Student Body

by Susan Rogers Cooper

  There was no response from Ng.

  ‘Not the same one the police met you at earlier. So you live in two places, huh?’

  Still no response.

  Miranda said, ‘We need to talk. May I come inside?’

  ‘No,’ Ng answered.

  ‘OK, fine. Then I’ll just go to the police with what I know,’ Miranda said, which had not been part of the script Champion and Luna had laid out for the girl. Champion looked at Luna and glared.

  ‘What?’ Luna demanded, in a whisper. ‘I had nothing to do with that!’

  ‘Whatever,’ Champion said and turned back to looking at the front door of Ng’s house.

  ‘… Nothing,’ was all Champion heard when he turned his attention back to the conversation coming from the phone.

  ‘What?’ he whispered to the mom.

  ‘If you two would stop talking, maybe we’ll find out!’ she fairly hissed back.

  ‘Look—’ Champion started, but he stopped when he heard Miranda Wisher speaking again.

  ‘You have no idea what I know. Let’s just say I’m real good at math and I can put two and two together in a nanosecond.’

  Not a word from Ng.

  ‘Fine. I can say what I have to say here on the porch for the whole world to hear, or just head on to the police station.’

  ‘Where’s your car?’ Ng asked.

  There was a pause before Miranda said, ‘I walked.’

  No reply from Ng.

  ‘OK, fine!’ Miranda said, turning her back on Ng. ‘The next voice you hear will be a cop’s.’

  ‘Come in,’ Ng said, and Champion could see that she’d turned her back and walked further into her home, leaving the door open. They could see Miranda follow her inside, shutting the door behind her.

  ‘Y’all, I’m not real crazy about this—’ Graham said, but stopped when he heard the girl’s voice.

  ‘Nice place,’ Miranda said. ‘You’ve got good taste.’

  No response.

  ‘Hey, is that an original Claudette? I took a semester of art history.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You sure? Really looks like an original. You and Morley must be raking it in for you to have a place like this and such nice stuff,’ Miranda said.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Ng said.

  ‘Oh, yeah, you do. And I want in.’

  ‘In what?’ Ng said.

  ‘Your testing scam, of course.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Ng said.

  Champion couldn’t help but think this was probably the most Tina Ng had spoken within his hearing. She was obviously getting scared. Bring it home, kid, he thought.

  ‘So here’s the deal. Fifty percent or I go to the cops. That’s fifty percent total. Whatever split you have with Morley comes out of your half.’

  ‘You need to leave,’ Ng said.

  ‘Or what? You got a knife handy?’ Miranda said.

  ‘Oh, shit!’ Graham said. ‘Y’all get in there! She’s gonna kill her!’

  ‘Shut up!’ Champion demanded, straining to hear Ng’s response.

  ‘Maybe,’ was what he heard.

  ‘OK, so it was you who did in old Bishop, huh? We sorta fig—’

  ‘We?’ demanded Ng.

  ‘Me. I said me.’

  ‘No, you didn’t!’ Ng shouted.

  ‘Ow!’ Miranda said, at which Graham bailed from the car with his phone, so any further discussion between the two young women was lost on Champion. So he decided he might as well follow the Pugh kid.

  The door had obviously not locked behind Miranda when she followed Tina Ng inside, as Graham and Champion had no problem pushing their way in. Luna and I were only seconds behind. Ng had her arm around Miranda’s neck in a chokehold. Miranda was at least five inches taller than Ng, but the tiny Vietnamese woman had Miranda’s feet off the ground and Graham’s new girlfriend’s face was turning an ugly shade of purple. Champion grabbed Ng, pulling her to the ground while Graham caught Miranda in his arms. Meanwhile, while lying on the hardwood floor of her beautifully furnished home, Tina Ng managed to take Champion’s feet out from under him, throwing him to the floor and then jumping on top of him, pounding him mainly in his manly regions. Or should I say formerly manly regions?

  Luna got to Ng before she totally castrated Champion and pulled her off, although the five foot, eleven inch, two hundred pound Luna seemed to have to strain to do it. She got Ng pinned to the floor and cuffed her hands behind her back as I ran up to Champion to try to help him up.

  ‘Don’t touch me!’ he said, lying on his back.

  ‘You OK?’ I asked.

  ‘No,’ he said.

  ‘Do you want an ambulance?’ I asked.

  ‘And have every employee in the city – from the chief of police to the dog catcher – find out I got taken out by a ninety pound girl? No, I don’t think so.’

  I sat down on the floor next to him. ‘I think it was some form of martial arts.’

  ‘Ya think?’

  ‘How long do you want to lie here?’ I asked.

  ‘As long as it takes,’ he said. His eyes were closed, his face pointed at the ceiling, his knees up and his hands covering his gonads.

  I felt a hand on my arm. ‘Mom, let him alone. You take care of Miranda.’

  ‘Does she need an ambulance?’ I asked.

  ‘Already called one,’ Graham said.

  ‘Have her meet them outside,’ Champion said. ‘Don’t let them in here.’

  ‘Right,’ I said, getting to my feet.

  ‘Really, Mom. It’s not funny. Don’t let them in.’

  ‘Jeez, I won’t. God, you men,’ I said.

  As I was heading toward Miranda, I heard Champion say, ‘Thanks, kid.’

  Miranda’s normal color was coming back but the skin of her neck was definitely bruised – red now, but already turning darker – and she seemed to be fighting somewhat for breath.

  ‘Come on,’ I said, helping her to a standing position. ‘Let’s get you outside. I hear the sirens now.’

  She nodded her head and took my arm as I led her out of Ng’s house.

  Champion ended up in the hospital after all. Ng had managed to dislocate one of his testicles and he was probably going to have to have an operation to fix it. Nobody at the cop shop was teasing him about it. As a matter of fact, according to Luna, every male employee at the jail was treating Tina Ng very carefully. Miranda was treated and released and Luna, Graham and I took her back with us to the motel.

  ‘Is Ng talking?’ I asked Luna as we all sat down on the beds of the room I shared with her.

  ‘Not a word. But I sorta expected that,’ Luna said.

  ‘She appears to be verbally challenged,’ I agreed.

  ‘She’s a bitch!’ Miranda said, or croaked. Her voice hadn’t come all the way back yet.

  ‘You need to be a little less talky yourself,’ I said. ‘You need to let your throat heal.’

  ‘She’s still a bitch,’ she whispered. Graham pulled her to him in a hug and she rested her head on his shoulder. I was going to have to stop wincing every time I saw this kind of thing with my son.

  ‘I’ll grant you that,’ Luna said. ‘But that doesn’t get us any further with Gay Fucks.’

  ‘Are you sure he’s involved in this?’ Graham asked. ‘I mean, he’s a nice guy. I know a few people who’ve had him as a counselor and they say he’s really good.’

  ‘Ever been to his house?’ Luna asked.

  ‘No,’ Graham answered. ‘Why?’

  ‘Just wondering. Ng was definitely living above her reported means. I wonder if Fuchs’ lifestyle will say the same thing.’

  ‘Call Dave,’ I said.

  Miranda reached for her phone but Graham stopped her. ‘I’ll do it. Rest your voice. He’s on speed dial?’

  She nodded and punched in the number, putting the phone on speaker.

  ‘Dave!’ came the happy voice on the other end of the line.
>
  ‘Hey, Dave, it’s Graham Pugh—’

  ‘Hey, Pugh! Man, how’s that hot mama of yours?’

  I grinned. ‘Just fine, Dave!’ I said. ‘How are you?’

  ‘Real good now that I hear your voice, sweet cheeks!’

  Graham gave me a stern look. ‘Never mind that crap. Dave, we need you to look up an address for us.’

  ‘Like you don’t have a phone book?’

  We all looked at each other, then around the room. Sure enough, there was a phone book on a shelf under the nightstand where the actual landline was located.

  ‘Just a minute, Dave!’ I said as I grabbed the book.

  ‘Mama, I’ll wait a lifetime for you!’

  ‘Can it, Dave, I mean it!’ Graham said.

  Luna, with a confused look on her face, said, ‘Who’s Dave and why does he have the hots for E.J.?’ Turning to me, she said, ‘Pugh, are you stepping out on Willis? ’Cause I’ll tell!’

  ‘God, no!’ Graham almost shouted.

  There was no listing for Gaylord Fuchs in the phone book. Since more and more people were foregoing landlines and just using cell phones, it wasn’t surprising. Who knew when the phone company would start listing cell numbers? Maybe that was something we didn’t want out there. I wasn’t sure.

  ‘No listing in the phone book,’ I called out to Dave.

  ‘OK, so give me the name and I’ll do it the modern way.’

  Graham gave him the name and spelled it.

  ‘Oh, yeah. I remember this Fucks guy. You had me look him up earlier,’ Dave said.

  ‘That’s Fuchs, Dave. A long “u”,’ I said.

  ‘No shit? Looks like fucks to me.’

  ‘Yeah, it does,’ I agreed.

  ‘Just find the damn thing!’ Graham said.

  ‘Jeez, Pugh, why you getting so uptight?’ Dave asked, but I could hear his fingers on the keyboard and knew he was doing his thing. ‘Yeah, here it is. On Avenue H.’ And he gave us the number.

  ‘Thank you, Dave,’ I said.

  ‘For you, darlin’, anything.’

  ‘I’m hanging up,’ Graham said and did so. Turning to me, he said, ‘Mother, you are encouraging him!’

  ‘Yes, I certainly am,’ I agreed with a big smile.

  Without further ado we hopped into Luna’s SUV and headed to Avenue H. It was within walking distance of the campus and proved to be an old Victorian, not unlike our attorney Stuart Freeman’s office. It was also in as good a shape as Stuart’s. It was painted a grayish blue with white shutters and trim, and was surrounded by more than its fair share of near campus real estate. There were two cars in the driveway – an apparently brand-new Fiat and a Land Rover.

  ‘Anybody know what Mrs Fuchs does for a living?’ I asked.

  ‘We should have asked Dave,’ Miranda whispered from the back seat.

  ‘Call him,’ Luna said.

  ‘Jeez, not again,’ my son said.

  ‘Don’t put it on speaker and I’ll stay out of it,’ I said.

  ‘Thanks so much, Mother. It’s really thoughtful of you not to openly flirt with a man half your age in front of your son. I mean, really, Mom.’

  Sarcasm doesn’t fall far from the tree.

  ‘Whatever,’ I said while he dialed.

  ‘Dave. Pugh again. Listen, can you find out what Fuchs’ wife does for a living?’ Turning to the car in general, he said, ‘What’s his wife’s name?’

  ‘Annabelle,’ Luna said.

  ‘Annabelle Fuchs,’ Graham said into the phone.

  There were a few minutes of silence, at least in the car, while Dave did his thing. Then Graham began nodding his head and said, ‘Yeah. OK, great. You know, thanks, Dave.’ Then: ‘No. And shut up.’ Graham disconnected.

  I grinned. ‘Did he mention me?’ I asked.

  ‘Mother, I am telling Dad everything! Do you hear me? Everything!’

  ‘Can it, you two!’ Luna said. ‘What did you find out?’

  ‘According to their tax returns—’

  ‘Jesus! That kid hacked the IRS?’ Luna said, her face turning a pasty white.

  ‘Whatever. Anyway, according to their tax returns, Annabelle Fuchs has had no income at all for the past five years.’

  As a unit, we turned and looked at the beautiful Victorian on almost an acre of prime real estate. ‘Nail number one,’ Luna said.

  Luna had started the engine and was about to pull away when a side door of the Victorian opened and Gaylord Fuchs came out carrying a small duffle bag, his much larger wife behind, loaded with suitcases.

  ‘They know about Ng,’ Luna said. ‘And they’re on the run.’

  ‘So arrest them!’ Graham said.

  ‘It’s not my jurisdiction!’ Luna said.

  ‘Follow them and we’ll call it in to somebody,’ I said.

  She watched the couple start the Land Rover and begin to back out of the driveway. ‘We’re headed in the wrong direction,’ she said.

  ‘Then make a U-turn!’ Graham said.

  ‘They’ll make us!’ Luna said.

  ‘So what? Follow them and, like Mom said, call it in!’

  ‘To who? Champion’s in the hospital—’

  ‘Jesus, Elena, you want me to drive?’ Graham said, unbuckling and leaning over the front seat as if he planned on joining us.

  ‘Get back!’ Luna said between clenched teeth. ‘I’ve got this!’ She pulled forward as they turned the opposite direction. ‘Somebody write down the license plate.’

  Miranda was furiously grabbing her phone and taking a picture of said plate. I never would have thought of that. I’d still be looking for a pen and paper.

  To me, Luna said, ‘Get hold of Champion in his hospital room. Find out who he wants me to call on this.’

  ‘You don’t know anybody else?’ I asked, trying to figure out how to get the hospital’s phone number.

  ‘Would I ask you to do that if I did?’ She was going to break a tooth the way her jaw was clenched.

  Luna had made the U-turn and was hot on the Fuches’ tail by the time I was put through to Champion’s room.

  ‘Champion,’ he said on answering the phone, as if he was back in his cubicle at the police station.

  ‘It’s Pugh,’ I said. ‘The Fuches are running for it. We’re on their tail but who do we call about this?’

  ‘Fuck!’ he said, and I could hear the rustle of bedclothes. ‘I’m on my way! Where are you?’

  ‘No!’ I yelled. ‘You’re due in surgery in, what, an hour? Haven’t they given you any meds by now? Jesus, Champion, try to think like an adult!’

  ‘I’ve got to—’

  ‘No! Just tell me who to call. Who in your department is up on this?’

  ‘My captain. I’ve been reporting this to her. But don’t you call her. Make Luna do it. The captain still thinks your son is our strongest suspect.’

  ‘Then you haven’t been reporting to her lately, have you?’ I said, and if I sounded disgusted it was only because I was. Totally disgusted. ‘What’s her name and how do we get in touch with her?’

  ‘Let me call her and she’ll call Luna on her cell,’ Champion said, his voice getting weaker.

  ‘Her name?’

  ‘Rios. Captain Sylvia Rios.’

  ‘Call her now!’ I demanded, hanging up, and relayed the conversation to Luna.

  ‘Rios. Yeah. I know her. She was on that task force back in the day. She was a lieutenant then.’

  ‘She’s going to call you,’ I said.

  ‘Hope she hurries!’ Luna said, taking a left turn into traffic, racing to keep up with the Fuches, who obviously knew they had a tail.

  They were headed toward the IH 35 freeway, which was never a good thing. Although, in this case, it might be. Since IH 35 was a parking lot almost any time of day, it was a good bet one of us was going to be able to get out of the car and walk up to theirs. Maybe.

  But Fuchs got to the turnoff to IH 35 and kept going into the east side of town. Although recent gentrification
had begun, the east side was classically the poor side of Austin, and as such there was more crime and fewer police. The speed limit on the narrow streets was forty miles an hour; Gaylord Fuchs was hitting seventy and we weren’t far behind.

  I saw the big beach ball come flying off the sidewalk in front of Fuchs’ car, followed quickly by a small boy. I screamed, Luna hit her brakes and Fuchs’ car swerved, going out of control and landing upside down against a burned-out minivan. The little boy stood in the middle of the street, ball in hand, staring at the wreckage.

  FOURTEEN

  It hurt my ego a little, but Dave Wisher had gotten over me before I’d even left Austin. When told I was leaving, he simply said, ‘Who?’ Oh, well. Boys that age can be fickle, you know. Stuart Freeman sent us a bill that I thought far exceeded his involvement in the case but I was more than willing to pay it. Graham and Miranda are talking about getting an apartment off-campus. I’m keeping my mouth shut.

  As for the players in the far from little test scam, they more or less got their just desserts. Gretchen Morley’s very expensive attorney made a deal with the ADA and got her off with time served for rolling on Tina Ng. As far as I’ve heard, Tina Ng still hasn’t said a word but Gaylord Fuchs is making up for her silence with an onslaught of information.

  According to him, he and Ng had started the scam together since it was easy for Fuchs in his position to get hold of the tests. And it wasn’t just economics class tests; he was able to get any test in the system and they were making money hand over fist – hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, apparently. Ng had brought Morley into it for her Greek contacts. Morley was selling tests to every fraternity and sorority associated with the university. Being the idiot she was, according to Fuchs, Morley had given a test to her then boyfriend, Bishop Alexander. Shortly after they broke up, Alexander demanded a cut or he’d go to the administration about the scam. Ng wouldn’t make the deal on her own and said she had to talk to her partner. Although Morley didn’t know of Fuchs’ involvement, Alexander figured it out, went to a party at Fuchs’ house and demanded his fair share, as he considered it. And his fair share, according to Fuchs, was to be eighty-five percent.

  ‘That’s when I took a swing at him,’ Fuchs said, ‘and missed.’ He grinned sheepishly, as if having him killed had all been part of some elaborate joke. ‘I mean, some of the kids told me he was saying mean things about my wife but obviously she didn’t even hear it.’ He shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t hit him for that. I know she can handle herself.’