Starved for Attention

by Jen Carter

  “You’re stronger and scarier looking than Amy,” I said.

  “I’m scary looking?” Nico laughed.

  I laughed too. “No, especially not when you smile. But if you had to be scary, your height and your practically-shaved head would serve you well. With a little practice, you could pull off scary. Or intimidating, at least. Amy couldn’t do that ever.”

  My phone rang. I looked at the screen and saw it was Esther.

  “Hey Esther,” I said after connecting the call. “We’re on our way right now. See you out front in five minutes?”

  “Oh, thank you so much, Jill. I was actually wondering if you’d be able to help me carry some boxes out? I need to get them moved, and I just can’t do it on this bum ankle.”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  “Great. Let’s meet by the back gate. It’s so much closer to where I am. Do you know where the school’s vineyard is?”

  “The school has a vineyard?”

  “It’s part of the agriculture program. The students grow grapes and sell them to winemakers. Anyway, drive through the parking lot to the back. You’ll see a little road that wraps around and will take you to the tiny farm we have here. Park where the road dead ends, and the gate will be open for you. Just walk in. I’ll meet you back there.”

  Red flag. Red flag. Red flag.

  “Okay,” I said, trying to sound bright and completely unworried. I felt Nico’s eyes on me. He had picked up on the tone change in my voice. “Is that a quicker way to get to your classroom?”

  “Surprisingly, yes. And the baseball team practices not far from there, so it’s even easier to go that way since they leave the gate unlocked.”

  Huh. Well, having the baseball team practicing nearby made me feel a little better, I guess. Witnesses.

  I hung up and relayed Esther’s instructions to Nico. He didn’t respond with words, but his sideways glance let me know that he also wasn’t thrilled about the change of plans.

  My phone buzzed as a text came through. It was from Amy.

  So far so good?

  I tapped out an answer.

  Eh. She wants us to meet her back by the school vineyard. She says she has some boxes she needs help moving. I think it’s weird.

  Then I started a new text to Jules.

  So Temecula Hills has a vineyard?

  Almost immediately, she started writing back. I waited for the message to come through.

  Yeah. It’s way at the back of the school property. A couple years after I graduated, some kids used their crop to make bootleg wine in a storage shed. Or so I heard. They got shut down, but it’s sort of funny.

  Okay, I had confirmation that there was actually a school vineyard. That was good.

  Oh, I was just over-reacting. Everything was fine. Of course there was a school vineyard. Esther had no reason to make that up. We were just going to help her carry some boxes. Not a big deal at all.

  ***

  The gate was open, just like Esther said, but she was nowhere in sight. I was hoping that she’d be waiting by the gate with the boxes, but no. And I saw no sign of the baseball team or a baseball diamond. Nowhere.

  We walked through the gate, right into the little vineyard. It was a great little vineyard—maybe ten rows of vines extending about fifty yards. If any of the agriculture students were planning a career in viticulture, the experience they were getting with this vineyard was probably priceless. If I hadn’t been worried about finding Esther, I would have allotted some energy toward being excited for those students.

  “I bet that’s the storage shed where the kids made bootleg wine Jules mentioned,” I said, pointing toward a shed just beyond the vineyard. It was big—probably bigger than some of the New York City apartments I’d seen on television. It was at least big enough to park a car inside. I could see how kids might make bootleg wine there. It was far enough away from the main campus that administration likely didn’t bother checking on it all that often, and if the unit was used for storage, there were probably plenty of hiding spots behind school junk to make the wine.

  “Where’s the English building?” Nico said.

  I looked around, feeling somewhat disoriented seeing the school property from that vantage point. The big field on the other side of the vineyard might have been for P.E. Beyond that, I thought I saw the track-slash-football stadium. And beyond that, yes, there were school buildings. The closest must have been the English one. It seemed pretty far away. Was the distance from the back gate to that building really shorter than the distance from the front office to that building? That seemed hard to believe.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I’ll call Esther.”

  We walked through the vineyard as I waited for the call to connect. It rang and rang and rang. When it finally went to voicemail, the outgoing message was the computerized default.

  Your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging system.

  I listened, slightly annoyed that Esther hadn’t picked up.

  At the tone please record your message. When you are done recording, you may hang up or press one for more options.

  BEEP.

  “Hey Esther, it’s Jill. We’re here. Call me back or text me so we can meet you.”

  Just as I disconnected, a text from Amy came through.

  Do you need help? she wrote.

  I started writing back that we were fine when a crash inside the storage room drew my attention away. A weak cry came from the same place. I followed Nico to the storage shed, leaving the text to Amy unfinished and unsent.

  “Hello?” Nico said, banging on the door. “Everything okay in there?”

  “No, I’m hurt,” the voice said from the inside.

  “Esther, is that you?” I said.

  “Jill? Yes, it’s me! I was trying to get some boxes down from a high shelf, and one was too heavy. I lost my balance and fell with it on top of my leg.”

  Nico unlatched the door. “Stay here for a second,” he said to me.

  I halfway listened to him. The shed was dark, and as Nico stepped inside, I moved to the partially-opened door, trying to see where Esther was on the floor. Why in the world would she be getting boxes down from shelves in the dark?

  Suddenly, I heard a loud, dull thud followed by an exhale that only could have come from Nico. There was another dull thud as something hit the ground—and I feared that something might have been Nico.

  I stepped inside. “Nico? Esther? What’s happening—why is it dark in here?”

  Just as I tripped over whatever was on the ground, I heard Esther grunt like she was summoning up all her energy.

  “Dammit!” she exclaimed.

  As I scrambled to my feet, the shed door closed, extinguishing the only sliver of light. In the split second before it closed, I saw enough to piece together what had happened. Esther had whacked Nico over the head with something, and he had fallen to the floor. I then stepped inside, and Esther swung at me, but she missed because I had tripped over Nico.

  And then she closed the shed door.

  “What are you doing?” I said, fumbling with my phone to turn on its flashlight.

  I didn’t know what to do. Nico was on the ground, Esther had just come at me, and I was in the dark. If I could just see—if I could just get the flashlight on—then I’d be able to assess the situation, maybe a little.

  But no. She knocked the phone from my hand, and it went down somewhere beside Nico.

  Obviously her eyes had adjusted to the dark already. Mine had not.

  “What are you doing?” I said. “What’s wrong with you?!”

  “You’re too nosy, Jill,” she said. “And either too brave or too stupid for your own good.”

  “I think this situation proves that I’m too stupid,” I said. I was having trouble orienting myself in the room. I knew that Nico lay between me and the door after I tripped over him, and I knew that Esther had closed the door—but the sound of her voice was moving, like she was starting to pace. Or st
arting to circle.

  “How’d you figure it out?” Esther asked.

  “Figure what out?” I said.

  I knew what she had meant. Obviously she had something to do with Livy’s poisoning or Fleming’s death—or both. But being too stupid for my own good was probably the best way to stall and get my bearings.

  “You asked for a ride to your car,” I said. “You said to come to the back gate. You said you had boxes to move. If I had figured something out, do you think I’d be standing in the dark with Nico at my feet right now?”

  Oh my goodness. Nico. I prayed he was okay. I dropped to my knees and felt for a pulse. He was breathing. His heart was pumping. Oh, thank goodness. But how was I going to get us out of this?”

  “What did you do?” I said.

  “You know what I did,” Esther said. Her voice continued to move around, like waves coming at me from the right and left, one after the other. She was pacing.

  “I’m starting to wonder,” I said.

  “Fleming was a low life,” Esther said. “He ruined people’s lives. He was on the verge of ruining my life, and I wasn’t going to let him.”

  Now her voice was behind me. She was circling. Like a vulture.

  My mind raced. We had to get out of there. Only one other person knew where I was. Amy. Her last text asked if we needed help, and I hadn’t responded.

  If I had been her, what would I have done? Sent help?

  I sure hoped so.

  I had to keep Esther talking. If she kept talking and circling, maybe I could distract her and then…

  And then…

  And then what?

  I’d have to figure that out, but first I had to keep her talking.

  “How was he on the verge of ruining your life?” I asked, slowly rising to my feet again. “How did he hurt you?”

  “Did you know I’ve been trying to get a teaching job for two years now? Two years. No one will hire me. I even tried to get a job at your school this year, and that stupid principal of yours wouldn’t hire me. He was an assistant principal here at Temecula Hills my senior year, and I was sure when he became a principal somewhere that he’d give me a job. He told me once that I was great in a school play, so I knew he’d see my potential as a drama teacher. But no. Not even he would hire me.”

  “So this is about a job?”

  Esther laughed. Now she was pacing on the other side of me, which meant Nico and I were closer to the door than she was. I inched toward her. Maybe I’d be able to lunge and tackle her to the ground. We once practiced take downs in Jules’ Friday self defense class. It was at least a year ago, but I could probably still do it. If I kept her talking, she wouldn’t expect it.

  “Fleming was going to take an early retirement,” she said. “He was tired, and he was disillusioned about working with kids. He was just done. I had been helping him with plays these last two years so that I had something to put on my resume while I tried to get a job, and he promised I could take his place when he left. But guess what? He decided not to retire for this upcoming year. Something about his retirement benefits not being enough to live on, so no new job for me. He never made good on his promises. Never. I’m not the only one whose life he’s messed up.”

  “So you killed him,” I said. “You tortured him and killed him.”

  “Something like that.”

  I inched toward her. “I don’t understand. When he went missing, why’d Livy get involved with the spring play? Why didn’t you just take over if that’s what you were after?”

  “Too obvious,” Esther said. “I didn’t want anyone to think I was after his job. So when the high school girls suggested Livy, I was all for it. She wasn’t a threat to me long-term. She had her own business, so she’d never try to replace Fleming for the next school year.”

  “You were using Livy.” I inched forward further. So far so good. Esther was still pacing. She hadn’t switched back to circling, so I was getting closer.

  “Of course. But then guess what happened?”

  “What?” I asked.

  “It became clear to me right away that the kids loved Livy. They loved her. And it was pointless for me to try winning them over, especially since the school administration wasn’t even paying attention. I wanted the principal to see how great I was so that he’d naturally slide me into Fleming’s vacancy next year, but he was too preoccupied to care. It was so annoying.”

  “Because one of his teachers had gone missing?” I asked. I was almost within range to lunge for Esther. She was so wrapped up in her confession that she didn’t even seem to notice. I just needed to keep her talking for another minute.

  “Well, yes. But then those stupid girls found Fleming—luckily just hours after he died and not before. And that seemed like it might work out for me. Obviously the play would be canceled after that, and I could stop pointlessly spending my afternoons with your annoying do-gooder friend.”

  “But it wasn’t cancelled.”

  “No. I couldn’t believe when those girls convinced Livy to do the play in the park. I was so mad. So mad that I cursed the girls. That didn’t scare them into stopping the play, though.”

  A piece of the puzzle clicked in my mind.

  “You went into their backpacks during their P.E. class and wrote the Romeo and Juliet curse on their scripts?” I asked.

  “Truth be told, I had some help from my teaching assistant and some tracing paper, but you don’t really care how I stole someone else’s handwriting to do it, do you?”

  “Then you did the same to write those notecards to the rest of us.”

  “Anyone who got too nosy, yes. But no one got the message, and the play continued. I was near my wit’s end. Spending all that time, working on that play, no one even caring. So I had to come up with something else.”

  “That was when you drugged Livy?” Just another baby step forward, and I’d be able to tackle Esther to the ground. Almost there.

  “I had no choice. And as an added bonus, when I tipped off the newspaper, I called into question Livy’s expertise about herbs, so that was fun.”

  “So you called Lucy Argyle.”

  This was it. When Esther passed by one more time, I was going for her.

  But then, a noise came from the far corner of the shed. I looked over just as a male voice sighed with disgust. And then a crudely-wired light hanging from the ceiling flicked on.

  “Oh, this is taking forever,” said the man sitting on a box in the corner, his hand still on a light switch next to the shed’s other door. “Let’s get on with it. What are we going to do with these two?”

  As the man stood, recognition settled over me. Tall, dark, and probably handsome if I were still in high school. But it wasn’t Victor. He looked like Victor, but he wasn’t Victor.

  Ah, yes.

  He was Victor’s brother.

  Xavier.

  TWENTY-NINE

  “Aren’t we going to stick to the plan?” Esther said to Xavier.

  “Not now,” Xavier said. “You missed when you tried to knock her out,” he lifted his chin to me, “and instead of trying again, you confessed.”

  “I didn’t confess,” Esther spat. “Did you hear me say anything about you?” She held an empty red wine bottle at her side, which must have been what she used to hit Nico.

  That was not good.

  “You were about to,” Xavier said. “I know you. It was about to come out.”

  “You’re Victor’s brother, aren’t you?” I asked. I just had to double check.

  “Yes, that lazy piece of garbage is my younger brother. Don’t get me started on him.”

  I had no desire to do that.

  I did, however, desire to get my unconscious boyfriend and myself out of there.

  Xavier and Esther were already bickering. Maybe I could leverage their annoyance with each other. Now that a dim light bulb was on, I could see what resources were available to me. Along each wall were workbenches stacked with boxes. Gardening supplies, I
’d guess. I didn’t dare look behind me to the door, but I was pretty sure we couldn’t have been more than four or five feet from it. If I could get them to strike up a good argument, maybe I could snatch one of the boxes, throw it at them, get to the door, and scream my head off while running away. Hopefully they’d chase after me, which would get Nico out of harm’s way. And the baseball team was somewhere out there, supposedly, so someone had to be around to hear me—eventually.

  “Why are you making her do all the dirty work?” I said, directing my words at Xavier. “You made her knock out a six-foot tall man and now you’re giving her a bad time about missing me. What other dirty work have you made her do?”

  “Everything,” Esther said with disgust.

  “That’s your fault,” Xavier said, slowly moving up the middle of the shed toward us. “You’re the literature nerd who wanted to use an Edgar Allan Poe theme with Fleming. You’re the one who wanted to write those stupid notes to people involved with the play. I knew that wouldn’t scare off anyone, but I let you do it anyway.”

  Xavier stopped beside Esther, his eyes narrowed.

  “What did you have against Fleming?” I asked.

  “More than you could imagine. Did you know that I auditioned for a role in a little indie film years ago, and after I got it, Fleming told me to turn it down and go to college? He said that I’d have plenty of time for acting later on. I took his advice and turned it down. You know what happened to the guy who took it?”

  I shook my head.

  “Have you seen the latest Alien Invasion movie?”

  I hadn’t, but I nodded anyway. I had read last weekend that the latest Alien Invasion movie broke some kind of box office record, so I could tell where this was going.

  “Yep, the guy who took the indie role I turned down is now one of Hollywood’s biggest new movie stars. That could have been me. But no. I went to college, auditioned the entire four years, and never again was offered a role. I missed my chance, and it was all Fleming’s fault. He thought he could somehow make it up to me by helping Victor develop his acting skills. You know, like he messed up with the first kid but wouldn’t make the same mistakes with the second, just like a crappy parent might think. But I couldn’t care less about Victor and his talent. Or lack thereof.”