Burned

by Kristi Holl

  “Hi there, Jer,” Sam drawled, arms full with a saddle and blanket. “Y’all come to muck out stalls with me?”

  “Sorry, no,” she said, laughing. “Has Loretta had her kittens yet?”

  “Nope. Any day now. She’s big as a pig and has taken to hidin’ in the oddest places.” “I’ll keep an eye open for her.”

  Jeri filled a black bucket with water, got a plastic bowl of oats from the barrel, and then filled Prancer’s hanging mesh bag with hay. After twenty minutes of brushing him, combing his mane and tail, and feeding him an apple from the bucket Sam always kept filled, she walked back to the dorm with Nikki.

  Her turbulent feelings had settled some, at least enough to eat pizza and play four fast games of Ping-Pong with her friends. Even so, that night her fretful dreams were an odd mixture of Tim riding Prancer to the luau while she was fighting off the tentacles of a giant bean plant wrapped around her ankles.

  On Sunday morning, Jeri and Rosa were rushing out the door to catch their ride to church when their phone rang. Jeri grabbed it. It was Abby.

  “Hey there,” Jeri said. “Are you coming home today? We didn’t think they’d keep you overnight again.”

  “I hope they let me go soon. I feel better, just tired. Miss Barbara stayed with me last night.” Abby giggled. “She’s a hoot. When I couldn’t sleep, she taught me a cool game called backgammon. You play it with chips and dice.”

  “You were gambling with Miss Barbara?” Jeri said, rolling her eyes at Rosa.

  Abby laughed, which set off her coughing. “Not that kind of game,” she finally said. “I bet you were just leaving for church. I guess I’ll see you later.”

  They raced to catch their ride, but the minivan was already pulling out of the parking lot when Jeri flagged it down. She and Rosa squeezed into the last seats in the back.

  Every Sunday morning, two minivans and a small bus took girls to the Landmark Hills Community Church. Jeri loved going to church, mostly because of the youth program there. The sixth graders’ Sunday school teacher, Mr. Jenkins, made each student feel welcome … even special. Jeri thought he understood girls almost as well as her mom. But then, he had five daughters of his own. A “thorn among the roses,” he called himself.

  Jeri pulled her coat close around her as they hurried from the van into the church. She’d already told Rosa what Mr. Rankin had said when he heard about the shed fire. “Since it’s my fault if Tim loses his job, I want to put out a special edition. What do you think about asking people to come forward with information about the shed fire?”

  Rosa hesitated. “Just be ready. You’re gonna get teased big-time.”

  “I won’t mention Tim’s name or say it’s to help him.”

  “I didn’t want to tell you, but people know he’s a suspect. Mr. Rankin—or somebody else—has been spreading the idea around. I heard people talking at breakfast.”

  Guilt washed over Jeri when she heard that. Mr. Rankin shouldn’t be spreading rumors about Tim. Why was he so interested in pointing the finger at his helper anyway? Jeri tripped over her own feet as something occurred to her. Mr. Rankin had carried the mop water up to the third floor of Herald House — just before the fire broke out. Mr. Rankin had been in the shed showing Tim what to do earlier in the day. Had he started both fires then?

  Was it possible? Was Mr. Rankin the arsonist — and determined to hang the crimes on Tim?

  Rosa sailed through the open church door, her teal tier skirt swirling around her. “Hurry up,” she called over her shoulder. Rosa might be right about the teasing if she published a request for information. Well, she’d just have to deal with the teasing when it happened—if it happened. She owed it to Tim to do whatever she could.

  In the hall outside the sixth-grade class, Jeri double-checked her striped pants and berry cardigan. Rosa smoothed her long-sleeved, lace-bottomed tee, tossed her waist-length hair over her shoulders, and swept into the room ahead of her. Jeri sighed. No matter how she looked, it was like Rosa was in color while she was in black and white.

  She trailed behind Rosa into the brightly lit room. While taking off her jacket, and without being obvious, she glanced around the room to see who was there. Yes! Dallas was at a back table, talking to Jonathan Fielding. She took a seat at the table across the room.

  “Settle down, people,” Mr. Jenkins said. “Now that the girls’ school is represented, let’s get started. Isn’t Abby with you?”

  Jeri shook her head. “She’s in the hospital.” A chorus of “What?” and “What’d she say?” erupted. Jeri raised her voice. “On Thursday there was an explosion and fire in the biology lab. Abby breathed in a lot of smoke, and they took her in an ambulance.” She felt Dallas’s eyes on her, but she stared straight ahead. “She came home Friday, but yesterday she got sick again and went back to the hospital. She might come home today.”

  “She must have been seriously hurt!” Mr. Jenkins said.

  Jeri nodded. “She had the flu all last week too. I think she was already weak before the fire.”

  “I’ll call her this afternoon—maybe she’d like a visitor if she’s still there. We’ll certainly be praying for her.” Mr. Jenkins wrote her name on the whiteboard. “What other prayer requests?”

  After listing several more, they took turns praying. Jeri smiled inwardly as she listened to Dallas pray for Abby. Jeri felt uncomfortable praying out loud in class, but Dallas never sounded awkward. He said he intended to run a ranch someday, but Jeri thought he’d make a great pastor.

  After class, Jeri’s heart skipped a beat when she saw Dallas working his way toward her.

  “I sure hope Abby gets better,” he said. “Tell her we missed her.”

  “I will.” Jeri grabbed her Bible and jacket. She, Dallas, and Rosa walked out together, heading toward the sanctuary with the rest of their class.

  “See ya in there,” Rosa said, stopping off at the ladies’ room. “Save me a place.”

  “Okay.” Jeri got a drink from the water fountain. When she turned around, she was surprised to find Dallas waiting for her.

  “Can I ask you something?” he said.

  “Sure.” Jeri held her breath. Would he ask her to the dance? He didn’t look nervous or anything. He probably just wanted to borrow a pen. “What?” she prompted, amazed how casual she sounded, given the flutterings in her stomach.

  “Are you going to the luau next weekend?” he asked. Her heart skipped a beat. Then another one. Here it comes! “I’m planning to.”

  “Oh, good. You want a partner for the races?” Jeri’s heart sank. “Um, well …”

  “You like to run, right? I heard you were going out for track next month.”

  “I am.” She groaned inwardly. “I already told someone I’d be his partner for the three-legged races though.”

  “That’s okay.” Dallas’ crooked smile deepened one dimple. “Guess I should have asked sooner. I’ll see you there then. And no offense, but hopefully I’ll beat you.”

  Jeri sighed and watched him join Jonathan at the activities bulletin board. He didn’t seem the least bit disappointed that she’d turned him down. Or curious about who her partner was. With mixed feelings, she went into the sanctuary.

  Rosa took forever joining her. The first praise and worship song was half over when she finally slid into the seat next to Jeri. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I got stuck talking to Dallas.”

  Jeri felt her stomach clench. “What’d he want?”

  “He needed a partner for the races at the luau. I warned him I’m not athletic, and we’ll probably come in last.”

  Grateful that it was time to pray, Jeri was spared having to answer. She was so tempted to tell Rosa that Dallas had asked her first. Rosa probably wouldn’t even care. During the rest of the service, Jeri stood and sang at all the right times, then sat and pretended to listen. If someone had offered her a hundred dollars afterwards for a summary of the sermon, she couldn’t have given one. She concentrated instead on breathing arou
nd the huge lump in her throat and trying not to cry.

  She’d had to turn down Dallas’s invitation — and he’d asked Rosa! And her roommate was going with him! How could she?

  True, Rosa didn’t know how she felt about Dallas. It was the only thing all year that she hadn’t told Rosa. She just couldn’t. Rosa had so many friends that Jeri didn’t think she’d understand. And she couldn’t run the risk of Rosa—in her effort to help—marching right up to Dallas and telling him Jeri liked him. She’d die!

  Oh why had she felt so sorry for Tim that she’d agreed to be his partner at the luau? She’d been waiting all year for Dallas to single her out. Now that he had—even just as a friend—she’d had to say no! The worst part was he hadn’t even seemed to care. He’d substituted Rosa for her with no trouble at all.

  Jeri was thankful to have a whole hour before facing Rosa on the ride home. By the time church was over, her feelings had settled down some. She kept waiting for Rosa to mention Dallas, but she never did. Jeri finally realized it was no big deal to her. It was like she’d already forgotten about it.

  That afternoon, Rosa enlisted Nikki’s help to work on papier-mâché palm tree decorations in the study room downstairs. Up in their room, Jeri composed a special news bulletin asking for eyewitnesses. When finished, she ran downstairs to hand her friends copies. She had to step over boxes of candles and four-inch clay pots in the shape of pineapples. “What do you think?” Jeri asked. “If the media lab was open today, I’d run off more copies now and hand them out.”

  Nikki draped another gloppy strip of newspaper over a wire form. “Email me the file. I’ll print you enough copies to give out.”

  “Really? Thanks! I’ll email it now.”

  Within an hour, Jeri had sixty copies ready to hand out. She, Nikki, and Rosa stood in the front hallway, each holding twenty. “Let’s split up the area — ”

  Suddenly the front door opened. “Can I come in?” “Abby, you’re back!” Jeri cried.

  “We just got here. Miss Barbara’s parking the car.” Her voice sounded lower, still kind of scratchy.

  “Does it hurt to talk?” Jeri asked.

  “Not too much.” She hung her jacket on the hall tree. “What’s going on here?”

  Jeri handed her a paper. “This is a special edition. Did you hear about yesterday’s fire?”

  Abby nodded. “Miss Barbara said no one got hurt this time though.”

  “Not in the fire,” Jeri said, “but Tim got accused—falsely, I think. He was seen running away from the shed. And then Mr. Rankin heard me ask him about it and said he’d get Tim fired.” She sighed. “I feel so rotten about that.”

  Abby quickly read the article. “This is good. The sooner your papers get out, the sooner someone will come forward.”

  “Exactly.” Jeri hesitated. “I hate to leave when you just got back …”

  “Don’t worry about it. I promised Miss Barbara I’d grab a kip right away.”

  “Aren’t you sick of sleeping?” Rosa asked.

  “Kind of, but there were tons of interruptions in the hospital. I’m wiped out. Neither one of us got much sleep.” Abby hugged them each quickly and then headed upstairs. “Thanks for your cards, mates,” she called over her shoulder. “And your prayers.”

  “Just get better.” Jeri grabbed her stack of papers, leaving some in the living room for the girls in her own house. Then Nikki and Rosa followed her outside, closing the door behind them.

  Within forty-five minutes, all sixty papers were handed out. Each girl in Hampton House got one. Jeri gave Lyndsey ten papers to hand out to the girls in McClellan. Rosa headed off to post papers in the lounges of the other dorms. Nikki’s job was to thumbtack papers to the bulletin boards in the library, dining hall, sports center, and theater lobby.

  There, Jeri thought as she headed back to the dorm, that should get someone’s attention.

  Rosa and Nikki were already playing a game of Catch Phrase in the lounge with Mariah and Kelli. Jeri started upstairs to check on Abby when Mariah called out.

  “Hey, Jeri, I saw your paper. I want to report something!”

  “Really?” Jeri ran back down the stairs. “What?”

  “Looks like you’re trying to get your boyfriend off the hook.”

  Nikki shoved Mariah on the shoulder. “Cut it out.”

  “I’m just reporting what I see!” Mariah grinned. “His stuffed Easter bunny was too sweet. I understand why you don’t want him going to juvie jail.”

  Heat crawled up Jeri’s neck and face, setting her cheeks on fire. No one really believed Tim was her boyfriend. Or … did they? She turned and raced upstairs, anxious to talk to Abby about it. Maybe she’d tell her what happened that morning with Dallas too. It had been sitting heavily on her mind all afternoon. Abby always listened—and most importantly, kept stuff to herself.

  Jeri tapped lightly on Abby’s door. When there was no answer, she opened it several inches. Abby was still napping. The shades were down, and Nikki’s globe lamp gave off the only light in the room. Abby must have gone to sleep right after they left.

  Disappointed, Jeri pulled the door softly closed. She guessed her problems could wait till tomorrow. They’d have to.

  8

  race to the finish

  Jeri bit her lip. She ought to go back downstairs. She couldn’t investigate the fires by hiding in her room. She pulled her shoulders back. If it meant being teased about Tim, she’d just have to endure it.

  Thankfully, when she got downstairs, their game was over and Mariah had left. Jeri joined the girls who were sitting around the fireplace. Pen in hand, she asked the group if anyone knew anything that might help her. While Kelli was putting the game away, she said that she’d heard Mr. Rankin had a jail record. Maybe it was for arson. Jeri made a note to find out — or tell the fire marshal to check on it. Then Leah suggested that the school needed money and maybe someone was torching buildings so they could collect the insurance. That made sense to Jeri. She’d mention that too.

  “And I saw the security guard near the shed before the fire broke out,” a girl named Mia said.

  “Really? What time?” Jeri asked.

  “I’m not sure.” Mia wrinkled her nose. “Just before lunch, I think.”

  Hmmm. He’d told Jeri his shift ended at ten. If so, what was he doing around the shed at noon? Since he had keys to all the buildings, making rounds gave him an excuse to be wherever he wanted. Jeri wrote down everything they said.

  On Monday morning, since Abby had been ordered to take one more day in bed, Jeri trudged alone across campus to breakfast, wishing the sun would come out. The overcast sky matched her spirits today. When she spotted the Head at the top of the dining-hall steps, she asked about Tim.

  “He’s suspended from working here,” the headmistress said gravely, “until we get to the bottom of who’s setting the fires.”

  “Is he suspended from helping at the luau too?”

  The Head frowned. “I’ll have to think about that.” She cleared her throat. “You might want to ask yourself if you bear any responsibility if Tim is our arsonist.”

  “Me?” Jeri swallowed hard. “How could I be blamed for that?”

  “Your newspaper article about Lyndsey. Don’t you suppose you gave Tim—or someone else—the idea that setting fires would make them a celebrity?”

  “That’s not why I did it!”

  “I realize that, but if you had checked with me or the fire marshal, we could have warned you about the dangers of copycat arsonists.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jeri barely whispered.

  As she picked up her breakfast, Jeri felt a ten-ton weight pressing down on her. Suddenly the waffles — one of her favorite breakfasts—weren’t so appetizing. Over breakfast, the girls at her table talked about just two things: the fires and the luau on Saturday night.

  Talk about the fire reminded Jeri that she’d cost Tim his job. If Tim didn’t get to come to the luau, that would be her fault too. Talk
about the luau sank her mood even further, as she imagined Dallas and Rosa laughing together while she tripped clumsily along in a three-legged race with Tim.

  Stop it! she scolded herself. You’re making yourself miserable. They were all friends, and Rosa had had no idea how Jeri felt about Dallas, or she wouldn’t have agreed to be his partner. Jeri knew that, and yet she couldn’t help the jealousy that kept popping up. For weeks Jeri had looked forward to the luau. Now, with it only five days away, she dreaded it.

  After breakfast, she was scheduled to go to the library because the biology lab was still being repaired. There she picked up her book on hold and finished her math in half an hour. Now what? I wish I could call Mom and talk. Jeri glanced at the row of computers near the window. Two were empty. Grabbing her bag, she decided to email Mom. It was better than nothing.

  In a long message, she poured out everything about Tim, the stuffed bunny, the ridicule, and having to turn Dallas down for the races. She clicked send, knowing her email was a jumbled mess, but feeling lighter for having dumped the load on Mom.

  While she had the computer, Jeri remembered Mr. Rankin. Could she check him out online and see if he had a criminal record? A quick search brought up several private investigation agencies. The least expensive report cost thirty dollars, payable by credit card. She slumped back in her chair. So much for that idea.

  Well, she’d research stuff about arson instead. There must be arsonist profiles or descriptions somewhere. Maybe it’d give her an idea or remind her of someone. She wasn’t any fire investigator, but she knew people that the fire marshal didn’t.

  What she found shocked her. According to the FBI, half the people arrested for setting fires were younger than eighteen. And kids who set fires resulting in property damage or injury could be arrested for arson. According to one article, most arsonists had mental and social problems. They would continue to set fires until their problems were healed.

  Jeri sat back with a feeling of foreboding. The description of a typical juvenile arsonist sounded disturbingly like Tim. Mentally and socially, he was way behind other guys his age. He was often treated like a social outcast, which had to be lonely and painful.