Fade Read Online Free PDF Page A

it—soon.
    5:32 p.m.
    Showered and settled at the small, round conference table in the computer room, Cabel pulls out a sheet of paper and a pen while Janie
    fires up the laptop.
    “Here"s what your profile sheets should look like,” he says, sketching. “I
    e-mailed you the template.”
    Cabel points out the various columns, explaining in full as to what sort
    of information should be written in each one. Janie pulls up the template
    on her screen, squints and then frowns, and fills in the first one.
    “Why are you squinting?”
    “I"m not. I"m concentrating.”
    Cabel shrugs.
    “Okay, so first hour is Miss Gardenia, Spanish, room 112, and the list of
    students. You want their real names or Spanish names?” Janie looks at
    him, deadpan.
    He grins and pulls her hair.
    She types quickly.
    Like, ninety words a minute.
    She uses all of her fingers, not just one from each hand. Imagine that.
    Cabel gawks. “Holy shit. Will you do mine for me?”
    “Sure. But you"ll have to dictate. Going back and forth between computer screen and handwritten notes gives me a headache. And it
    makes me very cranky.”
    “How did you…?” He knows she doesn"t own a computer.
    “Nursing home,” she says. “Files, files, files. Charts, records, transcribing medical terms, prescriptions, all that.”
    “Wow.”
    “Why don"t we do yours first. Then I"ll have a better understanding of
    how to do mine.”
    Cabel flips through a spiral notebook. “Okay,” he says. “I already scribbled some notes here, at school—No! Not the evil eyebrow!
    I"ll
    decipher them and dictate, I promise.”
    Janie glances at his notes.
    “What the…,” she says, and grabs the notebook.
    Reads the page.
    Looks at him.
    “Mr. Green, Mrs. White, Miss Scarlet…Well, if it isn"t Professor Plum.
    So where the hell is Colonel Mustard?” She bursts out laughing.
    “Colonel Mustard is Principal Abernethy,” he says with a sniff. Janie stops laughing.
    Sort of.
    Actually, she giggles every few minutes as she reads. Especially when
    she finds out Miss Scarlet is actually Mr. Garcia, the industrial tech
    teacher.
    “It"s coded for secrecy, Janie.” He"s really not sounding amused.
    “In
    case I lose the notebook, or somebody looks over my shoulder.”
    Janie stops mocking him.
    But he continues. “It"s a smart idea. You should code your notes too, if
    you take any. It only takes one stupid mistake to blow your cover. And
    then we"re all screwed.”
    Janie waits.
    Makes sure he"s finished.
    Then says, “You"re right. I"m sorry, Cabe.”
    He looks mildly redeemed.
    “All right then, moving on,” he says. “First hour is advanced math. Mr.
    Stein. Room 134.”
    She plugs in the info, including the class list. “Anything of note?”
    she
    asks.
    “In this space here,” he says, pointing, “write, „slight German accent,
    tendency to trip over words when excited, constantly fidgets with chalk."
    The guy"s a nervous wreck,” Cabel explains.
    “Next is Mrs. Pancake.” They don"t chuckle at the name, because they"ve known her for years now. “I have nothing of note on her. She"s
    just that sweet, round grandma type—not the profile I expect we"ll be
    after, but we don"t rule anybody out, okay? I"ll keep watching.”
    Janie nods and goes to the third page, fills in the appropriate information,
    and within thirty minutes, Cabel"s charts are done for the day. She e-mails them to him.
    “I"m going to finish my homework while you"re working on your charts,
    if you don"t mind,” he says. “Let me know if you have any questions.
    And be sure to take notes of any intuition, funny feelings, suspicions—anything. There are no wrong things to track.”
    “Got it,” Janie says. She clicks her fingers over the keyboard with finesse, and finishes her charts before Cabel gets his homework done.
    She goes back and lingers over each entry, trying to think of anything of
    note, and promises herself to be more discerning tomorrow.
    “So,” she says lightly when