And There He Kept Her (Ben Packard #1)(34)

“Have someone pull Mr. Johnson from class. While we’re talking to him, I want Virginia waiting outside. Is there a conference room we can set up in?”

“Yes. Next door. I have to say I don’t have a good feeling about this, Detective.”

“Yeah, well, every hour that goes by I have an even worse feeling about Jesse and Jenny.”

***

The Johnson boys were the product of crazy, doomsday-prepping parents obsessed with surviving some imminent calamity that was going to bring about the downfall of society. Their dad rambled on about conspiracies involving Chinese hackers, a nuclear Iran, and a super stock-market crash, his understanding of the issues barely extending beyond the two or three words it took to name them.

Darrel Johnson was the older of the two Johnson brothers. He came into the conference room in a black T-shirt with a worn Chevy logo on the chest, smelling like cigarettes and unwashed clothes. He had a goatee and a buzzed haircut that couldn’t hide the fact that he was already balding.

Darrel collapsed into a chair across the table from Packard. Overby sat at the head with a legal pad and a pen in front of her. Packard had tried to convince her to let him talk to Darrel alone but she’d refused. “Parents will have my head if they find out I let their kids be questioned by the police without a school official present.”

Packard and Darrel regarded each other with mutual disdain. The silence stretched out long enough that Principal Overby pushed up her sleeve to check her watch twice. Finally, Packard said, “Any plans to graduate this year?”

Darrel shrugged. “If I feel like it. Not like it matters. This place is bullshit.” He cast an accusatory glance in Overby’s direction.

“Yeah, it’s terrible how the taxpayers of this county want to give you a free education to keep you from being so goddamn stupid.”

Now it was Packard’s turn to look at Overby. He’d tried to warn her.

“Nothing this school teaches prepares you for the real world. When the end comes, nobody’s gonna care if you have a high school diploma.”

Packard nodded. “You’re right. When the end comes, why would you want to know anything about basic chemistry or biology or math?”

Darrel didn’t say anything. He slowly blinked his eyes and sank deeper into himself.

“Listen,” Packard said. “I’m not here to express my concern about your grade point average. I could give a shit. I know Jesse Crawford has been dealing, and I’ve got your name and number coming up in the log of calls made to his cell phone. So why don’t you tell me about that?”

“What do you want me to tell you?”

“What did you buy from him?”

Darrel scoffed. “I didn’t buy shit from him.”

“Why’d you call him?”

“To talk about homework.”

“Was he tutoring you? It couldn’t be the other way around. There can’t be someone dumber than you.”

“Deputy,” Principal Overby warned.

Darrel moved his mouth like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.

Packard pushed on. “You’re still on probation for drag racing and marijuana possession, if I remember correctly. So why don’t you tell me what I want to know, or we can go find out what Judge Parker thinks about you fraternizing with a known drug dealer.”

“Man, it ain’t against the law or the terms of my probation to call somebody on the phone.”

“That’s true. Maybe it’s time for a random drug test. That is a term of your probation, and I know most people don’t think twice about it because they know the county doesn’t have the resources to run around collecting piss in a cup from a bunch of dick drips like you. But I think we’ll make an exception in your case. I’m going to find the money in the budget to have you tested weekly from now until I say so.”

Darrel shifted in his seat and sulked.

Packard leaned forward in his chair. “What did you buy from Jesse?”

“Nothing. I already told you.”

“Who else is dealing to high school kids?”

Silence.

“Where do you think Jesse and Jenny Wheeler have been for the last few days?”

“I think he took her to a hotel and he’s nailin’ the hell out of her.” Darrel pounded his fist into the open palm of his other hand and grunted.

Principal Overby put a hand over her eyes and exhaled. Darrel smirked.

Packard said, “You don’t want to help me, that’s fine. What about your buddy Jesse? He could be in trouble.”

“Man, he ain’t my buddy. I don’t hardly know him or the chick. They ain’t got nothin’ to do with me so fuck ’em.”

Packard leaned back. He tapped his finger on the table and stared at Darrel. He looked at the clock over Darrel’s head and watched the red second hand swing around. The silence stretched out.

“Can I go?” Darrel asked.

Packard took out his cell phone and started typing a message. “Just making myself a reminder to have the lab contact you for a sample. Should be any day now. Expect their call.”

Packard stood up, walked around the table, and opened the conference room door. “Go,” he said.

Darrel stood up, tried to stand tall and straight, but only came up high enough to make eye contact with Packard’s chin. Outside the door, Virginia Stevens was sitting in a chair with a textbook and an iPad in her lap. Darrel laughed when he saw her.