To make absolutely sure he was late Doug had hung around outside the school pretending to fiddle with his bike. He had hung back just long enough to see Kelly Morris and Sam Taylor have a very short but intense looking conversation outside the school gate. The young girl looked quite agitated and Sam seemed to be trying to either calm her down or shut her up. He had thought of somehow getting Hanson's attention but he had already been whisked out of reach by the ever present Helen. It still baffled Doug as to how his partner always managed to collect strays.
He moved closer so he could try and catch some of what they were saying but as soon as Kelly noticed him her eyes narrowed she clammed up and quickly said goodbye before dashing for the school. Doug had to think quickly to cover his tracks, so he plastered a huge grin on his face and walked over to Sam.
"Hey!" he said cheerfully, "I thought seeing as though we're both late we could face the music together. You know, safety in numbers"
"You think?" Sam replied with a slight smile. The teenager was roughly the same height and build as Doug, and now he wasn't playing cool and distant he had a pleasant friendly face.
"Yeah. If he starts you hold him down, I'll kick him." Doug said looking deadly serious which raised a chuckle from Sam.
"I'm sorry I acted like such an ass yesterday. It's the old hands job to make the new guy feel welcome isn't it?"
"Oh I think I'll get over it."
"So why are you here? You won't have much luck picking up any of these girls. Most of them have never even seen a guy they're not related to."
"Hey, I've already pulled one." Doug said with a smile as they began to walk away.
"Really?!" Sam said looking at Doug in awe.
"Well, Tammy didn't go here when I met her."
"Oh my god. You're with the girl who's got my friend all spooked?!" he said as his eyes widened.
"The girl you were talking to?"
"Kelly, yeah."
"So you and her are..."
"No" Sam cut in. "We're just friends. Have been since we we're little kids".
"She did look kinda nervous. Why?"
"Well, your girlfriend kinda looks alot like her friend who died recently and it's a bit weird for her."
"Really?! The girl they found full of drugs?" Doug asked obviously taken aback. "Did you know her?"
"Yeah, you could say that. She was my girlfriend."
"Oh man, I'm really sorry."
"Don't be. It's nothing to do with you." he said sadly. "You wanna see a picture?"
"Sure." Doug stood uncomfortably as the boy hunted for his wallet. No matter how many times he did this he never felt entirely comfortable with messing with these kids. This boy was obviously hurting and he was just playing him for information. He sighed inwardly as Sam held out a photo.
"Here she is. That's Nikki." he said softly. Doug carefully took the picture and studied it. In the picture Sam was smiling happily with his arm around the girl stood beside him. Sam was nearly as tall as Doug, and the girl in the photograph stood only a couple of inches short of Sam. As he studied the picture his eyes grew wide in shock. The girl who was smiling up at him from the picture could have been Tom Hanson's long lost sister. She had the same brown doe eyes and high cheek bones, even down to the crooked half smile. Hell, she even had long dark curly hair. This was weird to say the least.
"Big girl too." Doug said trying to seem unaffected.
"She was on the school swim team. Could've been separated at birth huh?" Sam said taking back the picture.
"Yeah." Doug replied distantly. Hey, you want a ride" he said brightening as he gestured towards his bike.
"It's only across the road" Sam said looking at Doug like he was nuts.
"I'm not leaving my baby in the middle of the street"
"No thanks. The time it would take you to get that heap going I could walk there and back again and I think I'm late enough."
"Don't worry, I'll be extra obnoxious and he'll focus all God's wrath on me."
"I owe you" Sam said laughing.
"I really am sorry about your girlfriend".
"Thank you."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, well. Mr Taylor and Mr Porter. So good of you to come" Father Michaels greeted them as they entered the classroom. "Douglas, I thought we had agreed yesterday that your being late wasn't going to become a habit."
"No Sir. I said I'd think about it. And I have. I decided I liked things the way they are." Doug said offering the older man his most charming smile as muffled laughter resonated from the other students.
"I'm usually a very patient man, Mr Porter. But like most people I have my limits"
"Is that a challenge?" Doug said smirking.
"How would you like to spend an evening in detention Douglas?"
"Oooh, I have a choice?"
"Not really. Sit down!" Father Michaels said calmly and coldly. Doug flashed him one last smile before he and Sam headed for their seats. "Oh and Mr Taylor" he said causing Sam to spin round. "You can join him."
"Damn!" Doug thought to himself as they both sat down.
After pretending to pay attention to what the teacher was saying Doug gave up and started up a conversation with Sam, who was sat at the desk beside him. He eventually managed to turn the conversation to Nikki Stokely.
"So was she really on drugs?" Doug asked as tactfully as he could.
"No she wasn't" Sam snapped, sounding rather defensive.
"Hey man, I'm sorry. You hear things, you know. I mean, Tammy god bless her, she's a great girl and all, but she's just as bad a gossip as the rest of them. I was just curious".
"Don't worry about it. I'm just tired of people dragging her through the mud. She was a really good person"
"Have the police found out anything?"
"If they have I wouldn't know. Nikki's parents don't really think much of me."
"What, they try and keep you away from her? The whole princess in the tower bit?"
"No. They just did the typical parent thing of telling you they're disappointed in you."
"I hate that!"
Before Doug could ask the questions he really wanted answered a student entered the room and handed a note to Father Michaels.
"Well, Mr Taylor. Not only do you think you can arrive to class whenever you like you are also entitled to personal phone calls. Your sister needs to talk to you. You can take it at the school office. Make it quick will you. I have to at least pretend I'm teaching you something.
"Thank you Sir." Sam said as he rose from his seat.
"Sister?" Doug asked.
"It'll be Kelly. I told her to call if she needed me" he said quietly before apologising again to Father Michaels and leaving the room.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom's first instinct was to rush straight for the bathroom and wash and scrub until his skin was red raw. However on reaching the bathroom he realised he would be blowing his own cover, well what was left of his cover. He was pretty sure that Kelly Morris was already onto him, the girl definitely knew something, the conversation in Father Mackenzie's office was evidence of that, only she wasn't telling. The thought of the middle aged priest brought another shudder of disgust, however an idea began to form. He could kill three birds with one stone. He could get out of this place, steer clear of Kelly and Mackenzie for a while and fill Doug in on what little he knew, while the overheard conversation was still fresh in his mind. All he had to do was point out a few facts to someone who obviously needed them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Father Mackenzie was sat at his desk staring out the window and ringing his hands when the door to his office flew open and a furious Tamara Heyward stormed into the room.
"Ok here's how this is going to work. If anyone found out what you got up to when you spot young girls alone in your school, you will be out on your ass so fast your feet wouldn't touch the ground." 'she' said, the words pouring out not really fitting the soft voice. "No school in this country would ever let you set foot in the door, let alone teach there. As for your place in the church, do you think that the church would want to be associated with a man who gropes young girls while they're supposed to be in his care?"
"Look, I'm terribly sorry. You just remind me so much of someone and I..."
"I'm not finished." 'Tamara said, brown eyes blazing with anger. "I could have the authorities down on you like that" 'she' said snapping 'her' long fingers. "But I'm not going to. You're going to help me out and in return, you get to live in fear, looking over your shoulder for as long as I'm here, wondering if today is the day the police bust in and drag your ass outta here."
"How can I help?" he asked, sweat dripping from his forehead.
"You're going to give me a pass and tell Sister Roberts that I'm going to be spending the next hour or so at the nurse's station."
"What if she sends someone to check on you?"
"I'm sure you'll think of something."
"Where will you be really?" he asked nervously.
"You don't need to know. All you need to know is that if you don't do everything I asked I'm going to bring you down, and hard!" Father Mackenzie scribbled a form and handed it to the furious young 'woman' before him.
"Thanks" 'she' said flatly. "Oh and one more thing. I will be watching you like a hawk, and if I ever find out if you've been harassing any of the other students...well, I'll leave that to your imagination shall I?" and with one last glare Father Mackenzie was left in silence.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom closed the office door with a smile on his face. He had a particular distaste for men like Father Mackenzie and if he did hear that he'd tried his little move on any of these girls he would make sure he ended up behind bars. Maybe he'd tried it with Kelly, maybe even with Nikki. He thoroughly kicked himself for letting him know he was going to be watching him as he suddenly realised, this was the man who ran the prayer meetings that both Nikki and Kelly has suddenly stopped attending. Even if he had nothing to do with it he clearly knew something about Nikki Stokely's death. What could he do, he had an appalling temper. It would throw the guy off the sent though if he thought he was watching him because of his affection for underaged girls. So with pass in hand he headed for the gate.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Tom arrived at the boy's campus a short walk down the road he stood outside the door scanning the hallway. The only person he could see was the secretary sat behind a large desk. Unfortunately he doubted whether the secretary would be too accommodating in dragging Doug out of class to talk some girl. But it would seem Hanson's luck was still holding. He caught sight of a small boy walking up to the entrance, he couldn't have been more than thirteen and he looked terrified as he scampered towards the door.
"Hey kid." Tom said quietly as the boy reached where he was secluded just outside the door.
"Yeah?" he replied warily.
"There's someone in there I've gotta talk to and I need someone to help me get in or get him out."
"You're not getting in there, trust me." he said. Clearly they didn't take to having girls on campus. The kid could only be described as mousey and was obviously the target for every bored delinquent in the place.
"I just need you to distract her" he said pointing towards the woman inside "long enough for me to get in ok?"
"Sorry, if they found out I helped sneak a girl on campus, my life wouldn't be worth living."
"Look" Tom said pulling his wallet out of the bag Hoffs had insisted he carried round with him, hey at least it wasn't pink. "If you can get me past her" he said pointing at the elderly nun behind the desk, "you get $10"
"$10?" the kid said looking insulted.
"OK!" Tom said in frustration "10 now and another 10 once I'm out"
"Deal" the kid said as he gave Tom a wide sunny smile, and taking the $10 of course. Tom sighed and rolled his eyes as he watched the kid walking up to the desk.
"Bribing kids to get into school. Smooth Hanson" he thought to himself. As he watched the kid began gesturing wildly with his arms as the nun's eyes grew wider and more horrified. For a moment Tom thought the boy had told her he was there anyway, but soon after the elderly woman was flying past where Tom was hiding fast on the kid's heels. Tom smiled and quickly darted inside and scooted behind the desk before he was seen.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After Sam had dashed out of the room to take his call, Doug sat desperately trying not to fall asleep as he listened to Father Michaels droning monotone voice. He kept going over things in his head. How Hanson had said no one had anything but good things to say about this girl and how they had found nothing to convince him that this was nothing but another kid overdosing. In fact the only surprise he'd had was discovering Tom Hanson's female twin. He was snapped out of his thoughts as a voice came over the PA system.
"Could Douglas Porter please come to reception?"
There was something slightly familiar about the voice that took a few moments for Doug to register before he jumped up out of his seat.
"Sorry Sir" he said smiling at the even more infuriated man trying desperately to teach this class, "Can't help being in demand"
"Off you go Mr Porter" Father Michaels said with a sigh.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Doug reached the reception area not a soul was in sight. He glanced around to make sure no one was there before he made his presence known.
"Tom?" he said softly looking round.
"Doug, behind here" he heard from behind the large reception desk. He glanced over and saw Tom sitting cross legged (not easy in a calf length skirt) leaning his back against the wall.
"Couldn't stand to be parted from me huh babe?" Doug said smiling.
"Just shut up and listen." Tom said nervously looking around. "I don't think the boyfriend has anything to do with Nikki's death."
"What do you mean?"
"I followed Kelly Morris when she got called to the principles office this morning. They were having a pretty strong disagreement."
"Oh yeah? What did you here?"
"Mackenzie was telling her to stop drawing attention to herself. He was trying to get her to keep going to these bible group things Helen was talking about."
"What? She having a crisis of faith?" Doug said sarcastically."
"She said she wasn't going back there after what happened to Nikki."
"You don't think she was just angry because God has taken her best friend away?" Tom began to reply but the words stopped before they passed his lips. That thought hadn't actually occurred to him. However it only took him moments to thoroughly dismiss this theory.
"No. She sounded frightened, like he was threatening her. She was saying she was going to tell someone. Mackenzie said that no one would take her word over his."
"You think the priest had something to do with it?!" Doug said only just managing to keep his voice down.
"This guy's not right Doug." Tom said, his deep brown eyes looking earnestly into his partners lighter ones. "I tried to talk to Kelly but I lost her when she went to make a phone call." Then after checking around once again he said "Penhall, I think she's onto me."
"Are you sure."
"Yeah. She made it quite clear when she asked who the hell I was before she ran."
"You don't think maybe she was just scared after arguing with Mackenzie."
"No. She told him she was suspicious of me."
"Oh!" Doug said suddenly, his eyes widening. "That reminds me. Tom, have you actually seen a picture of Nikki Stokely, other than the crime scene photo?"
"No. Why?" Hanson said wearily, only just managing to control the usually unconscious gesture of raking his hands through his hair.
"Sam Taylor showed me a picture. Man, you won't believe me but she looked just like you."
"What?"
"I don't mean you - you. I mean you now."
"Doug, as earth shattering as your insights may be, you're gonna have to back up cos you've lost me."
"She looks like she could be your twin sister Hanson."
"Really?"
"You don't have sister you're not telling me about cos you don't trust me with her do you?"
"No Doug." Tom said rolling his eyes. "I promise you if I ever found out I had a long lost sister, you're the first guy I would hook her up with." Tom's brows knitted together in thought as he glanced around the crowded space behind the desk. "He said I reminded him of someone." he said thoughtfully.
"Who?"
"Father Mackenzie."
"When."
"When he decided to try his luck when he found me outside his office." Tom said, his skin crawling at the memory. He looked up at his partner, expecting him to make some stupid joke or even just laugh. Instead Penhall looked deadly serious, angry even.
"He tried it on with you?"
"Yeah. And I'm betting when he said I reminded him of someone he meant Nikki."
"Yeah." Doug said flatly.
"And, just maybe he was trying the same thing with Nikki. Maybe now he's also trying it with Kelly."
"You think he killed her?"
"I'm not sure if anyone killed her. The girl was sky high on crack when she died. It could easily have been an overdose. We'll have to wait for Major Crimes to get the forensic and toxicology reports over to us."
"But you think he had something to do with it?"
"I'm betting he at least knows something or Kelly wouldn't be threatening to spill the beans."
"Maybe." Lightening suddenly hit Doug. "Hanson, there's no way this girl was a regular drug user. She was on the swimming team."
"Regular drug tests." Tom said with a slight smile.
"Yeah. So what do you think?"
"I don't know. Maybe she just decided to try it, and it went wrong. Look, I don't know how long that kid can keep the coast clear. I'm gonna go back and try and get into the student files. Keep an eye on Sam, cos that phone call Kelly made was most likely to him."
"He was called out of class earlier to answer a call. He said it would be her."
"Watch him..." Tom began. He was interrupted by the shrill voice of the secretary as she entered the reception area.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING HERE!" she yelled as Tom jumped to his feet, only just avoiding falling back down again. "Get back to your own campus now." she said grabbing Tom's arm and frog marching him towards the door. He smiled at the young boy who had hurried back in after the nun and discreetly held out his hand as he passed him by. The boy quickly took the $10 Tom held out and scuttled back to class.
"Hey!" Doug shouted out angrily. "Let go of hi...her"
"Back to class Mr Porter, unless you have a valid reason for being here, which I doubt!" Tom and Doug exchanged a last embarrassed glance before Tom was shoved out the door. Mauled by a middle aged priest and manhandled by a 60 year old nun. This day just kept getting better and better.