Keaton School 01: Escape Theory (25 page)

“Stay. Away. From. Me.”

M
ATT WAS ALONE
,
OUTSIDE
the Dining Hall eating a banana, when Devon spotted him. She debated approaching him; was it violating Isla’s confidentiality to tell Matt about this morning? No, this was for Isla’s safety, she needed to tell someone.

“Matt, wait!” Devon clutched her backpack straps as she hurried to catch up.

Matt’s shoulders slumped when he saw her. “What?” he said. His voice sounded sharp. He threw the banana into a garbage can.

Devon waited until she was close enough to talk quietly. “It’s Isla. Would you check in on her. I’m worried, and she doesn’t exactly want to hear any lectures from me. Figured you might know best what to do.”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Matt said. He looked over Devon’s shoulder at a gaggle of freshman girls exiting the Dining Hall.

“Matt, I don’t think she’s fine.” Devon stepped closer, invading his personal space. “She needs help.” She made a point not to blink, not to act like Matt was a full foot taller. She couldn’t flinch now; Matt had to know that this was important. His eyebrows pushed together for a brief moment and he blinked.

Raven in her Volvo honked the horn from the driveway down the hill.

“I gotta go,” Devon said. “Just make sure Isla’s okay, will you?”

Finally he nodded, “Okay, I will. Thanks. Good looking out.” Matt gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder.

“H
OP IN
,
WE GOTTA
pick up Bodhi.” Raven’s Volvo spit and sputtered as it pulled out of the parking lot. Devon tossed her backpack into the pile of towels in the back and hopped in the car. “Right one’s—”

“I got it. I got it,” Devon muttered, gripping the speaker in front of her. She and Raven smiled at each other. “I’m a pro, remember?”

The Volvo bounced down the hill into Monte Vista. Devon closed her eyes and tried to organize her thoughts. She liked Raven. They were even friends. But, she still needed to find out more about
Bodhi. She hoped the arrest was all a simple misunderstanding, and that the various things that seemed to connect Bodhi to Hutch’s death in her mind could be easily explained. Wouldn’t that be the best case scenario? That Hutch’s murderer was still out there? She sighed. The best case scenario would be Hutch, still alive. It was a downward spiral of thought with no end in sight.

Past town, the ocean swept into view at the end of a winding suburban street. The houses got bigger the as they neared the water. Newly remodeled balconies and rooftop decks were positioned for the optimal sunset views. The car turned down an alleyway lined with garage doors.

Raven parked the car in front of a guest house with sun-bleached coral-painted wood and a splintering front porch. “I’ll be right back,” she said. “Better if you stay here.” She slammed the door behind her and Devon watched her glide up the stairs in two long steps. Raven and Bodhi lived here? Just as quickly as she had gone in, Raven came bounding out. Devon caught a glance at a man standing near the door.

“Bodhi’s already at Reed’s. Let’s head there,” Raven said starting up the car again.

“Was that your dad?” Devon asked. “This is your place, right?”

Raven rolled a cigarette as she steered with her knee down the alley. “Technically, yeah, that’s my house. My dad is, well, he’s not really going to coach anyone’s Little League team anytime soon.”

Devon nodded. She didn’t understand completely, but she knew enough to let the subject drop there.

T
HE BLACK
R
ANGE
R
OVER
was sitting in the driveway when Raven pulled in. Bodhi was unloading a duffle bag from the back and for an instant Devon thought with a pang of Hutch taking his bags out of the same car. Raven parked and jumped out. “Hey, missed you at Dad’s. He’s always such a pleasure.”

“Yeah, I got outta there pretty fast,” Bodhi said. They walked inside and Devon followed. “Hey, Devon.”

“Hey,” she said back, quietly. It was awkward to be so close to Bodhi in person. She didn’t want to look back two weeks from now and think,
I spent all that time with a murderer
. But it was a stretch. For one thing, Raven couldn’t be that blind to that possible side of her own brother. On the other hand, she knew all too well that people saw what they wanted to see, especially in someone they loved.

“You’re okay, right?,” Bodhi asked Raven. She nodded and Bodhi wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “We don’t need to go back there. Never again.”

“Never again,” Raven said, nodding at her brother.

The dark wood floors and window frames of Reed’s guest house gave it a classic craftsman house feel. A kaleidoscope of colored glass wrapped around the lighting fixtures in the hallway and dining room. In the living room, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the Athena vineyards. It was breathtaking. Devon felt herself relax instantly. The silence of his living room, the organized rows of vines, the empty blue sky—all of it created a sense of calm.

“Sorry, Dev,” Raven said. “You gotta take your shoes off.”

Devon slipped out of her Toms and padded down the thick carpet. Raven stepped into a bedroom and shoved a pile of clothes off the bed, then plunked herself down. School books and notebooks covered a nearby desk. A tall chest of drawers on the other side of the room had make-up, nail polish, and surf wax scattered on top.

“This is me,” Raven said.

Photos taped to the wall made Devon step closer. Raven and Hutch were smiling at the camera in one, screaming at the camera in another, glaring at the camera in the last. “We took those this summer,” Raven said.

“What were you doing?” Devon’s throat went dry.

“When Reed didn’t need help with his computer or security system, we’d go for walks in the vineyard. Hutch said the vineyard was a horror movie waiting to happen. We were the victims in that one, getting hunted in the other, and then we did the twist ending where we were the killers in the last one.” Raven laughed. “Crazy Hutch, huh?’

“Yeah,” Devon said. It seemed like a very Hutch-ian game. “So, do you basically live here?” Judging from the clothes in the open closet, this didn’t seem like a weekend stopover.

“Really couldn’t live with my dad anymore. It got ugly. I dropped out of school in Monte Vista.”

“Ah. So that’s why you’re a freshman who can drive.”

“Yeah, this is my second attempt at high school. That’s also why Bodhi came home from school. He couldn’t be across the country while everything last year was going down. We got hooked into Reed’s world, hung out with Hutch when he came down this summer. After Hutch died, Reed seemed to like having us around. It’s kind of a mutually beneficial thing.”

Devon nodded, her curiosity prickling. “So, will Bodhi go back to MIT? I heard he got a full scholarship.” This was the stuff she needed to find out. Ask questions, but don’t be too obvious.

“Don’t know. He’s working with Reed now, not sure he has to go back. I mean, you’ve got this crazy famous scientist right here, what else could MIT offer him?”

“Scientist? I thought Reed grew grapes and rode horses.”

Raven laughed. “Nah, the vineyard was like a retirement project. Reed made all his money ages ago in the bio world. But he’s always been a cowboy. Come on, you gotta see the hub.” Raven led Devon further down the hallway, and down a flight of stairs, which opened into a large room. Windows covered two walls in an L-shape, and a counter crammed with security cameras and computers wrapped around the other two walls of the room.

“I don’t get it,” Devon said.

“Reed’s a bit of a nutty professor. He’s got projects going all the time. You should see the patents he’s got in the works. Major.” Raven sat in a fancy ergonomic chair at one end of the desk and typed a few things into a nearby computer. “You didn’t know he was like a famous scientist at one point? I thought knowing that was a Keaton requirement.”

“Reed? Um.…”

“Cell proliferation,” Bodhi said coming down the stairs—followed by Reed Hutchins, himself. Devon recognized his silver belt buckle with the three trees on it. “Reed was one of the first guys to identify the various stages of cell proliferation. In the bio world, he’s kind of a rock star. He’s practically Elvis.”

“Don’t bio dork out on us,” Raven said to her brother.

Reed stopped when he reached the bottom step and spotted Devon. Their eyes met. His were the same blue as Hutch’s, though rheumy and crinkled. He took a long, raspy breath. “So, Devon,” he started. He had to catch his breath before continuing, “We meet in better circumstances.”

“Hi. It’s nice to meet you properly, Mr. Hutchins.” Devon managed, extending a hand. He shook hers with a surprisingly strong grip. He sat himself in a nearby armchair and gestured to Devon to grab a seat. She swiveled an office chair around to face him.

“Please call me Reed. Besides, I owe you an apology,” Reed began. “When I went to your room, I know I must have given you quite a scare. I should have called first. Or waited outside until you arrived. I’m embarrassed. I needed to lie down to rest a moment. That’s why I was in your bed.”

“I’m sure I could have acted better,” Devon said sheepishly. Seeing Reed’s beautiful house here, his high-end office setup, it was embarrassing to even consider that she had thought he was an asylum escapee who’d accidentally wandered onto campus.

“Hutch mentioned you. That you two were good friends.” Devon felt her ears get hot. That’s how Hutch had described her? It was shocking and flattering at the same time. Maybe Reed was confusing her with someone else? “A fellow not-supposed-to,” he continued.
Wow
, Devon thought,
maybe he was talking about me
.

“Yeah, I guess so. Hutch and I talked about that once.” Devon relaxed into her chair a little more. She was a welcome guest in this house; she could feel that now. Reed was trying to reach out to the people in Hutch’s life, and Devon was one of them.

“There’s something going on at Keaton we wanted to tell you
about,” Reed started. Devon noticed Raven and Bodhi were both staring at her, their faces serious. Had Raven planned this when she invited Devon over for a Wednesday afternoon excursion off campus?

“Oh?” Devon’s throat felt dry. “What is it?”

“Headmaster Wyler is the one that had Bodhi arrested,” Reed stated. “His camp is claiming that Bodhi was selling drugs on campus and they had him removed.”

“Of course Bodhi wasn’t holding so they looked like idiots,” Raven said. “But the arrest pissed off the pharmacy and they axed Bodhi yesterday.”

“Whatever, that wasn’t meant to last anyway,” Bodhi said with a huff.

Reed’s craggy face darkened. “I’ve told you. You’re far too talented to be wasting away there. I think our arrangement now is much better.”

“So true.” Bodhi nodded.

“Devon, that’s why it’s important that you keep your wits about you,” Reed continued. “Your counseling puts you in a rare position. And we’re not the only ones that know it.”

“What do you mean?” Devon asked.

“You’re the only one with all the puzzle pieces,” Reed said. His eyes flickered back and forth between Raven and Bodhi.

“The Isla and Matt puzzle pieces,” Raven added.

“We don’t trust them anymore,” Bodhi said. “And we think they might have had something to do with Hutch’s death.”

Name: Cleo Lambert

Session Date: Oct. 4

Session #3

Cleo crossed her motorcycle-booted ankle over her knee and bobbed her foot in the air. She leveled her eyes straight at Devon. Silence. Devon shifted in her seat. Normally she should let the subject start talking, but “normally” also implied that the subject hadn’t given the counselor sincere advice which said counselor had then ignored and then suffered for. Cleo sighed deeply. More silence.

“Okay, you were right,” Devon finally said. “I don’t know what it is, but I totally can’t trust Grant anymore. You’ve got to tell me what you know about him.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she said, even though she was smiling. “I know everyone thinks I’m a sieve and get off talking shit behind everyone’s backs.” Devon waited for her to continue. Cleo frowned. “Isn’t that where you’re supposed to tell me that I’m wrong, no, everyone really likes me and doesn’t think that about me?”

“Um, is that what you want me to tell you?”
Was this a counseling question or a regular person question? Ugh
.

“Whatever. No, don’t say anything. I know that’s what people think. It’s totally true. I do get a secret thrill talking behind people’s backs. I love knowing things before someone else does. Usually. But, I saw Grant in Monte Vista last weekend with Eric Hutchins. I guess Eric has been staying at the Four Seasons outside Santa Cruz, but he’s been around here dealing with Hutch family fallout. But, why is he hanging out with Grant, I’m thinking, you know? Kinda weird. And then it gets really weird. I saw Grant use your pen.”