Package Deal (66 page)

When he looked up
at
the
now-deserted
street, the runner was nowhere in sight.
He swore, pulled over to the curb and waited for hi
s anger
to slowly abate
.
The
next time I see
you, Marcus. Next time you won’t be so lucky
.

Carlton drove past
a small cemetery
on the way to campus
.
It reminded hi
m of a similar place in Madison,
when he
’d
visited the
child’s grave,
after everyone else had left
. He
’d
told
her he was sorry.
I
f only she hadn’t
started to cry and scream
. I
t was her screams that made him
press
his hand
s
against
her throat. I
f he went back there, he would bring her flowers. Maybe then she would forgive him.

He pulled up behind the building housing the Campus School
and sat there for several minutes
.
The article in the
newspaper
, now
several weeks
old,
about child
predato
rs was really about him. He
knew it
. He re-read the article
while petting the cat,
as it
perched on
his right
thigh and purr
ed
l
ou
dly
. That
reporter
had it in for him, he was
sure of it
.

“You were just trying to use Cecelia to get
close
to Amanda, weren’t you? I know your type, Marcus Dunbar.
You didn’t really like Cecelia. You were just t
rying to cozy up
to her
so you c
ould
get to
her mother
.
”
S
omething he would never do
. It
was the children
he loved and
wanted to
be
close to
.
He would never
stoop to
Marcus
’
distasteful
tactics, never
.

He
peered through
the foggy
car
window
then rolled it down to remove the condensation
.
It was starting to
drizzle
,
streaking his view of the playground near the school and the soccer field just beyond the building
.
His stomach growled
again
. He pulled out his wallet.
“Not much cash left, K
itty,” he mumbled. Maybe if he
landed
a quick construction job out of town
,
or clearing trails in the nearby national park. T
hat
would give him enough money
to buy
food
. Then he would
go
inside
the building
to
reclaim
his
box
when no one was around
.

“When did
Hillier
say those
renovations
would be
done
, K
itty? Amanda won’t still be
using the old office
, will she?”
If he could just
get in there to
find
his papers
.
Maybe he would try
the door
after everyone else had
gone home.
He felt for the knife he kept in the glove compartment.
He
would
use
it
to jimmy the door
if his keys didn’t work anymore
.

A man and a small child emerged from the Campus School. Her hair
coloring and
the way it floated in the breeze
about her shoulders
reminded him of the little girl
in Madison
and her backyard
playhouse
. After he had pushed her in the swing, s
he had liked it that he
offered to play
tea party with her—until he tried other games and she
fought
to get away
from him
.
That’s why he had taken her to the river—away from the houses and play equipment.
No, playhouses were dangerous. He wouldn’t do that again.

I
f he c
ould
just get
a real job
.
If he found a place to stay, maybe he could
look after
the children
during their hikes
. He would make sure they were safe from men like Marcus Dunbar
.
Men who cozied up to their mothers.
Two
men
walked past the Campus School and headed in the direction of the door he wanted to use,
the one cl
osest to the English department. One of them looked up at him before
his companion
opened the door and
they
disappeared into the building.Carlton
turned the car around and headed for t
he nearest fast food place. He would come back
when no one was around.

Th
e
Scouts
sang th
e
ir way to th
e
high camp
in the National Forest
, laught
e
r ringing
against
th
e
tr
ee
s as
Cec
e
lia and her troop
tramp
e
d
up th
e
trail.
When they
reached
a high meadow
with a glacier-fed lake nearby, the girls gathered near
a pile of
fallen logs to catch their breath.

“Ssh! Look over there
.
” Sam poked Cec
elia. “Right near the
big
tall tree
.”

The girls fell silent as a bu
ll
elk
emerge
d
from the forest and approach
ed
the
shoreline
of the lake. A
cow
followed and
then
another. The
big
animals drank and then began to browse
, working their way gradually along the edge of the lake.

The girls were about to leave when Cecelia pointed. From the other side of the lake, a pair of
coyotes
slunk
out of
the darkness of the tree
s
.
The
smaller
cow
was nearest them. Suddenly, the
bull
elk
raised his head
with its heavy rack of antlers
,
looked at
the
coyotes
,
and charged. The
coyotes
scampered along the edge of the lake and disappeared
over the ridge of a nearby hill.
The
big
elk
snorted,
moved around
the
two
female
s
and
led them
into the woods
.

“Wow! That was neat!” Sam exclaimed.“Let’s follow them!”

The oldest scout held up her hand. “No, we need to get back to camp. Th
os
e
coyotes
could be part of a pack. We need to stick together and make lots of noise so they know where we are.”

“
Are you sure they weren’t wolves?
Will they
try to eat
us?” o
ne of the younger girls
asked
.

“
No—those were coyotes.
I’m surprised they even came out of the woods. We must have been
where
they didn’t smell us, and they were paying more attention to the
elk
than to us.”

Cecelia walked back to camp
with Sam
. “It was neat how that
big
elk
went after those
coyotes
, wasn’t it?
Protecting the
smaller ones
.
Like a daddy
elk
.
I guess
they
we
re lady
elk, the ones without antlers
.
”

Sam grinned. “
I think so
, too
. He r
eminded me of my dad when he didn’t like one of Brittany’s
old
boyfriends. Dad wouldn’t let her go out with
him
, and told the
boy
to get lost. I was glad. He
wasn’t as nice as Brittany’s new boyfriend.”

“I thought you didn’t like him—the one who smokes.”

Sam looked at Cecelia
and snorted. “He
’s the old one. He
finally
went
away. My dad threatened to call the cops the last time he came over. Then he h
ad a big argument with Brittany,
who cried and stomped around
a lot
. My dad told her he was going to send her away if she didn’t stop seeing
him. So she’s been good. Now she has a new boyfriend and she doesn’t yell at me as
much, either—except
after
I
read her diary. It was full of yucky stuff. Do you want to read it when you come over?”

Cecelia thought about that
,
then shook her head
. “
Aren’t diaries supposed to be private?
”

Sam nodded. “B
ut if we’re careful, she won’t know. She only
knew I read it
because I
forgot to
put it back where she hides it
—
you know,
under her bed
where she had
that book she showed us
before my mom took it away
. I th
ought she was going to kill me
when she figured out I knew what was in her diary.”

“
She must have been really mad.
”

Sam nodded.
“
She grabbed me and pulled my hair. So
I told her what she
wrote
was
nasty and I was going to tell M
om.”

“What did she do
then
?”

“She
started to hit me. That’s when my
mom
made her
stop.
Then m
y dad
sent
me
to my room
for an extra-long time out
.”

“Maybe we should leave Brittany
’s diary
alone. I don’t want her to be mad at me, too.”

“
I don’t care
if she get
s
mad
.
She’s always mad about something.
”
Sam took off in the direction of the other campers who were far up the trail. “
You’re lucky you don’t have a big sister.
Come on.
It’s time to eat. I’ll race you.”

When they got back to
the
camp
site
,
they
shared their story of seeing the
elk
and the
coyote
s with the rest of t
he troop.
Most of the girls
had finished setting the tables when
Cecelia
’s
mother
drove up
as
dusk
was settling
on th
e
high hills.