“Who’s your new bud?” Kathryn asked.
“Not a clue,” I said, shaking my head.
“His name’s Egon,” Egon whispered, elbowing my ribs gently.
My head turned so quickly I was certain my neck had snapped. Egon just called himself my new bud. Was he flirting with me? I hoped he was flirting with me. But I couldn’t know for sure without taking extreme measures—I could scan him. No, the Kilodan would murder me. I could ask Kathryn. But how totally lame would that be with him sitting right there? Egon smiled slyly at me, green eyes melting me right into the auditorium seat.
Mr. Munificent pulled the microphone close to him and said, “I’ll get right to the point. Mrs. Bagley is correct. The problem goes beyond bad grades. Kids are being assaulted and forced to take drugs. I don’t like it.”
“Neither do the kids we beat up,” the voice in the balcony said. The auditorium echoed with laughter.
Munificent stood silently, gazing out into the sea of students. He shook his head finally and said, “You kids don’t have a clue, do you? The bullying and the drugs are just a decoy. This is about something much bigger.”
“Bigger than your gut?” the voice said.
The chief smiled like a mongoose facing off against a snake, knowing it had found an easy meal. “Look, genius, I’m not a man who’s afraid to do his job. Give me a reason, and I’ll slap cuffs on you. And believe me, I’ll enjoy it. Here’s the deal. The drug floating around this school is called Psychedone 10. It’s a twisted mutation of LSD. Ordinary LSD just makes people stupid. But this poison that you kids are into, this atrocity, this cancer…it makes people wicked. Ten years ago, I hunted a masked kidnapper who terrorized the city. He fed this drug to his victims, all children. They committed obscenities you can’t even imagine. We stopped them, but he disappeared without a trace. Now he’s back, and you kids are his target.” A hush fell over the auditorium. The Chief raised an eyebrow and said in a low voice, “What, no snappy comeback, tough guy?”
I scooted forward in my seat, suddenly interested.
“He’s using you kids to do his dirty work,” the Chief said. “You know why? Because you have enough idiots among you to make it easy.”
So the stalker had been around before. I wondered if the memories I saw were old—visions of the girls he kidnapped ten years ago. No matter, he was still out there. Kids were still in danger.
“A piece of advice,” Munificent said. “You punks who think it’s cool to push drugs or beat people up, you’re the ones who’ll take the rap for what this guy is doing. You’re his cover. He wants us to focus on you instead of him. And it’s working. The fact that I’m here now proves it. I should be out finding him. I’m the only one left on the force who understands that the man is pure evil. He’ll recruit you against your will, and when he’s done with you, he’ll kill you, and your friends will be blamed. I need your help to find out who he is. I need to stop him this time.”
“It was Professor Plum with a pipe!” the voice from the balcony shouted.
Amos Munificent glared up at the balcony, suddenly irritated. “Mason, for once in your life, shut up! This is serious. Not even your father can protect you from this man. You don’t know who we’re dealing with. I would think that someone with your history would take this more seriously.”
“Ooh,” Kathryn said. “Draudimon got told!”
“Shhh!” I elbowed her.
Munificent gazed out at the crowd and said quietly, “I’m looking for a man who covers his face with a skull mask. He’s wanted in connection with the attempted kidnapping of a ten-year-old girl. We believe he is behind the drugs in this school, as well. One of you knows him. You have no idea how much danger you’re in. I need to stop him before anyone dies. Before you die. I need your help.”
So he knew about Elmo and his nasty skull mask. Not surprising. Andy and the Kilodan always let the cops know what’s up. We’re their best source. The stalker’s image spun through my head like a pinwheel…Elmo mask, skull mask, no mask. Andy and I had gone through every mug shot in the database, but I couldn’t identify the stalker. He told me that he was working on something that would help, but I felt so useless. Tears welled up. It was my fault the stalker escaped. I had to find him.
Then it hit me.
The Kilodan was right. Crud, the man was always right. The clue I needed to find the stalker was right here at school. Munificent said one of us knew him. I just had to figure out who.