The School Store Robbery Read online



  The School Store Robbery

  A Sign of the Times

  G. J. Irrera

  Copyright G. J. Irrera 2005

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  The School Store Robbery

  Hi, my name is Marlow Phillips, college student and part time detective. Well the detective part isn’t really official but I have had the chance to solve a few mysteries.

  Not too long ago, while I was still in high school, I got a chance to help solve a mystery that happened in the very school I attend. As my Dad, Detective Lieutenant James Phillips, always says, “Observation is the key to solving any mystery”.

  Let me tell you what happened. First of all the whole weekend was a mess; it started raining on Friday afternoon just as I was leaving school and it didn’t stop until late Monday evening.

  This of course killed the plans that my friends, Mary and Patty, and I had made to do some shopping on Market Street, in downtown Philadelphia. There were a few breaks in the rain now and then but they didn’t last very long.

  I usually walk to school but that morning Mom said that she would drive me there. We gave ourselves plenty of time to get there figuring that there would be extra traffic due to the rain, but it was smooth sailing all the way and I got to school extra early.

  When I arrived at the school parking lot the rain was still coming down in buckets and even though I had an umbrella, I just knew that I would get soaked. Mom parked her car as close to the front door as possible; I just sat there.

  “Are you planning to just sit here or are you going to school”, Mom asked.

  “I was trying to think up a good reason that might convince you to turn around and go back home”, I said.

  “Come up with anything”, Mom asked.

  “Can’t think of a thing”, I said, so I kissed Mom good-bye, took a deep breath opened the car door, popped open the umbrella and made a run for the front door.

  I didn’t get nearly as wet as I thought but I would spend the rest of the day with cuffs of my pants and shoes just a bit damp.

  With plenty of time before my first class started I took my time getting to my locker, which is right around the corner from the School Store. Since I was just a few steps away I was the first person to arrive at the scene of the crime.

  I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s back up a little and start from the beginning; first of all just like any school store our school store sells notebooks and pens and pencils; just your average school supply stuff and of course, you can buy the books you need for reading assignments for your English class. They even have sweatshirts, book bags and other things with the school logo.

  Some of the students worked there as part of the school’s hands on learning program, I think they get some kind of credit for business or math, but since I’m not in that program I’m not really sure.

  Anyway, the people involved in this little mystery are Wendy Parker, she’s a student, eleventh grade, I think; she was working in the store that morning, but I can’t imagine her ever working in a business of any kind, or for that matter working at all.

  Wendy is one of those spoiled rich kids; you know the ones that always have the latest fashions, the coolest sneakers, or whatever the latest thing is in Hollywood, Wendy has it and usually long before anyone else.

  She is a cheer leader and usually has the lead in any play or musical that the school puts on; I’m sure it is because of her talent and has nothing to do with the fact that her father donates lots of money each year to the school through the Alumni Association.

  Wendy must make a stop in the girl’s bathroom in between every class to make sure her cloths, hair and makeup are just perfect if they aren’t she will have a panic attack.

  If she spent half as much time on her school work as she does on her appearance she would be on the honor roll.

  Okay, enough about Wendy, let’s move on.

  Next we have Miss. Ester Lawton, she’s the music teacher and head of the Drama Club, to which Wendy is a charter member, she’s also in charge of the school store. I’m not exactly sure how English and Drama prepares you for running a store, but that’s not a relevant factor in this mystery.

  She is in her early forties, tall and slender; Daddy says that if she didn’t buy all her clothes from the old matron’s department she wouldn’t be too hard to look at.

  Miss. Lawton had just opened the store and gave Wendy her duties for the morning when I saw her going into the lunchroom.

  Then there is Mrs. Joan Henderson, she’s the school principal; and at least fifty and looks and dresses like a business executive. She has been the school principal ever since I started here.

  And then of course there is me; I’m a senior and I will be graduating at the end of this school year and starting college where my major will be Criminology, as if that is a surprise to anyone.

  Of course the police were involved but only after the robbery.

  Miss. Lawton and Wendy make a great team. Miss. Lawton can’t stand to see even a speck of dust on any of the shelves, or as much as the tiniest piece of paper on the floor. Wendy is the type of person that is always trying to get on the good side of the teachers.

  She does this mainly to get out of things that she doesn’t really want to do, so instead of sitting in the library and having to read she can stand around in the school store and dust the shelves and check her hair and makeup in the windows of the store.

  So, since Miss. Lawton likes thing kept neat and clean Wendy spends most of her time cleaning and dusting. My friend Patty says that Wendy should be getting her credits in janitorial services instead of business.

  OK, so back to the robbery; I was standing in front of my locker putting away my wet jacket and umbrella. Miss. Lawton came out of the store and went into the lunchroom just across the hall.

  Miss Lawton got almost directly across from my locker she turned and called to Wendy, “Make sure you put the new tee-shirts on the bottom two shelves nearest the cash register”, She said. She didn’t wait for a reply from Wendy she just kept walking to the lunchroom.

  A few minutes after Miss Lawton passed by, Wendy’s boyfriend, Todd Martin came around the corner from that same direction; I didn’t see where he came from but he walked, rather quickly, down the hall toward his locker.

  He was only there for a minute or two, he opened his locker stuffed something into his jacket pocket and closed the door; I didn’t see where he went because I was distracted by someone screaming. That someone was Wendy Parker.

  I ran down the hall to the school store; there was Wendy standing in the hallway screaming something about a robbery.

  A girl I know from my History class was walking by, “Go into the lunchroom”, I said, “Get Miss Lawton”. The girl ran down the hall and into the lunchroom.

  Less than a minute later Miss Lawton and Mrs. Henderson came running from the lunchroom into the store. Mrs. Henderson was trying to calm Wendy down and at the same time find out what happened.

  Miss Lawton went over to the cash register, all the money was gone, she was looking around, I guess to see if anything else was missing.

  I was also looking around the store; it was as perfect as always, every pencil perfectly aligned with the one in
front of it, all the erasers pointing in the same direction, note books neatly stacked on the shelves, Miss. Lawton should be proud.

  Miss. Lawton was about to close the cash register drawer, “You might want to leave things the way they are until the police get here”, I said.

  “She’s right Ester”, Mrs. Henderson said, “The police will want things left as they were”.

  Wendy stood there crying and wiping her eyes with the tissue that Miss. Lawton had handed her, being very careful not to smear her eye make-up with the tissue.

  Other than the red eyes from crying she looked as neat and prim as always; her clothes were perfect and not so much as a hair out of place.

  Wendy was explaining to Miss Lawton what happened, “Just a few minutes after you left there was a knock at the back door”, Wendy said, “I remembered that there was supposed to be a delivery of school supplies today, and that’s who I thought was at the door and so I opened it”. Wendy was giving quite a performance, tears and everything, no wonder she’s the drama club’s star.

  “Just take your time and try to think about what happened”, Miss Lawton said, “try to remember every detail”.

  “As soon as I opened the door two boys rushed in, they were all dressed in black with ski masks. One of them pushed me up against the