are apparently aware of your ro-mantic involvement with Mr. Reyes.”
She whimpered, wiped her nose on her raincoat sleeve. “I wasn’t—we didn’t—it wasn’t like everybody thinks. It wasn’t wrong! We were in love.”
“You don’t have to use the past tense.”
She looked at me blankly. I must have sounded as if I were correcting her grammar. “He isn’t dead.” I hoped that was still true. “You don’t have to talk about him in the past.”
83
A HOLE IN JUAN
She shook her head. “I saw his face—his eyes—I heard him scream—”
“He’s in bad shape, yes. He’s been hurt, but he’s unconscious, not dead. And nobody blames you for anything.”
“He smoked. A lot. Whenever he could. I didn’t think it was right, especially in the lab, but he said he knew precisely where everything was, and that nothing was dangerous if you knew what you were doing and took precautions, and he was angry that there wasn’t a single place in this school to smoke. He thought the faculty, at least, should have a place. He said a lot of high schools even had places like that for the students. He said—”
I held her hand and listened, trying to hear more than she seemed able to say.
“—besides, he put it out—he put out his cigarette and that’s when—he shouted ‘Oh, no!’ and all of a sudden, flames and glass and blood and—”
“He shouted before the explosion?”
She started sobbing again, hiccupping out words. “I think so, but—I don’t know—It was so fast—loud—”
“Shhh. What shattered?” I thought about those flying shards and couldn’t help but think of St. Cassian of Imola and death by a thousand cuts.
“I don’t know! Nothing was out, like beakers or bottles, I swear. No gas was on—I would have smelled it. And I didn’t touch a thing!”
I made shushing noises and spoke softly, asking if she was all right, if she had been hurt anywhere. She calmed down, and then words erupted out of her again. “We were—we are in love and we’re both adults.”
“Nobody said anything was wrong.” Of course, I didn’t know what anybody had said. I gave Pip still more points for knowing that teachers didn’t have a clue about what was really going on. I didn’t even know what was going on with other teachers, let alone the students.
“I think,” I said softly and slowly, “you need to go someplace GILLIAN ROBERTS
84
where you can rest. Home, probably. Take the day off. You are quite understandably shaken and upset. You probably should make a statement.”
“About what? To whom?”
Indeed. Who was there? Surely not Maurice Havermeyer. I could hear him still booming orders to move on, move on, and report to your assigned homerooms. He was maintaining his longtime record of being completely ineffective.
“Never mind,” I said. “I didn’t think that through. This isn’t a crime scene and there’s no evidence of foul play. I hope you don’t mind if I ask you a question, however. Where were you when they checked out the lab? They obviously didn’t see you.”
She wailed again.
“Tisha? It doesn’t matter. You weren’t hurt and you were frightened. I can understand why you’d hide; I just can’t imagine where.”
“In the prep room in back. That’s where we—it’s private there. Pretty cramped, though. I hid behind his desk in there.
They only looked around for a second. I think they were looking for bodies. Out-in-the-open bodies. Or more fire or something.
They came near, but they didn’t pull out the chair and look underneath. Everything was peaceful, so they went away.”
“Had you been waiting for him in the prep room?”
“At first, yes. I wanted to surprise him. Usually, we don’t—I don’t get in this early on Wednesday, so we can’t . . . But my dad had an early appointment in Delaware today, and he said he’d drop me off on the way.”
“Did you see any students when you came in here?”
“A few, and I didn’t want them
She whimpered, wiped her nose on her raincoat sleeve. “I wasn’t—we didn’t—it wasn’t like everybody thinks. It wasn’t wrong! We were in love.”
“You don’t have to use the past tense.”
She looked at me blankly. I must have sounded as if I were correcting her grammar. “He isn’t dead.” I hoped that was still true. “You don’t have to talk about him in the past.”
83
A HOLE IN JUAN
She shook her head. “I saw his face—his eyes—I heard him scream—”
“He’s in bad shape, yes. He’s been hurt, but he’s unconscious, not dead. And nobody blames you for anything.”
“He smoked. A lot. Whenever he could. I didn’t think it was right, especially in the lab, but he said he knew precisely where everything was, and that nothing was dangerous if you knew what you were doing and took precautions, and he was angry that there wasn’t a single place in this school to smoke. He thought the faculty, at least, should have a place. He said a lot of high schools even had places like that for the students. He said—”
I held her hand and listened, trying to hear more than she seemed able to say.
“—besides, he put it out—he put out his cigarette and that’s when—he shouted ‘Oh, no!’ and all of a sudden, flames and glass and blood and—”
“He shouted before the explosion?”
She started sobbing again, hiccupping out words. “I think so, but—I don’t know—It was so fast—loud—”
“Shhh. What shattered?” I thought about those flying shards and couldn’t help but think of St. Cassian of Imola and death by a thousand cuts.
“I don’t know! Nothing was out, like beakers or bottles, I swear. No gas was on—I would have smelled it. And I didn’t touch a thing!”
I made shushing noises and spoke softly, asking if she was all right, if she had been hurt anywhere. She calmed down, and then words erupted out of her again. “We were—we are in love and we’re both adults.”
“Nobody said anything was wrong.” Of course, I didn’t know what anybody had said. I gave Pip still more points for knowing that teachers didn’t have a clue about what was really going on. I didn’t even know what was going on with other teachers, let alone the students.
“I think,” I said softly and slowly, “you need to go someplace GILLIAN ROBERTS
84
where you can rest. Home, probably. Take the day off. You are quite understandably shaken and upset. You probably should make a statement.”
“About what? To whom?”
Indeed. Who was there? Surely not Maurice Havermeyer. I could hear him still booming orders to move on, move on, and report to your assigned homerooms. He was maintaining his longtime record of being completely ineffective.
“Never mind,” I said. “I didn’t think that through. This isn’t a crime scene and there’s no evidence of foul play. I hope you don’t mind if I ask you a question, however. Where were you when they checked out the lab? They obviously didn’t see you.”
She wailed again.
“Tisha? It doesn’t matter. You weren’t hurt and you were frightened. I can understand why you’d hide; I just can’t imagine where.”
“In the prep room in back. That’s where we—it’s private there. Pretty cramped, though. I hid behind his desk in there.
They only looked around for a second. I think they were looking for bodies. Out-in-the-open bodies. Or more fire or something.
They came near, but they didn’t pull out the chair and look underneath. Everything was peaceful, so they went away.”
“Had you been waiting for him in the prep room?”
“At first, yes. I wanted to surprise him. Usually, we don’t—I don’t get in this early on Wednesday, so we can’t . . . But my dad had an early appointment in Delaware today, and he said he’d drop me off on the way.”
“Did you see any students when you came in here?”
“A few, and I didn’t want them
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