by PJ Fernor
“What were you doing in Laura’s office?” I asked.
“She wasn’t there. I snuck it.”
“For me?”
“Yeah,” Garrison said.
“What’s the catch? What do you want?”
“Nothing,” he said as he sat down.
“That’s not how you operate, Garrison,” I said.
Before I could get anything out of him, Ben stepped into the office.
He looked as handsome as ever, and I didn’t care that I could admit that to myself.
Tall and strong, a curious look on his face.
He nodded to Garrison.
“Just catching up,” Garrison said.
“He escorted Harry home last night,” I said.
“Poor guy,” Ben said. “Things had been quiet for him for a little while there.”
“I think the anniversary of his wife’s death is coming up,” Garrison said.
“Well, keep an eye on him,” I said.
“Will do.”
“Anything else?” I asked.
“Just the same small-town quietness.”
“Just so you know, Allie,” Ben said, “our guy from last night is talking. He told Johnny about every crime he’s ever committed. Looks like it might be a bigger circle there. We did good.”
Garrison jumped up. He snapped his fingers. “That’s what I want.”
“What?” I asked.
“I want in on the action,” Garrison said. “I can’t keep chasing high school kids through the woods.”
“You can’t because you can’t keep up?” I asked.
“I’ll take that good coffee back,” Garrison said.
“How did you get the good coffee?” Ben asked.
“Look,” Garrison said. He pointed at me. “I just want my name to be remembered next time anything crazy happens around here. That’s all.”
“Let’s hope nothing crazy is going on around here,” Laura’s voice said as she stepped into my office.
“Laura,” I said. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” she said. She looked around. “Did I miss the memo for a meeting?”
“Just catching up,” Ben said.
“Anything worth sharing?” Laura asked.
She had a defiant look to herself. Her hair done nicer. She stood taller. She almost had a mean look to her face.
It didn’t bother me as much as it did Ben and Garrison.
Garrison looked ready to crumble when she looked at him.
“Heard you got involved with Harry last night. Off duty.”
“Off duty, huh?” I asked.
“I was just helping the man,” Garrison said.
“You failed to mention that part,” I said.
“Ah, you wanted to tell the heroics to Detective Down and hope she would have your back when I found you,” Laura said.
“He even tried to bribe me with the good coffee,” I said.
“From my office?” Laura asked.
Garrison hung his head. “I saw Harry swerving. I stopped him and talked to him. Got him home safely. Last thing he needed was to be taken in here.”
“So you’re assuming he wasn’t drunk,” I said. “And you let him drive the rest of the way home.”
“I followed,” Garrison said.
“Why don’t you go think about it a little more?” Laura asked.
Garrison slipped out of the office.
Next, Laura looked at Ben.
It took him a couple seconds, but he got the hint and nodded to me and left.
Laura shut the door.
“That was swift,” I said. “Teach me your ways.”
“How are things?”
“Meaning?”
“You, Allie. How are you?”
“I’m good. Fine. Why do you ask?”
“Just checking on you.”
“I’m here. I’m sure you heard Ben and I helped Detective Barby.”
She nodded. “That’s good. I know you thrive on adventure. I just want to make sure you can enjoy the quiet times too.”
“I am. If you’re pushing into my personal life, which I appreciate, all is well. Lo is doing well. She’s seeing that psychologist I had you look into. It feels… okay.”
I left out the part about me secretly working the case for The One. I knew Laura wouldn’t like that at all.
“Okay,” Laura said. “I want to make sure you’re really okay. I know how hard it is to get things out in this job. Because you fear someone like me will put you on desk duty or send you home for a little while.”
“I promise you, everything is perfect.”
Just when I needed it, my phone began to ring.
“I better take this,” I said, even though I didn’t know the number calling.
Laura nodded and exited the office.
“Detective Allie Down,” I said, taking the call.
“Detective,” a woman’s voice said. “This is Danielle Strong.”
“Principal?” I asked, my heart sinking.
“Yes. I think you better come in to talk about your niece.”
“Lo is in trouble?”
“Yes.”
I shut my eyes.
Maybe things weren’t as perfect as I told Laura.
Chapter Eleven
Ben said he’d cover for me in case Laura was looking for me or if anything big came up.
I drove to Elm View High School with a thousand memories in my head.
The school hadn’t changed one bit from when I graduated many years ago.
The same spots were there, where Tommy would park on the way to school so we could kiss. Or where he’d tease and tempt me into skipping to spend the day with him.
The ugly brown bricks. The yellowish sign.
I could still picture the EVHS logo on the football player’s shirts and hoodies every Friday during football season.
The team never won anything worth caring about.
Sandemor was not known for its sports.
I parked in the visitors parking lot and walked to the front door.
When I pulled the door and found it locked, I looked to my right, remembering what year we were living in.
Back when I was in high school (and dinosaurs walked around) we could just come and go as we wanted. There were no security measures. We could leave school, drive somewhere for lunch, and maybe come back. It was a free-for-all in a sense. But it was also a long time before school shootings and terrorist attacks became something of the norm that made it impossible to not change things.
I pressed a silver button and waited for the secretary’s voice to ask who I was and why I was there.
After announcing my name and intentions, the door buzzed and the lock popped open.
I entered the building and had no choice but to go to the office as large, glass walls had been built to keep anyone from just wandering the halls.
It broke my heart to see things this way.
But it didn’t shock me.
Not after all I had seen from my years of work.
In the office, the secretary pointed to Principal Strong’s office.
I nodded.
The door opened a second later and Principal Strong emerged.
She was tall and skinny with gray streaks in her otherwise dark brown hair. She took her glasses off and smiled with a large, white smile.
“Come right this way, please,” she said.
I laughed in my head because I had only been in that office once before.
And it had to do with Tommy.
But that was a whole other story to tell.
When I stepped into the office, I saw Lo sitting in a chair.
She looked at me then looked forward.
My heart sank again.
“Lo, you may go wait in the main office, please,” Principal Strong said.
Lo stood, walked past me with her head down and exited the office.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Please. Sit.”
“I will,” I said.
“I’m just… I’m sure you know my niece has been through a lot.”
“Of course,” Principal Strong said. “But we have a zero tolerance for violence in our buildings.”
“Violence?” I asked.
“Lo struck another female student today.”
I shut my eyes for a second. “Okay…”
“As said, our policy is-”
“Zero tolerance,” I said. “I heard you. Can I ask why Lo did what she did?”
“That’s not relevant.”
“I’m not sure about that,” I said. “Lo has never gotten into trouble before.”
“Which is why I spoke with her and now I’m speaking with you. Generally, we would send the student home, contact the other parents, and inform the authorities.”
“You know I’m a detective,” I said.
“I know what Lo has been through.”
“I’m sure this was a misunderstanding,” I said. “Look, when I was her age…”
“Detective, things are different now,” Principal Strong said. “I know where you’re going with this conversation and it’s not that simple.”
“Is the other girl okay?”
“I’m sure she is,” Principal Strong said. “But we have protocols to follow.”
“Okay, so what happens now? Does Lo get suspended? Expelled? I mean, are you wondering if I’ll step in and use a favor to get her out of this with the police?”
“I would hope not, Detective,” Principal Strong said.
“Then what am I doing here?”
“I’m trying to be as honest as I can with the situation.”
“Two girls having a disagreement… I get it. Believe me, I get it.”
“She slapped the other student very hard,” Principal Strong said. “And she would have continued to strike the student if a friend didn’t pull her away. She was visibly upset when she was brought to my office. I could tell this wasn’t a regular thing for her. But as I tried to speak to her, something happened, Detective.”
“What?” I asked.
“She changed. Her entire demeanor changed. She grew agitated with me. She was disrespectful. Quite frankly, she looked angry.”
I looked at the door. “Can we bring her in and talk to her?”
“I’d rather not.”
“Okay.” I stood up. “Look, I respect your protocols and all, but this is a little too much. Whatever you do now to Lo will only compound whatever she’s feeling. She’s been working hard. Okay? So hard. And it’s been a tough year for her. When I think about what her life was like a year ago compared to now… it breaks my heart. I’m saying that as her aunt, as the person who takes care of her, and as someone who has seen a lot of heartache in their line of work. Now, I’m not asking you to bend or break the rules because I’m a detective. I’m asking you to think deeper or bigger about this situation. You’ve never had to speak to Lo before. Or me for that matter. I believe we met maybe once, right? Just as an introduction when Lo was coming back. She’s a great student. She’s a better person. She’s going to matter in this world, Principal Strong. And I can’t have her… I can’t… she can’t suffer anymore.”
“Which is what I wanted to hear you say,” Principal Strong said. She slow rose up. She adjusted her blouse and rubbed her right thumb to her pointer and middle fingers. “It’s Thursday. My suggestion is we take a long weekend. I hope you and Lo can have a productive conversation on this school’s tolerance for violence.”
“Which is zero,” I said.
Principal Strong pursed her lips. “Lo can come back Monday. She can sit in my office and complete her work for the day. As long as the other student isn’t truly injured or I don’t have any pushback from her parents, we should return to normal on Tuesday. But I can tell you this, Detective, there will be no third chance.”
“I wouldn’t expect it,” I said. “I don’t even consider this a second chance. I consider this us talking.”
“Then let me be very clear… there will be no second chance.”
“Understood,” I said. “Thank you for your time, Principal Strong.”
She dipped her head for a second and I wasted no time in getting out of there.
When I was in high school, the principal was an old man who smelled like cigarette smoke and loved to curse. He looked more like a mafia man than a principal.
But, again, that was a lifetime ago.
Lo stood up when she saw me and I pointed toward the door.
She shut her eyes.
I was angry.
But she made it hard to stay that way when I saw a tear roll down her cheek.
Chapter Twelve
We walked across the parking lot without saying a word.
Lo got into the car and slammed the door.
I stood with my door open and looked at the old building again.
I suddenly thought about Alex.
She and I had both been casted as nerds in school… until I met Tommy.
I couldn’t remember how many times she was as mad as I was right then at Lo because of something Tommy did where he dragged me into the middle of it.
In fact, there were times when I’d get into Alex’s car and slam the door and not want to talk to her.
Because I knew I was wrong. Yet I couldn’t stop myself because… Tommy.
This wasn’t about a boy though.
And this was a different time in the world.
I got into the car and started to drive.
“You have a long weekend, Lo,” I said. “I hope you’re happy with that. And you’re not going to just sit around and do nothing.”
“So what am I going to do?” Lo asked with attitude.
“Whatever I say to do.”
“Maybe I can clean up your sicko whiteboard.”
“Is that what this is about? Are you trying to punish me?”
“Nope.”
“Lo, stop this right now.”
“Stop what?”
“You hit someone. She wanted to call the cops.”
“She did. She called you.”
“This is serious,” I yelled. I felt myself slipping. “This is really serious. I don’t know who you think you are right now. I might not be your mother, but I’m the one taking care of you. It’s my rules, Lo. And this crap stops right now. I don’t care what’s happened to you, you don’t act like this. Ever!”
That last word bellowed through the car.
Then it was silence for a split second before Lo grabbed the door handle and tried to open the door.
“What are you doing?” I yelled.
“I’m out of here,” she said.
She opened the door and I hurried to pull over.
My car skidded to a stop and Lo was on the run.
For a second, I stared in complete shock.
I turned the car off and scrambled to get out to chase her down.
If Lo thought she was getting away from me, she was mistaken. I had climbed out of a police cruiser and chased down bad guys for years.
I shut my door and ran around the car and kicked her door shut.
As I started to run, I saw where Lo was going.
There was a playground up ahead.
Her arms and legs pumped, taking her there.
That’s when she stopped at a swing and sat down, her back to me, and hugged herself.
I paused and collected myself.
I calmed my heart a little, knowing Lo wasn’t making a true run for it.
As I approached the playground, I saw that it was empty.
Instead of saying anything, I simply stepped over to the swing next to Lo and sat down. I planted my feet to the ground and gently kicked back and forth.
Lo had her hands in her sleeves and stared forward.
This was the cold, sixteen-year-old I hate you and I’m not looking at you routine.
I took a deep breath.
“Yelling isn’t going to make things better,” I said. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
Lo
shrugged her shoulders.
“I shouldn’t have said that I don’t care… I didn’t mean that. I do care, Lo. I care more than I can ever explain to you. This isn’t about me though. I don’t want to see you end up getting hurt again. I don’t want you to hurt yourself. You’re smart. You only have a couple more years of high school left and then you’ll be off into the real world. Or college. Or… I don’t know. We never really talked about it.”
“I don’t know what I want to do with my life,” she said. “I don’t think I care.”
“That’s okay.”
“I was rude to Principal Strong. And I didn’t care.”
“She told me.”
“I hate this feeling.”
“I’m sure you do. Want me to call Dr. Deb?”
“No. No more talking. All there is… is talking. I don’t want to talk about the past anymore. I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to relive it.”
“Lo, that makes sense,” I said. “But you have to realize that if you don’t deal with the past, it will catch up to you. You think you can hide and hold it in and then… look what happened today.”
“What happened today?” Lo asked.
“You hit someone, Lo. You slapped someone. Your school considers that violence and in this day and age, there’s no tolerance for it. You’re lucky you’re not expelled.”
Lo looked at me. “Let them expel me.”
“Don’t say that.”
Lo stood up. “Don’t tell me what to say.”
“Lo…”
I saw her eyes fill with tears. “You don’t know what she said.”
“Who?”
“The girl I hit,” Lo said. “She said something about my mother.”
I quickly stood up. “What?”
“It’s happened before. Little comments here and there. But this one went too far. She basically said my mother was dead because of me. That she wanted to die to get away from me. And I just… lost it.”
Anger bubbled in my stomach. “I want the girl’s name. That is unacceptable. You’re not going to get suspended for hitting her when she’s saying-”
“Allie, it’s fine,” Lo said. “I slapped her. And I’d do it again. If that gets me kicked out of school, then fine. I’ll get kicked out. I don’t care.”
I had a lot to say and knew not one word would matter to Lo.
I swallowed those words down and slowly reached for her.