“Agent, are you alright?” inside of the office of Principal Hawke, Professor Barnes asked the female investigative agent, as she seemed to be enduring some kind of headache and couldn’t stop rubbing her temples.

 

“Yes, I’m fine. Just a bit spent and overstressed.” the female agent said: “Just trying to get everything done so we could be done with everything and the academy can go back to normal.”

 

“Well, I for one really appreciate your help here. And I share the same eagerness to make sure our students are safe so we can go back to normal.” Principal Hawk said: “Since we’re all here let’s get started. Headmasters and headmistress, thank you for responding so promptly to the meeting request, agents please continue with what you are planning to request of us.”

 

“We believe, that we have found a quite promising lead on the inflow of those toxic materials.” the male agent said: “And since we have our disagreements on the extent to which we could access the personal effects of the students and their living quarters, I would like to request a formal investigation be open on them, and we would like to request access to their personal living quarters.”

 

“Okay, do tell.” Professor Randall Collins, headmaster of Anderson House said.

 

“Wait, I don’t think - ” Professor Barnes tried to interject.

 

“Just hear the agents out first, Tony.”

 

“They are two audit students, so technically they’re not the students of any of the Houses.” the female agent said: “They are Mr. Jie Lin, also known as Jason Lin, and Ms. Caroline Baker. From the student enrollment records, it seemed that they are among this year’s audit students, and are doing quite well on the courses. They even led the winning team in the first round of student duel this semester, is that correct?”

 

“Yes, that’s correct, and it was a pretty big deal for the whole academy, as we’re in almost total lockdown, and everyone just needed something like that to cheer themselves up.” Professor Barnes answered with a frown: “But what kind of evidence do you have against them? Audit students were specifically vetted before coming here.”

 

“And they were vetted by their referrer, Josephine Wong.” the female agent said.

 

“I don’t think you realize the weight and seriousness of what you’re insinuating here, agents.” Professor Barnes crossed his arms: “Evidence, or no justification at all.”

 

“Please, we don’t mean to insinuate anything.” the male agent said: “We’re simply saying, we have a case where the referrer of the audit student was also the one who vetted them before they came in, therefore the strictness of the procedure could be called into question. And if I recall correctly, it wouldn’t be the first time Ms. Wong referred someone without doing a thorough screening on the one she’d be vouching for, isn’t it?”

 

“That was an isolated and politically charged incident, which was the trigger point to some of our recent reformation policies.” Professor Barnes looked to Principal Hawke: “And, it was a fight, between two agitated parties. It doesn’t warrant any baseless suspicion about her integrity and professional efficiency and ethics.”

 

“She could be fooled, lied to.” the female agent said: “I am sure she’s thorough and professional, but we all know that there are ways to bypass the rules against the restricted materials. Ms. Wong seemed to be quite trusting, which means -”

 

“What evidence do you have, honestly?” Professor Randall Collins asked: “I have no interest in guessing who lied and who was fooled, but what evidence do you have? If it is mere speculation you are offering then I’m afraid I can’t go with that.”

 

“We have sources that say, they have reason to believe Mr. Lin and Ms. Baker brought poisonous material with them into the academy.” the female agent said.

 

-------------------------------

 

“Call to a hearing? What the fuck?” when Caroline and her hunting team came back from the hunting trip with a dozen bodies of Blinker Raccoons, she was met with a messenger from the academy.

 

“Yes. As you know, the administration has been conducting an investigation on the source of the toxic material that seemed to be circulating.” the messenger was calm to a point of almost being emotionless: “The administration had suspicion that you may have brought toxic substances into the academy with you.”

 

“This is fucking bull, I’ve never brought anything toxic here.” Caroline took a look at the letter handed to her by the messenger: “Does Jason know this?”

 

“Sorry, Ms. Baker. But I’m just a messenger. Your pleas should be voiced at the hearing and not to me.” the messenger said: “There was a different messenger in charge of delivering the message to Mr. Lin, and you will be questioned at the same time by members of the administration.”

 

“Okay.” Caroline shook her head and put the letter into her jacket.

 

“Does she have access to a consultant, or counsel?” Paulo asked the messenger: “Even during these hearings, the one being asked the questions should still have the right to counsel.”

 

“The position of the administration is, that in these informal hearings, it would be counterproductive to have a defender.”

 

“Which means you’d better have someone defending you or help you with the questioning.” Paulo patted on Caroline’s shoulder: “Let me know if I can help you. Right now we can’t have anyone come in, but remote consulting should still work.”

 

“You are free to prepare anyway you like.” the messenger said: “Have a good day.”

 

“This is seriously some bullshit.” Emily frowned and said: “Let me know if you need help as well. And I agree with Paulo - you should definitely consult someone before you go on that hearing.”

 

“Thank you. Let me call Jason first.” Caroline dialed Jason’s number.

 

“Hey Caroline, you’re calling about the hearing?” this was Jason’s first question.

 

“So, you got it as well.”

 

“Yeah I got it.” Jason chuckled: “Remember I told you someone was following me? I got the feeling that someone was trying to set us up. I was about to call Boss or Ms. Wong, but I was waiting for you to come back from the hunt.”

 

“Where are you now?”

 

“In the canteen, with Aimee and Thomas, come join us.”