"Yes, the call got through," I growl at Type through the phone.

"You said I couldn't hurt her," Type says. "You said nothing about making her uncomfortable."

"Whatever. You got confessional." Hanging up, I report to Sheriff Desario. "Anything I can help with?"

"It's hard to say," Desario confesses. "These kids are crowded in a gym and we have a threat that, if we go inside, people die. But what if they die anyway? What if there's a bomb?"

I look around the school campus; the landscaping, the picnic tables, the red bells.
 That's when I notice what isn't there. "Sir," I call. "The killer said that if a cop set foot inside the school, he'd murder some kids. But there aren't cameras around here, so how does he know if we're inside or not?" 

 Sheriff Desario nods and contemplates this before finding a loop in my idea. "The reporters. They'll cast it all over the place." 

 "I'm young," I offer. "Take me off duty and I'm not a cop. The reporters won't notice me because I'll find a back way in through the school and blend in with the kids." 

 "And what if you get caught?" he proposes with a good point. If I get caught, people very well may die. But I don't really care because I was probably going to be put up to killing them, anyways.

"Then I pay for the consequences." 

 Desario shakes his head. "You're one of my best deputies, King. You going in there takes some balls. You going in and neutralizing the situation successfully would be a miracle. No one dying along the way would be supernatural." 

 I take a deep, noble breath. "Take me off duty, sir." 

 "Deputy King, I relieve you from today's duties."