by Dexter Goad
Episode Two
Mr. Perkins
Darrin arrived around noon time. Darla and Simon had been sitting on the front porch for the past hour, talking about everything but Mrs. Perkins. Simon was raving about how cool the new student was when Darla spotted Darrin coming down the block.
“Looks like he finally decided to come back.” Darla informed her friend. She wasn’t really irritated or hurt anymore, just eager to know what he’d found out.
When he saw her on the porch, Darrin stopped half a block away and motioned for her to join him. Darla ducked inside the house, grabbed her purse, and trotted over to him with Simon in tow.
“They just arrested Lawn Boy.” Darrin said grimly. “Let’s go.”
“What are we going to do?” His twin inquired gamely.
“I want to talk to the neighbor who heard the most. I’m sure she’s been pestered a lot today, but probably less than the rest because of what she says she heard. The police and lawyers and reporters only want to talk to the most credible witnesses. But she’s exactly the person I want to talk to.”
It took a while to walk over there, but Darrin hadn’t wanted to be encumbered by bikes if they were going to head downtown next.
A patrol car was parked in front of Mrs. Perkins house. The officer was sitting on the porch swing, reading the USAToday. Yellow police tape had been put up, encircling her yard. A photographer and two interns were scanning the yard slowly. Darrin led them to the house on the right and knocked on the door. The police officer set aside his paper and started walking over.
Simon noticed. “Darrin, 5-0 coming on strong!”
Darrin didn’t look around. “Come on, come on!” He said to the front door.
Sally Tate peeked through the side window, then opened the door as the officer ducked under the police barrier. “Darrin Stevenson! Hi! Come on in!”
Reassured that they were not harassers, the officer returned to his post.
Sally let them in. Her initial happiness to see them faded as she led them into the living room. She was disheveled and didn’t look to have slept a wink all night.
“I take it that a lot of people have harassed you today?” Darrin asked, sitting on the couch with his sister and Simon.
“Oh yes. I finally asked the man next door to help me out. It has been non stop. Every kook in Port thinks I saw a ghost. Half of them believe I did, and half of them believe that I believe it.”
Darrin shook his head. “I heard it was just that you thought you heard Mrs. Perkins call out the name Ray. I don’t see what’s so wacky about that. It’s not like there is just one person named Ray in all the world.”
Sally lowered her head, staring at her hands. Her mood was a contrast to her living room. One seven foot tall book case was filled with brightly colored beanie babies. She seemed to have every one of the suckers. Three beaming watercolor paintings adorned the wall behind the couch. The drapes bordering the picture window were a light cyan, and the carpet was just a little darker cyan. The end tables and coffee table were all polished glass and covered with real flowers in vases. This was a room that was not fit for the depressed. Sally was a person who rarely was.
Not so now. She seemed listless, lost.
When she didn’t answer, Darrin leaned forward. “You told the police more than that, didn’t you? Did they laugh at you or something?”
She looked up sharply. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”
Darrin was taken aback. “I just stopped by to see how you were doing. It was just that you seemed to be upset when I mentioned ‘all’ you had witnessed. As if there had been more.”
“You were always a good boy. You always help me with my groceries when you see me at the store.” Her gaze wandered from him back to her hands.
Darrin glanced at Darla, as if needing confirmation. He found it in her eyes. She nodded towards the end table near Sally, where three pill bottles sat without their caps on. He nodded and rose to his feet. “Call me if you need anything. I’d be happy to run to the store for you.”
She smiled up at him. “Thank you. Would you let Smokey in, please?”
Darla glanced at Darrin. Smokey, a misnamed White Persian, had been dead for at least five years. He said he would, and led the other two out of the house.
Darrin paused at the tree nearest the sidewalk and leaned against it. “Man, I don’t remember her being like that before. But it’s been years since I’ve really talked to her. Usually just hi, how are you doing, can I help you take your groceries to the car. That kind of thing.”
“What if she was faking?” Darla pondered. “A lot of people have been bugging her today. Apparently she said something to the police and was roundly ridiculed. Maybe she regrets saying it and just wants it to end?”
Darrin beamed. “You’re a genius! Of course. That must be it! The pill bottles were a little contrived. Who takes their pill bottles out to the living room and takes the medication? There wasn’t a drink anywhere in sight either.”
“It’s possible.” Simon conceded.
“So what now?” Darla wanted to know.
Darrin sighed. “We don’t bother her again. For now. Phil’s been arrested, and it’s possible that he did it. I wouldn’t have thought so, but they apparently had enough to arrest him when he wouldn’t go with them for questioning.”
“So there’s nothing else to be done?” Darla asked.
Her twin gave her a slightly reproving look. “I didn’t say that.”
***
Back inside Sally’s house, she spoke in a trembling voice, “how was that?”
A tall thin man suddenly appeared, prone on her plush couch. “You were adequate. A little over the top, but adequate.”
The old woman breathed a deep sigh of relief. “So you’re not going to kill me, Mr. Venom?”
He stood on the couch, hopped playfully to the coffee table without rattling so much as a flower in the vase, and then leaped to the floor, where his weight did not make an impression on the carpet. “Oh, I’d love to. But I have a prior engagement. Keep your mouth shut in the future and I won’t be back.” He grinned at her. As she stared his teeth suddenly changed from white to blood red.
“I won’t say anything! I swear!”
“We’ll see, won’t we?” With that he was gone.
Sally was too scared to move for several minutes, until she was sure he wasn’t coming back.
***
Charles let himself in the holding room. Selena was already inside, as was Lance and Foster. All of them were wearing red jumpsuits. Charles sat heavily at the table and looked at his three underlings. Lance was a massive man, at least a hundred pounds overweight. His fondness for driving through Krispy Kreme was the biggest culprit of that. But his mind was sharp, and his fingers, the other important asset, were delicate and well manicured.
Selena was also overweight, it was an occupational hazard with their hours, but nowhere near as much as her comrade. And she was an excellent lover, as Charles has discovered starting last year. She smoky eyes were currently filled with concern rather than lust, however. She wore her graying blonde hair cut really short. Her fingers were also nimble and versatile.
Foster, being their security attaché, was short and squat. His fingers were irrelevant. He wore a powder blue suit and carried an expensive looking briefcase. He had been in Florida on vacation since they were not supposed to be active this week. His nose was sunburned.
Charles settled back in his seat and faced the other person in the room. “Ray. Did you kill your wife? You’ve mentioned how angry her seeing another man was making you.”
Arms folded, Ray admitted that he’d killed her.
“Do you realize what kind of position this puts us in?”
Ray acknowledged that he should have kept control of his temper. He explained he’d just gone over there to talk to her. To show her the error of her ways.
“By bludgeoning her to death?”
Ray allowed that things had gotten out of hand.
Charles glanced at Selena. Her eyes showed even more worry now.
“Ray. This is not good. You murdered someone. Now we have that on our conscience.”
Ray pointed out that they had not known he was going to do it. They were blameless.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
Ray asked if it would make him feel better to call the police.
“You’re in some hot water, mister. I don’t think sarcasm is going to be helpful.”
Ray defiantly asked if Charles had ever been betrayed by a woman.
Impatient, Lance leaned forward in his seat. “You’re fucking dead, you goddamn moron! What was she supposed to do? The vows say, until death. They do not extend past death. It’s not cheating if you’re already dead. God, how fucking stupid are you?”
Ray calmly asked if Lance wanted to find out firsthand what extended past death.
Charles glared at Lance for a second, then returned his eyes to Ray. “Did you tell any of the other’s what you did?”
Ray suggested that the others knew everything.
Charles sighed heavily. “Great. Now everyone will want to kill somebody. Just fucking terrific. Selena, get everyone who’s left in here!”
***
Darrin led them to the school. As he tended to in these situations, he didn’t tell them what he had in mind. Her twin had a flair for the dramatic. He liked to spring things on her, increase the suspense. He would be a natural movie director, Darla often thought. When confronted with his habit, he always retorted that her life would be a hideous bore without him in the world. Without his making the mundane a little more tense and interesting. Darla didn’t know about that, or even if he believed it himself, but she couldn’t argue against him being able to make an boring day a little livelier.
Still, this was no longer a parlor game. Someone had died. So she found his usual habit a little irritating.
It was closing in on 3pm, so most everyone was gone from the school. The doors were open, though, so they took that as an invitation. Two strangers who must have been special councilors stood in the parking lot with five students, everyone talking animatedly. One girl was crying and being held by another girl. With a sudden shock, Darla realized that the two girls were the same two track girls she’d shared lunch with just 27 hours ago. It seemed a lifetime ago. The sobbing young woman was the one who looked so shocked at Darla’s cursing.
That, more than anything, brought home the finality of what had happened. Mrs. Perkins was dead. She wasn’t going to come back. The sweet woman who talked to them like adults just over a day ago was gone forever. Darla felt anger at whomever had committed this outrage. School was just starting, and these girls had been happily blabbing yesterday over pizza about their upcoming track meet this weekend. That’s what they needed to be focusing on, not a slain teacher. They shouldn’t be standing out here in the parking lot crying and holding each other. It was outrageous.
She looked at Darrin, who’d paused to look at the girls. Perhaps he was thinking the same thing, because he seemed fascinated with them. But he turned away and led them inside without comment.
Darla wanted to speak, to communicate how outrageous this murder was, but she couldn’t form her emotions into words that anyone would understand. Reluctantly, she put it aside for now.
Two girls from Biology nodded to Darla on their way past. It was all she could do to nod back at them. She sighed. She had to get a grip. Allowing herself to fall apart was not going to help anyone.
Darrin led them to Mrs. Perkins classroom. “The police here this morning and didn’t find anything of interest.” He reported. “But they didn’t know what I know. She kept a diary hidden in the locked bookcase in the back. I busted her putting it away one day. She explained that her desk drawers had locks, but the key worked on any desk in the building. Those locks are just to keep students out. Apparently she was worried another teacher would find it.”
“Why didn’t she just keep it at home?” Simon wanted to know.
“I asked her that. She answered, cryptically, that ‘it wasn’t that kind of a diary.’ I’m curious about what she meant. Perhaps it is just a teaching diary of some kind, but why the secrecy? And if it was potentially harmful, why not keep it at home, where she lived alone?”
“I just thought of something.” Simon replied. “I remember being out in my yard and seeing her mother visit a lot. I don’t think they were always planned visits, because I remember one time I was doing her yard and her mother showed up when Mrs. Perkins wasn’t home. Her mother waited there for at least an hour and when Mrs. Perkins got home she acted like she didn’t expect or care for the visit.”
Darrin nodded. “I’ll bet her mother is nosy. Snoops, perhaps.” He seemed pleased to have this answered. He led them back to the bookcase. It was the kind with glass doors, but they were ajar.
“The police must have searched it after all.” Darla suggested.
Darrin sighed and opened the doors all the way. He pulled out three large poetry tomes and gave a satisfied grunt when he saw the diary behind them. “They didn’t know what they were looking for.”
“Naughty, naughty.” Someone commented sarcastically from behind them.
***
The school was emptier this time, and Val was able to go into the rest of the girl’s bathrooms and do what he needed to do in there. This time he encountered no one other than a few people wandering out of the building. When he was on his way out, though, he was stopped by a school security guard, who appeared from a classroom like magic.
“May I help you?” The man asked coolly. Obviously he didn’t want to help at all. It was said with the tone of a store clerk who wanted you to know that your ‘browsing’ was both annoying and unwelcome. He was a large man but not overweight. Unlike most school security men, he looked fit and generally happy. Though at the moment he looked more suspicious than anything else.
Still, Val had to play this one out. “No thanks. I was just leaving.” He continued past the guard.
The guard grabbed Val’s arm. “Not so fast, sport.”
Val had to fight the urge to break the hand clutching him into 57 pieces. He despised being touched unless it was by a passionate woman. This man was about as far from that as humanly possible. “Yes?”
The guard stared hard at Val. Unwilling to dig himself a hole, Val waited the man out. Finally the guard released his grip but maintained his invasion into Val’s personal space. “What was your business here?”
Deciding at that moment how to play this, Val feigned an embarrassed expression. He gave himself a defensive tone. “This is a public place, right? I didn’t know there’d be a ‘Checkpoint Charlie.’”
The guard fought a smile at that term, revealing that he’d been in one of the services. “I can’t just let people waltz in and out of here. We’ve had thefts over the years. And we just had a murdered teacher last night who was savagely beaten. So any large male who acts suspicious demands investigation even more than usual.” He eyed Val like a hawk as he said this.
Val’s expression revealed even more embarrassment. “I don’t really know how to explain it, officer. It sounds so morbid out loud...” He trailed off.
A light went off in the guard’s head. “You were a former student of hers?”
This was exactly what Val was trying to convey. “Yeah. I just ... what happened to her was such a shock. It didn’t seem real. So I felt compelled to see her room again...” he trailed off again.
The guard seemed to be buying it, but it was still touch and go. Val’s next move was going to be to apologize and offer to have his driver’s license photocopied in case anything showed up missing. It was fifty-fifty whether the guard would want to go through that trouble, but it was irrelevant either way. Val’s license couldn’t be more fake if it had a picture of Mickey Mouse on it.
But Val was saved by another guard, who approached with three teenagers in tow. “Guess who I found rifling through Mrs. Perkin’s room?” The new guard asked sarcastically.
Val was not all too surprised to see the Stevenson twins and the boy who’d been helping snoop into his van as the culprits. Darla stared at him in shock, and Darrin glanced at him but oddly pretended to not know him. Val’s guard smiled back. “Hey Roger. I have one too. Claims he was a former student of Mrs. Perkins and he also visited her room. I guess we’re going to have to take turns watching the room since it’s more popular than the girl’s locker room now.”
Darla started to say something in response, no doubt refuting Val’s alibi, but Darrin suddenly took her hand and squeezed it. She shot a look at him but kept her silence.
Roger looked puzzled. “I didn’t see him near it, or I would have collared him like I did these two. I was sitting in the room at the end of the hall, and could see all the way down the hallway through the window. That’s how I got these three.”
Val’s guard looked at him with renewed suspicion. “Okay, let’s all go to the office and sort this out. What you got there, Roger?”
“Oh, this book. They were taking it from behind the other books in the case. Looks like a diary. I’m turning it over to the police. We need to call them too. Might need to anyway.” He added ominously.
The four of them were told to be seated in the waiting area of the office. Darla had only been here once, the time was suffering through the worst PMS ever and mouthed off to Mr. Thomas once too often and was sent her to talk to the Vice Principal. He’d made her wait half an hour on the horribly uncomfortable wooden chairs provided. She’d considered that punishment enough, to be honest.
Val settled himself in, stretching out his long legs and folding his arms across his tummy. He wasn’t too worried. This was just inconvenient and annoying. They had nothing on him. The police would probably have questioned him if they didn’t already have someone in custody. Val kicked himself for not bringing up that little tidbit when the guard waved the ‘male suspect’ flag. It had slipped his mind. But then he thought that if he had said that if would make him sound defensive and perhaps excessively knowledgeable of the case, since the story of the arrest had only been reported on the radio so far. It was too early for it to be in the nightly news or the papers. So it was probably best that he hadn’t said anything.
Val didn’t like feeling uncertain. Something about this school was making him uneasy, unsettling him. He didn’t feel sharp. There was a growing urge to get the hell out of this building.
Darla was startled when Darrin suddenly turned to man who was sitting on the other side of her. “I can make things very uncomfortable for you.”
The man regarded her twin impassively. His voice still held a smug, bemused tone, but it sounded a little forced to her. “Oh really?”
“You were never a student of Mrs. Perkins. Oh, I’m sure that if push came to shove you’d walk out of here no matter what I said. I’m sure you’ve done nothing they can catch you at. But I can make your questioning take twice as long.”
“Don’t you have your own problems? It seems you were doing a little espionage, if I heard right.”
“I don’t care what you’re really up to here in Port.” Darrin declared sincerely. “I imagine you wouldn’t tell me at gunpoint anyway. But look at me.” The man complied, looking at her brother. He leaned forward a little and Darla could smell his aftershave, which was appropriately manly smelling. “I could care less what you’re doing here. Maybe if this hadn’t happened last night,” he didn’t need to explain what ‘this’ meant, “I would be snooping on you.”
The man glanced at Darla, his meaning clear. She hadn’t let the murder stop her. Though she’d done so because she suspected him. “Then what is your game?”
“My ‘game,’” he replied with distaste, “is that I want to find out what happened to Mrs. Perkins. I think you’re the sort of person who can help me a lot in that.”
“They already have someone in custody.” The man replied simply.
“Phil had nothing to do with it.” Darrin’s conviction was compelling.
The Principal and a detective walked in from the outside corridor at that moment. The detective overheard Darrin’s last comment and frowned.
The Principal waved in their general direction. “Come on back, Mr. Stevenson. The rest of you stay put.” The detective followed Darrin back into the Principal’s office.
The man glanced at Darla. “Impertinence is not always something to be adored, my dear. He’s going to get you in real trouble one of these days.”
“Oh, shut up.” She snapped. She was feeling as uneasy as he was, though neither of them knew it about the other. The walls seemed oppressive, like they were about to tumble down on her head. She sensed something behind her and glanced to her left, towards the hallway outside. The weird girl she’d seen the bathroom yesterday was standing a few feet from the door, staring at her. What was her name? Becky? Beth? Something like that. It seemed like eons since that encounter.
The girl motioned for Darla to come outside the room. She shrugged, mouthing that she couldn’t. The girl scowled, then motioned more urgently, stamping her foot in frustration. This was odd. Darla looked over to the two security guards, who were talking about Nascar. “Look, I’m about to die here. May I use the restroom?” She pleaded in her best little girl voice, while inwardly cursing them. She realized that the man beside her must have been watching her because he suddenly peeked around her and into the hallway before returning his attention to the ceiling in apparent disinterest.
The guards glanced at each other. “I’ll take you.” The sarcastic one finally replied.
He led her to the staff bathroom two doors down. The girl was not in the hallway now. Perhaps she’d anticipated this and was already hiding in there. Darla couldn’t imagine what she wanted.
The guard rapped on the door with his knuckles, waited, and then waved her on with a dramatic sweep of his arm. “You’re not going to do anything stupid are you?”
Darla was not in a great mood, and his manner was hideously annoying. So she snapped, “what, like make being a rent-a-cop my career goal?”
He looked as if she’d kneed him in the groin. She hurriedly entered the bathroom and locked the door.
The girl was in here, sitting on the toilet lid. She was grinning widely. “That was a fabulous comeback! I always think of those things two days later!”
Darla smiled despite herself. “So what’s up? I don’t have long since I pissed him off.” She whispered.
The girl, Beth was her name, Darla finally remembered, sobered. “You’re in danger. I wanted to warn you. You have to get out of this school and stay out.”
“What?” Darla murmured, spooked.
“You can feel it, can’t you?” Beth asked intently. “You can feel the weight, can’t you?”
Darla nodded mutely.
“Val can feel it to. You can trust him. Don’t invest any emotional feelings in him, but you can trust him.”
“Who’s...”
“The man you were sitting with.” Beth’s eyes seemed to be a mile in diameter each. Her gaze was so powerful it was painful. Darla had never seen irises that huge. She felt like she was losing herself.
“Darla...”
Beth rose from her perch and advanced on Darla. She felt like she was paralyzed, but at the same time a chill more frigid than an Arctic stream ran up and down her spine. She mouthed the word ‘stop’ but no sound came out. If she comes one step closer I swear to God I’ll scream and scream and never stop...
There was a sudden rap on the door, the guard was getting impatient.
Darla jumped at the sound and tore her gaze from Beth, the hardest thing she’d ever had to do in her life, and faced the door. “I have to go. I’m sorry!” She broke two nails trying to grip the door handle and practically ripped the door off its hinges getting it open.
She rushed past the guard, ignoring his retort, which he’d spent the entire time she was in there thinking up, and couldn’t get back to her seat beside Val fast enough.
***
Darrin emerged ten minutes later, looking appropriately serious and chagrinned. It almost made Darla feel better to see that boys will be boys look on his face. If they had been alone she would have thrown herself in his arms. She needed a hug from him. Badly. But she contained herself.
The detective addressed her and Simon. “Darrin here explained that you were just in her room, trying to cope with the reality of the everything. And he noticed the bookshelf unlocked. He then remembered that she used to keep a diary back there and looked to see if we’d found it. He was discovering it when Mr. Tyler here found you. Is that essentially true?”
Darla and Simon almost broke their necks because they nodded so vigorously.
Tyler, the sarcastic guard, had heard them talking. So he knew this was not the “essential” truth. But he didn’t say anything. The detective had asked a very leading question, basically briefing them on what Darrin said, so he obviously had no intention on spending any more time on them. Their teacher had been murdered yesterday, he wasn’t going to interrogate them. So Tyler would be wasting his breath. He did give Darla a lingering glare, however.
The detective dismissed them and waved Val into the Principal’s office. The guards followed him in, to give their side of what Val had told one and what Tyler hadn’t seen.
Despite how oppressive this school was feeling, Darla lingered at the doorway, watching Val until the door was closed behind him.
Darrin nudged her. “We’ll wait outside for him.” He looked hard at her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded mutely and headed for the doors outside. If she didn’t get out of this school this very second she really was going to scream.
He followed, still concerned. “Okay. It’s just that you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
***
It took Val about a half hour to bullshit his way out of the school. By then he felt like he was suffocating. It felt so oppressive, so close in the building that he felt like he was underwater. But he stuck to his story, claiming that he never said he actually visited her room, he said he came here to visit it. But he couldn’t remember where it was, started feeling self conscious and morbid, so he went to leave, at which point he was stopped.
He was patted down, and nothing incriminating was found. (Val had fortunately expended all the supplies he brought with him, so nothing weird was on him. Of course he had only brought enough, so it was good that he was that meticulous.) They made a copy of his driver’s license and thanked him for his cooperation.
Val felt much better after he was outside. It was odd, he’d never been claustrophobic in his life. But this had felt exactly like it had been described to him. He didn’t like it.
“Darla tells me your name is Val.”
It was the Stevenson boy. Of course. But Val oddly discovered that he needed normal human contact right now. It felt good to talk to someone, anyone. No matter how annoying they were and no matter the fact that usually he would have made a cutting comment and kept walking.
But he stopped. “That’s right. But I never told her that. How did you know?” He asked her directly.
Darla blushed, staring down at her feet. Her reply was not intended to be as clever and hinting of hidden sources of information as it came out sounding. “Lucky guess?”
He laughed. “Never mind. I’m sure someone at my building told you after I drove off this morning. You’re all resourceful.” He took in the three of them, standing close together, looking weary and grieving but unbroken. Darla looked the most shaken. In fact, she looked like he felt, glad to be out of that fucking school building.
“Let’s get something to eat.” Val suggested. He didn’t want to be alone yet. But he rationalized that he needed to deal with them before they went from annoying to dangerous to his mission. “Where do teenagers eat these days?”
Darrin grinned. “I have just the place.”
***
“This is our favorite place because of the ‘walk out’ last year.” Darrin explained, as they walked over to The Wet Taco, which was about two blocks from the high school. “The owner, a brilliant man since he is the only one in this neighborhood who recognizes that his business is so close to a high school, allowed us to hang out all afternoon. We walked out for the day to protest the firing of Dan Moubray. In the middle of first period, three fourths of us who were involved rose as one and walked out of the school. Most of us paraded around the school a couple times. The police told us to clear off the property or return to class, so we tried the restaurants. Only Wet Taco would let us stay.”
“Dare I ask why you thought Dan shouldn’t have been fired?”
Darrin snorted. “He was railroaded. It was discovered, quite by accident, by the Principal that Dan shot porn movies during the summer. Apparently that is not Kosher here in Indiana.”
“Teachers have been fired for that in other states as well.”
“It was wondered why the Principal was watching porn tapes.” Simon put in helpfully.
Darla giggled. “I think he was mad because Dan was hung like a Donkey on Viragra.”
Darrin shot her a mock shocked look, then continued as they neared the door. “Dan never got his job back, we all got 7 demerits for skipping 7 periods, and life went on. The only person who really made out was Wet Taco for allowing us to stay when no one else would. This place has been more popular since then.”
They entered and Val saw another reason. Although it was a restaurant, one full room, a third of the building, was taken up by numerous video games. Half a dozen kids of all ages manned them at the moment. Darrin was right, this owner knew which side his bread was buttered on.
They picked a table near the video games so the noise would drown out the possibility of anyone overhearing them. There was no waitress service, so Val asked them what they wanted. Darrin grinned. “I’ll go with you. You two trust me to order for you?”
Simon and Darla nodded. When the other two had left they settled into hard plastic hairs. “What’s your brother got up his sleeve?”
“I don’t know.” Darla admitted absently.
“Are you okay?” He asked her.
She sighed. “Yeah. I was just a little shaken up in the school.”
“You didn’t think we’d get in trouble, did you? Darrin is in tight with everyone.”
It wasn’t that at all. But Simon was not the person she would admit this to. She didn’t know whether she was even going to tell Darrin, and she told him everything. So she responded to what his words rather than the spirit of his question. “What Darrin fails to realize is that a lot of people, especially the people at the school, tolerate him as long as he doesn’t get too cocky. He thinks he can get by on charm all the time. He’s a decent person, and everyone recognizes that. But I’ve overheard a couple teachers and even administration making snide comments from time to time. They tolerate him. That’s all.”
Simon was shocked. “I never picked up on that.”
“I’ve never said this to him, so hush, okay?”
He nodded.
Val and Darrin were back with nachos and drinks for all. The Wet Taco had the best nachos Darla had ever tasted. She didn’t know whether it was the meat, the cheese, or what, but they were paradise in her mouth. If she weren’t worried about becoming a water buffalo, she’d eat them every day. She accepted hers gratefully.
Val salted his nachos without tasting them first, and then tried them. “Mmmmm. Excellent. That’s a surprise, given the ambiance.”
Darrin chuckled, trying a couple and washing them down before speaking. “They say that people who season their food without sampling it first are impulsive, headstrong, and try to solve problems without first determining what the problem is first. You don’t seem that type, though.”
Val met the boy’s eyes. “When was the last time you tried something that had been salted at all, let alone enough?”
“Touché.”
“What do you want from me, Mr. Stevenson?”
“I want you to help me find Mrs. Perkins’ killer.”
“He’s in custody.”
Darrin stabbed at the other man with a cheesy chip. “Lawn boy didn’t do it.”
“Who do you think did it?” Val sipped his drink carefully. Darla noticed that he used only his left hand and kept his right hand in his lap. She’d heard it was polite to use only one hand while eating but she wondered if it was also a habit that allowed him to reach a weapon.
“I think it was her husband.”
“Her husband has been dead for four years, Mr. Stevenson.”
“Which is why the police are going to be useless for finding the real killer.” Darrin countered. He leaned forward. “Did you know that Ray Perkins worked for Alexis Steel Company before he ‘died?’”
Val’s face was impassive. He didn’t react physically at all. But Darla still got the idea that this was news to him. “And what would that mean?”
“It’s been obvious for some time that Alexis does secret government projects.”
Val allowed a small smile. “And what would that mean?”
“That’s what I need you to find out. I don’t have a prayer of getting anywhere. But I suspect that maybe you can find out for me.”
“Find out what?”
“If Alexis faked Ray’s death. I think that maybe he invented something, discovered something, was involved in some kind of espionage deal like he uncovered a spy ... anything that would require him to disappear before any other country or company could get to him. If the stakes were high enough, I can see that happening.”
Darla couldn’t contain herself. “But a lot of people saw him hit by that bus!”
Darrin glanced at her. “Ten people saw him hit by the bus. Did you know that eight of them have moved away in the last four years since the ‘accident?’ Another one died of a heart attack two years ago. The last is Miss Potter. But don’t you find it odd that eight of ten have moved away in just four years?” He returned his attention to Val. “This is all speculation. But I suspect that you can tell me if I am completely insane or if there is a possibility that this is true. Perhaps you can even find out for sure. I don’t know what contacts you have. But if Ray is alive, and he discovered his wife having sex with another man, he might have gone into a murderous rage. And it would explain why no one saw him leave. All he had to do was call his people and hide in the house until his people could smuggle him out. It would only require one high ranking cop to be in on it to make sure he wasn’t found.”
Val was grinning. “You have a wild imagination.”
“It makes sense, actually. That doesn’t mean it’s true. But it’s possible. Which is where you come in.”
“And why would I help you? Because you saved me another hour of interrogation? I’m grateful, but not that grateful.”
Darrin produced a bank statement from his back pocket. “I have saved over twelve thousand dollars. I did lawns every year since I was old enough to push a mower and pull weeds. I’ve painted garages, houses, barns. I’ve saved some of my birthday and Christmas money. I’ve had summer and weekend jobs for the past four years.” He pushed over the bank statement. “I’ll give it all to you, if you’ll do this for me.”
Val frowned, looking at the statement. “If you think you’re going to shame me into doing this ...”
“This is not manipulation.” Darrin insisted. “The ole ‘give you my piggy bank so that you’ll be shamed into helping me and not charging me.’ I’m very serious. If you help me I’ll insist you take the money.”
Darla leaned forward and whispered into his ear. “Darrin! That’s all your car money! You can’t do this!”
He patted her hand but didn’t take his gaze from Val.
“But you could be way off. I could find nothing to substantiate your wild theory.”
“I know.”
Val pushed the statement back over to the boy. “I could take your money, stay home and jack off for two days, then call you and said my contacts said you were full of shit. Of even lie and say you were right to prompt you into making a public ass out of yourself when you start making accusations.”
“I know.”
Val chuckled. “You think you know me well enough that when I give my word I’ll keep it.” He shook his head.
Darrin pushed the statement back over to Val. “Can you help me?”
Val pushed the statement back. “I’ll tell you what. If you do me a favor, for which you will swear absolute secrecy, I’ll pull out all stops and get your information. Not only if his death was faked, but why, and where he was the night of the murder.”
“If his death was faked, we know where he was the night of the murder.” Darrin replied dryly. “But okay. As long as the favor is not illegal or immoral, I’ll do it.”
Val glanced at Simon. “This is where you take off, Skippy. I’m sorry, but three’s a crowd. I’ll let Darla stay because I can’t ask twins to keep secrets from each other. If she’s here, I believe that he’ll keep his word to never tell anyone. But you have to go and never ask them what the favor was.”
“My name’s not ‘Skippy.’” Simon snapped.
“He was about to appoligize.” Darrin comforted, still looking at Val.
Val shrugged. “Sorry. Now get out.” He chuckled goodnaturedly.
Simon glanced at Darrin, who nodded and gave him a warm grin. He said goodbye to Darla and departed, sighing.
“I’m looking for a freshman girl. She moved here last summer. Because she’s a freshman, school records are not as helpful as they could be. But you would know if someone didn't attend grade school around here. Ring a bell?”
Darrin’s expression didn’t change. “Maybe. Physical description?”
“That is not relevant. Too easily changed. She’s five foot, three inches tall. But even that can be affected with special shoes, a careful slouch, specially designed blouses to make someone’s shoulders look a little higher, which makes them look a little shorter, etc.”
“Why do you want to find her?”
Val smiled without showing his teeth. “I’m not telling you. The price of me helping you is that you have to accept that.”
“You could be targeting her for death.” He stated tightly.
“That’s true. And if I intended to, I’d just lie and say I wasn’t, so we don’t need to do that dance. You’ll just have to take that chance. Or not. I don’t have the patience to spend a lot of time talking you into believing I wasn’t going to.”
Darrin glanced at Darla. Her face was pale. She didn’t return his look.
“I would imagine that if you’re the kind of person who could help me, then it would be simple for you to search and find out everyone who moved here in the past year. There can’t be many people that age who have. Or a grade school to high school comparison. Running the two lists side by side would expose the unmatched names. I could do it in five minutes.”
“There are complications. I’m not going to go into it.”
Darrin’s eyes narrowed. “You could trace her any number of ways. But you can’t, can you? You can’t use your regular methods. You’re worried about either red flags before you find her or whatever happens to her being traced back to you afterward! So you have to be very sneaky. You can’t use any official channels, databases, contacts, or methods that can be traced back to you.”
It was all Val could do to keep his face impassive. Goddamn this kid was sharp. He’d figured out the precise reason Val had to be circumspect.
Darrin rose to his feet quickly. “That means you are going to kill her! I’m not going to be a party to that!”
“Sit down, Mr. Stevenson. Think it through one more step.” He urged.
Darrin stared at him for a long moment. “If it was as bad as murder, you wouldn’t dare ask me and her about it. Then you’d have to kill us too. When you could find out anyway in a week or two.” He thought for a moment. “You were in the school planting bugs. Then you’d listen to all the tapes. Listening for her voice. Everything can be changed but that. A computer could sift out any fake accents and get the real voiceprint. I’ll bet you’re checking out all the high schools. Once you figure out which one she’s at, you can narrow it down from there. So if it was anything really bad, you would just do it the hard way and not ask us.”
Val couldn’t hide his admiration any longer. “You got it. I’m impressed, despite myself.”
Darrin sat back down. “Meet us at the main library Friday at noon. We’re back in school on Thursday. I’ll ask around between now and then, and then take pictures of all the freshman girls who match your criteria. You have the information, with proof, and we’ll trade. Deal?”
“You’re on. But if I find her before then, the deal’s off. So you’re taking a risk by waiting so long.”
“I have no choice. I can’t show up at their houses and snap their pictures. Especially if they’re intentionally hiding from you, which it sounds like they are.”
Val nodded. That was logical. “And chances are, with both high schools out for this tragedy, I won’t find her before then anyway. But if I do, the deal’s off.”
“Agreed.”
Val turned to Darla. “What do you think of this?”
Her voice was even. “You don’t want to know what I think. Either of you.”
Darrin shot her a worried look. She still wouldn’t return his glance.
Val rose. “If she repeats any of this to anyone, the girl will disappear. And so will I. And so will your information. And I just might stop by Alexis and tell them your suspicions and all about you two, since I’ll have to take the trouble of tracking the girl to her next stop.”
“Darrin’s word is my word. I won’t say anything, you asshole.” She shot at him.
“In that case, if you do change your mind, no hard feelings. Just keep your mouth shut and so will I. You know where to find me if you wanna talk.” He dumped his trash and departed quickly.
Darrin turned to his twin.
She pressed a finger against his mouth. “I’ll deal with you at home in private.”
They got up to leave. Darla, moving quickly, and it seemed angrily, bused her tray and rushed out. Darrin, sensing something, glanced around and saw the new student from their grade staring at his sister from across the room. The new student’s eyes followed her as she passed the windows. Darla didn’t turn and didn’t notice him. Darrin wondered if the boy had been staring at them the entire time.
Then he dismissed it from his mind, dumped his tray, and ran after his twin. If he’d been paying more attention, he might have noticed that the new student was sitting in the booth without a tray of food or even a drink.
***
“Why do you remain in here?”
Ray Perkins looked up, startled. “Venom.”
Venom was leaning against the door to the corridor outside Ray’s holding cell. “You don’t have to stay here. Why did you even come back?”
“I killed my wife. I should be punished.”
Venom’s tone of voice was harsh. “And why did you kill her? I specifically asked you to do nothing to attract attention if I gave you the power to leave here.”
“Fuck you. You’d never understand.”
“Fuck me?” Venom asked, moving away from the wall at least. “Fuck me.”
“I’m not afraid of you anymore, Venom. I’m sick of being afraid of you. You’re a weak bully. Fuck off.”
Venom was standing right behind Ray now. “So you feel remorse and that gives you a fun pass with me?” He gently touched Ray’s back. Ray started and turn and get up but found he could do neither. “How ‘bout I show you what a fun pass really is?”
Ray’s screams woke people two floors above him.
Next, on Realm of Mind...
“I say we kill this punk.” Quinn stated with glee.
“You’re scaring me.” Lisa moaned.
Micky just giggled.
The security guard they were following down the school hallway went on, oblivious. He peeked into every classroom, and was humming an obscure tune.
“Kill. Kill. I wanna KILL.” Quinn giggled, and was immediately joined by Micky.
Lisa shivered. She was reminded of the song Alice’s Restaurant. I wanna kill... She had never liked that part of it. Had never liked the way the audience laughed ghoulishly as he said it. “Quinn...”
“I wanna rip his fucking head off! I wanna kill!” He ran up beside the guard and screamed in his ear. “I WANNA KILL YOU! Listen to me! Don’t ignore me, you bitch! I wanna kill you!” Spittle flew from his mouth, passing through the guard.
The guard walked on.
Quinn’s face got ugly. “I want to rip his goddamn ears off! I’ll tear him limb from limb!”
***
“May I sit here?”
Darla didn’t look up. “Do I know you?”
“Nope.”
She only saw him out of the corner of her eye. She was staring at her hands, trying to contain the trembling. It wasn’t working. When the man didn’t move or say anything, she sighed. “It’s a free park. A free park bench.”
He sat next to her. “Actually, that only goes so far. Then you enter into the concept of personal space, which is not free.”
She looked at him, finally. She was surprised to discover that he was not a man but a teenager around her age. His voice had the depth and resonance of a twenty year old. But he obviously didn’t even shave yet. What little facial hair he had was very light and short. That he was light blond made it more so. His intent brown eyes were hidden partially by his huge glasses.
“You’re unusually bold for someone my age.”
“You’d be surprised how life’s turns can embolden you.”
Darla fought the urge to be lost in his eyes. She pointed a finger at him. “You’re the new student. You’re in a couple of my classes.”
Just Funnin’ premieres 3-02-03
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