Chapter Text
“Well…shit. This is familiar.”
Ophelia was standing beside her brother Vallejo at the lakeside, looking over the scene. There was a mix of police officers and patrollers around the scene, the patrollers largely pulling back after the police had arrived.
The five year time capsule (a footlocker) had been pulled up for the X Middle School Reunion (attended by the local high schoolers) and opened. The ceremony had already been ruined beforehand, as the footlocker seemed to have taken slight damage, which caused water to rush in.
It got much worse though, after Folsom and a few other higher up faculty decided to open the footlocker to see if they could salvage anything. Besides a few photographs sealed in a thermos and an old attendance record, there had been a body. Dressed in a Red Robin outfit, of all things, and skeletonized with only a few strands of hair on their skull.
This immediately attracted the attention of local police as well as the SBI, the High School Patrol, and the Safety Patrol.
Vallejo gave her a weird look, “Lia, what do you mean ‘this is familiar’? This has happened before?”
She replied shortly, “Tasha Martins case.”
“Oh…yeah I forgot you were on that. Do you think the two are related?’
Ophelia took a sip from her strange smelling water bottle and replied, “Maybe.”
The mood at HQ was grim and largely quiet. Even Danny was subdued as Vallejo stood in front of the group at the screen.
He sighed shakily, “Okay, listen up people. The local police are in charge of this but Folsom has given me permission to open some old files. Maybe you can go home and use these copies that Anza is passing out to help jog an older sibling or cousin’s memories. Maybe they know something useful and can take it to the police.”
A picture of a young smiling girl with black hair and tan skin popped up on the screen.
“Tasha Martins, aged 13 years old, would be turning 18 today, if she lived. Was a part-time member of the Red Robins, worked a lot of low level jobs. Tasha was a member of the gardening club and was helping that year’s yearbook committee out. Generally a good kid, there’s no evidence she was involved in the smuggling or the other criminal activities.”
Vallejo took a deep breath and continued, “She was murdered that year, right beside the docks. According to patrol and police reports, she’d been drowned and had tried to fight back. Sally Murphy and Jackie Kennedy were tried and convicted, there was a lot of DNA evidence they found under Tasha’s-oh crackers I can’t do this! Bishop, you take over!
Frank gave his friend a sympathetic look and continued, “They didn’t give a motive and it was assumed to be an opportunistic murder. Maybe this new body was the motive. Maybe someone saw something and was too scared to say or it didn’t seem odd at the time. Take those copies home and show them to your older relatives.”
Ophelia looked around the empty classroom they used as headquarters at X High School. It was dead silent.
She shifted the match in her mouth and took it out, “Who here remembers Tasha Martin’s case?”
Daniel Chestnut and several others raised their hands.
“Okay, great, that’s most of you. For those of you who don’t know, Tasha Martin was an X Middle School student who was murdered by two Red Robins five years ago. I was around 11 or 12 at the time, last case before I became the Commissioner there. I’ve got a list of people to talk to, people who might know something or who knew Tasha before she died. Maybe they’ll remember something that will help close this case for good or, at the very least, help identify the victim and give her family closure. Any questions?”
No one spoke.
“Good, get out.”
Daniel approached her, hands in his pockets, “How are you Vallejo?”
Ophelia ran her hand over her face and sighed, “I don’t know. Emotionally, I’m all over the place and mentally…well… let’s just say, this is shit Chestnut.”
“I know. I’m sorry” He seemed thoughtful and added, “Kennedy is a cousin of mine. I’ll talk to her, maybe she’ll be willing to talk now that Sally is out and away from her.”
The girl snapped, “Sally’s out? Since when?!”
“They let her out on good behavior two years ago, changed her name and everything. No one knows where she’s at now.”
Fillmore was sitting at Tony’s soda bar, staring at the paper on the counter. The older boy had given him a free Dr. Popper and peanuts to munch. Most people (besides Alistair) were giving him a wide berth.
“It’s a really good thing Ingrid called in sick today Clementina.”
The blonde nodded and washed a glass.
Alistair was drinking a koca-cola and eating pretzels, looking over the paper.
He shook his head and said, “I’m sorry Fillmore, my cousin Mandy was in hospital during that time period, all she’s ever said about it is what was on the news. I don’t think she knew Tasha either but I’ll still ask.”
“Thanks man, appreciate it” Fillmore picked up a copy of the photo, “She was so young.”
“She was.”
Fillmore sighed, “Makes you think: could I die like that? Taken out by two psychopaths, either for fun or as a cover up? Dawg, I can’t imagine what that must have been like for her family.”
Alistair leaned his head on Fillmore’s shoulder momentarily before sitting up straight.
Tony spoke up, making the two jump slightly, “My brother Gino knew Tasha, they had been dating. I’ll talk to him too.”
“Thanks Clementina.”
“Don’t mention it.”