“Director Douglas,” Putney said, scrambling to stay on top of the situation. “What are you doing here?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” he replied. “I should be in my office running the FBI. It’s a pretty big job, you know. But I’m here because it seems as though you and I had a miscommunication.”
“What sort of miscommunication?” asked the headmaster.
“You called me asking for a favor, and because I have a soft spot for the school, I agreed. That’s when I asked Agent Rivers, Florian, and Margaret to do me a favor and solve your problem. You see, the favor they’re doing is for me, not you. Do you understand the subtle but significant difference there?”
“Y-y-yes, of course I do,” said Putney.
“I don’t think you do,” replied the admiral. “Yesterday you tried to intimidate these two young people because they discovered some ridiculous secret club you’ve got and now your panties are all in a bunch.” He turned to Margaret and me. “How long did it take you two to figure it all out?”
“About an hour,” she said.
The admiral laughed when he heard that. “Well, Moncrieff, I can see why you’re so embarrassed. Thank God I’m the one protecting national secrets and not you.”
“Admiral, this organization has nothing to do with the pranks that have been going on at the school,” asserted Putney.
“Does that mean you know who the guilty party is?” he asked.
“Well, no,” he admitted.
“Then I guess you don’t know if it involves the organization or not,” the admiral said with a satisfied grin. “Now, Florian, Margaret, ask your questions. I’d like to hear the answers myself.”
I looked across the table and was amazed by how different they appeared. Oh, to be able to silence bullies just by walking into a room.
“Where can we get a list of the members of the Megatherium Club?” I asked.
“You can’t,” answered Putney.
“Now, seriously,” interjected the admiral.
“You can’t because no such list exists,” he explained. “There are at any one time twenty-one members of the club and their identities are known only to each other. We find out who they are after graduation when they become legacies like Moncrieff and me.”
Marcus couldn’t believe it. “Are you saying that you have a group on this campus, completely unsupervised, identities unknown, that can get away with whatever it wants?”
“I wouldn’t characterize it that way,” he replied. “They don’t get away with whatever they want. But they are a secret group and that secrecy is an essential part of their connection. It helps build deep friendships that continue long after leaving Chatham.”
“But they’re not all friends,” said Margaret. “Lucy Mays and Becca Baker are enemies. Why?”
Tate and Putney shared a troubled look, and when they did, a possible reason came to me.
“Wait a second,” I said, turning to Margaret. “Why do we think Lucy’s a Megatherium?”
“Because the symbols of the club are in her locker,” she said. “The triple stripe and ‘How How.’ ”
“Right,” I said. “But when Lucy was selected to be a member of the honor society, how did they let her know?”
“They put an announcement on her locker,” answered Margaret, trying to follow my train of thinking.
“What if that’s all it was?” I said. “What if the symbols in her locker were some sort of cryptic invitation to join the Megatherium Club?”
Margaret thought about this for a moment. “That could be. It’s a secret society. It’s not like you can just fill out an application. Someone has to ask you.”
“And they can’t put the message on the door to your locker where everyone could see,” I added. “That would ruin the secret.”
“But that still makes her a member,” reasoned Margaret.
This is when I smiled. “Unless she turned them down.”
They didn’t say anything, but both men on the opposite side of the table squirmed a little bit.
“What do you mean?” asked Marcus.
“What if the Megatherium Club invited Lucy to join them because they wanted those lifelong bonds to extend into the White House, but she had the nerve to turn them down?” I said. “They’d get their feelings hurt and they might want to make her look bad by setting her up as the prankster.”
The silence was long, before the headmaster admitted, “We don’t know that for certain.”
“But you’re worried that’s what it is,” said Marcus. “That’s why you wanted help. You’re worried the Megatheriums are going to go too far and embarrass the first daughter. And in the process embarrass the school and your silly secret society. And since you don’t know who they are, you wanted us to figure it out for you.”
Neither one of the two men across the table said anything for a moment until Putney finally admitted, “That was a concern.”
“Hmmm,” said Admiral Douglas. “You might’ve mentioned that when you asked for my help.”
20.
Trust the River
IT’S AMAZING HOW MUCH THE tone of our meeting changed once we’d gotten Dr. Putney and Moncrieff Tate to admit that the Megatherium Club existed. While they still maintained they didn’t know who the current members were, they began to help us understand how the club worked.
“There are supposed to be twenty-one members,” explained Putney. “One from seventh grade, two from eighth, three from ninth, and so on up to six from the senior class. Each year those six seniors graduate and the following year six new members are invited to fill their spots. One from each grade.”
“Why do you say ‘supposed to be twenty-one’?” asked Marcus.
“Because Lucy didn’t become a member, right?” I said. “That threw off their number.”
“Yes,” said the headmaster. “To my knowledge Lucy was the first person to ever turn down the invitation to join. Since there was no precedent, the student in charge of membership approached me for advice. I consulted with other legacies and advised her that they should wait and pick an extra person from that class next year.”
Margaret took notes of what he said, but I kept my focus on Tate. He was already in a bad mood because we were there, but now he seemed particularly agitated by what Putney was telling us. I had a pretty good idea why.
“If there’s only one invitation for each class,” I pointed out, “that means they picked Lucy instead of Victoria.”
“Yes,” Moncrieff said curtly. “They ignored generations of tradition because they were blinded by the bright lights of the White House. And look what good it did them. Egg on their face.”
Margaret and I shared a look. If Victoria was as angry as her grandfather, then she suddenly shot up the list of possible suspects. This gave her the motive we couldn’t come up with before. Not only did Lucy get the invitation Victoria felt she deserved but Lucy rejected it, adding insult to injury.
“Was Becca Baker the student in charge of membership?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said reluctantly.
Malena was absolutely right when she said the key question was why Lucy and Becca were no longer friends. Now we had a strong motive for her, too. If she was in charge of membership and Lucy had been a friend, then she might have been particularly upset by the rejection.
Admiral Douglas looked at me and asked, “Are there any other questions you have for them?”
“Two, sir,” I said. “What can you tell us about Mrs. Chiang’s complaint to the board of trustees regarding Lucy Mays?”
Rather than answer, Putney turned to Tate, who served as the board’s chairman.
“Nothing,” he said.
“Nothing as in there was no complaint?” asked Marcus. “Or nothing as in you won’t tell us?”
“Nothing as in I cannot tell you,” Tate replied. He looked at Admiral Douglas. “There must be confidentiality with regard to student discipline. That’s the law, David. Even you’re not above
it.”
For a moment it looked like he was going to score a point against the admiral, but then Margaret jumped in.
“You feel strongly about student confidentiality?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” he said with all the righteousness he could muster.
“Then why did you tell your granddaughter about the hearing and Mrs. Chiang’s complaints? She gossips about it to everyone. Is she above the law? Or do you only feel strongly about confidentiality when you don’t like the person asking you questions?”
There was another long silence until Admiral Douglas said, “Are you going to answer her, Moncrieff? Or just sit there with that look on your face?”
At this moment I almost felt bad for him. Almost.
“Mrs. Chiang contended that Lucy was jealous of Yin and tried to intimidate him,” Tate said slowly. “We take bullying very seriously, so we looked into it. Ms. Allo, the music director, assured us that she had seen no evidence of this. In fact, she claimed to have never seen Lucy and Yin say anything to each other beyond hello.”
“And now our final question,” I said. “How can we access Chat Chat?”
“It’s closed down,” said the headmaster.
“It still exists,” I replied. “You’ve just taken it off-line and we need to look through it.”
“There’s a computer lab in the library,” he said. “You can come after school and I’ll have one of them set up so that it can access the site.”
“Let’s go with after lunch,” Marcus said.
The headmaster gave him a look.
“After school doesn’t work, because Margaret has an audition for the talent show at Deal Middle,” he continued. “And why don’t you make it three computers, so we can work faster?”
“Fine,” said Putney. “I’ll have them ready after lunch. Is that all?”
“Yes,” Margaret and I said in unison.
“Excellent,” added the admiral. “Treat these three like you’d treat me.” He stood up to leave and added, “Because if you don’t, I’ll come back and I won’t be so friendly next time.”
Over the next couple of periods I kept thinking through all that we had learned and by lunch I had two names firmly atop my suspect list: Becca and Victoria. As far as I was concerned the information we found out about the Megatheriums gave them the best motives of all. I wanted to see if Margaret had come to the same conclusion but when I got to the cafeteria I couldn’t find her.
Where r u? I texted.
In the PAC, she responded.
I didn’t know why she’d be there instead of at lunch, so I wolfed down my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and headed for the performing arts center. I found her in the band room sitting at a table by the practice rooms.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I still have to finish my song before my audition,” she said. “So I wanted to see if I could get on a piano.”
“Then why are you out here?”
She nodded toward practice room two, and for the first time I noticed that cello music was coming from within. “It’s the only room with a piano.”
“Is that Yin?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Couldn’t he practice in one of those?” I asked, pointing at a pair of empty practice rooms.
“He could, but I don’t want to interrupt him when he’s playing,” she said. Then she lowered her voice and added. “Besides, he might not actually be there.”
“Good point.”
I walked over to the door and listened. It didn’t sound like a recording, but I couldn’t tell for sure. After about thirty seconds, the music came to a stop, and when it didn’t start up again instantly, I rapped on the door.
“What are you doing?” asked Margaret.
“I’m going to ask him if you can swap rooms.”
She gave me a look and I shrugged. He didn’t answer so I knocked again and after a few moments the door opened.
“Yes?” Yin said, confused as to why someone would interrupt him.
“I’m really sorry,” I said. “But is there any way—”
“Florian!” he said when he realized it was me. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Margaret said, interrupting me. “We’re sorry. Go back to playing. It was beautiful.”
“No,” I said. “We just wanted to see if Margaret and you could change practice rooms. This is the only one with a piano.”
He looked at her and smiled. “Of course.”
“You really don’t have to,” she said, embarrassed.
“No, I mean it,” he said. “I’m happy to change.”
“We wouldn’t have interrupted,” I said, “except she’s writing a song and it needs to be finished by the end of school.”
Margaret gave me a dirty look, but for the life of me I didn’t know why.
“You’re writing music?” he said gleefully.
“Not really,” Margaret replied. “Not like you do, at least. It’s just a silly song for the talent show at my school.”
“I don’t think it’s silly,” I said. “I think it’s great.”
“Well, you know absolutely nothing about music,” Margaret pointed out.
“Can I hear it?” asked Yin.
Margaret actually looked pained by the question. “You know what, this was all a mistake. Just go back to practicing.”
“One second,” I said to Yin.
I walked over to her and whispered, “I stood up to a bully because of you and now he wants to kill me. It’s time for you to be a little brave.”
She wasn’t happy about it and she didn’t say anything, but she walked into the practice room and sat at the piano. I stood next to Yin and closed the door behind us.
“I’m not going to sing,” she announced. “Just play.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “Just play it.”
She pulled the music out of her backpack and put it up on the rack. She started to play, tentatively at first, but then she just played. It was really good and I wasn’t the only one who thought so. I could see by Yin’s reaction that he liked it too.
“That’s excellent,” he said when she stopped. “Why didn’t you keep playing?”
“Because I don’t know what should go next,” she replied. “This is the part that keeps stumping me. I think there should be a bridge to connect to the final verse, but I can’t figure out what it should be.”
“I had the same problem with one of my new compositions,” he said. “The bridge is the hardest part.”
“How’d you solve it?”
“You need to trust the river,” he told her.
She gave him a confused look. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Can I sit down with you?”
“Of course,” she said.
She slid over on the bench and made room for him.
“Back home we live near a river that my father and I like to kayak on,” he said. “When I’m writing music I always think of what he told me when he was teaching me how to paddle a kayak. He’d say, ‘Trust the river,’ because he didn’t want me to fight the current. It’s better if you let the river take you where it’s going and just make small adjustments.”
“I’m sorry,” said Margaret. “But I still don’t understand.”
“Play the melody,” he said. “And just the melody over and over.”
Margaret started playing it.
“That’s the river,” he said. “Look at your fingers; they’re flowing across the keys like water.” He started playing it too. “Now let the current take you where it wants to go.”
Margaret started to understand what he meant and she tried to find the right notes on the keyboard. My musical knowledge is so limited, I had no idea what they were talking about, but it was still amazing to watch.
“Like this?” she said.
“Yes,” he said with a smile. “Now trust the river and see where it goes.”
She tried again and this time just committed fully to the idea. She played t
he melody and then just kept playing for a moment. Then she stopped, totally surprised by what she’d heard.
“Where did that come from?” she asked.
“From you,” he responded. “That was all you. It was perfect. That’s your bridge.”
She played it again and I could tell that she had now solved the problem she’d been struggling with.
“That’s amazing!” she said. “I just . . .”
“Trusted the river,” he said.
She nodded. “Yin, thank you so much. You don’t know how much I’ve been struggling with this.”
This is when it dawned on me that although Yin seemed a little nervous and withdrawn everywhere else on the campus, here he was right at home. In the world of music and instruments, he was a different person. It was almost as if we were meeting him for the first time.
I just stood there silently while the two of them worked out the rest of the song. It was great to see, and for a little while at least, the mystery took a backseat. The bell rang and we walked with Yin back toward the library, where we were supposed to meet up with Marcus so we could look at Chat Chat.
“So you like to go kayaking?” I said. “I don’t think I would have guessed that.”
“I guess I am a man of international mystery,” he said with a laugh.
“Maybe we should do that sometime,” added Margaret. “But this weekend we’re still on for the zoo, right?”
“I can’t wait,” he said. “It should be fun. Oh, and I can hear all about the audition for the talent show.”
“Sure,” Margaret replied, slightly embarrassed.
“See you all later,” he said as he turned to go to his locker.
It wasn’t until he opened it that I noticed it was right next to the one that had belonged to Lucy Mays.
21.
Friend Circles
“WHAT’S THE MATTER?” MARCUS ASKED when he saw our expressions as we walked into the computer lab.
“We just found out Yin’s locker is right next to Lucy’s,” said Margaret.
“And?” he said, unsure why that was important.
“That puts him at the scene of the first prank,” I said.
“Which gives him a connection to all three,” added Margaret.