Furious Jones and the Assassin’s Secret (20 page)

“Okay,” Bailey said. “Let's do that. We can meet at my
house right after school. Susan, you bring the pork, and Finbar, you bring the pineapple. I'm sure I'll have everything else.”

“We've got a half a hog in the freezer,” Susan said. “He's from my uncle's farm. I could bring that.”

“Well, that might be a lot,” Bailey said. “How about just a couple of pork chops?” Bailey quickly added, “Maybe just from the store?”

“But that won't get us points with Metzel.” Susan sounded confused now.

“Sure it will. The recipe came from your uncle, right?”

“Yeah. Do you think that's enough?”

“I think so,” Bailey replied.

“I don't know,” I said. “I think Susan might be right. We might want that hog from her freezer.” I smiled at Bailey.

“Half hog,” Susan corrected.

“Right. Half hog.” I loved the thought of Susan dragging half a hog into Bailey's house.

“A couple of chops will do,” Bailey said quickly.

“What's your address?” I asked.

“Here.” Bailey grabbed the pen and notebook from my desk. “I'll draw you a map.”

She uncapped my pen and fanned through my notebook. She stopped suddenly.

“What's this?” She was wearing a sly, angled grin as she opened a page.

“What?” I grabbed the corner of the notebook to see what she was looking at. It was the list I had made of girls in Mike's class that might fit the description of the girl in my dad's book. I had starred, circled, and underlined Bailey's name . . . several times.

“Oh, man! It's not what you think,” I said.

Her smile widened. “Hey, Finny. I'm not thinking anything.”

“Man, it's a five-subject notebook, and you pick that page!” My cheeks were burning.

She didn't respond, drawing a map on the page. She closed the notebook and handed it to me as the bell rang. She stood up, winked, and said, “See you after school, Finny.”

I sat and waited until she had left the room. I opened my notebook and flipped through it looking for the page with the map. I found the page. It was covered in ink. Bailey had drawn a detailed map of The Territories. It included her address and a star where her house was located.

M
ike hadn't shown up for
school today. And as I entered the lunchroom, I realized Ben, Scott, and Trish were all gone too. I hoped they were just skipping school or something. I wouldn't forgive myself if Duane and his buddies hurt Mike because of what I did to him. I suddenly wished I had asked Mike for his cell number.

I got into line and ordered two cheeseburgers, fries, tots, and pudding. I looked toward the cheerleaders' table. Bailey was sitting next to Amanda. What the heck, I had nothing to lose. I scanned the football player's table as I headed toward Bailey. Duane wasn't there.

“Do you mind if I join you?”

“Sure.” Bailey said as she slid down and made room between her and Amanda.

Amanda made a gagging noise as she motioned to my tray. “Eat much?”

“Well, Bailey here kept talking about pork and hog halves during class. It made me hungry,” I said.

“That's disgusting,” Amanda said, sounding truly repulsed.

“That's what I told her.”

“Oh my god,” Bailey said. “I was so sure Susan was going to drag a dead pig into my living room. My dad would freak.”

“Hey, she was just supporting her uncle's butchering business,” I said with a shrug. Bailey laughed.

“Oh god, speaking of butchering.” Bailey suddenly looked ill. “Did you hear about Happy Puppy?”

“No,” I said. “I saw it in the paper but didn't read the article.”

“Oh my god,” Amanda burst out, “I heard about that.”

“What?” I asked again.

“The Happy Puppy Dog Food Company. It's just down the highway. Apparently three or four workers fell into, or got sucked into, a meat-processing machine,” Bailey said.

“Yeah,” Amanda said, “but I heard they weren't all employees. Like one of the employees was showing his family around the place and they fell in, or something.”

“How is that even possible?” I asked, fully knowing how
it was possible. Anton or one of the other guys clearly had pushed them in. Or killed them first and ground them into puppy chow to make it look like an accident.

“They've got huge machines over there,” Amanda said. “My brother worked there one summer. They just shove entire cow carcasses in—brains and all. They just grind that stuff up and feed it to Fido.”

“So, the worst part is—”

I cut Amanda off. “The worst part? Like the family getting ground up isn't bad enough?”

“No, it gets worse. Apparently they didn't realize what had happened right away. Like it took a couple of days before they pieced it together.”

“No pun intended,” I inserted.

“Right.” Bailey laughed. “So some of the dog food shipped out with the Henderson family in it.”

“That's why they pulled over the trucks yesterday,” I asked.

“Yup. I heard some of it had already hit the shelves in Chicago.”

I took a bite of my cheeseburger. “You guys have one weird town. Hay balers and dog-food machines eating people. Not to mention the article I read about a water heater killing a guy.”

“Don't forget about Schneider,” Bailey said.

“How can I?” Amanda asked. “I was one of the ones who saw him.” She shivered. “Gross.”

“What did he look like?” Bailey asked.

“Bailey! That's disgusting!”

“What? You brought it up. I'm just saying.”

“It's weird,” Amanda said. “I mean, it's like they're there, but they're not. You know? He was so still.”

My phone started ringing and I tried to fish it out of my pocket. I hoped it was Emma saying she was on her way.

“You can't use your phone in school,” Amanda scolded. “They'll take it way.”

“I just need to talk for, like, two seconds,” I said.

I stood up and turned my back to Amanda and Bailey. I hit the answer button and was raising the phone to my ear when a massive fist smashed into it. My phone shattered on the floor.

“There are no phones in school.”

I looked up, half expecting to see Duane. It wasn't Duane. It was one of the other giant football players.

“That was my third phone this week!” I yelled.

“I don't care.”

How was I going to pay Betty if I had to keep buying phones? I looked at the pieces on the floor. I could feel a fire starting to burn in my gut. Or maybe it was the ghost pepper amulet.

“You're gonna buy me a new phone,” I demanded.

The guy folded his arms. He was a big guy, but nowhere near as big as Duane. He was tucking his hands in behind
his biceps, trying to push them up. Trying to look like the big man in front of his buddies. But I could tell, he was scared. He had to be scared of what I did to Duane.

“Did you have a good lunch?” I asked. “ 'Cause I'm hungry and I'm looking forward to eating those cheeseburgers. So why don't you just give me sixty bucks and we'll pretend this didn't happen.”

“Screw you.”

“Were you there the other night? With Duane?” I asked. “At the pool?”

“Yeah, I was there. And I know you're a dead man.”

“Hey, I'm here. Where's your buddy? Is he still picking his teeth out of the pool?”

“Where are
your
buddies?” he asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, we found
your
buddies last night at the bowling alley. Maybe they are still there picking
their
teeth out of the gutter.”

I
tried to shove the
guy backward, but he didn't move very far. I could hear several of his buddies getting up from their table now.

“You better hope my friends are all right,” I said, leaning down toward his face.

“Or what?”

Several of the other football players were standing behind him now. Arms crossed.
All for one and one for all
, I thought.

I reached down and put one of my tater tots into my mouth. I was starving, but I was also trying to show the pack of idiots that I wouldn't scare easily.
Never show them any fear
, my dad had said.

“I think we all need to talk, don't you?” I asked, poking
him in his thick chest. “I think we should get together after school and settle this thing.”

“Fin!” Bailey sounded scared. “Don't be crazy. Plus, you're supposed to be at my place after school.”

Great, I thought. Now they'll know exactly where to find me.

“Yeah, with two fresh pineapples,” I added. “I'll be there. Why don't you boys meet me over at the Piggly Wiggly after school. I've got to get some pineapples. We can settle this thing and then I'm going to Bailey's.”

“You're a dead man, dude,” one of the football players said.

“We'll see.” I grabbed another tot and walked out of the cafeteria.

I was seriously angry about my phone. I had to go buy another phone, and I was pretty sure I had taken the last of the cheap ones at the Pig. I would be forced to buy the gold standard in mobile phones. It was sure to wipe me out.

I walked down the hall toward my next class. I had three more hours of sitting in classes that meant nothing to me.
Forget it
, I thought. I'd already gotten what I needed. I'd be at Bailey's house in a couple of hours. After Susan left, I'd show her the chapters from my dad's new book and ask her what she knew. Ask her if she would tell her story to Emma and the world. Before it was too late. Before the killers moved on.

I ripped Bailey's map out of my notebook and threw the
rest in the trash. I walked quickly toward the main entrance. It was early October, but it suddenly felt like June. Like the last day of school.

I stopped walking about ten feet from the front door. Nonnemacher had taken my phone. My brand-new phone. I didn't need to buy a new one. I knew exactly where I could find a perfectly good phone. And it was my last day at Galena High. I had nothing to lose.

Nonnemacher was in the middle of some sort of rant in Spanish as I pushed open his classroom door. He stopped immediately.

“
¿Lo que en el mundo se cree que está haciendo, señor Jennings?
”

“I've got no idea what you just said.” I walked straight to his desk and opened the middle drawer. Nothing. There were pens and papers, but no phone.

Nonnemacher switched to English.

“What in god's name do you think you're doing?” he demanded.

“Taking my phone back,” I said, as I pulled open another drawer. Bingo. I grabbed my piece of crap pay-as-you-go.

“I distinctly remember saying that you would get it back at the end of the school year.”

I turned and looked at him. His face was red. His eyes looked like they were rattling in their sockets.

“It
is
the end of the school year for me.
Adiós.
”

I
walked down the hall
and out the front door. I didn't bother to look back. I knew Nonnemacher wouldn't follow me.

I set out for the Piggly Wiggly. I needed to get the pineapples and then start walking south to The Territories. There was clearly no way I was waiting around for the football team to beat my head in. I couldn't fight an entire team. No, I'd get the pineapples and get a head start to Bailey's.

There were only two cars in the parking lot when I reached the Pig. Neither of them were Douglas's. Unless he hadn't found his car yet and had rented a new one. This was a bad idea. What if Douglas told the store manager to be on the lookout for me? What if Douglas was around somewhere,
staking the place out? I slowed down as I walked toward the automatic door. This couldn't be a good idea. I looked around. No cops. No sign of Douglas. And no
WANTED
pictures of me taped to the windows. I was going to get the pineapples and get the heck out.

The Pig had a mountain of fresh pineapples. I grabbed two and headed to the checkout. There was a woman standing at the same cash register Trish had been at the night before. The same one I had hidden under. I was definitely pushing my luck. But I paid for the pineapples and got out of the store, no problem.

I crossed the highway and walked about a mile down a dirt road. I wondered if this stupid Podunk town had a bus. But I guessed with only eight hundred residents and miles of farm fields, it wouldn't have made sense. I would have to walk all the way to The Territories. I decided to take back roads. I wasn't taking any chances with Douglas. My phone said it was three hours to The Territories on foot. I needed to be at Bailey's in two and a half. And I certainly needed to get there before the football team figured out I wasn't going to show up at the Pig and they came looking for me. Maybe I could run and even stop by Mike's before Bailey's. I needed to know he was okay.

Despite my best efforts, it took me more than two hours to reach The Territories. But the freaking Territories were huge, and Bailey's map wasn't exactly drawn to scale, so it took me another hour to find Bailey's house.

I shoved Bailey's map into my pocket as I rang the doorbell. I waited a few minutes, but no one answered. I tried again. I was almost an hour late. Were they already done? Had the idiot football guys come out looking for me and caused trouble?

I looked in the front window. It looked dark inside. I pulled the map out and looked at the address again. This was definitely the right house. I sat down on the front step to wait.

I thought about my new phone in a million pieces on the lunchroom floor. I wondered if Emma had left a message on that phone. I pulled my old phone from my pocket and called Emma. She didn't answer. I hung up as a car pulled into the driveway. Bailey and Susan got out. Bailey was holding two pineapples.