The Gruesome Murders at Manhattan High

By Richard Pinkerton

The RCI are called on to go undercover into a New York high school as student teachers to uncover who is behind the serial killing of some of the school’s teachers.

Will Rex be able to stay out of the principal’s office when he was always in trouble at High School?

The RCI Series = Kid's detective novels for adults!

Book 3 in the series

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Pinkerton
• Release date: Oct 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370314270

Richard Pinkerton

I am in my early 50s and have been writing now since I was 12. I prefer to write light-hearted drama but have written a little fantasy horror and science fiction too.I have an entire series of high school novels (19 of them so far) set in New Zealand (The Mob from TAC series), which I will gradually publish if there is a demand.I prefer to use a mix of quirky and outrageous characters you would never come across in reality and also your every day Joes.My writings are aimed at teenagers mainly, but also young adults.I have also written a series of detective novelettes, most of which can be found on my website. The majority require work, to be able to be published here, mainly due to copyright issues.Please do leave feedback or contact me if you want to know more about my books.

Book preview

The Gruesome Murders at Manhattan High

(Book 3 in the Rex Cassidy Investigators series)

Published by Richard Pinkerton at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Richard Pinkerton

CHAPTER 1:

New Teacher at Manhattan High

Seventeen-year-old Gloria Hartnell had grown up in Manhattan and her high school years at been spent at Manhattan High. Right now, she sat in her English class, second period of the day. Their teacher Miss Strider had not yet arrived and it was already five minutes in.

Finally, the young African American woman arrived, looking flustered. She marched to the front of the classroom, passing between the desks of the students. ‘What a morning! I tell you, if ever any of you become a teacher, don’t get sick, because all it will do is add even more stress.’

Many of the boys in the class gazed on her. She was considered to be the hottest teacher in school and was the object of many a fantasy. She had the girl-next-door looks as well as the amazing figure. She’d been off the last couple of days and they’d had a reliever.

She brushed long black hair out of her large brown eyes. ‘Can you believe that they’re giving me a student-teacher to look after? As if I don’t have enough of my plate.’

‘A student-teacher?’ one of the boys spoke up. ‘Male or female?’

‘Male.’

Gloria couldn’t help but ask. ‘Is he cute?’

Miss Strider threw her hands in the air. ‘I’ve no idea. I haven’t even met him yet because I didn’t get in until 30 minutes ago. It’s been one thing to deal with after the other. Now he’s going to be turning up here in a few minutes and I’m not prepared. I’m going to look like an incompetent moron.’

‘You need a massage, Miss Strider?’ asked one of the boys.

‘No thank you.’

Another of the girls spoke up. ‘What if the new student teacher is hot? Will you take a massage from him?’

Miss Strider sighed. ‘As if I should be so lucky!’ She delivered a wry smile. ‘Okay, do me a favour. Get out a book and read for a bit. I just need to get some things done before the new teacher gets here, which will be any time now.’

She stood there for a moment and closed her eyes as if trying to gather herself.

She shuddered.

‘Are you okay, Miss Strider?’ Gloria asked, concerned at her state. ‘You look kind of freaked.’

‘I’m sorry.’ She sighed. ‘It’s just that with what’s been going on here lately, I’m feeling very uneasy. Three teachers murdered horribly. Everyone in the staffroom is on edge, worried that maybe they might be targeted next.’

‘No one would want to kill you, Miss,’ said one of the boys.

‘Well I would have said the same about Mr Collins too, but he was murdered.’

‘Yeah, his head being ducked into a bowl of acid,’ said another boy with a certain amount of glee in his voice. ‘Nasty.’

‘Please, I don’t want to be reminded of that. I only just found out this morning that Mr Sowers was the third murdered. I just wish the police would find out who’s responsible.’

Gloria had heard about Mr Sower’s murder on Monday. He was the third teacher to be murdered in the space of three weeks. Sowers was one of the boy’s PE teachers and his head had been crushed by a barbell. It sickened her to even think about it and it also terrified her. What if the murderer decided to target students as well as teachers?

Miss Strider sat down at her desk and manoeuvred some papers around, but continually glanced up at the clock on the wall and the door to the classroom.

‘Hey,’ said one of the boys after about a minute. ‘Maybe the murderer is that creepy new janitor.’

‘Who, the big huge fat guy?’ asked another.

‘Yeah, him.’

‘He’s only been here since Monday, you moron.’

‘Yeah, but he’s not all there. Thinks he’s a teacher when really he’s only a stupid janitor. Who’s he trying to kid? And he’s always eating and asking if people have any food. Yesterday I saw him rummaging through a rubbish bin pulling stuff out.’

‘Gross,’ said Gloria. ‘I think he’s retarded or something.’

Miss Strider spoke up. ‘Being creepy isn’t a crime and if he was only employed at the beginning of the week, then he’s not likely to be the murderer.’

‘Have you seen him yet, Miss Strider?’

‘No. Sounds like I don’t want to.’

‘Yeah, there’s already too many weirdoes in this school,’ said another guy. ‘Like Mr Schultz.’

‘Yeah, Mr Shits,’ joked another.

‘Oh, come on,’ said Miss Strider. ‘He may be eccentric and a little cantankerous, but he’s okay.’

‘Someone should kill him!’

She jerked upright and shot Gloria’s classmate a frown. ‘Hey! No, don’t you dare say that. If he really was targeted you’d feel really bad later.’

‘Yeah,’ said another of the girls. ‘And you’d be the chief suspect.’

‘What about Mr Trotsky?’ asked another. ‘There’s another unpopular teacher, even with people who don’t do music.’

Some of the others agreed.

‘Do you think the killer is a student, Miss Strider?’ asked Gloria. ‘Or a teacher?’

‘Could be either,’ she said. ‘Maybe even someone else who’s not affiliated with the school. Nobody seems to know. So far the police haven’t been able to find anyone who’s linked in any way.’

Just then, a knock came at the door. Miss Strider flinched.

Everyone peered to the door expecting it to be the new student teacher.

‘Come in,’ Miss Strider said.

The door open and there were a lot of gasps throughout the classroom as a tall, athletic man stepped inside. Gloria couldn’t help but stare. He had to be around 6 foot 3 and in his 20s. He had a muscular physique, dark hair and a goatee. She paused for a second to notice the wide-eyed stares of the other girls too. Then she noticed Miss Strider whose eyes nearly popped out of her head.

‘Morning,’ said the man. His deep blue eyes sparkled and he had the most gorgeous eyelashes. ‘My name’s Rex Carter. I’m the new student teacher. Man, I am so not used to knocking. Normally at high school, when I was late to class I’d just bowl right in.’ He winked and delivered Miss Strider the most stunning smile Gloria had ever seen in her life. He had a sexy accent too, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint which country he was from.

Miss Strider rose to her feet, nearly knocking her chair over in the process. ‘Oh my… You’re… you’re Rex