the other students left the room, Renee approached the lectern. “So how long have you been dating this detective?”
“I’m not. It’s nothing, Renee. Really. He invited me to get something to eat after the ball game. There’s no romance, I swear to you.”
“So…what is he?”
“What?”
“You said cute wasn’t the right word. What is?”
“I’d say the right term is…an acquaintance.” Lindsey emphasized the last word pointedly.
“Ms. Sloan!”
“Go to class, Renee, before you’re tardy again.”
“I’m just next door. What’s his name?”
“James Nolan.”
“James. Oh, that’s nice. Don’t you think so?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Is he?”
“I don’t know yet.” She had thought he was until he’d taken her by the church. In fairness, he’d had a point to make in doing that. One that had been successfully driven home. “Honestly, Renee, you need to move on. Nothing to see here,” she said, repeating the familiar Star Wars phrase her students used to stop discussion.
In a further attempt to end the conversation, Lindsey turned, laying the senior anthology on the corner of her desk. Next period she would have her juniors. The atmosphere would not be as relaxed as it had been this period. Even if any of them had heard about her evening with Jace, they probably wouldn’t have nerve enough to tease her about it.
“When are you going out with him again?”
She wasn’t sure whether Renee was unwilling to take the hint or whether she honestly didn’t realize she was being too personal. “He hasn’t asked me.”
“But you’d go if he did, wouldn’t you?”
“Do I grill you about who you’re dating, Renee?”
“No, but if you did, I’d tell you. I even tell my mom.”
Lindsey laughed at the confession, provoking an answering giggle from the girl. “There isn’t much to tell with this one. We went out to eat. And he didn’t ask me out again.”
“Did you kiss him?”
“Renee.”
“But he tried, didn’t he. That’s a good sign.”
“Oh, please. Surely you’ve got something besides this to talk about.”
“Nope. I can’t think of a thing.”
“Well, then bless your heart. I hope you find a more interesting subject than my love life during next period.”
“In Ms. Miller’s class? I don’t think so.” Renee laughed again.
Agnes Miller had taught calculus for the last thirty years. Having been her student, Lindsey knew Renee was right.
“Well, go try,” she ordered, moving away from the lectern to retrieve the eleventh grade lit book from the stack on her desk. Her juniors were beginning to filter into the room, and she didn’t want the discussion to carry over.
“Okay, I’m going,” Renee said, “but I’m warning you, I’m not done with this. I’ve just got a couple of problems to finish before the bell rings.”
Which she intended to copy from someone else. Right now, if it got rid of her, that was okay with Lindsey.
One of the students coming in approached her desk, giving her the opportunity to turn her attention from Renee. Lindsey was conscious when the cheerleader finally left.
Two classes down and two to go. If they were all like the last one, this was going to be a very long day.
It had taken him until lunchtime to be able to think through the implications. Anger and anxiety had delayed his reaching any kind of rational conclusion, but when he had finally fought through the distraction they represented, he knew the one he’d arrived at was correct.
Ms. Sloan was being used. Any single woman her age was vulnerable to flattery and masculine attention. And he had no doubt the detective was laying it on heavy in hopes she’d help him finger students she believed would be capable of setting the fires.
Which was a pretty shrewd move on Nolan’s part, the boy acknowledged. There were few people here who would know the kids smart enough to pull those off better than the gifted coordinator did. Maybe Ms. Anderson, but she didn’t seem the type to be manipulated.
And that was what Nolan was doing. Manipulating Ms. Sloan to his advantage.
His mouth tightened as he pushed his books into his locker and fished out the notebook he’d need for his next class. Maybe it was time to let both of them know that nobody was going to roll over and play dead because some outsider thought he’d found a slick way to get inside information. His lips relaxed into a slight smile at the unintended irony of the phrase he’d just used.
He wasn’t stupid enough to take Nolan on straight up. He wouldn’t catch someone with the cop’s level of training and experience off guard. Ms. Sloan, on the other hand…
If he was wrong—if the detective wasn’t playing her for a sucker—then maybe Nolan would back off out of concern for her safety. And if he was right about what was going on, then he had no doubt she’d get the message. After all, she was too intelligent not to.
“So how was it?”
Shannon settled onto the couch opposite the one Lindsey was sitting on. The counselor slipped her shoes off and put her feet up on the coffee table between them.
“Typical Monday. Half of them asleep. Half revved up just to be here.” That enthusiasm was not because of the opportunity to learn, but because they were again with their peers, feeding off the energy produced by all those hormones.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Lindsey. I didn’t mean today.” Shannon’s voice was rich with disgust.
She meant Friday night. She meant Jace Nolan. There was a good ten-years difference in Shannon’s and Renee’s ages, but her friend’s curiosity was no less intense than her student’s.
“We went to The Cove. We talked over dinner. Then he took me home.”
“That’s it?” Shannon looked at her over the rim of her cup, waiting for an answer before she took a sip.
“What did you expect?”
“I dunno. Something. Something besides that.”
“Well, that’s what happened.”
“You like him?”
