8th Grade Murder Chapter 3

Cesar and Derrick held their guns at the ready. Their fingers twitched, ready to fire. But then they realized what it was and disappointedly put their guns away.

It was a mask, probably for Halloween. It was a ghoul mask with a speaker on the side that groaned every few seconds.

Derrick swore under his breath and snapped the gun holster back into place. "This is it? He asked himself.

"Damn," Cesar groaned.

But then they both thought of the same thing. The killer could have worn it as a disguise. When he made his getaway, he might have dropped it.

"Bril." Cesar said.

"Yep," Derrick returned as he put on latex gloves.

Derrick picked up the mask and touched it as little as possible as to not get fingerprints on it.

Cesar walked with Derrick back to where the sheriff was. "We found this, sir." He said, pointing to the mask.

"Wow, good lead. Give it to the forensic specialist over there." The sheriff said, pointing.

"Some thanks we get." Derrick muttered.

"Hey, Cesar, Derrick." The sheriff called.

"Yeah chief?" Cesar said, turning around.

"There’s only one surviving witness. He’s in the North Kansas City Hospital. He just woke up so I want you and Derrick to go see if he knows anything."

"We’ll do." Derrick said, happy to be leaving this boring scene. "What’s his name?"

"Connor Kelly."

"Thanks chief."

Cesar and Derrick gave the forensic specialist the Halloween mask, and climbed into Cesar’s car.

"Get a notebook to take notes." Cesar told Derrick. "They’re under your seat along with pens."

"Nice," Derrick replied while he reached under his seat. "This car is awesome, dude."

"Thanks." Cesar then realized something. "Aw damn, where is this place anyway? Are we even driving the right way?"

Derrick pulled out his cell phone and opened up the GPS program. "Yep, right way." He said. "Turn right on the next road."

Derrick led them to the hospital where the got a good parking spot and rushed in.

Cesar showed the nurse his badge. "We need to see Connor Kelly."

The nurse decided to let them see him. "This way," she said.

Connor was bandaged in both his arms, and twice in his left leg. He was sitting up in this bed trying to eat something, making sure the nurse didn’t do anything. He looked up at Cesar and Derrick when they walked in.

"Hi," Cesar said to him and sat down. "I’m Cesar, and this is Derrick."

"Hey," Connor said softly.

"How’re you feelin’?" Derrick asked.

"Fine,"

"We need to know everything you saw this morning." Derrick continued, pulling his notebook out. "That way we can find the person who shot you and killed everyone else."

"Yeah," Connor began. "So, uh, it was the beginning of 3rd hour. I have communication arts that hour" His voice shook as he told the story. "So about five minutes into the class, there was a knock on the door. Mr. Chambers opened the door," He paused and tried not to cry. "a-and he got shot in the head."

Derrick wrote this down. "Could you see what kind of gun it was?" He asked slowly.

"It was some type of machine gun." Connor replied. "Like handheld or something. But anyway, the guy was wearing a mask that looked like a ghost screaming or something." Derrick and Cesar glanced at each other when he said this. "And he just started shooting everybody, and-" He couldn’t stop himself from crying this time. "Sorry," He said shakily.

"It’s okay," Derrick said, trying to comfort him.

Connor wiped the tears from his eyes and slowly continued. "I put my arms in front of my face, and that’s when my arms got shot. I bent down on my knees, and started screaming, and the man shot at me and hit my legs." Connor blinked, as if trying to remember more. "I think I fainted, ‘cause I don’t remember anything else."

Derrick and Cesar sat there in silence, stunned at Connor’s heroic story.

Cesar broke the silence. "Thank you,"

"Yeah," Connor said, trying to act tough.

Cesar and Derrick left the room and confronted the nurse. "How bad are the wounds?" Derrick asked.

"He’s shot twice in the arms; both bullets hit his bones and fractured them." The nurse said. "The Leg was shot twice, one bullet hit his patella and broke it, and the other went right through."

"Thank you," Cesar said, and started towards the exit.

Cesar and Derrick drove in silence back to the school. When they arrived, they went up to the scene of the murder. The chief was there.

"Any finds, chief?" Derrick asked.

"Not yet." The chief replied. "Hey, I want to know how the hell this guy got in! Look around, find it!"

"Yes sir," Derrick replied, and Cesar started to follow.

"Wait Cesar, not so fast," The chief replied. "You haven’t even told me what happened at the hospital. Lay it on me."

Derrick went outside while Cesar stayed and told Connor’s story.

Derrick started around the north end of the building and looked for doors or windows broken into. He reached the back of the building and saw a door about twenty yards down. He ran to it, and found that the little window in it was broken. The murderer must have broken it to reach the lock.

"Hey chief," Derrick said on his walkie-talkie. "I found a door that’s broken into. There might be some fingerprints."

"Good," Came the reply. "Go back to the front of the building and go back to the hospital with Cesar. You idiots didn’t even ask the kid how tall the guy was or anything."

"Got it chief,"