Jack_ Secret Vengeance - F. Paul Wilson [73]
“Nope. In fact, no one even asked where I was—I mean, if I’d been sick or anything. It was like I hadn’t even been gone. In fact, it was like I hadn’t even come back.”
Jack couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed.
“Well, which do you prefer: all the attention last Monday, or all the inattention this Monday?”
She smiled. “Oh, today was better—definitely better. And it made me see some things.”
“Like?”
“Like who my friends are and who aren’t.” She hooked an arm through his. “And you’re definitely a friend. The best friend I have. Maybe the best friend I’ll ever have.”
Jack found himself strangely moved.
“Hey, Weez, I just—”
“No. It’s true. Neither of us makes friends easily. And I know I set myself up by dressing like I do, but you don’t care. You take me as I am. And I learned something else: No one is untouchable. Carson acted like he was and I bought into that. But he’s not. Someone—what did you call him?”
“The Mystery Marauder. Eddie calls him the Locker Magician.”
“Well, whatever his name and whatever his reasons, he showed everyone that Carson Toliver was just another kid, just like the rest of us. He’s not so tough, and he’s not untouchable. So that’s why I think I’m going to report him.”
“To who?”
“Whom.”
“I know that. To whom?”
“The police. He attacked me. I was ready to let him get away with that. Nobody should get away with something like that.”
Jack saw immediate problems.
“You’ll have to tell your folks you snuck out.”
“I know. And I know it will be my word against his, and because I have no proof, nothing will happen to him, but at least he’ll be put on notice. He’ll know a complaint against him is on file with the sheriff’s office, and he’ll think two or three times before he tries something like that again.”
“If he can find a girl to go out with him after today.”
She smiled. “And there’s that too.”
A sour note struck Jack.
“But aren’t you afraid of starting up the ‘Easy Weezy’ stuff again?”
She shrugged. “It was partly my fault it started in the first place. If I’d reported him Saturday night when I had a torn blouse and some scratches and bruises, none of this would have happened. I don’t think it’ll start up again—not after today.”
Jack hoped not. The main point of Operation Toliver had been to stop it.
5
“Jack?” his mom called from the kitchen. “See who’s at the door, will you?”
Jack walked down the hall from his room and into the living room. A man stood outside the screen.
“Hey,” he said, smiling. “Remember me?”
Jack looked him over. He had longish brown hair, wore an expensive-looking suit, and looked like he was in his late forties.
“Um, no.”
He laughed. “I’m not surprised. I was in pretty sad shape last time you saw me.”
“Wait,” Jack said as recognition flashed. “You’re the man—”
“Right! Ted Collingswood. You and your girlfriend rescued me from those godforsaken woods last month.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
Mom entered then, drying her hands on a dish towel. “Who’s not your girlfriend?”
Jack introduced them. She’d heard about the “rescue,” of course. She invited him in.
“I can only stay a minute,” he said, stopping just inside the threshold. He pulled a white envelope from inside his jacket. “I just stopped by to give you this.”
Jack took it, lifted the unsealed flap, and pulled out a check. He didn’t believe the amount the first time, so he read it again.
“Five hundred dollars!”
“All yours and you deserve every penny.”
Jack felt giddy, ready to burst out laughing. Five hundred bucks! He’d conquered the Toliver dragon, and now this. What a day!
“Yow! I—”
“Oh, he can’t accept that,” he heard his mother say.
What? He couldn’t believe his ears.
Mr. Collingswood said, “Your son saved my life. If he hadn’t found me I’d have died in there.”
“Well, from what he told me, you found him.” She touched Jack’s shoulder. “You can’t take money simply for helping a stranger find his way. It would be like charging for directions.”
Jack wanted to protest—after all it was five hundred bucks!—but knew she was right. Still …
“But Mom, if he wants to