6
Third time’s the charm.Or rather, the third time was the bad news confirmed: mass spectrometry didn’t lie. Sofia rolled her neck, stiff from poring over the printouts which compared the first mass spec test she’d run on the marijuana sample with the second. She’d approached this like the scientist she was, first running a simple liquid chemical reagent test on the sample, which had told her it contained MDMA.
The more complex and lengthy mass spec test she’d set up next had determined the amount and chemical properties of the MDMA molecules. Wanting to be absolutely thorough, Sofia had then cleaned the spectrometer with a solvent she’d mixed herself to make sure the machine was free of contaminants before starting a second mass spectrometry test a day later. The results lay on the desk in front of her, showing the same information.
Sighing, she placed the printouts into plastic sleeves and added her notes to each, identifying the machine used and when each test started and ended, then labeled the cardboard file she enclosed them in. Her actions took her back to college, when she’d interned in a lab during the break. She had found it wasn’t the career for her, but it had been a valuable experience all the same. The lessons she’d learned there about the right way to run a lab had never been forgotten.
She knew she could trust her tests. The level of MDMA laced into the marijuana really was shockingly high. She kept seeing Gavin, twitching and jerking on the classroom floor, his eyes blinking and his hands clawing at the air. And Tony Ramirez, the boy who had died…what had it been like for him? What would it be like for other children, over and over again, if she wasn’t able to do something to get this drug out of her school?
“Hey.” Her fellow chemistry teacher, Kim Nguyen, stuck his head around the door of the restricted lab, making Sofia jump. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you. Just wanted to say that there’s no need to take the first few minutes for me today—I’m in early.”
“On time,” Sofia corrected, hearing the noise of a class approaching. Her chronically tardy co-worker’s words gave her an idea. “Kim, would you be okay to do the same for me if I’m a little late arriving for my first class?” She pointed to the timetable pinned up to remind him of her schedule. It was about two hours before her first class, which was during Kim’s planning period.
“Sure. No prob. You do it enough for me. Is everything okay?” Kim asked.
“Fine.” Sofia gave him a smile to go with her words, even if it didn’t reach her eyes. “Just something I have to take care of.”
“Well, I’ll hold down the fort here.” Kim gave her a thumbs-up and left.
“Thanks!” Sofia called after him. Good. She could rely on him, she knew.
Leave it to the professionals, her administrator had said. Fine, she would, and she’d also help them by handing over this information…right now.
Determined, Sofia double-checked she had everything—and copies of the documents locked safely away—and headed out. Maybe with these results, her second visit to the police station would be more productive than her first.
* * *
“What? But how can there be no record of my interview here?” Sofia asked the desk sergeant inside the station, incredulity in her voice.
“No report was filed following it,” the officer replied.
“But the detective took notes…” And he didn’t get her to sign anything, so presumably he didn’t do anything official with them. Probably threw them in the trash when I left. “Well, here are the notes I made about the interview.” Sofia took out her file.
“I don’t need to see those, ma’am.” The officer stood. “So, as there was no follow-up…” He looked toward the door to complete the sentence.
No, Sofia would not kindly leave. “If I can’t see the same detective, I’ll see whichever one is on duty now, seeing as this is drugs-related,” she announced loudly, staring the sergeant in the eyes.
“Could be awhile,” the officer warned her.
“I have time.” Sofia folded her arms.
Within an hour, she was sitting with Detective Estrada, retelling the story and explaining the new findings to add to it. He spared her more of his attention than the vice-principal back in Southwest High School did—but then again, that was a pretty low bar.
“Okay. Well, I see you’re concerned,” he said, when she’d finished.
Sofia gaped at him. “Children are going into convulsions and dying. Aren’t you concerned about that?” she demanded.
“Yes, of course,” Detective Estrada replied.
Sofia wanted to believe that. Did he need more convincing that this was serious? “These results are accurate,” she said. “I know what I’m doing, both in theory and practice. I worked at Dow.”
Estrada raised an eyebrow at the name of the chemical manufacturing company. “I see. Before you went into teaching?”
“Yes. I found my calling in teaching, so I switched over—but I can assure you I’m more than qualified to run a chemical analysis,” Sofia explained, hoping her credentials swung matters. “So you’ll take my statement on this?”
He sighed. “Sure.”
It didn’t take long and she made sure she read it through and signed it, then took the copy he made for her. Detective Estrada flicked a glance at her as she tucked the paper into her purse.