Prom Night in Purgatory(54)

Chief Bailey stared at the mouthy teen for a minute, wishing he didn’t like him so much, but recognizing a bit of the young Clark Bailey’s attitude and guts in Johnny Kinross. Damn if the kid wasn’t right. Clark Bailey knew he would never get Dolly Kinross to turn her head long enough to discover that he could take care of her if she would let him.

“Well, it seems we’re both a little blind when it comes to certain women, now doesn’t it, son?” Chief Bailey had recovered from his discomfort and was back in the driver’s seat once more.

Johnny grinned at that. “Yes, sir. I guess so. But in my defense, Maggie seemed pretty gone on me too.”

“I’m sure she was, son. I’m sure she was.” Clark Bailey shook his head and laughed. He’d had to listen to his deputy, Brad Wilkey, complain for two weeks about Johnny Kinross. He had been sure his daughter was going to be ruined after attending the prom with someone like him. It seemed to Clark that Brad should spend a little more time worrying about the reputation his daughter had acquired before she’d been asked out by the young Kinross.

“Tell you what, Johnny. I will make some calls and see if there are any missing persons reports for a girl matching Maggie’s description in the surrounding areas. I will also have my men be on the lookout around here. I will go see the Honeycutt’s housekeeper this evening, just as a courtesy call, and I will ask to speak to the little girl as well -- see if I can get some information about the girl she told Mrs. Smith was her cousin. Beyond that, I don’t know that I can do much more. But if I find anything, I’ll let you know.”

Johnny stood and held out his hand. “Thank you, sir. I’d appreciate that.”

He turned to go, and then stopped, looking back at Clark Bailey. “She said you were one of the good guys, Chief. How do you think she knew that? You didn’t recognize her did you?”

“No, son. I didn’t. I don’t know why she’d say something like that, although I’m grateful she did.”

Johnny nodded again. “Just ask my momma out, Chief. All she can say is no, right? You can’t be afraid of a little rejection, not a big, tough, Police Chief like yourself?”

“Go on now, kid.” Clark Bailey shook his head and proceeded to fill out the form on his desk. Johnny laughed and left without another word, but thoughts of missing girls and missed opportunities nagged at Clark Bailey for the rest of the day.





~16~

A Time to Gather Stones Together





The end of the school year was three weeks away, and Johnny was failing English. He’d flirted with Miss Barker all year -- just enough so she cut him some slack here and there. But she had decided to get some backbone and was insisting he read some book and take a test on it in order to get a final grade. He had never read an entire book in his life, and he didn’t plan to now. He was smart enough that he usually managed to listen in class and get the gist of whatever they were reading and studying, and he had always squeaked by. But he had missed class a time too many, missed one too many assignments, and was now between a rock and a hard spot. He knew if Miss Barker gave him a test on A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, he would never pass. Cheating was beneath him. Sweet persuasion wasn’t, but looking on another kid’s paper or stealing the answers just wasn’t in him. It rankled when others did it, and he wouldn’t do it himself. Maybe because it was what people expected of Johnny Kinross, or maybe it was his own warped moral code, but he did have one, and he didn’t cheat.

So here he was, sitting in Miss Barker’s class after school, watching the poor little brown bird, as he secretly called her, blush and flutter and hating school and himself with a passion. He felt a little sick as he smiled at her, giving her a full taste of “the devil’s charm” as his momma liked to call his dimpled grin. She stuttered and seemed to forget what she was saying. Johnny stood and walked to where she was standing by her desk. She bowed her head a little, almost shyly, and he looked down at the surprisingly crooked part that divided the sides of her head into almost equal halves. She always parted her hair in the middle, pulled it back severely, and secured it at her nape. She wore it like this every day. Johnny always wondered why. It was as if she tried to be as unattractive as possible. If he could mix his momma with Miss Barker, he would probably get a good balance - as it was, each woman could probably benefit by spending some time with the other.

He crowded her a little, knowing that he made her nervous in a very non-teacher/student way.

“What if you just tell me about this book, and I’ll listen very attentively, take the test, and we’ll call it good,” Johnny suggested oh-so-helpfully.

Miss Barker looked as if she might give in, and her eyes fell for a moment on his lips. Then her gaze shot up to his, and there was a look in her eyes that caused him to take a step back. There was hope in her eyes. The expression on her face reminded him of the way Maggie had looked at him when he’d kissed her on the beach -- the moment he’d felt the very thing she had been trying to explain to him. That kiss had rocked his world. Her sweet mouth, her arms locked around his neck, her slim form pushed up against his, the love that he had felt as soon as his lips touched hers.

For a moment he forgot where he was, the memory hung around him like he was there all over again, and Maggie was looking at him like maybe they had a chance. Then Miss Barker spoke, her voice an unwelcome reminder that he hadn’t seen Maggie in two weeks, and would likely never see her again. He steeled himself against the memory. He’d had fun before her, he’d have fun after. He looked down into Miss Barker’s expectant face, and his heart tripped up again. Damn.