“Get a cousin to do—”
Suddenly, Luke appeared at the top of the stairs ahead of them. His hair was pulled back in a clip. Once he saw them, he stopped, sat flat down on the very top step and flopped backward, spreading out his arms. He stage whispered, “Save me! I’m so tired. Get me out of here.”
Nathan took the stairs two at a time to get to him. He sat down on the top step, leaning over to check for any injuries. Luke had on all black from the night before and was barefoot, but he looked okay. “Are you hurt somewhere I can’t see?”
“No,” he said in an exhale. “I’m just exhausted.”
“What have you been doing?”
“I’ve been hiding,” he said. As he breathed, his chest lifted and fell. His hair was in a black clip, but a lot of locks had fallen out and brushed against the floor. “They’ve been all over this place since the smoke bomb. I’m not exactly dressed for an interview.” He sat up on his elbows. “I’m starving.”
Silas slid his book bag around. He fished in it and presented a protein bar to him. “Will this work?”
“For now,” Luke said, sitting up and taking the bar from him. He ripped open the edge with his teeth and then took a big bite. He talked as he chewed. “Did you know there’s not a single place to sleep in here besides the nurse’s station? Even the couch in the main office is too short. All the floors suck.”
“Did you see who left North’s car out front?” Nathan asked.
“No,” Luke said. He swallowed his bite. “But it wasn’t here until sometime early in the morning, after a few people had shown up to unlock the school. Apparently, people dismissed it at first as someone who was breaking the rules not parking out front. When the police, who had been here all night, finally went to check it out, they found some smoke bombs inside.”
“Maybe whoever drove it is still here,” Silas said.
Luke lifted his hands in an I-don’t-know shrug. “If it was Volto, and he drove it up, he did it without the mask,” he said. “It would have been too suspicious. I couldn’t get out. Well, I could have, I think. Mr. Blackbourne thought it was too risky. Between the cops snooping around and Volto being out there...” He stopped and took another bite. “And I think he wanted me to stay here and watch anyway.”
Made sense. “Maybe we should go back to the music room.”
“Someone needs to go,” Silas said. “Dr. Green might get called away for this or for class. Someone’s got to keep Marie and Sang out of this and make sure Danielle finishes her test.”
“I need sleep,” Luke said. “I’m seeing double. Can I sleep? Where’s Kota to give me a time out?”
Nathan chuckled and stood up. With what Luke was wearing and being barefoot, it wasn’t like he could go waltzing around school, anyway. He needed to change and rest while he had the chance. Who knew what would happen next. “Guess I’ll go to the music room. Take Luke home?” he asked Silas.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Silas said. “I’ll stay with him. You go back.”
Nathan went back down the stairs, taking a different way to avoid the police at the front again. He kept his head down, slowly walking the halls as he went.
The only lead they had was that it was smoke bombs. North’s car loaded with a few smoke bombs for a supposed prank wasn’t going to land anyone in jail. Was this just because North had reported it stolen?
Or did they see it as connected to Mr. McCoy, who had been reported missing? From that, it was a springboard into the chaos happening in the office? Between McCoy and Morris and others on edge, it only took one nut to crack before the police might find some actual school violations on their part. It was likely the police would talk to a few people and hand this off to the school board and a single investigator working with a lawyer to see where any laws were broken.
They’d be working with a school board they all knew was corrupted. The superintendent was in on Hendricks’s schemes.
Mr. Hendricks avoiding the place made it all worse.
As he walked, he heard someone coming from the other direction. Voices in an otherwise empty section of hallway. He caught a blue uniform turning a corner.
He ducked into a nearby restroom, pushing himself against the wall. He waited for whoever it was to pass, ready to leave if someone came in. He didn’t need to hide, but he didn’t want to be the lone student out of class during a time like this.
The footsteps seemed to slow down a little. The voices continued.
“I don’t understand,” a voice said, and Nathan was pretty sure it was Ms. Wright. “What are you asking me?”
“You’ve been in contact with Mr. McCoy,” the other person said, and Nathan guessed it was the officer. Female. Her voice gravelly. “Your records show you’ve been getting texts and emails from the phone we picked up on him when we brought him in.”
“He was giving me information about the school,” Ms. Wright said. “About operations...But I thought it was Mr. Hendricks. That’s the phone number I was given.”
“Mr. McCoy had a missing person’s report filed for him for months,” the officer said. “And you’re telling me you had no idea that was him?”
There was a long pause from Ms. Wright. “I’m pretty sure this is where I talk to a lawyer. I’m not answering any more questions.”
“You aren’t in trouble,” she said but she sighed. “But you’ve the right to one. Probably best you make your call and get one out here.”
Nathan remained where he was after they had walked on. He breathed in, held his breath for a few seconds before letting it out between his lips.
It was all going down. There was too much happening for the Academy to contain. Too many people. Extended too far.
Maybe they shouldn’t be here. They should get Sang away from here. There was a risk her name could be brought up.
Nathan brushed his palm against his mouth and chin, wiping at his lips with his fingers. When he was pretty sure the area was clear, he left the restroom and returned to the music room.
They had a few minutes left of homeroom still. Sang was by the piano, hovering over a phone with Dr. Green.
The phone was on. A voice was coming from it. Nathan crossed the room quietly until he was close enough to hear what was being said.
Kota was speaking. “Police are at Mr. Hendricks’s house, too, but it looks like he hasn’t been here. Neighbors don’t recall seeing him.”
“Is there one of us in the squad?” Dr. Green asked. By us, he meant someone in the Academy.
“Yeah,” Kota said. “It’s where I’m getting the information. After all this, Hendricks might have flown the coop.”
“You don’t think he’s going to bother showing back up?” Dr. Green asked.
“Would you
?”
Sang picked up her head, looking to Dr. Green. “Maybe it’s good he doesn’t.”
Dr. Green blinked a few times and shrugged. “It’ll keep the police here longer to wait for him, but it does buy us time to figure out what to do.”
“We need time,” Kota said. “We’ll stay here just in case, but we should open the search net. We need to find out what happened to him.”
“Do it,” Dr. Green said. “Get word out. We’ll be here.” He hung up.
“Ms. Wright is being questioned,” Nathan said as soon as Kota was off the phone. He explained what he overheard quickly.
Dr. Green inhaled sharply and then let it out slow. “This is getting nuts. Okay.” He clapped his hands together and then brought his fingers to his lips, pressing against his mouth quickly. When he released it, he spoke. “Okay, Nathan. Stay here with Sang. Get Danielle on that test. You don’t leave, don’t let them leave with anyone but us. I’m going to the main office. My turn to butt in with Mr. Blackbourne.” He shook his hands off and then picked up his phone. “I’m calling in...hmm...Let me think.” He rambled off a few more incoherent syllables as he crossed to the music room door. He pressed it with his back to open it, completely involved in whatever he was thinking, and disappeared.
Nathan turned to Sang, his shoulders dropping. “Crazy day, huh?”
Sang nodded. She had an arm crossed over her body, her hand holding to her elbow. “I wish I could do more.”
“Maybe it’s good timing,” he said. “We’ve got Marie and Danielle here with us and out of the way.”
She nodded again, although slowly.
Nathan moved to her, close. He cupped her face in his hands and urged her to look at him. “Are you scared?”
“Yes,” she said, and her voice shook as she spoke. She swallowed quickly. “I’m worried about North. About Mr. Blackbourne... About us...”
Nathan leaned in, and he kissed her forehead gently. He left his lips there, brushing against her skin as he whispered, “Would it make it better if I said don’t? We’re not the ones in trouble. Mr. Hendricks is.”