| |
Shandra snuggled into Ryan’s bed. He’d dropped her off less than thirty minutes ago and headed to the Sheriff’s Department to interview the Lange family. She’d accompanied him to the Paulson home. The father had been as irate about his daughter’s harassment as Mr. Shaw. But he’d been less dramatic and more thoughtful of his daughter’s feelings. They’d heard about Mr. Huntley’s death but had believed it to be an accident. That he’d slipped on ice and hit his head. Ryan had left them believing that.
Jennifer, from the kitchen, wasn’t home. Her mother said she’d gone out for the evening with her friends.
Shandra patted Sheba’s head, running the events of the day over in her mind. The visit to the Lawrence family had her wondering about Lenny. She’d liked Lana from the first day the girl had walked into class. Her brother appeared to be the complete opposite of his twin. And the names he gave Ryan... It was a quarter of the school’s female students and a couple of students’ mothers.
“I really need to shove this aside and sleep,” she said to Sheba as the dog nudged her with her big wet nose.
Using a breathing method her yoga instructor friend had taught her, she drifted off to sleep.
Mr. Huntley appeared in a long hallway. His arms elongated and snaked along the floor, touching the females. Shandra shivered. Grandmother floated along the ceiling of the building, she handed out knives to all the women. They whacked at his arms but everywhere they cut his arms, he grew another hand.
“Ella, this isn’t working. How can we stop him?” Shandra pleaded, as one of his hands headed her direction. Ryan stepped in front of her. The hand turned, heading for another woman. “He has to be stopped,” Shandra declared.
An inhuman voice said, “He will be.” Moments later, Mr. Huntley’s body crumpled to the ground and his hands and arms shriveled up.
Shandra woke, trembling. Who had stopped the man? What was Ella telling her? That his tentacles went beyond the school?
~*~
Ryan sat in the interview room with Mr. and Mrs. Lange and Travis. Shandra had told him to interview the younger brother first. To allay his fears for his brother.
“Mr. and Mrs. Lange and Travis, I asked you to come in here tonight, so we can clear up some information I learned while interviewing the teachers at Warner High.”
The adults nodded. Travis had yet to look at him.
“I was told that Travis had some trouble with Mr. Huntley—”
“He didn’t do it. He didn’t do it.” The boy started repeating.
“What didn’t he do?” Ryan asked.
“He didn’t hurt Mr. Huntley. He didn’t do it.” Travis repeated, staring at the table, his head moving back and forth in a negative manner.
“Who didn’t hurt Mr. Huntley?” Ryan asked, moving to get the boy’s attention.
“He’s been repeating this ever since I picked him up from school,” Mrs. Lange said.
“We asked Boyd if he knew anything and he just shrugged,” Mr. Lange added.
Ryan could tell he wasn’t going to get anywhere with Travis. “Mr. Lange, would you sit in with me as I talk with Boyd?”
“He didn’t do it!” Travis said, emphatically.
“I just want to ask him his side of the story,” Ryan said to the boy.
“Mrs. Lange, you and Travis can remain in here.” Ryan stood, leading the father out into the hall. He faced the man. “Is there anyone Travis might talk to?”
“He just tells things when he’s ready, there really isn’t any coaxing information out of him. Sometimes if you ask the right question it triggers a response.” He raised his hands palm up. “Travis reveals what he wants when his mind and mouth connect.”
Ryan nodded, not happy with this information but maybe he could get the older brother to crack. He motioned for Mr. Lange to enter the room across the hall from where they’d just been.
“Dad, can we leave now?” A larger, more alert version of Travis asked when Mr. Lange entered the room.
“Not yet, son. Answer this detective’s questions and then we can go.” Mr. Lange took a supportive seat next to his son.
Ryan sat down across the table from the two. “Hello, Boyd. I’m Detective Greer. I was called to your school because Mr. Huntley had a fatal fall behind the Art Quad.”
The young man’s expression became blank at the mention of Mr. Huntley.
“I was wondering if you could tell me if you’d seen the teacher today and when?”
When Boyd didn’t appear to want to talk, he added, “You were witnessed holding Mr. Huntley up against a wall in the Art Quad at the end of lunch break.”
His face became stormy, his eyes blazed with anger. “He made fun of Travis in front of the art class. Called him a stupid retard. That is no way for a teacher to act.”
“You’re right, that is no way for a teacher to act. Why didn’t you and Travis go to the principal?” Ryan continued to study the young man. So many emotions flit across his face it was like watching a fast-forwarded movie.
“Mr. Pawner didn’t listen to the girls who complained about Mr. Huntley touching them or saying things a grownup shouldn’t say. Why would he care that the teacher had called my brother a name?” Rage was the only word that described the young man’s red face, bulging eyes, and curled lip.
Mr. Lange’s face had taken on a ruddier hue at his son’s comments. “How had this man continued to teach at the school when he behaved this way?”
“That’s one to take up with the principal and the school board. My job is to find out who killed Mr. Huntley.” Ryan stared at Boyd.
“You think it was my son?” Mr. Lange nearly came up out of his chair.
“He is the person seen arguing and slamming the teacher against a wall.”
Boyd narrowed his eyes. “I wanted to hurt him like he hurt my brother, but Ms. Higheagle came into the quad. I tossed him against the wall and left. After telling Travis everything was okay, I went in the weight room and lifted weights the rest of the day. I didn’t want to go to classes. I needed to work off the anger.”
“Did anyone see you in the weight room?”
“Mr. Shepard, Mr. Marlow, Lenny Lawrence.” He nodded. “I think those were the only people I saw.”
“When did you find out about Mr. Huntley?” Ryan wondered how the word spread around the school.
“I was still in the weight room. Oh, Nate Bernley saw me. That’s who told me about Huntley.” His gaze dropped to his hands. “I couldn’t stop grinning when he told me.” He glanced at his father. “I know that isn’t how I should have felt, but that teacher had been hurting Travis and so many of my friends....”
His father put a hand on Boyd’s shoulder and squeezed. “I wish you would have told me all that was going on. I would have gone to the school board.”
“Even the teachers felt helpless, what good would a parent saying anything do?” Boyd’s comment showed how useless the school felt about anything being done to Mr. Huntley.
“Your father and other parents sitting in on a board meeting could have made Mr. Huntley go away. There is power in numbers.”
The boy’s gaze flicked to him and then back to his father.
“You may leave now.” Ryan watched the father and son stand and walk out the door together.
He crossed to the door and watched the family be reunited. The brothers hugged, and Travis remained with an arm around Boyd as they walked out of the station.
Ryan wrote down the names of the people Boyd had said had seen him lifting weights. He found it interesting that Lenny had been there considering how much time he spent in the Art Quad.