“Dude’s intense,” Kathryn whispered.
“I am here to declare war!” Dalrymple shouted. Feedback from the speakers echoed through the auditorium and we all jumped. “An all-out War on Drugs. And I will be taking prisoners. You, the fine students of Greensburg High School, have endured the business long enough. The good people of Greensburg have endured the business long enough. It is time to put an end to the business, and you have my word that I will put an end to the business.” Dalrymple threw his hands high in the air as though everyone had given him a standing ovation.
The silence in the auditorium hummed in my ears. Dr. Captious began to clap, smirking while his hands slapped a leisurely rhythm. Dr. Miliron joined him, then everyone in the front rows applauded and cheered.
“To show you just how serious I am,” Dalrymple bellowed into the microphone over the applause, “my agents and I have prepared a little demonstration for you.” He turned to the left side of the stage and shouted, “Bring ’em out!”
A line of kids in handcuffs paraded across the stage. I recognized most of them. Birdie Fort, Andrea Johnson, Kent Gable. All known drug users. All kids who had recently turned nasty. Some lanky girl I’d never seen before. The last boy in the lineup shuffled across the stage with his head down, face hidden against his shoulder. He didn’t look at anyone on stage or in the audience. Must be possession charges. Guess the insider didn’t get the memo. Looked like Art Rubric and Chuckie were tipped off, though.
As the line stopped, Dalrymple turned to them and barked, “I announce my mission to this fine student body. Here and now, in this hour, I am launching my War on Drugs in Greensburg. This student body is under my personal protection. Let all predators know that I will hunt them down. Let all drug dealers know that they cannot hide from Maximilian Dalrymple. I have eyes everywhere. Think of me as your own personal Santa Claus. I see you when you’re sleeping. I know when you’re awake. I know if you’ve been bad or good, so your freedom I will take.”
“Poor guy just took a hard right on Batty Boulevard,” Kathryn said.
“Okay, maybe he’s a little off the deep end, but I like him.” Andy had told me about the new police chief. He’d said he was well-meaning but totally unconcerned with political correctness. “He just wants to send a message.”
“I guess so. Looks like the rumor about the informant is real. Must be how he knew to bring the dogs in. He hit the jackpot.”
“When did this rumor start?” I asked.
“After the last assembly. I told you.”
“Did not.”
“Meant to.”
Dalrymple faced the students in cuffs and drew a circle in the air with his finger. “Turn and show your faces to the students of Greensburg High School. Show them the face of the enemy. Show them what happens when you go up against Maximilian Dalrymple.”
Just like puppets, the line of captives turned and lifted their faces to the auditorium. The boy at the end of the line looked up, and I gasped.
“Bobby,” Kathryn whispered.
Chapter Twelve
The Hall Monitor
“He was set up,” Kathryn said. “And I’m going to find out whodunit. Deputize me. Give me one of your Psi Fighter badges.”
“We don’t have badges.”
“Okay, a mask then. A nasty-looking mask. Something to instill fear in the hearts of the evildoers who set my Bobby up. Maybe a pink one.” Every one of Dalrymple’s captives had been suspended, except Bobby. Mrs. Bagley had argued that he was a model student, and that his locker had been broken into. She forced the police to pull the packet of drugs they had discovered in Bobby’s locker and dust it for prints. They found Kent Gable’s fingerprints, but not Bobby’s.
I did a mental eyebrow raise. “What we need is surveillance. We know that Gable wasn’t the brains behind this. We just have to snoop around a bit to find out who was.”
“Exactly,” Kathryn said. “You can’t use ‘brains’ and ‘Gable’ in the same sentence.” Kathryn and I had skipped out of lunch. We sat in the library huddled behind a closed door at a round table in the small, soundproof study room at the back, hidden by rows of books. I plucked the maps Andy had given me from my backpack.
“Let’s get to work.” I unrolled Andy’s maps on the library table. “Andy says you can hear everything from the ductwork. He installed sensors. They transmit to this.” I held up a small earpiece.
“Looks like the earbud for my iPhone,” Kathryn said.
“Yeah, Andy has a thing for iPhones.”
Kathryn pointed to the block in the center of the diagram. “Looks like the boiler room is the center of the whole school. Exits out all four sides, each into a different hallway. And look, the ventilator system is wide enough to crawl through. Takes you everywhere. Four intake vents, one on each side of the boiler. Looks like that’s your way in. I wonder if it’s strong enough to hold you.”