Page 55 of Fortress
Jake dropped his hand to squeeze Toby’s shoulder. “Hey, you did awesome. That’s a great start.”
“I did ask if there was anyone else who might cause trouble or if it was just that one. She was sure no one else would. I went again to Ms. Allemand’s house to see if she’d had trouble with a student who graduated, but she wasn’t home. So I picked up Subway and came back.”
“Awesome,” Jake said, and let go of Toby’s shoulder. “Knew you could handle that and bring me back grub too.”
Toby gripped his fingers tight, then let go and stood back up. “Food’s on the table.”
The sandwich was good and easy to chow down, as long as he peeled the paper wrapper off first. “So, what’s the plan for the afternoon?”
“I was thinking I’d try Ms. Allemand’s house again and look around the school to see if I can catch anyone to talk to,” Toby said.”The witch probably won’t try anything in the daytime. I thought you could ride in the Eldorado, if you want.”
Jake lifted his head in surprise. “Yeah?”
“What I figured is,” Toby said cautiously, “it’ll help us move faster if I can bounce ideas off you, get your help on things I’m not sure about, and decide the next move. And you should be okay as long as you’re in the car.”
“Oh, yeah. Works for me. There’s nothing good on TV, anyway.” Jake could pretend, to himself at least, that Toby hadn’t read the naked relief on his face.
When Toby led him outside by the arm, it was sensory overload all over again: traffic whizzing down the nearby road, hot sun beating down, the fry-basket smell of the nearby diner. Jake lifted his face, trying to tell the direction of the sun, and then Toby nudged his fingers to the door handle before unlocking the car. Getting in still came naturally enough, and Jake ran an appreciative hand over the inside of the shotgun door and the dash.
“Guess I gotta trust you didn’t take her out for some wacko hippie paint job, huh? You better brace me before I get my eyes back if there’s a bunch of dragons or flower decals all over her.”
Toby’s laugh was audible even over the engine’s rumble as he started the car, and Jake settled back into the seat, smiling easier than he had all day.
When they returned to Ms. Allemand’s house, Toby reported a green Honda now parked in the driveway. He went to knock again while Jake tried to play it cool, listening to the radio with the window rolled partially down, trying not to think about those news reports about dogs and helpless babies trapped in cars in the midday heat. Summer in the South was no joke.
Toby returned with a name: Justin Malveaux.
“It sounds pretty likely,” Toby said, as they pulled away from the block. “That was the first name she mentioned, and she didn’t hesitate. Apparently, he had a lot of trouble in her class, accused her of a personal agenda against him. She doesn’t know how anyone could have moved her plants, but she wouldn’t putpetty revenge past him. She also told me to talk to her niece, Isobel, who works at Sonic. She was in the same year as him.”
“Sounds like a solid lead. She didn’t mind talking to you?”
“No.” Toby sounded surprised by it. “I know she was defensive about her story since people have basically called her crazy since the report. But I just told her I’d heard there’d been a student at the school with some grudges, and I hoped she wasn’t in danger—and she opened right up.”
“Looks like you’ve got some charm with the ladies after all.” Jake smirked.
Toby made a soft noise of disbelief. “Let’s find that Sonic.”
It wasn’t too hard to find in a town the size of Minden. When a girl showed up with their drinks, Toby asked if Isobel was working. The girl gave an affirmative and promised to find her and send her out as soon as she had a minute. Footsteps returned before long.
“Hey,” said a different girl’s voice, young and friendly. Once, Jake would’ve flirted like hell with the owner of that voice. “Nice car.”
“Thanks,” Jake called, tipping his head toward her automatically. He hadn’t taken his sunglasses off since he’d left the motel, so it wasn’t like she’d spot anything weird.
“Jake lets me drive it sometimes,” Toby said brightly. “It’s Isobel, right? I’m Tobias. We were just at your aunt Carrie’s house. We’d heard about that weird plant incident, and since our parents are thinking of moving here, we wanted to know if that kind of thing happens a lot.”
“Please, if it did, that wouldn’t have made the national news. It’s not like we have an ASC outpost here.”
Toby forced a laugh. “Yeah, th-that’s good. So, your aunt mentioned you might’ve known this kid in your class—Justin?”
“Oh, him.” Her voice changed abruptly, going dark and angry. “I don’t even want to talk about that creep.”
“What do you mean?” Toby added quickly, “Though I understand if you don’t—”
“He’s just—such aloser, and the scary kind that thinks the world owes him, you know? I couldn’t get him to leave me alone for a while.”
“Did he—what did he . . .”
“A date,” she said, sounding pissed. “Just wanted me togive him a chance, all that shit. Only backed off when my brother got in his face. Though maybe I shouldn’t have asked him to.”
