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Harrington, who waved her off.
    Down the hall she held her breath. At the curtain she let it out. She envisioned Isaak inside, hat in his hands, his defenses finally lowered. She flung open the drape.
    Only to find the room empty.

5
    A udra was the only person there, waiting at the counter. Anxious to check in—a packed day awaited at the clinic—she attempted eye contact with the school receptionist. But the woman didn’t engage. She continued on the phone, her pace impossibly slow, addressing a student’s absence. She had a thick helmet of hair that smelled of Aqua Net.
    Past the interior window a line of kids slogged toward the gym. A backdrop of handmade posters featured glittery medals and lopsided trophies. Reading is for Winners, they declared.
    Reading ... Friday.
    Was this Jack’s library day? Had he packed the Magic Tree House book to return? Or did they have PE class instead? She couldn’t keep track of his ever-rotating schedule, even before sleep deprivation hit its current high. Other distractions weren’t helping her focus—namely, that the job in Philly had been taken.
    “Mrs. Hughes?”
    Audra turned.
    The principal, Miss Lewis, strode from her office in a beige pantsuit. She boasted the energy and build of a devoted runner. “Thanks for coming in.”
    Audra greeted her with a handshake. “Sorry I’m a little late. I was about to leave when our fridge decided to create a manmade lake.” As proof, she motioned to the damp spots on her light-blue scrubs.
    “Not to worry. It actually gave Dr. Shaw and me more time to discuss the ... situation.”
    Emphasis on the last word struck all too familiar. It was the padded introduction Audra often used when delivering fatal news about a family’s beloved pet.
    “Dr. Shaw’s joining us?”
    “He is. Did I forget to mention that?” The oversight sounded genuine, her deportment casual, as she led the way to her office. Still, Audra had learned to be wary of surprises. She had come here expecting a routine update.
    Ever since Devon’s death, Miss Lewis had been kind enough to keep tabs on Jack’s change of demeanor. She was one of the few reasons Audra had remained in the same district when switching from a house to an apartment last year.
    They entered the room to find Dr. Shaw parked in one of the two visitors’ chairs. The school counselor wore thick black glasses, commonly known as geek-chic, and a skinny plaid tie that completed his look of a yearbook shot from the seventies. “Good morning,” he said with a smile crafted for disarming, resulting in the opposite effect.
    “Is there a problem with Jack?” Audra asked.
    Miss Lewis closed the door—a private conference. “We’d just like to talk to you about some concerns we have. Please, make yourself comfortable.”
    Ruling that impossible, Audra settled for taking a seat. She gripped her purse as the principal reclaimed her rolling chair. On the corner of the desk sat a cup of pencils with troll-like hair and wiggly eyes that stared back.
    “I’m afraid we did have an incident this morning. Everyone is fine now”—Miss Lewis raised a reassuring palm—“but whenever a conflict becomes physical between students, it’s standard for us to alert the parents.”
    Physical? Audra tamped the urge to demand who specifically had tried to hurt her son, already wanting to have a word with the child’s parents. “What happened?”
    “In the middle of morning announcements, a couple of military jets roared past the area. There was a lot of noise and some shaking of the walls. Apparently Jack crawled under his desk. A girl tried to coax him out by pulling his arm, and that’s when Jack hit her in the face.”
    Audra went speechless. She felt as if she, too, had been struck.
    “The teacher agreed it was a result of circumstance, and not malicious in any way. Really, if it weren’t for other factors, I would’ve just told you this over the phone.”
    Miss Lewis then gave the counselor a nod.