Chapter 37
IF THIS WASthe current state of education in America, Decker thought, the country was in serious trouble.
Baronville High School looked like it was nearly ready for the wrecking ball to come through. In fact, it wouldn’t have taken a demolition team to knock the place down, it appeared one guy with a sledgehammer and asix pack of Red Bull could do the job just fine.
The roof had holes in it, some windows were broken, and the front door stuck so much that Decker nearly wrenched his shoulder out of joint tugging it open.
When he entered the school and headed to the office he could smell mildew and damp everywhere. The linoleum floors looked untouched since they had been installed. The trophycabinet outside the office had no trophies inside it.
He presented himself at the office and told them who he was and what he wanted. The assistant principal, a petite mousy woman with graying hair, a stiff gait, and a melancholy expression, escorted him to the library.
“Looks like the school has seen better days,” commented Decker.
“The wholetownhas seen betterdays,” she replied. “No tax base means no money for this place. And we’ve only got half the number of students we used to have. The great exodus is on. Actually, it has been for about thirty years now.”
“But things might be turning around. There’s the fulfillment center. That employs a ton of people.”
“And I understand that someone died there.”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
She led him into the library. The shelves held few books, and there were a couple of antiquated boxy computers on metal tables. There wasn’t a single student in the place.
“The yearbooks are over there,” she said, pointing to a far corner.
“If I have any other questions, can I just ask the librarian?”
The woman went over to the door and looked back. “Youcould if we had a librarian. We lost her in the last round of budget cuts. We can spend a billion dollars on a sports arena, but we can’t drop a dime on our kids.”
Decker just stood there and stared at her awkwardly.
She said quietly, “If you need anything else, Agent Decker, you can come and get me. I’d be glad to help.”
“Thanks.”
She left and Decker walkedover to the yearbooks and scanned the volumes there. He pulled out four of them from the span of time he needed to check, sat at one of the rickety tables, and opened the first one. He found the students he wanted in the freshman year.
John Baron the Fourth looked so young, and he was, barely fourteen at the time. He was still growing into a body that would become long and lean. HisAdam’s apple stuck out prominently from the photo, along with his toothy grin. Decker ought to have been surprised that the elite Baron would have been sent to a public school, but he had learned that Baron’s parents had actually been pretty much broke when their son was growing up. A free public education may have been their only route.
Decker turned the pages until he got to anotheralphabetical section.
JoyceRidge, who had become Joyce Tanner upon marriage, looked back at him. She was exceptionally pretty, with long blonde hair and soft blue eyes.
Decker had seen her autopsy photo with this same face torn apart by a shotgun blast. He had learned Tanner’s maiden name during the course of his investigation.
He flipped through some more pagesto find that Tanner and Baron had been members of the school’s honor society. He turned to the sports section of the yearbook and saw that Baron, despite being a freshman, was a starter on both the football and baseball teams. His stats as a quarterback and pitcher were listed and would have been impressive for a senior.
Tanner was on the tennis team and was also a cheerleader.
Decker went through their sophomore and junior yearbooks and saw the pair grow up in the photos. Tanner was voted Most Popular as a junior, and Baron’s athletic career was on a tear. As a junior, he was all-state in both football and baseball.
Decker next picked up their senior yearbook and slowly went through the pages.
Baron was now at pretty much his full height, andhandsome, with strong features, thick dark hair, and a pair of bewitching eyes. An article in the sports section of the yearbook reported that Baron threw for nearly three thousand yards and thirty touchdowns as a quarterback, and as a pitcher on the baseball team, he was undefeated and had tossed the only perfect game in school history. He was one of only two high school athletes named first teamall-state in two sports that year, and subsequently had been named athlete of the year for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
He had also signed a college baseball scholarship, the yearbook reported, evidencing both his athletic and academic prowess.
Joyce Ridge had grown into a beautiful young woman. She was tall, athletically built, captain of the tennis team, and head cheerleader.Her future seemed limitless, though there was no mention of her going to college or receiving a scholarship.