When (18 page)

“Donny, please? Listen to my idea.”

My uncle sighed again. “Fine. Tell me what it is.”

“I want to give Wallace and Faraday a demonstration. If I can convince them that I really can see deathdates, maybe they’ll believe I’m telling the truth about everything else,
and they’ll see that Stubby was only trying to help me warn Payton. I thought about it, and if we ask them to show me some photos of people who’ve already died and I prove to them that
I can read deathdates in the past as easily as I can see them in the future, that might be a way to convince them I really see what I see.”

On the other end of the line Donny was quiet for a long time. Finally he said, “Listen, sweetheart, I don’t think it’s a good idea. It could backfire on us.”

“Donny,” I whispered, so frustrated and desperate I didn’t think I could stand it. “Stubby’s in jail with bad men. They could hurt him just for being weaker than
they are.”

Donny was quiet for a bit. Then he said, “Maddie, I hate to break this to you, but Stubby may be in the safest place for him right now.”

My brow furrowed and I felt my temper flare, because Donny wasn’t listening. “What does that even mean, Donny? You think it’s safe for him
in jail
? Are you
kidding?”

“He’s been getting death threats,” he said.

“Death threats?” I repeated. Was he serious?

“I’ve had a few come into my office, and his mother’s gotten one or two at her work. People are really angry about Tevon’s and Payton’s deaths. The media has hyped
this whole thing up, and I’ve been worried as hell that soon they’ll get your name and we’ll have to move you out of there. All it takes is one unbalanced idiot who decides to
turn himself into a vigilante.”

I felt sick to my stomach. “Do you think that’ll happen?” I asked, sinking down in a chair.

“I hope not,” Donny said. “But for now, it’s important for you to stay as far away from Stubby as possible. The feds are looking for ways to connect you two, and the
media is trying to figure out if the feds are serious about bringing charges against this unnamed female accomplice. The minute they figure out you’re a person of interest, Maddie, I
don’t even want to think about how bad it could get.”

“So I can’t even go visit him?” I asked, because that’d been a question I’d wanted to ask after telling Donny my idea. Stubby needed me, if only for moral
support.

“No way in hell can you go see him,” Donny said. I blinked hard because I started to get a little emotional again, and I didn’t want Donny to know. This whole thing seemed so
hopeless.

“Hey,” Donny said, probably hearing my sniffles. “I might have something that could help. I’ve got a private investigator working on something for me, and I don’t
have all the facts yet, but I’m working another angle that could push the case in a new direction.”

I shook my head.
Working another angle
didn’t feel like enough. “Donny, please? Please let me try my idea?”

“No, Maddie,” he said. “Be patient and let me run this my way for now.” When I didn’t say anything, Donny added, “Maddie?”

“I’m here.”

Donny sighed heavily. I knew he was as frustrated as I was. “Kiddo, you need to cooperate with me on this. I need you to tell me you understand.”

“I understand,” I muttered, even though it was a lie.

It was Donny’s turn to be quiet. “Okay. For now, go to school, keep your nose clean and your grades up. The best defense we have is to show what a good kid you are, so keep being
that good kid, you hear?”

“Whatever.” I knew I was being a brat, but I couldn’t help it. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and feeling like the life was getting squished right out of me.
“Listen, I gotta go,” I said, wanting nothing more than to get off the phone with him.

“Okay,” Donny said. “But remember what I said.”

As I hung up, I wondered how he thought I could ever forget.

TWO DAYS LATER DONNY STOOD
next to me in the parking lot of Poplar High, armed with his camera phone and a simmering anger that pulsed through the vein
at his temple.

I’d never in my life seen him so angry.

“Show me,” he said, his voice flat and purposely quiet.

I cleared my throat and resisted the urge to put a hand to my eye, which throbbed in rhythm with Donny’s temple. “Over there, at the back entrance,” I said.

Donny took my hand, gripping it with great care. It was a cold day and I was grateful for the warmth of his palm.

We walked silently across the nearly empty parking lot. It was past five o’clock and most after-school athletic practices had already let out. I led him in a straight line, dreading his
reaction. When we got to the bike rack he kept silent, but I saw the muscles in his jaw clench.

He took a picture of what had once been my bike and was now a ruined mass of metal, toilet paper, eggs, ketchup, mustard, and shaving cream. On the seat there was a smear of something brown and
smelly, and it didn’t take a genius to guess that someone had found some dog shit and made use of it.

After photographing my bike, Donny nodded and we went inside. I led him silently down the empty halls, feeling anxious and jumpy. He seemed to notice, because he squeezed my hand, letting me
know I was safe.

We stopped in front of my locker, which was slimed with bits of eggshells and more shaving cream. A foul odor emanated from inside. Donny got out his phone and snapped a few pictures. Then he
said, “Now show me where you were attacked.”

I walked him back down the hall we’d just come from, but took a right at the second corridor. At the end was a set of stairs leading down a half flight to the boys’ locker room. I
pointed to it. “They grabbed me from behind and took me down there,” I said, my voice wavering.

“Walk me through exactly what happened,” Donny said, his jaw clenching and unclenching.

“Eric and Mario grabbed me from over there,” I said, pointing now to a water fountain at the entrance to the corridor.

“Did you have a class around here?” Donny asked.

I shook my head. “I was coming back from Principal Harris’s office after he met with me, and one of the secretaries was nice enough to let me have a hall pass ’cause it was
after the bell rang. I was getting scared to walk the hallways, and you saw what they did to my locker.”

Donny closed his eyes, and I could see he was trying very hard to keep calm. “So, Harris essentially tells you that you’re on your own, and you come back down this hallway and stop
for a drink and then what?”

“Mario and Eric must’ve skipped their last class, because I didn’t even know they were behind me until they’d grabbed me. Mario had me in a chokehold, and he covered my
mouth so I couldn’t scream. Eric grabbed my legs and they took me to the stairwell.”

Donny swiveled slightly to stare at the steps leading down to the locker room. Turning back to me, he asked, “Were there any teachers around? Any other kids who witnessed it?”

“Yeah. I saw Jacob Guttman walk by. I know he saw what was going on.”

“Did he say or do anything to help you?”

I shook my head. I’d seen with my own eyes while I was kicking and struggling with Mario and Eric how Jacob (5-25-2081) had snickered and kept on walking.

“Then what happened?” Donny asked.

I put a hand up to my swollen eye to cool it. I’d had ice packs on it off and on since the day before. “While they were dragging me down the steps I got a leg free and kicked Eric in
the groin. He doubled over, and Mario let go of me. That’s when Eric got really mad and slapped me. I hit my head on the railing and went down.”

Donny’s lips thinned again, and he looked murderous. I saw him breathe in deeply and let it out slowly, but it still took him a minute before he could speak again. “Who found
you?”

“Mr. Pierce,” I said. “I think he had hall duty, and he found me and helped me to the nurse.”

Eric had hit me hard enough to slam my head into the railing, which had nearly knocked me out. I was discovered, dizzy and disoriented, by my chemistry teacher, who helped me to the school
nurse, who’d then called my mom. She and Mrs. Duncan had come to pick me up in Mrs. Duncan’s car, and they’d taken me to the doctor. While I was in with him, Ma called Donny and
he’d walked right out on a client and driven two hours at rush hour to see me. He’d spent the night with us, and he’d been on the phone raising hell all morning and afternoon.
That’s what had led to the late afternoon meeting with the superintendent.

“Okay,” Donny said, snapping another photo. “I think I’ve got it.” Then he took my hand again and said, “We’re meeting Mrs. Matsuda in the
principal’s office. Can you take me there?”

I stared down at my feet. We were at the school to meet with the superintendent, but I didn’t want to explain to anybody but Donny what’d been happening to me over the course of the
last few days. It was too overwhelming.

Donny squeezed my hand encouragingly. “Listen, kiddo, I know this is hard, but you have to speak up and tell the superintendent what happened. If you don’t, then not only will
Anderson and Rossi get away without much more than a slap on the wrist, but Principal Harris won’t get reprimanded, either. Poplar High is supposed to have a no-bullying tolerance, and any
reports of bullying are required by the school’s own charter to be acted upon immediately. You reported several incidents to Harris, and in your last effort to notify him, he told you that if
you didn’t like it, you could leave. And the guy was dumb enough to say it in front of one of his secretaries, which means he thinks he’s above the school’s policy. Don’t
you see how unacceptable that is?”

I did see, but I didn’t think I could bring myself to walk these halls during the day ever again. “I can’t come back here, Donny. Everybody’s against me.”

“That’s because no one’s telling them they can’t be,” Donny said. I frowned at him. He didn’t understand. “What’re you gonna do, Maddie? Drop out
of school? Cornell doesn’t take dropouts.”

“I could go to another high school,” I told him.

“You want to come live with me?” he asked.

I dropped my gaze. He knew I couldn’t. “Maybe I could go to Jupiter or Willow Mill?”

Donny sighed. “Getting you into their school system would be tricky. This county doesn’t like students crossing residential lines to attend other schools, and frankly, as long as
this murder investigation hangs over your head, you’re going to have issues no matter where you go.”

I shuffled my feet, still undecided.

Then Donny said, “Plus, what’s Stubby going to do once we get him cleared of all charges? You think he’ll want to come back to school without you?”

My head snapped up. “You found something that’ll clear Stubby?”

Donny shrugged. “Maybe. It’s something that I still need to look at, but there could be something that shifts the investigation away from both of you. At the very least I intend to
present it at Stubby’s pretrial hearing next week. With any luck, the judge will see it our way.”

I felt a seed of hope begin to spring up inside me, but Donny held up a hand of caution. “Don’t set your hopes too high, Maddie. The feds have been busy building their case, and I
won’t see much of what they have until the pretrial. There might be enough circumstantial evidence to convince the judge to hold Stubby over for trial. I hope there isn’t, but I want to
warn you that I might not be able to clear him this early.”

Still, it was at least a ray of hope and I clung to it. “Will I have to testify?”

Donny shook his head. “No way am I gonna put you on that stand. At least not for the pretrial. It’s too risky. The DA knows the feds are trying to link you to the murders. If you get
on that stand, they’ll do their best to insinuate that you were involved too so they can use your testimony against you later, if the case goes to trial. We’ll wait until then to get
you up there.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d been terrified of going on the witness stand and being identified by the DA as Stubby’s female accomplice. But then another dark thought entered my
mind. “Donny? If the jury from Stubby’s pretrial hearing rules that the case should move forward to an actual trial, does that mean that the feds will arrest me next?”

Donny sighed and I could see in his eyes that he was worried. “I hope not, but they could.”

“What are they waiting for?” I asked. The anxiety was killing me.

Donny smiled like he thought I’d asked a naive question, and he cupped my chin fondly. “Because you don’t look like someone who’d torture and kill two kids, Maddie. You
look like the sweet girl next door, which is exactly what you are, but from the DA’s perspective, so many of these cases are won in the court of public opinion that, unless they find you with
a smoking gun, or Stubby implicates you directly, the feds know that with only the notebook and Mrs. Tibbolt’s flimsy testimony, they’re fighting an uphill battle.”

His explanation didn’t make me feel better, because in my world here at Poplar Hollow High, the public had already found me guilty and I was paying the price for it. “Oh,” was
all I could say.

Donny took up my hand again and swung it back and forth. “Hey,” he said. “Buck up, li’l camper. Let’s have our talk with the superintendent, and then let’s
see about chasing down that lead that’ll help Stubs.”