'Thanks, Mom. Bye.'
She hung up and looked at Trent. She drew in a deep breath and then let it out in a long, trembly sigh.
'That was fun,' she said in a voice which was close to tears.
He hugged her tight. 'You did great,' he said. 'Lots better than I could have, Spr - Laurie. I'm not sure she would have believed me.'
'I wonder if she'll ever believe me again?' Laurie asked bitterly.
'She will,' Trent said. 'Come on.'
They went over to the west side of the park, where they could watch Walnut Street. The day had turned cold and dim. Thunderheads were forming overhead, and a chilly wind was blowing. They waited for five endless minutes and then their mother's Subaru passed them, heading rapidly toward Greendowne Middle School, where Trent and Laurie went... where we go when we're not playing hookey, that is, Laurie thought.
'She's really humming,' Trent said. 'I hope she doesn't get into an accident, or something.' 'Too late to worry about that now. Come on.' Laurie had Trent's hand and was pulling him back to the telephone kiosk again. 'You get to call Lew, you lucky devil.'
He put in another quarter and punched the number of the History Department office, referring to a card he had taken from his wallet. He had barely slept a wink the night before, but now that things were set in motion, he found himself cool and calm... so cool, in fact, that he was almost refrigerated. He glanced at his watch. Quarter to three. Less than an hour to go. Thunder rumbled faintly in the west.
'History Department,' a woman's voice said.
'Hi. This is Trent Bradbury. I need to speak with my stepfather, Lewis Evans, please.'
'Professor Evans is in class,' the secretary said, 'but he'll be out at...'
'I know, he's got Modern British History until three-thirty. But you better get him, just the same. It's an emergency. It concerns his wife.' A pointed, calculated pause, and then he added:
'My mom.'
There was a long pause, and Trent felt a moment of faint alarm. It was as if she were thinking of refusing or dismissing him, emergency or no emergency, and that was most definitely not in the plan.
'He's in Oglethorpe, right next door,' she said finally. 'I'll get him myself. I'll have him call home as soon as...' 'No, I have to hold on,' Trent said.
'But...' 'Please, will you just stop goofing with me and go get him?' he asked, allowing a ragged, harried note into his voice. It wasn't hard.
'All right,' the secretary said. It was impossible to tell if she was more disgruntled or worried.
Chapter Nine
'If you could tell me the nature of the...'
'No,' Trent said.
There was an offended sniff, and then he was on hold.
'Well?' Laurie asked. She was dancing from foot to foot like someone who needs to go to the bathroom.
'I'm on hold. They're getting him.'
'What if he doesn't come?'
Trent shrugged. 'Then we're sunk. But he'll come. You wait and see.' He wished he could be as confident as he sounded, but he did still believe this would work. It had to work. 'We left it until awful late.'
Trent nodded. They had left it until awful late, and Laurie knew why. The study door was solid oak, plenty strong, but neither of them knew anything about the lock. Trent wanted to make sure Lew had only the shortest time possible to test it.
'What if he sees Brian and Lissie on the corner when he comes home?' 'If he gets as hot under the collar as I think he will, he wouldn't notice them if they were on stilts and wearing Day-Glo duncecaps,' Trent said.
'Why doesn't he answer the darn phone?' Laurie asked, looking at her watch.
'He will,' Trent said, and then their stepfather did.
'Hello?'
'It's Trent, Lew. Mom's in your study. Her headache must have come back, because she fainted. I can't wake her up. You better come home right away.' Trent was not surprised at his stepfather's first stated object of concern - it was, in fact, an integral part of his plan - but it still made him so angry his fingers turned white on the telephone.
'My study? My study? What the hell was she doing in there?'
In spite of his anger, Trent's voice came out calmly. 'Cleaning, I think.' And then tossed the ultimate bait to a man who cared a great deal more for work than wife: 'There are papers all over the floor.'
'I'll be right there,' Lew rapped, and then added: 'If there are any windows open in there, shut them, for God's sake. There's a storm coming.' He hung up without saying goodbye. 'Well?' Laurie asked as Trent hung up.
'He's on his way,' Trent said, and laughed grimly. 'The son of a bitch was so stirred up he didn't even ask what I was doing home from school. Come on.' They ran back to the intersection of Maple and Walnut. The sky had grown very dark now, and the sound of thunder had become almost constant. As they reached the blue U.S. mailbox on the corner, the streetlights along Maple Street began to come on two by two, marching away from them up the hill.