Chapter 4: The Class Mascot

We sat in a heavy silence until I finally spoke. A siren wailed outside, filling the awkward space between us.

"Detective, do you know what a ‘muggle’ is?"

He hesitated. "Yeah, in ‘Harry Potter,’ it means someone who can’t do magic."

I stared out at the parking lot, the Arizona sun streaking the sky orange and pink. "You know, all through high school, I didn’t have a name. They just called me ‘muggle.’ I never told anyone back then, but it stung every single time they said it."

"I was the only one who needed the teacher’s lectures. I was the only one who had to do homework and take the tests. The others? They were already off writing college-level research papers, tackling math problems nobody else understood."

"I spent senior year terrified that I really was just an idiot."

Detective Derek fiddled with the sugar packets, stacking and restacking them, not sure what to say.

"Dr. Harris, don’t think that way. Even if you weren’t top of the gifted class, you still made it to the best med school in the state. Scholarships, department chief before forty—you’re already way ahead of most."

I half-smiled, picturing some rookie detective scrolling my LinkedIn. "Your mom’s a doctor too, right? You know how hard it is to make it as an attending."

"I worked my whole life to escape that ‘muggle’ label. Built a career, a family. Why would I throw that away by killing them?"

That was my first question for him.

Detective, my time and energy are limited. If your answer can convince me, I’ll stay. If not, I’m done. I let the challenge hang in the air, waiting to see what he’d do next.