negative thing he already believes about authority figures.” Skye looked from her aunt to the principal. “You will undo an entire year’s worth of therapy.”
Mona shrugged and patted Skye on the knee. “Quite frankly, Skye, I don’t much believe that mumbo jumbo. Neal says it’s more like the work of the devil than of Jesus.”
“How can he say that? Even the church offers counseling.” Skye squared her shoulders and clenched the arms of her chair.
“Well, that’s completely different.” Mona crossed her arms and sat back.
“I’ll take care of this from here, Mona,” Neva said. “Perhaps you’d give us a few minutes alone?”
Mona picked up her purse and walked toward the door. “Then I’ll see you in the gym.”
As soon as Mona left, Skye shot out of her chair and leaned on Neva’s desk. “Why do people who know the least know it the loudest? And why are you letting her get away with this?”
Neva stood. “That was getting us nowhere. Skye, the decision has been made. Justin Boward is not getting the award.” When Skye tried to interrupt, Neva raised her hand, palm out. “There are too many people in Scumble River who feel as your aunt does, and the school district is planning a referendum in the near future. We can’t afford to offend such a vocal part of our voters.”
“I won’t be the one to tell him.”
“That’s fine with me. I have no problem telling Justin. But is your refusal to tell him in his best interest or because you’re in a snit?” Neva asked quietly.
Skye’s reason fought with her emotions. “Okay, I’ll tell him, but nothing I can say is going to make up to him for this betrayal.”
Before leaving the office, Skye asked that Justin be paged and told to report to Ms. Denison. They met at her doorway. She noted that instead of his usual T-shirt and baggy shorts, he wore a white shirt and tie, with black dress pants.
His mood was different too. He stood tall and looked her in the eye, speaking without being prompted to do so. “What’s up, Ms. Denison? I can’t stay long today. The awards’ ceremony starts in a few minutes. Can you come and watch me get my trophy?”
Skye closed her eyes briefly and wondered what she was going to say. They hadn’t covered a situation like this in graduate school.
“Ah, Ms. Denison, are you okay?”
How could she destroy this kid just because some committee felt he wasn’t “good enough”? He had come so far. When she had first started to see him they had gone whole forty-minute sessions exchanging fewer than ten words apiece. He never made eye contact and was failing all his classes.
She knew now that whatever she said and however she said it, her words were going to destroy Justin’s emerging faith in adults. Skye wished she had more experience. She had no idea how to minimize this kind of damage.
Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke. “You really like
He nodded, looking confused.
“Do you always think that the captain does the right thing, makes the right decision?”
Justin looked at her strangely. “No, not always, but usually.”
“If you were a member of the
After a long pause, he shook his head. “No, that would be mutiny. But I would enter a protest into my log.”
“Well, I’m sort of in that position now. Mrs. Llewellyn has ordered me to tell you something I don’t agree with, and I don’t think she agrees with it either, but her boss has ordered her to do it.” Skye leaned forward and put her hand over his as it lay on the table. “Justin, I’m sorry to have to say that you won’t be getting the award for best essay after all.”
Justin jerked his hand away and scrunched up his face. “Why? What happened?”
“They decided to give the prize to the second-place winner. They thought, even though you’re a great writer, hers was better when all things were considered.” Skye didn’t want to tell him he was considered unworthy, but she was also trying not to lie.
His shoulders slumped and he turned to leave. “It figures. The whole thing was bogus anyway. I knew I wasn’t good enough to win.”
Skye got up and joined him at the door. “That’s not true, Justin. You are a great writer and I can’t explain this. But just remember, even the captains on
“Can I go now?” He refused to look at her.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded, once.
“I’m really sorry. Don’t let this ruin your summer.”
Justin shrugged. He was back in nonverbal mode. All those months of therapy had been lost.
“I’ll see you next year in high school.”
Another shrug and he was gone.
Skye sat down at her desk and reached for the phone. She needed to notify Justin’s parents, so they’d be prepared when he arrived home. When she got their answering machine it dawned on her that they were probably already at the school for the awards ceremony.
Great. She’d have to find them before the program began. How could Neva and Mona do this to a family? Her hand clenched around the ceramic jar she had been fingering. It had the word MIRACLES printed across the front. She had purchased it when she finished college. Suddenly she snatched it off her desk and hurled it at the wall. As she watched the jar explode into tiny fragments she smiled grimly. There were no miracles in this job.
CHAPTER 10
Diddle, Diddle Dumpling, My Son Gus
After finding the Bowards, explaining what had happened, and directing them to Neva to lodge their grievance, Skye left the school. It was only one o’clock, but there was no way she was sitting through that particular awards ceremony. It would feel too hypocritical. She would return that evening to help chaperon the graduation.
She pulled into the police department’s parking lot. Only two vehicles occupied slots—Thea’s old Chevy and her brother’s Jeep. What was Vince doing there? Surely he wasn’t a suspect this time. It had been a nightmare last fall when he had been accused of murdering a Chicago TV star. Skye hurried across the asphalt and thrust the glass door open.
Thea, the dispatcher, greeted her. “Skye, honey, don’t you look cute as a bunny in that pink outfit.”
“Thanks, Thea. Is my brother here?”
“Yep, he and the chief are talking.” Thea reached for the phone, but let it slide back into the cradle. “They been talking long enough. You go up there and see what’s going on.”
“Thanks.” Skye flashed the dispatcher a smile and ran up the steps. Thea had been one of Vince’s staunchest supporters when the police had tried to pin last September’s murder on him.
She could hear the two men’s voices as she rushed down the hall. Their tones sounded calm. As she pushed open the half-closed door, both men turned toward her.
Wally spoke first. “Skye, I didn’t expect to see you here today.”
“There were a couple things about Grandma’s death I wanted to talk over with you. Simon told me about the poison.”
“Good. Vince and I are about done. You might as well pull up a chair.”
“Thanks.”
The chief picked up a piece of paper and gestured toward Vince. “So, this is a list of customers you had the day your grandmother died?”
Vince nodded. “Yes. I started at seven that morning and didn’t leave the shop until Simon called me around
