Spring-Heeled Jack (9 page)

Atticus peaked into the principal’s
office and saw her speaking with Varnum and the Nelsons. Quickly,
he crouched down and pressed his ear to the door, trying to listen
in.

It all sounded okay except for when
Varnum would butt in. Principal Shepard and the Nelsons would be
calmly discussing plans for this “Memorial Dinner” as they were
calling it, but Varnum would then jump in and push his own agenda:
guests to invite, newspaper headlines, proper location, etcetera.
Worst of all, whenever he would say something, no matter how stupid
or selfish, Mrs. Nelson would agree wholeheartedly. Then, after his
wife agreed, so would Dr. Nelson.

It made Atticus’ blood boil to hear
how they treated Mike’s death like it was just the theme of the
evening, almost like they’d been planning the dinner long before
his death. Maybe they had? If is theory was correct and the Nelsons
were working with Varnum, they could have been planning this since
before the year started. Maybe the Nelsons were the ones who got
Varnum a job at Fortuna Prep: So he could keep an eye on their
son.

Atticus pressed his ear to the door
even harder.

He heard Principal Shepard say, “Let’s
not forget the reason behind this event. We are to mourn the loss
of a student, your son, and try to prevent things like this from
happening again.

“
Yes, of course,” said Mrs.
Nelson.

“
Did you think we were
trying to suggest something else,” Varnum asked.

“
Not at all. It’s just that
we can’t get to distracted from our goal.”

Varnum sighed and said, “Yes, yes. Our
goal to prevent future tragedies. I just feel thatwe can use this
to help so many other foundations.”

How could he say that, Atticus
thought?

Varnum wanted to make this about him
as much as he could. He didn’t even care that a student was dead.
Here was this grumpy old man who claimed to be a professor, but was
terrible at his job, and instantly jumped onto the biggest campus
tragedy in recent history simply to get some notoriety as a
philanthropist. Atticus saw through his guise. He was nothing more
than a selfish, greedy fraud.

Atticus couldn’t sit by any longer. He
didn’t care how much trouble he got into, he needed to find a way
to reveal the professor’s true colors.

He threw open the door and barged his
way in, marching straight up to Professor Varnum.

“
S-Sorry to disrupt,” he
said, “but I think you dropped this earlier professor.” Atticus
pulled the ring from his pocket and offered it to
Varnum.

A disturbing silence lingered through
the office. Everyone’s gaze shifted from Atticus to Varnum, like a
pack of hungry wolves who’d just found some fresh prey.

“
Th-that,” Varnum stuttered,
“that’s not mine.”

“
Well, when we bumped into
each other I found it where you fell,” Atticus said. “I-I assumed
it was yours.”

“
Well, I can tell you that
your assumption is undoubtedly wrong, Mr.-” Varnum turned and
looked at the Nelsons. Dr. Nelson’s eyes were hidden behind his
goggles, but Mrs. Nelson was definitely giving Varnum a stink eye.
Varnum turned back to Atticus and said, “I’ve had just about enough
of you and your harassment, do you hear?”

“
Now please, Henry,”
Principal Shepard chimed in. “There’s no need to be rude to the
boy.”

“
You don’t understand,
principal,” Varnum said turning way. “This boy here has been making
numerous scenes-”

“
None of which I’ve seen,
nor have you reported on prior. All I see is a student trying to
return something to his professor.” Varnum stayed silent. “And
honestly professor, do you expect me to believe that Atticus here
is a trouble maker?”

“
Wait a minute,” Dr. Nelson
said. “You’re that boy from the earlier today! I thought I was just
being delusional, but you are most definitely the same
one.”

Atticus nodded. “Yes sir, that was
me.”

“
Yes, what did you say your
name was? Atticus something?”

“
Clayton, please,” Mrs.
Nelson said. “We really shouldn’t bother him. He probably wants to
get back to his friends.”

Suddenly, Atticus felt a strange
tugging feeling in his gut. He’d never really felt anything like it
before. He didn’t know why, but he became incredibly intimidated by
this woman. He felt like he wanted to do exactly what she said
without question.

Luckily, Dr. Nelson chimed in,
snapping Atticus out of it. “No, Pearl, this young man seems
familiar. Almost like I’ve seen him before today. Now what’s your
name young man?”

“
A-Atticus,” he said. “My
name is Atticus-”

“
Pardon me!” Suddenly,
barging in through the door was Detective McCloud, wearing his
brown trench coat, his fedora held in his right hand. Atticus saw
on his finger was one a Zebulon Ring, just like the one he found.
“Sorry for showing up unannounced.”

“
What on God’s green Earth
are you doing here,” Dr. Nelson shouted. “I was not aware you’d be
joining us, McCloud.”

McCloud looked at Atticus with his
piercing green eyes. He gave him a reassuring wink, but Atticus
didn't know what was so reassuring about it.

Atticus wasn’t sure what Dr. Nelson
had against McCloud, but it was clearly deep seated. But, not only
was Dr. Nelson upset, so was Principal Shepard and Professor
Varnum. Shepard’s eyes were tightly squinted at the detective,
almost like she was plotting something.

Then there was Varnum who looked
extremely pale in McCloud’s presence. His breathing faltered, sweat
trickled down his cheek, and Atticus saw that his hands were
trembling. If those weren’t signs of someone in the wrong, then
Atticus didn’t know what were.

McCloud looked at the principal with a
snarky grin. “G’day to you, m’lady principal.”

“
Explain what you’re doing
here, detective,” Shepard demanded.

The detective chuckled, which was a
bit unsettling, and said, “Yes, yes, so down to business we are.”
He turned to Dr. Nelson. “I just stopped by to say that I think I
have a lead on the murder of your son. You see-”

“
Shut your trap,” Dr. Nelson
shouted. He bolted to his feet and got face-to-face with McCloud.
“I’m tired of your lies about my son, McCloud! You’re just a dog of
Zebulon, trying to cover up the truth! You’re the biggest monster
of them all!”

The doctor’s face beamed a bright and
bloody red and his breathing hastened, but McCloud stayed
calm.

“
Clayton, that’s enough!”
Mrs. Nelson stood up and placed her hand on her husband’s
shoulder.

Slowly, Dr. Nelson’s face began to
return to its regular color and his breathing slowed down. Without
a word, Dr. Nelson pushed past the detective and left the
office.

“
I’m very sorry, detective,”
said Mrs. Nelson.

“
Tis quite alright, m’lady.”
McCloud smiled and moved aside. “You best not keep your husband
waiting.”

Mrs. Nelson curtsied and left to join
her husband.

There was a long uncomforting silence
that filled the room after the Nelsons were gone. Atticus stood in
the corner, watching the three adults in the room. Varnum still
looked ghastly, hands still trembling and his knees shaking.
Principal Shepard continued to eyeball McCloud who stood silently,
his hat still in his hands.

Principal Shepard broke the silence.
“I’m sorry about all of that, Atticus.”

“
It’s okay,” he said.
“Yelling adults: I’m used to it.”

“
Well, Mr. Whaelord,” said
Varnum, “because of your intrusion, we’ll have to delay our meeting
to another time.”

“
But, I-”

“
Tell me professor, what was
the meeting about,” McCloud asked.

Varnum’s face tensed. He stuttered
trying to answer, but he was fumbling over all of his words.
McCloud gave a smirk and changed the subject.

“
I do believe it was my
intrusion that caused the commotion, not the lad’s. Anyway, I do
apologize about that. I simply thought they’d be interested to hear
what I had to say, but nay. Farewell everyone.”

As the detective left, Atticus saw
that Varnum was still petrified and Principal Shepard was still on
edge. Something was up with them. Why would they all act strangely
when McCloud was round? Was the principal in on this scheme
too?

“
W-Well, I should get
going,” Attics said. “Y’know, I-I have a lot of studying to catch
up on.”

“
You’re excused, Atticus,”
said Principal Shepard. Her face was finally starting to relax.
“Say, why don’t you leave that ring with me? I can ask some of the
other faculty members about it, okay?”

Atticus nodded. He placed the ring on
the principal’s desk, and as he did he caught a small bead of sweat
trickle down Varnum’s cheek. The man was almost completely drenched
in bile. Ever since Atticus revealed the ring, he acted as though
it was something terrible.

The professor started to act a bit
jittery, almost as if someone poured a bucket of hot sand down his
trousers.

“
Well,” he said, “I should
also get back to work. Busy, busy. What do you think would be a
good time to meet again, principal? I was thinking-”

“
Not quite, professor.”
Principal Shepard knocked her hand on her desk. Varnum tensed up
again. “We need to discuss your recent behavior.”

A tingle rushed up Atticus’ spine when
she said “behavior.”

He quickly said his farewell to the
principal and gave his sincerest condolences to Professor Varnum,
who did not look the least bit thrilled.

Atticus quickly exited the faculty
building, chasing after Detective McCloud. He wanted to talk to him
about so much: Professor Varnum, the Nelsons, the ring. If he could
just get a minute, Atticus was sure they could get some
answers.

Detective McCloud was just making his
way past the Fortuna Prep fountain when Atticus caught up to
him.

“
Detective,” he hollered,
“just a minute please!”

McCloud stopped and turned about to
face Atticus. He still had a devilish grin on his face.

“
Well, good ‘ay, lad,” he
said. “What’s the matter?”

Atticus was panting. The entire day
he’d been stressed out, running around, his mind moving a million
thoughts a minute, and now it was starting to take its toll on
him.

He steadied his breath and said, “I
would like…to talk to you…about the murder.”

McCloud nodded. “Yes, yes. You saw how
well that went for me with the parents.”

“
Why doesn’t Dr.
Nelson-”

“
Please, now.” McCloud
raised his hands. “Let’s sit down first. The, we’ll talk business.
You look exhausted, lad.”

The two parked themselves on a bench
outside the gates. For a moment, Atticus’ mind was lost as he
stared out across the horizon. The sun was just barely peeking over
the skyline and the city lights were just starting to flicker on.
City of Lights was definitely the best name for Las
Vegas.

“
So lad, what was it you
were saying?”

Atticus lowered his head and shuffled
his feet. “Dr. Nelson calls you a dog of Zebulon.”

“
Ah, yes,” McCloud said
laughing. “Not my biggest fan, is he?”

“
But why? What’ve you done
wrong? Doesn’t he understand that you’re trying to
help?”

McCloud shrugged. “Can’t say I know.
The man is obviously very distressed.”

“
How can he be
so-”

“
Foolish? Arrogant?
Rude?

Atticus looked over at the detective.
His smile was still stuck to his face and his piercing emerald eyes
stared right at him. He was so intimidating; his eyes so haunting.
It was almost as if they gleamed in the dark. How terrifying,
Atticus thought, to see McCloud staring you down in the
darkness.

“
Yeah, arrogant,” he
said.

“
Ha! I knew it would be one
of those! You see, you learn to predict people’s words when you do
this job as long as I, lad.”

Atticus smiled. “Detective, I think I
may have something on this case.”

He’d hoped that McCloud would be
ecstatic to hear what he had to say, but he was wrong. Instead,
McCloud shook his head and said, “Now lad, I understand you’re
excited to help, but let’s just relax for a moment.”

“
But, detective!”

No butts! I know you want to help. I
understand your frustration, but you’ve had a long day. We both
have, and now we just need to kick back, relax, and put our minds
at ease.”

“
But, what if we miss
something,” Atticus asked. “What if we’re too slow?”

“
Never worry lad. I don’t
overlook things,” McCloud said confidently. “If I did, I wouldn’t
be the head investigator for the world’s biggest mechatronics
corporation. I’ll see right through any tricks.”

There was a moment of silence.
Detective McCloud was right. Atticus was too anxious to find Mike’s
killer. He was so quick to point his finger at Varnum; he didn’t
look in any other direction. Mike’s parents? That could just be
Atticus’ jumping to conclusions. But, all that considered, there
was still one question that bugged him.