Escape Theory

CHAPTER 16




Wednesday, October 10



Devon wondered why she’d even bother coming to the library. Studying or concentrating was out of the question. She sat at one of the wooden tables with the old green lamps, the ones that burned so hot they threatened to singe the arm hair on anyone who dared to touch the power switch. So, Hutch had gotten Maya pregnant. Well, Maya hadn’t said those exact words out loud, but it was clearly not Immaculate Conception. Instead she talked only about the baby. She was determined to keep it, but knew she would start showing in a few weeks. How would she explain it to her parents, the school? Who should she tell first? Mrs. Sosa? Nurse Reilly? Was there a Keaton hierarchy of whom to tell first? Would Maya be kicked out? Devon realized she was as clueless as Maya was. Once again, there wasn’t a clear guideline on how to handle secret pregnancies. Maybe once this was all done Devon would submit a new chapter for the Keaton Companion. Beyond Rules Anyone Could Imagine: A Guide for the Unexpected.

The Keaton display case kept drawing Devon’s eyes. Tres abbitas. Three trees, according to the old Latin dictionary she’d consulted. Why had the logo for Keaton changed from three trees to one? Sighing, Devon stood up and approached the case.

1946: Francis Keaton broke ground on what was to become The Keaton School. A framed picture from the Santa Cruz Sentinel showed a smiling Francis, thick dark hair slicked back to a pointed widow’s peak, with his foot on the edge of the shovel. Devon had never really looked at any of this Keaton history before. A portrait of him, much later in life, hung in the admissions office. But that gray hair was slicked back the same way.

She looked more closely at the picture. Nothing but lush mountains and open sky behind him. No vineyards on the hillsides just yet. Behind him, three people smiled and watched as he posed. The caption read, Mr. and Mrs. Reed Hutchins, Edward Dover. Edward Dover? As in Maya’s father, Eddie Dover? No, this guy would be too old, wouldn’t he? But, if he had a son, Edward Junior … yes, that could be Maya’s father.

Next to Edward, Devon recognized a younger Reed Hutchins: cowboy hat in one hand, his arm around the waist of beautiful woman with light hair. She must have been Athena. Devon could almost see Hutch in his grandmother’s smiling pose.…

“Where were you?” a voice barked.

Devon whirled to see Matt standing behind her. His black eye was fading into a greenish half-moon at the top of his cheekbone. He scowled. “I showed up for our session and Robins was sitting in your chair.”

“Did he tell you why I wasn’t there?” she asked meekly.

“He said you were out of the program. He thought I’d talk to him instead. Why the hell would I do that?” Matt wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before you met with him,” Devon said, and she meant it. “I wanted to tell you, but after our last session, I wasn’t sure if you’d even show up.”

Matt chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Don’t you ever just want to disappear for a bit? Clear your head?” Devon wasn’t sure how to answer that. Matt shook his head. “Whatever, don’t mind me. I wanted to tell you something. In session. But here’s OK, too.” He sat down at Devon’s table and waited until Devon was sitting, too. “I gave it up. All of it.” He raised an eyebrow, waiting and holding his breath until she responded.

“All of it? Like.…” Was he saying what she thought he was saying?

“All of it. I’m not supplying anything to anyone. Bodhi wants to get back at me, rat me out. His loss. He’s got nothing. I’m not taking anything either. Seemed like I maybe needed to get my head straight again. I don’t feel great, but at least I’m clear.”

“Wow. So, no more pills? Matt, that’s.…” Don’t judge. Or was this about reinforcing positive behavior? No, that was dog training. “That’s great.”

“It’s all gone, except, I’m keeping one piece of leverage over Bodhi if he ever wants to mess with me.” Matt smiled to himself. He still thinks the book is under Hutch’s mattress, Devon realized. “But I’m out. So, stop asking me for drugs all the time, okay?”

His smiled widened, and Devon smiled, too. They sat there for a beat, holding each other’s gaze. The tension between them in the Peer Counseling room was gone. Strange: Matt had been right; the last time they’d spoken was their freshman year camping trip. Then, it was a brief flicker of a friendship that never materialized, but now there was something new. Something tangible. I think he respects me.

Could that be right? The thought was unfamiliar, like trying a new language. Devon was used to being out of the loop, on the fringe of everything. It was almost comforting to know that her place would always be as an observer, not the observed. But now something had shifted. Matt wasn’t looking for her to simply reflect his personality back to him. He cared what she thought. For the first time, she mattered.

He tapped his hands on the tabletop and stood. “Anyway, just wanted to tell you. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Who said I was worrying?” Devon looked up at Matt, an eyebrow raised. Now that she wasn’t in an official role, it was fun to play along. He patted her on the shoulder.

“We both knew you were,” he said. “You suck at lying, Mackintosh. Hutch always said that about you. One of the things that made you different.”

Devon watched as he walked out of the library. It was true, she had worried about him. But she was a better liar than he gave her credit for. Hutch was a liar, too, of course. She was still going to keep that book.

DEVON HAD DEBATED ABOUT whether or not to tell Raven about Maya’s secret, but considering Raven already knew that someone was pregnant, it didn’t seem as big of a betrayal. Maya had asked for Devon’s help, yes. But Devon needed to talk with someone else to figure out how to help her. Preferably that talk could happen off the Keaton campus, away from prying eyes and ears.

The moment classes ended Friday afternoon, the red Volvo whisked her through the Keaton gates.

“I really don’t believe it. Like, really don’t believe it.” Raven licked the end of a hand-rolled cigarette as the car idled at the bottom of the hill. Devon couldn’t help but keep her eyes on the rear view mirror. Getting in trouble for smoking a cigarette or smelling like smoke was not another notch she wanted on her punishment belt.

“Why is it so hard to believe? Maya’s pretty, really pretty. Their families probably know each other. Couldn’t Maya have run into Hutch this summer? And Hutch could have stolen the pregnancy test for her. I did see her barfing that week, could have been morning sickness.”

On instinct, Devon gripped the right iPod speaker as Raven turned up the road toward Reed’s house.

“I’m sure in theory it fits, yeah, but I don’t know.” Raven exhaled a cloud of smoke out the open window. “There’s more to it. I think the Hutchins and the Dover families totally hate each other. Like, full-on Montagues-and-Capulets hate each other. Reed mentioned it once, something about him and Edward moving to California together ages ago, but I don’t know the history there. He wouldn’t go into it.”

“Seems like there’s a lot Reed doesn’t like to talk about.”

Raven took another drag and shook her head. The car pulled into the gravel driveway and she cut the engine. “That’s not true. He just doesn’t waste words. Bodhi’s the same way. It’s a science thing, I guess.” She and Devon sat in the car a moment longer, looking at the guest house. “Okay, say Hutch bought Maya the pregnancy test, how does that get Hutch killed that same night? They have to be related, right?”

“They don’t have to be related, but it’s hard to imagine the pregnancy didn’t matter. Hutch didn’t have enemies, but getting someone pregnant could change that.” Devon tapped her index finger along her door handle. “It doesn’t fit for some reason,” she said. “Like there’s another piece we don’t know yet.”

“Well, let’s run it by Bodhi. He’s always good for an idea.”

Devon followed Raven through the front door, across the courtyard to the kitchen. French doors were opened on the patio packed with herbs growing in old wine barrels. The thick smell of the basil followed Devon inside.

“Anybody home?” Raven called out to the empty kitchen. She dropped her keys and straw purse on the wooden countertop. No one answered. “Bodhi?” She kicked off her flip-flops and walked down the carpeted hallway. “Help yourself to anything in the fridge!”

“Thanks,” Devon yelled back. She wasn’t hungry or thirsty, but the idea of opening a fridge just to see what was inside was a pleasure she hadn’t had since the summer. It was the small ways that boarding school life was different from being home that caught up with her every now and then. Her heart sank. A half-loaf of sprouted wheat bread with organic peanut butter and seedless raspberry jelly were the only items on the shelf. The jelly looked sticky with congealed globs caked around the lid. PB&J. Hutch probably made his sandwiches for Raven from these supplies. Devon felt sorry for the leftover condiments: pets waiting for a master that would never return.

Bottles on the door shelves jingled. Devon noticed the small green bottles, the cursive ‘G’ on the metal lids. The bottles from the Palace, the imported German label from the car.

“When did you get here?”

Devon popped her head out of the fridge. Bodhi was walking toward her down the hallway, barefoot. He took a seat at the kitchen table.

“Um, Raven brought me over. Weekend off campus.” Devon couldn’t pry her hands away from the door handle. The cool air snaked its way up her bare legs. The bottles at the Palace had to have come from this fridge. Right?

“Lame off-campus weekend. Why not actually leave the mountain?” Bodhi kicked his bare feet up onto the table.

“Good point. I guess anything that isn’t Keaton is off campus.” Devon laughed, hollow and weak. Bodhi drank these beers at the Palace with Hutch. It was him.

“Hey, would you grab me a drink from the fridge while you’re up?”

He wants to drink the beer! Theory proven! Be calm, Devon. Don’t freak him out. “Sure.” She picked up a beer bottle. The cool glass felt slippery in her sweaty palm.

“Oh no, sorry. I should have said.…” Bodhi’s feet plunked back to the ground and he plodded over. “I don’t do alcohol. Not my thing. Those are Eric’s. Aren’t there any more bottles of water?” Devon moved away to give Bodhi the full view of the fridge “Damn, I’ll get some from the main house later.”

“Hey, dude,” Raven said as she joined them in the kitchen. “Oh, are those Eric’s?” She reached past Bodhi and Devon and grabbed one of the beer bottles. She held the lip against the kitchen counter, and with a snap of her hand, popped the metal cap right off. “Don’t tell him. I love stealing his shit.” She took a sip of the beer, the bubbles slipping through her smile. “Dev, you want one? We are off campus.”

“I’m cool, thanks,” Devon managed. “Umm, can I use your bathroom? I don’t feel so hot.”