Backtracker (30 page)

*****

Chapter
15

It was the first day of final exams at Orchard College, and Dave knew that he should be spending his lunch break studying. Instead of meeting Darlene in the campus snack bar for lunch, he should have gone directly to the library and glued himself to his notebooks.

He knew that
he had
an Investment exam scheduled for one o
'
clock, and he knew that he
wasn
'
t
prepared for it. He knew that the exam was important, that it would constitute twenty
-
five percent of his final grade in that class, that it would mean the difference between the
"
C
"
that
he'd
earned so far and the
"
B
"
that he wanted on his transcript. He knew that an extra hour of concentrated study might enable him to land a decent grade, might compensate a bit for his limited efforts the night before.

Dave knew all this, but still he went to eat with Darlene. He was eager to see her, to speak with her...to find out what she thought of Larry Smith.

As had been the case every day since the events of Saturday night, Dave was thoroughly preoccupied with Larry. Starving for insight, Dave planned to continue his investigation by questioning his inner circle, seeking clues to Larry
'
s secrets in fresh opinions and reports of his activities. Having already interrogated Billy, Dave thought it best to turn next to Darlene; she was quite intelligent and observant and perhaps
had
n
o
t
iced something about Larry which Dave had missed.

There was a complication, however. Darlene had witnessed the start of Dave
'
s adventure in the woods; s
he'd
been with him when Larry had dragged him away to stop Boris from killing himself. When Dave had returned from the harrowing foray, s
he'd
worriedly confronted him, begging to know why Larry had swept him off in such a state of distress...but Dave had told her only that everything was okay. In several phone conversations since that night,
he'd
brushed aside her requests for details, but now he knew that he would have to tell her the whole story. He realized that once he brought up the subject of Larry Smith, he would have to fill her in, or she might get angry and refuse to cooperate. In addition, he felt obliged to satisfy her curiosity, since s
he'd
seen enough Saturday night to know that something important had happened; it
wouldn
'
t
be fair to keep her in suspense any longer. Though
he'd
so far remained true to his promise to Boris,
hadn
'
t
even told Billy of the suicide attempt, Dave would tell Darlene.

And so, at noon, Dave rushed to the snack bar in the Student Union. After going through the line at the lunch counter, he and Darlene found a table near the windows, then ate and made small talk for a while.

Though Darlene seemed to be in a good mood, Dave thought that she was a bit cool toward him; he guessed that she might be upset because he
hadn
'
t
yet told her what had happened in the woods. In the four phone conversations that
he'd
had with her since Saturday, he
had
n
o
t
iced a similar chill, a half
-
measure of tension. The tension was scant, but it was enough to make him uncomfortable, and he grew more anxious to tell his story so that it would dissipate.

"
Hey, Darlene,
"
he said, watching as she nibbled at her egg
-
salad sandwich.
"
There
'
s something I
'
ve been meaning to talk to you about.
"

Darlene raised her eyebrows inquisitively, took a moment to chew and swallow her food.
"
What
'
s that
?
"
she said tentatively, her eyes wide and expectant.

"
Uh, about the party the other night,
"
Dave said slowly.
"
I haven
'
t said much about it, and I guess you might
'
ve been wondering.
"

"
No, not really,
"
shrugged Darlene.

Watching her, Dave
didn
'
t
believe that she
hadn
'
t
been wondering about Saturday; her answer had come too quickly, her aloofness had seemed false.
"
Well, anyway,
"
he continued,
"
it was kind of a touchy thing, which is why I haven
'
t gone into detail with anyone yet.
"

"
Well, that
'
s okay,
"
she told him, shrugging again.

"
It was a rough situation,
"
frowned Dave, restlessly scratching the side of his neck.
"
I, uh, sort of promised I wouldn
'
t tell anyone about it...but I figured I
'
d better let you in on it, since you were there and everything.
"

"
You don
'
t have to,
"
Darlene said softly, eyes dipping to the table.
"
If you made a promise, then you don
'
t have to break it just to tell me.
"

Though her words suggested ambivalence, a willingness to let the matter drop, her manner implied to Dave that she was more affected than she wanted him to know. He sensed that
he'd
been right all along, that s
he'd
been bothered because he
hadn
'
t
taken her into his confidence.
"
No, no,
"
he said hastily, reaching over to take her hand.
"
I
want
to tell you. Matter of fact, I really need to get this off my chest.
"

There was a pause. Slowly, she raised her eyes to again meet his; there were no clouds in that gaze, no mists of diffidence or withdrawal.
"
That
'
s okay, then,
"
she said.
"
Whatever you want.
"

Dave drew a deep breath and then he told her, told her all about Boris and the gun. Once he got started, the story poured out of him like floodwaters from a burst dam; he
hadn
'
t
lied when
he'd
said that he wanted to tell her, that he really needed to get it off his chest.

He spared no detail. Darlene listened intently, eyes widening with shock and fascination at each dramatic twist in the tale. Caught up in the suspense, she was visibly tense throughout the account; when she heard of how Boris had finally dropped the gun, she relaxed with a sigh of relief.

"
My God,
"
she said, shaking her head.
"
I didn
'
t even
know
.
Boris came back, and you and Larry came back, and everybody acted like nothing happened. I had no idea.
"

"
I didn
'
t want to say anything,
"
said Dave.
"
I promised Boris I wouldn
'
t, and anyway, it wouldn
'
t
'
ve done any good. It was kind of a private thing, y
'
know?
"

"
Poor Boris,
"
Darlene said sadly.
"
I wish I would
'
ve gone with you to help him.
"

"
I do, too,
"
he told her,
"
but it was a pretty rough scene. If you
'
d been there...I don
'
t know. Maybe he would
'
ve been too embarrassed to say some of the things he said.
"
Pausing, Dave gazed thoughtfully out the window; as always, a traffic of students shifted past, going one way or the other along the sidewalk.
"
Anyway, I didn
'
t know what was going on till we found Boris. Larry didn
'
t tell me a damn thing till we got to him.
"

"
You seemed pretty surprised when he came and got you,
"
remembered Darlene.

"
I was,
"
confirmed Dave,
"
but that
'
s the thing. That
'
s what really got me about all this.
"
Leaning closer to her, he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"
See, I had absolutely no clue to what w
as happening, but Larry
knew
.
He knew all along that Boris was going to try to kill himself.
"

Darlene
'
s head flicked back, and her expression changed to one of puzzlement.
"
What do you mean? Did Boris tell him or something?
"

"
No,
"
Dave said firmly.
"
Boris didn
'
t tell
anyone
.
He really wanted to just go off by himself and commit suicide. There was no
way
Larry could have known, but he knew.
"

Brown eyes narrowing, Darlene listened and frowned.

"
Not only that,
"
continued Dave,
"
but he knew right
where Boris would
be
.
We didn
'
t just go off wandering around the woods, hoping we
'
d bump into him. Larry took me to the exact
place
where Boris was hiding! We went straight to the exact
spot
, and as far as
I
know, Larry was never even
through
those woods before!
"
In the throes of his revelation, Dave was transfigured. His face flushed, his voice rose, his eyes lit with a gleam which seemed almost fanatic.

"
Really
?
"
asked Darlene.
"
He did all that?
"

"
Yes
!
"
surged Dave.
"
He knew everything that was going to
happen
!
He knew about it all
night
,
too! Remember how we went outside and talked to him for a while? Remember how he told us to keep an eye on Boris, because he looked kind of down in the dumps?
"

"
He didn
'
t say anything about Boris trying to kill himself, though,
"
Darlene said tentatively.
"
He just said Boris seemed depressed.
"

"
Yeah, but
he
ha
d
to
'
ve known! A couple hours later, he dragged me right to where Boris was gonna
'
do
it!
"

"
Maybe you
'
re right,
"
said Darlene.
"
It does sound like he must
'
ve known something.
"

"
He knew, all right,
"
Dave declared confidently, squeezing her shoulder.
"
Now listen. I know this is gonna
'
sound crazy, but I think I might know how he knew. It
'
s the only explanation I can think of, and it sounds crazy, but I want you to bear with me.
"

"
Okay,
"
she nodded supportively.

Taking a deep breath, Dave tried to calm himself. In the presentation of his theory, he wanted to appear more serious and restrained; he wanted her to believe him, though his idea would seem preposterous.
"
I
'
m not sure,
"
he said slowly,
"
but I think Larry might be psychic or something. I think he might be able to see the future.
"