IV. The Mad Scientist II

"Lucas!", I'm catching my breath as I am trying to call him. He is on his way to their club room...I think.

He was startled when he realized that I am the one who was shouting at him. You see, we were very close, but we haven't talked since grade school. Probably because we just grew apart. We had different sets of friends as well as different hobbies. He is the smartest person I know.

"What's up?", Lucas said.

"I'll go straight to the point. I need your help."

"About what?"

"About narrowing down the list."

"What list?", he asked

"This."

I explained to him what I discovered in Mrs. Simpsons' room and asked if he could narrow down my suspect list. My suspects reached 50 people. And I am sure that he could help me to lower this down to 10 or so.

"Okay. Meet me in the lab at 7pm. No funny business."

"No funny business.", I assured him.

Seven in the evening came. As I wait for Lucas at the lab, I've heard some strange noise. I hid in one of the cabinets and made sure that no one sees me.

From my view, I saw someone enter the lab room. He/She is wearing an all-black outfit with a matching black cap and face mask. Hmmmm... really sketchy. This person is looking for something in the chemical cabinet. After a few seconds, he/she found what he/she is looking for. And because I am dumb and I'm trying to focus to check if the perpetrator is a boy or a girl, I knocked over a trophy in the cabinet which obviously caused the noise. The perpetrator noticed it and as he/she walks towards the cabinet, an inspector suddenly passed by which made the perp panic. He/She rushed outside the lab room.

A sigh of relief escaped my being. A few minutes later, Lucas arrived. And I eventually told him what happened. We check the chemical cabinet to identify what the perp has stolen. To our shock, we have discovered that the perp has stolen an ample amount of ammonium nitrate... which is commonly used as fertilizer and can also be used as an explosive...

And because this person might still be lurking at the campus, we have decided to discuss things further at our house.

I can say our house is a decent one - with three rooms, a spacious kitchen and receiving area. We don't have any pool, but I can say that this is a home of a family with an above-average income. My dad is a doctor while my mom is working for the government. So there. Just sharing.

My mom is elated that I brought an old friend to our home. She lets us use the study room to discuss our "project" in peace.

"So...Who could it be?", I asked.

"Wait. Let me think. Your list is very long. But do you know who is on the top of my mind?"

"Should I ask who?"

"The physics teacher, Mr. Higgins.", he said while ignoring my sarcasm.

Mr. Paul Higgins. He's working for the school for more than 3 years now. He hated Mrs. Simpsons' guts. And last year, it was him and Mrs. Simpsons who competed for the department head position. Unfortunately, due to his appalling personality, he lost to Mrs. Simpsons.

We have decided to stalk our first suspect for a few days to gather possible evidence.