. "I was on a phone conference. Feel free to verify that with the district."
"We will be," Olivia promised him then walked off with Amanda.
~ 0 ~
Emilia hadn't left the classroom she and Alice took refuge in after talking to Sonny. Now that a whole hour had passed by, it was starting to get a little harder to remain calm.
"I feel like I just made a big thing out of nothing," she told Sonny. "I have Alice locked inside this classroom when she had plans."
"I'm fine with it," Alice called from her spot. She was watching the cops from the window. Emilia rolled her eyes. "And stop rolling your eyes, Emilia." Alice glanced over to Sonny. "She didn't want to call you. She did the right thing, right?"
"Alice—" Emilia was about to scold when Sonny cut her off.
"Yes, she did," he met her gaze when her head flipped in his direction. "You did."
Emilia still wasn't quite convinced. "It's a trick or something. C'mon, this is a school, you can't possibly think somebody here did it and much more killed Evelyn too." Sonny didn't say anything but the face he made told her it was quite possible. "Oh no," she decided, "No, no, no! You're mad!" She turned on her heels and headed for her bag she left on one of the tables. "I thought maybe—just maybe—you might actually have a real lead but to say that someone here did it?"
"Emilia, you need to calm down," Sonny warned her, but he suspected it would do no good. She was too anxious and very much in denial. It all stemmed from the fear she had to have been feeling when she called him. "We need to talk—"
"No!" she said decidedly. "Because if we do, then you're going to start asking me who I think could've done it! Well, I'm not going to do it!"
"Emilia, maybe you should listen to him," Alice started but, like Sonny, Emilia shut her down.
"No! I shouldn't have called anyone! I should've just thrown that cardboard away and gone home!" Emilia walked, almost sprinted, towards the doors when Sonny caught her by the arm.
"Then you might not be here anymore!" he snapped. "I doubt that's what you want, right?"
Emilia faced him with a frown, though it resembled more of a child's expression when they were evidently wrong but didn't want to admit it. It was another reminder for Sonny that she was afraid. Everybody had different ways of showing they were afraid. Emilia's happened to be outbursts.
She tugged on her arm, prompting him to let go. "Of course not," she muttered. "But I just don't see anybody harming me, alright?"
"We don't know exactly what this guy wants…"
"But you do have an idea," Emilia said, eyes searching his. "I can tell from your face."
Suddenly, Sonny wished someone else had come talk to her because he was having a harder time with this case for some reason. He looked away from Emilia, hoping that a few seconds would be enough to reset his expressions.
"What do you think he wants from me?" Emilia asked in a much more calm way. She may be in a first graders' classroom but it didn't mean she had to be one. "Detective, you're telling me that it's possible someone in the school is responsible for all this stuff...so tell me why."
"It's...it's very preliminary," Sonny said, and that was probably already too much. He needed to wait for Olivia to confer on their next steps. He caught sight of Emilia's eyes—a warm green shade—intently looking at him. They urged him to tell the truth, even if it was bad or wrong, but the power to tell him was there.
"That's not enough, detective," Emilia spat and moved for the doors again.
"Emilia!" Sonny called for her.
Thankfully, she didn't make it out since Olivia came in. "Miss Hartley," she said, blinking a bit quickly from almost crashing into Emilia. "I'm Sergeant Benson, we need to have a word."
Emilia pursed her lips together. "I just told your detective I was on my way home."
Olivia briefly crossed gazes with Sonny. He shook his head at her, indicating Emilia wasn't willing to cooperate again. "I understand you're feeling a little confused right now, scared, but it's very important that we speak."
"Emilia," called Alice again, "Please listen to them. They're here to help you. Quit acting like a child."
Emilia looked over her shoulder. "I'm not," she mumbled.
"Then show it."
"We can take you to the precinct if you'd be more comfortable there," Olivia offered.
Emilia barely had a clue of what she wanted but the one thing that she was sure about is that she did not want to see a precinct. "No, I'd rather stay here."
Olivia nodded. "Alright, you and Miss…?" She waited for Alice to fill in the blank.
"O'Shire," she eventually said. "But please, just Alice."
"Okay, so you and Alice were in the classroom doing what?"
"Cleaning," Emilia said, gesturing to the chairs sitting on top of the tables. "We like to do a quick disinfect before the janitors come in."
"Did anyone come in today? Maybe to ask when you were leaving?"
"No," Emilia shook her head with a sigh. "Alice and I did our routine just like any other day."
"Wait, so that means you leave at the same time every day, then...right?" Sonny's question made Emilia turn back.
"I...I guess…" she said quietly, realizing what he was trying to say.
"If they know your routine, then it means they knew exactly when to leave that message on your windshield."
Emilia brought a hand to her forehead. "Oh my God, this has never happened to me. I'm...I'm so confused. What did I do?"
"Nothing," Olivia said sternly. "None of this is your fault."
"But…" Emilia dropped her hand to her side, "That message...what does that message mean?" She looked between Olivia and Sonny for an answer. "Because it means something, right? I'm just not seeing it."
"Let's...I'd much rather know about your day," Olivia said, "Like if there were any male co-workers that may have come up to you today?"
"They're my co-workers, of course they would."
"Any strange interaction?"
"No…"
"How about anything strange that happened today? Anything."
"No and no, nothing happened," Emilia sighed.
"Em, what about the scrunchie?" Alice suddenly asked.
Emilia turned to her friend in annoyance. "Alice, seriously?"
"They said anything and you never lose your stuff!"
"What happened?" Sonny looked between the two women. "Did something go missing today?"
Emilia rolled her eyes at Alice. "It's stupid, I...I lost my scrunchie. My hair tie?" she pointed to the rubberband currently holding her hair in its ponytail. "I thought I left it in my cubby but it's not there. But I'm pretty sure it's at home or something."
"Now hold on," Olivia motioned her not to jump to conclusions, "Your friend says you don't lose stuff very often."
"She doesn't," Alice confirmed. "She's a neat freak. And a good organizer."
"Alice," Emilia scolded wearily. "No one steals hair ties, not even a murderer and rapist."
Olivia pursed her lips. She didn't want to outright say what she was thinking and burst Emilia's bubble of denial. It was what was keeping her together for the moment. "Carisi?" she made a motion for him to follow her to the door. Emilia then scurried to Alice's side.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sonny quietly spoke.
Olivia nodded. "It's a possibility. Evelyn Korami had an argument with Emilia last week. It may not have been so random as we thought. This guy's real target could be Emilia."
And here was Emilia who didn't believe a thing.
"How do you want to do this, Sarge?" Sonny felt like whatever plan Olivia came up with, it would be met with hostility from Emilia. "She doesn't want to answer questions anymore."
"The more we push, the less cooperative she'll be," Olivia agreed. She took in a breath and called for Emilia and Alice. "Miss Hartley, we're going to place you under protective custody."
Emilia stared at the pair with wide, incredulous eyes—the initial reaction they both expected—until she laughed. "Right…" Alice wasn't laughing. Olivia and Sonny were both staring at her until it donned on her. "Oh! Oh no!" She shook her head. "No way!"
"I know it's hard to believe—"
"No!" Emilia waved Olivia off. "I'm not—this has gone long enough! I'm not doing this! Nope!"
"It's for your own safety," Sonny tried to say but Emilia aggressively pointed at him to be quiet.
"I don't want to hear anything from you! I should've never called you!" That being said, she then directed her finger to Alice. "And I should've never listened to you!" She stormed out of the classroom without hearing anyone anymore.
"I swear she's a lot better than this," Alice said afterwards. "I think she's just pretty freaked out."
"We get it, trust us," Olivia assured her. She and Sonny went after Emilia.
Emilia was fast on her feet and was out of the school in mere seconds. "You need to leave me alone!" she told the pair.
"Emilia, you need to stop and you know it," Sonny barely got to say before she spun around to show her glare.
"I am not responsible for Evelyn's death—"
"No one is saying that—"
"But that's what they're going to think!" Emilia stomped her foot when the frustration managed to seep through her features. "If this is real, if it's actually real then everyone is going to blame me because this guy wants me!"
"But it's not the truth," Olivia gently said. "You are not responsible for the actions of others."
Emilia shook her head. "No," she wagged her finger then headed for her car again. "It's not real."
"Just because you say it, doesn't make true," Sonny said.
"No!" she snapped. "Now I know why you're single—you keep disagreeing with women!"
Sonny's eyebrows raised together. "Uh, okay…"
Emilia hurried for her car. The scene was clear but the cardboard was still on her windshield. She reached for it and chucked it to the side. She was about to move for the driver's side when she caught sight of something purple behind it.
Her scrunchie. Her flower-patterned, purple scrunchie was neatly tucked on the windshield.
The air left Emilia's lungs for a moment when she realized what must have happened. She swallowed hard. Olivia and Sonny came up behind her and saw what she was staring at.
"Emilia," Olivia started, "Let us help you."
"That was...that was in my cubby," Emilia gulped. "It was in the back, behind my bag. I don't lose my things and I certainly don't put them on my windshield." She brought her hand to her bag's strap and gripped it for dear life. "This is real, isn't it?"
"Unfortunately, yes, but it doesn't have to end badly," Olivia said. "We can help you. Why don't you come back with us to the precinct? We can set everything up over there."
Emilia said nothing for a minute, making the others worry she still wasn't going to let them help her. "Can...can the detective bring me there?" she asked very quietly, so quietly that it was almost inaudible.
"Uh…" Olivia glanced at Sonny who was just as surprised as she was. Emilia had been yelling at him a minute ago. "Sure, yeah...Carisi?"
"Of course," he stepped up beside Emilia who had yet to move since she found the scrunchie. "Emilia?"
The brunette slowly turned to him. "Yeah, I'm listening now. Promise."
"That's good, really. You're making a good choice." He really didn't like the expression on her face right now. "Are you ready?"
"Aha," she nodded. He motioned the way and without protesting, she walked with him.
Author's Note:
As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"
For the review:
SweetKittyCat: Thanks so much!
