Final Assignment: A Promise Falls Novella Read Online Free PDF

‘Hello, Chandler.’
    ‘Hi, Ms Brighton,’ he said.
    ‘What do you want?’ his mother asked. ‘Haven’t you caused us enough trouble already?’
    ‘I came by to see how Chandler was doing,’ Lucy said. Then, cautiously, ‘I don’t know if you’ve heard …’
    I said, ‘About Mike Vaughn?’
    ‘Yes, that’s right,’ she said. ‘The police came to the school a short while ago, asking questions.’ She touched the fingers of her right hand to her lips. ‘It’s such a horrible thing. Just horrible. I’m sorry, Chandler. I know he was a good friend to you.’
    The teenager nodded.
    Seeing as how a conversation seemed to be starting, it struck me as rude to keep the woman standing outside. I gestured for her to come in without waiting for Greta or Malcolm to offer an invitation. She moved forward two steps and I closed the door behind her.
    Lucy rested her eyes on Malcolm, probably waiting for the man to introduce himself. I said, ‘This is Malcolm Carson, Chandler’s father.’
    He stood.
    Lucy offered a hand, and Malcolm reluctantly stepped forward and shook it. He’d stopped looking at his watch in the last few minutes. I guessed he’d come to accept that he was not going to make his appointment. Then Lucy turned toward me.
    ‘Are you a friend of the family?’
    ‘I know the Vaughns,’ I said. ‘I’ve only just met the Carsons.’
    Greta, still on the couch, said, ‘Mr Weaver is advising us on … Chandler’s situation.’
    ‘Yes,’ Lucy said. ‘That’s why I’m here. Do you mind if I sit down?’
    ‘We were right in the middle of something,’ Greta said, then turned on Chandler. ‘Were you here last night or not?’
    ‘Like I said, I went out for a little while.’
    ‘I never heard you leave.’
    ‘I think you were asleep. I tried to be real quiet.’
    ‘When was this?’ Malcolm asked.
    ‘Like, around midnight? I just had to get out, get some air. I was stressed out. I went for a walk.’
    ‘Do you drive?’ I asked.
    ‘I don’t have my license yet,’ Chandler said.
    ‘Where did you go?’ Malcolm asked.
    ‘Around.’
    ‘Around where?’ his father persisted.
    ‘I walked down to the gas station, bought a Coke, and then walked some more.’
    The station would probably have Chandler on security surveillance video. Telling the police he’d never left the house probably wasn’t going to fly. ‘Where else?’ I asked.
    ‘I went over to Michael’s house. I’d been trying to contact him. I’d sent him some texts, tried to phone him and stuff.’
    ‘Did he get back to you?’
    Chandler shook his head. ‘I didn’t knock on his front door, but I looked to see if his bedroom light was on, or if maybe he was hanging around the house. His light was off and he was no place around there. Then I walked down by Clampett Park and worked my way back home. Just thinking, you know?’
    I walked down by Clampett Park.
    Lucy Brighton was still standing next to me. I asked her, ‘What did the police tell you about what happened?’
    ‘They didn’t tell me anything. They spoke to Ms Caldwell – that’s our principal – and she told me what they’d said.’
    ‘Which was?’
    ‘That Michael’s body had been found in the woods. That he’d been beaten.’ She hesitated. ‘Probably with a bat. I think it was that bit of information that prompted the principal to bring me in, to ask me what I thought.’
    ‘What you thought about what?’
    Lucy looked from me to the parents. ‘About whether she should tell the police about Chandler’s story.’ She turned back to me. ‘Do you know about that?’
    ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘What did you tell the principal?’
    ‘I told her I thought I should come out here and talk to Chandler and his parents first. And so here I am.’
    ‘Is there some reason why you or Ms Caldwell wouldn’t tell the police about it immediately?’
    ‘Yes,’ Lucy Brighton said, and asked for the second time, ‘May I sit down?’ There were nods. She took the spot