Outlier: One mistake can destroy everything. by Jacob Mesmer

don’t know who else it could have been…” she trailed off.
     
    “Did you see anybody else outside, before or after you saw the janitor?”
     
    “No, nobody else.”
     
    “OK. What did the doctors say?” Sean asked, motioning to her bandages. Her left forearm was wrapped, and she had a few small stitches on the left side of her face.
     
    “He said I can go home tomorrow after my mom gets here and signs some papers.”
     
    “Well, that’s not too bad. Say, you have the numbers and addresses of Stacey and Becky? I’m going to need to talk to them too.”
     
    He wrote down their information. If Sean could corroborate that Jay was the only guy they’d seen, that might be enough to bring him in for questioning, but if they were as unsure as she was, he’d have to confess if they were going to move forward with this. He didn’t think that was likely.
     
    As he was about to leave, she stopped him.
     
    “Detective, why did that other guy ask so many questions?”
     
    Other guy? “I’m sorry, who are you referring to? Did the other officer talk to you?” He thought she may be asking about Greg.
     
    “No, the guy that came here about twenty minutes before you. He said he worked for the government or something?”
     
    Government? He went back in and sat next to her as before.
     
    “You’re saying somebody from the government came here to speak with you? Do you remember what, uh, branch or department? Did he say?”
     
    She shook her head. “He said, but it was quick; and he showed me this badge, but it was so fast I didn’t really read it. He was wearing a suit, though, and a tie.” Sean suddenly felt self-conscious. He was wearing jeans, a polo shirt and a coat he’d thrown on.
     
    “What kind of questions did he ask?”
     
    “That was the thing; he asked me a lot more questions about that janitor guy. Like if he’d been acting strange around school or anything like that.”
     
    Curious. Sean figured the best way was to just roll with it.
     
    “Yeah, we sometimes work with certain government agencies on cases like this. Schools get government funding so sometimes they’re interested when students are in trouble. Things like that.”
     
    She seemed to brighten up at that. Maybe being at the center of a federal investigation concerned with her safety would make her more popular.
     
    On the way out, he decided to ask the nurse at floor reception.
     
    “Anybody other than me come by here, looking official or anything?” he asked while holding his badge out long enough for him to read all the details.
     
    “Yeah, some guy did come through, not too polite. Just flashed his badge and said ‘Government business’ or something. He seemed to know where he was going so I just let him be.” The reception nurse seemed to be buried in a mountain of paperwork, so Sean let him slide.
     
    “OK, man; thanks. Say, if he comes back, could you give me a call? I’d appreciate it.” Sean left his card on the counter.
     
    “Sure thing, man,” said the reception nurse, not looking up.
     
    Sean was the only one in the elevator on the way down.
     
    “Government man?” he said to himself. “Who the fuck?”
     
     
     

Chapter Twenty-One
     
    Jay paced his living room, too excited to sleep but too worried to consider what had happened. Part of him believed that if something good happened, and he started to think about it or even talk about it, it would ruin everything. You had to keep those things secret. Good things didn’t happen to Jay. When they did, it was a mistake.
     
    And if you talked about a mistake, somebody or something would come and fix it. But what if it was real? What if he really did make that glass break? It felt like he had some kind of guardian angel. One who helped him get back at those stupid girls. Maybe that’s what those doctors were doing to him. What if they were the ones who were helping him?
     
    He ran into his room and dug through his dresser. He’d put all