Page 35 of For Your Own Good

Oops.

BY THE TIMETeddy returns to the Stafford Room, almost everyone is gone. Two policemen are still hanging around, talking to a few of the mothers.

He scans the room, looking for a garbage can.

The pod. He has to get the pod.

One garbage bin is near the table, which has now been cleared of all the food. Only the decorations remain. The miniature roses are in tatters, and at least one of the vases has tipped over.

The second garbage bin is over by the counter, close to the coffee maker. And the officers. He has no idea how he can manage this, but he’s got to try. As he takes a step forward, he feels a hand on his arm.

“Teddy.”

Ms.Marsha’s veiny hand holds him back.

“Oh, Ms.Marsha,” he says. “Any word on Mrs.Ross?”

“Nothing yet. But we’ve got to clear the room.” She leads him back through the door, away from the garbage bin. “The headmaster has decided it would be best to cancel classes for the rest of the day, given how traumatic this event might be for the students.”

“Yes. Yes, that’s a good idea.”

Ms.Marsha is preparing to close the door on him. The kids who were hanging around, trying to see what’s happening, scatter when they hear school is out for the day.

“Thank you,” she says. “The headmaster will send out a notice if we hear anything.”

She shuts the door, leaving Teddy standing by himself.

RUINED. TOTALLY RUINED.

Sonia stomps around her empty classroom, stress ball in hand, and it’s not working. She hurls it against the wall. It makes an unsatisfying sound when it hits. Not abang. Awhomp.

Not that she isn’t worried about Ingrid. Of course she is. Of course she feels horrible Ingrid was taken away in an ambulance, even if it was due to not eating enough. Probably. Because the woman is so damn thin.

Ruined.

Sonia does have her pin. It’s right on her red dress. She’d had to retrieve it from thefloorafter the headmaster dropped it in all the chaos. That’s what her ceremony had come down to. Scurrying around on the floor to get her ten-year pin.

Picking up the stress ball, she almost hurls it against the wall a second time.

But she stops. Takes a deep breath. Reminds herself it could’ve been worse.Shecould’ve collapsed at her own ceremony.

Actually, at least then everyone would still be paying attention to her.

She throws the stress ball again.

23

A MISTAKE. ITwas all a horrible mistake.

Teddy is alone in his classroom, sitting at his desk, picking at his cuticles. It helps him think. He replays everything in his mind, step by step, leading right up to what had happened a few hours ago.

He also thinks about the possible outcomes.

A woman collapsed. That’s all. She didn’t have a seizure or go into convulsions. She just... fainted.

That may or may not be enough to warrant testing everything in the room. To be safe, he assumes it is. He assumes Ms.Marsha will demand it. After all, Ingrid Ross isn’t just a board member; she’s a parent who helps pay the bills. The headmaster will want to get to the bottom of this. The board will demand it.

Which means the police will test everything, including the pods in the garbage. But do they even have tests for the particular plant Teddy used?Would they be able to find the cardiogenic toxins found inActaea pachypoda?