Page 101 of I Will Ruin You

“Oh Jesus,” Lucy said. When she was over the initial shock, she said, “Is that Billy’s?”

Stuart nodded. “It was on the floor. I grabbed it.” He smiled. “Pretty smart, huh?”

“What if that’s the gun they killed him with? And the cops find you with it? How do you think that’s gonna go?”

Stuart’s smile vanished. “I hadn’t thought— No, it doesn’t matter, because once we have the money and we’re out of here, I’ll get rid of it. Won’t need it anymore. I just need it for when we do the swap. Need this to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

“They’ll shoot you the second they see you,” she said.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’m not going to be the one doing the handover.”

Lucy’s eyes narrowed. “No way,” she said. “I’m not going face-to-face with the fuckers who killed Billy.”

“Don’t worry,” Stuart said, looking at his watch yet again. “It’s not going to be like that. You don’t have to do anything but stay here and hold down the fort and wait for me to come back. When I do, everything’s going to be okay.”

“I don’t want any part of this.”

Stuart couldn’t hide the hurt on his face. “Okay,” he said, a sudden brusqueness in his voice. He set the gun on top of the desk. “There’s the door.”

“What?”

“Just go. You don’t want my help, you don’t want to be a part of this, then go. I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’ll keep the fifty grand all to myself. Just keep your eye out, that’s all. The police are looking for you, and those drug dealers are looking for you. But, sure, handle it on your own.”

Lucy looked at the door, back to Stuart, and back to the door.

“You decide,” he said, and tapped his watch. “I gotta go see somebody.”

Forty-Six

Richard

Trent was waiting for me when I walked into the school.

“Hey,” he said, greeting me with a handshake. “Was thinking you could use some moral support.”

That was true, and probably not a bad idea, given that I was going into this meeting more than a little distracted.

I told him about running into Fiona LeDrew, finding out that she was going to get her husband to drop the lawsuit. Trent beamed. “Excellent,” he said.

I wasn’t smiling. “But we got talking about Mark, and how messed up he was.” A few parents were entering the school, finding their way to the library. I lowered my voice to a whisper. “What do you know about Ronny Grant?”

“That he didn’t fix the latch on that door. Which is why he lost his job.”

“I’m not talking about that. This whole blackmail thing, I don’t think it comes out of nothing. I think there was someone abusing students, and I’m wondering whether it was Ronny.”

“Why Ronny?”

“It goes back to something Mark said, and now something his mother told me. This lawnmower man thing.”

Trent slowly shook his head. “Ronny had his problems. He’s borderline alcoholic. But an abuser? I never got a hint of that. I mean, he liked the kids, yeah. But we all like the kids. Why else would we work here?”

“Herb doesn’t like the kids.”

“Don’t get me started on him. He’s here, by the way. I saw him come in about five minutes ago.”

“I think he stirred the pot on this,” I said.

“Fuck Herb,” Trent said. He took a long look at me. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like shit.”