Night School

In her hiding place, Allie frowned. What are they looking for?

At first she thought there was no way she could get out of the building with Zelazny and Eloise now outside, but then it occurred to her that Ruth’s body had been found at the back of the building. The chapel was in the woods across the front lawn. Although she hadn’t heard all that Zelazny was saying, if they were starting at the back, she should have plenty of time to get to the shelter of the treeline before she could be seen.

To give them time to get away from the front, she counted to one hundred before opening the door. It swung silently on its hinges and she peeked outside.

Not a soul in sight.

Stepping out into the late evening light, she carefully closed the door behind her.

It was just after Isabelle’s nine o’clock curfew, and the sun was thinking about setting at the end of the long summer day. Standing on the top step, illuminated in the golden glow, Allie looked upward for a long minute as if she were trying to absorb the light into her soul. Then she darted across the lawn and hurled herself towards the forest.

Once she’d made it safely to the treeline (ninety-seven steps), she slowed a bit to catch her breath, then jogged down the path through the darkening shadows. All was silent and dim. When she reached the churchyard gate five minutes later the quiet was oppressive.

If Carter’s in there, I certainly can’t hear him. The metal clang the latch made when she opened the gate seemed to ring out in the peaceful glade.

Instinctively she headed to the yew tree where they’d sat talking on detention day. As she neared it she saw a foot clad in a dark shoe dangling down. Reaching up, she grabbed it and it was instantly retracted.

‘Hey – you made it.’ He was sitting on the same broad branch, his back against the tree trunk. As he leaned down to help her up she marvelled again at his strength – he lifted her easily into place next to him. She shifted herself back onto a smooth spot and sat facing him, her knees bent and her feet flat on the branch between them.

‘So … what’s this all about, Carter?’ she asked, cocking her head. ‘Why did you want to meet all the way out here in detention-land?’

‘Because I didn’t want to be overheard, and this is about the only place I know of where I can be a hundred per cent sure we can talk safely.’

Something in Carter’s posture looked uncomfortable. He seemed to have trouble deciding what to say and she couldn’t catch his eye.

‘It’s just …’ he said, then stopped. After a moment he tried again. ‘There are some things you need to know.’

Thank God for that, Allie thought. Some answers at last.

She didn’t wait for him to start. ‘Carter, what do you know about all of this? Why are they pretending Ruth killed herself? Her throat was … There is no way she did that to herself. And there were others there. I heard them. And Isabelle knows about them.’

Carter had started to interrupt her before she mentioned Isabelle. Now he stopped and stared at her. ‘What makes you think Isabelle knows?’

Quickly she told him about overhearing the teachers and then Isabelle talking about someone named Nathaniel, and the implication that he was involved in what had happened.

Carter raked his fingers through his hair. ‘So, they don’t think anybody at the school had anything to do with Ruth’s death but they’re going to tell everyone she killed herself.’

Allie leaned forward. ‘Why, though? Won’t the police be able to take one look at her and know it wasn’t a suicide?’

He met her gaze. ‘What police?’

She gaped at him. ‘Are you serious? You think they haven’t called the cops?’

‘Haven’t. Won’t.’

‘But … how …?’

His reply was immediate. ‘The police haven’t been here because the police have no idea what’s going on here and nobody’s going to tell them. They will never know Ruth died here. Her body will turn up in an alley somewhere and her parents, who spend most of their time in France, will tell the cops she was a runaway. And the cops will believe them because her dad’s an investment banker and her mum wears designer clothes and those kinds of people don’t lie, right?’

Allie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘Are you serious? Carter, are you saying this will all be covered up?’

‘Of course it will, Allie. There’s a reason you’d never heard of Cimmeria before you came here.’ His tone was bitter. ‘Don’t you get it yet? Don’t you know where you are?’

Allie didn’t know what to say. She searched for the right words. ‘Carter, what is going on here, really?’

‘That is what I’m trying to figure out,’ he said, staring out over the churchyard. ‘Look, Cimmeria is a very unusual, tightly knit place. Everybody knows everybody. Everybody is here for a reason. Remember when we had that sort of argument, when we first met? You thought I was saying that you didn’t have a right to be here?’