Chapter 17

"You look way too happy for a Monday morning."

I smiled at Robbie.

"I take it you're smiling cause you're still in school?" Tami asked.

"Nah, I'd be happier if I got a two week vacation, but I'm stuck here."

"Give it up," Robbie said with a laugh. "Everybody knows you like school."

I tried to look shocked. "Who's been spreading those rumors? I'll sue."

"Tony, I hate to break it to you, but they all know you're a nice guy too."

The line moved, and we got closer to lunch. Hamburgers. There was a chance it might be edible. Not a big chance.

"So how much trouble are you in?" Robbie asked.

"None. I resigned."

"So much for a brilliant broadcasting career."

I put my arm around the redhead and gave her a squeeze. "You know what I love about you? Your compassion."

"I calls 'em as I sees 'em"

I was about to say some sarcastic when I was interrupted. "You must be Robbie Tate." We all looked. The speaker was a guy my age that I didn't know.

"I'm Robbie," she admitted.

"I'm Cody. I'm new here." Cody ran his fingers through his hair and kind of flipped his head. To me, it seemed faked, but Robbie seemed to be checking him out. "I, uh, heard a lot about you, and just wanted to say that I think what you did was awesome."

Robbie smiled modestly. "Well, there's a lot of other guys on the team too."

"Team?" He looked surprised. "Oh, the football game. That was cool too. The way you guys pulled it out in the end. But I meant the family you helped. Taking in five people after a fire, it was... it was way cool. I, um, I'll get out of your way now." He turned and disappeared toward the end of the lunch line.

"He was cute," Robbie said.

"Very," Tami agreed.

I don't know why, but I felt like I was reviewing a play and the shy awkward bit was way overdone.

"Heard the latest?" Robbie asked as we met up and headed for debate. It was a rainy Wednesday and I just kind of grunted at her.

"About Cody or something else?" Tami asked.

"Cody?" I asked, my ears picking up.

"Robbie's been checking him out."

"He's a classmate," Robbie said with a hint of red. "I'm interested."

"She's interested all right," Tami said with a leer that would have done any construction worker proud.

"So what's the scoop," I asked, not really interested.

"He's a senior. Just moved here from Phoenix. Average student. Runs track," Tami reported, I assumed condensing reports she'd gotten from Robbie.

"Is that the latest?" I asked Robbie.

"NO!" she said forcefully

I grinned at her as we took our seats in the classroom.

"The sheriff was here to talk to Parker."

"Did they take him away in handcuffs? If they did, I'll go outside and do my impression of Fred Astaire and Singing in the Rain."

"Sorry. No such luck. Somebody trashed Clay Willingham's car."

"And Parker's a suspect?" Tami asked.

"Nope. Clay's the quarterback at North Lincoln. The sheriff probably thinks that somebody on the team did it," I answered and Robbie nodded.

"Any idea who " the bell rang and ended the discussion.

"Eight more hours and schools over for the week," I said as I turned into the school parking lot.

"You like school," Tami reminded me. She was sharing the front seat with Robbie.

"Yeah," I admitted. "But the weekend's cool too."

"And the game," Mikee added from the back seat she shared with Bobbi Bradley. We'd dropped Traci and Kelly at Robbie's house to take the bus with the other girls.

"Spoken like a cheerleader," I said. I paused for a second then added, "Put that tongue back in your mouth." From Bobbi's laughter, I guessed I'd nailed it.

"Give her a break," Tami admonished. "You've been waiting all week for the game too."

I parked next to the gym, and we got out. "Make sure you walk three steps behind us," Mikee said as she climbed out of the back.

"Why?" Bobbi asked as she followed.

"Well, you're a freshman after all."

"You can walk with me," Robbie said, holding out her hand. "She's only a sophomore, she can follow behind."

"Hey, I was only kidding."

I grinned to myself as I held the door open for the girls. It was nice to have things back to normal for a change.

A sheriff's car pulled into the parking lot. Deputy Boyd was driving.

"Anything you want to tell us before he pulls out the handcuffs?" Robbie asked with a smile.

"Nothing recently, and most of the old stuff's pretty well buried. Maybe he's after you this time."

Robbie smiled. "Like I ever get caught."

I nodded.

"Tony, I might have known you'd be in the middle of this," Dan Boyd said as he walked up.

"Middle of what? We just got here."

He nodded. "Okay, come with me."

I wondered if I had time to have Robbie kick me for thinking things were normal.

There was a small crowd in the main hall, but he pushed his way though. I followed Deputy Boyd, and the girls followed me. As we got to the front, I discovered that the center was the trophy case. And maybe 'was' is the perfect word, because it was trashed. All the glass had been broken out, plaques broken in half, and trophies busted. Our biggest trophy, for second in state last year, was broken into a dozen pieces on the floor, and I was pretty sure I knew what the yellow liquid splashed all around was.

"One of the janitors, Frank, discovered it when he opened the school about twenty minutes ago," the deputy explained. "Any ideas?"

"One." I didn't elaborate.

"Sims, get out of there. Let the deputy do his work," Parker commanded, charging up.

"Tony's helping me right now," Dan said softly. "Could you stand back? This is a crime scene."

Parker turned a nice shade of red, spun on his heel, and stalked off.

Dan smiled and asked me to get him a couple of chairs out of one of the classrooms. When I brought them back, he took the yellow tape he'd been holding and fastened it to the wall near the trophy case, then made a large square using the two chairs and fastened the end on the other side of the case. When he'd finished he'd left about a three foot passage in the hall. Next he sent Tami to his patrol car for his camera.

"Shouldn't you be getting pictures for the paper?" Robbie suggested.

"It's too late for today's paper, but that's a good idea." I sent Mikee down to the journalism room to get my camera, explaining I wanted mine and not one of the school's. "Parker may not let us run it, even next week. He kept the trouble last year out." Robbie nodded.

"Speaking of last year," Dan said, kneeling to get a closer look at something. "Should I be looking in the school, or outside?"

"Outside, I think," I said.

"The ones last year, well, two graduated, barely. And the other two were, uh, reasoned with. Even if they hadn't been, I don't think they would have done this," Robbie added.

I was glad he didn't ask us any names, considering that last year's vandalism was still, technically, an open case.

Mikee brought my camera, and I started talking pictures, some of just the vandalism and some of Deputy Boyd inspecting damage. Tami brought his camera, and he started doing the same, even taking one picture of me taking a picture.

"Any ideas?" he asked again.

I stood mute, as they say in the police procedurals. So did Robbie, though I was sure she'd come to the same conclusions I had.

Mr. Walker looked up from the news copy he was holding. "Good work."

"Thanks," I said, trying to sound modest. "Tami and I did it together. She did most of it."

"The pictures aren't bad either."

I nodded.

He hesitated. "I, uh, have to clear this with Mr. Parker before we can put it in next week's paper."

I grinned. "I know. Just like I know he'll squash it. Could you do it this morning?"

Mr. Walker looked surprised. "Quash," he corrected automatically. "On a deadline?"

"Sort of."

"I don't want to know, do I?"

"Plausible deniability," I agreed.

"Sims, what is this?" Parker slammed a newspaper down on my desk.

"I think we had this conversation before. That's a newspaper. A form of mass communication. Some people read it to get information. If the words are too big for you, maybe somebody can help."

The class laughed until Parker spun and glared around the room. Why does he always have to interrupt debate?

He turned back. His face ran the gamut of colors, and for a second I thought he was going to go for my throat. "Sims, I've just about had it with your attitude. I mean this article."

"Are you about done?" Mrs. Conners asked. "I am trying to teach a class here."

Parker ignored her. "Well, Sims?"

"Just a story that Tami and I wrote."

"I thought I made it clear this wasn't running."

"You made it clear that the school newspaper is a joke, and we couldn't run this there." I picked up the newspaper and held it open. "This isn't the school paper. This is a real paper, and they might take exception if you think you can censor them."

"I can censor you."

"Interesting idea. Mrs. Conners, can we debate that? Can the school stop students from publishing in non-school forums?"

"You made it sound like our students are to blame," Parker accused.

"Somebody did their sign and Willingham's car first."

"It wasn't..."

"MR. PARKER!" Mrs. Conners interrupted. "This isn't the time or the place. If you really think you can punish Tony for publishing that, then suspend him and go. The rest of us have a class."

Parker looked from me to Mrs. Conners, then back to me.

"This isn't over," he snapped and stormed out.

"Interesting day." Robbie observed.

"It ain't over yet." I sat with Tami in my lap while Robbie drove my baby. Mikee and Bobbi were in the back again.

"Have you ever considered not baiting Parker?"

I sighed. "Tami and I talked about it while we wrote the article. We felt that we owed the school paper the right of first refusal, even though we were pretty sure Parker would kill it. After he did I faxed it to the paper in town, and they bought it. Parker was just a bonus."

"How much?" Mikee asked from behind me.

"Thirty-five for the story and twenty-five for the pictures."

"You're rich," Bobbi said. Something about the way she said it made me feel that it wasn't just a kid wishing she had sixty bucks. I had a feeling that in the Bradley family, sixty bucks was a lot of money.

Robbie saved me from having to comment. "Daddy's home," she announced as she pulled up in front of her house.

"You didn't think he'd miss your game, did you?"

"Not if the planes were still flying."

Robbie parked and was out of the car almost before the wheels stopped turning.

"You'd think she hadn't seen him in a year instead of a week," Tami said.

"All things are relative. If I hadn't seen you in a week, it would seem like a year."