Page 101 of For Your Own Good

Teddy pretends to be shocked.

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THE DAY AFTERthe #HomicideHighMassacre, Zach is right back in the living room with Ezekiel and his parents. Same room, same positions, but it’s not the same.

“This is a good thing,” Ezekiel says. “Zach wasn’t anywhere near the school for days before this happened.”

“I knew taking him out was the right thing to do,” Mom says.

Dad puts his hand on Mom’s shoulder. “You were absolutely right.”

A good thing. Six people sick enough to be hospitalized and one dead headmaster. This is what lawyers think is a good thing.

Zach is so angry, he wants to scream.

The only thing that keeps him from doing that is looking like he’s lost control. Even if it feels that way inside, he won’t show it.

Don’t express every single emotion you have. You’ll look unstable.

No one wants to be considered unstable. Look what happened to his math teacher, Mr.Maxwell. He still isn’t back at Belmont.

“That’s the good news,” Ezekiel says, looking rather proud of himself. “However... I do have something else.” When no one says anything, he continues. “As you may have seen on the news, the FBI has arrived in town. They are going over everything from the past events, including Courtney’s arrest.” Ezekiel looks at Zach for the first time this evening. “And they want to speak with Zach.”

“No,” Mom says.

“Not a chance,” Dad says.

Ezekiel smiles as he pushes up his glasses. “Obviously, that’s what I’ve told them. However, things are a little more complicated now that the FBI is involved. It’s difficult to say no to the feds.”

“What happens if he doesn’t talk to them?” Mom says.

“Well, there’s no doubt the state will move forward with the bribery charge. And that’s just for starters. Now that the FBI is here...” Ezekiel spreads out his hands, as if to sayWho knows?

“Obstruction of justice?” Mom says.

“Could be. They can come up with all kinds of trumped-up charges when they want to. They could even argue those bribery charges meet the federal statute. And if they do that...”

Ezekiel drones on, going back and forth with Mom, tossing around legal terms like they’re holding a mock trial. They talk about Zach like he’s in a video game, being moved around by whoever has the controller.

In fact, he feels like that most of the time.

Usually, he goes along with it because it’s easier, because he’s young, and because these are the people who are supposed to know what’s best for him. Maybe they do. Maybe they are making the best decisions. They just aren’t the right ones.

If Zach’s father was in this position, he wouldn’t tolerate it. And Zach is nothing if not his father’s son.

“I’ll talk to them,” he says, standing up from the couch. “Set it up.”

He ignores the protests from his parents, and from his lawyer, and he walks away from all of them.

Feels pretty good.

IN THE DEADof night, Fallon drives to the school. No other cars on the road. Not a person in sight. The only sign of life is the streetlights, and it’s a little creepy. Fallon keeps checking her rearview mirror, waiting for someone else to appear.

The school is cordoned off now, taken over by the FBI, but she doesn’t need to get inside. She needs to get close to her camera. If she can get within range, she can download the data and delete it from the camera itself.

Assuming the FBI hasn’t already found it.

It’s unlikely, she thinks. The camera is tucked away behind a book, far from any food or drinks or poisons. Unless they plan on emptying the entire school of every book, paper, and smartboard, it should be safe. She hopes. Because it would be a bad time to get caught illegally recording someone in the classroom of a private school.