Part 14 (1/2)

One eyebrow shot up over the rim of the burgundy gla.s.ses. ”Where are your parents?”

Caleb continued to smile. ”They're with our aunt having some tests run. We're trying to find her old love. They broke up over a misunderstanding. They haven't spoken in years. He needs to be with her now. Can you help us? Please?”

Ms. Gallagher stared at them. Abbey felt certain they looked like a motley bunch. Caleb wore his most charming smile, but Mark had a veneer of sweat on his forehead and Simon hadn't even bothered to remove the hood of his sweats.h.i.+rt or his vaguely hostile look. Ms. Gallagher glanced at the cover of the open romance book face down on the corner of her desk.

She rose from her desk. ”Here's the phone book. Don't remove it from the desk.”

”Absolutely. Anything you say, Ms. G.” Caleb flashed his broadest grin and flipped the phone book open to the B's. Abbey leaned in over his shoulder as he ran his finger down the column. She could feel Simon's breath on her neck. Abbey read the words as his forefinger pa.s.sed over them: Bedard, Beddoe, Beddow, Bedwell, Bedworth. None of them seemed to fit.

”What about the yellow pages?” suggested Simon. ”Check under Physicians.”

Caleb flipped to the yellow pages and found Physicians. But there were no names that had 'bed' or 'truck' in them. Then they checked optometrists, dentists, and veterinarians with no luck.

”What about the college?” said Abbey.

”We'll have to go to the computer lab for that,” Simon said.

They smiled at Ms. Gallagher, who eyed them suspiciously, and then they retreated to the lab to huddle around a single screen.

Mark slumped into a chair and clutched the armrests.

Caleb typed in 'Coventry Community College' and then entered 'Staff Directory' into the search window.

”Enter name of the person you are searching for,” Caleb read aloud.

He typed 'Bed' and hit return.

Dozens of entries popped up on the screen, with the acronym 'B.Ed.' highlighted.

”Oh, great. It can't differentiate between B.Ed and Bed,” said Simon. ”That's really useful. Stupid programmers.”

Caleb scrolled through the listings looking for any name that began with bed or truck, but aside from one 'Bedwin', nothing jumped out.

Caleb moved the mouse toward the back b.u.t.ton on the browser. ”Maybe it's an automotive repair shop.”

”Wait!” said Abbey pointing. ”I've seen that name before. Dr. P. Ford, Department of Computer Science. He was in a picture at Mantis's office. Ford, Truck. Dr. Ford, B.Ed.”

”Let's call him then.” Caleb pulled out his phone and punching in the number.

”Wait,” said Abbey. ”What are you going to say?”

Caleb shrugged, already letting the call ring through. ”I'll ask him if he's the Guardian. If he's not, then he'll think it is just a crank call.”

”Hi, Doctor Ford. My name is Caleb Sinclair. I live on Coventry Hill Crescent. Mrs. Forrester gave us your name. We're looking for the Guardian.” There was a pause while Caleb listened. And then. ”We can. At the college. Room two seventy-three in the Horton Building. Got it. We'll be there in about forty minutes.”

Caleb clicked the end-call b.u.t.ton on his cell phone. ”It's him. He's expecting us. Mrs. Forrester told him about us. But not our names.”

”How do we know it isn't a trap?” Abbey let the panic sweep up and around her.

”There's four of us. He sounds like an old man and we're meeting him in his office. He's not going to abduct us in an office building. The next bus leaves in thirty minutes. Let's go.”

Abbey let herself be swept along outside into the now-glaring afternoon sun. The crowd in the stadium chanted their ridiculous school cheer. ”Coventry Cats, Coventry Cats. They know where it's all at.” The hoots and bleeps of the school band could be heard through the melee. Mark turned abruptly at the noise and began to walk quickly in the opposite direction. Simon trotted after him, calling his name.

”I'm going to go find Becca and Kimmie. Say hi. I need to clear my head,” Abbey said.

Caleb stared at her quizzically for a few seconds and then shrugged. ”Okay, we'll meet you at the bus stop. I'll go help round up our charge,” said Caleb, gesturing toward Mark.

Kimmie's turquoise coat wasn't hard to locate in the crowd. Both girls were amped up, and greeted Abbey with hugs and squeals.

”Becca's new boyfriend is so hot,” said Kimmie, her broad smear of coral lipstick so askew it threatened to leap off her lips. ”He's in the dugout right now, but he's up next.”

Abbey eyed the row of teenage boys in red and gray. Their features were indiscernible in the gloom of the visitors' dugout. Rebecca stared at the dugout with the dreamy expression of a besotted girlfriend.

The batter at the plate swung wildly at the ball, topping it and driving it into the ground in front of the pitcher. It bounced up almost directly into the pitcher's mitt. The pitcher threw it to first before the batter arrived and the crowd went crazy.

”Jake never hits grounders. He always. .h.i.ts flies. He's the best batter on their team,” said Becca with a sigh. ”He already qualified for some big baseball scholars.h.i.+p. He's the best player around. He's so cute, too.”

Abbey retrained her eyes on the field. The red batting helmet obscured Jake's face. He took a few practice swings, aiming low. Trying to put bottom spin on the ball, she thought. b.a.l.l.s. .h.i.t on the underside would have backspin, creating an upward Magnus force, which would oppose gravity and keep the ball in the air longer, resulting in a long fly ball. The bat cracked against the ball. The ball soared over the infielders' heads, deep into right field where the sun would block the fielder's ability to see the ball coming. It was a perfect long fly ball.

Becca and Kimmie rose to their feet screaming, attracting dirty looks from the Coventry crowd. ”That's why they call him Fly Kid,” Becca squealed in Abbey's ear.

He turned to look at them while he ran. He knew he had enough time. He smiled and gave a salute to Rebecca before sauntering around the bases. The blood started to pound in Abbey's ears. He was the kid from the stones. If he'd recognized Abbey, he gave no sign. The Greenhill crowd cheered on the other side of the stadium.

Abbey stood. ”I have to go,” she mumbled. ”Catch a bus. What's Jake's last name?”

”Hammond,” said Kimmie. ”Why? Hey, you look like c.r.a.p, Abs. You should eat something.”

”I have to go,” Abbey repeated, and started to weave her way through the sea of bodies down the bleachers. Halfway down, she found herself face to face with the solid chest of Russell Andrews.

”Hey,” he said. ”Are you coming to that meeting?”

”What meeting?”

”The Student Council meeting. I know the game is on and all, but we have some important issues to discuss. I'm heading there now.” Russell's body was blocking her view of the field, and on the plus side, Jake's potential view of her. Russell's strange pale eyes bored into her. It was like he didn't blink. The familiar unsettled sense she experienced when he was around started to wash over her, but she forced herself to stare coolly into his eyes, despite the tremor in her knees.

”Okay. I can't stay for long though. I have to catch a bus. I'll follow you.” It seemed crazy to agree to go, but the day had been so strange, she just wanted to do something normal, and she felt, weirdly, like she couldn't say no to Russell. This was how girls got themselves into bad situations, she knew. But she was just agreeing to go into the school with him, to a meeting, and she needed to get away from Jake. Russell's left eyebrow arched fractionally and the corner of his lip curled. He seemed gratified, but also faintly surprised.

She glanced over at the Greenhill dugout as she left the stadium. Jake's head was turned in her direction, an inscrutable expression on his face.

She followed Russell to a room in the school where four other seniors sat. A row of expectant eyes looked at her-all except one of the seniors, a girl with long purple fingernails, who was doodling in her notebook. Russell placed his hand lightly into the small of Abbey's back and introduced her around. She was immediately lost in the sea of names. Was the girl to the left Kailee, Rayleen, or Ann? The one other boy besides Russell she vaguely recognized as Stewart from her Chem 12 cla.s.s. She gave up trying to remember the other names.

”So,” Russell began. ”You're probably wondering why we've asked you to join us.”

”Sort of,” Abbey said.

Russell smiled broadly. There was a predatory quality to his grin. Perhaps just the confident smile of a politician used to winning audiences. He was handsome, she decided, in a pale but rugged kind of way. ”We've decided that youth don't have enough say in how Coventry City is run. We'd like to establish a youth council to advise the city council on important decisions that will affect our future.”

”I'm sorry...how does that involve me?”

”Your mother is likely about to be mayor of Coventry City. We were hoping you could help convince her to establish a youth council.”