Chapter 56 third call

At one twenty in the afternoon, I called Morrison, the principal of Stevenson Secondary School. I cover the microphone with a handkerchief as I speak. "This is no joke. In fifteen minutes, a bomb will go off in your school." There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the line before Morrison asked angrily, "Who are you?" "Never mind that. I'm not joking this time. A bomb will go off in fifteen minutes." Then I hang up. I left the gas station, crossed the road, and went back to the police station.Then take the elevator up to the third floor.

My partner, Peter Torgerson, was on the phone when I walked into the duty room. He looked up. "Jim, Stevenson got another call like that. Morrison pulled the whole school out again." "Have you contacted the demolition team?" "I'm in touch." He called Room 121 and told them the details. There are 1,800 pupils at Stevenson Secondary School, and when we arrived at the school, all of them had evacuated.The last two times when the school received such calls, we told the school teachers what to do when encountering this kind of thing. This time, they followed our instructions and evacuated the students at least 200 feet away from the building.

Principal Morrison is tall, gray-haired and wears rimless glasses.He left the group of teachers gathered around the corner and greeted them. "The call came at twenty past one, he said. The cars of the blasting team and the other two teams followed closely behind. My son David and five or six of his classmates were lying behind the wire fence.Peter looks over from behind Morrison. "do you know him?" Morrison smiled wearily. "No. Any teacher knows more students than the principal." Peter lit a cigar. "Jim, it looks like it's going to be settled soon. You should cheer up."

I stood up. "I don't want to see any child involved." We drove to Baines' house.It was a two-story house like any other on the block. Mr. Baines was a tall man with blue eyes.The smile on his face disappeared as soon as he opened the door and saw us. "Are you here again?" "We want to talk to your son," Peter said. "Lester didn't go to school today. Is he sick?" Baines' eyes flickered, and he said, "Why?" Peter smiled faintly. "Same reason as we came last time." Baines reluctantly let us in. "Lester went to the pharmacy. He'll be back soon."

Peter sat down on the couch. "Is he not ill?" Baines stared at us. "He had a cold, so I didn't send him to school. But his cold was not serious, and he was able to go to the pharmacy to buy a Coke." Peter was very kind. "Where was your son at half past ten this morning?" "Here he is," Baines said. "He didn't call." "how do you know?" "Today I rest, I'm with Lester all day." "Where is your wife?" "She was out shopping. But here she was at ten-thirty. Lester didn't make any calls."

Peter smiled. "I hope so. Where was Lester at twenty one?" "Right here," Baines said. "My wife and I can testify." He frowned. "Two calls today?" Peter nodded. We sat in the living room and waited.Baines squirmed uneasily in his chair, then stood up. "I'll come as I go. I'm going to see if the upstairs windows are closed." Peter watched him leave the living room, turned to me and said, "Jim, you don't say a word, and I'm the only one to ask." "Peter, it's fine to ask only one person about this kind of thing."

He lit a cigar, "Well, it looks like this matter will be resolved soon." He picked up the phone on the table next to him and listened, and after a while, he covered the receiver with his hand. "Baines is on the upstairs extension. He's calling all over the place. He doesn't know where his son is." Peter listened for a while longer, smiling slightly. "He was talking to his wife. She was at the supermarket. He told her we were coming and when he asked her to meet us, said Lester had been home all day and hadn't called." I looked out the window, just in time to see a blond boy walking towards here.

Peter saw the kid too, and he put down the phone. "Lester is here. Let's hurry up and question his father before he comes downstairs." Lester Baines was flushed with a tan, a rolled towel under his arm.He walked into the house and the smile on his face disappeared as soon as he saw us. "Lester, where have you been today?" Peter asked. "We know you're not at school today." Lester swallowed. "I'm not feeling well today, so I'm staying at home instead of going to school." Peter pointed to the towel under his arm. "Is it wrapped in wet swimming trunks?"

Lester blushed. "Er--about nine o'clock this morning, I was well again. Maybe I don't have a cold, maybe I'm just a little allergic, it'll be fine soon. "He took a deep breath. "So I decided to go swimming and soak up the sun." "All day? Are you not hungry?" "I brought some hamburgers with me." "Who did you go with?" "No one, just me," he shook back and forth uneasily. "Did someone make that call again?" Peter smiled. "If you feel better, why don't you go to school in the afternoon?"

Lester tugged at the bath with his hands. "I wanted to. But when I remembered it was one o'clock and it was too late," he added softly, "so I decided to just swim a little longer." "Why would you bring a hamburger if all you wanted to do was swim all morning?" Lester blushed even more, and finally he decided to tell the truth. "I don't have a cold today. I just don't want to go to school.Mom and Dad didn't know about it.I took the civics test in the morning and the history test in the afternoon. I know I can't do well in the test.I thought that if I study hard tonight, I will pass the make-up exam tomorrow. "

We heard footsteps coming down the stairs and waited. Baines stopped walking as soon as he saw us with his son. "Lester, don't tell them anything, let me tell them." "It's too late," Peter said. "Your son has admitted that he is not at home today." Lester panicked and said, "I didn't make those calls. Really, I didn't make them!" Baines walked over to his son. "Why do you always trouble Lester?" "We didn't have trouble with Leicester," Peter said. "But we have reason to believe that those calls were made by a student. However, the school was in session when those calls were made, which means that it was an absent student." Baines was unimpressed. "I'm sure Rice wasn't the only student absent today." Peter acknowledged this, but continued: "The first call was made eighteen days ago. On that occasion we checked the attendance records at Stevenson Secondary School and found that ninety-six students were absent. Sixty-two of them One was a boy and we talked to all of them - including your son. Your son was home with a cold...and alone. You were at work and your wife was at a friend's birthday party. But, your son Denying that he made the call, we can only take his word for it." Lester pleaded with his father, "Dad, I didn't make that call, I wouldn't do that." Baines took one look at him, then turned to look at us, expressionless. Peter continued: "The second call was at 10:30 this morning. We checked the attendance records again and found that only three boys were absent this time and the previous time." A glimmer of hope appeared on Baines' face. "Have you checked the two boys?" "We were going to check, but then another call came in this afternoon, which saved us the trouble. We checked the attendance records again. One of the three suspects was back at school in the afternoon, so it was impossible to call .” "What about the other one?" Baines asked. "He's in the hospital." Baines immediately retorted, "Hospitals have phones, too." Peter smiled slightly. "The kid got scarlet fever last weekend when he went out of state with his parents. He's in a hospital five hundred miles away, and those calls were all local." Baines turned to his son. Lester paled. "Dad, you know I never lie to you." "Of course you didn't lie, son," but Baynes had a look of disbelief on his face. The front door opened and a woman with brown hair walked in.Pale but determined, she paused for breath. "I've just been out for a while, doing some shopping, but other than that I've been at home all day and I'm fully aware of Lester's whereabouts." "Mother," Lester said pitifully. "It's useless. They all know I skipped school today." Peter reached for his hat. "I hope you two have a good talk with your son tonight. I'm sure you can do better than us." He put a business card on the table. "Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, I hope all three of you will come to the police station." Once outside, Peter drove around the corner and said: "If they decide to keep lying about their son, it's going to be hard for us." "Could someone outside the school do it?" "I hope so. But you and I know that ninety-nine percent of the time the students did it." Peter sighed. "I don't like how it ends. The bomb threat call is bad enough, but the impact on that family is even worse." I left the police station at five in the afternoon and got home at half past five. My wife Nona is in the kitchen. "I read from the newspaper that Stevenson Secondary School received another threatening call this morning." I kiss her. "Another one this afternoon. Too late for the papers." She lifts the lid off the pot. "Did you find out who hit it?" I hesitated for a moment. "Yes, I think we've figured it out." "who is it?" "A student named Lester Baines." There was pity on her face. "Why would he do such a thing?" "I don't know. So far, he hasn't admitted that he did it." She looked me over carefully. "Jim, you look tired. Is this a bad thing?" "Yes, very badly." There was concern in her eyes, but she smiled slightly. "Dinner will be ready soon. You can call David. He's in the garage working on his car." David put the carburetor on the counter.He looked up. "Hello, Dad. You look hot." "Today is very tiring." "Did you spot the caller?" "I hope found out." David's eyes were gray like his mother's.He frowned. "Who hit it?" "A boy named Lester Baines. Do you know him?" David stared at the parts in front of him. "know." "What kind of person is he?" David shrugged. "I know him casually. He seems like a nice guy." He was still frowning. "He admitted that he made those calls?" "No." David picked up a screwdriver. "How did you find him?" I told him our method. David can't seem to turn a screw. "Is he in serious trouble?" "It seems so." "What punishment do you think he will receive?" "I don't know. He has no criminal record and may be given a lighter sentence." David thought about it. "Maybe he did it as a joke. I mean, no one got hurt. He just shut the school down for a while." "A lot of people could be hurt," I said. "If people panic, it's not a joke." David showed a stubborn look. "We have practiced how to evacuate in case of fire, and nothing will happen." Yes, I dared to call because I knew this. David put down his screwdriver. "Do you think Leicester did it?" "There is such a possibility." Yes, it's possible Lester Baines made the first two calls.And the third call was made by me. David was silent for a while. "Dad, when the school got the first call, did you talk to all the students who were absent?" "I haven't, but people from our bureau have talked to them." David grinned. "Dad, I was absent that day too. No one came to talk to me." "I don't think that's necessary, son." Other people's kids might do that sort of thing, mine wouldn't.But now I wait for him to go on. David struggled, "I'm absent this morning, too." "Yes," I said. He looks into my eyes. "How many children were tracked down in the end?" "Three," I said. "But we found out that one of them couldn't possibly be calling. He's in a hospital in another state." I looked at David. "Then there are only two suspects left. Lester Baines - and you. " David forced a smile. "Lucky, isn't it? I was at school when the third call came this afternoon, and that left poor Lester." "Yes. Poor Lester." David licked his lips. "Lester's father is on his side, isn't he?" "Of course, father always does." David seemed to be sweating.He fiddled with the carburetor for a moment without saying a word, then he sighed and looked up into my eyes. "Dad, I think you'd better take me to the police. Lester didn't make those calls. I did." He took a deep breath. "I did it as a joke, as a joke, without any malice." I don't want to hear those words, but now I'm still proud that my son would not want others to suffer for him. "But, Dad. I only made two calls. I didn't call this afternoon." "I know. I hit it on purpose." His eyes widened.Then he understood. "You want to cover me?" I smiled wearily. "I shouldn't have done that sort of thing, but a father isn't always sober when it comes to his son. I hope maybe it ends up being Lester." David wiped his hands with a rag and was silent for a while. "I guess I should tell them I made those calls, Dad," David said. "There's no need to involve both of us." I shake my head. "Thanks, son. I'll tell them what I did." When David looked at me, I felt like he was proud of me too. "Let's have dinner first," I said, "and then we'll call Lester's father. It's okay to be half an hour late. " David grinned. "It's a big deal for Lester and his father" I called as soon as we got in the house.