Seeing Tessa still standing, statue-like, eyes fixed on the front of the room where Keith had exited, Tom moved to stand right beside her. He reached out his hand to gently touch her forearm as he spoke.
"Are you okay?" He took in her face carefully as she spun around to face him, temporary surprise clear on her face. Yup. She'd forgotten he was there.
"Yeah, I'm uh… fine." She stumbled on the words as she hastily tried to cram her last book into her backpack. Dropping it, she failed miserably at concealing how shook up she was.
"Right…" Tom dragged out the word a bit, his tone soft and slightly teasing; putting his hand out to stop her as he bent to pick up the book. "Are you sure you don't need a ride home? It's not a problem." He held the book out to her, only releasing his grip when she met his concerned gaze; his dark eyes serious, yet warm.
"No, really, it's okay. I'm going out after school with…"
"Slowpoke!" the teasing tones of Amy filtered into the room causing both students to turn towards the doorway. Lounging against the doorjamb, Amy snapped her gum as she grinned and continued, her voice even more playful, "Oooh, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Her eyes danced for a moment until she saw the somber expression on Tessa's face.
"Hey, what's going on here?" She began, an inquisitive yet accusatory tone creeping into her voice as she took in her best friend and then turned her gaze on Tom.
"Ames, relax. He was just helping me out. Keith totally blew his stack after class; I thought he was going to lose it completely before coach called him off. I… I broke it off with him." Tessa hastily filled her friend in on the details, her voice becoming stronger as she reached the end of the sentence, her mind pulling away from reliving the encounter.
Amy's eyebrows drew together and her eyes narrowed at the news. "I knew I didn't like that guy. Good for you. God, if I'd been here, I would have taken a swing at him myself. Good think coach was around… why was coach here?" She glanced around the room and saw the substitute notes on the board. "Oh, never mind." She mumbled before turning back to Tessa.
"C'mon. Sounds like you need another girl's night. We'll hit the mall, you can stay for dinner, and maybe the night my mom won't care, you know that."
Any protests Tessa may have had were drowned out by her best friend's chatter as she draped her arm around her shoulders and steered her out of the room, casting a nod and a glance to Tom as they left.
"Good to see 'ya Richardson," Amy called over her shoulder as they left.
Relieved that Tessa had such a good best friend, and considerably less concerned about her well being, Tom gathered up his stuff and headed out towards his car. Time for an update with Fuller he decided. He was more than ready to escape the turmoil of High School for just a few more hours and remind himself that he was a grown adult doing a job.
Wednesday went by with very little hurrah. Tessa was happily chattering away with Amy all through practice and the coach was right on par with his comments. Still, he was right on the line. Tom had heard a lot of talk from the man, but hadn't seen much to indicate it would go beyond just that. It was hard for him to tell, even trained and focused as he was, whether the long gazes and appraising stares the man cast at the runners were anything more than signs of attentive coaching.
"A couple more days," Tom decided. Then, he'd give Fuller his final report. His boss had already made it clear he expected an update at the end of the week. He'd go back Monday if the man wanted him to, but he had a feeling it would just be a waste of time.
Registering the whistle in the back of his mind, Tom stopped his running and turned to face Coach Henderson with the rest of the teams.
"All right everybody, listen up." Henderson addressed the group with his usual gruff intensity. "The big meets in three days. You've all worked really hard and I'm proud of you." His voice softened a bit as he spoke, giving the team a glimpse of a side of the man they respected that they didn't get to see very often.
"Anyway, some Sob's would reach this point and push you even harder to try and get perfection. I may not have learned much in 20 years of marriage, but the six months before my divorce taught me that approach doesn't work. So, I want you to take care of yourselves these next few days. Don't stop practicing, but we're not going to have any more formal drills before Saturday. You haven't been a major disappointment yet," here the coach regained some of his gruffness, "so, you sure has hell better not start now." He glanced across the teams, meeting the gaze of every student. Nodding in approval of what he saw, and the expressions he was getting, he finished his speech. "All right everybody, get outta here."
Energized, the teammates began to jog off the field. Somehow, Tom had the impression that every single one of them would follow the Coach's instructions. It was odd. For every part of the man that was inflammatory, there was another part that managed to inspire and motivate the student body. Hell, even Tom wanted to go out and win a medal for Reardon High School.
"Go home Stowe," Tom's ears perked up as he heard the coach speaking to the wrestler in the hallway just outside the men's locker room. "Have one of your parent's beers, read a playboy, do whatever it is you need to do to get her off your mind, but don't let me catch you around her on an afternoon when you're not scheduled to practice, you understand?" The gruff firmness in the man's voice gave Tom the impression Coach Henderson would do just about anything to keep the wrestler from staying. Tom had a pretty good idea who the "her" was that the man had referred to. He was glad Tessa and Amy had already left practice straight from the field and headed off to the mall or something. Keith obviously was having a bit of a problem accepting things between the two of them were over. Coach seemed to be taking care of it though, at least for the time being.
Dragging his mind back to work, Tom finished dressing quickly and headed off school grounds to his car. He couldn't quite shake a foreboding feeling deep in his stomach though. Heading his car on the highway, he mingled in the afternoon rush hour traffic as he heading towards his apartment before exiting at the last minute to head to the Chapel. Fuller would give him a good idea if he were being paranoid or not. As much as he trusted Doug, his best bud and occasional partner in crime wasn't around at the moment, and he already knew what Hoffs would say. No, in the months since Fuller had taken over, Tom had developed enough of a rapport with his boss so he felt he could walk into the office and get this extra dynamic in the case off his chest. He may be a cop, but at the moment, he was feeling as confused as the student he was pretending to be.
Amy and Tessa had left right after class the next day. Tessa had talked to him a little about the meet on Saturday, but hadn't said anything about Keith. In fact, he hadn't seen Keith around all day. Fuller had told him to try and get a little closer to the kid so he could get a better feel for if he was just jilted or if he'd crossed the line into obsessed. He'd given him 'till the end of the week to resolve things for himself since they'd pretty much wrapped up the investigation with Coach Henderson. Judy had finished interviewing the girls who'd complained and their stories matched what Tom had seen. The guy said a lot he shouldn't; but he hadn't touched any of them inappropriately. He seemed like a basically good guy who needed a little jolt into the post-feminist movement world of political correctness. That wasn't exactly how they'd word the report to the school principal, but Friday after classes, it was the gist of the document he'd sign and leave with Fuller.
Wrestling practice was this afternoon, so Tom headed towards the Men's locker room about twenty minutes after the final bell rang. He'd stopped by his locker and ditched his class stuff, exchanging it for his gym gear. He'd change and do a few laps around the track so he had a reasonable excuse for being there if Coach said anything. He was just keeping in shape for the meet if anyone asked.
As Tom rounded the corner into the locker room, he was surprised to see Keith pulling his wrestling gear over his head quickly and heading out the door towards the mat room. "Hey man," Tom called good-naturedly, joking almost, "Don't let coach see you sneaking in late to practice."
Grinning, the wrestler glanced over his shoulder briefly before heading out the door, "couldn't help it man, " he called out slightly frustrated, "stupid English teacher kept me for detention."
Tom sighed as he changed into his running gear leisurely. The locker room was deserted, and he couldn't hear a thing through the cement walls, even though her knew the wrestlers were two rooms down the hall in the athletic corridor of the school, just off the gym.
Pushing open the side door, he stepped out onto the grass and headed towards the track field. Closing his eyes, he enjoyed the feel of the warm spring air and the bone warming rays of the sun on his face. He was about three quarters of the way around the track when he noticed a figure step from the tree line up ahead, dressed in running gear as well.
For a fleeting moment, Tom figured it was just part of a couple who'd been sneaking off for a quick cuddle in the woods until he got closer and noticed the person looked like they'd fallen out of one of the trees instead. Stopping his jog abruptly and moving closer, he reached out his hand to touch the figure's shoulder. It was a girl's he noticed as he could see the figure up close.
"Hey, are you…" he trailed off as the girl started violently and tried to run away. Her steps were uneven and as she half turned to glance at him, terror overtaking her eyes, he cringed in recognition.
