Every Inferno Read online

  Maggie chortled. “Banks, eh? That’s what I’d be worried about. I can just see my ten-year-old niece robbing banks…. ‘JJ, grab the gun!’” She mimicked Penny’s high, youthful voice, and JJ found himself laughing along with her for a moment.

  “You’ll just have to rush through that community service as quickly as possible,” Maggie said as she took another sip of her tea. “Decide what you’d like to do. Tomorrow we’ll make phone calls… oh shoot. That reminds me. I need to call the hospital and arrange to have your stitches removed soon.”

  “Wait….” JJ went over to the fridge and took down the card Dr. Ben had given him. “Dr. Ben said to call him to do it.”

  Maggie took the card and half smiled. “You must have made an impression, JJ.” She picked up her cell phone and left the room, calling behind her, “It’s nice to hear it was a good one.”

  JJ snorted and began hunting for an afternoon snack. He couldn’t believe Darryl. He missed his sister and wanted to see her, and he knew Penny probably wanted to see him too.

  So he’d just have to find a way around Darryl.

  Chapter 4

  OPPORTUNITY APPEARED the next morning, after another gym class that JJ had read through. JJ waited alongside the row of lockers on the second floor of the high school’s A building: prime locker location. Only seniors got these babies, which were within perfect proximity of almost every class. JJ’s locker was out in the C building, and he didn’t even bother to use it half the time. It was an Everest-sized hike just to get from there to science class.

  “JJ?” Dennis walked up next to him and began twisting the combination lock. “You looking for me?”

  “Well, I sure don’t have a locker here.” JJ stepped back a little as someone moved in to use the locker he was standing in front of. “I was wondering if you could help me out with something.”

  “I can try.” Dennis pulled some books from his locker and shut it with a quick slam. Dennis was blond and tall, like his father, but his long, lean face held the same sharp, angular features as his mother. “But I think I already know what you’re going to ask me.”

  “You do?”

  “Sure. You’re going to ask me to get Mom to change her mind about you seeing Penny.”

  JJ stepped back again as the hall around them filled with students. “That’d be great, if you could… but actually, no. That’s not what I was going to ask.”

  Dennis looked puzzled. Above the din of chatter around them, he asked, “What, then?”

  JJ tried not to look sheepish. “Look, dude, I really wanna see Penny. And we both know Darr—your mom isn’t going to change her mind anytime soon. I was wondering if maybe you could help me kind of see Penny on my own….”

  But Dennis was already shaking his head. “No way. My mom would find out, and she’d ring both of our necks. It’s not worth it, JJ.”

  JJ felt like ringing Dennis’s neck. “Not worth it?” He nearly shouted. “Dennis, do you have any idea what this is like for me? Your mom’s gonna keep punishing me the rest of my life for something I did when I was still a little kid, and Penny, too! Penny already lost her parents, now Darryl’s gonna take me away from her too?”

  “Look,” Dennis said calmly. “I’m not saying it’s not a raw deal—for both you and Penny. And I get what you’re saying about the risk.” His brow knitted in thought, and JJ felt some hope rise within him.

  “I know…,” Dennis muttered to himself. Then he said aloud, “Look, JJ, here’s what I’m going to tell you: be at the public library at 4:10 this afternoon.”

  JJ was wary. “Why? Even if Penny’s there, won’t Darryl be too?”

  Dennis sighed. “You’re gonna make me spell this one out? Fine. Penny’s having a little trouble with reading. Ma got her a tutor—one of the juniors here who’s part of that elementary outreach program—and they’re supposed to meet at the library at four today. I know for a fact Ma has to go get Patrick from karate then, so she won’t be with Penny at the library most of the time.”

  JJ actually considered hugging Dennis. Four? He could do that. He didn’t have his doctor’s appointment to get his stitches out until tomorrow, and the library was in between his house and the school. It was perfect.

  “Dude, thank you so much. I owe you big time.”

  The warning bell rang, and Dennis turned to leave. “No sweat… just forget I ever told you, okay?”

  “Already forgotten,” JJ muttered as he sprinted off to his next class.

  THE LIBRARY was a quiet, comfortable place. It was close enough to the house that Maggie had often walked him there for reading programs when he was young, and JJ still went there once a week or so. The best inspiration for his Detective Finch stories was a good Colton Parker or Hamish Macbeth novel. He even liked Sherlock Holmes.

  He had a hunch Penny would be in the Children’s Room, which was basically the whole second floor of the library. He turned the corner at the top of the staircase and immediately saw her sitting at one of the study tables in a corner.

  She could have been a miniature version of their mother, with her reddish brown wavy hair and bright blue eyes. It was a combination JJ rarely, if ever, saw. Penny even had their mother’s slight build, and she was also short for her age, just like their mother, who hadn’t made it over five feet two. JJ had his father’s dark eyes and hair so dark brown it was almost black. JJ’s father had been a sort of medium height and build, and it was looking like JJ was going to repeat those features as well. Everyone had always said JJ was a carbon copy of their father and Penny was a carbon copy of their mother.

  Penny was bent slightly over the table, reading aloud. The person she was reading to was engrossed in whatever Penny was saying, leaning over the book to stop Penny every few seconds. It took JJ a minute to realize he knew the guy from Creative Writing class. It was McKinley Smith.

  JJ didn’t know—or want to know—the names of a lot of kids he went to school with, but he definitely knew McKinley. McKinley was a kid who everybody sort of knew. He was easygoing and smart, always talking in class and likely to strike up a conversation with you in the hallway for no reason. He was either in (or the president of) about a zillion clubs, and he had started the school’s first Gay-Straight Alliance. Which made sense, because he was gay.

  It was sort of a mystery to JJ how, in a backwoods corner of Vermont, McKinley Smith had managed to make being gay in high school cool. He always had a cluster of girls surrounding him, plenty of guy friends from a bunch of the different school cliques, and absolutely no problem being exactly who he was.

  He fit in way better than JJ did, that was for sure.

  Every day he sat in the front row of Creative Writing wearing Converses, jeans, and some random band T-shirt. Very often it was a T-shirt that JJ also owned, and JJ had thought a few times that they must have pretty similar tastes in music. His shaggy blond hair was always hanging in his face, and he liked to make complex comments about writers like Molière. JJ found it hard not to admire someone as self-assured as McKinley. And the guy was only a junior— just a year older than JJ.

  JJ waited until McKinley and Penny had finished the page they were working on before he walked over, trying to work up a confidence he didn’t really have. “Hey there, Penny.”

  “JJ!” Penny stood up quickly and threw herself into his arms for a hug. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”

  “I know,” JJ murmured into her hair. She was getting taller, but she still didn’t reach past JJ’s chest. “I think you’ve grown a little.”

  Penny pulled away and shrugged. “I’m still like the shortest girl in the fifth grade.” She rolled her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

  “Oh… you know, checking out books. I saw you and thought I’d say hello.” He tried to keep his voice steady as he spoke; he wasn’t a very good liar.

  “Cool. This is McKinley, my tutor.”

  “Yeah… don’t I know you from somewhere?” McKinley frowned slightly at JJ.

  �
��Creative Writing class.”

  “Right!” McKinley snapped his fingers in sudden understanding and pointed at him. “You’re the kid who never talks.”

  “Um. Yeah.” JJ felt himself blushing.

  “How do you know Penny?” McKinley looked puzzled.

  “He’s my brother!” Penny announced proudly. “We just don’t live together. He lives with Aunt Maggie.”

  “Oh.” McKinley studied JJ, but he didn’t pry. “Well, JJ, Penny and I are just working on some of her homework together. You wanna stay and hang out with us?”

  “Sure,” JJ mumbled, shrugging as if that wasn’t the best sentence someone had said to him in weeks. “I’d love to.”

  Penny worked on reading some passages from her social studies book and answering questions about them. McKinley had Penny read each passage aloud, stopping her whenever she tripped over a word or missed a line. Sometimes he also stopped Penny to ask her a question about the line she’d just read. JJ quickly realized Penny’s reading problem was a little deeper than he’d thought when Dennis had first mentioned it that afternoon. How long had this been going on?

  JJ almost didn’t notice when it hit 4:45, signaling that Darryl could return at any moment. “Uh, I have to go,” he said.

  “Already?” Penny reached out for a hug, and JJ returned it, just as something occurred to him. Penny couldn’t tell Darryl about JJ showing up at the library.

  “Penny? Could you do me a favor?” JJ knelt beside her and spoke softly, hoping McKinley wouldn’t catch everything he was saying. “Could you not mention to your mom that I ran into you today?”

  Penny scoffed, making her look older than her ten years. “Of course not, JJ,” she said with exaggerated emphasis. “She’d be so upset with me for talking to you.”

  A knife stabbed slightly into JJ’s chest when Penny said that, but he tried to shake it off. After all, he’d seen her. He’d spent time with her. That was all that mattered, right?

  JJ turned to leave, but McKinley called out to him.

  “Bye, JJ,” he said. “We have a lot to talk about tomorrow in school.” His mouth was turned upward in a half smile. Had he heard what JJ said to Penny?

  Whatever. Who cared if he had? JJ had already considered coming clean with McKinley and asking if he could show up at Penny’s tutoring sessions more often.

  He took off down the stairs before Darryl could appear.

  JJ EXPECTED McKinley to approach him at the end of class the next day, but McKinley just waved at him as he left the room with someone from the girls’ soccer team.

  Huh. When was this conversation of theirs going to take place?

  It ended up being lunchtime. JJ and Lewis were sitting with the group of skateboarders they usually ate with, and Lewis was telling JJ about another party that weekend. “This one’s going to be epic. The weather’s supposed to be decent, and Shelley’s got a great house—”

  Lewis was interrupted by McKinley, who slid into the chair next to JJ. “Hey, JJ,” he said brightly.

  Lewis blinked. No one as popular as McKinley ever came near their lunch table.

  “Hi?” It came out as a question. JJ cleared his throat and tried again. “Hi, McKinley.”

  “I thought we should talk.” McKinley popped the top on a can of soda and pulled a sandwich from a lunch bag. “Lewis, you mind giving us a few minutes?

  JJ was pretty sure the only reason Lewis nodded and started talking to the other guys was because he was still shell-shocked that someone as popular as McKinley Smith knew his name.

  “You didn’t just happen to be at the library last night, did you?”

  JJ scowled. “What are you talking about?”

  “What you asked Penny at the end. Up until then I had you pegged as the perfect brother. Then you basically say that you’re not allowed to see your sister, which means you were crashing our tutoring session. Which means I could get in a lot of trouble and lose my job over you showing up like that. I don’t know if you know this, dude, but Darryl’s a little crazy.”

  Of course JJ knew that, but it had never occurred to him that McKinley could lose his job. Not that it would have mattered if he had thought of it. JJ would have fired McKinley himself if it meant he got to see Penny.

  “What do you want me to explain?” JJ murmured, more into his cheeseburger than anywhere else.

  “Why aren’t you allowed to see Penny? And are you trying to get me fired?”

  “I’m not trying to get you fired.” JJ felt like that might be the most important point to make. “Definitely not. I just wanted to see my sister again. Her adoptive mom and I don’t get along so well, and she sort of cut us off from seeing each other for a while. I came to the library just to check up on Penny, say hi.”

  McKinley took a bite of his sandwich. “Why’d she cut you off from Penny?”

  “Darryl thinks I’m a bad influence. That I get in trouble too much.”

  “Do you?”

  JJ shrugged. “Yeah,” he murmured. “But nothing really bad,” he added more clearly. “And I really do want to see my sister. She’s kind of like all I have left besides my aunt.” McKinley didn’t reply to that, so JJ assumed he already knew their parents were dead. “I think I should have a right to see my own sister.”

  McKinley sighed. “Look, JJ, here’s the problem. I like your sister a lot, and so far you seem like an okay guy. But I really like tutoring, and I need the money for college. You can’t keep showing up like that. Once was no big deal, but it can’t happen again.

  “No.” JJ knew he sounded like he was begging, and he didn’t even care. “I need to see her. I promise I won’t get you in trouble. Penny wants to see me too, so she’s not going to say anything. I’ll be really careful and I’ll make sure Darryl doesn’t find out. Please? Not for the whole hour or anything. I just want to keep coming by to say hi, to listen to her read… that’s it.”

  McKinley frowned at JJ; JJ started some silent begging again. Please… please… please….

  “Okay. I’ll tell you what: we’ll make a deal.”

  “Okay.”

  “You can show up, as long as you don’t get in the way of our session and you don’t get caught by Darryl. If you do, I’m playing dumb. I had no idea you weren’t supposed to see Penny; you’re on your own. Got it?”

  JJ nodded hopefully. So far, this didn’t sound like a bad deal at all.

  “But you have to do something for me.”

  “Okaaaaay….” JJ dragged the word out as long as he could.

  “You have to agree to workshop something in Creative Writing.”

  JJ snorted. “Uh, no way.”

  McKinley shrugged. “That’s my deal, JJ. Everyone in class is dying to know what you’re doing in class all secretively over there. You share your stuff, I let you see Penny. It’s that simple.”

  He left, and JJ sat there, wondering how much his solitude was really worth.

  “EW.”

  Dr. Ben pulled the last of the thick black thread from JJ’s palm and began rubbing the area with some kind of liquid. “I know it looks strange,” said Dr. Ben, concentrating as he placed a bandage on JJ’s hand and secured it with tape. “Sort of like having these hairs pulled directly out of your body.”

  JJ smirked, and Maggie grimaced.

  “All set.” Dr. Ben smiled. “Keep the bandage on for a few more days, but overall the injury seems to have healed nicely.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Ben.” Maggie began gathering her purse and coat. “For the medical help, as well as for contacting the police.”

  Dr. Ben smiled wryly. “They told me they were going to get in touch with you. What’s been going on with that?”

  JJ told him about the sketch artist. “But then the detective called a few days ago and said they’d sent the sketch to all the tattoo parlors in the area, and nobody had a record of doing that tattoo. Detective Starrow said that could just be ’cause it was so long ago, or it could be that guy actually had it done at home or did it h
imself, though. She said they looked into a lot of artists’ communities when the fire happened, what with the turpentine thing, but now they’re going to look back into those leads again and see if anything comes up.” JJ shrugged and tried not to look as gloomy as felt about that conversation. “Basically, telling them didn’t do shit.”

  “JJ!” Maggie said, but Dr. Ben laughed.

  “Maybe not yet, JJ. But it’s like you said: it’s something new. We don’t know yet what it could lead to.”

  “Yeah.” That line of thinking was the only thing that had kept JJ from stealing one of Maggie’s bottles of wine out of the kitchen cabinet after Detective Starrow had called.

  “And it certainly was nice of the detective to let you know what they’d found so far.”

  JJ nodded. That had been nice. And she’d promised to call him again if anything new came up. It was good to know that adults didn’t suck 100 percent of the time.

  Which gave JJ an idea. There was another adult standing in front of him who also didn’t suck, and JJ needed to get started on his community service soon. It would be really nice to do that with people he didn’t want to kill most of the time. “Dr. Ben?” JJ couldn’t believe what he was about to ask. “You don’t need anyone to do community service for you, do you?”

  “Excuse me?”

  Dr. Ben and Maggie were both staring at JJ. “Well, I have these community service hours I have to do because I was on top of the movie theater, and I guess that’s trespassing, and I thought maybe I could do some of them here.” JJ stopped when he realized they were both still staring at him.

  Dr. Ben cleared his throat. “I spend a lot of time in the Pediatric Ward, obviously. They are always looking for volunteers… people to spend time with the kids, cheer them up. It’s not an easy job, JJ—you see a lot of sadness—but it’s certainly rewarding.”

  Buried deeply somewhere in JJ’s memory was an image of such a volunteer, leaning over him, trying to get him to talk, to eat. JJ stiffened.