Dark Days at TAC

CHAPTER 13:

  A Nasty Shock For Pete

  Pete arrived at E block the next morning. They had just been discussing the theft of the camp fees and came across Rex who was at his locker reading something. ‘Is that a love note?’

  ‘Yeah. There’s quite a few of them here,’ Rex said.

  ‘Yep, your locker is sort of like the mail box for all your love sick fans. You get myriads of them every week.’

  ‘This one here’s a poem.’

  Pete peered around his shoulder to read it. It seemed like a pretty awful poem to Pete, but then he was used to ones that rhymed, not soppy stuff like this. It read:

  Mesmerised. Every day I see you, you enchant me even more. Looking at

  me is enough to bring me under your spell. I wish that I could be ensnared by you.

  Stolen away by you. Sealed within your heart. All I want is you Rex.

  Make me your girl and yours alone.

  ‘Anonymous, huh?’ Pete said.

  ‘Yeah and a total load of crap. Whoever wrote this must have been high on P or something.’

  Pete raised his eyebrow. It was unusual to hear such harsh criticism from him. ‘What? That’s not like you, Rex. You’re always telling me it doesn’t matter how soppy or sickly sweet they are, it’s the fact that some girl has poured their heart out to you that counts. You’re always saying that it flatters you someone would spend the time and effort to write you something like that.’

  ‘You’re telling me I sprout BS like that?’

  ‘All the time!’

  ‘I get the feeling you guys are trying to mess with my head. You tell me stuff, particularly about myself that I find impossible to believe. I just can’t imagine I’d say anything like that.’

  ‘But you do some times,’ Pete said.

  ‘Well shoot me if I ever say anything like that again.’

  Pete chuckled, reached his locker, opened it and reached in for one of his folders. He froze when he discovered some foreign objects that hadn’t been there before. ‘Hello. What’s this? Envelopes.’

  ‘Love letters?’ Rex asked.

  ‘No, it’s only you that gets fan male.’ Pete withdrew the envelopes from his locker and opened the flap of one to see what was inside. His eyes widened. ‘Bloody hell!’

  ‘Mmmm.’ Rex smirked. ‘If my locker is a mail box for desperate chicks, then I guess your one is the local bank.’

  Pete fingered through some notes and came across a cheque. It was written out to Te Arawa College. ‘The stolen camp fees! How the hell...?’

  ‘You didn’t put it there?’

  ‘Of course I didn’t darn well put it there!’

  ‘Well I don’t know. I know nothing about you.’

  ‘I’m telling you, Rex, I didn’t take this money. Somebody else must have put it here.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘How the hell should I know? Maybe they knew they were going to get into trouble so dumped it into a random locker.’

  ‘Or maybe they put it in your locker on purpose.’

  ‘No way! Why would someone do that?’

  ‘I don’t know. But I don’t believe I’m the type of guy who believes in coincidences.’

  ‘What shall I do with it, Rex? If I hand this in, they’re bound to think that I took it.’

  ‘Well you can’t just keep it.’

  ‘I know that, but...’

  ‘Why don’t you just hand it back in anonymously?’

  ‘Yeah right, and I can just go dropping this off at the office without being noticed. No way, man.’

  ‘You’d better put it all in your bag.’

  ‘What if the teachers catch me with it?’

  ‘Well you can’t just leave it in your locker, especially when you don’t have a lock for it.’

  Pete closed his eyes and flinched. The thought of carrying stolen money around with him all day long was nerve racking. He had to dispose of it somewhere, at least until he could come up with a plan on what to do with it. ‘I know, I’ll hide it in the bike shed up in the roof.’

  ‘In the roof?’

  ‘Yes. There are little holes in the roof all over the place. I can slip it up into one of the holes. It will be safe there until home time.’

  ‘As long as no one sees you put it there.’

  ‘No one will.’

  ‘Well, good luck.’

  ‘Aren’t you coming with me?’

  Rex snickered. ‘You’re on your own with this one.’

  Pete stared as Rex walked out of the locker block. He couldn’t believe one of his best friends, a guy he could always rely on to bale him out of trouble, was not even willing to help him dispose of the money.

  Activity at the bike shed had died, as most cyclists had arrived by now, so it was an easy matter of hiding the money. He hurriedly took the envelopes out of his bag and slipped them up into a convenient hole. Confident the money was stacked securely; he headed back in the direction of the locker block, but froze when he saw Mr Luxton walking in their direction.

  ‘Pete.’

  Dread filled Pete’s body. Had someone seen him after all? No, there was no way they could have reported him and have Mr Luxton come after him so quickly. Then he thought about Rex. What if Rex had reported him? After all, he had changed since the crack over the head. ‘Yes, Mr Luxton?’

  ‘I want you to come to my office please.’

  Pete followed him along with much trepidation. Once in the office he found the atmosphere tense. The way he eyed Pete as he sat at his desk suggested that this was to be no trivial questioning session. ‘You are here because I have heard some very serious allegations regarding you.’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘Yes you. A particular student claims to have seen you with a very large sum of money.’

  Pete’s horrible fears had been realised. It was Rex, after all who else would it have been? ‘Me?’

  ‘Yes you. Would you like to tell me about this money?’

  ‘What money?’

  ‘The money you have been seen with.’

  ‘But I haven’t had any large sums of money. I didn’t steal that camp money from Mr Crummer. It wasn’t me!’

  ‘A student came to see us yesterday afternoon saying they saw you with a large bundle of cash.’

  Pete blinked twice. So it couldn’t have been Rex! But who could it have been? ‘It’s not true! I haven’t had any money! Somebody’s telling you lies! Who told you that?’

  ‘I can’t tell you that for confidentiality reasons, but we have no reason to believe that this person was lying.’

  ‘I’m lucky if I get ten bucks pocket money a week.’

  Mr Luxton studied him for a few seconds before speaking again. ‘If you have the money Pete, it would be a lot better for you if you were to come straight out and tell me. By trying to deny it, you will only make it worse for yourself.’

  ‘I don’t have the money. Honestly!’

  Mr Luxton paused again. ‘All right then. Well, I would like to see your bag and I’d like to check your locker. I doubt that you would still have it on you if you did take the money, but I would still like to have a look. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not accusing you of stealing it, but I just want to be sure.’

  ‘OK,’ Pete said, handing over his bag. ‘Take a look.’

  Mr Luxton opened up his bag and peered inside. A frown appeared on his face. Immediately a horrible feeling come upon Pete. Had he disposed of all the envelopes? He had been in such a hurry perhaps he had missed one?

  The principal reached in and pulled out a small orange piece of paper. It was a fifty-dollar bill. ‘And what, may I ask, is this?’

  Pete’s jaw dropped. It must have fallen out of one of the envelopes during the process of disposing of it.

  ‘For somebody who only gets ten dollars a week pocket money, this is an awful lot of money to be carrying around.’

  ‘It’s... it’s...’

  ‘Before you say anything, just remember, I can easily check out yo
ur story if you try to tell me that your parents gave it to you.’

  He was about to say that it was his camp fees, but that was obviously not going to work. If Mr Luxton said that he would check with his parents about it, Pete could be assured that he would. He didn’t see Mr Luxton as the type to make idle threats. Still, the problem remained, what did he tell him? He certainly couldn’t tell him that he had found the money in his locker. Mr Luxton wouldn’t believe that, especially considering he’d hidden it away up in the bike shed. That would just make him look even guiltier. He knew had to come up with another source.

  ‘Well lad. Where did you get this money?’

  He had to come up with something quick and all though it was far from ideal, he just hoped that it would work out. ‘Rex Cassidy. Rex gave me the money, yesterday.’ He almost cringed after saying Rex’s name. In any other situation, he no doubt could have called on Rex to assist, but with the state his friend was in at the moment, there was no guarantees he would do anything for Pete, let alone cover for him.

  ‘Rex did?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Fifty dollars?’

  ‘Yes. He’s a really generous guy, Mr Luxton.’

  ‘That, I’m aware of. So if I were to call Rex in here to vouch for you he would?’

  ‘Yes.’ What else could he possibly say? He hoped desperately that Mr Luxton would not call Rex in… not just yet anyway. Pete needed some time to get to Rex first and ask him to be his alibi.

  ‘Very well, I will have Rex found and brought here. I certainly hope that you’re telling me the truth, Pete. If you’re not, then by heck, you’ll be in major strife.’

  Mr Luxton picked up the phone and talked to administration. He requested that someone find Rex and bring him to the office. Pete’s mind ticked over, wondering how he was going to get Rex to corroborate his story. It seemed like a hopeless situation.

  Five minutes later, Rex arrived and his left eyebrow rose when he saw Pete sitting there with Mr Luxton.

  ‘Won’t keep you long, Rex,’ Mr Luxton said. ‘I’d just like to know something. What do you know about a large sum of money possessed by Pete here?’

  Pete flinched on the inside. It was a very vague question, one no doubt designed to expose any contradictions in their perspective stories.

  ‘How much money are we talking about?’ Rex asked.

  ‘I was hoping that you might know.’

  ‘Define a large sum.’

  ‘An amount that an average student would not possess.’

  ‘I did loan a certain amount to Pete, yes.’

  Pete almost sighed in relief. Perhaps he was going to be able to rely on Rex after all?

  ‘How much did you loan him?’ Mr Luxton asked.

  Pete’s body tensed up again. The chances of Rex guessing the right amount were so remote it seemed hopeless.

  ‘Sorry, Mr Luxton,’ Rex said, his expression neutral. ‘But that’s between me and Pete. I’m not prepared to tell you that.’ Although Rex may have lost his memory, his wits were just as smart as ever.

  ‘I think you should. You need to be aware that Pete here has been accused of stealing.’

  ‘Well, if you’re talking about the stolen camp fees, the amount I lent him wasn’t anywhere near that much.’

  Mr Luxton sighed. ‘OK Rex. Thanks for coming in. You’re excused.’

  Rex nodded and departed, closing the office door behind him. Pete breathed a silent sigh of relief.

  ‘Well lad,’ Mr Luxton said. ‘It seems that you have an alibi of sorts. I’m forced to take your word that this money here was lent to you by Rex, but I want you to be aware of something. If it was indeed you that stole that money, we will find out. We will continue our investigations and you will remain our chief suspect. I would be careful how much money I’m seen splashing around if I were you.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ His body finally relaxed.

  ‘You can go.’

  Pete did his best not to bounce too much as he left the room. If there was any such thing as getting through by the skin of one’s teeth, he’d just achieved. He headed along the office block corridor with a smile on his face and stepped outside where he came face to face with Rex.

  There was no smile on Rex’s face, only a dark scowl.

  ‘Rex, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to get you into trouble. But you were the only one I could say would lend me fifty bucks.’

  Rex’s frown remained for a few seconds and it sent a shiver down Pete’s spine.

  Pete spoke again, desperate to remain on his good side. ‘Hey, thanks for covering for me. If there’s anything I can do, please let me know.’

  ‘Oh don’t worry about it,’ Rex said, his tone flat. ‘You can guarantee that some time soon I will call you up on that debt. You owe me big time.’

  ‘Sure,’ Pete said, feeling chilled by Rex’s cold manner. ‘Anything, pal.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear you say that, because the debt is a very big one and it’s going to cost you a lot.’ With that, he turned and strode away.