Code of Silence: Living a Lie Comes With a Price (18 page)

I am going to write a cell phone number on the bottom of this letter. I
will answer the phone between 3:30 and 4:30 pm to answer any question you may need to ask for me to show this isn’t some prank. I can prove I was there. I can tell you exactly where Frank was laying. I can tell you what was on the floor in front of the counter. I can tell you what they used to break the front window to get at me. I can tell you what I left behind at one of the tables. Find the real robbers. Nail the monsters that did this to Frank Mustacci. Stop looking for me.

Sincerely, “Silence is Golden”

Cooper glanced around the room. Girls sat like zombies with pale faces and wide-eyed stares. Kelsey Seals turned, mouth partially open like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t figure out how. Probably a first for her. Eliza Miller, biting her lower lip, stared at Jacob Mickel like she already had the mystery witness figured out.

The boys’ eyes were on fire. Like they
wish
they’d written the letter. They had no idea what they were asking for. Cooper tried to mirror their faces.

Miss Ferrand looked up. “The article goes on to speculate on different theories. The paper believes the note may be legitimate, and they intend to follow up. According to some unnamed source in the police department, the police share a similar opinion. Which brings me to the next point.”

She walked up and down each aisle. Slowly. So slowly. Ignoring the girls, but deliberately looking at each of the boys as she did. “The writer of this letter did a very brave thing. And he has every right to be scared right now.” She looked directly at Cooper.

He crumpled up his brow and tried to muster up a confused expression. He looked behind him and then back at her. She moved on.

“I want to send my own message to this person.” She went to the white board and wrote a phone number with a red marker. “This is the school phone number. I have a mailbox just like every other teacher. You call me. Leave a message. I can help. I’ll check my messages right up until when I go to bed. Questions?”

Cooper had some questions for her. Like, was she crazy? Did she really think he would open up to her?

Kelsey Seals raised her hand. “What will you do?” Obviously she’d found her voice.

“I’ll go straight to the top,” she said. “The principal is very good friends with Detective Hammer. We’ll make sure the witness is protected.”

Cooper slouched down in his seat. She
was
crazy.

“Like the witness protection program or something?” Jake Mickel blurted it out. One of the jealous boys.

“I don’t think so. But he’ll be safe. Trust me on that.”

Trust
her?
The one who gave pop quizzes with trick questions? Right.

Eliza Miller raised her hand, cautiously, like she wasn’t sure she should. “What if, like, somebody suspects somebody else in the class?” Her eyes darted toward Mickel for an instant. “What should we do?”

“Talk to me and tell me why,” Ferrand said.

This thing could turn into a real witch hunt. Nice move, Miss Ferrand.

More hands shot up. More mindless questions. Cooper tuned most of them out. His mind snapped back to Hiro. Did the Yakimotos get a paper? He imagined her absorbing the article. At least she should be happy the plan worked.

“Paper and pencil out, everyone.”

Miss Ferrand’s voice pulled him back into the classroom. “I want each of you to write my number down right now.” She pointed at the board. “And you call me. Understand?”

Maybe the principal put a bounty on his head.

The noise level went up as kids scrounged in backpacks for something to write on. Cooper fished out a scrap of paper. He looked up at the number like he seriously intended to write it down. Instead he wrote
fat chance
across the paper, folded it and slipped it in his pocket.

He watched Gordy hesitate for a moment, then write something on the paper. He looked at the number on the board again and checked his paper as if to be sure he got it right. Gordy put on a convincing show of it—and hopefully that’s all it was.

“Or if you want to talk after class, I’m here for you. Understand?”

Heads nodded all over the room. Cooper nodded his head too. He understood all right, but he’d stick to the Code of Silence, thank you very much.

Miss Ferrand made another notation on her legal pad, then looked directly at Cooper. “Does everyone have my number?”

Cooper nodded again, but had the uneasy feeling she was especially concerned that he wrote it down. That whole “women’s intuition” stuff was spooky. Something nobody could really explain or understand. Hiro had an extra dose of it.

Miss Ferrand looked at him again, picked up her legal pad, and started toward him. Maybe she didn’t want to take a chance on whether he’d stay and talk or not. She looked like a reporter on her way to a juicy interview.

The bell rang, and the kids erupted into excited talk like it had been bottled up inside them for days, and they couldn’t handle the pressure anymore.

Girls jumped up in the aisles and hovered around Miss Ferrand as if they needed protection somehow. Seals and Miller led the charge. Which was just fine with Cooper. He slipped by her in the confusion and made a beeline for the door with Gordy right on his heels.

“Cooper MacKinnon!”

He heard her call just as he rounded the corner into the hall, but acted like he didn’t hear a thing. Out of her line of sight, he took off at a run. He figured he had five or six seconds before she’d break free from the girls in class and make it to the hallway.

Kids burst out of other classrooms and filled the halls. Cooper kept count of the seconds. Three, four, five. He ducked in front
of a herd of seventh graders piling out of Mrs. Brittain’s class and stopped running. Gordy scooted in right next to him.

“Don’t look back,” Cooper said. He kept his head down and walked fast, hoping she wouldn’t spot him.

Maybe Hiro had the right idea. Taking a sick day might be good for his health.

T
his is nuts,” Gordy said, hustling to keep up with him. “Think she suspects us?”

“Not us. Me.”

“Why just you?”

“The letter made it sound like I was alone. She’s looking for only one person.”

“Think you’re at the top of her suspect list?”

Cooper chanced a look over his shoulder to make sure she wasn’t following. “I don’t know why, but by the way she looks at me … yeah.”

“Top of Hammer’s list. Top of Ferrand’s list. Ditching her won’t help any.”

“Thanks for the reminder. I only need to buy some time.”

They hustled into the cafeteria side by side. Cooper stopped and pulled a sweatshirt from his backpack and pulled it over his head.

Gordy gave him a questioning look. “What are you doing?”

“Changing how I look a bit. I wouldn’t be surprised if Miss Ferrand comes looking for me during lunch.”

“Tell me you’re not going to pull the hood up.”

Cooper smiled and kept walking.

“I wish Hiro was here,” Gordy said.

Hiro.
Cooper’s heart sunk. “Me too.”

“Ferrand will expect us to sit together. Think we should split up?”

“Might help.” Cooper scanned the lunchroom. “See you on the bus.”

Gordy nodded and headed for the hot lunch line. Cooper pulled his bag lunch from his backpack and looked for someplace to sit. He wanted to find a spot all to himself so he could think. And keep an eye out for Miss Ferrand. But sitting alone somewhere was a little obvious. The smart thing would be to sit somewhere he wouldn’t normally consider sitting. Like
under
a table.

A burst of laughter from a table full of girls caught his attention, and probably every other person in the cafeteria. Julie VonMoose had an empty spot next to her, but he didn’t feel
that
desperate.

Cooper looked over his shoulder and checked the entrance. Still gobs of kids piling in, but no Miss Ferrand. He couldn’t keep standing in the middle of the aisle. If she walked through the doorway he’d be dead.

Steiner, Tellshow, and Demel pushed through, talking loud and tough. Clearly wishing they were a part of the unfolding drama around the robbery, and trying to make up for the fact that they weren’t.

Cooper started toward a table at an opposite corner of the cafeteria than he usually sat. He’d get a good view of the cafeteria, and an exit door was just a matter of feet away. There were several empty spaces. Cooper swung a leg over the bench and sat quickly, keeping an eye on the entrance. He pulled out his sandwich and took a bite.

“Hey, MacKinnon. Have a fight with Gordo or something?”

Lunk’s voice. Cooper’s stomach tightened. He hoped he would just keep going.

No such luck. Lunk swung a leg over the bench and sat across from him with a tray loaded nearly as heavy as Gordy’s normally was.

Lunk eyed him through shaggy black hair. “So why aren’t you sitting with Gordo and Yaki-dodo?”

“Yakimoto. Hiroko Yakimoto.” Cooper chomped another hunk of sandwich. “Hiro isn’t here today. Must be sick.”

“She’s
always
sick.” Lunk smiled. “Wants to be a cop. Right? Definitely something sick with that girl.”

Cooper looked past him. Miss Ferrand stood just inside the cafeteria doors scanning the room.

Lunk followed Cooper’s gaze, then studied him, eyes squinting just a bit. “Waiting for someone?”

“Uh-uh.” Cooper lowered his head just a bit and focused on his peanut butter sandwich.

Miss Ferrand started walking. Slowly, like a prison guard pacing the cell block, watching the inmates. He could see her scanning the tables. Not a routine, making sure everything is under control type scan. She was looking for someone.
Him.

Lunch wasn’t even close to being over. Was she going to walk around the entire perimeter of the room like this? She reminded him of a cat he’d seen stalking a bird in their backyard. The cat moved slowly. Deliberately. Getting closer and closer to the little chickadee that was busily tearing into bread Mom had thrown out in the yard. Cooper envisioned the cat pouncing on the unsuspecting bird at any moment. He’d pulled off his shoe and threw it at the cat just in time.

Cooper saw Gordy come out of the hot lunch line. He walked to the usual table with his tray in front of him and sat down. Ferrand was on him like the paparazzi. Gordy shrugged and looked around the room, while he talked to her. Miss Ferrand nodded briefly, and resumed her search. Whatever Gordy told her must have worked.

Miss Ferrand got closer. Arms folded across her chest, her claws painted red. A cat on the prowl. And Cooper was the bird.

“
Avoiding
someone?” Lunk leaned in closer. The corner of his mouth turned up in a smile. The kind of smile that said he knew.

Hammer had singled him out. Ferrand was zeroing in. Now Lunk. Was everyone psychic or was he that easy to read?

Cooper ignored Lunk and tried not to look at Miss Ferrand.
He couldn’t help but steal a glance. She’d rounded the corner and slowly patrolled his way. He needed a shoe.

“You in some kind of trouble?” Lunk’s voice was low.

Cooper didn’t answer. He needed some quick, witty remark. A comeback that would get him off the hook. But he couldn’t think. His brain seemed as mushy as the peanut butter sandwich in his stomach.

“I’m taking that as a
yes
,” Lunk said. He looked down the aisle. “You want to get out of here?”

Cooper stared at his lunch bag. What’s the worst that could happen if Miss Ferrand had a little talk with him? She’d ask some questions. He’d hatch more lies. He was getting pretty good at avoiding the truth. The real issue was whether she would see through him. And if she did, would she talk to the principal, or Detective Hammer? All the Detective needed was a decent reason to single him out for questioning. Ferrand might be able to supply that if she could get him one-on-one.

The course seemed clear.
Avoid the talk.
Stall it off. No good could come of it, and her snooping around could threaten the Code.

“Not in a very talkative mood, are you, MacKinnon?” Lunk said.

“My stomach,” Cooper said. “A little messed up.”

“Anything to do with Ferrand?”

Cooper glanced over. She couldn’t have been more than thirty feet away. She’d stopped walking for the moment, giving the room another visual sweep from that vantage point. She still didn’t see him, but it was only a matter of seconds now. He braced himself. Told himself to relax. Stay calm.

“I’ll distract her,” Lunk said.

“What?” Cooper looked at him.

Lunk nodded toward the side exit. “Hit the washroom around the corner until the end of the period. You’ll be safe there.”

Without waiting for a response, Lunk stood and grabbed his
tray. He plowed past some students standing in the aisle—and right into Miss Ferrand.

His tray crashed to the floor, the sound echoing off the cinder block walls. Miss Ferrand stood with her hands out to her side looking at ketchup blotches on her clothes.

Kids jumped up from their seats for a better view. Riley Steiner and his boys stood on a bench leading the entire cafeteria in whistles, claps, and cheers.

“Sorry, Miss Ferrand.” Lunk’s voice sounded sincere over all the other noise.

Cooper jumped from his seat, and stumbled over his backpack. A black permanent marker spilled out. And the phone. He shouldered the pack, scooped up the phone and marker and jammed them in his pocket as he hustled for the exit. Once around the corner he ran for the men’s room. He kept running until he locked himself in the handicapped stall.

Had Miss Ferrand seen him scoot out of the lunchroom? What would she think now? If she did see him, he’d be on her most wanted list for sure. And what about Lunk? He owed him some kind of explanation—but what?

Cooper hung his backpack on the hook behind the door. Pulling the phone from his pocket, he turned it on. The phone came to life. A little part of him wished it didn’t. If it was broken, he wouldn’t have to worry about getting a call from the police. He turned the phone off as quickly as he could, fearing the police might try calling early.