Signs of Life (10 page)

Jeremy unlocked and pushed open the heavy front door, the musty smell of a closed-up house assaulting his nostrils and making him sneeze twice. Dust danced in the beams of weak sunlight that came through the long, narrow windows flanking the door he’d just closed behind him, floating on the still air. His heels clicked on the old parquet floor, and Jeremy impatiently toed his dress shoes off, padding in his socks toward the inn’s reception counter, a beautifully carved piece of solid mahogany. He trailed his fingertips over the smooth surface, imagining the myriad guests who had checked in to the bed and breakfast over the years, picturing the counter polished up and gleaming, a pretty receptionist standing behind it as she answered quietly ringing phone lines or greeted his clients as they came through the door.

Jeremy stood there, his mind’s eye not seeing the ugly rose-and-vine wallpaper and dusty, vacant room, but walls painted a soft buttery yellow, crown molding and chair rails stained a rich cherry, plush Oriental rugs and wingback chairs creating an environment of welcome, of elegance.

“Mr. Speer will see you now.”

Jeremy followed his imaginary receptionist to the pocket doors on the left and pushed them open, stepping into a large room with bay windows, floor-to-ceiling built-in bookshelves, and a huge marble fireplace. This was the room that had caused him to fall instantly in love with this house. This would be his office, and he would have a desk placed just so, more Oriental rugs and wingback chairs carrying over the décor from the reception area, maybe a small conversational grouping of leather couches and chairs set off to the side for more informal client meetings and chats.

Jeremy could picture sitting at his desk, the rain streaming down the bay windows, a cheerful fire crackling in the background, doing the work he loved but that he’d neglected for far too long. He wanted this. He was ready for it.

His resolve waned a little as he wandered the house, free to take his time and look around without the real estate agent’s incessant chatter distracting him, really taking in the amount of work the entire place needed to come up to his standards. The wallpaper was butt ugly, old-fashioned, and frilly, and the kitchen and bathrooms would all need updating. The upstairs bedrooms were huge, but in places the parquet floors were scuffed and gouged from moving furniture in and out, and there were holes in the walls. The inspector had assured him the roof was sound, and there hadn’t been any water leaks he could see evidence of.

All in all the house had a good foundation, and Jeremy had the time and the money to make this house something special from the ground up, something all his own with no painful memories to associate it with—a truly new beginning. He stood in the middle of the master bedroom and dreamed, feeling a cautious hope sprout within him, a warm glow sparking in the void where his broken heart used to be.

He wouldn’t dare ask for happiness, but contentment? He could live with that.

His feet slid a little on the slick floor as he made his way to the set of french doors that led to a huge wraparound balcony, the second reason he’d fallen in love with this house. He stepped outside, not caring as the residual rain beading up on the floor promptly soaked his socks, and drank in the view. The forest behind the house wasn’t developed and never would be, and above the tree line the snow-covered peak of Mt. Bachelor soared, creating a beautiful, peaceful view Jeremy would never get tired of.

He would enclose this part of the balcony so he could sit out here and enjoy the view all year round, make it a reading nook, a private space where he could unwind and relax. Suddenly he was itching to get to work, to make all of these dreams a reality, to rebuild his new life from the ashes of his old one as best he possibly could.

As Jeremy pulled the french doors closed again and latched them, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw a new e-mail notification pop up, indicating an e-mail from Andrew Maglio, the State prosecutor on his case. He opened it and read it, pursing his lips. The defense had apparently requested a meeting with Jeremy and the State to talk about the upcoming restitution hearing.

That was fast
, he thought. Suddenly getting revenge on a group of stupid kids seemed petty and childish, although he remained determined they would pay for their crime in some way other than just probation. He was willing to talk about reduced restitution, or a short jail sentence in lieu of. He tapped out a terse reply to Maglio, instructing him to set up a meeting and e-mail him details.

Jeremy spent a few more minutes exploring the rest of the house, mapping out a tentative plan of action before closing everything up and driving away toward home.

“HEY, SLEEPING
Beauty!” A pencil thunking into the side of Kai’s head woke him from the light doze he’d fallen into on the teachers’ lounge couch.

“What the hell, Moreno?” Kai rubbed the sting in his head and glared at the offender, who grinned back at him unrepentantly.

“Dave’s looking for you, wants to talk to you.”

“About what?” Kai stood up and stretched, wincing as his back popped a few vertebrae.

“How should I know? Probably wants to fire your dumb ass.”

“That’d be an answer to prayer, man,” Kai said, only half joking as he gathered his lunch trash and threw it away.

“I hear you.” Rich Moreno was an ELL teacher. “Seems like it’s gonna be a tough year, hombre. Those kids getting arrested….”

“Yeah, Terrell was bad news. It still blows my mind that the powers that be think it’s okay to keep trying to force thugs like him to go to school. He was an eighteen-year-old sophomore, for Christ’s sake, in and out of juvie, couldn’t earn enough credits to save his life. He didn’t want to be here, and he was never gonna try. Just let him drop out and save us all some grief.”

“Bitches be crazy,” Moreno grunted, referring to the school district administration and absent probation officers. “It’s all about the fuckin’ numbers.”

Kai snorted. “Yeah. Keeping that
one
piece of bad news in school really boosted numbers when he got
three
other kids arrested. Big picture, man, is all I’m saying.”

Moreno waved his hand, his mouth already stuffed with a huge bite of his sandwich. Kai flipped him off and exited the teachers’ lounge, grinning. The smile faded the closer he got to the assistant principal’s office.

As he walked through the administration area, he swung past the mailbox cubbies and checked his mail. There was a neat stack of tomorrow’s math worksheets set carefully inside his cubby, collated and stapled, the whole packet rubber-banded together with a sticky note stuck to the top page. “For Mr. Daniels” was written in Shauna’s neat cursive. Kai gave the stack a little pat, smiling. The girl really was a bright spot in his otherwise bleak class roster, and he was determined to put every ounce of the resources at his disposal behind her to get her through high school and into nursing school. She deserved the chance, and Kai was resolved to see she got it.

“Daniels!” Kai looked up to see Dave Murphy, one of the assistant principals, beckon impatiently to him from the doorway of his office. He rolled his eyes discreetly at the attendance secretary, and she giggled behind her hand as he gave a dramatic sigh.

“I know you only have a few minutes before class, Kai, but I thought this was important.” Dave waved him into his office, and Kai raised his eyebrows at the woman standing in front of Dave’s desk.

“Liliana?” he said questioningly, reaching out his hand to shake hers warmly.

“Hey, Kai, good to see you again.” The public defender pushed her blonde hair behind one ear as she gave Kai a brilliant smile. He knew her well; he’d had so many students over the years who were in the legal system that he was pretty much on a first-name basis with every juvenile public defender and probation officer in town.

“I know you’ve got to get to class, Kai, but I wanted to talk to you quickly about a couple of your students and a meeting that’s coming up.”

“Which students?” he asked, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of Dave’s desk, waiting for her to do the same, watching her fuss with some files she pulled out of her briefcase.

“Umm,” she said, flipping through the files. “Craig LeClaire and Luke Pfleger.”

“Oh, this is the vandalism case, the one where Terrell Watkins was involved?”

“Yes,” she said, obviously relieved she didn’t have to explain the whole case to him. “Terrell has been referred to adult court, but he’s in county jail on other pending charges as well. This is Craig and Luke’s first offense, and the victim in this case is out for blood. We have a formal restitution hearing next week, and I’d like to float an option by you that I’m going to present to the victim and the State in a preliminary meeting tomorrow, see if you’re onboard and can back me up on this.”

Intrigued, Kai sat forward. He glanced at the clock on the wall and caught Dave’s eye.

“Don’t worry, I got someone else to cover your class for fifteen minutes,” Dave said, and relieved, Kai gave Liliana his full attention.

“The damages to the victim’s property were substantial, and if he is granted an order of restitution, most likely all the boys will receive detention sentences in lieu of payment. What I want to propose is community service.”

Kai must have looked skeptical because she continued hurriedly, “And I don’t mean picking up trash at the park or working at the animal shelter. I’m talking about actually working for the victim, on his property, making repairs to the damage, helping rebuild, whatever he wants. I understand this is a cabin in the woods. Maybe the boys can clear underbrush, pick up fallen branches, I don’t know. Whatever he wants,” she repeated.

Kai pursed his lips. “I’m not sure the dude would go for that. Two or three boys doing all that work? It would take forever.”

“I have three more boys with community service hours owing whom this would be perfect for. I’m thinking the six of them, with proper supervision, of course.”

“A chain gang of juvenile delinquents,” Kai said wryly. “Where do I come in?”

“I’d like you to be part of the supervision team.” Liliana held up her hand to stave off the automatic protest that sprang to Kai’s lips. “You’re good with kids, and Craig and Luke look up to you. We’ve talked about you a few times. They say you have ‘street cred’ and you’re not full of bullshit like all the other adults in their lives, that you care about them.”

“They said that?” Kai said doubtfully. “I’d only had them in class for a couple of weeks before they were arrested.”

“Kids are like animals, Kai. They know instinctively whom they can trust, and they seem to trust you. I think at heart they’re not bad kids; they were just caught up in the herd mentality and the need every kid has to fit in somewhere. Terrell manipulated that need. He was intending to rob the man’s cabin, but he said they took so much time vandalizing the one structure that they were afraid ‘the crazy nigga’ would get back too soon and they’d have to chop him up with his axe and bury the pieces.”

Kai winced. He didn’t think it would have come to that, but who could know for sure. Terrell really was bad news, a hardened criminal at eighteen.

“Who else besides me on the team?”

“I’m thinking Loren. You guys are buddies, right?” Loren was the arresting officer on a couple of Liliana’s other cases, and he’d joined them for drinks occasionally. When Kai nodded assent to her question, she continued, “You and Loren, plus an off-duty court security officer who owes me a favor. The three of you should be able to handle six boys, I’d think.”

“It’d look good on this year’s performance eval, Kai,” Dave broke in. “Extracurricular activities plus community service? It would help a lot.” His pause was significant.

Kai ground his teeth together. Performance eval: the bane of every teacher’s existence. Since three of the four students in trouble were his, some fucker in a suit who had never set foot in a second-chance school classroom would decide he was probably incompetent, holding his performance up to the bright light of factors that were impossible for him to have any control over—economic status, cultural values, behavioral problems, whether English was a student’s first language. The list went on and on, and someone could decide Kai was a piece-of-shit teacher based on the fact that a couple of his students let themselves be manipulated by a criminal.

As much as it galled him to admit it, the extracurricular service would look good to a review panel.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll do it.” He held up his hand as Liliana gave a self-congratulatory fist pump. “But it can’t interfere with school or my prep time.”

“Of course not. I’m thinking a weekend day, either Saturday or Sunday, for maybe six to eight hours. It’ll be a time commitment, Kai. If this works and everybody signs off on it, they’re going to get a lot of community service hours. They did over fifteen thousand dollars’ damage to this guy’s property.”

Both Dave and Kai whistled under their breaths.

“They’re going to need to do more than a few hours on the weekend, so I’ll set up things like the food bank, the animal shelter, the highway trash pickup, whatever else it takes. But I think the hook that’ll convince the victim to agree to this will be the work on his property.” Liliana held up crossed fingers. “I hope he’ll at least consider it.”

She stood up to go, stuffing files back into her briefcase. Kai nodded to Dave and then walked her to the school entrance.

“Thanks, Kai,” Liliana said gratefully, reaching out and squeezing his upper arm. He sighed and smiled at her ruefully, then a thought struck him.

“Hey,” he said, pushing the door open for Liliana. “Why did Terrell call the victim a ‘crazy’—well, you know.”

“Oh, that,” Liliana said, pausing in the act of putting on her sunglasses. “Terrell had seen him a lot and knew that when he left his house, he’d be gone awhile. He’s that ultramarathoner or whoever that runs all around town. You’ve probably seen him before too.”

With that she breezed out the door with a wave, and the heavy door slammed shut behind her, right in Kai’s stunned face.