"One of the top teachers, and a new one quit yesterday? Right after a bad accident there?" Sergeant De Salbo looked up from his little white notepad, "What do you make of that?"
Summer shifted uneasily in her seat, before she narrowed her eyes on him. "Maybe it frightened us off?"
He raised a quizzical brow, "Really?" Setting the pad down for a second, he tilted his head to the side, "have you received any threats? To doubt your safety there?"
Fighting the urge to cross her arms, Summer gripped the arms of the chair. "Look, I don't know why Zac quit, okay? I just know, that I don't belong there. I didn't even want to teach there in the first place!"
De Salbo leaned back in his own seat, "I didn't say Zac quit."
Summer bit her tongue, "It's not quantum physics, sir. I talked with him the other day. I knew he was upset." Her shoulders shrugged, "I also know that he is one of the top teachers at Seymour. So is Jakob. But Jakob wouldn't…" She trailed off and turned away.
"But Zac would?"
Regretting she said so much, Summer struggled for the right words, "Zac… had some… obstacles before, and he's fought a hard battle." She smiled bitterly, "It is kind of pointless having to keep fighting the same fight. Isn't it?"
Slowly, as if unsure he wanted to answer truthfully, he nodded. "But some things are worth fighting for."
She laughed caustically, "I guess that's just a matter of whose shoes you're standing in then."
His lips twisted in wry amusement at her wit, "Well the shoes I'm standing in, is looking at two teachers quitting a school after some incident that seems to be a reenactment of a previous school attack. A dance school was the first one."
He folded his hands across his pudgy middle, "One of them is a known celebrity, the other is a known felony. So tell me what you'd be thinking if you were in my shoes."
Summer sucked in a sharp breath. "I know it looks like I did it, Sergeant De Salbo. But I didn't." Cautiously, she looked him in the eyes. "It wasn't me this time."
"And as I recall, in your statement in the report, you said the same thing."
Her hands clenched tightly into fists while her eyes blazed green fire. "Sir, I know what I did. I know what I've done. And I usually know what I'm about to do." Carefully, she leaned forward and slowed her speech in deliberation. "I did not do this."
"There's not a lot of evidence, I admit." He confessed as he started to get up after scrutinizing her thoughtfully, "but as of right now, most of it is pointing to you."
Standing up straight, he shook the silent Mr. McPherson's hand and nodded towards Summer. "I would like you'd stick around, and not leave."
Knowing the drill, Summer nodded weakly.
She heard the quiet voices of her father questioning and debating the officer as they walked out of the living room and down the hallway.
"Did you?"
Jerking up, Summer stared in anger. "No!"
Alexis nodded, "I believe you."
Tears too long repressed fell, "You'd be the only one so far."
