Judge Gantry said, “This case has not been assigned to me, and I know very little about it, only what I’ve read in the newspaper.”
Mrs. Boone said, “Well, it’s some sort of crazy conspiracy charge that Jack Hogan has cooked up. The teachers have been suspended and will probably be fired. But they are not criminals.”
Vince had picked up some paperwork at the jail. He flipped through it and said, “The bond was set by the city court judge, Your Honor, but the case will be assigned to your court. We can make an oral motion to reduce the bond.”
“I know that,” Judge Gantry said politely. Theo had never seen him ruffled or upset.
“Then I make an oral motion to reduce the bond for all five,” Mrs. Boone said.
“What do you have in mind?”
“Why not a simple recognition bond?” Vince asked.
“Exactly,” said Mrs. Boone. “These people pose no risk of running away. They’ll show up in court when they’re supposed to. I guarantee it. Just release them on their own recognizance. They don’t have the money to go through a bail bondsman, and it’s so unnecessary anyway. I want them out of jail right now, Henry. Is that clear?”
“Relax, Marcella.”
“No, I will not relax until they are out of jail. And once they’re out, I’ll file a motion to dismiss these ridiculous charges. Just wait until I have a chat with Jack Hogan.”
“I’d like to witness that conversation,” Judge Gantry said with a smile.
“Please, Henry, you know I’m right,” she said.
“Okay. So ordered. I’ll call the jail.”
“Thank you, Henry.”
“And thank you, Marcella. Please say hello to Woods.”
They marched out of his office, past Mrs. Hardy, down the hallway and the stairs, out of the building, and back to the police station. It took an hour to shuffle the paperwork, even with Mrs. Boone glaring at Officer Brock and snapping at anything he said. Finally, a door opened and Geneva Hull, Tom Willingham, Penn Norman, Paul London, and Emily Novak emerged, free to go. Geneva started crying when she saw Mrs. Boone, who huddled with them for a few minutes and told them what had happened. Theo and Vince drifted away.
It was dark when they left the police station. Theo’s day had started there, just as it was ending there. As he got in the car and they drove away, he said, “That was pretty awesome, Mom. Thanks for letting me tag along.”
“Don’t mention it, but we do have a few things to talk about.”
“Yes, we do.”
Over Chinese carryout, his parents decided that he should arrive early in Mrs. Gladwell’s office on Thursday morning and admit to skipping school. He would take his punishment without complaining. He didn’t argue with this decision. The mood was somber, and Mrs. Boone barely touched her food. She was still upset and gunning for Jack Hogan. Mr. Boone thought it was admirable for Theo to help Ike but didn’t like the fact that he had fibbed to his mother about leaving the house early for debate practice. Theo acknowledged he was wrong and apologized, but pushed back a bit by saying he had no choice. Normally, his mother would have had plenty to say about the fib, but she was preoccupied with more important matters.
Theo described the rest of the day as an exercise in babysitting. April was also skipping school and needed someone to lean on. Theo did not tell his parents why. He had made a promise to April. Both seemed suspicious about his story. He felt like he was dodging bullets, and his head was spinning in so many directions it began to ache. His primary concern was April. What would she do when she heard the news that the teachers had been arrested? Getting suspended was bad enough, now this. She would blame herself and threaten to do something crazy.
Later, in his room, he called and texted her, but she did not answer.
Chapter 19
At eight Thursday morning, Theo walked into the school office and said hello to Miss Gloria, the school secretary. She missed nothing and quickly said, “I see you were absent yesterday. Everything okay?”
She was nosy and often pried into private matters. “All is well,” Theo said, “but I need to see Mrs. Gladwell.”
“About what?”
Maybe it’s none of your business, Theo thought, but he managed to smile and be polite. “My parents,” he said.
“Oh dear. I hope nothing is wrong.”
“They’re fine.”
He took a seat in the reception area and tried to ignore her. The phone rang and she answered it. Mrs. Gladwell arrived, in her usual early morning frenzy, and said hello. “Gotta minute?” Theo asked.
“Sure, Theo. What’s going on?”
They went into her office and closed the door. Theo took a seat and announced, “I skipped school yesterday, all day. I have no excuse.”
“Yes, I saw your name on the absentee list. Mr. Mount said you sent a text but never showed up. That’s not like you, Theo.”
“I’m sorry.”
“And you’ve told your parents?”
“Yes. Last night. They are not happy. I can’t play golf for a month, and here I am in your office, waiting for my punishment.”
“Very well. Let’s do an extra hour of study hall after classes for the next five days. Fair enough?”
“Whatever you say,” Theo said.
“Okay. Now scoot along. I have a busy morning.”
Not bad, Theo thought, as he sprinted by Miss Gloria’s desk and out the door.
During morning recess, he found April on the playground. He was relieved she was at school. Her punishment for skipping was nothing because her mother had sent a note saying she’d been ill. That wasn’t fair, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. She informed him that she had written a letter to Dr. Carmen Stoop, the school superintendent, and in the letter she admitted being the anonymous informant. She admitted everything and apologized for getting involved.
“Don’t send that letter,” Theo said as firmly as possible.
“I’m going to. This is all my fault, and I feel terrible.”
“Don’t send that letter. It doesn’t help anyone, especially you. It will just make your life more complicated, and it could also cause trouble for Janelle and her sister Binky.”
“I’m sorry, Theo. I disagree.”
“Look, April, the first letter was a mistake, right? You sent it without talking to me first. This other letter will just make things worse.”
“I disagree.”
“Come on, April, you always say you trust me when it comes to the law, right?”
“I suppose.”
“What do you mean, ‘You suppose’? Do you trust me or not?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t send that letter until I read it, okay?”
“I’ll think about it.”
During third-period Government class, Mr. Mount began, as he often did, with a current topic by saying, “Let’s talk about the arrests yesterday of the five teachers from East Middle School. Who thinks they should be prosecuted and put on trial?”
Theo wanted to crawl under his desk. No one in the room had a clue that he was so thoroughly involved in the mess. He vowed to keep his mouth shut.
Woody, he with the quick trigger, said, “Sure. They caught ’em cheating, and now they have to pay the price.”
Justin disagreed. “What law did they break? If they did it, then they were wrong, no question about it. They should be fired, but they’re not criminals.”
Brandon asked, “Is cheating always against the law? I mean, if we cheat on a test, are we breaking the law? I don’t think so.”
Edward said, “My mom says they’re going to throw out all the tests and make us do it again. Now, that’s a crime. If that happens, then I think they should go to jail for a long time.”
Darren said, “My dad says the whole idea of testing is bogus to begin with. Why allow some kids in high school to get smaller classes and better teachers? Why shouldn’t we all be treated the same?”
Mr. Mount was smiling because he’d hit a hot
button. He said, “Okay, good points, but let’s stay away from the tests for a minute and talk about the arrests, prosecution, and possible jail time for teachers. It strikes me as a bad idea.”
Brandon said, “Okay, do you think cheating is always a crime?”
“Of course not. It’s always wrong and some forms of cheating are clearly against the law. For example, if you cheat on your income taxes, the IRS can charge you with a crime. If you cheat on an application for a home loan, you could probably be prosecuted. But cheating on a test in school is not a crime.”
“Now you tell us,” Woody said, and got a few laughs.
“Oh, it’s wrong,” Mr. Mount said. “You would be punished, maybe suspended or expelled.”
Chase asked, “So, Mr. Mount, what do you think should happen to the teachers?”
“I’m a teacher, so I guess I’m sympathetic to them. But I want to know what you think.”
Mr. Mount looked at Theo, who quickly looked away. He let it pass, said nothing, and tried to lie low. The debate raged for half an hour, and Theo managed to keep his mouth shut.
Chapter 20
Theo was able to avoid controversy and conflict for the rest of the day, but as he was leaving school, after an extra hour in study hall, a seventh grader named Byron caught him at the bike rack. It was obvious Byron had been hanging around, waiting on Theo. He looked nervous and spoke rapidly.
“I need some help, Theo,” he said.
Theo was in no mood to help and just wanted to go hide in his office. But the kid looked pitiful. “Sure, what’s up?”
“Well, somebody told me you know all about Animal Court, and I’m in some pretty big trouble. Not really me, you know, but my family has a pet that’s causing some problems.”
“What kind of pet?”
“An otter.”
“An otter?”
“Yep. We live on the edge of town in an area where there are a bunch of small farms close together. We have a couple of ponds and some streams, and for the past two years this otter has been hanging around them. Do you know anything about otters?”
“Not really,” Theo replied with hesitation. He had a feeling that he was about to learn a lot about otters.
“Well, otters are very friendly little fellas, and this otter—we call him Otto—has sort of become a family pet. He hangs around the pond and sometimes he comes up to the house. We leave cat food out for him every night. Last year my dad even took him to the vet when he got sick. So, Otto is a little guy that we like a lot.”
“Otto the otter?”
“Yep.”
“And why is Otto in trouble?”
“Well, you see, there’s this family across the road, the Murrays, and they’re nice people and all, or they used to be nice anyway, but they’re kinda ticked off at us right now because the Murrays are really into gardening and stuff like that. Their place looks a lot better than ours. Back behind their house they have this fancy little pond—they call it a water garden—where they keep these big fat goldfish called koi. Are you familiar with koi?”
“No.”
“They’re these big ornamental fish; I think they come from the carp family. They’re beautiful, red and orange and white. We used to go over all the time, back when the families were speaking, and look at their koi. We’d feed them, too. Anyway, it looks like Otto has discovered their pond because a bunch of them were found dead, stripped down to the bones.”
“Otto has been eating the koi?”
“I guess so. They started complaining about a month ago, really upset. Mr. Murray threatened to shoot Otto if he caught him in the backyard. He didn’t catch him, but he kept finding dead koi that had been eaten. It’s a real mess. Then last week Mr. Murray called the house, yelling and cussing, and said he had set up a motion-activated video camera with night-vision stuff, and he caught Otto eating his koi. He’s got a video. Then he filed a complaint in Animal Court, and we’re supposed to have a hearing this afternoon.”
“This afternoon? It’s almost five o’clock now.”
“I know. We’re not sure what to do. My dad doesn’t want to hire a lawyer, and I was thinking maybe you could help us.”
Theo loved Animal Court and went there as often as possible, often pretending to be a lawyer. In Animal Court, lawyers were not required; the parties were allowed to represent themselves. Judge Yeck was a friend. Theo considered the situation and said, “Let’s go.”
Ten minutes later, Theo slid to a stop in front of the courthouse on Main Street. He ran to the basement and found a small empty room where lawyers sometimes met with their clients. He quickly pulled out his laptop and went to Google.
He had watched dozens of trials, and in doing so had learned the lesson that great lawyers leave nothing to chance. They succeed because they spend hours in preparation before they get inside the courtroom. He didn’t have much time, but he had to prepare. He skimmed the Wikipedia pages for otters, then the ones for koi. After a few minutes he raced to the other end of the basement where Judge Yeck conducted Animal Court four afternoons each week. In the hallway, Byron was waiting with his father. Quick introductions were made. Mr. Kerr said, “We got the otter outside in my truck, if you’d like to see him.”
“He’s very cute and makes a good impression,” Byron added.
“He’s here?” Theo asked.
“Yep. Billy’s got him in a cage.”
Theo thought for a second and said, “Probably not. Let’s not tell anyone that Otto has come to town.”
“Whatever,” Mr. Kerr said. “You’re the lawyer, I guess.”
They went inside, sat in folding chairs, and listened in amusement as two neighbors argued over a barking dog. Evidently, they had been there for some time because Judge Yeck looked extremely bored. He finally raised both hands and said, “This is the third time we’ve sat here and argued over this noisy dog. I prefer not to do so again. Mr. Dumas, you either put a muzzle on your dog, or keep him inside, or get rid of him altogether. I have no sympathy for a dog that barks all night and keeps the neighbors awake. Do you understand?”
“I can’t keep him in, Judge, because he’ll just bark all night in the house.”
“Too bad. That’s your problem, but it should not be your neighbors’ problem. I want the dog shut up, or I’ll have no choice but to put him down.”
“Can you do that?” Mr. Dumas asked.
“I certainly can. I have the authority, vested in me by city ordinance, to order the extermination of any animal inside the city limits. I’ll show you the law if you don’t believe me.”
Theo had read the ordinance and knew it well. He also knew that Judge Yeck had handed down the death sentence to only one animal, a rabid dog that had bitten two people. He liked to talk tough, like a lot of judges, but deep down inside he really loved animals.
Theo also suspected the judge would take a dim view of Otto’s nighttime raids into the Murrays’ water garden, but he knew Otto’s life was probably safe, for now anyway.
When the barking case was over, four people left the room, none of them happy. Judge Yeck looked at the remaining spectators and said, “Well, hello, Theo. Nice to see you as always. Are you involved in this last case, the hungry otter?”
“Yes, sir. And hello to you, too.”
“Okay. I’ll ask Mr. Murray and Mr. Kerr to come forward.” The two men walked a few steps and sat at the opposing tables. Mr. Murray pointed at Theo and looked at the judge. “Is he a lawyer?”
“Well, sort of,” replied the judge.
“Well, I don’t have a lawyer. Do I need one?”
“Not really. I can do a pretty good job of finding the truth, with or without lawyers.”
“Doesn’t seem fair,” Mr. Murray mumbled.
“I’ll keep it fair,” Judge Yeck said rather sternly. “You filed the complaint, Mr. Murray, so you’ll go first. How many witnesses do you have?”
“Just me.”
“Okay. Keep your seat and raise your right hand. Do
you swear to tell the truth?”
“I do.”
“Then tell us what happened.”
Mr. Murray shifted his weight and cleared his throat. “Well, Judge, I got this real nice water garden out back, got it landscaped and all, with lily pads and such. I spend a lot of time in the yard. About three years ago I started buying koi. Are you familiar with koi?”
“Sort of.”
“Fancy name for big fat goldfish. I think they originated in Japan a long time ago. There are a lot of varieties, lots of sizes and colors, and, well, they’re just beautiful in the water garden. They live forever, that is unless some damned otter comes along and raids the pond.”
“I don’t allow foul language in my courtroom, Mr. Murray.”
“Sorry. So I stocked the pond with a lot of koi. At one time I had close to a hundred. We love the fish. My grandkids love them. They’re just beautiful, and very hearty. Doesn’t matter how cold or hot it gets. They survive. I have enlarged some photographs if you’d like to see them.”
“Sure.”
Mr. Murray handed the judge three large photos of the koi in the water garden. He had a photo of his house and the Kerrs’. He was prepared, and Theo envied the time he had had to get ready for trial.
“Please continue,” Judge Yeck said.
“Yes, sir. Well about a month ago I went to feed the koi—got to feed ’em twice a day—and I was horrified to see some of them had been eaten. Something had attacked them in the water garden, dragged ’em out, and devoured them. Nothing but a few heads and a bunch of bones were left. I counted four of my koi dead. You wanna see?”
“Sure.”
Another large photo revealed the carnage. Judge Yeck studied it, then handed it to Theo, who gave it back to Mr. Murray.
“Please continue.”
“I didn’t know what to do. The next night I sat on the back porch till midnight, just waiting and watching. I figured whatever varmint did it had such a good time that he was bound to come back. Then I fell asleep. Sure enough, next morning I ran out there and there were three more dead koi. Slaughtered. I looked for teeth marks and footprints but couldn’t see anything. So I called John from across the road—”
“That’s Mr. Kerr?”
“Yes, sir, and I asked him if he had noticed any dead fish around his ponds. Got two ponds over there, and he said no. So I asked him about his otter. You see, Judge, they’ve been keeping this otter around their house for a couple of years now. He’s like a real pet. They even got a name for him. Kids play with him and all. He comes and goes as he pleases, and I suspected he might be involved with my koi. I’ve never seen him in my backyard, but otters usually move around at night. Two days later, I found two more dead koi. I called John Kerr again, and he got pretty irritated. Like I was accusing him of something. I guess I was, come to think of it. He said he didn’t know what the otter was doing at night, wasn’t his job to stay up and watch the little varmint. So a week or two went by with no more attacks. I was hoping it was over, but no. One day I found some more dead koi. Then some more. So last week I bought a video camera, one with night vision and activated by motion, and, sure enough, it caught their otter sneaking over and slithering into my water garden. Got the video right here.”
“Let’s roll the tape,” Judge Yeck said.