Deviant (15 page)

“Like what?”

“We have study circles. Me and Jonah and Tig play WoW every night. We swap novels … Tig even got a bottle of whiskey from his uncle. You ever drunk liquor before?”

Danny was confused. It didn't quite gel in his mind. On the one hand, they read the Bible and traditional goody-goody stuff like that, but somehow they had managed to turn this into a radical subversion of the system.

“You're not into the chastity rings and Christian rock crap, are you?”

Hector laughed. “Hell no!”

Danny thought about it for a second. “So, what did
you mean you could deliver Lebkuchen? What does that mean?”

“That I can't tell you. Not until we know we can trust you. Join us and you'll see.”

“What if I only pretend to join you, to get the information?” Danny said.

“Go ahead. Join us or pretend to join us. Doesn't matter. Once you start hanging with us, you won't want to be with those losers anymore,” Hector said.

Danny looked out the window. The blue sky was gone and clouds had rolled over Pikes Peak from the west. He should probably head back before it started snowing again.

Since time was pressing, he decided to get to the main reason he had come to this rendezvous. “Tell me about the cats,” Danny said.

“What cats?” Hector said innocently.

“I saw you looking at Charlie when I brought it up.”

Hector shook his head. “I don't think I can do that now.”

“Why not?”

“It's a trust thing. Hold on, look, there's April Donovan and Susie McGwire.”

Danny recognized two of the girls from 9A. Both had changed out of their school uniforms into what had to be a Colorado version of the mall-rat/valley-girl look he was familiar with in Las Vegas. Short denim skirts, ankle socks, pink sneakers, frilly blouses, fake pearl necklaces, bangles, bracelets, and white-framed sunglasses pitched high in teased, sprayed hair.

Hector's eyes lit up like a lion spotting a baby zebra separated from the herd.

“Let's go over. You've no idea. We'll never get a chance like this in school,” he said.

“Are you serious? I'm not going over with you,” Danny whispered.

“I'm going for it. Look at the way April's checking us out,” Hector replied.

April was the prettier of the two, with dark hair, a pale complexion, and a slightly chubby face. She was wearing red lipstick, and her cheeks were rouged. She looked about nineteen or twenty. Susie was a skinny blonde with a vacant expression and so much perfume that it probably could be considered a weapon of mass destruction.

“No, don't do it,” Danny said desperately.

“Hi there!” Hector yelled from where he was standing. The girls giggled and miraculously began walking in their direction.

“Did you say something?” Susie asked.

“You want a coffee?” Hector said.

April's violet eyes fluttered at Danny. “You're the new kid, aren't you?”

“Yeah, Danny Lopez,” Danny said. He shook hands with both of them. Hector offered his hand and both ignored him.

“Is that your skateboard?” Susie asked, pointing at Sunflower.

“Yeah,” Danny said.

“Ladies, can I interest you in a drink?” Hector said. “Or perhaps a caramel slice?”

April sighed.

“They have very good madeleines. Have you tried those?” Hector continued.

“No,” April said coolly.

Hector was foundering badly. “Um, so do you girls like World of Warcraft?” he attempted.

“Come on, April, this kid's a total weirdo,” Susie said to her friend.

“Look, at least tell us what we did wrong,” Hector said suddenly.

“What do you mean ‘we'?” Danny said.

The girls looked embarrassed, but then April decided to rise to the challenge. “You want to know why I think you're, like, super creepy?”

“Uh, yeah,” Hector said.

April thought for a moment. “Well. This whole talk, for a start, and those freakos you hang out with and, you know, the whole prison thing, which isn't your fault but even so …”

“What if we hung out with you guys,” Hector said desperately.

“This conversation is so over. Pretend it's like school. Don't talk to me again,” April said, and both girls sat down miles away at a table near the window.

Hector grabbed his jacket and started buttoning it, his face red with shame and consternation.

“I'm getting out of here,” he whispered.

“Wait a minute, tell me about the cat killings,” Danny said, grabbing Hector by the lapels.

“I gotta go, man, they're laughing.”

Danny stood up and grabbed Hector's arm. “No, tell me what you know.”

“Why don't you join us, and then you'll know what we know. You've got a cat, right?”

“How did you know that?” Danny wondered suspiciously.

“Hey, you know who could really help get to the bottom of it?”

“Who?” Danny wondered.

“Your friend Bob.”

“Bob? I don't know any Bob.”

“Sure you do. Bob Randall, Alaskan Bob, the foreman on your dad's work gang. He's an expert. I'll bet he's bursting with ideas.”

“What? How the hell do you know about him?”

“Through my dad. Listen, dude, think about joining us; we can do the cat thing, WoW, anything you like, you seem like a pretty cool guy. As a sign of our goodwill—Monday morning, ten fifteen. Remember that.”

“Monday what? What are you talking about? How do you know about Bob?” Danny asked, but Hector was already running out of the Starbucks under the giggling gaze of the two 9A girls.

The girls were looking at Danny now. He wished they weren't.

It wasn't that they weren't pretty; they were if you liked tubercular white cheeks, puffy red faces, heavy makeup. But it was more that Danny didn't have that much experience with girls. Not really. In Las Vegas, the girls in his year only went out with older boys, grade 10, grade 11, some even with college kids. They had a haughty disdain for kids their own age, and their
chica latina
intensity was enough to freeze you in your tracks before you even thought of asking them to the movies or the Fat Burger on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Time to head. He picked up Sunflower, put on his beanie, and followed Hector to the door.

“So, what were you hanging with a cheesy dude like Hector Watson for?” April asked when his hand was on the door handle.

“I don't know,” Danny said.

“He's in that not-so-secret society,” Susie mocked.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Stay away from them. They're a bunch of freaks,” April muttered.

“Hector's the weirdest. Totally screwed up,” Susie added.

“Is he?” Danny said, suddenly interested.

“Oh yeah. Don't you know? His dad works on death row at the Supermax. He's the executioner. The guy that pushes the button to give the lethal injections. Totally creepy, huh?” April said.

“Totally creepy,” Danny agreed, and wondered if that was how Hector knew about his father and Bob.

“Tell us about Vegas,” one of the girls said, and Danny was about to spin them his Paris Hilton story when he got a peculiar icy feeling on the back of his neck; he turned to look behind him and standing there glaring at him was Tony, who was with her dad. When their eyes met, Tony looked away.

Mr. Meadows had paid and they departed by the east-side door.

Danny followed them to the parking lot.

“Tony!” Danny called.

She ignored him and got inside the Mercedes SUV.

“Tony!” he said again.

Mr. Meadows looked around and recognized him. “You. What are you doing in town?”

“Nothing.”

“Hmm, I suppose I should offer you a ride home.”

“No. No, thank you. I brought my skateboard.”

“Skateboard, eh?” Mr. Meadows muttered as darkly as if Danny had been referring to his portable witchcraft kit.

Danny didn't say anything.

“Well, good-bye, then,” Mr. Meadows said, and got into the car.

They drove off along Cascade and turned right on East Colorado Avenue.

A thought occurred to Danny. He got out his pager and texted:
wtf? whts the mattr?

Thinking of Mr. Meadows, he deleted the “WTF” part and sent the text.

He waited for a minute and then a reply came.

dnt txt me
.

He put the pager away and, since there was nothing else to do, he skated home.

Walt had decided to cook again. It was some kind of New England bean thing with odd cuts of meat. His mother pretended to love it, and Danny had to admit that it wasn't bad.

“How was school?” they asked him.

“Great,” he told them. He did his homework reading parts of the US Constitution and then wrote some of those lines about triangulation.

After he was finished, he texted Tony again, spelling out every word so she would understand it
: bob from the prison knows something about the cat killings. i could ask walt if we could go see him tomorrow if you want?

He waited half an hour for a reply, but no reply came. He turned off his light and opened the windows wide to let in the cold air.

He thought about the last two days. Tony's father was obviously a lunatic, and she was pretty difficult herself. Hector was also kind of a weirdo and didn't seem trustworthy either. He was the executioner's son. That couldn't be good for you psychologically. He thought about April and Susie, but the truth was that neither of them really interested him at all.

And even with Jeffrey sleeping at the bottom of his duvet,
he felt lonely. He reached under his bed and got Sunflower. He flipped it deck-side up and hugged it as if it were a stuffed toy.

He put his feet on Jeff's back and shoved the window wider.

That wind again, pushing through the trees like waves on the shore.

He was uneasy.

He didn't feel confident about anything in Cobalt. Not the people, not the weather, not even the icy ground beneath his feet. This was a new game, with new players, and he hadn't figured out any of the rules. He wondered if he ever would, among these big, tall local kids with their happy families and their skiing and their hot chocolate.

He stared out at the black mass of forest. No stars tonight, no moon. Just darkness.

He watched for a long time and then, suddenly, in the trees he saw a tiny light, like a reflective piece of fabric.

He remembered something that either Charlie or Hector or someone had said:
We've been watching you
.

Would they really be out there at this time of night?

Maybe he should shout something. Maybe he should sneak out the front and double back behind them. But what if it was Tony's dad out there with his gun again? Or some other local crazy? He turned on the light and tried to peer through the ambient glow that shone into the trees.

Nothing.

Tomorrow I'll get a powerful flashlight, he thought to himself. He flipped the switch, shut the window, closed the curtains. He fell asleep to the sound of wind blowing and Jeffrey purring peacefully.

Danny Lopez's window. The light goes off. On again. Off for the final time. And now it's dark. Dark like it was on the ranch.

Stars. Constellations. Orion. The Big Dipper.

He lies down on the pine needles. “Are you curious, Danny Lopez? Do you want to know?”

He pulls up the sleeping bag. He closes his eyes and now he doesn't see the Lopez house or the other houses. Just the belts and the fear.

Get rid of them. Get rid of them. And sure enough, they vanish, eventually.

A dog barking. The rain coming in through the open window. Rain not snow, which means he's dreaming. He is back in the beginning. Crying in the soiled barn light. His
father with whiskey on his breath. Horses whinnying and the well rope coming out of the hitching rail. The smell is the sweet-smelling poison they have laid down for the mice.

How the cat got poisoned, no one knows.

He's crying. Bawling his eyes out. “It's your fault!” he's screaming.

“That's enough, pull yourself together!” his father says.

“Leave him alone, he's sensitive. And he's right, you were careless,” his mother says.

She contradicting him? It's been going on all day. His father's expression clouds. He slaps her. Suddenly the boy is between them. Everyone's yelling. He gets in the way of a fist. One blow and he's sent flying.

His father's voice: “Oh my God. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I am so sorry. It will never happen again. You're right. It's crazy out here. We're going crazy. We'll move to the city. And I promise it will never happen again.”

They move.

It happens again.