Paradise Falls (2 page)

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Elliot snapped.

“Try me, you little shit,” said Edwards. “I was putting bigger boys than you in handcuffs when you were a smear on your mother’s panties. You want to go? We’ll go. Otherwise, get the hell away from my school.”
 

Elliot scowled at the older man, then addressed the stranger directly. “Yeah, I’ll be seeing you.”

The stranger’s face was neutral, but a tiny smirk betrayed him. “No. You won’t.”

Elliot looked at him, his face twisting in confusion, before he sank into the car. Grayson gave the stranger a hard look as he took the driver’s seat and slammed the door closed. The big car rumbled to life, squeezed past Edwards’ cruiser, and rolled off.

The aging policeman sighed, rubbed his forehead, and walked over. “You hurt?”

“My ankle,” Jennifer sighed. “It’s nothing.”

“You have a scrape on your arm,” said the stranger.

Jennifer flinched and looked down at her forearm. Of course,
now
it started to hurt.

Edwards sighed. “Hop in. I’ll give you a ride down to the school. I assume you’re not going to let me talk you into calling a substitute.”

“No,” Jennifer said, hobbling towards the car. “My bike--“

“I’ve got it.” The stranger lifted it from the pavement.

“Toss ‘er in the trunk,” Edwards said.

Slumped in the front seat of the cruiser, Jennifer wedged her leg against the laptop computer bolted to the console. Edwards chatted briefly with the stranger, and then walked around to drop into the driver’s seat. He wound the car around through a precise J-turn and headed towards the school.

“That guy looked familiar,” Edwards said. “I’ve seen him somewhere before, I know it.” He looked over at Jennifer and sighed. “When are you going to do something about Elliot? This is the fourth time I’ve had to chase him off from the school, Jennifer.”

She shook her head. “What am I supposed to do? You think Grayson’s brother will arrest him? His uncle and father won’t pull strings and get him out? I don’t want to talk about this again.”

Edwards sighed, and muttered something to himself that she couldn’t hear.

2.

Nurse Meyers smirked when Jennifer flinched from the sting of antiseptic.

“How’d you get this?” The school nurse said, as she bandaged Jennifer’s scraped arm.

Jennifer chewed her lip. My brother in law, who stalked and harassed me since my husband died, ran me off the road. I scraped my arm when I fell. That was before he tried to drag me into his car.

“I took a spill on the bike this morning. Just clumsy, I guess.”

Nurse Meyers shrugged her plump shoulders, taped some gauze pads to Jennifer’s arm, and secured the bandage with a pat. Jennifer pulled her hand back and wondered if the injury would develop permanent scars. Loose strands of hair dangled in her face, and she blew them away with an annoyed puff. The small nurse’s office made her feel claustrophobic, so she muttered a thank you and hurried out, letting the heavy old door swing closed behind her.

It felt like hours had passed since she left the house, but she still had plenty of time before the first bell.
 

Sighing, she drifted down the hall, trying not to limp. The nurse told her to stay off her ankle, but it wouldn’t give her much trouble for more than a day or so. Jennifer counted herself lucky. She’d had worse.

A badly sprained ankle when she was thirteen essentially ended any chance she had to become a serious gymnast. Not that she had much of a chance to begin with, since she was too tall at just a hair short of six feet, and her mother constantly harped on how she always lumbered about without an ounce of grace. That injury was one of the most painful things she ever experienced, and thinking about twisted ankles sent shivers up her spine.

After she fished out her keys and unlocked her classroom, Jennifer stripped off her pads, gloves, and helmet. She set her messenger bag on the desk, pulled out her laptop, and lifted the lid. A half sigh, half groan bubbled out as she saw the shattered screen. A few loose keys clattered like broken teeth onto the desk.

A press of the power button gave her only a mournful bloop, and twisted rainbows flashed on the screen. The laptop was dead. She turned on her ponderously slow and buggy school-issued desktop computer. Her eyes fell on the ruined laptop again and her teeth clenched. The computer wasn’t a necessity today, but she’d have to spring a little for a replacement. White hot fury surged in her chest and she had to stop herself from tossing the whole bag through the window.

Damn him.

A glance at the clock reminded her the kids would leave the cafeteria soon, free to roam the building. She opened the classroom door and almost walked into Krystal Summers.

Every teacher had a shadow, even the painfully indifferent or incompetent ones. Krystal was in Jennifer’s freshman class her first year, and followed her around ever since, even to the point of switching classes.

As a senior, she should’ve known better than to slip the cafeteria watchers and head down the halls before the bell. Yet, there she was, lugging her overstuffed backpack. The girl dressed in black, and wrote angry poetry in the margins of her notebook. Krystal’s hair was purple this year, but her face shined with bubbly enthusiasm when she saw Jennifer.

“What are you doing here?” said Jennifer.

Krystal skipped right to the point. “Whose car is that?”

“What car?

“There’s an Aston Martin in the parking lot. Todd said it was really expensive, like a million dollars. It has a V-12.”

Jennifer shrugged.

“Is it a teacher?”

“I don’t know, Krystal.” Jennifer sighed. “Go back to the cafeteria.”

What would a car like that be doing in the teacher’s lot? It had to be the same man who interrupted Elliot’s snatch attempt earlier. Not many people were cruising around Paradise Falls in absurdly expensive supercars. Her finger stung. She had her wedding band pinched in her fingers, and was worrying it around her ring finger.

“What color is it?” Jennifer asked.

“Blue. Like a sky blue. It’s really pretty. Todd said they can paint them any color you want, instead of picking from a list, you know? There’s a new teacher this year, right?”

“Four, I think,” said Jennifer. “I haven’t met any of them yet.”

“Do you think the car belongs to one of them?”

“I can’t imagine someone with that kind of money teaching,”

Krystal’s eyes scrunched as she leaned forward. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Krystal crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side. “Something’s up. What happened to your arm?”

“Nothing is up,” Jennifer snapped.

Krystal wilted a little. “Oh. Okay. I’ll see you later. I have you for AP English.”

“Right,” said Jennifer. “I’ll see you then. I didn’t mean to snap…”

Krystal nodded, but looked at the floor as she shuffled away down the hall. Great. Jennifer leaned against the cool brick wall and breathed out slowly. Her hands shook. She had hallway duty anyway, so she might as well stay out here. As she paced from one side of the hall to the other, the light on in the classroom across the hall from hers raised suspicion. Someone moving around inside threw a shadow on the wall every time he passed the frosted glass window.

The other teachers arrived. Her boss, Julius Kazmeyer, rolled a cart down the hall to his classroom. It carried a misshapen assortment of random junk, papers, coffee cups, Scantron sheets, and the other teaching debris. Why he took that all home with him, especially over the summer, she had no idea. The department head was set in his ways and abrasive to the extreme, and Jennifer generally avoided him unless there was a mandatory meeting. One of the oldest teachers in the building, Kazmeyer had Jennifer’s father for a student, yet he appeared unchanged from year to year.

Rachel, whose classroom was right next to Jennifer’s, sauntered down the hall. During Jennifer’s first year teaching, Rachel quickly became her mentor and then kept Jennifer’s classes on track when she took her bereavement leave. If not for Rachel, Jennifer might’ve quit and not even finished the year. More than once, Jennifer spent the remaining part of her afternoon crying her eyes out on Rachel’s shoulder. Despite everything, Jennifer lit up when her colleague approached.
 

“Hey you,” Rachel said.

She lowered three big tote bags and a backpack full of supplies to the floor. Every teacher except Jennifer brought in everything the first day. For two weeks before classes started, Jennifer prepped her classroom on and off. Rachel swished and swirled her tie-dyed cotton skirt as she fished out her key and opened the door.

“Hi,” Jennifer sighed.

Rachel popped right back out of the room, and eyed Jennifer.

“What happened?”

Jennifer shifted on her feet and forced her expression to remain neutral.

Rachel motioned into her room. “Come on.”

“I have hall duty-“

“Piss on hall duty. Get in here.”

Jennifer followed her inside, and Rachel swung the door shut.

“Tell me what happened.”

Jennifer cleared her throat, and looked down at the floor, running her hand over her bandaged arm. She bit her lip. Rachel leaned back on one of the desks.

“I was on my way to work…” Jennifer began.

“Go on.”

“Elliot was outside. He had Grayson with him. They followed me to work and they cut me off and I fell off my bike. Elliot tried to force me into the car.”

Rachel’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s it, we’re calling the cops.”

Jennifer stormed across the room, clenching her fists. “Don’t you think I’ve tried that? The last time I called them, they sent Grayson’s brother to take the report.”

“This is serious, Jenn. There’s a point where this needs to stop, and we’ve clearly passed it. You should go to Brock and see what he can do.”

“He drove me to school,” Jennifer said. “He said the same thing. Do you really think anyone is going to do anything to Elliot? He can do whatever he wants, and he knows it.”

“Brock ran them off?”

“Kind of.” Jennifer looked out the window. A knot of students still gossiped and bantered around the car. “Did you see that car?”

“Yeah,” Rachel said. “I was going to ask you about that, but… so what?”

“The driver pulled up while Elliot was trying to push me into his car. Confront them.”

“He confronted Elliot and Grayson? Who is this guy?”

“I don’t know.” Jennifer said. “I’ve never seen him before. I think I haven’t, anyway. He knew my name. He called me Miss K.”

“That’s weird.” Rachel glanced at the clock. “We’ve got to get back out in the hall. I’m not done talking to you about this. We need to involve the authorities somehow. Call the FBI or something.”

Jennifer shook her head. “You know who his father is.”

Rachel led the way out of the classroom. Jennifer stepped out behind her and froze. The new teacher was out in the hallway, leaning on the wall. It was him. He leaned on the wall like a student with one foot raised to rest on the locker behind him, arms folded over his chest. He glanced at Jennifer so quickly she would never have noticed without looking right at him. His throat tightened and sucked in a breath before he stood up.

“Hi,” he said, extending his hand. “Jacob Kane. I’m the new math teacher-“

“You’re a teacher?” Rachel barked, halfway to laughter. “I should start buying lottery tickets.”

“You remember me?” he said.

“Of course I remember you, knucklehead. Where have you been?”

Jennifer swallowed. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he said.

Jennifer braced herself as the wheels turned in Rachel’s head, making the inevitable connection between herself and the new teacher.

“That was you?” Rachel said, wide-eyed.

“You must mean this morning.” Jacob itched the top of the scar running down his cheek. “You heard about that.”

“Yeah,” Rachel said. “Good, we have a witness. Let’s call the cops.”

Too busy staring at Jacob, Jennifer ignored Rachel’s proposal. He looked even bigger in the school hallway. The tops of the lockers were barely up to his chin. She actually had to look up at him, which she wasn’t used to at all.

Jacob kept his eyes constantly locked on Jennifer ever since he acknowledged the two of them, even throughout his conversation with Rachel. He finally looked away, shifting from side to side on his feet. She could swear he was turning red. It made the scar stand out.

Rachel glanced over at Jennifer. In an attempt not to appear so smitten with Jacob, Jennifer forced her eyes downward to her scraped hand. Without realizing it, she’d taken a loose strand of hair and twisted it around her finger. She shook the hair free, and then she didn’t have a clue what to do with her hands. Jennifer smoothed the front of her blouse, then crossed her arms over her chest, pulling her shoulders in. Her heart pounded against her ribs and a light, fluttery feeling danced in her stomach. Even though she tried to look away, Jacob’s piercing eyes kept drawing her back.

With a knowing look addressed to both of them, Rachel retreated into her classroom. “We shouldn’t talk about this where the kids can hear. I’ll talk to you both about it later.”

She closed her door, and left them alone. Jennifer willed the bell to ring and flood the hallway with students, but it didn’t. She felt like she was six inches tall.

“She’s right. Something has to be done about this.”

“Who are you?” Jennifer asked. “How did you know my name?”

“You wouldn’t remember me. I was a senior when you started teaching. I had Mrs. Garrison… Rachel, I mean.”

“Oh.” That made sense. She had freshmen that year.

“Are you hurt? How’s your leg?”

“It’ll be fine in a couple of days. I’ll ice it up when I get home.”

His voice lowered. “Has he done that before?”

She shook her head. “He’s never tried to force me into a car before, if that’s what you’re asking. Usually it’s just driving by the house. He doesn’t come by the school anymore. Brock, you know, the school resource officer?”
 

“We’ve met,” Jacob said.

Jennifer raised an eyebrow. Something in his voice said it wasn’t on the best of terms.