Here Lies Linc by Delia Ray Page A

of those grimy lockers in the hall. Can you believe that? I’ve got a lot of important stuff in there.”
    I showed Amy how to thread the slippery film through the maze of slots and spools in the viewer, then how to enlarge the picture and fast-forward and reverse. “Oh, thank you, thank you,” she breathed. “You’re the best.” She squeezedmy arm and looked so amazed, you would have thought I had just scrubbed out of open-heart surgery.
    But I wasn’t done. Rosa came along begging for help. Then Cliff corralled me into showing him where to find the right boxes of microfilm. By the time I finally managed to break away, Mr. Oliver was already starting to round people up to head back to school.
    I found Delaney out on the sidewalk, where everyone was waiting for the parents to pick us up. “Guess what,” she said excitedly, as if no time at all had passed since we’d last talked. “I know who Robert Raintree was.”
    “You’re kidding. Already?”
    Delaney proudly told me about her findings. “He used to be head of the law school at the university. I guess he was kind of famous back then. There was a whole bunch of stuff about him on the Internet.”
    “So what about that woman Jeeter told us about? The one who puts the sunflowers on his grave. Who do you think she is?”
    Delaney frowned. “I’m still not sure. It can’t be his wife. She would have died a long time ago. Maybe it’s his daughter.” Delaney stood there thinking, gnawing her bottom lip. “I’ve already looked online and checked the phone book, but there’s not a single listing for anyone named Raintree. Of course, that doesn’t mean much. His daughter could have gotten married and changed her name, or maybe the Raintrees have an unlisted phone number.” Delaney’s shoulders drooped. “I just wish there was a way I could talk to that lady from the graveyard.”
    “Well, why can’t you?” I asked. “Jeeter said she’s come every single Monday for as long as he can remember.”
    “Uh-huh, but he also said she comes around two o’clock. I’d have to skip school to talk to her. I doubt Mama’s gonna like that idea.”
    “But wait,” I said. “Don’t we have a Monday off coming up?”
    “Oh, you’re right.” Delaney gasped. “There’s one of those teacher conference days week after next. It’s on that Monday right before Halloween. We could go then!”
    My heart gave a little jolt when she said the word “we.” “Yeah, we can stake out the graveyard all afternoon and be waiting for her when she gets there.”
    But then Delaney’s face clouded over.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked.
    “Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about Mama.” Delaney snatched a nervous look in my direction. “Didn’t you notice the other day? My mother’s expecting a baby.”
    I nodded. “So … I should say congratulations, right? Aren’t you happy about it?”
    “Oh, I’m happy,” Delaney said quickly. “It’s just that the baby’s due in a month. But you never know. So it’s been kind of hard to plan ahead about things.”
    Before I could ask more questions, I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder. I turned to find Beez and Amy grinning at me. “So!” Beez began. “I hear you’re an absolute genius with microfilm.”
    Amy gave him a flirty little whack on his arm. “He is.” She giggled. “He helped me a ton.”
    “So where’d you learn all that stuff?” Beez asked. “I guess it was your mom who taught you, right? The nutty professor?”
    I didn’t answer. I knew he was just trying to stir things up, hoping I’d take the bait and say something goofy. I turned back to Delaney, muttering under my breath, “How many football players does it take to thread a microfilm machine?”
    “Whoa!” Beez took an exaggerated step backward. “Listen to you! Mr. Comedian!”
    Delaney was tugging my sleeve, ready to pull me away, when Mellecker came strolling over. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked, casting an uneasy look in my