It's Monday and Libby is standing by the school entrance. She's waiting for Mimi and Dan. Since Mimi's suspension has been lifted by the school board she can now return in class and since they passed all the evidence to the school board and administration over the weekend with the help of Martin's parents who are the school owner's, (Martin upon hearing himself last Saturday when he went to Dan's house what really happened on the night the test papers gone missing volunteered to help them contact the school board) Dan's supposed to be suspension will not take place. But they need to appear today at the Headmaster's office to give their formal statement. Also, the members of the Mystery Club was also notified to come and their witnesses. Libby heard that even the private investigator was called to appear.
"This is gonna be a lonnggg day," said Libby. She checked her watch. It's almost seven o'clock. "Those two, where are they? We're supposed to meet here at exactly seven o'clock."
Just then a black car parked nearby. Mimi and Martin got out of the car then walked towards her.
"Well, well, well," Libby said teasing both Mimi and Martin.
Mimi blushed. "He fetched me from the house. Said I might need additional support."
Martin smiled. "I'll also join all of you in the Headmaster's office. My parents will be here also as the school's owners."
"Hey, guys, I'm sorry, we're late," Dan and Kate arrived running. Kate was also called as a witness. Last week, when Kate learned that Coach Bradley talked to Dan to take the fall and to confess that he's the culprit, she fiercely advised him to not do it. "Kate's car broke down so we had to commute."
"I didn't realized that this is a couples meeting," Libby said jokingly. He saw Jon walking. She called him. "Hey, Jon, would you be my date?"
"What?" Jon is surprised. But when he looked around, he realized immediately what Libby meant. "Oh sure, Mademoiselle." He offered Libby his arm. "Are we going directly to the Headmaster's office now?"
"No," Libby said. "They said that the meeting will start by nine o'clock. Let's go to the cafeteria first."
As they walked towards the cafeteria, Libby noticed that some of the students are glancing. The school's website is not yet updated so some students aren't aware yet of what happened. Actually, they and the school board discussed this thing, that the website should be updated after today, when the real culprit shows up. So it won't warn him and will continue his day to day activities.
At the cafeteria, they all sat down. Libby, Martin and Jon went to buy sandwiches and juice for all of them. They quietly ate first. They all know that they need to fuel up for today's gonna be an eventful one. Nikki, May and Ashley also joined in their table. They talked for a while, finish their food, then head to their classroom except for Dan. He went to the Photography Club's room. Last Friday when Dan made his confession, all the teachers was advised about his suspension. So they decide that before the meeting at nine o'clock he will stay at the club room.
The bell rang signalling the start of their first subject - Homeroom. Miss Jimenez entered their classroom. They did a roll call, she gave an update for their upcoming event and reminds them about their midterm exam. They ended earlier than usual because she said that she needed to prepare for an emergency meeting. So by eight thirty, their class ended. After Miss Jimenez left, their classmates went to Libby's and Mimi's desk.
"Hey Libby," Chloe carefully approach her desk. "What's happening? We heard from Steven that something big might happen today. And then now Miss Jimenez said they'll be having an emergency meeting. Is this about Dan?"
"I'm not at liberty to say anything at the moment Chloe. I'm sorry," answered Libby. "What I can only say is yes, this is in relation to Dan's confession last Friday."
"Libby!" Steven called from their door. Brooke is with her.
"Excuse me Chloe," said Libby while getting up. "I'll just talk to Steven. Promise, I'll fill you in later."
"Okay Libby, I'll take your word," Chloe said while returning to her seat.
"What's up Steven?" asked Libby when she went out to talk to them.
"I'm nervous." he said. "Are we doing the right thing?"
Jon joined them and heard what Steven said.
"We have to be strong Steven." Jon said. "What we're doing is just and fair. Mimi or Dan shouldn't suffer from other's wrongdoings."
"They're right Steven," Brooke said. "The first time you told me about the envelope, right there and then, I told you we should report it. Now the thing got bigger and many people suffered."
"We are only telling the truth Steven," Libby said softly. "And we have evidence to back us up. Not made up evidence, not scripted witnesses but real evidence."
Just then Martin approached them.
"My parents are here. They told me to gather everyone involve and head to the conference room. They'll be waiting."
"Okay," Libby said. "Relax Steven, we're all in this together. Now, let's go."
Their classmates were surprised when Dan appeared. Then he, Libby, Mimi, Martin, Jon, Kate, May, Nikki, Ashley got up. As class president Libby informed her classmates that they are included in the emergency meeting that Miss Jimenez is telling them earlier. She promised to update them later. Then they meet the guys from the other class - Steven, Brooke, Marco. They all went to the other building and heads towards the conference room.
Outside the conference Martin's parents and Headmaster De Jesus waits for them. Nikki's mom - Mrs. Madrigal if the security office is also there as well as his boss. And the private investigator also arrived. They all entered the conference room to the surprised of the teachers inside who thought that this will be just a meeting. After a while, the school board consisting of five board members also came in the room. When everyone is settled, Headmaster De Jesus started the meeting.
"Well, we are called in here today to discuss something very important," He said. "We are all well aware of the incident two weeks ago in Miss Jimenez'office right? The test papers gone missing. And," He signalled Mimi to stand, "Ms. Mimilaine Cruz here, okay, you may now sit down, was tagged as the prime and solo culprit. This was because of the investigation done by," he pointed at the private investigator," Mr. Gallego here, a renowned private investigator. But then, after a week," he signalled Dan to stand up, "Mr. Dan Olivar here, you may sit down, confessed that he's the real culprit, the one that put the test paper in Ms. Cruz' locker, so last Friday we decided to revoke the decision on Ms. Cruz' case and to instead suspend Mr. Olivar and denied him privilege in any more school activities." He paced around the room and stop in front. "But, last Saturday, we come upon evidences and witnesses statements that tell and prove us otherwise. Me, the school board and the school owner's here," He pointed at where the school board members and Martin parents are seated, "met and decided to uncover the truth here. So once and for all we can close this case."
A school staff called by the Headmaster goes in front to set up the projector, he connected the Headmaster's laptop and in a while a video started playing. This one is from Mimi's trial.
"As you can see, this is from Ms. Mimilaine Cruz' case, the witnesses statements - Coach Bradley, and Miss Jimenez, and the statement of Mr. Gallego, the private investigator. As you know then, the case is immediately close when a test paper was found in Ms. Cruz' locker. And a decision was also immediately made."
After the first video was shown, another one played.
"Now, this is Mr. Dan Olivar's confession that was recorded in my office."
After Dan's video, there was silence first.
"Before we play the next video, I'll ask first, if someone wants to come forward and clear his or her name or who will dispute this video, do it after all is shown. We'll give anyone a chance for a fair judgement."
Libby looked at the back of the room, she glanced at Coach Bradley who is frowning.
Coach Melissa raised a hand.
"Yes, Coach Melissa, you have a question?" asked the Headmaster.
"Headmaster, are you telling us that aside from Mimi and Dan, someone else is or are involved?"
"Hmmm.. let's say that Mimi is not involved at all and Dan is somewhat involved but not the culprit. We can all see it on the next video."
They played the next video. Libby made it like a compilation from the witnesses statements - Steven's version, Brooke's when Steven told her what he did, Marco - from what he heard from the locker, Jon - when he interviewed Steven and from what he saw from the gym, Mrs Madrigal - from the security office, from what she saw from the CCTV footage, May - from what she heard from the cheerleading team, Nikki and Ashley - from what they heard at the library and the faculty office. The original CCTV footage was also shown. And lastly Dan's truth- why he suddenly confessed, and who told him to do it.
Everyone was speechless after the video. The Headmaster stand in front of the room.
"Ms. Liberty Belle Morales, will walk us through their investigation." He summoned Libby to come with him in front.
Before Libby began, she looked at her friends, her mystery club members and the kids from other class who all gave her the thumbs up. She let out a sigh. Here we go.
"We started our mini investigation when Mimi was declared the prime suspect. We all knew that she's innocent then so we did some sleuthing to clear her name. As our investigation goes by, we uncover something bigger, we kept it a hush hush first because we want to be sure first. We interviewed a lot of people - mostly from the school's sports team. We requested to view the CCTV footage not just from the night or the week before of the incident but from every exam week - CCTV footage from Miss Jimenez' office hallways and to the faculty. There, we confirmed our conclusion. We also did a background check for the private investigator, Mr. Gallego, because we can't believe that a renowned investigator will do a poorly investigation, only to find out that, that man," She pointed at the investigator" is not Mr. Gallego."
"What?!" You can hear this from the audience - consisting of the teachers from the high school department. "What is happening?" Almost everyone is confused.
Libby continued. "Mr. Gallego is currently in Japan, helping out in a case. I myself called him." She turned to the man who pretended to be Mr. Gallego. "That is Mr. Nick Molina, a theater actor. I think he was paid to act as Mr. Gallego - the private investigator."
"Who would do that?" asked one of the board members.
"Let me continue first, all of your questions will be answered." Libby said to the audience. "From the footage, we focus on the week and the night itself of the supposed break in at Miss Jimenez'office. That night she left her office, you cannot see anyone coming or leaving from her office, contrary to Dan's version last Friday that he waited for Miss Jimenez to leave first then afterwards he immediately followed. We asked the security office and the IT office if the footage is somehow tampered, but it's not. So it only means that no one came or left the office that time. The only thing that comes to our mind then was when was the test papers stolen? So we reviewed the CCTV footage the week before. We saw constant visitors to Miss Jimenez'office. Coach Bradley and his student assistant/teacher Wilson. We had a hunch then so we reviewed all the footage from all the day a week for every exam since the first monthly exam. We were right, Coach Bradley and Wilson also visits the office during those times."
The audience are now eyeing Coach Bradley who showed no reaction, Wilson who seems nervous and Miss Jimenez who seems busy with her phone.
"We conclude that from the first monthly examination there's cheating involved. And the incident two weeks ago, there's no break in. As you can see in the CCTV footage, when Miss Jimenez left her office, she has a brown envelope in her hand. The same brown envelope that Steven found in the gym while he's practicing alone. The same brown envelope that has the test papers." Libby ended her presentation.
"Miss Jimenez, Coach Bradley and Wilson, we now know that you've been selling the test answers to our students. After the mystery club uncover your scheme, I immediately conduct my personal investigation with the help of the Head of our security, we've worked our butt off until yesterday. The school board, owners and I will meet after this and we'll decide your punishment. But what is clear is you are no longer teachers and coaches of this school starting right now. Pack up everything from your offices but you won't be coming home. A security will be assigned to each of you, after packing your things, all of you will be detained at the security office while waiting for police arrival. What you did is a crime. Including students to your scheme, it's unbelievable."
Michael Tuazon, Martin's dad and the school owner stood up. "Honestly at first, we don't want this to be this big issue, but when your scheme was uncovered, we have no choice but to report it to the proper authorities."
"Kids," the Headmaster turned to the students, "you are now excused. You may return to your classes now. Wait for an announcement later. We will wrap this meeting in a bit." He looked at Libby. "Thank you Miss Morales. I was not wrong in my confidence in you. That's why I gave you the note." He winked.
"It's you," Libby said happily. "The one who placed that note in my locker."
"Yes," said Headmaster. "We'll talk about it later. For now, return to your classroom first." He then guided the students outside the door. "See all of you later."