All of the Safey Patrol officers met at headquarters the next morning; with the exception of Anza who was given special permission to stay home and help take care of his sister for the first few days of her recovery. The officers waited anxiously as Junior Comissioner Horatio Vallejo spoke on the phone with Anza.
"You just take care of your sister, Anza, and yourself. Folsom wants you to stay off this one, and so do I. Revenge ain't gonna do nothing to help us. Keep us posted and we'll keep you in the loop, all right? Bye."
Vallejo hung up the phone and turned to the other officers. "They're discharging her at lunch. They had to keep her overnight for the usual 24."
"She gonna be okay?" Ingrid asked.
"Doc in the ER said there was also a break in the other leg. Not as bad as the other one, but still she's now looking at a month before she can go back to school. They say it's gonna take at least five months for a complete recovery."
"That would be October. The last of the drama club's season is at the end of September." Tehama said.
Vallejo frowned. "I know."
The officers knew what this meant. Penelope would not be in the rest of the season. They also knew the drama teacher, Mr. Harris, was a stickler for being sure all drama club members, whether on stage or off, were in attendance for every rehearsal. Penelope would be lucky to even be in drama club by the end of the day.
"Penny is Anza's sister. That makes her family. One of our own. It's personal. Folsom has given us permission to take our lunches here and even to stay in the school after-hours."
"I still don't like this, Vallejo. Counterfeit hall passes and kidnapped virtual pets is one thing. Trying to hurt someone like that? I still think we're in over our heads."
"Fillmore, I hear you, but Folsom is gonna ban SP if we don't do this. Now, Tehama, you dusted for prints this morning. Any luck?
"Nope. Nothing. If the perp was wearing gloves like Ingrid said, then they were probably Nylon. Not cotton or wool like you'd see your usual, run-of-the-mill suspect wear. Gotta admit, they knew what they were doing." Tehama explained.
"They also knew where to cut the ropes and which ones to cut. Also, you aren't allowed backstage unless you're faculty, safety patrol, or...with the drama club." Ingrid said.
"So, it's an inside job. Fillmore, Ingrid, you go to the auditorium and interview Mr. Harris and the DC members." Vallejo ordered.
Fillmore and Ingrid left headquarters shortly after being told their orders and went to the school auditorium. Most of the drama club members were cleaning up the stage from the opening night accident while Mr. Harris supervised.
"That's right, young thespians. The show must go on and go on it will! Let's make this stage shine. I want that spotlight gleaming on the floor." Mr. Harris said in a bright voice.
"Mr. Harris?" Fillmore said.
Mr. Harris turned to Ingrid and FIllmore. "Ah, Cornelius Fillmore and Ingrid Third. My, Miss Third, has anyone told you that you've the makings of a great Elizabeth Proctor? Oh, we could've used you last year for The Crucible; I was going for the goth appearance of the character. Apparently deciding to set the show in a dystopian, punkesque London was not what Folsom intended; ah, but life goes on."
"We're not here looking to join, sir, we're on official business." Fillmore said.
Ingrid and Fillmore showed Mr. Harris their badges. The teacher looked over at his students and then nudged Fillmore and Ingrid to the far side of the auditorium.
"I just broke the news to cast and crew this morning. It's tragic that I have to suspend Penny from drama club for the rest of the season, but-"
"Excuse me, but the rest of the season? She's not expelled?" Ingrid asked.
"Goodness, no! I'd rather her stay and do behind the scenes work for the remainder of the season, but the well-being of my students comes first and foremost. Especially one as talented as Penelope. If I let her do crew work then she'd just exert herself and the more I thought about it; her having to endure watching rehearsals from the wins...I couldn't do it to her."
"We're glad to hear she's still in the club, Mr. Harris. Now, about last night, was there anything strange going on with the cast or with the crew?"
"Nothing that you don't normally see on opening night, Officer Fillmore. Last minute nerves, reciting of lines just before the curtain rises. In fact, it was probably one of the smoothest opening nights I've seen up until the accident. The real drama was..." Mr. Harris stopped himself and looked towards the floor.
"What is it, Mr. Harris?" Fillmore asked.
"Our school has no shortage of students getting upset over the smallest of things. An average grade, classroom pet duty, not enough air in basketballs during P.E. Then, there is the extremists like The Shakespeare Puritan Club."
"The What now?" Ingrid asked.
"They're an after-school club, mainly made up of those who love Shakespeare. Mention any playwright that's not Shakespeare? You get snubbed. Say you hate Shakespeare? Swirlies and shoved in gym lockers for two weeks. They weren't the nicest bunch when I first started at Safety Patrol, but then after a couple of detentions and a suspension, they quieted down." Fillmore explained.
"Until the season was announced. They came into rehearsals unannounced, shouting like maniacs that Shakespeare was far too good for the likes of a middle-school drama club. They seemed to take even greater offense when Penelope received the role of Juliet. Staging protests outside the auditorium, picking fights with everyone in the cast and crew. It didn't bother me that much; they usually left after I told them to. Then, two nights ago, at the final dress rehearsal, the leader of the club, Marshall Hawthorne, snuck into the changing rooms and poured paint on several costumes, and even was about to shred Juliet's wedding dress with a pair of scissors."
"Wait! Did you say that Marshall Hawthorne was going to use scissors on the gown?" Ingrid asked.
"Why, yes. An awful sharp set they were to. Nearly cut my hand open." Mr. Harris held up his bandaged hand.
Fillmore and Ingrid shared a knowing look. Marshall Hawthorne was looking like a pretty good suspect. Still, they knew they had to dig deeper.
"Mr. Harris, is there any way that anyone in the Shakespeare Puritan Club could get backstage on opening night?" Fillmore asked.
"No. I made a special note to ushers to not them let in and made sure that anyone that could get in the stage doors were only those in the drama club; we all had keys made in case of last minute emergencies."
Fillmore looked over at the students over Mr. Harris' shoulder. "Anyone of the club members know someone in the SPC?"
"Perhaps. I know little about their social lives."
"Thank you, sir. If you don't mind, we'd like to talk to the club members, please?" Ingrid requested
"Of course. I can only allow you a few minutes, we've still got lots of cleaning to do before we open again."
Fillmore and Ingrid walked onto the stage and over to the students. They all stopped and stared at them. None of them were happy to see safety patrol, it seemed.
"What do you want with us?" Mindy Gale snapped.
"Easy, Mindy. They're safety patrol." Vern Barnes whispered.
"I don't care who they are! It's bad enough this happened, and on opening night of all nights. We don't need to be hassled by them."
"Mindy Gale, right? You're playing Lady Capulet. You did pretty good last night." Ingrid said.
"I was the best I had ever been! Considering I wasn't even supposed to be Lady Capulet. If Penelope hadn't shown up last minute, it would've been my time. "
"So you were going to play Juliet then?" Fillmore asked.
Vern put his hand on Mindy's arm before she could say anything else. She huffed and carried a box of debris off stage and into the wings.
"Sorry about this, guys. We're not used to Safety Patrol around here." Vern said.
"What about Anza?" Fillmore asked.
Vern shrugged. "Joey is different. He's Penny's big brother. She's family, that makes him family. "
"Doesn't sound much like family." Ingrid said.
"Siblings fight, don't they? Mindy should cool off after a while. She'll have her chance to shine, and then she'll make up with Penny."
"Her chance to shine? Does that mean what I think it does?" Ingrid asked.
"Yeah, Mindy was Penelope's understudy. With Penny hurt, Mindy's moving in. Don't get why she's still upset, but it should change soon." Vern said and went back to cleaning up.
Suddenly, one suspect had become two. Ingrid and Fillmore only hoped that their investigation wouldn't turn up anything else. Time was slowly ticking for the Safety Patrol.