Junior Year Box Set полностью

When I’d gone into the app to host a table, it showed me a layout of our lunchroom, and there’d only been one available table that was green. I tapped on that table and confirmed I would host it. The table icon now showed my picture in one of the seats with my name and the title ‘Host’ under it.

When we were getting dressed after PE, I showed Wolf how to use it. When we logged him in, Alan had already claimed a seat, as had Zoe, Brook, and Cassidy. I wondered what Alan would do if people didn’t sit in their assigned seats. He was just OCD enough to throw a fit.

At lunch, he sat next to me and made me check off everyone as they arrived. If someone didn’t show up, the host could remove them, and it would open up the seat. He’d had Stacy sign up, but she ate at her usual table. Gina had been the odd man out, so I deleted Stacy. Gina was on the waiting list, so her picture popped into the slot, and it sent her a text. She confirmed, and I checked her off.

I found it amusing that Alan had enlisted his ex-girlfriends to help him. He wasn’t amused when I pointed out that little factoid to the table. What are best friends for?

◊◊◊

I had planned to stay out of the whole Brandon situation. That plan flew out the window when I was called to the office during my last period. When I got there, I found Detective Kitchens with another man. One look told me he was also a police detective.

“We were wondering if we might talk to you,” Detective Kitchens said.

“Have I done something?” I asked.

“I don’t know, have you?” Detective Kitchens replied with a straight face.

“Maybe.”

The other detective, who hadn’t been introduced, was suddenly interested.

“Perhaps we’ll talk about it later. This is Detective Dale of the Cambridge Police Department. He wanted to get a better idea of the whole story. I called Ms. Dixon, and she said she would listen in,” he said, addressing one of my concerns.

At my request, they followed me to the Field House, where I told Moose that I would be late for practice. He let us use one of the conference rooms there. I called Ms. Dixon and put her on speakerphone.

“Detective Kitchens gave me a brief outline as to why you want to talk to my client. Before we get started, would you please explain the intent of the interview?” Ms. Dixon asked.

“I want to get a timeline of his involvement in case we need it for the prosecution,” Detective Dale answered. “We’re sure that once this gets started, Mr. Rigby’s lawyers will try to tear down the foundation of the case any way they can.”

“Okay, but I want you to remember that David is not the focus of this investigation and that he is voluntarily helping here. If I get a whiff of ill intent, I’ll pull the plug on this.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I then recounted what I’d told Detective Kitchens. The only sticking point was who had I hired to investigate Brandon and how they’d gotten the information. Ms. Dixon shut that down, for now. When I talked to her after the call, she told me she hoped they had enough other details to worry about.

She gave me the heads-up that Detective Kitchens had said the journals that were found were a gold mine. He wouldn’t tell her what was in them, but she’d been told that Brandon was in serious trouble if everything proved to be true.

We both hoped that would be the last we would see of Detective Dale.

◊◊◊

Halfway through baseball practice, I spotted Alan. Cassidy had made him start going to her sixty minutes of hell sessions. I was impressed he’d stuck it out, and it was apparent he was losing weight. I was practicing batting while three other players observed. Moose asked me to explain what I did at bat and would send a handful of guys to watch each day. When I was done, I took a moment to talk to Alan.

“How’d it go today?” I asked.

“Fine. Tami wants to grab dinner before she goes back. Can you skip the dojo?” he asked.

“I need to tell Cassidy, but sure.”

“I’ll tell Cassidy,” Alan said.

“Dawson!” Moose bellowed.

“Gotta go,” I said and got back to practice.

◊◊◊

I was surprised when we didn’t end up at Monical’s. Instead, Tami wanted to go to the Chinese place by the park. Since I’d been introduced to more types of Chinese cuisine when I was in New York, I used that knowledge to order for my friends. We started out with mu xu pork as the appetizer. Alan loved fajitas, so I described it as Chinese fajitas to get him to stop whining. He just wanted to get some egg rolls. I think the poor boy had been to too many Chinese buffets.

“The interview went well. There wasn’t much I could tell them since Brandon drugged me,” Tami said.