Game Change: A Nina Bannister Mystery (The Nina Bannister Mysteries Book 3) (30 page)

“She has all the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. She impresses me as a woman who has been, well, ‘driven,’ for a great deal of her life.”

“Yes. That’s April.”

“Such a desire for perfection is, on the one hand, laudable. On the other, though, it can be quite destructive.”

“In what way?”

“In the way that perfection is simply impossible. In neither ourselves nor in others.”

“We can’t all,” Nina heard herself whispering, “be exemplary.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. People who develop this trait––they like measuring things, don’t they?”

“Oh, immensely. They are ‘quantitative’ people, not ‘qualitative.’ Deeply distrustful of themselves, of their identities, they require mathematical proofs of their excellence.”

“Without which,” Nina continued, “they wouldn’t exist at all.”

Bristow nodded.

“You might say that. The middle stages of such paranoia result in intense self loathing.”

“And the advanced stages?”

“Self denial. Not self discipline, but the denial of one’s own existence.”

“Suicide?”

“That is one possible outcome. There are others, many entirely unpredictable. It’s like, out there, in the gulf, if one went deep enough or far enough.”

“How do you mean?”

“Uncharted waters.”

The waves continued to pound.

The night continued to deepen.

Nina said that she would think about Margot’s proposal.

They walked back to shore.

Uncharted waters.

She went back home and tried to think about something other than April van Osdale.

This was basketball of course, her new passion.

She had a small cave made in her bedroom: chairs, end tables, bookshelves––all of these had been pulled into a tight circle. She had pasted play diagrams on every available space.

The lights were turned out.

A cup of hot chocolate steamed in front of her as she watched again and again the tapes of two Hattiesburg games. There they were, always. Therese and Nicki McNulty.

No one could stop them.

Each of them six foot four.

Long, blonde hair, broad shoulders.

Identical twins.

And no one could stop them.

Ball down low, Theresa goes for basket, slips ball to sister.

Layup.

Ball over the top.

Layup.

What to do? What to do?

And then…

And then…

Tara’s theme. The Civil War.

She kept thinking about the Civil War. And Pickett’s Charge.

No sense, but there it was.

And what had Meg forgotten to do?

Why did Meg lose to Hattiesburg?

And then…

And then…

“She didn’t use her whole army,” Nina whispered, her breath making small ripples in the hot chocolate.

The wind outside grew stronger, rattling the shack’s windows. Saturday night faded into Sunday morning.

“She didn’t use her whole army.”

And we will.

We will use the entire army

Some of us will be sacrificed.

Half of us will be sacrificed.

But we will use our whole army.

By Monday afternoon’s practice, the plan had been perfected.

She called the team around her:

“Ladies, we’re going to win this game that’s coming up on Friday night. We’re going to beat Hattiesburg.”

No answer.

No cheers.

Everyone remembered the McNulty sisters.

It was easy for a coach to talk about victory, but…

“I’m going to tell you right now just how we plan to do it.”

“How, Coach? We’ve never been able to stop those two girls.”

“I know, but we will this time.”

“How?”

Nina shook her head:

“When you met them before, you failed to weaken their center. You didn’t put enough infantry fire on Hancock’s men.”

Blank stares.

“Well, we’re going to weaken that center. We’ll have to sacrifice half our team to do it. But it will get done. We will weaken their center; and then we’ll hit them with Pickett’s Charge. Only this time, it will work.”

Two girls at once:

“Pickett’s Charge?”

Nina:

“Yes. Pickett’s Charge.”

Pause, pause, and then:

“Is that going to be on the MACE?”

Nina shook her head:

“No. Thank God.”

And then:

“Now, let’s get to work.”

And they did.

CHAPTER 19: WHAT IS TESTED IS TAUGHT

The first part of Tuesday morning Nina spent in limbo. She had in her desk the results of the first MOCKMACE examinations given the previous Friday morning. These were results that she’d been expected to share with April van Osdale on Friday evening, at dinner.

Except that April van Osdale had not been present for dinner; present had been only a well decorated house on a golf course.

An empty house.

April had also not answered her phone on Monday morning or Monday afternoon.

“Dr. van Osdale is not in the office,” the secretary had said.

Twice.

She could have been in Jacksonville, with the senator.

Or she could have been at her alternate office in Hattiesburg.

At any rate, she was not reachable, and Nina did not know what to do about the test results.

Make careful notes of all missed questions and re-test?

Forget these tests and order new ones?

Why could she not simply coach the basketball team? In that area, things were at least beginning to make sense.

And it was in this state of mind, asking herself these questions, that she spent Tuesday morning running around like a chicken with its head cut off, doing this errand and that errand, dealing with a milk money crisis in the lunchroom and fifteen lost volumes in the book depository.

She was in a bad mood when she returned to her office.

Stuck in the mail slot was yet another standardized test.

“Who left this damned thing here?” she shouted at no one.

No one answered.

She opened the office door, fuming, and took inside the manila envelope containing what she assumed was yet another mock test, this one also having come from the inscrutable April van Osdale.

She sat down, ripped it open, and read:

OFFICIAL EXAMINATION DOCUMENT

NOT TO BE OPENED UNTIL DATE OF ADMINISTRATION

ANSWER SHEET IS TO BE COMPLETED WITH NUMBER 2 PENCIL ONLY

TIME LIMIT: FIFTY FIVE MINUTES

MARK CLEARLY ONE AND ONE ANSWER ONLY

“Okay, okay,” she said to herself.

Then she read further:

PART ONE

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS IN PART ONE TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY. YOU ARE TO READ THE QUESTION CAREFULLY, FORMULATE YOUR ANSWER, AND THEN MOVE ON. YOU ARE URGED NOT TO TAKE AN EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF TIME ON ANY ONE QUESTION. PLEASE NOTE THAT EACH SECTION OF THE EXAMINATION IS STRICTLY TIMED.

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE BEGIN THE EXAMINATION BEFORE THE OFFICIAL MONITORING AGENT SIGNALS YOU TO DO SO.

WHEN GIVEN THE APPROPRIATE ‘START’ COMMAND, YOU MAY BEGIN.

GOOD LUCK!

Then the questions:

Dr. April van Osdale is:

a) Dead

b) Alive

c) Missing

Nina stared at the document in her hands:

“Oh my God,” she whispered.

There was a knock on her door.

“What?” she said, automatically.

The door opened; a student assistant stuck her head in:

“Ma’am?”

“Yes?” her voice still on automatic pilot.

“Are you busy?”

She looked up and said:

“What?”

“Are you busy right now?”

Then she looked down at the examination, which lay upon her lap like a flat, white, cobra.

“I think,” she whispered, “that I’m going to be busy for some time.”

“All right. I’ll see that you’re not disturbed.”

The whisper continued, almost automatically.

“Thank you.”

The door closed.

The examination refused to go away and continued to hiss, silently.

She read the first question again:

1. Dr. April van Osdale is:

a) Dead

b) Alive

c) Missing

She found herself continuing to whisper, and she wondered who might be listening.

“Statistics show that if you don’t know,” the whispering said, “you should choose ‘c’.”

The questions continued:

2. If you show anyone your work, or share the questions with your neighbor, you will be:

a) Not practicing good citizenship

b) Failing to comply with the stated rules and regulations pertaining to The Mississippi Academic Skills Examination, Regulation 4298-Part B.

c) All of the above

…and the last question:

3. Your next step should be:

a) Act rashly and impulsively

b) Panic

c) Act prudently, go home, and wait to hear from a friend.

…then:

THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS PORTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI ACADEMIC SKILLS EXAMINATION.

PLEASE PASS FORWARD YOUR NUMBER TWO WEIGHT PENCILS, OR GIVE THEM TO THE PERSON MONITORING THE EXAMINATION.

YOU WILL RECEIVE THE RESULTS OF YOUR EXAMINATION IN SIX WEEKS OR LESS.

IF YOU FEEL YOU HAVE BEEN DISCRIMINATED AGAINST IN TAKING THE EXAMINATION, YOU MAY REQUEST, IN WRITING, THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE TESTED AGAIN.

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR COMPLIANCE.

And that was that.

Nina thought for a time.

Then she carefully put the test back into its folder.

Then she went home, without speaking to anyone.

The next ten hours were pure hell.

She could do nothing but sit in her bedroom and look out of the window.

Her cell phone remained in her hand. She should call Moon Rivard; should call the state police; should call
somebody
!

But whoever had put this thing in her mailbox would know it.

And what could Moon Rivard do?

Begin a search for April van Osdale?

Who had probably been abducted?

It was too chancy, was it not?

And when had April been abducted? The only answer was, Friday night, just before Nina had arrived at Fairway Drive.

She had been told to go to her shack and wait: a friend was to arrive.

What friend?

She waited. And waited. And waited.

At 7:00 PM, just after sundown, Penelope Royal drove up in her jeep.

She went downstairs just as Penelope was getting out.

“Nina?”

“Penn, what’s up?”

“I got this letter. Got it about an hour ago; don’t even know where it came from.”

“Yeah, that’s the way things seem to be happening. Let me see.”

She read:

“Dear Ms. Royale. Please take Ms. Nina Bannister to the following GPS coordinates as soon as possible this evening. You will find a five hundred dollar bill enclosed as partial payment for your services. As soon as you and Ms. Bannister have returned to Bay St. Lucy, another thousand dollars will be forthcoming.”

Penelope looked at Nina.

“Do you know what this is about?”

“No, Penn, I don’t. Not exactly. I know some things. But I can’t talk about them.”

“Do you want to go?”

“Where are these coordinates?”

“Petit Bois Island. Maybe ten miles from here. Have to go by boat. It’s wild grass and marshland, with a few trees and fishing sheds.”

“I think I have to go.”

“All right; I can use the money.”

“Penn—this may be dangerous.”

Penn approached Nina, laid a palm gently on her shoulder, and said:

“I’ll promise you something, Nina. And I mean this. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“What?”

“I won’t hurt anybody.”

Nina thought for a time, then said:

“Well. If you’re sure.”

And the two women drove off.