The Principal Rushed In and Asked, “Who Does This Green Backpack Belong To?”

Detective Voss looked at me.

“Kyle, I need you to think very carefully. Did David ever say anything to you about feeling threatened, about having problems with anyone, about wanting to hurt anyone?”

I thought back through every interaction I’d had with David. There weren’t many.

Passing in hallways, sitting near each other in class, nothing significant.

“No. We never talked about anything personal. He was just quiet, always had his headphones on. I don’t think I ever heard him speak more than a few words at a time.”

She nodded.

“What about his friends? Did you ever see him with anyone?”

“No. He was always alone.”

That made it worse, somehow. A kid alone with a loaded gun and sixteen bullets.

Kareem spoke up.

“Wait, there was something in gym class about three weeks ago. David got into an argument with some guys. I don’t remember what it was about, but I remember thinking it was weird because David never talked to anyone and suddenly he was yelling at these guys.”

Detective Voss leaned forward.

“Who? What guys?”

“Trevor Atkins and his friends. They’re seniors on the football team. They mess with people sometimes, typical jock stuff.”

Detective Voss wrote down the names.

“What happened during this argument?”

“I don’t know. I was across the gym. By the time I paid attention, Coach was breaking it up. Everyone got sent to the locker room early.”

This was new information. David had been in a confrontation with Trevor Atkins.

Trevor was exactly the kind of guy who made life hell for kids like David: big, popular, and mean when he wanted to be.

I’d seen him shove freshmen into lockers and steal people’s food at lunch. It was standard bully behavior that somehow never got him in real trouble because he was good at football and his dad donated money to the school.

If Trevor had been targeting David, that might explain why David felt he needed a gun. It wasn’t justification, but it was an explanation.

Detective Voss was already on her phone calling someone.

“I need Trevor Atkins and his associates pulled from class now.”

Ten minutes later, Trevor walked into the library with two of his friends. They looked confused, not scared.

Trevor saw all the adults, and his expression shifted to concern.

“What’s going on?”

Principal Garrett gestured for them to sit. They did.

DA Fletcher took the lead.

“Trevor, we need to ask you about David Guian, specifically about an incident in gym class three weeks ago. Can you tell us what happened?”

Trevor looked at his friends, then back at DA Fletcher.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You got into an argument with David. The gym teacher broke it up. Ring any bells?”

Trevor shrugged.

“Oh, that. That wasn’t anything, just David being weird.”

“Explain weird,” Detective Voss said. Her tone was sharp.

Trevor shifted uncomfortably.

“He accused me of taking his stuff from his locker, said I’d been messing with him. But I hadn’t. I don’t even know his locker combination.”

“What stuff did he say you took?”

“I don’t know! He was all worked up about his backpack or something, said someone had put something in it. But I didn’t do anything. Coach told us both to cool it, and that was it.”

Kareem and I exchanged looks. David had accused Trevor of planting something in his backpack three weeks ago, and today David had a gun in his backpack.

This wasn’t coincidence. DA Fletcher leaned forward.

“Trevor, did you or any of your friends put anything in David’s backpack at any time?”

“No, I swear! We don’t even talk to that kid. He’s a loner, keeps to himself. We have nothing to do with him.”

One of Trevor’s friends spoke up.

“Actually, Trevor, remember Halloween? You took that kid’s backpack as a joke, made him chase you around for it.”

Trevor’s face went red.

“That wasn’t David’s backpack.”

“Yeah, it was! It was green. You grabbed it off the floor during lunch and ran around with it before giving it back.”

Trevor looked trapped.

“That was just a joke! I gave it back. Nothing happened.”

Detective Voss stood.

“So you did have access to David’s backpack. You took it for how long?”

“Like two minutes, maybe three. It was just a stupid prank.”

“Where did you take it?”

“Just around the cafeteria, then outside for a second, then I gave it back.”

“Was it ever out of your sight during those two or three minutes?”

Trevor thought about it.

“Well, I handed it to Marcus to hold while I grabbed my phone, but that was like ten seconds.”

Marcus, one of Trevor’s friends, nodded.

“Yeah, Trevor gave it to me, but I didn’t do anything with it. Just held it.”

“Where were you when he handed it to you?”

“Outside by the gym entrance.”

Everything clicked into place. The text message mentioned meeting by the gym entrance.

Trevor had taken David’s backpack outside by the gym entrance. Someone had used those few minutes to plant something.

Maybe not the gun, maybe something else, but it established that David’s backpack had been compromised. Someone had access to it without his knowledge.

Detective Voss was already making phone calls. Within minutes, more police arrived.

Trevor and his friends were separated and questioned individually. Their phones were confiscated and their lockers searched.

The scope of the investigation was expanding beyond David. Two hours later, DA Fletcher called everyone back together.

The library had become command central for this investigation. He looked tired.

“Here’s what we know. Trevor Atkins took David’s backpack on Halloween as a prank. During the time Trevor had possession of it, multiple people had the opportunity to access it.”

“Trevor claims he gave the backpack to Marcus Wy, who held it for approximately thirty seconds. Marcus claims he sat it down on a bench while he tied his shoe. During that time it was unattended. Multiple students were in that area. We’re pulling surveillance footage now.”

He continued.

“David Guian has maintained his silence despite us finding the gun in his locker. His attorney is arguing that David never touched that gun, that someone planted it in his backpack and he didn’t know it was there until we searched him today. The problem is we have no way to prove that either way without evidence.”