Everyone mistook her relief that Mariella survived the last attack as a sign that she didn’t care about Harrison’s death. That couldn’t be further from the truth. She cared, but her sorrow over his loss barely registered when the fear of losing the girl at any moment constantly hung over her like a black widow spider suspended on a web above her bed.
Besides that, the hardest part of the past three days had been ignoring the five calls a day that Darren, her ex-boyfriend, bombarded her office line with. For that reason alone, she didn’t miss living in her house all that much. Tropic would have to make due in the pet “hotel and spa”, otherwise known as a cage and water dish, until this mess is over.
Too bad she had another hater stuck with her all day. Sneed must have dumped her in that car with someone who wished her a miserable death so it would throw her off her game. He could always use another excuse for demoting her. Moni wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. She scanned the three rows of brick classrooms with the metal awnings between them. Mariella’s class was in the middle one. She also kept an eye on the eight rows of portable classrooms that had four trailers to a row. The fourth, fifth and sixth graders had the pleasure of sweating inside those pine boxes.
If anyone approached the school grounds from the south side through the parking lot, or from the east side along the classrooms and trailers, Moni would see them. They had cameras on every hallway and the view covered each door, so, technically, no one should slip by them. For three days, they had identified all suspicious people entering schools grounds and had school security intercept them. All of them had good reasons, such as a parent coming to pick up their kid early for a medical appointment. It bothered Moni that she couldn’t watch the encounters with the security guard. The Lagoon Watcher could have worn a costume and forged a doctor’s note.
Maybe my paranoid head is giving him too much credit for being clever. But if he could transform the lagoon into a bacteria-infected, acidic mess I shouldn’t put any stunt past him.
Mrs. Mint wondered whether her students noticed that she glanced out the window more often, and jumped a little every time someone opened the door unannounced. They couldn’t have known about the police sting operation, except for Mariella of course, but she couldn’t exactly tell anyone. From the lingering stares of concern on the faces of more than a few children, Mrs. Mint saw that the most perceptive students realized things weren’t quite normal.
How can I teach my class when there’s a threat from a child-napping lunatic looming over it? The officers wouldn’t be blanketing the school if they didn’t expect that he was coming. What do I do if he gets in this classroom?
Sneed had given Mrs. Mint a pen with a silent buzzer that would alarm the police. She had his number on speed dial on her cell phone. But if this psychopath evaded them-as he has been doing quite effectively since he started this killing spree-and slipped into her classroom, those toys wouldn’t hold him off. He wouldn’t stop and wait for the police. He’d hurt her, Mariella and anyone who got in his way.
Her eyes caught sight of Mariella sitting quietly in the middle of class with a pink bow in her black hair, and a purple pony on her glittery shirt. As beautiful and benign as the child appeared, Mrs. Mint couldn’t help letting resentment seep through her stare. The girl had brought so many complications and troubles into her life since the attack on her parents. Even with all her years of experience in the classroom, Mrs. Mint simply couldn’t crack through her armor of silence and help her. If only the girl would leave, things would be normal.
Mariella’s dark eyes snapped on her. Something about them didn’t seem very childlike at all. They were more like the eyes of a hawk sizing up a mouse. She immediately regretted that she had wished that the girl would leave. Losing her parents had profoundly changed Mariella and the child in her had died that day as well. She needed the help of a responsible adult to get her through this and, Lord knows, Officer Williams didn’t seem all that responsible.
Mariella just wants a home, Mrs. Mint thought. She wants to fit in and belong, but everything seems so strange now. She had only started comprehending English when she lost her parents. The girl didn’t have many friends before, and she was on her own now.
Grieving over her parents, and fighting for her life, could have completely overshadowed any desire for social acceptance the girl might have. At first, it did, but Mrs. Mint had noticed subtle changes. When other kids asked out loud for things, like a green crayon, Mariella would bring it to them. Sometimes they accepted it from her, but most times they didn’t. The Buckley twins had declared Mariella a “cootie monster,” and they’d label any kids that touched her as the same. They said that she got the cootie bug in Mexico, where Swine Flu came from. That evolved into them oinking at Mariella and calling her, “cootie swine.”
Mrs. Mint told them to stop, but she couldn’t hear and see everything. Nor should the class expect her too. She had always believed that if kids couldn’t defend themselves against bullies in class, they couldn’t deal with bullies out of class, where they were much more dangerous. At some point, the child must stop seeking the refuge of adults, and confront them.
It flared up again at recess as the kids played soccer. Mariella invited herself to the game, but no one passed to her. When an errant kick sent the ball astray and Mariella finally caught up with it, Kyle Buckley announced: “Cootie Swine’s got the ball. It’s infected. Don’t let it touch you.”
The blond-haired boy scampered from the soccer field and his classmates followed. Mariella dribbled the ball towards the net and kicked it in. She raised her arms as she swung around with a gleeful smile only to see an empty field. The girl hung her pouting face, and stomped the grass. Suddenly, she flung her arms out and stumbled. A red dodge ball had beamed her square in the back.
“Score one direct hit on the Mexican swine,” Cole Buckley said as his twin brother tossed him another dodge ball. “I’ll liberate our field.”
While several kids encouraged the Buckleys to pummel the fragile girl again, Mrs. Mint shimmied into her sneakers and shouted at them to stop hitting people with balls. Of course, that’s what dodge balls were designed for, but kids aren’t as tough as they used to be.
“Cut it out, boys,” Mrs. Mint hollered from the bench under the shade of a pine tree. “If I have to go out there, you’re missing recess tomorrow.”
She hoped that her threat would save her aching feet from walking through the sand, and her doughy skin from the brutal afternoon sun. Cole Buckley obviously had none of those considerations in mind when he launched another ball at Mariella. This time she dashed out of the way-and kept on running. The girl ran south off the playground and along the edge of the classrooms.
“Mariella!” Mrs. Mint shouted, as she reluctantly hiked up her jeans so she wouldn’t scuff the cuffs on her sneakers as she ran. Pain stabbed through her left ankle as she stepped on a tree root jutting out of the ground. She could barely keep up with the eight-year-old, much less gain ground on her.
“The girl is moving south from the playground, and around the classrooms,” the officer watching the playground from its north side said over the secure police line. “I’ve lost sight of her.”
“I got her,” said the officer playing construction worker on the cafeteria roof. “She’s passing the classrooms. She’s in between the trailers. I can’t see her anymore. I think she’s headed for you Moni. Does she know where you are?”
Moni sighed. She knew that Sneed must have that question in mind as well.
“I told her I’d be in the parking lot in case anything scary happened,” Moni said over the line.
“Real smart move,” DeWitt said. His pudgy hips nearly spilled out of his seat. “Now she’ll reveal our position. If the suspect is watching, he’ll know this is a trap. Mission over.”
She rolled her eyes dramatically enough so he wouldn’t miss the gesture and then got back on the line. “I think I better go out there and meet her. We can’t have her running around campus unsupervised.”
“Do you want to catch the Lagoon Watcher, or play mommy?” Sneed asked over the line. “If he recognizes that we’re baiting him, the Lagoon Watcher will grow wise to our set up. Even a deer ain’t stupid enough to walk into the same trap twice. This may be the only shot we have at corralling him.”
“Our first priority must be to keep Mariella safe,” Moni said as she tugged at the door handle. It didn’t budge. Officer DeWitt wagged his finger at her with his other finger pressing down the master lock.
“Don’t you worry about the girl. She’s in good hands,” Sneed said. Moni nearly puked down her shirt at the thought of that fat turd holding Mariella in his hairy mitts. “I’ve got cameras covering every row of the kiddie trailer
