Then Rourke turned to Nick and asked for his account.
Nick echoed Will’s version, adding that they changed coats so the Knights would mistake him for Will. He’d gone to the Barn to create a distraction while Will and the others went for Brooke.
We’re home free, thought Will with relief. Then Nick kept going.
“And when I got there, a bunch of masked dudes, like six of ’em, were trying to steal the statue of the school mascot. They’d already knocked it off its pedestal and dragged it to the locker room, and I didn’t know if they were gonna deface it or something, right, so I made some citizen arrests. All of a sudden, this ginormous animal charges in—I guess ’cause they’d left the doors open and it was trying to get out of the storm? And I know this sounds totally shwhacked, but I think that maybe it was … a bear?”
Dead silence.
“So, next thing I know, my leg’s busted up real bad and I somehow call the operator and I have this voodoo nightmare that there’s a giant squid talking to me.… Then I woke up here. You know, pretty confused and all.”
Will tried not to wince.
“There was an animal down there,” someone said from behind Will.
Everyone turned. Coach Jericho had come into the room while Nick was speaking.
“I was in my office when I heard it,” said Jericho evenly. “Luckily, I was able to open a few doors and keep away from it until it chased me outside.”
“A bear?” asked Rourke.
“Judging by the tracks, it might have been a bear,” said Jericho. “But to be honest, Stephen, it was dark and I didn’t turn around to take a look.”
“What happened to your arm?” asked Robbins.
“I slipped on the ice outside, after I made it out of the building. Nothing serious.”
“A bear,” said Rourke, looking at Nick again.
“Unlikely as it sounds,” said Jericho, “I’ve seen Mr. McLeish part company with the facts before, but I think he’s telling the truth. Those kids did drag the statue to the locker room and vandalize it. That’s where we found what was left.”
“Thank you, Coach,” said Rourke.
Jericho met Will’s eye, then stepped out of the room. Nick exhaled slowly and glanced at Will. Will silently mouthed, A giant squid?
Nick shrugged and nodded. Rourke stood up and ran a hand through his thick hair.
“We found three rifles, abandoned at the base of the ridge,” said Rourke. “Target guns used by the biathlon team and stolen from a locked cabinet in the field house. We also found spent shells and four snowmobiles from the motor pool.
“Obviously, Will, your concerns were well founded: A small group of students appears to have revived the Knights of Charlemagne, an organization that was banned here seventy years ago. These are deadly serious crimes, and ten students are in custody. Their families have been notified, and arrests are forthcoming. The safety of our students is a sacred trust, and we’re going to conduct a full investigation to get to the bottom of how and why this happened.”
Rourke paused as another of Will’s teachers entered the room: It was Sangren, the little civics professor. He took Rourke aside and whispered urgently.
“Excuse me,” said Rourke. He gestured for Dr. Geist to follow him. Both hurried outside.
Sangren turned to Will. “Will, come with me, please. In here.”
Will followed Sangren into his own room. Sangren pointed to the bed. “Sit down, please, Will.”
Will did as he asked. Sangren went back to the adjoining door and spoke quietly to Dr. Robbins and Dr. Kujawa. Something he said caused Robbins to involuntarily raise a hand to her mouth and gasp, then glance at Will. Kujawa looked at Will and immediately left the room. Sangren braced Robbins’s arms with his for a moment as she composed herself; then both walked over to Will.
“What is it?” asked Will, his heart sinking before he heard a word.
Dr. Robbins knelt and took Will’s hand. “Will, Dan McBride just called,” she said.
“What happened?”
“There’s been an accident.”
OceanofPDF.com
THE ACCIDENT
He insisted they take him there. When they resisted, he raised his voice, just once, to let them know it was nonnegotiable. They left an hour before dawn, in the school’s helicopter, lifting off from the roof of the medical center. Will sat in back between Dr. Robbins and Coach Jericho. Headmaster Rourke, they’d told him, had gone up ahead to meet with authorities.
They touched down on the tarmac in Madison a few minutes after six, as the sky turned light gray in the east. Headmaster Rourke and Dan McBride were waiting beside a large black SUV driven by Eloni. They climbed in and followed two Wisconsin state patrol cars, flashing their light bars, for a mile to the west. When they parked near the site and climbed out, Headmaster Rourke put his arm gently but firmly around Will’s shoulder and quietly talked him through it.
The pilot had radioed air traffic control that they’d lost power just after beginning their descent. The storm severely limited visibility. There had been hope they could coast to a landing but the landing gear clipped some treetops well short of the runway. The plane tumbled and crashed and then caught fire.
There had been four people on board, including the two-man crew. No survivors.
As they walked toward the woods, Will saw firefighters and rescue teams wrapping up. Investigators were setting up lights focused on a charred twisted mass among burned evergreens at the end of a long debris field.
One section of the fuselage and tail remained intact. On its side was the writing Will had come here expecting to find: N497TF. A Bombardier Challenger 600. The same private twin-engine passenger jet his parents had rented in Oxnard three days earlier.
Will had gone cold inside when Dr. Robbins told him the news. He’d felt that way all night, and seeing this for himself didn’t change it; Will still felt nothing, numb.
Rourke explained there were some officials in the terminal who had asked to speak with him, but that if he didn’t feel up to it, he could postpone it to another day.
“Let’s get it over with,” said Will.
They met in a conference room at Dane County Regional Airport, in the general aviation offices. Headmaster Rourke insisted on staying with Will. Two troopers manned the door outside. Two suits waited inside, local detectives.
They made polite attempts at expressing sympathy. They reported that efforts to identify the passengers were under way and they were hoping he could help. They showed Will the blackened remnant of a wallet and a partially destroyed California driver’s license in a plastic bag and asked him if he recognized the photo.
“My father,” said Will. “Jordan West.”
They showed him a scorched woman’s leather handbag. Will recognized it as one that belonged to his mother, Belinda West. They asked if it was true, as had been reported to them, that his parents had been flying in to visit him at his new school.
“Yes,” he said.
They asked Will if he knew the name of his family’s dentist back in California. He said they hadn’t yet found one in Ojai to his knowledge. He realized they were looking for dental X-rays to identify the bodies.
Their interview was winding down when a man in a black suit entered. Will felt his blood run cold when he took off his hat.
It was the Bald Man. Lyle’s Mr. Hobbes.
He showed a badge, identifying him as Inspector Dan O’Brian from the Federal Aviation Administration, then addressed Will. “I’ve been tracking your parents for the last three days,” he said. His voice was cold, almost robotic. “When was the last time you spoke to them?”
Will stared him right in the eye. “Two or three days ago.”