by Desiree Holt
And so had she, but she couldn’t afford the luxury of a collapse yet.
“Go ahead. We’ve got things under control out here.” He squeezed her arm. “Good job.”
“Thanks.” She watched as Jerry shooed everyone away from the door, two other men helping him. There was a babble of excitement, but she knew Jerry would handle things. Forcing a calm she didn’t feel, she walked back into the classroom and stood at her desk.
“You can lift your heads now,” she told them, although several were already stealing looks. “I want to thank you all for listening to what I asked of you and not making a problem. You were all a big help.”
“Did I hear right?” Luke asked. “He did all this because a girl broke up with him?”
“It’s really a lot more than that.” She gave him a sad smile. “I think Jason has had a hard time making friends since he moved here. Tomorrow, in class, we’ll spend a little time discussing how we can reach out to new students. For the moment, I think you all need to grab your things and get out of here, but please do it in an orderly fashion. Go home and let your parents hug you.”
To their credit, they did as she asked, despite the blatant curiosity stamped on their faces. They soon disappeared into the crowd of faculty and staff and what she was sure were the members of the hostage negotiations team in the corridor. Their parents would be arriving shortly, if they hadn’t already. She’d leave it up to the people in charge to deal with that.
Taking a deep breath, she leaned against the wall next to her door, praying her legs would hold her up so she didn’t collapse in a heap. She stood there, hands gripped together, taking slow, deep breaths, and trying to settle herself. She knew as soon as she stepped out into the hall she’d be surrounded and she’d need her wits about her.
Okay. Here goes nothing.
“Miss Winslow?” A man in dark-gray slacks and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up approached her as she stepped out of her room.
“Yes.” She drew in a fortifying breath and let it out. She expected she’d have a lot of questions to answer.
“Captain Gerard. Arlo Gerard.” He shook her hand. “I’m in charge of the hostage negotiations unit. I wanted to congratulate you on a doing a damn fine job in there.”
“Th-thank you.” With the crisis over, the strength ebbed from her body, leaving her weak and shaky. She noticed the hallway was now jammed with people—teachers, staff, other cops—giving her a sudden attack of claustrophobia. “I, um, I think I need to sit down.”
“Of course you do. But let’s get you out of this mob scene.” He turned to the man standing beside him. “I’m going to take her down to Altman’s office where we took Jason. She needs to get away from this circus. You go ahead and start winding things up here. I’ll be back in a few.”
“I appreciate this,” Maddie told him. She smiled at the people giving her blatant looks of curiosity, letting Captain Gerard move her smoothly through the mob scene. As he guided her down the hall, hand firmly at her elbow, she noticed more men, along with Jerry Danvers, herding people towards the gymnasium.
Good. Get people out of the hallway and into a place where parents can pick up kids and teachers can talk to their students.
“No problem. It’s the adrenaline crash.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll need to interview you, but I want to get the rest of this stuff wrapped up first. Is there someone I can call to be with you?”
“I’m fine,” she told him, and realized, in fact, her nerves were settling down. “But thanks. If I could get some water and a quiet place to sit for a few minutes, I’ll be okay. How are my students?”
“They’re all fine. We’ve called everyone’s parents and we’re keeping your kids in the faculty lounge until they get here. Okay, here we are.”
He ushered her into Altman’s suite of offices, found her a place to sit, and sent someone to get her a bottle of water. She had just taken a long swallow of it when Altman himself came in.
“Maddie.” He sat in the chair next to her and took her hands. “I can’t begin to tell you how grateful we are for what you did today. You were incredible with those kids. We could see what was going on through the window in the door, and hear some of your conversation with Jason. You knew exactly what to do.”
She gave him a weak smile. “I hope I don’t have to do it again anytime soon.”
“Amen to that. Listen, Jason’s parents are here, and they’d like a word with you. Also, we have a media circus out there. The police are trying to contain them, but if you’d be willing to make a short statement, it would help.”
Talk to the press? Good lord! That wasn’t in her wheelhouse.
“I’m not sure I’m the best person to do that,” she began, but Altman interrupted her.
“I’d say you were the only person. You were there. You knew what to do.” He gave her a warm smile. “You’re a hero today. The public wants to see you.”
She frowned. “How did they hear about it so fast? The whole thing didn’t take thirty minutes.”
He snorted. “Are you kidding me? Besides the fact they monitor police calls, as soon as we evacuated the rest of the kids, they all began tweeting and texting and whatever else they were doing. Nothing is sacred anymore with social media.”
She gripped her hands together. “I’m not exactly sure what to say.”
“The superintendent’s office has someone on the way to help you with that.” He stood up. “He’ll be here in about ten. Do you think you’re up to meeting with Jason’s folks before then?”
Maddie nodded. “I don’t know if I have the answers they want, but I’ll do my best.”
The principal gave them his office, for privacy, and Maddie spent some of the most emotional minutes of her life. The Schroeders were bewildered and emotionally raw. Unlike some parents, who would have immediately wanted to punish their son for this, they berated themselves for not seeing the signs something was wrong.
“Jason’s waiting for you in the counselor’s office,” she told them at last. “I think it would help if you went on down there and you all had a good talk.”
“Yes, of course.” Evan Schroder rubbed his forehead. “You see things happen to other kids, but you never expect them to happen to yours. We’re indebted to you for a great deal, Miss Winslow. We’re going to see what we can do about repairing this situation.”
“He needs a lot of support right now,” she reminded them. “And we’ll do what we can from this end.”
One of the cops on the scene had no sooner escorted the couple out of the office and down the hall than the media rep from the superintendent’s office arrived. Mark Havilland was nice, he was polite, he was solicitous, but he was adamant.
“Face it, Maddie,” he told her. “They want to see the woman who saved her classroom.”
“All I did was talk a troubled kid out of doing something he didn’t want to do in the first place,” she protested.
“You did a lot more,” he assured her. “There are a lot of people waiting to thank you, including the mayor.”
Her jaw dropped. “The mayor? Are you kidding me?”
“Maddie—I can call you Maddie, right?—you did a phenomenal thing here today.” He cleared his throat. “And we have another opportunity here, also.”
The muscles in her stomach knotted. Now what?
“As I’m sure you are aware, a lot of teachers around the country have been lobbying to be allowed to bring weapons into the school for situations just like this. Here’s your chance to be the face of the situation, to show how it can be defused without weapons.”
Maddie frowned. “But the police who came here all had guns. Our resource officer carries a gun.”
“But not the teachers,” he reminded her in a soft voice. “Here’s a great opportunity to make your case.”
Frank Altman walked back into the office and caught the last sentence.
“He’s right, Maddie. We would all appreciate it if you’d do this.”
Maddie swallowed a sigh. She really didn’t want to, but if she had to, at least she could get her licks in for a good cause.”
“Okay.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “But you’ll have to help me figure out what to say.”
Mark smiled. “That’s what they pay me the big bucks for.”
In the end, it went off more smoothly than she could have expected. They set up a small platform in front of the school entrance and cordoned it off. The portable PA system with its wireless mic was hauled out, and Maddie stood on the platform between Mark Havilland and Frank Altman. She replied to the questions as best she could and kept her answers short and to the point, as she’d been told. She got in her licks about teachers and guns, but also about both parents and teachers paying closer attention to the kids.
Finally, it was over. Cameras stopped flashing, cell phones were put away, and the television crews scampered to head back to their stations to edit the follow-up piece in time to make the evening news. The principal guided her to his office where he pressed another bottle of water into her hands.
“You did great,” he assured her.
“Better than great,” Mark Havilland agreed.
“I guess I should have expected all those cell phone cameras, too.” She heaved a sigh. “I’m sure it’s all over social media by now. God. I never wanted to be a celebrity.” She looked from one man to the other. “Am I free to go? I have to get home.”
“You were very courageous,” Altman pointed out. “And you kept your head. That’s not something a lot of people could do.”
“Be prepared for the national news to pick it up, too,” Mark warned.
“Oh my god!” Maddie slapped her forehead. “My parents. I need to let them know about it. They’ll have a heart attack if I don’t give them a heads up.” She looked from one man to the other. “I guess it’s too much to hope I can slip out of here without notice.”
“Captain Gerard already thought of that,” Altman assured her. “Let me get your keys. He’s going to have someone drive your car away to a shopping center. We’ll slip you out the back way, and you’ll get a ride to pick up your car away from prying eyes.”
“Thank you so much.” Relief washed over her. All she wanted was to get home to her little house and lock herself in. Then she thought about Gretchen, her best friend. Had she heard about it already? Maddie would call her from the car and have her meet at the house.
And bring a big bottle of wine.
Chapter Two
One week later….
Maddie checked her rearview mirror again, as she’d been doing every few minutes since she left her house. She’d even driven onto the interstate, gotten off in a busy commercial area where she could turn down a lot of streets before she got back on, and driven to her friend Gretchen LeBeau’s. She didn’t see the gray car behind her, but tonight’s episode had her so spooked she wasn’t sure she trusted her own observations. She prayed she wasn’t bringing trouble to Gretchen’s door.
“I’m almost at your house,” she told Gretchen, calling from her cell. “Can you please watch for me and be ready to open the door?”
Thankfully, her friend didn’t ask any questions. Satisfied no one was behind her, she pulled into her friend’s driveway, made sure there were no cars driving down the street, and raced to the front door.
Gretchen grabbed for her and drew her inside.
“Holy crap, Maddie. You look like shit.”
Maddie found a tiny grin somewhere. “Gee, thanks.”
“I’m serious, girl.” She pursed her lips. “Want a drink?”
“No, but thanks for letting me crash in on you.”
“No problem. So how about ice cream? That usually fixes everything.”
“I don’t think it can fix this, but it sure will make me feel better.”
In seconds, they sat across the kitchen table from one other, each with a tub of ice cream.
“So let me get this straight.” Gretchen licked her spoon. “A car pulls up to the foot of your driveway at the exact moment you get out of your car. Some guy jumps up and runs to you. Your next door neighbor is outside, he sees what’s happening, walks over to make sure everything is okay, and the guy jumps in the car and drives off.”
Maddie nodded. “That’s it. If Greg Barnes, my next door neighbor, hadn’t been outside right then, I don’t know what would have happened.”
“You called the cops, right?”
Maddie swallowed a spoonful of salted caramel ice cream. “Of course. Fat lot of help they were. I’m beginning to get the idea they think I’m a nut.”
“I think they’re the ones who are crazy.” Gretchen scooped her own bite of ice cream. “All these things happening to you? Something is going on. You told them that same gray car had been following you, right?”
Maddie nodded. They’d been overly nice and listened to her politely but pointed out she had no proof it was actually following her. And gray cars were a dime a dozen.
“They keep trying to tell me I’m imagining things. One of them even had the nerve to tell me I was having a delayed reaction to the episode at the school with Jason.”
“What?” Gretchen nearly screeched the word. “They really are nuts. I wish I knew someone I could call in the police department. They didn’t do much about your break-in, either.”
“What could they do?” Maddie looked up, hoping the fear didn’t show in her eyes. “Nothing else was out of place. There wasn’t even any sign of a break-in.”
“You should have let me talk to them,” her friend said. “Didn’t they ever hear of lock picks? And that picture of your mom and dad didn’t disappear into thin air.”
Maddie concentrated on the next spoonful of ice cream. “Maybe I just misplaced it, like they said.”
Gretchen made a rude noise. “That’s a load of crap. I know how special that picture is to you. How close you are to your parents. You’d never misplace it. And didn’t you tell me you thought the drawers of your desk and your personal papers had been gone through? And someone had been fiddling with your computer?”
“I did.” She shrugged. “But nothing was really out of place, maybe just moved a little. The police said I could have jumbled the papers myself going through them. And the only fingerprints they found on my computer keys were mine.”
“Didn’t they ever hear of protective gloves?”
“Gretch, you’re scaring me.” She took another big spoonful of ice cream, the one thing that seemed to settle her nerves.
“I’d be scared,” Gretchen told her.
“Well, whatever. Anyway, I’m sure they’re right and all of this is nothing more than my imagination working overtime.”
“Stay here tonight.”
The words startled Maddie. “What? What do you mean?”
“I mean, stay here. I have two nice guest rooms and no guests.” She stuck her spoon in the ice cream tub. “Maddie, something is going on here. I don’t know what, and neither do you, but it makes me nervous and jumpy.”
“Gretch, I have to go to work in the morning. I have no clean clothes, no toothbrush. No anything.”
“We wear the same size,” Gretchen reminded her. “And I have extra toothbrushes and hair stuff.” She grinned. “I’m always prepared. Come on. You know you really don’t want to go home alone. Right?”
She was right, Maddie thought. She hated feeling like an idiot, when she might actually be making something out of nothing.
“Let me think about it, okay? Meanwhile, how about giving me the deets on the new hunk you’re dating.”
Anything to change the topic.
By the time they’d eaten enough ice cream to make themselves sick, Maddie had managed to convince herself she was imagining things. She’d be the first to admit the episode last week at school had shaken her up and she was a little off kilter.
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted, when Gretchen tried once more to get her to stay the night. “And I’ll call you the minute I get home.
”
She pressed the key fob to unlock her car sitting in the driveway and had just walked around to the driver’s side door when a car came barreling down the street and stopped at the foot of the driveway, blocking her in. A gray car. The passenger door opened and a man exited and jogged toward Maddie. She barely had a moment to register he was very tall, very big, and dressed all in black.
“Gretchen!” she screamed, as he tried to grab her, and raced back toward the house. The front door was yanked open, and Maddie fell through it and into Gretchen’s arms.
“Close it,” she cried. “Hurry.”
Gretchen slammed the door and set her alarm, then tugged Maddie into the great room.
Maddie drew in great gulps of air and gripped her hands together in an attempt to control her shaking.
“Is that car still there?” She could barely speak over the hammering of her heart.
Gretchen looked through the narrow window beside the door. “No, they’re gone. I think when they saw me it spooked them. Plus, you were faster at getting away from them than they expected.”
“Come on,” Gretchen said. “Sit down.”
Maddie collapsed onto the couch, pulse racing, her breath stuck in her throat.
“I thought he was going to grab me,” she gasped.
“Me, too. I’m calling the cops. They’ll have to believe you this time. God. Let me get you something hot. You’re shaking like a leaf.”
Maddie took the hot tea and gripped it with both hands, huddling in the corner of the couch. She sipped the hot liquid while Gretchen made the call, and, by the time the police arrived, she had somewhat pulled herself together. But once again, despite everything, they weren’t much help.
“I’m sorry, Miss Winslow.” Detective John Garber, who had taken the report on the break-in, actually did look unhappy. “I know you’re frightened, but what do we have? You didn’t recognize the man or get the license plate of the car. You don’t even know if he wanted anything more than to talk to you.”