Deviant (19 page)

There was no one there.

Next to him was a broken tree branch.

Could it have just snapped and fallen?

He got to his feet, wiped the snow from his jacket, and looked around him. It was dark, but there was not even a hint of motion and no sound of running.

He walked through the woods to where he thought the person had been, right behind Tony's house. If that
was
the cat killer, perhaps Snowflake, Tony's cat, was going to be his next target.

But then again maybe it was just a homeless person, or a bear.

No, bears did not wear sneakers.

Danny pulled himself up onto the fence and gazed into Tony's backyard. A swing set covered with snow, no tracks in the fresh powder.

He looked back into the woods.

“Hello?” he said.

Silence.

He stood there.

Was someone watching him or not? How could you tell?

“I'm not afraid of you!” he said.

He stood there for a while longer and then went home.

Walt and Juanita were making breakfast.

“What were you doing outside?” Walt asked.

“I thought I saw someone. I went to check it out,” Danny said.

“Oh my God, are you crazy? Why did you do that?” Juanita said. Then to Walt, “I knew we shouldn't have taken the kids to that prison. Filling their heads with crazy stories. What was I thinking?” She seemed freaked, so Danny decided not to tell her that the person had maybe tried to hit him.

“It might have been a bear, son. They have bears all over this place,” Walt said.

“A bear!” Juanita looked at Walt. “I know your views, but if bears are starting to come up to the house, maybe we should get a gun?”

Danny went upstairs.

When he got out of the shower, he rummaged in his school blazer, found Tom's pager, and sent a text to Tony.

myb hv sn ct kllr! or myb hmless dude.

He waited for a reply, but none came.

He put on the rest of his school uniform.

While they were all eating breakfast there was a knock at the front door. Walt opened it to Tony's father, who looked upset.

Mr. Meadows muttered something to Walt. Walt shook his head. Mr. Meadows then pointed at Danny and Walt shook his head again. Mr. Meadows nodded, pointed his finger at Danny, and tried to come inside the house. Walt put his hand up to stop him. Mr. Meadows fumed for a second and then turned on his heel and walked off.

Walt came back to the breakfast table and sat down.

“What was that all about?” Juanita asked.

Walt sighed. “He thinks he saw Danny creeping around outside their daughter Antonia's window this morning. He was pretty angry.”

“What?” Danny said, aghast.

“Don't worry about it, son. I took care of it,” Walt said.

Juanita looked furious. “Did you tell him about the bear?”

“He thinks I was spying on his daughter?” Danny said.

“Look, he wasn't talking a lot of sense. He says you came into their house the other day, too,” Walt said.

“Jesus!” Danny muttered.

“Danny?” his mom asked.

“What?”

“Did you go inside their house?”

Danny's cheeks were burning with outrage. “Are you kidding me? She's been in
here
three times!”

Juanita reached across the table and tried to take Danny's hand. “It's different for a girl, Danny. You can't just go into a girl's room, and you can't go outside her window, either.”

Danny stood up, knocking over his orange juice. “I
wasn't spying on anybody! What's the matter with you people?”

“Sit down, Danny, I told him you weren't outside. No point in mentioning the bears or anything else,” Walt said.

Danny looked incredulously at the pair of them. Were they nuts? What was it that made adults unable to listen?

He seethed for a second and then grabbed his binder and coat.

“I'm off to school,” he said.

When he got outside, he saw Tony in the back of her father's Mercedes, driving out of the cul-de-sac. She saw him, but she didn't wave back when he gave her a little half wave from the hip. Maybe she didn't see the wave or maybe she thought he really was a creepo hanging around outside her bedroom window at five in the morning in freezing temperatures.

“Hell with her,” Danny said.

He went inside again, got Sunflower, and strapped it to his backpack. If Tony wasn't going to walk with him, he could freewheel to school from the top of the hill.

He skated along Johnson Close, pulling on his ridiculous white gloves as he did so.

There was a blue sky, it was cold, and he was still hatless.

At the junction of Manitou and Alameda he saw Charlie and Hector waiting under one of those electric heaters the county had installed at the bus stops. If you stood directly underneath one, the temperature was a balmy ten degrees above freezing; a few feet to the left and it was close to and
often under zero. But CJHCS was only seven blocks away. Were they lazy or just really cold?

“Hi,” Hector called out.

“Hey, we've been waiting for you!” Charlie added.

“Oh my God, you're going to mug me at the bottom of my own street? You guys are lame,” Danny said.

Hector shook his head. “We only want to talk to you.”

“We want to share with you what we've got, and you can share with us what you've got,” Charlie said civilly.

Danny skidded to a halt. Charlie had a sneering, condescending look on his face and Hector looked tired and a little frazzled.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Danny said. “Share what?”

“The cat killings,” Charlie said. “Hec says you went to see Bob Randall over at the prison. He gave you a profile of the guy who's been killing cats, right?”

Danny said nothing.

“Well, after Bible study on Sunday we talked to Sheriff Rossi about Sarah Kolpek's cat,” Hector said.

“We can share with you what we've got and you can share with us what you've got. How does that sound?” Charlie said again.

“I don't think so,” Danny said.

Hector took Charlie to one side and whispered something to him.

“Look,” Hector said. “We got off on the wrong foot. All we want to know is what your friend Bob told you.”

“He's not my friend,” Danny said, unwilling to be associated with his father's criminal pals.

Todd came running up Alameda and joined them. His hair was unkempt and he was out of breath and attempting to tie his tie.

“Where have you been?” Charlie asked.

“I had things to do,” Todd said.

Danny looked at Todd. He knew nothing about him. Where he was from, what his parents did. Zero. He looked as if he might be one of those “troubled kids” Mr. Lebkuchen was always talking about who'd been turned around by Direct Instruction and the silent system. As Todd tried again to tie his tie Danny noticed that his fingernails were dirty. He, at least, would benefit from wearing gloves to school.

“Let me help you with that,” Hector said, and everyone stopped talking while Hector tied Todd's tie.

“Let's go to school. Walk with us, Danny,” Charlie said.

“OK,” Danny replied.

“He joined us?” Todd asked when they got moving. His face was pale and he had dark eyes that radiated a sort of animal intelligence.

“Not yet. We were asking Danny what his friend Bob Randall told him about the cat killer,” Hector said.

Todd flinched and said nothing.

“So what do you know?” Charlie asked.

“You go first,” Danny said.

Hector shrugged. “OK. Sheriff Rossi said that Sarah's
cat was strung up by a clothesline tied to the tree. Sarah's mom said that the cat was really old. So that rules out an accident. How could it have gotten up there, and how did it get the clothesline around its neck? It doesn't make sense. Someone did it. Someone grabbed the cat and hung it.”

“Who would do a thing like that?” Todd wondered.

“I don't know,” Hector said, “but Danny does, don't you, Danny? Your turn.”

“I didn't agree to anything. I'm outta here, guys,” Danny said with a grin.

“You little punk!” Hector said. “You're making a mistake. You're committing social suicide hanging with them. You should be with us. That Tom Sloane is a total freak, Cooper is a weirdo, Tony's probably a lesbo, and I hate to tell you this but if you're hanging out with them, you're going to be in the weirdo camp too, pal.”

Danny was suddenly angry. “What did you say about Tony?”

Hector smiled. “I said she's probably a lesbo.”

“What the hell were you doing at her house on Saturday night?” Danny asked.

“Having dinner,” Hector said with evident satisfaction. He had found the chink in Danny's armor and he was going to exploit it for all it was worth. “Tony and I were finalists for the YCCY Award last year, and Mr. Meadows knows my dad. Didn't Tony tell you? I go over there sometimes. She comes to my house.”

“What's the YCCY?” Danny couldn't help himself asking.

“Young Christian Coloradan of the Year. Oh yeah, we go way back. Old friends from kindergarten.”

“Some friend, the way you talk about her …”

“What's the matter? Are you in love with her or something?” Charlie mocked.

“His freako friend is,” Hector sneered.

Danny couldn't think of anything to say except what the girls had said to him in the Colorado Springs Starbucks. “Yeah, well, April Donovan says it's you that's the total weirdo.”

Hector frowned. “How's that?”

“She says that your dad's the executioner on death row and he pushes the button and he kills people and everybody hates him and you're completely screwed up because of it. Hannibal-style,” Danny said.

“April Donovan said that?”

“Yeah, pal, she did.”

“Oh man, that's so wrong. My dad works on death row, but it's the doctors who administer the lethal injection. But so what if he did? It'd be a cool job. I'm not screwed up. That's so funny that she said that,” Hector replied quickly.

“He told you,” Charlie said.

“Yeah,” Todd added.

“
Niños blancos
… see you guys,” Danny muttered. He bomb-dropped onto his board and began kicking away from them.

“Remember, ten fifteen this morning, you'll see who's running the school and it's not Tom and his loser circle! And
hey, we're giving you that for nothing,” Hector shouted after him.

“Thanks,” Danny said, and kicked hard all the way to school.

An hour and a bit later Danny was sitting at the window seat in the corner, watching the clock while Miss Benson read through the new heading on her teacher book. Clock-watching was a normal part of Danny's school day, but as the minute hand marched around to 10:13 he grew especially engaged.

Was something really going to happen?

He looked at Hector and Charlie.

What were they planning?

For a moment he worried about a Columbine-style thing. Littleton wasn't too far away … but then, to his surprise, at exactly 10:15 Mr. Lebkuchen knocked on the door and entered.

Everyone stood. Mr. Lebkuchen motioned them to sit. He smiled at the kids and then turned to Miss Benson, announcing in a quiet voice, “Miss Benson, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to pack up your things.”

Miss Benson's glassy eyes became even more opaque. “I'm sorry?” she said.

“We should discuss it outside,” Mr. Lebkuchen said.

“Discuss what outside?” Miss Benson wondered.

“I'm sorry to say that we are terminating your contract.”

“What? Why?”

“Wouldn't you rather talk in my office?” Mr. Lebkuchen asked.

“Like hell I would. I've been with this school from the beginning. And you're telling me this now in front of my own class? What is this crap?”

Mr. Lebkuchen tucked his arms behind his back and interlaced his fingers—rather like an angry baseball manager who doesn't want to get into a shoving match with an ump, Danny thought.

Mr. Lebkuchen pointed at a boy named James Nguyen.

“James, you're running the class for the time being. Danny, please get Miss Benson's bag and coat. Miss Benson, please come with me.”

Mr. Lebkuchen walked out of the classroom and Miss Benson had no choice but to follow him. Danny grabbed her coat and followed them outside as James began reading the teacher's portion of the lesson.

Danny followed Mr. Lebkuchen and Miss Benson to the principal's office. He handed Miss Benson her stuff.

“Thank you, Danny. Now, go back to your class. There's a good lad,” Mr. Lebkuchen said.

Danny saw that there were tears in Miss Benson's eyes and her bottom lip was trembling. Mr. Lebkuchen, by contrast, was completely emotionless.

“Run along, Danny,” Mr. Lebkuchen said, closing the office door.

Danny thought about going back to class, but his natural curiosity kept him outside the door.

“What is all this?” Miss Benson demanded angrily.

“Well, if you must know, you've been triangulating, Miss Benson.”

“Triangulating?”

“In violation of your contract, you and Miss Indurian wrote an article for the
Journal of Secondary Education
criticizing the school and its methods.”

“That was two months ago.”

“It was only brought to my attention recently. You are dismissed, Miss Benson. Now, please take your remaining things and leave. Miss Bailey will have a check for you in her office. I think you will find that we've been quite generous, considering your blatant breach of contract.”

“You're firing me?” Miss Benson was still not able to quite take it in.

“I am dismissing you and Miss Indurian. I shall teach both classes until we find suitable replacements.”

“This is a violation of the Constitution. I have a right to free speech. I'm going to talk to a lawyer,” Miss Benson muttered.