Arabella Academy: Perfectly Imperfect

16. Stressed Out

You can't always control what goes on outside, but you can always control what goes on inside.

~Wayne Dyer

***

"You want to tell us what the heck happened here, and where you were?"

William shifted uneasily in his seat. The directors who were sitting in front of him at the school boardroom were attacking him with every kind of question. He bitterly wished he hadn't released Stevens to go for his interrogation at the MPD. Now he was all alone with no one to back him up.

One of the directors, a lady, was the one ganging up the other directors against William. William secretly wanted to literally throw her out. What angered William was that she wasn't even a director, she was just the Personal Assistant of the Managing Director, and she was sent here on behalf of him. Not that William had ever seen the Managing Director in any of the meetings. He was a mysterious man who gave little attention to what was going on at Arabella Academy. He only released funds to the school through his personal assistant and collected the profit the school made through her too. He even sent his personal assistant to school meetings and occasions. In short, his personal assistant had accustomed the title of 'director' at the private school. William had only met him once, at the time when he had taken over ownership of the school from the government, therefore turning it to a private school. He had never seen him again, but would occasionally get a call from him whenever something was wrong at the school.

William looked at the lady murderously before retorting, "As I told you, I had gone to the supply warehouse to pick some supplies that the teachers wanted."

Another director flung a question at him, "And how come no one was present when the young girl was being killed?"

He answered back even before the director had barely finished, "We don't know the specific time when the crime was committed, but I assure you that the murder was done when there was no one in the school."

Another director yet asked, "You are saying that the gatekeeper didn't see anyone coming in? Are you sure the school is safe?"

William sighed and then replied, "We went through the school's security system again and we did not find any loopholes, but in the next few days I will forward to you a proposal for more stringent security measures, like installation of security cameras."

"The girl's parents are claiming that the investigation has been halted. Is that true?"

"No, the investigation has not been halted. A superior authority has taken over the investigation so the MPD has been asked to back off."

"Who is this superior authority? And why are they taking over the case?"

"I don't have a clue, but maybe with all these questions that you are asking me it seems that you should have been the ones called to investigate the murder."

"Are you sure that at this time you are capable of managing the school?"

That did it. William's anger couldn't hold back and he banged his fists on the table, shocking all who were present.

"Listen here you little scumbags. For all the years that I've been teaching, I have never met such people who make my blood boil. I have taught in this school for the past thirty-seven years. What makes you think that I don't know how to manage it?!" William exploded, silencing all who were at the meeting and perhaps, putting off any other question that the directors had.

However, the Managing Director's personal assistant was not about to be shut off. "It's not about your experience, it's about your old age. We don't want to hear that you've also collapsed due to the stress—"

"Just shut up for once you nosey woman!" William cut her off. "Of all the people here, I expected the least questions from you, but instead you're here blabbering even more garbage than a four-year-old child. So here's what's going to happen, the day you shall actually own shares in this school, is the day that you'll actually acquire the rights to question me. Now does anyone else have any other stupid question to ask?"

His inquiry was interrupted by a short knock at the door. The gatekeeper made his way in and stood beside William.

"What is it?" William asked, displeased of his interruption.

"Sorry sir. It's just that my night shift ended four hours ago but Tyron's yet to report. I tried calling his house but his wife said he didn't even sleep there. I figured out that I'd waited long enough so I came to see you."

The gatekeeper had hardly finished when there was another knock at the door. It was Timothy. He entered and spoke as if he was addressing the entire boardroom.

"Good morning William. I am very sorry to interrupt the session. It's just that I am carrying very important news that I thought you should know."

William looked inquisitively at him, telling him to go ahead.

"We've found your gatekeeper's body at Old Bob's Abandoned Garage, with a bullet in his head."