Prom Night in Purgatory(78)

***

Johnny forced his way through the swinging arms, landing a few shots and taking more than a couple on his way out of the writhing mass of fists and feet. Just as he thought he would break free, someone flew into him, knocking him down and wrapping him up in the thrashing legs and arms of several people. By the time Johnny had fought his way back out, his friends had the fight well in hand, and Johnny knew it was only a matter of minutes before the whole thing was over. But Carlton still hadn’t shown. Johnny had something to communicate to the bastard, and he wasn’t leaving until his message had been delivered loud and clear.

Johnny’s eyes swung left and right, and then swung right again and stopped cold. His car was still parked where he’d left her, but the driver's side door was hanging open as if Billy had suddenly changed his mind about leaving and bailed out in a hurry. The doors were dented and the front head lights were broken in. It looked as if someone had taken a bat to the windows, too. Rage pounded in Johnny's temples. He had no doubt who had inflicted the damage.

He was going to hurt Roger Carlton when he found him. And where the hell had Billy gone?! He was supposed to take the car and go! Then Johnny saw him. The walkway to the entrance of the school was lit up, and Billy Kinross was running toward the front doors at full speed.

“Billy,” Johnny roared, yelling at the top of his lungs. Billy didn’t even turn, but slipped through the double doors like the late bell had already chimed and he was tardy for class; the doors had been left unlocked. Something cold and desperate slithered down Johnny’s spine. He knew that what waited beyond those doors was something he wanted no part of -- and he had no choice but to head for them at a run.

The double-doored entrance opened into a large three story rotunda with gleaming tiles and a great staircase that swept upward to twin balconies that edged the second and third floors.

"Billy!' Johnny called out, suddenly uncertain as to where to go. The school seemed silent and untouched, and all at once he doubted the wisdom in coming through the doors. If the cops caught him in here he would have more than a few bruises and a black eye to explain. Breaking and entering maybe, even though the doors had been open...

A gunshot rang out, interrupting his second thoughts. Johnny ran forward, taking the stairs three at a time, hurling himself up the wide expanse. Oh, God, please no....no... no....the words pounded through his head as he cleared the stairs and skidded to a stop on the third floor, eyes searching both ways down a long wide hallway that ran beyond the balcony to corridors and distant rooms. Suddenly, Billy was running toward him, his shirt untucked, his glasses gone, his face a mask of terror.

"He's got a gun, Johnny. He's got a gun!" Billy looked over his shoulder and then past Johnny, as if expecting a full on attack from every direction.

"Who's got a gun?" Johnny was looking for blood and bullet holes. Billy seemed unharmed, but he was clearly terrified. "Billy!" Johnny reached out and grabbed onto his frantic brother, detaining him, trying to muscle him back toward the stairs. He needed to get him out of the school.

"Roger Carlton has a gun! He shot out a window back there! A bunch of his friends were in here, and when they saw the gun they ran! It made him mad, I guess. He shot out one of the windows, and he's got a girl, Johnny! I don’t think he saw me, but I just can’t leave her there. I heard him tell her he’s going to shoot her!”

“What girl? Who?” Call him cold-hearted, but Johnny decided he would worry about the girl after Billy was out of danger. Again he tried to steer Billy back toward the stairs.

“I don’t know her. I saw her once with Lizzie Honeycutt.” Billy rubbed his head in distress. Johnny’s stomach fell to his knees, and his breath caught in his throat. He knew what Billy was going to say next. “Roger called her Maggie.”

***

Roger had taken her into the school. Maggie had walked alongside him demurely. She hadn’t fought or even protested. If she walked quietly, without drawing attention, she could save Billy and Johnny. Billy didn’t have a gun. He was still in the car. He had no reason to follow Roger. She could save him. She would save him. Roger held her arm roughly and walked like he had big plans.

Roger’s friends had been alarmed by the gun and scattered every which way, running down the unfamiliar halls and away from the madman they had aided. Roger shouted, shooting wildly, and the glass on a new window pane exploded into the classroom he had taken her to. The police would be coming now. She just needed to find a way to keep herself alive until then. Roger had other plans.

“I think I’m going to kill you, Maggie,” he sneered. “It’s perfect really. I know Kinross has a thing for you. It’ll upset him that you’re dead. I’ll tell the police he was the one who took the gun. I got it out of the trunk of a car he was working on. They’ll believe me. And he’ll go to jail, and his mother will suffer -- maybe worse than if I shot him, which was what I intended. And of course, there’s the bonus of actually watching you die. You ruined everything. Irene says she loves me....but she lies. She wants to get away from me. And it’s all your fault!”

“Johnny doesn’t even know we’re in here,” Maggie replied softly. “Your friends saw YOU with the gun. You’re here, he’s not. Chief Bailey won’t have a hard time putting two and two together. You will be the one to go to jail. You’re eighteen, aren’t you?” Maggie’s mind raced to find something that might scare him. “You might even get the electric chair.” It was Texas in 1958. She was pretty sure that was the method they used for the death penalty.