Alibi High

We'd had that discussion plenty of times. He always got frustrated with his colleagues at the recycling plant when someone gave their notice and people co-workers got their noses bent out of joint upset , as if they all were somehow contractually bound to stay there forever. He would always argue that if a person needed or wanted to leave, they should be allowed to without taking any flack for it. Why would you want to keep a person who didn't want to stay anyway, regardless of their reason? He always went out of his way to tell anyone that who was leaving that he'd miss them, but he was happy that they'd found a better opportunity.

Normally, I tended to agree with him, but this felt different. Probably because I was taking it personally.

I took a drink from the swallowed another mouthful of beer. “Still . I , I feel like teaching and school is a little different.”

“You don't know the circumstances, Daisy,” he reminded me. “You don't know anything other than what you've heard – and you haven't heard anything from Bingledorf.”

I frowned at him. “I thought you were here to comfort here me and make me feel better.”

“I am. ” He smiled. “ Is it not working?”

“Not particularly.”

“Are there rules here?”

I pointed the neck of the bottle at him. “Yes. Just agree and tell me I'm right and justified in all my whining.”

“Hmm. ” His fingers trailed up my arm and I shivered. “ I'm not sure those rules help the situation.”

“You're trying to help me.”

He sighed and slipped his arm beneath me, hugging me closer to him. “Alright. I wi ' ll stop making sense.”

I punched tapped him lightly in the stomach. “Stop.”

“I just said I would.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Moving on to issue number three,” he said. “Do you want to say anything about the computer teacher who is no n' t really a computer teacher?”

I'd thought plenty about that already and I'd already decided. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I believe him,” I explained . , thinking back to my conversatio n with Miles Riggler. “I really think believe he thought he'd have a semester to learn what he needed to learn and the wires just go crossed. And I think he's scrambling to learn what he needs to get caught up . The poor guy probably isn't sleeping at all.”

“I wouldn't either if I wasn't qualified for my job . , ” Jake muttered.

“Right,” I said. “I think the stress that guy has right now is enormous. But I think he's at least trying to do the right thing. And I do not want to be responsible for putting someone out of work.” I handed him back the beer. “He's not a bad guy at all.”

He took the beer, finished it finished it off and set the empty bottle on the nightstand. “Alright. Issue number three solved. Which brings us to issue number four.”

I twisted in his arms so I could see his face. “What is issue number four?”

“What we need to do to get you a private investigator's license.”

“What are you talking about?”

He laughed. “I'm at least half-serious. After your rundown about how the theft could've been a possible inside job, I think you're just as concerned with figuring out what happened to the computers.”

I'd dropped my list of possible suspects on him and he'd apparently taken that as a sign that I was working the case. “Oh, whatever.”

“And for the record,” he said, giving me a squeeze. “I don't necessarily think you're wrong. About any of them.”

“See? I'm not some complete nut job.”

“I never said you were.”

“But you intimated it.”

“Maybe a little,” he said, smiling. “But I think your reasoning makes sense. About all of them.”

“So who do you think is most likely?”

He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Most likely? I don't know. You know for sure of three people that who might've been on campus that weekend , right? Bingledorf, the computer dude and Harriet what's-her-face.” He paused, thinking. “I think I'd rule out Bingledorf. I mean, what the heck would her motive be to rob her own school? That doesn't seem likely to me.”

I didn't disagree with that and I'd more or less thought the same thing his reasoning . She may have had access, but I didn't think she really had reason the motive to steal an entire lab full of computers at the school she ran. I couldn't see any reason why she would've done it. thing she would have had to gain by doing it.

“So, for me, that leaves the computer dude and the Harriet lady,” Jake said. “If I had to pick one, I'd pick the dude.”

“Instead of Harriet?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, I think so. I mean, I get what you're saying about her. They could kind of double dip if they were the thieves, selling what they stole and then maybe getting the s tore school to order through them. But that seems risky because there's no guarantee that Prism would order through Data Dummy.”

“Data Dork.”

“Whatever. But computer dude . ? It's sort of win-win for him.”

“How so?”

“First, he indicated he was hurting for money,” he said. “So he steals the machines and then sells them for some quick cash. Even if he doesn't know squat about computers, he would've known the layout of the room and where to unplug everything and he could've been in and out of there pretty quickly.”

That made sense. “Okay.”

“And, second,” he continued. “It buys him some time. Without the computers, he doesn't have to actually teach. I don't know what he's going to do in class, but whatever it is, it won't involve computers. So that not only gets him off the hook of looking like he doesn't know what he's doing totally inc ompetent – which he is , – but it also allows him some time to take whatever the classes are that he's taking these classes he told you about . At the very least, by the time new computers are installed, he probably would have done some catching up and would be a little more competent in the classroom.”

“ He's a fairly young guy, though,” I said. “I guess,” I said. “I just can't believe have a hard time believing he'd go to that extreme just to save face and make a little money.”

“So you're betting on Harriet?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I shifted in the bed , bringing the blanket with me . “If I had to pick one, yes , s . S he'd be my pick.”

“Why?”

“The level of desperation,” I said. “And like you said about Riggler. It's win-win for her. Or for them. If they stole them, they could resell them and I'd have to think they'd have the know-how or the connections based on the fact that they run a computer shop. And then if they were able to secure the order from the school, it sounds like it would be enough to keep them in business for at least awhile.” I paused. “I think they had the stronger motive.”

Jake leaned back in the pillows, staring up at the ceiling. “I don't know.”

“A failing business and their liv lie eli hood versus a guy's competency in the classroom,” I said. “To me , that's a no-brainer.”

“ I guess,” he said. “And y “Y ou know we're just firing shots in the dark here right ? ” he asked. “ It very well might not be anyone in the school. O r just s maybe it's s omeone else who on the staff, someone you don't know at the school yet .”