The Face Behind The Mask

22

When Detective Lloyd entered her office, Patrice Orion had the phone to her ear. She gave him the 'just a minute sign' with a raised index finger.

Lloyd held a few sheets of paper in his hand and tapped them quietly against his thigh until his partner ended her call.

"What do you got?" She got out of her desk chair.

He hooked the waistband of his trousers with his thumb. "Wasn't that long ago I could barely get these pants buttoned up. A couple of months on the treadmill and now I need a belt to hold 'em up."

She smiled. "You quit smoking, you're hitting the gym again. Hot damn. You give up drinking?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm not going for sainthood."

"You're only human." She beamed her famous Patrice Orion full smile.

He accepted the compliment with a sheepish shrug. "The day of the attempted break-in at the McKenzie's house, the responding officer's notes says neighbors reported seeing an HVAC or plumbing van with Ohio plates."

She nodded. "They said it might've been Ohio plates."

"Right. So, I did some digging. I checked out local HVAC and plumbing outfits that might have vehicles with Ohio registrations. And I got a connection."

Her eyebrows went up.

"A tech by the name of Jonathan Bowman, a guy who works for an Ohio HVAC operation, is doing some work over at Higbee High School. Take a guess who goes to Higbee High School?"

"Kelsey McKenzie?"

"Bingo."

She crossed her arms and leaned back on her heels. "Coincidence?"

"I don't think so. This Jonathan Bowman has an interesting background." He referred to his papers. "Gets a football scholarship to some division two school. Doesn't make it through his freshman year. He's off the team for underage drinking. And assault."

"Mean drunk," she said.

"He works his way back onto the team in his sophomore year. Gets popped for another assault. This time it's a sexual assault." He met her eyes, his smile gone, his face sagging a bit. "So he drops out of school." He read from the second page. "A few years later, another sexual assault. This time - get this - he assaults a minor."

"Forget I said coincidence."

It was just before lunchtime when they arrived at the high school. They parked in a visitor's space beside a dusty old van that said Rigatti's HVAC Service. Orion got out of the car and shielded her eyes with her hand as she peered into the van.  "He must be on the premises," she said.

They walked up the pavement to the front door. Patrice pushed the call button. She showed her badge to the security camera looking down at them from its perch.

A security guard with a thick neck and a stern expression appeared at the window in the door. "Nobody here called the police."

In a friendly tone, Patrice said, "We need to speak to the Principal."

"What's this about?" he said.

"We'd prefer to discuss this matter in private rather than through the front door."

The man stood there for a moment, his expression never changing. "Lemme see those badges again."

Lloyd reached for his. Partice already had hers out. They held them up to the window. The security guard spent an inordinate amount of time studying them.

"How about you let us in before we draw a crowd?" said Lloyd, indignation in his voice.

After a side-eye from Patrice to her partner that said, 'You're not helping,' the guard relented. At the sound of the buzzer, the detectives entered and made their way to the Principal's office.

Ms. Devi looked too young to be a high school Principal. She wasn't what Patrice Orion was expecting. Back when Patrice attended high school, the Principal, Mrs. Sikorsky, looked like George Washington with a bad dye job and a double chin. Ms. Devi could have been fresh out of grad school.

Patrice and her partner presented their badges. "You mind if I close the door?" Patrice asked, throwing a glance at the security guard.

"If you like." Ms. Devi searched Orion's eyes. The detective had seen that look before, the look of someone who was expecting bad news and wasn't sure they wanted to know just how bad.

The guard crossed his arms, watching them through the office window.

Orion set her palms on the Principal's desk and leaned in. "There's an outside contractor on the premises doing maintenance work." The detective spoke with a calm confidence that terrified the Principal. "We need someone to show us where he is."

Ms. Devi asked, "Is there a problem?"

"We'd like to get him offsite before there is one."

"I need to initiate a soft lockdown," Devi said and reached for her phone.

"Soft lockdown?"

"Teachers lock their classroom doors and keep their students in class as a precaution," she said.

"This won't take long." Lloyd wasted a reassuring smile. When Ms. Devi dialed her phone, Orion and Lloyd left her office.

"C'mon. I'll show you where he is," said the security guard.

"You got good ears," Lloyd said. The security guard escorted the detectives down the hall. "He's working down in the boiler room."

"We're talking about Jonathan Bowman?" said Lloyd.

"Yeah. Seems like a nice guy."

"One-man crew?"

"Yeah. Works by himself." He checked his watch. "He usually punches out at lunchtime. I ain't seen him leave the building today."

Orion took a sharper tone. "Is he armed?"

"Huh?"

"Does he go through the metal detector?"

"He carries a toolbox," the security guard said.

"You ever check inside that toolbox?" she asked, watching for a reaction.

There was a long unsettling pause before he answered, "Once or twice. I didn't see no gun."

"You didn't?" Lloyd said and then gave him a quick flick of his eyes.

"Nope." He lowered his head.

Lloyd and Patrice shared a skeptical look. The distressed expression on the guard's face indicated he'd just now realized he may have allowed a maintenance worker to walk right into the building with a loaded gun in his possession.

At the end of the hallway, they descended the concrete steps to the basement boiler room. Before she opened the metal door, Orion asked, "Is there a back way out of the boiler room?"

"Nope. This is the only way in and out." He cracked a modest smile. "You need me for backup? He's a pretty big dude."

"Tell you what," said Lloyd. "If he comes out this door without me or her, detain him."