Daylight (Atlee Pine #3)(24)

“What you doing here then?”

“Looking for answers.” She eyed him. “Story of my life.”

As she turned and headed back to the house the man called out, “Hey, good luck, Arizona.”

She looked back at him. “I’ll take all the luck I can get.”





CHAPTER





15





WHEN PINE RETURNED TO THE HOUSE, Blum and Blake were sitting in the front room and Blake was sipping on a cup of tea.

Blum eyed Pine curiously.

“I was just having a chat with some of Jerome’s ‘acquaintances,’ ” she explained as she sat down. “They don’t think he was involved in any gang thing, either.”

Blake bristled. “That ’cause he wasn’t, like I told you. But the police don’t see it that way. I told them Jerome was top of his class. That he was going to college. They looked at me like I was speaking Chinese.”

“That must have made you very upset,” said Blum.

“Damn right it did. But they just gonna sweep it under the rug, you mark my words.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” said Pine.

Blake looked at her squarely. “What you gonna do about it? Your boss say back off, then you gonna back off, right?”

“Wrong,” Blum answered for her. “That is not how Agent Pine operates. And she is not part of the local police. She will see this through.”

Pine said, “Is there anything else you can tell us? Did Jerome ever mention someone named Tony Vincenzo?”

Blake shook her head. “Never heard that name. He Mexican?”

“Italian-American.”

“No. Nobody with that name lives around here, least that I know of. And Jerome never mentioned him to me.”

“Until yesterday, did Jerome seem okay?”

“Yeah. He went off to school all happy and everything.”

“But when he got home he was upset. And you don’t think it was about missing questions on a test?”

“I know it wasn’t that.”

“So whatever made him do what he did last night, it happened between the time he left here yesterday morning and when he came home?”

“Must have been,” agreed Blake.

Pine looked at Blum. “So we need to find out what that was.”

“Do we go to his school then?” asked Blum.

“It’s a start.”

The high school was about a half mile from where the Blakes lived. A new football field had been erected, and the fa?ade of the building had been power-washed. And a new adjacent building was set off from the main building. The landscaping looked abundant and well planned out. She hoped the classroom, students, and teachers had gotten the same level of support.

They headed to the main office and Pine’s badge got them in to see the principal.

Her name was Norma Bailey. She was a tall black woman with iron-gray hair pulled back in a severe bun. She had the no-nonsense manner of someone long used to having to corral and attempt to control and finally to teach legions of teenagers.

“I heard about poor Jerome,” she began, her expression full of sadness. “I wish I could say I can’t believe it, but shootings have become so frequent. People just see one on the news and the next day there’s another. People are becoming desensitized to the whole thing, and that is an abysmal development.”

“But you would be surprised it would involve Jerome?” said Pine.

“Yes, I’m afraid I wasn’t clear on that point. Jerome . . . ” She shook her head and touched her trembling lips with a shaky hand before regaining her composure. “He was one of the brightest students we had. He was destined for an important role in life. He would have gone very far. He was an absolute genius in math and science. He could understand things even the teachers couldn’t, and we have two math PhDs here. A certifiable prodigy.”

“We understand he was the head of the robotics team,” said Blum.

“Yes. That’s housed in the new building on the school grounds. They won the state last year. It was very exciting. Jerome . . . he loved his robots, that was clear. He could build them with such . . . flair.” She dabbed at her eyes with her fingers and said, “How can I help you?”

“We’ve learned from Jerome’s mother that he was fine when he went to school yesterday, but he wasn’t when he got home. He mentioned something about a test and that he had missed some questions.”

“No, that couldn’t be. There were no tests in any class yesterday. It was a prep day for upcoming exams.”

“Okay, then he wasn’t truthful with his mother. Something else was bothering him. And from the timeline it seems that it happened while he was at school.”

“I can’t imagine what that might have been.”

“Can we speak with his teachers?” asked Pine.

“Certainly, I can arrange that.”

“Have the police been in to talk to you?” asked Blum.

“No. They haven’t been by.”

Pine and Blum exchanged a troubled look.

An hour later they had spoken with all of Jerome’s teachers. None of them could recall anything that might have led Jerome to do what he allegedly had. They all expressed shock and sorrow, but provided no useful information.