Page 28 of Be A Detective, They Said. It’ll Be Fun, They Said

I wandered down the hall, passing rows of classrooms with colorful pictures the children had drawn, posters of multiplication tables, the letters of the alphabet, the shiny floor beneath my feet and smiled.

My children loved this school. I loved this school. I loved the smell of crayons, the cafeteria pizza (they even had a blood dispenser for the vampiric children), the floor cleaner Angus used to mop.

I stopped at the boiler room door and rapped with my knuckles. “Mr. Yannis? Are you in there? Agnew? Cooper?” I listened at the door, but there was no sound behind it.

Deciding to take the bull by the horns, I opened the door, poking my head inside.

As boiler rooms went, it was, well, a boiler room. Nothing fancy. Agnew’s pail and mop were set neatly in a corner. He had a small table where he ate his lunch, even though the staff often asked he and Cooper to join them. A shelf with the supplies Agnew was currently using and Neerie was so concerned about and, oddly, a transistor radio. Mr. Yannis was an ancient. It didn’t surprise me that he still listened to the radio.

When I stepped fully into the room, the door shut behind me, leaving me in the dark. As my eyes adjusted, I felt around and found the light switch, flipping it on.

There wasn’t much to see, and if Agnew wasn’t in here, I needed to get back to Nina and Marty so we could hash out what we had—and lunch. Sweet Caroline, I needed some lunch.

Texting Arch, I asked if he would be so kind as to make me my favorite, a BLT on brioche bread.

My stomach grumbling, I left the boiler room and headed to the supply pantry a short way down the hall to take a good hard look at the supplies.

Reaching out, I began to move the jugs of cleaner around—and that’s the last thing I remember.

Everything went pitch black.

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