The next morning came sooner than expected, but the agents and Skylar were ready to tackle the day without any hesitation, "I apologize for questioning both of you out of earshot. I'm afraid I had no other choice."
Josh wondered, "Skylar, how can you be sure that we are both innocent?"
"Well to be honest, through the beginning I set up a number of traps that would determine the truth. But, after speaking with you I don't feel the need." Her phone rings, receiving a text from her partner, "Marg is on her way."
A few moments later, Marg came in through the door and into the living area, wearing a nice, expensive looking comfortable suit. Complete with a work tie, and a sharp-witted face, she looked like she could tackle the world if she wanted too.
"Good morning gentleman, it's an honor to meet you," she flashed a friendly smile and shook their hands.
"Um, what about your usual outfit? The one that you wear at the NPA and international meetings?" Sam inquired.
"If I did that, I would be announcing to the world that I am Marg. That's all it takes to give away the headquarters and locations of our whereabouts."
"Oh I see."
"I would never show my face to any of you, the fact that I'm standing right here is proof that Skylar trusts you."
"Now that you mention it, I do feel honored. Ha-ha."
Skylar spoke up, "Could you please pass out the items I asked you to bring?"
"Certainly. These are your new police badges for this case," Marg explained while handing them out.
"Why would we need to use fake ID's?" Sam questioned.
Skylar sighed and shook her head, "As you know the Kidnapper mostly requires a name to do his biddings. We will confront him with that in mind. I think it should be obvious why. Remember, anytime you're in a situation where you have to give your name out to a stranger, make sure to use the name from you cover ID. Understood?"
They both nodded and replaced their old ID's with their new ones. The detective also added, "Right, and be careful not to take them out while in the presence of other police officers. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that could cause problems for all of us."
Little they did know; Bob was now preparing his handbook to get rid of the FBI director exactly at 3:06 PM while he was stationed at a conference meeting about the work of the police working together. The police of course were reluctant, even at this severity.
A thought crossed Skylar's mind as she gazed out the window, seeming to concentrate on the small snow flurries dancing in the wind, "Who's working at police station right now?"
"No one currently," Josh answered honestly.
"That's not good, we need someone there working shifts at least. Could you please contact the local police station and asked if any of them are willing to volunteer?"
The chief nodded, and walked into the other room, and dialed up the number, talking in a hushed voice so he wouldn't disturb the meeting. Skylar shifted in her chair and thought to herself, "I wonder if Marg and I "befriend" the Kidnapper if he will admit who he really is and how he does his crimes. Would that be possible? Hmm, maybe like only 8%." Then she spoke out loud, "Marg, I have a request that I would like you to verify; What if I go to the University and see if the suspect is there? I know I'll have to take that one assessment, but that won't be a problem, and I'll have my phone with me at all times."
"I don't see why not. It's better than nothing right? I'll be able to drive you to the university in the morning if that's okay," she responded.
Early afternoon came by in a breeze, shining down at the large building to where all the students would be taking the entrance exams. The students piled in the testing room, prepared themselves by popping a few mints in their mouths, or twirling their pencils in their hands to relax their minds. Before about ten minutes in the exam, the teacher pointed, "You there! Student number fifty-six, please sit properly in your chair."
Skylar looked up at the student, and tried to switch from her normal position to proper, but couldn't pull herself to do so. All the time, she sat with leg up, while resting her head on her left knee, why should it be different now? The teacher dismissed what he said, and just forgot all about it, since she wasn't changing her sitting, not even a move. Skylar happened to look in front of her, and two rows in ahead of her, she made eye contact with Bob. The stare lasted for a few seconds, but it seemed like a minute or two. The tension between the two was admirable. Bob knew she wasn't normal, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what she was thinking. Her eyes were empty with emotion; there were no blind spots that he could see. This girl was a strange one at that, a sweat drop dripped from his forehead and onto his hand. He could feel his temperature rise, because of his nerves getting to him. Was she here as a spy?
An hour passed, and the exams were turned in for the scores to be graded. All one thousand students piled into the assembly room, anxiously waiting for the representatives to be announced. The director came up to the stage and spoke through the microphone, "Now we have freshman representative, Bob, and freshman representative, Raven."
As Bob began his half of the speech, mutters and conversation were swarmed through the crowd about these particular students, "These students scored highest on the test to give the speech, but she's just a kid!"
Another one answered, "Those two are polar opposites!"
As the audience clapped and congratulated them, Skylar purposely walked behind Bob and said in a voice so hushed that he would be the only to hear it, "Bob, your brother is Chief Josh I presume? You must have a strong sense of justice then."
Knowing that this was the same girl from before he thought to himself, "What the heck? How did she know about my brother?"
She continued, "You're planning to join the police agency when you graduate. I'm impressed by your abilities and your sense of justice. If you promise not to tell anyone one this, I have important information pertaining to the Kidnapper case."
"Where is all this coming from? And who is she?" He took a breath, "I won't tell anyone, what is it?"
As they sat down next to each other, she looked him in the eyes and calmly said, "I wanted to tell you that I'm Skylar."
Time seem to stop between the two representatives, as if you could hear the minute hand ticking from a watch, slowly, and loudly, one click after the next. Bob took an internal breath to calm his heart rate down, "What? There's no way, what's she talking about? She would never admit to it. I thought this girl was a bit strange, but this isn't good. I have to act…" He looked at her eyes, answering sincerely, "If you are who you say you are, than I have nothing but your respect and admiration."
"Thank you. The reason I chose to reveal myself is because I think you could be of some help of us on the case." Statistics crossed her mind, "Bob, the likelihood that you're the Kidnapper is just under 5%. Even so, something tells me that I'm not wrong suspecting you."Skylar looked ahead and listened intently on what the director was now presenting, leaving a small, hidden smirk on her face.
Bob's thoughts bounced around in his head, "If she's really Skylar, no even if she isn't, I can't do anything. If what she says is true, it probably means she's already shown her face to my brother. What now? If she vanishes right after this, it would only confirm their suspicions. I know that Raven is an absurd alias, but it still complicates things. Is she really Skylar? Does she already suspect me? I need to clear my mind."
Outside the auditorium, Skylar and Bob met each other at the road and talked before Skylar departed. "Hey, um, nice meeting you," she said shyly.
"No the pleasure was all mine," Bob answered genuinely with a smile, shaking her hand.
As Marg pulled the car up and opened the passenger door for her, she hopped inside, rolling down the window, "Well, I'm sure I'll see you on campus then."
"Yah, take care you two, see you later," he waved goodbye, then walked over to his car with a grim look on his face, "I need to find a way to make them vanish as soon as I can."
After getting a nice sleep at his apartment, Bob and Josh departed ways. At the University, Bob met up with Skylar at the entrance to the tennis courts, "I have to admit Skylar, I've never would've thought that you pick a game of tennis as a way of getting to know to each other."
"Is that a problem?"
"Not at all, but when you asked, did you know how good I was?"
She shrugged her shoulders, "Yes, I'll be fine though. I was the American Junior Champion. Well, since it's our first match, why don't we play a single set? First one to six?"
"That's fine by me," he answered as they took their positions on the court.
Skylar was doing this for a reason as a way of testing the young student, "This is just a friendly game of tennis, nothing more. Ha-ha, I know the Kidnapper hates to lose so…I'll take my chances."
As the competitors volley back and forth, they get into each other's thoughts immediately. Perspiration started to show, and veins throbbed, as Bob processed, "Will she think that I'm the Kidnapper if I go for the win? It could work against me if I lose."
"I can see your wheels turning, because I'm already inside your head!"
"There's no way that this will resolve a friendship between us, more like a rivalry!"
"However, you'll need to trust me first, and that I will have to show what I know about the Kidnapper!" Skylar yelled in her head.
"It only makes sense that I would want proof that you are Skylar!"
"So the only thing you want from me is—" Bob's thoughts broke as the ball zoomed past the net like a missile.
"Some kind of conformation from a third party that about who you truly are!"
"Which means—" Skylar's thoughts also snapped as the target whizzed past her racket in a blur of motion, soon slamming into the fence.
"We'll have to go to task force headquarters!" After Bob caught his breath he walked to Skylar and said, "Game set looks like I won. That was fun. I'm feeling kind of thirsty, plus there's something I wanted to ask you. Do you want to see the café?"
"You humored me with the tennis match; the least I can do is answer some of your questions. There's something I must tell you though," Skylar told Bob scratching the back of her head.
"What's that?"
"I suspect you of being the Kidnapper."
"Ha-ha you think I'm the Kidnapper?"
They started towards the café, "Well when I say I suspect you, it's only an 11% possibility. It would be nice if you could help us with the case."
Bob opened the door for Skylar, and she stepped inside, walking to the booth in the corner of the café, so they could talk in privacy. She sat in her normal position, while Bob sat across from her waiting for her to start the discussion. She opened her eyes from her thoughts, "I wanted to ask you about something," Skylar pulled out a piece of paper from her jean pockets, "This letter was sent to us by the Kidnapper. You can take as long as you want; I want to hear your thoughts."
"There are print numbers on the back, besides it says, Skylar, did you know that I like apples? I'd only look more suspicious if I came up with it that way. But, this isn't enough to prove that I'm the Kidnapper." Bob put his head back up and looked in Skylar's eyes, "I think he wrote this containing a message to you, almost as if he's mocking his enemy. If you rearrange them with the print numbers, you get, 'Skylar, do you know that I like apples?'"
"That is incorrect. The thing is, there are actually four note cards," Skylar slipped out the forth from her opposite pocket and placed it on the table.
"My deduction was perfect with three! " "Man, she just wanted to see what my reaction was, since I know that the fourth card is a fake! I'll be playing right into her hands." He looked back at the cards and calmly said, "Well, you got me there, I didn't think of that."
Skylar nodded her head in response, then asked the student, "If you were me, faced with someone who might be the Kidnapper, how would you go about on establishing their innocence or guilt?"
"I would probably try to get them to say something that they only would say. Kind of like you're doing now," he smirked.
She smirked in return, "I'm impressed; you'll make a fine agent."
"If I cooperate with you, there's a chance that I will make the investigation go forward. And if I were the Kidnapper, I would reveal myself. At this point, neither of us can prove that we aren't working with him. However if you're in fact Skylar, I don't imagine it being hard to prove it to me. If my brother was to confirm your identity, I would feel more compelled to work on the case with you," Bob stated.
"You sure do talk a lot. Now it's 27% that you're the Kidnapper." The detective replied while folding her hands on the table, "I don't remember saying that you couldn't visit someone from headquarters to find out if I'm saying the truth or not. I'm currently working alongside your brother as well as one other agent. Now, if I understand you correctly, you will help us with the investigation? Am I safe to make that assumption?"
"Yes you are, I'll do it."