”If he is, you know what that makes him?“
”What?“
”As human as the rest of us.“
Holden looks genuinely hurt. ”Penn, you’re taking this personally. We all like Drew. We all respect him, apart from this, of course. But the damage that’s already been done to this school because of his involvement with Kate is incalculable. And what about the damage to Kate herself?“
”Honestly? I’m not sure how all that shakes out yet. What if Kate was already in deep trouble? What if Drew was a stabilizing influence in her life?“
”You’re saying that having sex with a forty-year-old man stabilized Kate’s life?“
”No. But being loved by him might have. Holden, the total tonnage of what we don’t know about these kids’ lives would sink an ocean liner.“
The board president blows out a stream of air like someone resigning himself to ambiguity. ”Penn, you obviously know a lot more about this situation than we do. What do you recommend?“
”Regarding Marko? Watch him closely, that’s it. If someone steps forward and says they saw him bring drugs to that lake party, that’s a different matter. A police matter. The lake party happened off school grounds, of course, but since it’s a criminal offense, I think we could justify immediate expulsion under our zero-tolerance policy. But so far, nobody’s come forward. And now that the Pinella kid has been beaten up, I doubt anyone will.“
”Was Marko responsible for that?“ asks a woman at the far end of the table.
”I don’t know, Jean. Look, even if Marko is selling drugs to our kids, he’s not the one bringing them into the city. Illegal drugs are an industry, and in this case they start down on the Gulf Coast and flow northward. Certain people here wholesale it to other people-possibly Marko-who then retail it to users, like a small number of our students. Marko’s only part of a very long chain. We don’t yet know who might have thought they had reason to beat up the Pinella boy.“
”But Marko is the link that most affects this school,“ Holden says. ”Until he showed up, we didn’t have a problem.“
”Not a
”Should we test some of our students for Ecstasy and LSD?“ asks Sims, reviving an idea we killed months ago.
Now I’m losing my patience. ”Bill, if you’re worried about the school’s image, that idea is about as stupid as it was when you brought it up a couple of months ago.“
Sims reddens but doesn’t respond.
”What we need to do is calm down and let the police and the judicial system work. If you want Marko on a plane back to Croatia, you may get your wish sooner than you think.“
”What do you know?“ Holden asks eagerly.
”I know that the best thing we can do is let things take their course. Now, do you need me for anything else?“
Jan glances at Holden. ”Penn, we’d like you to remain on the board. This body was premature in asking you to step down.“
”I agree, Jan, but I can’t do that.“
”Are you officially Drew’s lawyer?“ asks Holden.
”I haven’t decided yet. But it makes no difference. This body has given up any moral right to leadership that it had before this crisis started. Most of you are here because you have your own private agendas, which may or may not be in the best interest of the school as a whole. One of our most distinguished and generous alumni is in trouble-he may soon be fighting for his life, in fact-and you abandoned him without even hearing his side of things. So, I bid you good night.“
I stand and walk to the door.
”Penn, wait!“ Holden calls.
”Let him go,“ snaps Sims. ”Goddamn bleeding heart lecturing us like that.“
As soon as I clear the door, I find myself jogging toward my car. My frustration is about to boil over. I climb in and start the car but leave the engine in Park. I’m not even sure where I should go now.
When my cell phone rings, I assume it’s Jan Chancellor trying to get me to return to the board meeting. But my caller ID saysSONNY CROSS. ”Sonny?“
”Yeah. Sorry I couldn’t talk before. I’ve got what you need now. Man, you’re not gonna
”What?“
”Marko, Cyrus, Kate…I understand everything now. And, boy, have I got something to help Drew.“
”Tell me!“
”Not on your life. Not on a cell phone.“
”Where are you?“
”My house. Beau Pre Road. You know where that is?“
”Yeah. What’s the house number?“
”Two seventy-one.“
”I’ll be there in ten minutes.“ I pull into the southbound lane of Highway 61 and press the accelerator to the floor.
Chapter 21
A few miles south of Natchez, Kingston Road forks away from Highway 61 and curves through rolling land that a century and a half ago made up thriving cotton plantations populated with hundreds of slaves. Beau Pre Road is a serpentine offshoot of Kingston Road, lined with one-story houses and aluminum trailers, some with bass boats sitting in their front yards. The houses are set far apart, with small ponds, outbuildings, and dog runs in the overgrown border land between lots.
It’s full dark as I round a long curve that should carry me to Sonny Cross’s house. From what the drug agent said in our brief cell phone conversation, it sounded like he’s discovered the holy grail of this case. My greatest hope is that he can prove that Cyrus White murdered Kate. Scanning the homes flashing past on my left, I see two gold numbers tacked to the wall of a house trailer.
I ease my foot off the gas and coast around the tail of the curve. A lone porch light appears in the trees to my left. Then the beam of my headlights hits a rutted dirt driveway that intersects Beau Pre Road on my left. As I turn onto the dirt, a yellow rectangle of light appears beneath the porch light. The black silhouette of a man walks into the rectangle, then passes through it, and the orange eye of a cigarette bobs along the driveway at a height of about six feet. When I reach the cigarette, I stop my car, turn off my engine, and get out.
Sonny Cross takes a deep drag off his cigarette. The orange glow illuminates his haggard face and glints off a silver stud in his left ear. Despite the fatigue in his face, I see excitement in his eyes.
”How much do you want to know?“ he asks.
”Everything.“
”Don’t be so sure. This is
”Tell me everything, Sonny.“
Another long drag. Smoke drifts into the night as he speaks. ”I was pretty upset this afternoon. You saw it when we talked. I couldn’t just sit around waiting for something to break.“
”What did you do?“ I ask, my gut tightening in anticipation.
”I decided to have a little talk with Marko Bakic. I picked him up outside the Wilsons’ house, easy as pie. Then I took him to, uh…an undisclosed location, where we had a frank and honest exchange of views.“
”A willing exchange of views?“
Sonny chuckles softly. ”There might have been a little duress.“
”Jesus, what did you do to the kid?“
