The first place I looked was behind the furnace. I had seen the bomb there in my vision. But there was no bomb. Dean and I searched the furnace room from top to bottom. I looked at my watch again. “Time is just about up. If there really is a bomb, it could blow any moment.”
“We should get the hell out of here,” Dean said.
I nodded. I didn’t know what else to do. I followed Dean upstairs. He disappeared into a crowd of kids, looking for his son. I was surprised to see students were entering the halls from outside. Cop cars and fire trucks once again filled the school parking lot.
I saw Fire Chief Wallis in the hall outside the principal’s office, talking to one of the cops. He was dressed in full firefighting gear. I pushed my way through the crowd of kids to reach him. “What’s going on?” I asked Jim. “Why aren’t you evacuating the kids?”
“We did, briefly. But then one of the students told us who made the threat on Twitter. The kid was stupid enough to post the threat on a school computer and then brag about it to the others in the room. The cops tracked him down, and he confessed. It’s just another prank, Claire. There is no bomb.”
“Was it that kid with the pierced lip? Spider?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“So Tyler may have been telling the truth,” I said. “Maybe Tyler didn’t make that first bomb threat this morning. Maybe it was Spider.” Spider had bumped into me just before I had that vision in the hall. Maybe then it was Spider, and not the janitor’s son, who had triggered my vision. “Where is Spider now?” I asked the chief.
“Officer Banks is questioning him in the office. Principal Sloan has called his parents.”
“I’ve got to talk to that kid. He may be the one who will set that bomb, if he hasn’t already.”
“Claire, don’t!” Jim called, but I was already heading into Principal Sloan’s office.
Officer Banks stood as I rushed in.
“Claire, this is a private meeting,” Principal Sloan said.
The chief caught up to me then. “I’m sorry,” he said to Officer Banks. “I tried to stop her.”
“I need to talk to this kid,” I said.
Banks blocked my way. “No, you don’t.”
“Please, just let me touch him.”
“Touch him?”
If I could just touch his arm, I might have a vision of what he was up to. I pushed past the cop and reached for Spider’s arm. Even in that moment I knew what I must look like—a crazy woman lunging at this kid. Officer Banks grabbed my arm to stop me.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked me.
“I need to know if he’s the one who planted the bomb.”
“No one accused him of making a bomb,” said Principal Sloan. “He admitted to posting the bomb threat on Twitter. That’s all.”
“I didn’t make a bomb,” Spider said. “It was just a joke, you know? The last bomb threat wasted the morning. I wanted the afternoon off too.”
“A bomb threat is deadly serious,” Officer Banks said. “What if there was a real emergency—a fire or an accident—and we were stuck here making sure there was no bomb? Lives could be lost.” He eyed me. “And you would be responsible.”
I hung my head, feeling the heat of shame wash over me. Officer Banks clearly thought I was as reckless as this kid.
“Please wait outside,” he said. As I stepped into the hall, he talked to both the principal and Fire Chief Wallis. I strained to hear what they were saying but couldn’t.
Jim finally left the office and approached me. “Let’s go,” he said. He held my arm a little too hard as he pulled me through the crowd of kids toward the front entrance.
“Jim, what’s going on?” I asked.
“Banks advised the admin to ban you from the school, and they have.”
“Principal Sloan banned me?”
“You aren’t allowed to step foot on school property.”
“But I’m a reporter. I have to come up here when there’s a school event. It’s my job.”
“I’m sorry, Claire. You’re not allowed to be here.”
“For how long?”
The chief led me outside. “Indefinitely,” he said. “Given how you behaved today, I’m not sure they’ll ever let you back.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“Claire, you brought this on yourself.”
“Jim, please, you’ve got to believe me. Someone will set a bomb in this school. Spider may have already. Unless we do something, this school will explode. All these students could die.”
Jim led me to my car. “I did believe you, Claire. I stuck my neck out to protect you. Now I’m a laughingstock. You’ve not only ruined your own reputation. You’ve hurt mine too.”
“I’m so sorry, Jim.”
“Go home,” the chief said. Then he headed back into the school.
Sitting around home was the last thing I wanted to do. I needed to bury myself in my work. I got in my car and drove to the newspaper office. I had lost the respect of both Fire Chief Wallis and Officer Banks. I knew I had lost my good name. At least, I thought, I still had my job.