It was lunchtime at Malrich High but Sineas had decided he was not hungry. He sat alone on the right side of the third step of the entrance into the school, near the very edge of the step. There were so many thoughts going through his head: The inspector, his mother, Clarissa. He unconsciously rubbed his thumbs and turned his head to the left. Students were busy eating and conversing in the warmth of the sunlight. Most of the tables were already packed. He knew that people did not pay much attention to him but these days he felt more invisible than usual. Before, people would take one look at him and snarl, or scowl, but now, they never looked in his direction at all. Perhaps they were shifting their focus to the murders. His eyes started searching within the colony of students. He could not spot Clarissa anywhere. Someone sat beside him, to his right.‘Wassup,’ said Bubblegum girl rudely blowing a bubble the size of a tennis ball in his face. When it po

Inspector Charles looked into Janice’s eyes for a long while. He grinned satisfactorily at her from his chair. Deputy James was also staring at her, his face severe as always. She moved her eyes from the two officers sitting in front of her and stared at the blank screen of the TV.‘Are you going to answer the question, Janice?’ the inspector asked her.She continued to watch the black screen.‘I said, how long have you had this temper problem?’‘Drugs,’ she mumbled.‘What?’‘Ishmael is still on drugs,’ she said. ‘That’s why he fed you all those lies.’Inspector Charles said, ‘Janice, I doubt that very much. When Deputy James and I talked to Ishmael yesterday, he seemed to have all his wits about him. There was no smell of alcohol on his breath, no weed, nothing. Yes, the guy is a douchebag, but he was an honest douchebag. Now please answer the question, unles

Sineas arrived at school at one o’clock in the afternoon. The students had already begun to pour into the lunch area. He concealed himself behind The Thinker statue, carefully browsing the students one by one. He waited and waited for at least fifteen minutes. Finally, he saw her. She was sitting alone on a table in the middle. He only saw her back but he could tell it was her with her white turtleneck sweater and the rabbit tail on her head. He decided to wait a little longer until most of the students were seated. Then he made his move.He carefully and silently began walking towards her, his hands in his bomber jacket pockets and his eyes focused on the back of her head. He stopped behind her, just a few feet away.She had unloaded onto the table a pickle sandwich, a carrot salad and obviously- an apple from her lunch bag.Sineas just stood behind her, looking down at her. He did not care if anyone was watching him.Clarissa stopped eating. She froze s

Inspector Charles had just finished having supper when the doorbell rang. He told his wife and daughter to sit tight while he went to investigate who was ringing the doorbell so late in the evening. Shorts, vest and all, Charles opened the door. He looked around but there was no one in sight. He looked down. There was a brown envelope lying at his feet. His heart skipped a beat and his hands trembled as he stooped down to pick it up. The previous envelopes had been written the words: “To Inspector Charles” in both uppercase and lowercase letters but this one was written in all caps and bold letters: “TO INSPECTOR CHARLES”.He wanted to open it there and then. He had ripped it halfway open when he stopped. He looked around again, apprehensively…and vigilantly. There was still no one. No sound, save for the faint barking of a mongrel miles away. A stray, black cat ran silently along the sidewalk, probably chasing a rat. Even though he could see no one, Charles decided not to risk i

Clarissa lay on top of Sineas, a small red blanket covering their completely naked bodies. They had switched on the TV and turned to a sports channel, but they were not watching it of course. They had lowered the volume. The heavy rains could be heard beating on the roof from outside. Sineas was stroking her back, gently. ‘So…who taught you?’ he asked her.‘Taught me what?’‘Don’t play dumb, Claire. The moves.’She smiled, then said, ‘When you hang around sluts like Sabrina and Doreen, you pick up a thing or two. Not implying that I’m a slut too but when all your friends can talk about is how to catch a man…how to pleasure him; that stuff tends to stick to your subconscious.’‘So you’ve never..?’‘Had sex? No. That’s actually the reason why Justin broke up with me. Sabrina and Doreen hooked up with some of the members in Justin’s crew but Justi