DEATH IN PERSPECTIVE (14 page)

S
eventeen

We made our way through the hall of doors until we reached what I thought was a side
entrance into the theater.

Using a master key, Luke unlocked the door, and we entered the dark auditorium. On
the stage, the ghost light’s caged, single bulb lit the table and chair Tinsley had
used for auditions. In the theater, red exit signs burned above the doors, but didn’t
provide enough illumination to do anything other than cast an eerie glow on the doors
themselves.

“I guess we should have asked about the lights,” I said, stepping back and bumping
into Luke.

“Hold still,” he said and a moment later a pen light flashed on the floor. “If I had
to guess, we’ll find the light switches near the auditorium entrance or in a sound
booth.”

“Sound booth?” I blindly reached for Luke’s hand and focused on the small beam of
light. “Look at you with your theater jargon.”

“I ran the sound and light board for extra credit in high school a few times.” He
tugged my hand and I followed him up the path between rows of seats. “Used to sneak
girls in the booth and we’d fool around during the plays.”

“How educational.”

I felt his smile. “I learned plenty.” He gave another tug to bring me closer to his
side. “I could tutor you.”

“Thanks, but I’ve got a job to do. And friends don’t make out in sound booths when
they’re hunting for phantom texters.”

“Now, that’s a shame. I could use more friends like that.”

I needed to move to a safer subject. “What did you make of the Phantom’s accusations
against Tinsley? I still don’t think Tinsley’s telling me everything.”

“More than likely, Tinsley did use his theater funds inappropriately and someone found
out. And it probably wasn’t spent on buying pizza for the students.”

“Unless he was buying especially for Ellis Madsen,” I said. “There was that
Evita
announcement.”

“Or the Phantom is just tossing balls in the air and one came close to hitting Tinsley.
I don’t think that idol message had anything to do with misuse of funds.”

We had reached the apex of the theater. Luke shone his pen light on the door to the
sound booth and then on the walls next to the double doors leading to the auditorium’s
lobby. “No switches here. I’ll look in the booth.”

I tried the double doors. They gave at my push, and I peered out. “There’s a window,
so I can see. I’ll look for a light switch out here.”

“Holler if you find one. You might need a key for it.” Luke fumbled with the key ring,
trying different keys in the doorknob of the booth.

I left him to relive memories of high school necking sessions and walked into the
theater lobby. Pale moonlight shone through a large window, painting a silver square
on the dark carpet below. Two single doors set at the far corners, I assumed, led
to the balcony. Enough diffused lighting allowed me to see an absence of light switches.

The lobby entrance opened onto a school hallway. This hall was lit with inset fluorescent
panels, and I could make out the front foyer and office in the distance.

I realized I had not traversed this spoke in the Peerless labyrinth, which must run
parallel to the arts hall. I glanced back at the theater doors and decided to leave
Luke to find the lights. It would be impossible to see anything in the balcony without
some overhead illumination.

I scooted down the hall, searching for lighted classrooms, curious to see if anyone
else worked late. Perhaps the Phantom had holed himself up in one of the rooms, waiting
for Tinsley to respond to the audition photos on PeerNotes. Or on
Tinsley Talks
, as I suspected.

I stopped a few yards down the hall. A large picture window had been inset, and I
realized no doors, but windows aligned both sides of the hall, all dark save one.
Parents walk this hall on their pilgrimage to the auditorium, I thought. Views into
the students’ lives. Watching their children through glass.

Very
Planet of the Apes
.

I moved to the next window. By the glow of an electronic panel, I could make out the
nearby shape of a bulky machine. Closing my eyes, I imagined the other side of the
hall and knew these were the art studios. Smart for Peerless to give the parents a
window onto another creative process while they made their way to the theater for
plays and whatnot. Much more interesting than a history classroom.

The next window glowed in stark contrast to the others. I crept with my back against
the cinderblocks and peered around the side. Easels had been set in a circle around
a central dais made from a plywood box, holding a table draped in a white cloth topped
with a cow’s skull. Still lifes. I smiled, remembering the number of charcoal cow
skulls I had drawn as a student. Then noticed movement in the closest corner.

Not quite able to see, I squatted and waddled below the window to peep up. The teacher’s
desk sat diagonally in the corner, a good spot to hide from the constant surveillance
of the picture window. I could see the side of a computer monitor and stacks of books
and papers. I hunker-walked toward the opposite corner and peeped up again. This time,
Dr. Vail’s profile appeared, bent toward the computer screen.

She appeared to be typing or scrolling and stopped. Her hand rose to the screen, then
flew to cover her mouth. With slumped shoulders and a hand clamped over her lips,
Camille Vail sat, fixated on the computer screen. I squinted to make out the website,
but from the side I could only see the glow of illuminated pixels.

Slamming her hand on the desk, Dr. Vail bumped a haphazard stack of piled papers,
starting an avalanche. Drawings slopped onto the floor. With eyes and mouth drawn
tight, she glared at the fallen pieces. Grabbing a piece of pottery on her desk, she
chucked it at the far wall. The object smashed against a chalkboard and rained on
the carpet.

“That’s what I call ticked off,” I whispered, dropping below the window. “Who peed
in her grits? Tinsley?”

I wanted to see her computer screen, but the angle worked against me. My peripheral
caught more movement. Across the hall, a light flickered in a window. I stiffened.
The tiny light bobbed inside the dark room, went out, then flashed again. Someone
besides Luke had a flashlight and were doing their best to hide it from the window.
Which classrooms were in the next hall?

More importantly, could the flashlight holder see me hiding in the hallway?

I peeked above the art window. Dr. Vail paced before the chalkboard. I dropped to
the floor and scuttled the length of the window, my eyes on the opposite wall where
the penlight cut on and off. A door creaked, and I froze.

“Cherry? Where are you?” called Luke. “I
turned
the lights on in the theater.”

The penlight cut off. I flattened against the wall and inched toward my full five
foot and a half inch.

“Cherry?” Luke strode to the entrance of the hall, located my position, and halted.

With my eyes on the dark window, I held a finger to my
lips
, but the flashlight had been doused. A sliver of light appeared as the classroom
door cracked. A figure blocked the light and the classroom fell into darkness.

“Come on,” I called over my shoulder and took off down the hallway. I glanced in the
drawing classroom as I passed and noticed Camille Vail no longer paced. The room was
empty.

My boots rang on the tile floor. Behind me, I heard Luke’s boots echoing mine. Except
faster and heavier.

He caught me in three seconds, pounding the floor next to me. “Why exactly are we
jogging down the hall?”

“We’re not jogging, we’re running. Someone was poking about in the classrooms in the
next hall. With a flashlight. They just left and I’m going to catch them.”

Luke’s long legs hit warp drive and he shot off, reaching the school foyer and rounding
left. He disappeared while I still chugged up the middle hall. Panting, I skidded
to a stop in the half moon foyer. Lights shone in the back of the administration office.
I spun left and noted the sign above the next hall. Math and Sciences.

My least favorite hall.

I jogged forward and stopped. The dim florescent panels revealed an empty corridor
that ended in another double set of doors. Where was Luke? Like the arts hall, this
area didn’t have windows, only sets of doors. I backed into the foyer. The next wing
held Language Arts and Social Sciences, and the following had been marked for Consumer
Science, Business and Computer Science, and Physical Education.

I wasn’t crazy about any of those fields, either. And those halls were as deserted
as the math and science area.

I slipped back to the science hall, jiggling door handles as I reached them. Midway
down the corridor, I discovered another passageway connecting math and science to
the other academic halls. I hesitated, wondering if Luke had followed this arc or
if he had continued down the science hall.

I was going to get so lost.

Boots tramped somewhere in the distance. Luke still navigated the byzantine school,
searching for the flashlight carrier. I decided to continue my course of trying doorknobs,
until I reached the locked double doors at the end. The cafeteria. Another hall sprigged
right here as well.

Peerless Academy was one big wagon wheel with some additional arcs crossing the spokes.
Although it felt more like the game board from Clue. Phantom Flashlight must have
taken the secret passageway from the conservatory to the lounge.

I closed my eyes and listened. Footsteps rang somewhere nearby. I jogged back up the
science wing, turned the corner of the connector hallway and smacked into Luke.

He grabbed me by the shoulders and peeled me off his body, steadying me on my feet.

“Did you see anybody?” he asked.

“No, not a soul.”

“There are a couple custodians vacuuming and dusting the library. They didn’t see
anyone either.” He ran a hand through his short, dark curls. “Are you sure you saw
somebody?”

“Sure as I could in the dark. I don’t think the bogeyman uses a penlight to search
through a desk, which is what I guess they were doing.”

Luke jiggled the ring of keys. “You think you can figure which classroom it was?”

I paced down the hall and chose a door on the right, the classrooms facing the windowed
hall. The nameplate next to the door named the room “Chemistry.”

Luke unlocked the door with his master key and paused.

“Should we turn on the lights?” I felt for a switch on the wall.

“That’s what I was wondering. I don’t think anyone’s around, but if the lurker is
still about, they might see us through those damn windows.”

“So will Dr. Vail
.
” I pointed to her lighted window across the hall. “Let’s continue with the skulking.
I’d rather not anyone know I’m in a science room. I have a reputation to protect.”

“I don’t think anyone would believe you spend much time studying chemistry. Maybe
biology.” He nudged my hip with his leg. “Get it? The birds and the bees.”

“Hilarious. I meant I don’t want anyone in the school to know I’m looking for the
Phantom.” I glared toward his murky shape. “Are you done playing around? I’m on the
track of a maniacal slanderer.”

“Maniacal slanderer? I don’t remember that term from the Police Academy.”

“You don’t treat this any more seriously than Herrera, do you?” I said.

“Sugar
.
” Luke leaned against the jamb. “I’m here
,
aren’t I?”

“I’m still not sure why. But let’s see what our flashlight lurker searched for. They
were somewhere close to the window, near the far right corner.”

I moved with my hands out, stumbling past long counters and bumping into stools. Luke
flicked on his pen light, guiding us to the corner. Buried beneath notebooks and stacks
of paper, we found the teacher’s desk. Luke glided the small light over the papers.
I moved around the desk to block the light from the window.

“I don’t see much other than kids’ homework.” Luke laid a hand on the hard drive tower.
“Feels cold. They didn’t boot up the computer. See if the desk drawer
is
open.”

Having Luke’s help was more beneficial than I realized. However, I didn’t need to
explode his ego with that comment and kept it to myself.

I pulled on the front middle drawer. It lurched open. Luke handed me the penlight,
and I shined it on a mess of pens, paperclips, pencil shavings, and other educational
flotsam and jetsam. Finding the end of a lanyard, I yanked on it and a Peerless name
badge flew out.

“I guess we’re monkeying around in Scott Fisher’s desk
.
” I shined the penlight on the badge’s tiny picture. “Kind of cute for a science teacher.”

“Stop ogling Scott Fisher,” said Luke. “Let’s hurry this up.”

“Wasn’t an ogle. More of an admiration.” I replaced the lanyard and tried another
drawer.

“One thing’s for sure,” I said. “Scott Fisher isn’t up for any Cleanest Desk awards.
I just found half of a mushy banana.”

“Leave the banana.”

I opened the bottom drawer. “Here’s his secret stash of mini candy bars. Scott Fisher
has a sweet tooth.”

“Don’t even think about it,” warned Luke. “What else is in the drawer? Look for something
out of place.”

I flashed the pen light around the drawer, afraid to find another moldy banana. A
manila envelope lay beneath the bag of candy. I lifted the candy and ran the light
over the envelope. It didn’t have the markings of dirt or wear as the rest of the
desk clutter.

“I’d say this qualifies as one of these things is not like the other.” I grabbed the
envelope and stuck the penlight under my chin, shafting the light toward my bellybutton.

“Are you trying to spotlight your boobs?” Luke chuckled.

“Not getting any hasn’t improved your sense of humor, that’s for sure,” I snapped.
“You think this was what Mr. Flashlight was looking for? Should I peek inside this
envelope?”