Bayview Heights Trilogy (37 page)

Frowning slightly—presumably at his non
sequitur—she answered, “I heard.”

“If you’ve got time to be on a committee, you
could volunteer to help out there.”

“What do you mean?”

Seth hunched over and locked his hands
between his knees. Besting her had become important. “Here’s the
deal. You can be on our task force and report how we confront
problems here. I’m not worried about what you’ll see. And I’ll keep
an eagle eye on how you write the article. If it’s unfair in any
way, you’re off the committee.”

“I can accept that.”

“That’s not all. You’ve got to go the other
way, too.” Lacey cocked her head. “You’ve got to be part of the
Christmas project. Be the other adult supervisor for my group at
the day care. Work with these kids for the next two months,
experience the good we do. And report that with as much conviction
as you do our problem with student violence.”

She liked the challenge, he could tell by how
her face glowed. “Do you realize this would mean spending an
inordinate amount of time with me?” She smiled smugly. “Are you man
enough to take it?” she asked, parroting the question he’d put to
her when he’d challenged her to come to the Good Deeds Project
meeting.

Oh, he was going to enjoy this, Seth thought.
Flinging his arms out to his sides so the T-shirt he wore flashed
in front of her like a red flag, he said haughtily, “Hey,
superheroes can take anything you dish out.”

THE NEXT MONDAY, Lacey planned her day so
that she could get to the school for the three-thirty meeting she
had with the Christmas Good Deeds group. She and Taylor working
together! She shook her head, not even wanting to think about what
she’d committed herself to. She had more than a niggling suspicion
that she’d been tricked into this, but she’d won on the Safety Task
Force—its first meeting was tonight—so she’d help out with the
Christmas project graciously. In spite of Taylor, she was looking
forward to it. She smiled when she thought of the kids at the day
care. What fun that would be.

Since she had a half hour to kill, she turned
to her computer. Lacey loved to surf the Internet, finding its
diversity distracting. She also did a great deal of research on the
school law section—and had gotten many ideas for her School
Page.

Lost in thought, she realized that instead of
clicking on her on-line server, she’d called up the folder next to
it. These were Philip’s files, none of which she’d needed for the
paper. The menu for a folder entitled SJT was on the screen. Lacey
was about to quit it when a name caught her eye. “S. Taylor.
Biographical Information.” Lacey scrolled down. “S. Taylor.
Teacher. S. Taylor. Principal.” Then a final file, “Correspondence
with Private Investigator.”

Lacey leaned back in her chair. She believed
strongly in the right to privacy. Though Philip had said nothing
about staying out of his files, she felt uncomfortable accessing
them. But these were about Seth Taylor. It was too great a
temptation. She clicked on the first icon.

As the file came up, she heard the front door
open. Her office was behind glass windows, much like the newspaper
offices in old movies and TV shows. Swiveling her chair around, she
peered through the slatted blinds; the high-school-girl
receptionist was smiling at a visitor.

When Lacey saw her grandfather in the outer
office, a wave of sadness swept through her. He hadn’t been down to
the
Herald
since his heart attack. She reached the doorway
just as he did.

“Grandpa,” she said, fixing a calm smile on
her face. “How nice to see you.”

At first, he didn’t answer, just scanned his
surroundings. When he faced her again, she could see moisture in
his eyes. “It’s—” he cleared his throat “—it’s good to be
back.”

“Come on in.” Grabbing his hand and squeezing
it, she tugged him inside.

He entered the office where he’d spent more
than twenty years of his life. Lacey remembered coming here to
visit him, sitting in his chair, how patiently he’d taught her to
use a typewriter.

She watched him as he stared at the wall of
accolades he’d received—in Bayview Heights as well as New York
City. Then he took a seat, not at the desk but on the other side of
the room. Lacey’s heart ached as she watched her beloved
grandfather come face-to-face with what he’d been forced to give
up.

“How did you get here?” she asked, knowing he
still couldn’t drive.

“Celia came to clean today. She asked if I
wanted to get out for a ride. I thought I’d drop in on you while
she did some grocery shopping.”

Lacey glanced at the clock.

“You in a hurry, honey?”

“I have an appointment in half an hour.”

“Where?”

Lacey drew in a deep breath and felt as if
she was sixteen again, when she’d skipped religious instruction to
meet a boy her grandfather had specifically forbidden her to
see.

“Lacey?”

“I’m going to the high school, Grandpa.”

He cocked his head. “The task force meeting
isn’t until tonight.”

“Yes, I know.”

“What’s going on, Lacey?”

“When I finagled my way onto the task force,
I agreed to do some other things at the school, too.”

Philip threw back his head and laughed. “I
hope whatever it is will be as beneficial to us as your being on
the task force.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ll be able to use the task force against
him.” At Lacey’s questioning look, he added, “There will be fodder
for a lot of editorials from that committee.”

“I think the committee’s a good idea.”

“I do too, honey. But don’t you see, they’ll
have to air their dirty laundry and you’ll be there to watch it.”
He closed his eyes and smirked. “I didn’t think Taylor was stupid
enough to let you on the task force.”

Lacey didn’t respond.

“Where are you going now?”

“I agreed to work on one of the committees
for their Christmas Good Deeds Project, too. The first meeting is
today.”

Philip stiffened. “What will you do with that
information?”

Instead of answering, Lacey stood and walked
over to the window.

“What is it, Lacey?”

She turned around and faced him. “I think the
student Christmas activities deserve some good publicity,
Grandpa.

Philip’s eyes narrowed on his granddaughter.
“Did Taylor talk you into that?”

“Not exactly. In any case, I want to do
it.”

“Why?”

“Because I think what’s good about the high
school warrants coverage, too. It’s only fair.”

“Fair? Do you think it’s fair what that man
did to us?”

“Grandpa...he didn’t really do anything to
us. At least not intentionally.”

“What are you saying?”

“Even if Taylor is responsible for kicking
Kevin out of school,” she said softly, “that doesn’t mean he put
him in prison.”

Philip stood abruptly and started to pace, as
if unable to believe what he was hearing. “Have you forgotten what
your brother looks like in that place? Didn’t you hear the fear in
his voice on the phone last night? Something’s going on in the
laundry, I think. Some kind of trouble. And Taylor’s responsible
for all of it.”

“Is he?”

“I can’t believe this. Listen to yourself.”
He crossed to her and grasped her shoulders. “Do you know what they
do to young men in places like that? They…” Philip let the
unspeakable words trail off.

She felt the color drain out of her face.
“Stop it, please,” Lacey begged.

“What’s going on in here?” Celia Trenkler
said from the doorway. “You were shouting, Philip. That can’t be
good for your blood pressure.”

“Don’t interfere, Celia.” He turned back to
Lacey. “We need to talk about this.”

“All right. But I’ve got to go. We’ll discuss
it later.” In slow, precise movements, she hugged him, then
gathered her things. After speaking to Celia, she crossed to the
door. She pivoted to face him before she left. “It was good to see
you in the office, Grandpa,” she told him, her voice threaded with
tears. “I’ll talk to you later.” Then she fled out the door.

“You’re going to lose her Philip,” Celia
said, “if you don’t watch out. And it’ll be your own fault.”

“I’ll never lose her,” he answered in a low,
even voice. “I’ll do anything to stop that from happening.”

o0o

SETH GLANCED at the clock. She was late.
Maybe she wasn’t coming. Damn her if she thought she could dupe
him—if she thought she could ignore the Good Deeds Project, but
come to the task force meeting tonight. He refused to give credence
to his disappointment that she hadn’t kept her word.

“Mr. Taylor, can we start?” Nick Leonardi,
student council president, aka the Tin Man, asked from one of the
tables in the converted storeroom, now set up for meetings.

“Sure. Ms. Cartwright’s late. Let’s
start.”

The door burst open. In rushed the woman in
question. Her cheeks were red and her hair was wild around her face
and shoulders. It looked about twenty different shades of gold in
the fluorescent lighting. “Sorry I’m late,” she said, addressing
the group.

“That’s okay.” Nick nodded to her. “Thanks
for agreeing to help.”

“Have a seat,” Seth told her.

When she looked at him, he knew right away
something was wrong. Her eyes were deeply shadowed, giving her a
vulnerability that kicked into his protective instincts.

She took the chair farthest away from him,
unbuttoned her coat and took it off. Underneath she wore a soft
pink sweater that added to her aura of fragility. Lacey looked at
Nick.

“I’m Nick Leonardi, president of the student
council.”

“Hi,” Lacey said, just as the girl next to
her snorted. All eyes focused on the student.

“I’m Darcy McCormick,” she told Lacey, then
shot a venomous glance at Nick from under kohl-rimmed eyes.
“All-around bad kid.”

Seth intervened. “Darcy, Ms. Cartwright was
Mrs. Lansing’s best friend in high school.”

Darcy’s gaze whipped to Lacey. “No
sh—kidding?” The girl eyed her carefully. “You? And Mrs.
Lansing?”

Seth watched as Lacey smiled warmly at the
girl. He wondered what Lacey thought of Darcy’s partly shaved hair
and totally black ensemble.

“Yes.” Lacey didn’t bat an eye. “And everyone
was surprised then, too. But honestly, we were—we
are
—good
friends.”

“Then you must be really neat.” This came
from a sweet-faced girl sitting next to Seth. “Everybody loves Ms.
Smith, I mean, Mrs. Lansing. I’m Hope Ford. This is my sister
Hannah.”

“Obviously,” Lacey said. “Are you two
identical?”

Both smiled the same smile. “Yes,” they
chimed in unison.

Seth checked the clock. “Okay, we only have
the room until four. Who was voted chair?” he asked.

“Who else?’ Darcy tossed back her head. “Mr.
Clean-Cut President.”

“Geez, McCormick,” Nick snapped. “Get rid of
the chip on your shoulder at least for today, will you?”

Seth groaned inwardly at their sparring. He
hoped he was doing the right thing with these two. “The day-care
center, ladies and gentleman?”

“Right.” Nick scanned the room. “Any ideas
for what we should do first?”

One of the twins offered a suggestion. “Go
over there?”

Darcy rolled her eyes. “No, we should get a
list of the kids, their ages and talk about what we’re going to do
for them before we visit.”

“I agree.” Nick sounded surprised. “We also
need to find out what our budget is.”

They all looked to Seth.

“I’m still figuring that out. I’ll have it by
next week.”

Lacey asked, “Money is donated by local
businesses, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Seth stared at her. “Why?”

“No reason.”

“Who wants to call the day-care center and
get the names, ages and stuff?” Nick smiled charmingly at the
twins.

“We will,” Hannah said.

“When do we meet again?” Darcy asked.

“I’ve got football practice every day after
school for the sectionals,” Nick told them. “Coach said he’d let me
out of practice occasionally, but I’d rather not miss too
many.”

“Wouldn’t want your muscles going to flab.”
Darcy’s tone dripped with sarcasm.

The twins giggled nervously.

Seth decided to referee. “Obviously, we have
to go to the center during the day. How about if we meet next
Monday after we’ve gathered all the information, then take our
first trip over there Friday.” He looked at the calendar in front
of him. “That’s the fourteenth and the eighteenth. You have a
sectional game Friday night, Nick, so you wouldn’t miss practice.
Can you do the visit, and still make the game?”

Nick scowled at Darcy. “Sure.” He smiled at
Hope and Hannah. “Is that okay with you two? Does it conflict with
any of your band stuff?”

Four adoring eyes latched on to Nick’s dark
good looks. “Oh, no, we’ll be there.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Seth saw Darcy
scrape back her chair. “Don’t bother asking me, lover boy.
Everybody knows all At-Risk kids do is get in trouble after school.
I can be there.” She glanced at Lacey. “Ciao. Bye, Mr. Taylor.” Her
thick army boots rasped across the floor as she left.

Nick turned to Seth. “What’d I do?”

“Nothing, Nick. Darcy will come around.”

“Sure.” He looked at Lacey. “This schedule
okay with you, Ms. Cartwright?”

Dragging her appointment book out of her bag,
Lacey checked it quickly. “I’ll be there. I’ll have to shuffle some
things, but I want to attend both days.”

Nick smiled at her. “Good. I’m off,
then.”

“Oh, wait, Nick, we’ll walk out with you.”
Hope and Hannah scrambled after him.

Lacey and Seth were left alone.

“I feel like I’ve been caught up in a war
zone,” Lacey said.

Seth chuckled. “You have. Jocks versus punks,
I think would be an appropriate way to describe this particular
battle.”