by Jack Parker
"Good idea. Besides, they're probably cool if they've had to stand around waiting to figure out what to do."
They pulled into the coffee shop parking lot a few minutes later and went in to join their friends. Cheryl had lattes waiting for them. "And don't start in on the Styrofoam cups, Gracie. This has been a crappy day and we all deserve a little treat." She bent closer to Gracie and muttered, "Shawna's pretty shook up over this."
"You're right, it's been a crappy day – and a crappy week," Gracie agreed. "Seems like there's been some kind of accident almost every day since Mrs. Lane's party."
"I saw police cars among the wreckers," Kelly said. "Did you hear if they knew what happened?"
"I saw a couple of them sweeping the street, trying to get all the nails I guess," Cheryl said. "So I went over to talk to one of 'em. He showed me some pieces of glass; said he thought a Mason jar of nails must've fallen off a truck."
"What's a Mason jar?" Shawna wanted to know.
"It's a brand, used for canning veggies and jellies," Cheryl explained. "My Grandma has boxes of 'em in her basement. I could see a piece that had part of the name on it."
"Does that mean it's something real old?" Shawna asked.
Cheryl laughed. "No, they still make 'em."
"There's nothing sinister in the jar," Kelly said. "Lots of guys use them to store odd nails and screws and little stuff like that. Like the cop said, it probably fell off some guy's work truck and shattered when it hit the street. Nails went everywhere and everyone gets flats and Shawna got caught up in the mess, that's all."
"It must've been kinda scary," Gracie said. "But it certainly wasn't your fault."
"Just another accident," Cheryl agreed. "Like Gracie said, there've been a lot of accidents the past ten days."
"Mom says it just seems that way," Gracie mused. "That I'm upset over Mrs. Lane's death and now every little thing seems overly important. But I can't help feeling that there's a connection somehow."
"Well, it's all people we know from school," Shawna said. "But then we wouldn't be likely to hear about accidents to people we don't know!"
"That's a good point," Kelly put in. "And it's not like it's all girls or all boys or cheerleaders or football players. Except for Maggie the only connection is they're all students."
Gracie has a small frown of concentration on her face; she sipped at her coffee absentmindedly as she thought. Then she looked up and said, "A lot of 'em happened to girls that Jake dates. Well, and Maggie of course; and we know he was involved with her."
CHAPTER 17
"Not all of the accidents happened to Jake's girlfriends," Kelly insisted. "If you'll list out the accidents in order maybe we can see a common thread. I'll take notes." Shawna dug a notebook out of her book bag and handed it to him.
"All right. First of course is Maggie's death." Gracie held up a finger to keep count.
"Jake was boffing her," Cheryl said almost clinically despite the crude euphemism.
"Jake was at the party but claims he was home asleep at the time of her death and Lt. Freeman can't shake his alibi," Kelly added.
"And he can't even say for sure that her death wasn't just an accident. Even if it was deliberate anyone could've come back after the party," Shawna concluded the evidence.
Gracie held up a second finger. "Travis' fall was next, I think. He broke his arm. But Kelly's right, Jake certainly wasn't dating him!"
"What exactly happened?" Cheryl asked. "Maybe there's a clue in the details."
Gracie thought for a moment. "It was last Monday. Ken was interviewing everyone who'd been at the party and he wanted to talk to me first; an aide came to get me out of class. Second hour, I think it was. Anyway, Travis was sitting there holding his arm and when I asked he said he'd slipped at the bottom of the stairs."
"What was Travis doing out in the halls during class?" Shawna asked.
"He's an office aide that hour," Gracie replied. "Though I didn't think to ask exactly what errand he was running. Do you think that might be important?"
Now Kelly's face grew thoughtful. "That was the Monday after Maggie's death, right? And you'd told Ken that you'd keep your eyes and ears open for anything that might seem important."
Gracie nodded.
"I remember seeing Jake and…one of his buddies, can't remember who. Anyway, they were talking and it sounded like they were discussing what might've happened to Maggie."
"And?" all three girls urged him to finish.
He grinned. "It was some movie they were talking about, something about robots exploding I think."
"And you're telling us this exactly why?" Cheryl inquired skeptically.
"Because the other guy bumped Jake's arm and he was carrying a bottle of water and some of it sloshed out. I remember because Jake razzed him about 'making' him spill it. But it was just at the bottom of the staircase. Travis could've stepped off the last stair and slipped on the water," Kelly finished significantly.
Shawna looked confused. "But that means it really was just an accident; he couldn't possibly have known that Travis would slip, or that he'd be hurt."
"Which staircase was it?" Cheryl asked.
"Uh, the north staircase," Kelly said. "Second hour's the only class I have upstairs on that side of the building."
Cheryl turned to look a question at Gracie.
"South," Gracie said succinctly. "So we can't attribute that one to Jake."
"It's not something he could've set up first, and you know how hard it is to get out of class," Shawna pointed out. "And anyway, why would Jake want to hurt Travis?"
Gracie took another meditative sip of coffee. "Brittney's a library aide that hour, isn't she?"
"Yeah," Cheryl said. "And the library's nearby so it'd be likely she'd take those stairs if she went out to get something."
"And she's one of the girls Jake dates," Gracie concluded. "You're right, I don't see how Jake could've done it, but what if Brittney was the one who was meant to slip?"
"I think you're making mountains out of molehills," Cheryl told her.
"That sounds like something my grandmother would say," Kelly put in.
"It is something my Grandma says!" Cheryl laughed. "But it still applies."
"What about Emily's weird case of poison ivy in the wintertime?" Gracie asked. "Seems like I remember her saying just recently that she's really allergic to it. If Jake knew that could he have deliberately taken her somewhere where she might touch the stuff?"
"I think that was Saturday at the recycling thing," Kelly said.
"Someone else could have heard, too," Shawna pointed out.
"Makes more sense that she'd be in some out-of-the-way spot to make out with Jake," Cheryl said. "I can't see how someone else could get her to go somewhere like that."
"I can't see why he'd want to do it," Kelly said. "He'd be risking getting it himself, and he wouldn't have any problem cancelling a date if that was the idea."
"Points taken," Gracie agreed. "Then there was Madison's tripping over the pieces of her taillight – which appeared to have been broken by Emily's car. There's two birds with one stone."
"But you proved it couldn't have been Emily's car," Shawna protested.
"Madison's athletic, she's got good balance," Kelly said. "Travis is a known klutz, he'd almost certainly slip and fall, but Madison would be far more likely to keep her balance."
"Maybe that was a two-fer," Cheryl suggested. "The real point was to make them mad at each other. I guess we could take a look at Jake's truck tomorrow to see if there's dents on the front and back."
"Sounds like a crime of opportunity," Shawna said. "What are the chances that two of Jake's girlfriends would be parked across from each other?"
"Even so, someone seems to have taken advantage of it," Gracie said. "What about Serene's desk malfunction?"
"That was fourth hour, on Thursday," Cheryl said. "But Jake's not in that class, and I don't think he's ever in that room at all."
"After lun
ch, right?" Gracie asked. At Cheryl's nod she continued. "Someone could've loosened the nut during lunch – or, hey! Jake's got football practice every day, which means he'd be in the building after hours and could've done it then."
"But Gracie," Kelly said reasonably. "How could he be sure it would come loose when Serene sat down in fourth hour?"
Gracie sighed. "You're right. Anybody know who else sits there the rest of the day?"
"Like maybe another one of Jake's girlfriends?" Cheryl teased.
"Well, it's a detail that might tell us something, either way," Gracie said.
"Okay, Cheryl can tell us exactly which desk it was and we'll all try to peek in anytime we're in the neighborhood tomorrow."
"Thursday," Gracie said contemplatively. "That was the day Jennifer said Tanya's little brother tripped over a rock."
"How did Jennifer know? I can't see her putting up with a kid trailing after them," Shawna said.
Gracie laughed. "Not Jennifer Myers, Jennifer Greene. My esteemed step-mother. You know, Dad's second wife."
"Ah, yes – the bimbo with the big boobs," Cheryl remarked.
"What's the widow got to do with Tanya?" Kelly asked.
"Jennifer works part-time at La Petite Boutique," Gracie explained. "And by the way, she's matured quite a bit since Dad's death. She's going to school and working to gain experience so she can open her own shop some day. She's even learned how to talk without saying 'I mean' and 'like' every other word! But she does still have big boobs."
"Anyway, apparently after school Thursday Tanya's mother had gone in to shop with Tanya and little Tony in tow." She chuckled at the memory of Jennifer's irritation with the boy. "Jennifer called him a holy terror, said he was running around the store and went outside and tripped over a rock someone had put in front of the door."
"I've met Tony Fletcher," Cheryl said with a grimace. "He is a holy terror!"
"Little boys can find something to trip over without even trying," Kelly said authoritatively. "I know, I used to be one."
"And yet you survived," Cheryl quipped.
"How did a rock get in front of the door?" Shawna asked.
"Jennifer doesn't know. It was nearby, part of the décor by the bench I think she said. Someone could've kicked it or even moved it deliberately, as a prank," Gracie said.
"Jake has football practice after school," Kelly reminded them. "And even if he didn't, he wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near that girly place!"
"Are you trying to say you think Tanya was the real target?" Shawna asked.
"Just like the water on the floor, it would be nearly impossible to be sure who would trip over it," Kelly said. "Of if anyone would."
"Oh, you don't know women!" Cheryl chided him. "We're all giggly and excited about a new outfit and either can't wait to get home to try it on again or we've just got to find the perfect earrings to go with it. Either way, we're not watching where we're going."
"On the other hand, who would even think to look for something in front of the door to a shop?" Shawna put in.
"I just remembered. Jennifer said Meaghan was there that day, too. And some other girl that she didn't recognize," Gracie told them.
"So there was a 40% chance that if anyone tripped it would be one of Jake's girlfriends," Kelly did the math. "For all you know Tony moved the rock himself, then forgot about it and tripped over it."
"I'm just saying there's a possible connection there," Gracie insisted. Gracie held up seven fingers now. "Andrea's poisoning. That was last Friday. Ken said it was cyanide, but you wouldn't think that would be easy to get hold of."
Cheryl picked up her phone and began Googling cyanide.
"It would almost have to be in something she ate or drank," Kelly said. "Granted she's dated Jake, and I suppose he could have given it to her. She'd have trusted anything he gave her, but again, why would he do it?"
"It says here that cyanide has a distinct odor of bitter almonds," Cheryl read aloud.
"But if she didn't know that she wouldn't have been worried, even if she did smell it," Kelly said. "And maybe there was something that disguised the smell or taste. All depends on what the cyanide was in."
"Again, Gracie," Shawna said. "Anyone else might've given it to her. Though it doesn't sound likely that whatever it was had accidentally been dosed with poison."
"Number eight," Gracie enunciated. "Shaun's locker door whacked him in the head. Okay, I'll admit this one doesn't fit the pattern. He's Jake's friend, but that's as close as it gets. He's not a girlfriend and we all have our own lockers so it couldn't have been intended to hurt anyone else. And I have no idea how you could jam a locker door, anyway."
"Maybe it's a real accident," Shawna suggested.
"Hey, it says here that there's cyanide in apple seeds!" Cheryl said. "But not enough to hurt you, it'd take half a cup to be dangerous."
Gracie looked relieved at that. "I almost wish you hadn't told me that, but guess I won't have to give up apples after all. Besides, I never eat the core anyway. Next is Meaghan's wreck."
Everyone looked distressed at that. It had only been a few hours ago that they'd heard about her death from that wreck. Somehow it seemed macabre to bring it up in this context.
"But Amy admits it was her fault," Shawna protested. "She feels terrible about it. Oh geez, I hadn't thought – she must really be upset now."
"The cop at the hospital said the airbag didn't go off," Gracie reminded them. "Kelly, do you know if you could do something to disable one?"
Kelly shook his head. "Not that I know about. But I'm not a mechanic; I can change oil and spark plugs and jump a car, simple things like that. I couldn't even tell you how an airbag works."
"Jake was messing with Meaghan's car Friday at lunch, remember?" Shawna said.
"Yeah, he did have the hood up," Kelly admitted. "But apparently that was only because he didn't know the battery's in the trunk. And besides, there was a bunch of people standing around – how could he possibly have done something with them all watching?"
"Gracie, I think we all know what happened there," Cheryl said, kind but firm. "It was dark and raining and Amy misjudged the distance and bumped Meaghan's car, though she might have had some pharmaceutical help. End of story."
"Maybe," Gracie reluctantly admitted. She thought about the ugly rumor she'd heard that Meaghan was pregnant; she decided not to repeat it. That kind of thing only grew and she refused to help spread it.
"What's next?" Kelly asked. "Oh, I bet I know! Your slip-n-slide in the park yesterday." His tone was teasing.
Gracie looked him in the eyes. "Maybe. I don't fit the pattern either, but I saw Brittney limping as I left school today and she said the same thing had happened to her. Same place, too. The funny thing was, she doesn't usually go that way so someone would have to know she was going to see her grandmother yesterday. Could that someone be Jake?"
"Or any of a couple dozen of her friends," Cheryl said. "That's another case of it being hard to set up in advance with any degree of certainty about the victim. Anyway, you said it was dry, so what could still be slick after it dried?"
"Antifreeze," Kelly said. "Remember the other day when your Aunt Jeanine called, Gracie?"
Gracie rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "How could I forget? Two hours out of my life because she didn't pay attention. But yes, she did say she'd slipped where some antifreeze had been spilled and not cleaned up good."
"But remember, Jake said he didn't really know anything about cars," Shawna said. "When could he have done it? If he'd slipped out of class early it would've still been wet. And I'm sure he had a hot lunch date, so he didn't do it then."
"Still, it does seem odd that antifreeze would just happen to get spilled right on that curve," Cheryl mused. "If it even was antifreeze. We don't know that, and there's probably no way to find out now anyway."
"So I guess the final accident is mine," Shawna said. "I certainly never dated Jake; how does that fit your pattern?"
"Don't think so," Cheryl replied. "But then, there's so many."
"Allison asked me to stay and help her put together a memorial to Amy," Gracie said.
"Any you think someone ruined dozens of tires, including Shawna's, on the chance that Allison would be in that group?" Cheryl asked.
"I'm just saying it's a possibility," Gracie defended herself. "Maybe it wasn't Allison, but one of the other girls. Jake could have run out right after school and thrown that jar in the street."
"You'd think someone would've seen him do it, and will tell the police when they hear about the mess," Shawna said.
"Or it could be just what the policeman said," Cheryl insisted. "The jar fell off a truck."
"So, what's the final score, Kelly?" asked Gracie.
"Eleven accidents total, two of which were fatal," Kelly announced. "Five of them can be classified as falls or one kind or another; poison ivy and just plain poison, two pieces of school equipment malfunctioned, spilled nails, and a car wreck. If you count Maggie as one of Jake's girlfriends, six of them were directly involved. Travis, Shaun, and little Tony Fletcher are of course guys; the other two girls were Gracie and Shawna here. Six out of eleven is barely over half."
"What about locations?" Cheryl asked.
Kelly moved his index finger down the list as he mentally sorted out the information. "Only four actually happened in the school building; five if you count the intersection. Maggie's house, boutique, country road, and the park. The two poisons could've happened anywhere."
"I don't see any connection there," Shawna said.
"If Travis' fall was meant for Brittney, Tony's meant for Meaghan or Tanya, mine meant for Brittney, and the nails meant for Allison – or some other girlfriend – then that makes ten out of eleven," Gracie said.
"Those are pretty iffy," Cheryl said. "How many of them can we even semi reasonably attribute to Jake?"