And There He Kept Her (Ben Packard #1)(35)

“Vagina Stevens is on that list, too? That’s fucking hilarious,” he said. “Don’t tell them nothing, Vagina. Keep cool.”

“Keep walking, Mr. Johnson.”

Darrel strutted across the administrative office with a bouncing gait. The secretaries at the front desks stopped their work and watched him go. At the glass door, he turned around again and yelled, “Know your rights, Vagina! You don’t have to tell them nothing.” He flipped Packard two fingers as he crossed in front of the office’s glass windows and disappeared down the hall.

Packard, stone-faced, turned his attention to Virginia. “Ms. Stevens. We’ll be right with you.”

He closed the door as the color drained from her face.

***

Packard sat at the table again. Principal Overby didn’t look much better than the girl waiting outside.

“I work with these kids every day. You hear things in the halls that would singe your eyebrows off,” she said. “But that was beyond the pale. To be trapped inside this room with such an absence of intelligence and compassion. It’s frightening.”

“It wasn’t for nothing.”

“What do you mean? He didn’t tell you anything.”

“Listen, I knew Darrel Johnson wasn’t going to spook. He’s got no respect for authority. Virginia, on the other hand, is sitting out there right now trying not to wet her pants.”

Overby put her head in her hands. “That poor girl. She’s a straight-A student. How did she get mixed up in this?”

“I don’t know, but spare me the ‘poor girl’ business while she’s in here. I’m going to come down on her just as hard as Darrel, and I don’t want her looking to you for sympathy. Now that she’s seen the company she’s being lumped in with, she’s going to break like cheap pottery. That was my intention the whole time.”

“I don’t want any of my students broken, Deputy.”

“Figure of speech. Let’s bring her in.”

***

Virginia already had tears in her eyes as she sat down at the conference table. She had long dark hair, parted on one side and tucked behind her ears. She was wearing a light-blue silk blouse and black pants, and looked like she was already dressing for the role of corporate attorney. A tiny gold cross on a thin chain sat right below the hollow of her throat. She set her books and iPad in front of her, aligned them with the edge of the table, then pushed them slightly away. Principal Overby watched her out of one eye while she wrote something on the yellow legal pad in front of her.

Packard finally broke the silence. “Why are you crying, Virginia?”

“I’m scared?” she said, a statement that sounded like a question.

“What are you scared of?”

“I’m scared of why you want to see me?” Again with the raised inflection at the end. It was like a round of Jeopardy! She was going to phrase all her answers in the form of a question.

“Why do you think we wanted to see you?”

She was too scared or too smart to venture a guess. She hadn’t made eye contact with anyone since she sat down. She stared at her hands in her lap. Her hair fell from behind one of her ears.

Packard leaned across the table. “I’m sure you’ve heard Jesse Crawford and Jenny Wheeler are missing.”

At the mention of Jesse’s name, Virginia let loose a sob and the tears raced down her cheeks. Her shoulders jumped up and down. Overby turned to a row of cabinets behind her, opened one, and took out a box of tissues. She slid it toward Virginia and sat down again without a word.

Packard said, “Virginia, I need you to pull it together.”

She grabbed a bunch of tissues and pressed the wad against her eyes. Packard waited while she fought to get her breath back and stop shaking. After a minute, she sat up taller and tucked her hair behind her ears again. Her face was bright red.

“We’ve got Jesse’s cell phone records. We know he was dealing. Your phone number came up on his call log. Tell me what you bought from him.”

Virginia looked like she was going to crumple again. She squeezed her eyes together and bit her bottom lip hard enough to leave tooth marks once she released it. She smashed the wad of tissues against her eyes again. “Is this going to be part of my record, what happens here today?” she asked.

“I’m not here to charge you with a crime. Right now I don’t care if you did drugs, bought drugs—”

“No, I meant part of my school record?” she said and cast a terrified glance at the yellow legal pad in front of Principal Overby.

“Virginia, I’m here because you’re my responsibility while you’re at school. Whatever you can tell Deputy Packard that might help find Jesse and Jenny—”

“Would it be possible for me to talk to the deputy alone?”

Packard leaned back, glanced at Overby, and gave her a small nod. Despite his big, mean cop routine, it wasn’t him Virginia was afraid of; it was the principal. If he could get Overby out of the room, he might have a chance at getting some honest answers from Virginia.

Overby pressed her lips together, obviously displeased. She took a deep breath and gathered her legal pad. “If that’s what you prefer. I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

Virginia just nodded. She touched the corner of her books and sat mutely until Overby closed the door on her way out.