Post on 07-Aug-2018
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
1/21
3
About the Author
The author lives in an ostensibly carbon zero house with his two
cats amidst orchards of apples and poly-tunnels of strawberries.A 3G mobile network mast stands camouflaged as a tree in an
adjacent field. When he isn’t enjoying the Kentish landscape andtorrential rain, his mind is drawn to strange imaginings about
what lurks beneath the surface of the world around him. This ishis fourth novel.
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
2/21
4
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
3/21
5
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the next Jacob Ngali, who might well
hold the key to the Brave New World
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
4/21
6
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
5/21
7
D avi d G raham
T
H E
S
C R E M I N G
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
6/21
8
Copyright © David Graham (2015)
The right of David Graham to be identified as author of this workhas been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the
publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims
for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the BritishLibrary.
ISBN 978 1 78455 956 4 (Paperback)ISBN 978 1 78455 958 8 (Hardback)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2015)Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.
25 Canada SquareCanary Wharf
LondonE14 5LQ
Cover design by Adam Poe
Printed and bound in Great Britain
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
7/21
9
Acknowledgments
Paul Nagle graciously allowed me to borrow the lead character
from his novel ‘Bogus Focus’. The Dai Williams in my book isstill the same mixed up but really quite cool guy, although I’ve
fiddled with his powers. A lot. Paul is also an amazing synth manand his music is truly excellent.
The character of Granny Betty owes something to my AuntMaggie who lived in a remote farm house not far from
Pontypridd. I remember the smell of goats, the fug of a coal fireand a wheezy harmonium in the corner. She was something of a
healer, too.Michelle Williams, CEO of the excellent Dark Hollows
Press, kindly looked over an early draft and advised on speech.Writing American dialogue is a dangerous endeavour for any
British author. If it’s anything like the real thing, I have Michelleto thank for that.
‘The Manor’ is borrowed from my first, self -published novel,‘Looks Could Kill’. It was there that I found my enthusiasm for
somewhat sinister characters that exist on the fringes of reality, but still have time to crack a joke or two.
James Bond and The Queen, London 2012 provided me withan intriguing insight into life beyond the red carpet.
Henry Andrews, as ever, was there in the backgroundlistening to my ideas as they went through the lengthy process of
digestion and regurgitation. He’s a real whizz on Sudoku, too.
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
8/21
10
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
9/21
11
Chapter One
The day was gonna be piss-awful. As soon as Brandon P
Marshall woke up, he could tell. For an eighteen-year-oldmale with hormones running rampant, that wasn’t exactlynew, but this time, the forewarning had seemed a whole order
of magnitude different. The headache hadn’t helped either. Ithad centred on his left temple with the combined tenacity of a
thundercloud and a nest of angry bees. Whichever way he
moved, the cloud blackened and the buzzing intensified. Anattempted tug on his morning woody had made the bees
fucking angry. It was also a Monday, which meant boringclasses and jerk teachers who treated him like shit. Even thesunlight hurt. The sound of the Marshall family in the kitchen
rattled him, too.
At times like these, he contemplated revenge for being
brought into the frigging awful world. He’d devised a widerepertoire to choose from, ranging from the teasingly
psychological to the daringly physical. To go downstairs
naked with his woody exposed wasn’t something that could bedone often, but it was worth it for the look on his mom’s face.His dad threatened him with a beating but he’d chickened out
at the last moment. Such a fucking wimp. And Brandon had a bigger dick than his dad anyway. Another favourite included
emptying a box of roaches on the kitchen floor. A plague oflocusts was also on his list but that was a tad too biblical.
Higher up the scale, it got seriously messy and terminal.
To be brutally honest — as opposed to honestly brutal (hah!) —
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
10/21
12
he still preferred shock and awe rather than shots and gore.After all, with dead people, there was no turning back.Somewhere towards the top was cyanide gas, but getting
potassium cyanide out of the chem lab would take a lot of planning. And then there was the hazard of crime labs and
toxicology, which would screw his chances once and for all.
But, something about that particular morning made himthink a final solution was required. Perhaps it had to do with
the noise that came from downstairs; Dwayne, Debra andRebekah, all aged one, were doing their best to out-screecheach other, with the occasional random, futile interjection
from his mom. Why the hell had she wanted more kids afterso many years? Then, to add insult to injury, out had popped
three. And three times loud is FUCKING LOUD. Somehow,his dad just sat through it, as if he’d gone deaf overnight. Asusual, he’d be reading the Kansas City Star over his breakfast
cereal and pretending it was The New York Times. He wassuch a fucking jackoff.
Brandon’s cell phone rang with its irritating wake-up call.It wasn’t just your usual cell phone, but a 4G quad core with2x2 MIMO to ensure maximum coverage. He’d bought that
after months as a part-time cook at KFC, during which he’d put on thirty pounds. The phone was said to be ‘state of theart’. Great, he thought, except when he tried saying that out
aloud just then, he heard it as ‘fake of the fart’, which wasn’twhat he meant at all.
Shit, my brain is getting rambled … no, no, scrambled.
What the fuck is going on? Brain humour… tumour… Shit! I’m dying! Nothing to lose, then.
Brandon pulled on a T-shirt and some sweats and crossed
the landing to his parents’ bedroom. His dumb fuck of a fatherhad made it so easy; there were loaded 9mm handguns in both
nightstands. He’d played with them before, when his parents
were out, and that had been fun. Praise the Lord forMissouri’s relaxed gun laws! But first, some music: Nirvana’s
Nevermind would do just fine. He jammed the earphones intight and cranked up the volume. That made the bees real
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
11/21
13
angry. Two guns were better than one. He checked that thesafety was on then they went into the pockets of his sweats.He didn’t want to blow his balls off, after all. His woody had
returned, so now he was triple-barrelled and all ready to blow.Fuck, he felt great.
He walked down the stairs barefoot, quiet as a churchmouse, slipped the guns out and flicked the safety off. Thedistorted guitars really wound the bees up. This was the big
one! Yay!
Brandon stood at the foot of the stairs, guns behind his back, and took in the scene. A scene he’d seen 6660 times
before. See, he’d done the math and it was ten times the markof the beast! His mom had her back turned and stood frying
something on the stove. His dad sat hidden behind newsprint,with the back page screaming ‘THE ROYALS RULE!!’Dwayne, Debra and Rebekah were screaming, chucking and
generally agitating. Even Nirvana at a hundred decibelscouldn’t block them out.
Where to aim first? That was the question. An‘embarrassment of riches’, as his faggy English teacher wouldhave put it. His mom turned without warning and dropped the
over easy egg and fatty spatula onto her right foot. The yolkoozed onto the floor. Her gaze lowered to his crotch. It was
pretty damn magnificent, even if he said so himself. She
opened her mouth but didn’t have time to say anything. The
first bullet went straight in her cavernous maw and outthrough the back of her scrawny neck, after it tore its way
through her spinal cord. With the other gun, he fired at exactlywhere one of his dad’s piggy little eyes peered at the last newsitem he’d ever read.
“Capow! Capow! Bye, Mom, bye, Dad, it’s been swellknowing you!”
Dwayne, Debra and Rebekah were breaking through Nirvana’s force field. Do I kill them or don’t I? It’d be soeasy. Three bullets for three noisy little mouths. Bam. Bam.
Bam.
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
12/21
14
But Brandon still had a smidgeon of humanity left in him.Dwayne, Debra and Rebekah hadn’t chosen to be born andthey weren’t making such a racket to annoy him deliberately.
And then there was that biblical shit that seemed to be stuck inhis head: ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’. Yeah, like right on,
meek dudes! Brandon removed his earphones. The tripletswere even louder than Nirvana. Strangely, it was music to hisears. The bees still buzzed away, but an ebb and flow ran
through all the noise that was almost soothing. And it madehim hornier than a three-balled tomcat. He placed the guns onthe counter and slipped off his T-shirt and sweats, then stood
bollock naked in the kitchen. It felt so fucking good. Hestepped over his mom’s lifeless body and walked over to
where his dad still sat just about upright, with his right eyesocket all raggedy red. Bullseye … popeye … shuteye … anopen and shut case … Shit, I’m the man!
“Hey, daddy-o, look at me now. Ain’t I a badmotherfucker?”
But his dad just continued to stare into space with his one piggy eye and head all lolled back.
Brandon swept everything off the breakfast table with a
couple of swipes from his hands. Dwayne, Debra andRebekah didn’t like that. Clitter-clatter, skitter-scatter, pitter-
patter, matter, tatter … Oops, I’m doing that again. Not long
then.
He dug out his phone and put it on the countertop, next tothe stove, with the camera set to record widescreen video.
He’d set it to upload automatically to YouTube. This wasgonna be a good one. Fuck, it might even go viral. He gotonto the table and stretched himself out. Dwayne, Debra and
Rebekah sat all lined up down the side like the three wisemonkeys, except they’d see and hear everything. Hell, they’d
be cheering him on, too. He turned and gave a beaming smile
to the camera. The bees surged against the containment of hisskull. So, too, did his woody, and the purple head was some
exotic plant ready to burst into flower.
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
13/21
15
But this needed careful planning. He had to time things to perfection. This had to be the spurting of his seed to end allejaculations. He also had to imagine a dick inside his mouth
and it had to be the biggest, baddest cock he could think of.Shit! Where did that idea come from? My mind’s really
playing tricks today. Suddenly, he realised what he had to do.It came like a blinding flash — or as if all the gazillion beeshad plunged in their stingers at the same time. Weirdly, the
triplets had stopped bawling at exactly the same time, but nowtheir efforts were redoubled. So, with one hand on his dickand the other on the trigger, he embarked on his final journey.
Destination: Oblivion, USA, population one.And it felt real good in his mouth. He wrapped his tongue
around the long black shaft, so smooth and cold, so fuckingawesome. He pumped away at his woody; he was so, so close.He glanced sideways at his smartphone, thinking of all those
lucky people who were soon to witness his tribute to themighty, combined power of his dick and the gun.
“Oh, Christ. Here I come!”He shot his seed. Bam. Bam. Bam. A split-second later, he
pulled the trigger.
Bam!
Fuck. That was a … maz … i … n …
***
The Marshalls’ next door neighbours were first on the
scene. The feeding time dawn chorus of the triplets wasn’texactly foreign to them, but being good, God-fearing citizens,they held their tongues and put up with it. This morning’s
cacophony had been different, though. They’d thought therapid succession ‘bam- bam’ must have been a car backfiring,
although if they’d checked they’d have found their neighbourscars still parked on driveways. The single ‘bam’ that followeda few minutes later sounded different and could really mean
only one thing: a gunshot .
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
14/21
16
The elderly couple stood outside the Marshalls’ front porch. They’d already called 911. The triplets were cryingtheir heads off. Their distress felt visceral and the pair
shivered despite the warm sun on their necks.
“Elmer, you go round the back and look into the kitchen,”
Nancy Spurgeon said, aged seventy-three and still in herrollers, pink housecoat and slippers. “I’ll try the front.”
Elmer did as he was told and pushed his bulk through the
narrow side gate behind the carport. The wailing got louder.He tried to convince himself there was an alternativeexplanation for the noises they’d heard earlier. As a Vietnam
vet, he did his level best to forget that firearms had ever beeninvented. The kitchen window came up on his left … damn,
the blinds were still down. That was strange in itself, as LornaMarshall always raised them once she’d served breakfast. The
back door loomed up next, but knowing his luck, it would be
locked. His heart thump-thumped away, and it occurred tohim he hadn’t felt so anxious since … well, a long time ago
that he’d tried to put out of his mind. He put his hand on thedoorknob. Shit. What if the gunman is inside waiting andusing the kids as a lure?
A scream came from inside. It wasn’t an infant’s scream.Elmer threw caution and past training to the wind, wrappedhis sweaty hand around the knob, and charged at the door. It
wasn’t locked and his weight propelled him skidding acr oss
the floor … and then he slipped and slid … in a pool of bloodand what had been Brandon P Marshall’s brain. Somehow, he
hauled himself to his feet and stood shakily, trying tocomprehend the scene of carnage that assaulted every sense.The triplets’ howls had turned into a lacerating, high-pitched
keening. Blood and gore was everywhere, apart from whereLorna Marshall’s body lay in front of the stove all crumpled
up. A combination of the smell of burning fat, the metallic
odour of blood and the fetidness of sphincters relaxing,assaulted his nose.
His wife’s normally rosy face shone deathly white and shestood immobilised near the entrance from the hallway.
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
15/21
17
Directly ahead, she would have had a side view of BrianMarshall’s good eye, but everything else about his head was
bad and spreading across the floor. To her left, Brandon’s
white flabby body lay stretched out on the kitchen table, withhis right hand still wrapped around his penis. Streaks of semen
spattered all over his abdomen and chest. Brandon’s facewould once have been described as handsome, but there wasno evidence of that now. The grip of a handgun stuck out of
his mouth, but the muzzle seemed to have been forced into thesoft palate.
“Fuck!” Elmer took a big breath in. He could have said
more but that single expletive summed it up. His wife wouldnormally have told him to wash his mouth out with bleach,
but she remained silent. All at once, he became aware of thechirping sound of the smoke detector. That galvanized Nancyinto action.
“Right, Elmer, don’t be standing around like some ninny.There are things to be done before the police get here. You put
the fire out on the stove. I’m gonna take these little’uns intothe next room. And mind where you put your big feet.”
Nancy’s ability to take charge in a crisis was one of the
things that still amazed him. It must have been all her yearsworking as a nurse. Elmer moved gingerly to the sink anddrenched a towel with water. Nancy was in the process of
gathering up the triplets from their highchairs next to the
kitchen table. He stepped over Lorna’s body and turned offthe gas, and then placed the towel carefully over the burning
pan.
“Freeze! Stop right there!” A police officer burst throughthe hallway door with his handgun in firing position. Another
officer followed closely behind, handling his handgun withmarginally less authority. Their macho stance didn’t last long.
Elmer watched as their casual gum chewing transformed into
open-mouthed shock. The second officer ran back the way hehad entered with a hand over his mouth. Elmer suspected it
was to expel a hastily consumed Double Sausage and EggMcMuffin.
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
16/21
18
“Shit!” the first police officer said. “What the hellhappened here?” he asked, without appearing to addressanyone in particular. Then he noticed Nancy’s infant
gathering activity. “Sorry, lady, you’ll have to stop whatyou’re doing. You’re disturbing evidence and they’re
witnesses.”
Nancy drew herself up to her full five foot four height,excluding rollers, and looked the young officer full in the face.
“Young fella, I’ll have you know I was charge nurse in theMisericordia Children’s Hospital—” She made the sign of thecross with a spare hand, “— and I know damn well when some
young’uns need my TLC, so I’m gonna take these poor littlemites to the front room and remove them from all this blood
and gore and God knows what else.”
Elmer wanted to applaud her. The police officer just stoodopen mouthed and stepped aside to allow her to pass with the
triplets firmly clasped to her maternal bosom. The other policeofficer returned from outside, looking even greener than the
kitchen’s walls.“Shit, Sarge, I know that guy. He was the ace pitcher in
the Staley Falcons. He dropped out of the team six months
back and put on a ton of weight. Fuck, look at him now.”
Elmer could see the sergeant was wishing he didn’t haveto look at the one-time high school baseball star splayed out
on the kitchen table like a lump of whale blubber. He was
probably also thinking of half-a-dozen jokes that were inmonumentally bad taste and would have offended more than
just his rookie’s upset stomach. But Brandon was definitelyspunked out — there was no doubt about that. He reached forsome kitchen wipes to deal with the blood and whatever else
was on his shoes.
“Hey, what’s that phone doing?” the sergeant asked,
spying the cell phone on its side on the countertop. “Shit. Hewasn’t recording, was he?” He stepped over the pool of bloodand Lorna’s body to inspect the phone, and pulled some latex
gloves on as he went. “Fuck, he was. What a sick fucker.” Hestabbed at the screen to stop it recording. The sergeant’s
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
17/21
19
colleague joined him to check out the phone. Elmer steppedover a congealing pool of blood to take a closer look.
“Christ. That’s the 4G quad core Brandon had been
talking about non-stop,” the rookie said. “I bet it’s got somereally cool features.” Amazingly, his enthusiasm for hi-tech
gear had momentarily suspended his disgust.
The sergeant pressed the play icon and the video started playing from the beginning. Initially, all the three of them saw
was the kitchen table and the triplets lined up as if waiting forsomething to happen. And then, suddenly, it did. The gunshotsounded so inconsequential played through the phone’s tiny
speaker, and the kids’ wailing nothing more than a distortedshriek. Then they heard themselves. When the video finished,
a message informed them it had been successfully uploadedand also reminded them: “more than one billion users visitYouTube each month.” Elmer felt his vast stomach sink into
his pants. The sergeant dropped the phone back on thecountertop as if it had shown teeth and was about to bite him.
“Fuck, there goes my promotion,” the sergeant said with a bitter scowl.
“Is there anything that can be done to stop people from
seeing it?” Elmer asked, shaking his head.
“I’ll check it out,” the rookie said. “There’s supposed to be a way of removing material if it’s offensive.”
“Well, it’s certainly that!” Elmer shook his head. “Christ.
How could he have done that? What’s happening to thefucking world? And in front of those kiddies … I mean, fuck
…”
“Anyway, I’ll bag the phone and call for back -up,” thesergeant said, in an attempt to take control of the situation.
“We need to do everything by the book from here on in.Steve, you go with Pops and check to see how the kids are
doing.”Elmer and the rookie left the sergeant to make his call.
They found Nancy in the front room, in full nursing mode,
caring for the toddlers who whimpered softly from time to
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
18/21
20
time. Weirdly, there wasn’t a drop of blood or brain spatter onthem. But they were hungry and were zeroing in on Nancy’s
breasts as an alternative to their usual breakfast cereal.
“Elmer, go see whether you can find some jars of babyfood in the kitchen. I’ll need a spoon as well.”
The rookie handed Elmer some gloves as he left to returnto the hellhole of a kitchen. Second time round, the stenchseemed worse than ever. At least the blood had stopped
spreading. The sergeant was busy taking photos, using thecamera from the crime scene kit. Elmer discovered a cupboardfull of baby food just next to the stove and he grabbed a few
jars without checking the labels.
“How are you doing, Pops?” the sergeant asked.
“It’s Lieutenant Colonel Elmer Spurgeon, 9th InfantryDivision, sonny,” Elmer said without even looking at him.
The sergeant’s mouth dropped open. “Sorry, sir,” he said
with a crisp salute. “I’m Sergeant Dale Franklin, by the way.”
“Good to meet you, Sergeant.” Elmer shook hands briskly. “So, where’s the cavalry?”
“On their way, sir, but there’s gridlock around East NinthStreet.” He shrugged the usual apology for the traffic.
“So hell could freeze over before they arrive?”
“Something like that, sir. Do you mind me askingsomething?”
“Fire away, Sergeant.”
“Did you see anything like this when you were serving in Nam?”
“Worse, Sergeant, much worse, although this is still pretty bad.”
“What makes people do something like this?” The
sergeant looked around, and raised his hands — palms up — toshoulder height. “I mean, fuck, he was just a kid.”
“I wish I knew. Perhaps drugs? I don’t know.” Elmersighed. “Youngsters seem to spend all their time with thesenew-fangled things. I mean, they’re always on their cell
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
19/21
21
phones, even when they’re on the sidewalk.” He shook hishead. “And then there’s all that pornography. In my days,you’d buy it in a brown paper bag from behind the counter.
Now it’s piped into your home and even discussed inelementary school. I just don’t get it.”
“Where’s the food, Elmer? Stop your dilly-dallying!” Nancy shouted from the other room.
“Sorry, my love, I’ll be right there,” Elmer called out, and
grinned at the sergeant.
“She’s quite something, your missus,” the sergeant said.
“Yup, she’s got more balls than I have,” Elmer said, andnegotiated his way around the remains of his neighbour’s
brain.
***
Roughly ten minutes later, what felt like the entire worlddescended upon the clapboard house that had once been theMarshall family residence. Predictably, social services were
responsible for most of the hustle and bustle, and had a fieldday emoting about what the triplets had been through. In fact,
once Dwayne, Debra and Rebekah had been fed, theyquietened down and seemed happy enough to watch all thetoing and froing. Nancy Spurgeon readily offered to look after
the trio until more permanent foster care could be found. Anexpedited criminal records check confirmed ex-Charge NurseSpurgeon’s suitability and the triplets were moved next door
within the hour. In the meantime, more police officers, paramedics, crime scene investigators and the coroner’sofficers went about their business as methodically as possible
in the small kitchen. The KCTV5 news crew had still toarrive, but with three gunshots chalked up in a respectable
suburb, they wouldn’t be f ar behind.
Dale Franklin escaped at just the right moment. He’d leftrookie Steve behind to learn about crime scene investigation,
but he had given him strict instructions to keep him posted.
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
20/21
22
He’d also discovered Brian Marshall had been more than justan upstanding member of the community and had, in fact,worked as a lawyer at City Hall. So, politics would make the
case even messier. With fallout in mind, Dale decided to makea detour from his journey back to KCPD, to see the principal
at Staley High School. It was a school day and Brandon’sabsence would be noticed sooner or later. And, if he didn’tinform the school now, they’d be wondering why the KCTV5
van was parked outside the gates. He needed some background information, too.
Principal Ed Davies had a reputation for running a tight
ship and for taking a personal interest in his students. It was anew school, so he couldn’t afford to take any chances. Bad
publicity wouldn’t go down well with the Board ofGovernors. Ed Davies had also recently announced hisintention to run for city mayor. His PA looked at Dale sternly
when he walked into the outer office. The sign on her deskread ‘Virginia Ironside’, which didn’t augur well for a fruitful
interaction.“May I help you, Officer?” she asked with a raised,
painted eyebrow that would have done Bette Davis proud.
“I very much hope so, Virginia,” Dale answered with awinning smile. He flashed his ID card before her speckled,horn-rimmed glasses. “In fact, I was hoping that Principal
Davies might be free to see me right now.”
The stare she gave him was evidently well honed onthousands of previous visitors. He felt he was right back in
high school and almost shuffled his feet reflexively. He wassure she was counting to ten before responding.
“Well, Officer, that might be difficult,” she said in a
measured voice, “as the principal is currently taking morningannouncements. We are a school, after all.”
“I’ll wait, then,” Dale said, then sat down on a hard chairthat was clearly designed to make students feeluncomfortable. His cell phone ringing broke the equally
uncomfortable silence. Virginia glared. It was Steve.
“Yeah, Steve. How’s it going?”
8/20/2019 David Ellis Bk2 - The Screaming
21/21
23
“Er, it’s taking time, Sarge.” He sounded uneasy. “It’sgetting crowded here. KCTV5 have just arrived and they’resetting up their gear. CSI are going over the perp’s room. His
laptop’s full of stuff and he didn’t use a password.”
“Any sign of drugs?” Dale asked. He noticed that caused
Virginia to raise her other eyebrow even higher. She looked atad lopsided.
“It all looks clean so far but they’re doing a search,” Steve
said. “How are things at your end?”
“I’ve just stopped by to see the Staley principal. He’s at
morning announcements. His PA is keeping me entertained inthe meantime.” He could have sworn Virginia gave a snort.
“Ah, the lovely Ms Ironside,” Steve said. “Watch out for
her acid tongue. I hear it’s worse than Alien blood.”
Dale laughed and just about avoided catching Virginia’seye. Just then, Principal Davies walked into the office. He
looked taken aback when he saw Dale.
“Sorry, Steve, I need to go. Principal Davies has justarrived. Keep me posted. And don’t say anything to the
press.”
Dale stood up and extended a hand to greet the principal.
He stood at about five foot eleven with blue eyes and probablyin his mid-thirties. Better looking than most school principalshe’d come across. “Sorry for the intrusion, Principal, but I’d
appreciate a minute of your time.”His handshake was brisk and cold. “Is it about the careers
fair later in the month? I thought that’d already been
confirmed. I believe you offered to bring along a K-9 unit aswell.”
“No, sir, it’s not about the careers fair. Can we go into
your office, sir?”
Beads of sweat formed on the principal’s brow. Shit, thisman was anxious. What was he hiding? The principal closedthe door behind them reluctantly, as if he realised he’d beencaught with his hands in the till. And they were shaking, too.