Chapter 1: The Snake Beside the SUV
“DON’T TOUCH THAT!”
Marjorie Bell threw up one hand as school security officer Daniel Reed approached the rear of her red SUV.
A rubber snake lay harmlessly on the pavement beside the tire.
Daniel stopped and looked down.
The prop was stiff, glossy, and unmistakably artificial. Marjorie, however, stared at it as though the entire parking lot had become an emergency scene.
“Someone put it there on purpose!” she said.
She was sixty-two, extremely heavyset, with a broad face, heavy cheeks, and a pronounced double chin. Her platinum-blonde hair puffed outward around dark charcoal-gray roots. A bright turquoise blouse with lime-green geometric patterns showed beneath her cropped white cardigan, while oversized bracelets flashed whenever she moved her hands.
Daniel wore a navy-blue school security uniform and kept his voice level.
“Ma’am, that’s a fake rubber snake.”
“I know what it is!” Marjorie snapped. “I’m asking who put it there!”
She stepped closer, pointing first at the snake and then at Daniel.
“Back up. Nobody should be walking around this area until you figure out what happened.”
Daniel glanced toward the school entrance. Parents and staff continued moving through the parking lot. Nothing suggested a real emergency.
He looked back at the snake.
Then at Marjorie.
“Did you see someone place it there?”
“No.”
“Did anyone threaten you?”
“No.”
“Then I’m going to check the area and review the camera.”
That answer clearly irritated her.
“I don’t think you understand,” Marjorie said. “This is a security failure.”
Daniel did not argue. He simply stepped around her and looked toward the parking-lot security camera mounted above the lot.
Marjorie followed his gaze.
Her expression changed for only a moment.
It was brief, but Daniel noticed.
The camera was pointed directly toward the row where her SUV was parked.
He touched his radio and called for the school office to pull the recent footage.
Marjorie folded her arms.
“I expect someone to take this seriously.”
“We are,” Daniel said.
He left the snake exactly where it was.
Marjorie had wanted an immediate investigation into a supposed threat.
Now the school was going to investigate something else first: how the snake had gotten there.
And the answer was already waiting on camera.
