In Sickness And In Death Part 9

Danny's anguished face turned toward me, and he burst into a fresh onslaught of tears. "My dad's going to jail. It's all my fault. He told me to stay in the car, but I didn't. I didn't."

Ray moved over so I could join them on the bed. "Danny says he got out of the car at The Cat's Meow and tried to sneak inside to see who his dad was talking to. He tried the back door and the side door, but they were locked. He even went into the foyer, but the bouncer kicked him out."

Danny hiccupped. "Then I went back to the car. It was open. The driver's door and the back door. I figured my dad came out and couldn't find me. So I got in the car and waited for him. But when he came out, he didn't act like he knew I'd gotten out of the car. He just hopped in and took off."

I moved closer to Danny and hugged him. "I don't understand. What did you do that was so terrible?"

Danny looked at Ray, who replied. "He left the car, Darlin'. Danny thinks someone came and planted the woman's arm in the car while he was circling the building."

"Oh." I thought about that for a minute. "But the person would need a key to get in the trunk or a remote. Your dad's key chain didn't have a remote on it."

Danny's eyes widened. "He had a remote. I know he had one."

Ray and I exchanged glances. I'm sure he was thinking the same as me. What happened to the remote? The key chain Danny claimed to have found in the car at Dr. Albert's office had just a key and a metal letter P. Was the car the one his father had been driving or not?

Ray patted Danny's shoulder. "You know what, bud, we're not going to be able to solve this tonight. You have school tomorrow. You need to go to sleep. Don't worry. I'll talk to your dad tomorrow and we'll figure this all out."

Danny seemed satisfied. He allowed us to tuck him in bed. Ray and I kissed his cheeks and turned off his lamp.

When we got to our bedroom and climbed into bed, Ray and I conversed in whispers.

"What do you think happened to the remote, Ray?"

"I have no idea."

"Do you think it fell off the key chain?"

"It's possible."

"Do you think someone stole it and planted the arm in the car?"

"Also possible. Anything's possible, maybe just not probable."

"What did Danny's father say about the Camry?"

"Nothing. His lawyer's trying to work some kind of a deal for his release, and, in the meantime, Danny's father isn't answering any questions."

"But it was his car."

"It was the dealership's car. He may have stolen it. From what Danny says, he did. But none of what Danny tells us is going to be admissible in court, and Danny will never testify against him."

"So what do we do now, Ray?"

He pulled me close and spooned. "We sleep."

I wiggled out of his arms and sat up. "I can't sleep. I can't stop thinking about this."

"We can't do anything tonight, Jolene. Go to sleep."

"I can't."

"Then do me a favor. Sit there quietly so I can sleep."

I arose on Monday still filled with dire thoughts regarding Erica's whereabouts, Danny's father, Danny's future, and, of course, my future. To top it all off, I had to face Princ.i.p.al Travis.

My day only got worse when I realized I couldn't wear the stretch pants I'd had on for the last four days. My two-size drop meant I had to put on the same skirt I'd worn when I met her last week. Hopefully she wouldn't notice.

At 8:55 a.m. the princ.i.p.al's secretary escorted Danny and me to Mrs. Travis' office for the second time within a week. This time I was exhausted, annoyed, and embarra.s.sed. I had the Nintendo DS in my hand.

Danny managed to enter the office hiding behind my back. I could tell from the way Mrs. Travis craned her neck to catch sight of him. I stepped to the side so she could give him the full effect of her wrath.

Instead, she greeted us both warmly and offered us the chairs in front of her desk. I offered her the Nintendo, and she accepted it. She sat on the edge of her desk, holding it in her hand and towering over Danny, her warm smile still firmly in place.

"So, Danny, how did you come by this Nintendo?"

"I found it." His eyes didn't meet hers.

"Where?"

"On the floor, in the hall."

"I see." She turned it over in her hands. "Danny, you're new to our school. We'd like to see you get off on the right foot. In this school, when we find something that doesn't belong to us, we bring it to the office, and my secretary places it in the lost and found. I know a Nintendo is an exciting toy, but in the future, I hope you will remember to bring anything you find on the school grounds here. Is that fair?"

Danny nodded.

Mrs. Travis stood. "All right, Danny. You can head off to cla.s.s. Mr. Mathews is looking forward to meeting you."

With a final unreadable glance at me, Danny left. I stood to follow him, relieved that Mrs. Travis had let us both off so easily.

Mrs. Travis held up her hand. "Do you have just a few minutes more for me, Mrs. Parker?"

"Sure." I sat again with reluctance.

Mrs. Travis rounded her desk and took her seat. She opened a file and flipped through the pages inside. "After I spoke with you last week, I read Danny's file more carefully. I even placed a call to his old school. Danny is an unusual boy. His school attendance record is perfect. He's never missed a day, not even for an illness. He's been late only once or twice. Danny hands in all his homework. It's not always correct, but it's always done. His grades tend to be above average. His father attends every teacher conference. His father signs every report card. In those aspects, Danny is a model student."

She closed the file and leaned back in her chair. "On the other hand, Danny never rides the bus. His father transported him to and from school. His old school does not believe Danny had any friendships outside of school. Some weeks, they suspected the only showers Danny had were the ones he asked to take after his physical education cla.s.s. On occasion, Danny fell asleep during lectures. His cla.s.smates often couldn't find their lunch money. Sometimes they couldn't find other things as well. No one could prove it was Danny, but he was the prime suspect. It led to several fights."

She fiddled with a paperclip lying on her desk. "I know you and your husband have only had Danny in your home for a few days. Your husband indicated Danny's father might be in jail for some time to come. I think it's important we all work together to make sure Danny benefits from this move to our school and your home."

I nodded and waited for her to say more. She didn't. She just smiled at me.

I wasn't sure what she was trying to tell me. Wasn't it a given that we were all working together in Danny's best interests? Was she letting me know that she knew Danny was a thief? Was she trying to tell me Danny should ride the school bus? That I should help him make friends outside of school? Or was this her carefully worded way of letting me know this school wasn't going to tolerate any nonsense from Danny?

Mrs. Travis continued to smile at me, clearly allowing me to draw my own conclusions. Instead, I decided to take the opportunity to find out what more she knew about Danny.

"We share your concerns about Danny, Mrs. Travis. In fact, Danny was very upset last night. He said his father won't talk to him about his mother. Is there any information in the file about her?"

She tapped the file. "According to this, she pa.s.sed away when he was two. At least, that's what his father suggested to Danny's kindergarten teacher during a teacher conference."

So maybe Danny's mother really wasn't dead? "What was her name?"

Mrs. Travis flipped through the file and stopped at Danny's birth certificate. "Jennifer James. She had Danny at age nineteen. She and Mr. Phillips lived at the same address in Newark. I don't know if they were married."

She flipped the file closed and seemed to hesitate before plunging on, "I don't know if this information will be helpful to you or not, but Danny's teachers weren't certain Mr. Phillips knows how to read. They would show him samples of Danny's completed a.s.signments during the conferences, and he didn't seem to comprehend the work."

"Oh." I didn't know if it was important or helpful either, but instantly I felt sorry for the man. The inability to read would be a huge deficit in life. "Is there anything else in his file that you think might be helpful?"

"I'm afraid not. Most of it is Danny's report cards and standardized test results, all of which tend to be above average, as I said. I think Danny's old school worried more about what they didn't know about Danny than what they were able to doc.u.ment."

I thanked Mrs. Travis for her time and walked into the hallway. I had the overwhelming urge to peek into Danny's cla.s.sroom, just to make sure he was okay. I started to turn back to ask the secretary for permission then decided just to find my way.

The teachers' names hung on the wall above their cla.s.sroom numbers in the hallway. I walked down one hall without finding Mr. Mathews' name. In the next, his door was second on the right. It was closed.

I sidled closer until I could see inside through the three-inch-wide window beginning a foot above the door handle.

Danny's desk was in the third row, between two other boys. Danny was reading a book, as was the rest of the cla.s.s. He looked ...

absorbed. I guessed that was the best we could hope for on his first day.

Inside the room, a man moved past the door. I jerked away from the door and speed walked around the corner, hoping no one had spotted me. I didn't know if a twelve-year-old would appreciate his "mother" looking in on him or not. I was quite sure he wouldn't appreciate having his teacher whip open the cla.s.sroom door and catch me in the act.

In the school parking lot, I used my cell phone to call Ray.

"Hey, Darlin'. How'd it go with the princ.i.p.al?"

"Okay. She said Danny's old teachers suspected him of stealing from his cla.s.smates."

"I heard when I picked up his file."

"What else did you hear that you neglected to tell me, Ray?"

"I heard he was a good student, and his father was attentive."

"Did you hear that the school wasn't sure his father could read?"

"No."

"Maybe he's a thief because his prospects are limited."

"That's no excuse."

"What's the penalty for stealing a Cadillac Escalade?"

"He's been charged with grand larceny in the fourth degree. That's a Cla.s.s E felony. For first offenders, the maximum sentence is four years in a state prison."

I watched as a woman pulled into the s.p.a.ce next to mine and hustled into the school carrying a tray of cupcakes. Would that be me one day? "Is his father a first offender?"

"He's been in prison for armed robbery, when he was seventeen. He served nine years."

"So he's p.r.o.ne to violence."

"His partner in crime pulled the gun. Even the bank clerk testified that Danny's father seemed surprised."

I felt some relief. "Is prison where his neck got sliced?"

"Yes."

"Stealing cars seems like a step down from armed robbery."

"Auto theft is a multimillion dollar business, Jolene. It's the most expensive property crime in the U.S. More than a million cars are stolen every year, dismantled in chop shops and the stolen parts sold. Nationwide, only a little over ten percent of those thefts are cleared by arrest."

Like he was telling me something I didn't already know. "But why is Danny's father stealing cars here in Wachobe? Most of New York's auto thefts occur in the New York City area."

"We think he planned to put the Escalade in a semi bound for the city."

But instead, he got caught sitting behind the driver's wheel, and now he faced more time in prison. Would Danny want to visit him there, too? If his father let him, Ray would have to take him to visit. The county jail already gave me the creeps. I couldn't take a state prison. But surely Danny had to have other relatives.

"Princ.i.p.al Travis also told me Danny's mother died when he was two, or at least, that's what his father implied to his kindergarten teacher."

"I can try asking his father again. He's smart enough to take his right to remain silent seriously."

Just our luck that criminals are getting smarter. "Doesn't he have any other relatives?"

"Not that I've heard."

"Mrs. Travis said the birth certificate listed the same Newark address for both of Danny's parents. Do you think they might have family still living there?"

"Newark?"

I detected more than a hint of interest in Ray's voice. "Yes, Newark. What about it?"

"The Escalade was reported stolen by a woman who gave a home address in Newark."

"What was her name?"

"Hold on a minute."

I heard Ray's fingers clicking on the keyboard. "Her name's James. Jessica James."

Now we were getting lucky. Any chance she was related to Danny's mother, Jennifer James?