Jack_ Secret Vengeance - F. Paul Wilson [66]
Jack laughed, but Weezy only shook her head.
“He’s such a dork,” she said.
“And he’s wrong about Toliver’s locker. There will be a surprise inside. And then he’ll go from honcho to loser.”
Her eyes narrowed and she seemed to be studying him as she replied. “How can you be so sure?”
Uh-oh. Had to be careful here.
“Because whoever this Mystery Marauder is, he’s beaten Toliver every time. Why should this be any different?”
“Well, from what you told me about the lock…”
“Yeah. It’s a tough one, but I’m betting he’ll get around it.” He touched her arm. “You should be there to see. You really should.”
He wanted her to see it. Toliver had become a Big Bad Boogie Man in her mind. If she saw him taken down in front of the whole school, maybe he’d go from Boogie Man to plain old booger.
She kept staring at him. “I probably should.”
He grinned. “Then you’re coming back to school?”
“I’m … I’m not sure. You’ve got me thinking about it, but if you’re wrong about the ‘Easy Weezy’ thing—”
“I’m not. I guarantee it.”
As soon as the words left Jack’s mouth, he wished them back. He could not guarantee it. And if Toliver opened an un-booby-trapped locker tomorrow, people might start remembering “Easy Weezy.”
He prayed the nail polish remover was working.
“So…” he said slowly, “are we going to see you at the bus stop tomorrow?”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to see how tomorrow feels.”
He guessed that was as much of a commitment as he was going to get, so he didn’t push.
On his way downstairs he heard Mr. Connell in the kitchen.
“Eddie told me Weezy says she might go to school tomorrow.”
Mrs. Connell said, “Oh, that’s wonderful!”
Jack paused, waiting to hear them credit him with the miracle.
But instead Mrs. Connell said, “Doctor Hamilton told us the pills would take at least a week to work. It’s only been a few days.”
“I’m not going to complain if they work quicker. Are you?”
“Heavens, no!”
Jack hurried the rest of the way down the stairs and out the front door.
Pills? The doctor had put Weezy on medication?
That must have been where she and her mom had gone on Wednesday. Jack didn’t know if he liked the idea of Weezy being drugged up by her folks. Then again, after what Jack had heard outside her house Monday night, maybe she needed it.
Poor Weezy … what was wrong with her?
10
Oh, crap.
Jack stood at the workbench in his garage and tried to force the shim into the shackle hole of one of the Toliverized locks. It wouldn’t budge. He tried the second with equal lack of success.
The nail polish remover had done nothing.
He turned the locks over and tried to pry out the tacks.
Nothing!
He cocked his arm to hurl one of them across the garage but stopped himself. What would that prove?
Think! Think! Think! he told himself as he began pacing back and forth. There has to be a way.
But he kept coming up blank until his pacing took him past the hacksaw hanging on a nail in the wall. He stopped and stared at it. Then he turned and looked at the extra tube of Krazy Glue on the workbench.
Maybe … just maybe …
He grabbed the saw and went to work on the shackle of one of the Toliverized locks. The thin blade quickly cut into the shiny metal. He stopped and stared at the grooves in both sides of the loop, then continued until the curved top fell off.
Okay, with that cut off, he’d be able to open the locker. But a big question remained: After he’d done his business inside and reclosed the door, would he be able to Krazy Glue the shackle back together again?
He applied the glue to the cut edges and pressed them together, holding them in place for a couple of minutes. When he let go, the bond held …
But the result looked terrible. No way that patch job would fool anyone, not even from ten feet away.
“Crap!”
Now he hurled the lock across the garage. It bounced off the opposite wall with a solid thunk!
What was he going to do? He had to open the lock and close it again