Читать книгу An Unlikely Family - Cynthia Thomason, Cynthia Thomason - Страница 9

CHAPTER FOUR

SO FAR Evie’s first official day had gone extraordinarily well. She’d arrived at Heron Point Elementary a few minutes before eight o’clock, just ahead of her administrative assistant, Mary Alice Jones, a middle-aged whirlwind of energy.

The eight teachers and auxiliary staff assembled in the cafeteria, a portable metal structure next to the main building, at eight thirty, where Evie introduced herself. Since most of the staff had been at the school for three years or more, they knew the procedures and made Evie feel welcome.

The third-grade teacher, a man in his mid-fifties, had lived in Heron Point since the school opened ten years earlier. He treated everyone by bringing in doughnuts from the town’s bakery, which happened to be owned by his wife. When he offered to bring coffee cake the next morning, Evie knew the figure she’d worked so hard for at her gym was in serious jeopardy.

After meetings all morning and a lunch of lasagna and green beans prepared by the cafeteria staff, Evie settled down at her desk with a stack of one hundred and twenty-five student folders that reached nearly to her chin. She’d gotten to know the teachers, now it was time to familiarize herself with the students. She pulled the first one off the top and opened it.

Johnny Adler. Evie studied the third-grader’s features from last year’s school picture, scanned the teacher’s comments about Johnny’s progress and behavior, and tried to place his face with his name.

Two hours had flown by when Evie reached the middle of the alphabet. She opened the folder containing records for Gemma Scarlett Muldoone and looked into mischievous brown eyes that immediately made Evie think of the girl’s father. Her hair was lighter than Billy’s, more the tan of a coconut and streaked with highlights the color of a new penny. The long waves were gathered into a neat ponytail with a bright green ribbon.

Smiling at the girl’s photo, Evie said, “Is this the child Helen Sweeney hinted was the terror of Heron Point? She looks so sweet.”

Evie flipped to the page containing Gemma’s vital information and gasped. Gemma’s record resembled a daily diary rather than a recap of educational milestones. Evie counted a dozen sheets of paper filled with comments from teachers and counselors and the previous principal.

When she’d reached the end of Gemma’s profile, Evie stuffed all the pages back into the folder and slammed it closed.

If a child is believed to be bad, or rumored to be bad, or expected to be bad, he will behave badly.

“I refuse to read a single word of this,” she said. “I will not be prejudiced by past opinions about this girl. It’s a new year, and every child deserves a clean slate.”

She couldn’t imagine the easy-going, self-assured cop she’d met raising a child who had a problem following rules. Evie didn’t know what had happened to Gemma’s mother—if she had died or if Billy and she were divorced—but she did know that Billy’s mother lived with them. Gemma had the input of both her father and grandmother.

Evie shoved the folder aside, picked up a pencil and began tapping it on her desk. Just because Billy was a capable cop, didn’t mean he was a competent father. She’d encountered many parents who, in her opinion, weren’t qualified for the job. Plus there were those who’d been willing and interested parents but not necessarily good ones. From this perspective, Evie was able to rationalize her growing desire to know more about Billy.

Her tapping grew more insistent as she recalled his announcement that he would call her sometime. He’d said it in front of Gail, so she assumed they didn’t have a relationship. And he wouldn’t have mentioned calling her at all if he hadn’t intended to do it, would he?

She spun her chair around to stare out the corner window. “Of course he would,” she said. “It was a casual comment, nothing more. Billy probably had no intention of calling despite what you let yourself believe and despite what Helen said about the overzealous cop.” Evie had to take Billy’s comment as just what it was—a local guy’s good-humored welcome to a newcomer. And that was just as well. Evie’s focus should be on Gemma, not the girl’s father.

Billy’s ruggedly handsome face evaporated from Evie’s mind at a knock on her door. “Come in,” she said, turning away from her view of the outside world.

Mary Alice stuck her head inside. “Sorry to bother you, Miss Gaynor, but we have a problem.”

“Oh?”

“One of our mothers is outside with her son and another student. It seems there was an incident on the playground before she came to pick up her child.”

“What? School hasn’t even started yet.”

Mary Alice shrugged. “We let the kids use the facilities all year long. These two were playing on the equipment. Shall I send them in?”

“Of course.” Evie rose. A girl entered first, and Evie’s gaze traveled from her pretty, pixie face and sun-streaked dark hair to the folder she’d just finished perusing. The girl’s familiar brown eyes glittered with indignation.

“This is Gemma Muldoone,” Mary Alice said, nudging the student farther into the room so the others could enter. The secretary introduced a slightly taller, husky boy as Bernard Hutchinson. “And this is Bernard’s mother,” she said. “Missy Hutchinson.”

Once everyone was inside, Mary Alice quickly slipped out and closed the door behind her. Evie faced three scowling faces. “What’s happened?”

“I’ll tell you what happened,” Missy declared. She pushed her son forward. “Look at him.”

Once she got a good look at Bernard’s shirt, Evie jumped back a step. “Good heavens. He’s covered with bugs!”

“You’re telling me,” Missy said. “They’re glued on.”

Regaining her composure, Evie advanced toward Bernard. She reached out and tentatively touched a lifelike roach, half expecting it to dart from under her finger. It didn’t. It remained immobile as one would expect from glued plastic. “They’re not real.”

“Thank heavens for that!” Missy said. “But they’ve ruined his shirt just the same.” She jabbed a finger toward Gemma’s head. “And her father can darned well replace it. I don’t care if he does only make a policeman’s salary. This shirt cost thirty dollars.”

Thirty dollars? For a kid’s play shirt? Evie refrained from commenting. “Did you do this?” she asked Gemma Muldoone.

“Why are you asking her?” Missy practically squealed. “I just told you she did. This child would lie about anything.”

Evie held up a hand. “Excuse me, Mrs. Hutchinson, but will you let me handle this?”

Missy released a pent-up breath and tugged at a caterpillar on Bernard’s collar. “See? They don’t come off.”

Evie pulled a chair next to Gemma. “Sit down, please.”

The girl’s chin thrust forward. “I don’t want to.”

“But I would like you to, so please do it.”

Gemma sat, appearing more like a wooden statue than a flesh-and-blood child.

“Now, I’d like you to tell me if you glued bugs to Bernard’s shirt and, if so, why you did it.”

Gemma’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I’m not saying I did, but if I did, it was because Bernard said I wasn’t going on any field trips this year.”

“Why would Bernard say that?”

“Because he’s mean and stupid.”

Missy fisted her hands on her hips. “There, you see? That’s what you’re dealing with, Miss Gaynor. A vandal and a name-caller.”

Evie sighed. “Please, Mrs. Hutchinson. There’s no need to resort to more name-calling.” She leaned over to be closer to Bernard’s height. “Did you tell Gemma that she wasn’t going on any field trips?”

“Sure. She’s not. She didn’t go on any last year—after the first one.”

Missy nodded dramatically. “Gemma’s not allowed near a public school bus,” she declared.

Evie didn’t intend to discuss that matter. Not when she still had the plastic bug caper to deal with. “This is a new year,” she said. “I think we’ll let Gemma’s teacher and I make field trip decisions.”

Missy smirked. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Evie perched on the edge of her desk and stared at Gemma, whose expression remained stoic. “You do realize, Gemma, that you can’t react to something someone said with a physical attack. That behavior is unacceptable. In this school we will respect each other’s personal property.”

Gemma huffed. “School hasn’t started yet. We were just playing. And besides, I didn’t say I did it.”

“No, but I believe you did. And you’re going to have to tell your father that if those bugs don’t come off, you owe Bernard a new shirt.”

“You’re not going to tell him?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I’m going to ask Bernard to give me his shirt, and you and I are going to stay in this office for as long as it takes for you to remove those bugs. And if Mrs. Hutchinson isn’t satisfied with the result, then we’ll see about involving your father.”

Gemma crossed her arms over her chest and slouched. “That’s not fair. He started it.”

“And it will end here, today. Do you need to call someone at home to say you’ll be delayed at school?”

“No.”

“Fine.” Evie wiggled her fingers at Bernard. “The shirt please.”

He took it off, handed it to her, and stood there in an Abercrombie T-shirt.

“I’m curious about one thing,” Evie said. “Did you try to stop Gemma from gluing bugs to your clothes?”

The considerably larger Bernard refused to look in Gemma’s direction. “Not after she said she’d punch my stomach.”

A smile lurked at the corners of Evie’s mouth. “I see. So you pretty much let her glue the bugs on?”

Bernard shrugged.

“Well, I hope you’ll remember from now on that you are not in charge of school policy, and that includes making decisions about who will and will not go on field trips.”

The boy hung his head. “Yes, ma’am.”

Evie turned to Gemma. “Is there something you’d like to say to Bernard?”

Gemma glared at him. “Yes, but then you’d call my dad.”

“Gemma!”

“Okay.” She squinted her eyes so tightly her face looked like a piece of overripe fruit. “I’m sorry, Bernard.”

Missy Hutchinson wasn’t satisfied. “That’s it? You’re not going to punish this child? You’re not even going to call her father?”

Evie was losing patience with Missy about as quickly as she was losing it with Gemma. “I’ll take care of matters from this point, Mrs. Hutchinson. You and Bernard may go. I’ll see that the shirt is returned for your inspection.”

Missy spun toward the door, pushing Bernard ahead of her. Evie tossed the shirt to Gemma. “You’d better get started.”

Gemma plucked a couple of bugs free before looking up at Evie with soulful dark eyes. “Thanks for not calling my dad.”

“Don’t thank me yet. It’s still a possibility.”

“Excuse me.” A gray-haired man appeared in the doorway.

“Yes?”

“Are you the new principal?”

Evie nodded. “And you are?”

“I’m Malcolm VanFleet, the maintenance man.”

Evie walked over and shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Malcolm. Did you need me?”

He stepped into her office. “Yes, ma’am.” Holding up a clear plastic bag, he said, “It’s about these things.”

Evie recognized the contents immediately. Dozens of bugs just like the ones on Bernard’s shirt. And a tube of quick-drying cement. She looked at Gemma who remained remarkably intent upon her task. “Where did you find these?” Evie asked Malcolm.

“Oh, they’re all over the playground. Bugs are stuck to the swings, the slide, the monkey bars, everywhere. I don’t know how long it’ll take me to get them all off, but I expect you should plan on paying me overtime since school starts in two days.”

Evie took the bag. She almost didn’t recognize her own voice when she said through clenched teeth, “Thank you, Malcolm.” Then she stuck her head out the door. “MaryAlice!”

The secretary jumped up from her chair. “Yes, Miss Gaynor?”

“Do you have Officer Muldoone’s phone number?”

Mary Alice smiled. “Oh, yes. I believe his cell number was left on the Rolodex on top of your desk. Would you like me to call him for you?”

Evie whirled around and went back into her office. “Never mind. I’ll do it myself.”

BILLY ALWAYS CARRIED a couple of small animal cages in the trunk of the cruiser. Living this close to water, you never knew when something would find its way onto a resident’s property. This afternoon’s creature was the belly-crawling kind.

He picked up the wire mesh box to show Mrs. Blake. “It’s just a harmless rat snake, ma’am,” he said. “I guarantee it was more afraid of you than you were of it.”

The elderly woman fluttered a handkerchief in front of her face. “You’re wrong about that, Billy. When a lady sees something like that coiled around the commode, well, I tell you, she’s plenty scared. It could have been a moccasin or some other poisonous snake.”

Billy smiled. “That would be venomous, Mrs. Blake. Snakes have venom in their bites, not poison. And this guy doesn’t have any venom at all.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” she said. “And I do thank you for coming to my rescue.”

Billy refrained from telling her that he more likely came to the rat snake’s rescue. Mrs. Blake hadn’t dropped her shovel since he’d arrived. When he got off work, he’d take the harmless creature out to the Indian burial grounds on the other side of the bridge and release it. He couldn’t see any justification in killing something that just happened to wander out of its element. “You’re welcome,” he said. “You call me anytime.”

He set the cage on the back seat. “Here you go, buddy. Unfortunately this is where most snakes in Heron Point end up eventually, usually the human kind.” After rechecking the box latch, Billy got behind the wheel. One more pass around town and he’d head back to city hall to write up a mostly uneventful report. He dreaded that job. Jack was a great boss and certainly a qualified chief of police, but he was a stickler for paperwork.

As Billy backed out of Mrs. Blake’s driveway, his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the caller. “Heron Point Elementary,” he said. “Well, I’ll be.” A smile broke across his face. He could only think of one person at the school who might be trying to reach him—Evie.

He pressed the connect button. “Muldoone here.”

“Billy, it’s Evie Gaynor at the elementary school.”

His smile widened at the sound of her voice. Brisk, official-sounding even, but music to his ears. “Hey, Evie, I was just thinking about—”

“Billy, we have a problem.”

“We do?” His smile began to fade.

“I have Gemma in my office.”

Oh, boy. “What’s she doing there? School doesn’t start for two days yet.”

“Maybe so, but your daughter made her presence known a little early. Can you come by?”

Billy sighed. “I’ll be right there…. What did she do?”

“I think you should see this for yourself. A description doesn’t do this particular situation justice.”

The line went dead. And unless he could smooth this over, so would his hopes for developing any kind of relationship with Evie.

EVIE HEARD HIS VOICE the moment he entered the outer office. Billy Muldoone had a way of making his presence known.

“I’m here to see Miss Gaynor,” he said to Mary Alice.

Mary Alice’s answer crooned with sympathy, as if she were used to this scenario. “Oh, hi, Billy. Yeah, I know. She and Gemma are in there.”

He stood on the threshold and looked into the office. Evie stood and came around the desk, her hands clenched at her waist. Meetings with parents under these circumstances was never pleasant, and this particular meeting was already topping the tension meter. Billy had been popping into Evie’s head with alarming regularity all day. But any relationship she’d envisioned had just moved to the principal’s office. It was a shame, really. Billy looked so crisp and competent… and, with his face shadowed with a day’s end beard, even sexy. But when the little creases at his mouth deepened, Evie realized he also looked uncharacteristically vulnerable.

He closed the door and removed his ball cap. His gaze held Evie’s for a moment before he looked to his left and saw Gemma. She stared up at him through wispy bangs that needed a trim. She struggled to pull a bug from a shirt and finally dropped it into a pile on the floor beside her chair. “Hi, Daddy.”

His mouth twisted into a frown. “Hi, yourself. What’d you do?” He stared at the plastic items by her feet. “What are those?”

“Bugs. They’re not real.”

“How’d they get on that shirt?”

“They got glued there.”

He took a few steps closer and wiggled a stuck bug. “They sure did.”

Evie motioned to a chair. “Why don’t you sit down, Officer Muldoone?”

He sat stiffly, as if he were the one in trouble, and ran long fingers through his hair. “What happened?”

Evie briefed him, ending with the clean-up necessary to the playground. “Naturally we want all plastic insect infestation gone before Wednesday.”

“I saw Malcolm working out there when I drove up,” Billy said. “I couldn’t figure out what he was doing picking at the monkey bars like he was.”

“Well, now you know. He says he has a solvent that will loosen the glue, but it will take time.”

“Time the taxpayers of Heron Point will have to pay for,” he said, staring at his daughter. “Where did you get the bugs, Gemma?”

“At the Dollar Mart in Micopee. Nana had to go there for something and she gave me five dollars to spend. Somebody was putting out the Halloween stuff, and I saw these.” She held up a rubbery spider. “There were fifty in a bag. I bought five bags.” She paused before anticipating his next question. “I got the glue from Nana’s kitchen drawer.”

“One bag of bugs didn’t do it for you?”

“Not once I got started. It was fun putting them places.”

Billy pointed to the shirt on her lap. “Like that.”

“Specially here.”

“Whose shirt is it?”

She mumbled the answer.

Billy’s face blanched. “Whose did you say?”

“Bernard Hutchinson’s.”

He looked at the ceiling. “That’s just great. Why did you pick Bernard’s shirt?”

“He was saying stuff I didn’t like and that wasn’t true.” She blinked at Evie. “Isn’t that so, Miss Gaynor? He can’t say whether I go on field trips.”

Evie leaned against the desk. “You know that’s not the point, Gemma. There are more appropriate ways of handling problems. We don’t damage anyone else’s property. In this school we will respect one another’s belongings.”

Gemma raised a supplicating gaze to her father. “You would have done the same thing, Daddy.”

“Me? I don’t think I would have put bugs on Bernard’s shirt.”

“Maybe not Bernard’s, but you would his mother’s. You don’t like Missy Hutchinson. Didn’t you say she was stuck-up and con-de…” She pulled her lower lip between her teeth. “What’s that word?”

“Never mind. And that’s not the point, either. No matter how I feel about Missy— and quit listening in to adult conversations, by the way—I wouldn’t glue bugs to one of her hundred-dollar blouses!”

Gemma wiggled a centipede loose. “Oh. Well, we owe Bernard another shirt if this one is ruined.”

“That ought to set you back about a dozen weeks of allowances.”

Evie raised her eyebrows. “How much allowance does Gemma get, if I may ask?”

“Fifty cents a week…not counting the windfalls my mother obviously drops in her lap for no reason.”

“That would be more like sixty allowances,” Evie said. “Missy told me what the shirt cost.”

Billy shook his head. “Wonderful. I don’t have a shirt that costs thirty dollars.”

Evie sympathized with Billy’s situation. Thirty dollars was probably a lot of money to a small-town cop. “You can see why I called you,” she said. “This wasn’t just a harmless incident. When other students are victimized—”

His eyes rounded, and he interrupted her. “I’d hardly call Bernard victimized. That’s an exaggeration.”

“I don’t think so. His rights were definitely violated. And there is the matter of financial restitution.” Evie folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t think we can minimize this.”

Billy glared at his daughter. This time she actually squirmed. “You’re grounded until you’re twenty. You know that, don’t you?”

Gemma started to speak, but a commotion in the outer office stopped her.

“I’m going in there right now, Mary Alice.” The woman’s voice coming through the closed door was intended to dissuade all argument. “You can’t stop me.”

Gemma’s hands stilled. The shirt slipped between her knees to the floor. “Daddy, I think Nana’s here.”

The door flew open and a deceptively small, wiry dynamo in yellow sneakers, flowered shorts and a sweat-dampened crimson T-shirt burst into the room. Her tomato-red hair was loosely bound in a scrunchy, leaving coarse strands sticking out like sun-dried pampas grass. Her eyes, under bright lavender shadow glittered as she surveyed the scene. She looked first at Evie, then Gemma, then Billy. “What’s going on here? I saw the cruiser in the parking lot as I was jogging past.”

Billy’s face flushed as he turned from the huffing jogger to look at Evie. He stood. “Miss Gaynor, apparently it’s time for you to meet my mother, Brenda Muldoone. Ma, this is the new principal.”

Brenda nodded once. “What’s going on? You going to tell me, Billy?”

He frowned at her. “It seems that five dollars you gave Gemma at the Dollar Mart was not a particularly wise investment.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She bought a few hundred plastic bugs and has been sticking them on everything inside school property.”

“Oh.” Brenda’s perpetual motion ground to a stop as she considered her son’s statement. “So that’s where my glue went. I tried to seal the crack in a vase earlier and couldn’t find the tube of cement.” She stuck her hand out at Gemma. “Give it back, young lady, and the rest of those bugs, too.”

“I can’t, Nana. It’s all been con…confis…” She looked at Billy. “What’s the word?”

Evie answered for him. “Confiscated, Gemma. Not to be returned.”

“She glued plastic bugs on Bernard Hutchinson’s shirt.” Billy filled Brenda in. “It’s probably ruined.”

A sound inappropriately like a bark of laughter came from Brenda’s cherry-red lips. “I’ll bet the little heir to the Hutchinson fortune just stood there and let her do it.”

“Ma…”

Brenda quickly recovered and said, for Evie’s benefit, “Oh, Gemma, what a naughty thing to do.” Then, under her breath she added to Billy, “Guess she couldn’t find any live ones.”

“Mrs. Muldoone…” Evie said.

“I know, I know.” Brenda stared at the shirt. “What are the damages, Miss Gaynor? We Muldoones pay our bills.” She slipped her hand into the pocket of her shorts. “I’ve got a few bucks on me.”

“I don’t know yet,” Evie said. “If we can remove the bugs without damaging the shirt, then I’ll give it back to Mrs. Hutchinson for her approval.”

Brenda waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “That’s no problem. I’ll have that shirt looking like new.”

Billy took hold of his mother’s arm. “Ma, you’re not helping Gemma realize what she’s done.”

Brenda’s brows came together in a scowl. “I’m not finished with her yet. We haven’t started talking punishment. Now, what else?”

“The schoolyard has to be cleaned up. Those bugs are everywhere.”

Brenda strode to within a few feet of Gemma’s chair. “You really did it this time, didn’t you? Got yourself in a peck of trouble.”

Gemma shrugged. “Looks like it.”

“No dessert for you tonight.” She tugged at the tangled bangs on Gemma’s forehead. “Well, come on. You look a mess. I’ve got you an appointment to get your hair trimmed over at Ida’s. Then I’ll come back with you later and we’ll unstick all those bugs.” She turned to Billy. “With three of us working, we’ll have the place exterminated in no time.” She looked at Evie. “I’m going to go ahead and take my granddaughter and the shirt now, Miss Gaynor. We’ll fix up the schoolyard.”

“But wait…”

Gemma had already taken her grandmother’s words as her release from custody. She bolted to the door.

“Stop right there, Gemma,” Evie said.

Brenda grabbed her granddaughter’s arm and held her still. “We’ll see that Gemma learns her lesson.”

“I wish you could also assure me this type of behavior won’t be repeated.”

Staring at the top of Gemma’s head, Brenda said, “My granddaughter is a bit high-strung. But this was just a childish prank, a stupid one to be sure, but still a prank.” She curved her hand over Gemma’s hair. “I think we can assure Miss Gaynor that you won’t do this again, can’t we, Gemma Scarlett?”

The girl nodded. “I won’t do this again.”

“There, you see? So I’ll take Gemma and we’ll come back later for clean-up duty.” Brenda’s lips widened in a calculated grin. “You tell Missy Hutchinson that Brenda Muldoone is taking charge of Bernard’s shirt. I don’t think you’ll have any more trouble from her.”

“I’ll take you at your word, Mrs. Muldoone.”

“Call me Brenda. Everybody does.” She turned Gemma around and nudged her out the door. “You coming, Billy?”

“Not quite yet, Ma. If you need to use my truck to go to Ida’s, the keys are in the ignition.”

“Never mind,” she said. “I’ll use the Minnie Winnie. See you at home.” She flicked a wave at Evie and left.

Evie walked around her desk and sat. “Minnie Winnie?”

“Winnebago. My mother drives a motor home.”

“Is she always like this?” Evie asked.

Billy scratched the back of his neck. “Who? Ma or Gemma?”

Evie laughed. “I was talking about Brenda this time.”

“Yes. Pretty much. She’s kind of hard to ignore. But she takes good care of Gemma. And she means what she says. We’ll see that Gem doesn’t act out in this way ever again.” He gave her a sympathetic smile. “I know this wasn’t how you hoped to start the school year.”

“No, but with kids you can never be certain of anything. I’m aware that you’re a single father, and raising a child isn’t easy under the best of situations. I’m sorry I had to call you.”

“Don’t apologize,” he said. “I’m not sorry I’m here.” He passed his hand over the start of a grin. “Well, I’m sorry about the circumstances that brought me, but now that we’re alone, I’m kind of glad.”

He was glad? That wasn’t the response Evie had expected. “What do you mean?”

“I was hoping we could get to know each other a little better.”