Desperate Measures Read Online Free PDF

as they came in with notes requesting passes, excusing absences, dealing with the many reasons students had to stop by the office before classes started. They were all getting antsy, she knew, with summer vacation coming in two weeks, starting finals this week, fear of high school, graduation plans….
    Suddenly Gus Marchand stomped into the office, his face scarlet and so contorted that it looked demonic. “You, Miss Fancy, you’ve gone too far! Sneaking filth like this to a little girl! You’ve turned this school into a cesspool of filth and corruption!” He slammed the sex-education book on the counter. “Look at those little girls painted like harlots! Half naked! Where do you draw the line? What do you say no to? I tell you this, you’re finished here! If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll see you replaced by someone with a sense of decency.”
    The students and teachers alike had frozen with his entrance; no one moved. Two girls looked terrified and, behind the counter, Nola had turned ghostly pale.
    â€œMr. Marchand,” Hilde said, “please, come into the office and discuss this.”
    â€œWe haven’t got anything to discuss. You’re done here. I’ll have you investigated from the day you were born.”
    Hilde felt herself get light-headed with his words, and tried to control her expression. Something showed.
    He was watching her narrowly, and now he nodded with satisfaction. “That got to you, didn’t it? You want to hear more? I’ve got more to say at the next PTA meeting!” He turned and stomped out again.
    3
    Mike Bakken’s orchard was across Opal Creek from Gus’s property. Mike and Harvey Wilberson, the inspector, had covered it all and were on their way back to the inspector’s truck, talking easily now, although Mike had been anxious before the inspection. He well knew that some folks would be wiped out by the blight.
    â€œI guess we’re all just a bunch of fools. Drought, bugs, now the blight. Turkey dropped their prices last year, undercut everyone, and I guess they’ll do it again,” he said morosely. The country of Turkey and the state of Oregon produced most of the world’s filberts.
    â€œWell, you could always sell out and flip hamburgers at McDonald’s,” the inspector commented. They were walking near the creek that sunny early evening, and it was pretty here; Gus’s place across the creek was pretty, but Wilberson was tired of tramping around wet orchards. It was going on seven and he wanted to go home, eat supper, and sit with his feet up for hours. He cocked his head in a listening attitude. “What’s that?”
    They took a few more steps, then Mike heard it, too. “Sounds like a smoke alarm going off. Coming from Gus’s place.” Neither of them moved for several seconds; the shrill blare of the alarm continued.
    â€œWe’d better have a look,” Mike said uneasily; he started to run toward Opal Creek. It wasn’t more than a foot deep here, cold and swift, but wadable. He crossed carefully with Wilberson right behind him; the rocky creek bottom had slick places, and even an occasional deep hole hidden now by the muddy runoff from the recent rains. Normally the creek was as clear as bathwater.
    At Gus’s house he trotted around to the back door. He wouldn’t have dreamed of going in the front dripping mud. The alarm grew louder and louder, so shrill it hurt his ears. At the kitchen door he hesitated only a moment, then pushed it open, and entered. Gus was on the floor, his head covered with blood, and a skillet on the stove was sending out clouds of smoke that stung his eyes. Wilberson ran across the kitchen and turned off the stove, then grabbed the smoke alarm off the wall and tossed it outside as Mike knelt at Gus’s side.
    Mike felt sick and slowly drew back, shaking. “He’s dead.”
    Graduation day was bedlam. Hilde knew