The Homecoming

  So often she would think, wasn’t it just a few months ago I was that age? Then the town deputy would come down the hall and she’d have a serious time warp. When they had been students here, they’d spent so much time together. She’d adored him then almost as much as now.

  “Good morning, Ms. McKinley,” Seth said, smiling at her.

  “Deputy,” she acknowledged.

  “Everything calm this morning?” he asked her.

  “In fact, it’s almost hopeful-looking,” she reported. “I saw Rachel with her girlfriends and they were whispering and laughing, headed for their lockers. They’re some of the prettiest girls and have been to hair-flipping school.” She demonstrated the movement of flipping hair over a shoulder. “Brett passed by with one of his friends and he said good morning to me with a smile. Robbie has called me twice to say that he thinks the worst of it is past—Rachel agrees it’s not a good idea to date Brett and claims they’re broken up for good. She wants to stay at Thunder Point but live with Robbie if that can be arranged. And Robbie, bless his little heart, said anything can be arranged as long as it doesn’t involved her getting treated badly by some guy. She’s going to cheer practice again and Robbie’s coming inside to pick her up at the locker room door. There hasn’t been a single issue, he says. Not even phone calls or texts. Things have been peaceful. Maybe this is going to be okay.”

  “Don’t count on it,” Seth said. “I want it to be, but don’t relax your watch.”

  “I won’t. I never do. At least Brett’s graduating and going to college,” she said.

  “You know there will be challenges after this,” he said.

  “I know better than anyone,” she said. “Are you hanging around awhile?”

  “I kind of like walking these halls now,” he said. He looked both ways and when the coast was clear, he gave her a little kiss. Then he moved down the hall.

  There was a lot of hall walking. Seth dropped by the high school three or four times a day, had friendly little chats with teachers, visited with some of the students.

  A week went by peacefully and the second uneventful week was coming to a close. School would be dismissed for the Christmas break and Iris felt as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. All the kids would go, enjoy their holidays; the school would be closed and, most importantly, they’d all be off her watch.

  Then came the late hour of the day that Iris loved. She packed up her briefcase, locked her desk and went into the hall. There was the sound of basketball practice coming from the gym, but the lights were dimmed and the halls darkened. Very few students remained, just the teams confined to the gym and locker rooms. Given it was the last day before vacation, practices would be shortened. There were probably a few teachers finishing up paperwork or meetings before going home for the holiday. The principal’s office was open but was quiet. She poked her head in and wished the office staff happy holidays. She waved to the school nurse, who was leaving the building carrying a large tote filled with little gifts given to her by students.

  Iris decided to make one last lap around the building and see who was still there. Troy was just closing his classroom door. “Hey,” she said to him. “When are you leaving town?”

  “Not for a couple of days. What are you doing for Christmas?” he asked.

  “Nothing very exciting. I’ll spend some time with Seth’s family.”

  “Ah, yes, the new boyfriend,” Troy said.

  She tilted her head. “Please tell me you’re not being snide.”

  “Nah,” he said. “I probably should’ve known there was someone else on your mind. I just want you to be happy.”

  “I am happy, Troy. I wish you could be happy, too. And not upset with me.”

  “I’m working on that. The happy part, that is. I’m not mad at you, Iris. You can’t really help who rings your bells.”

  “No hard feelings, then?” she asked.

  “Of course not. The hell of it is, I could never be mad at you. I’m going to go to Morro Bay, spend some time with the family and go to many bars to pick up chicks. I’ll take my younger brother—he’s a chick magnet.”

  She laughed. “Best of luck. And be careful!”

  He gave her a brief hug. “Merry Christmas, Iris. I hope next year is your best year ever.”

  “Thanks, I wish the same for you.”

  She continued down the hall and turned left. The building was a big square. She passed Louie, the janitor, wished him well. She turned down another hall, dimly lit, all the teachers apparently gone for the two-week break.

  As she walked, she heard a noise. It sounded like cats. She kept walking, listening carefully. She realized it was talking and sighing and mewling. Oh, crap! I’m going to catch teenagers doing it! And then my eyes are going to hurt forever! she thought. But she couldn’t just ignore it—students were supposed to be out of the building unless they were in supervised clubs or practices or meetings.

  There were so many classrooms along the corridor and she stopped at each one, trying the doors. They were all locked. If she couldn’t find the source of the noises, she’d go back to the office and summon some security or the janitor with a set of master keys. It was entirely possible a couple of young lovebirds had snuck into an unlocked classroom, locked themselves in and were making out. At the very least. She hoped it wasn’t worse.

  Iris caught kids skipping classes, smoking, talking on cell phones they weren’t supposed to have at school. All the staff did. She had caught them making out in dark corners, causing them to blush and run. High school kids had been doing that since long before she was a student herself.

  She heard the chime of her cell phone—a text was coming in. She pulled it out of her skirt pocket and stood under a light to see what it said. It was from Seth and that made her smile.

  I’m going to leave a little early tonight. Want me to take you out to dinner?

  I’d love it.

  When are you done?

  Just making a final sweep of the halls. Everyone should be gone but I hear suspicious sounds.

  Go get some backup!

  It’s probably someone smoking or making out.

  Iris! Backup!

  Relax. I’ll be done in five min.

  She put the phone in her pocket and kept walking. Every door was locked and the mewling sound came and went. Seth was going to have his way—she was going to end up in the office looking for someone to help her search because she couldn’t find the little culprits.

  Then she heard a loud thump and a yelp. It was followed by a girl’s cry. Where are they? she wondered. Where? And then she heard another sound, a louder moan, that made her sure these kids would be naked when she found them. The thought made her shudder.

  But she had found them. She pressed her ear against the door to the boy’s bathroom and heard soft talking and murmuring. There were a couple of thumps. And then, indisputably, a slap.

  She texted Seth—Help! NE BR. Call school security! 911

  She pushed the door open and saw her worst nightmare. Brett Davis was holding Rachel up against the cold, green ceramic tiles on the back wall and he was choking her. Rachel appeared limp against the wall, her arms hanging loosely at her sides. Brett was banging her head as well as choking her. Iris was too shocked to speak for a moment. “Stop!” she finally shouted.

  Brett turned to look at her. His eyes were narrowed. “Get out,” he said. “Just get out.”

  “Let her go,” Iris said, approaching them. “Let her go now!”

  “Get out,” he said again. “This is between us.”

  “I called the police,” she said. “They’re coming. Let go of her.”

  He gave her one last angry glare, then looked back at Rachel. He talked to her with his hands still around her throat. “Tell her, Rache. Tell her, we’re together
.”

  Iris didn’t feel she had any options, he was going to kill the girl. She rushed him, grabbed his arm and pulled, screaming, “Let her go! Let her go!” Then she bellowed as loudly as she could. “Help!” Again, she demanded that Brett let the girl go.

  Iris was pulling on him. She even stuck her hand under his belt and pulled, to no avail. Rachel tried to lift her arms and push at him weakly. He seemed bigger than Iris had ever seen him and given his position, pressing the girl against the wall, Iris couldn’t do anything. She tried pounding on his back, and she tried choking him as he was doing to the girl; she tried pinching him and pulling his hair. Finally, desperate, she bit the back of his arm. She bit him hard.

  He yelled, and his elbow came back and up, hitting her under the chin.

  Iris reeled back and landed against a sink, dazed. She slid to the floor between two sinks, holding her jaw. Brett let go of Rachel and turned toward Iris with fury in his eyes. The girl slithered weakly to the floor. He approached Iris, fists clenched.

  “I’m not afraid of you!” she screamed. “You’re a bully and a wimp! You hit girls!”

  For just a second, he stopped. It was like he was thinking about that. Then he growled and grabbed Iris around the throat, pulling her upright from the floor, shaking her. She got a knee to his crotch, but it wasn’t hard enough to stop him.

  Suddenly the intercom came to life.

  “Lockdown! Lockdown! Teachers, students, staff, emergency lockdown!”

  Brett raised his head like a deer smelling a hunter in the woods. He dropped Iris and looked around as though he was just recognizing his surroundings. He even looked at his hands.

  And then he bolted, crashing out the door at a dead run.

  Iris sank again to the cold floor. She pulled her cell phone out of her skirt pocket, but she was shaking too hard to use it. Rachel, crying, began to crawl to her. Iris reached out a hand to her. Rachel had a small trickle of blood running from the corner of her mouth; her cheek and neck were red but there were no visible bruises yet. In twenty-four hours, she might look frightening. “Come,” Iris said, enfolding the girl in her arms, still holding the phone.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. He wanted to talk,” Rachel said. “Just talk, that’s all. He begged for just a few minutes to talk because he didn’t want us to be enemies. I’m so dumb. I knew better, but I believed him....”

  “I know,” Iris said, a little hoarse and breathless. She stroked Rachel’s hair while she cradled the girl against her. Rachel sobbed. Iris knew the story. He called, she went, danger followed. And they were just kids.

  * * *

  Troy went back to his classroom for a book he wanted to read over the break. He was just closing his door, keys in one hand and book in the other, when the announcement came over the PA system. “Lockdown! Lockdown!”

  When you heard that, you had no way of knowing if it was a gunman, a terrorist, a naked lunatic or invasion by alien beings. All that was clear was that there was potential danger to teachers and students and the procedure was to lock everyone in the room and barricade the door with desks if possible.

  He had no students to protect, but there were still people in the building. He had just seen Iris making a hall walk. He dropped the book to the floor, pocketed his keys and listened. Within seconds he heard feet running, the hard pounding of heavy footfalls. Brett Davis careened around the corner and skidded to a stop when he saw Troy.

  The kid was rumpled, flushed, had a look of panic on his face. “Come here, Brett,” Troy said.

  Brett hesitated for a second before he turned and ran like the wind. Troy went after him without hesitation. And the kid was fast! Troy closed within six feet of Brett and lunged, hitting him around the waist and tackling him to the floor. He pinned him facedown, captured his hands, pushed his cheek to the floor and wouldn’t let him move. All the while Brett was yelling that he hadn’t done anything, which made it even more obvious he’d done something.

  Troy heard running and prayed Brett didn’t have any accomplices in whatever it was he was up to. Then Seth came around the corner, pulling handcuffs off his belt as he approached.

  “What are you doing?” he asked Troy.

  “Tell me this kid has nothing to do with the lockdown.”

  “He could’ve been armed,” Seth said. Once Brett was cuffed Seth looked at Troy. “Where are we?”

  “West hall. Math and science. Hey, I saw Iris right before the lockdown.”

  “I know,” Seth said. He keyed his mike. “One in custody, west hall, math and science area.” Seth proceeded to pat Brett down to make sure there were no weapons, not even so much as a pen. “Can you handle him for a minute? Pritkus is right behind me.”

  “Believe me, he’s not going anyplace,” Troy said.

  “I gotta get Iris,” Seth said, jogging off.

  Twenty

  Just because Thunder Point was a little town on the coast and there was rarely any excitement didn’t mean they ignored threats or potential danger. When Seth got Iris’s text for help, he did what he was trained to do—take every precaution. He didn’t know exactly what Iris was up against. The Sheriff’s Department, State Police, Coast Guard and all area first responders were well trained and took zero chances. It’s not as though school shootings and other such tragedies were unheard of. In fact, they happened in the most unexpected places. He called the school and said, “Lock it down! I’m calling backup and medical.”

  Within minutes the building was surrounded by local and semi-local police. SWAT arrived soon after and the USCG landed in a safe but close parking lot. Paramedics waited on the scene for possible injured. Teachers still inside were locked in their classrooms, secretaries were under their desks, athletes had exited the building through the locker room’s back door. SWAT and the police cleared the building.

  The threat was one unarmed sixteen-year-old boy. Thank God.

  By the time Seth walked out of the school with Iris and Rachel, most of the town had gathered there. The women were taken straight to the paramedics where Rachel agreed to go to the hospital to be checked, mostly because she’d had so many recent injuries including a concussion. Iris, on the other hand, decided on a visit with Scott Grant; she was a little bruised but didn’t think she was seriously hurt.

  SWAT brought Brett out of the building. Troy walked behind them. One of the things that had been overlooked around Thunder Point was that the thirty-year-old history teacher was a marine who had served in Iraq. He was a very capable assistant to dealing with the emergency and he could be credited with stopping the suspect before he got away.

  Seth looked at the scene surrounding the high school. He was grateful it hadn’t been a full-scale war, but even that didn’t lessen the impact.

  Mac McCain walked toward him. Mac was still in civilian clothes, but Seth noticed his department car was parked at the back of a long line of emergency vehicles. “So it was a kid,” he said. “Lucky.”

  Seth shook his head. “Lucky. Mac, I don’t want to ever see my school surrounded like this again. Never again.”

  “I hear that. On the other hand, it was a damn good drill. Excellent response, outstanding performance. It’s always good to know we’re ready for anything.”

  Seth looked over at Brett, who was being loaded into the back of Pritkus’s car. He was going to the headquarters in Coquille where he would be booked on every charge Seth could think of.

  * * *

  Robbie Delaney was a smart guy, Seth decided. He’d gotten himself derailed when Sue Marie got pregnant in their first semester of college. He wanted to marry her, make a family with her; he loved her. He still loved her, but he realized there were issues. In fact, he told Seth, Rachel might have come by some of her problems through her parents’ dysfunctional relationship.

  “Rachel sees the light where Br
ett’s concerned, but that doesn’t mean she’s a hundred percent ready to have a healthy relationship—she needs some help with that. We all need a little help with that. Rachel’s going to start in a teen group in the new year, and the boys and I will get a little family counseling. Sue Marie can join us if she wants to, but if she has better things to do, we’re pressing on. We’re celebrating Christmas here at our house. We’re putting up the tree, laying in the Christmas ham and we’ll invite Sue to be here. We’re going easy on presents this year—everyone gets forty dollars to spend. But you know what? It might be our best Christmas yet.”

  “It sounds like you’re making progress.”

  “I think the kids are changing schools,” Robbie said. “Rachel was the last holdout, but she doesn’t think she can be in the same school with Brett. And if she changes right after Christmas, she can try out for cheerleading in the spring.”

  Seth laughed. “Sounds like the timing is on your side.”

  “We have to get it together by spring,” Robbie said. “When the weather lightens up and spring hits, I do a real good business—painting lines and trimming trees. Running back and forth to Thunder Point really cuts into my time. There are more things like a computer and some cheap cell phones when Papa makes money!”

  Papa. Seth smiled to himself. Robbie might have some serious problems to resolve, but he was devoted to his kids and did the best he could. A lot of guys just succumbed when the problems looked bigger than they were. Robbie, he realized, had always been focused. Nobody’s perfect, but he was a loving dad.

  Brett Davis faced a number of charges, all misdemeanors. He served thirty days in county and, thanks to the committed caseworkers in DHS, they were working on an intervention to get him into a program of some kind, which was required during his probation. Whether it was anger management or domestic battery intervention, Seth had no idea. But there was still hope for Brett. How much hope would depend on a lot of things, mostly his desire to change.