Swan Dive by Kendel Lynn Page A

features clenched with frustration and he grabbed my shoulders. “You were almost killed twice in six months working those PI cases. First Leo Hirschorn, then Gil Goodsen, now Lexie Allen.”
    “But I wasn’t killed. I’m right here and I’m fine,” I said. “Nothing bad is going to happen on this case. I know what I’m doing and I’m good at it.”
    He let me go and leaned against the wall. Muffled music and laughter surrounded us and echoed down the corridor. “You don’t know what will happen. To you or anyone else. You’re out there stirring up emotions and disrupting lives, and why? Because you don’t want to accept it was an accident.”
    “Lexie Allen’s life got disrupted. It wasn’t suicide or an accident.” I didn’t add that no one else thought it was those things, either. Even though Ransom didn’t admit to me it was murder, I knew him, and that story about an accident was nonsense. I felt like I’d betray Ransom if I told Matty. Which only made me feel awkward for keeping it from him. The space between us may have only been three feet, but the distance spanned an emotional slot canyon, with us on opposite ends, one up, one down, and no tangible way to reach each other.
    “Matty—”
    All sorts of screams and shouts let loose from inside the gymnasium. The doors flew open and students flooded the halls. They were screaming, laughing, and covered in fluffy white goop.
    A panicked teacher came out with her brow all creased and her hands wrung together. “I’m sorry, Mr. Gannon. I left my post for five minutes and someone hit a switch,” she shouted over the melee. “It was the punch. It went right through me.” Her stomach gurgled loud enough for me to hear and she covered her stomach with her hand.
    “The bleachers or the basketball hoops?” Matty asked and jogged toward the doors.
    “The hoops. They rigged the streamers to cans of Reddi Whip or something. I don’t know how they did it, but, well…”
    Whipped cream covered the floor, the tables, the people, and even the balloons. Matty stood on a bench and shouted over the crowd. “Slowly, please, everyone slowly to the exits.”
    A food fight erupted at the cupcake table and I thanked all things holy I wasn’t near the barrel of orange punch in my glorious white dress. I edged toward the door.
    The gurgly teacher joined us. “I called the fire department. Some of those rigged cans are still in the rafters and tied to the hoops.”
    We all looked up.
    One hot mess.
    “They said they’d get here when they could. There was a big fire over in Summerton. A rig went to help.” She shrugged. “Going to be awhile, I think.” She turned to help herd students toward the exit.
    “I’m sorry, Elli. It’ll be a couple hours,” Matty said to me.
    “Can I do something?”
    “I’ve got plenty of teachers to help, but I’ll be tied up untangling this mess.”
    “Don’t worry about me, I understand. I’ll get a ride home. But Matty, your job is like mine. It’s more than the job description. Sometimes I’ve got to untangle the mess, too.”
    We stared at each other in the midst of the pandemonium. He softly touched my cheek, then went into the storm.
    I carefully stepped across the slick floor, out the doors, and into the hall. Once outside, I walked along the sidewalk around the school to the front lot. I sat on a bench in the quad and dialed Sid.
    “You still home alone for the weekend?” I asked.
    “Milo’s hosting a poker game,” she said.
    “And you passed?”
    “I’ve taken the largest pots for the last three games. Milo suggested I skip this one.”
    “Want to go on a stakeout?”

      
    Sid and I sat in her car facing the rear exit of the Sea Pine Island Community Theatre. She brought two bags of Popcorn Indiana: Kettlecorn for me, Movie Theatre for her. We munched and watched the quiet lot.
    “The performance ended an hour ago,” she said. “How long does it take for them to change?”
    “Can’t be much