Page 94 of For Your Own Good

“Smart,” she says, throwing him a smile over her shoulder. “Does your mother like to garden?”

“Loves it. So I’m looking for something a little unusual.”

“I’ve got just the thing.”

She shows him a variety of plants, talking about each one at length. Zach gets the feeling she’ll talk all day if he lets her. He keeps her going, but only until he sees what he’s looking for.

“This is interesting,” he says, pointing to the doll’s-eyes plant. “So unique.”

“And poisonous. Not a good choice if you have pets or small children.”

“Really? It’s that poisonous?”

“Yes,” she says.

“And it just grows outside? Naturally?”

“It does, especially here in the Northeast. In the spring, you canusually see it over near the Grove.” The Grove is the old area of town, with big Victorian houses built on huge plots of land. His mom loves those old houses, but his dad always says they’re a money pit. Dad won that argument, so they live in a much newer house.

The woman goes on to describe everything about the plant, telling him a lot of what he already knows. She adds that the only reason there are berries right now is because it’s in a greenhouse.

While the woman talks, he smiles and nods and half listens. He stops thinking about the doll’s-eyes as a plant and starts thinking about it as a weapon.

The berries are the most poisonous part. In theory, you could crush them up and put them in someone’s food. But that would mean you have to prepare a specific dish for a specific person. Hard to do that for one person, let alone two, unless you’re very close to both.

Which means you couldn’t use the whole berry. You’d have to use the juice inside. If extracted or squeezed out, it could be put in anything. Even coffee.

That’s how he would do it.

58

FALLON CAN DOWNLOADthe footage from the camera in Teddy’s classroom throughout the day. She doesn’t even have to be right next to his room. During the morning break, she decides to view the video right from her own desk.

She wants to see his reaction to her apology this morning. What she expects to see is Teddy sit down at his desk and go back to work. What she ends up seeing is much worse.

After she left, he waited for a moment before getting up to shut the door to his classroom. He walked back to his desk and sat down.

Then he laughed.

Not a chuckle, either. He burst out into a big, loud laugh that almost blows the pods out of her ears.

TEDDY KNEW FALLONwas up to something—he just didn’t know what. Now, it doesn’t matter. After her little visit, he’s less worried abouther than he was before. The way she’d stood in front of him, wearing those designer clothes with scuffed shoes. She was like a child playing dress-up.

A bad liar, too. Constantly shifting her weight, averting her eyes. Nervous, yes, but also transparent. Nothing but a little girl playing schoolyard games.

He should have known better than to think there was more to it.

To think he’d believed she’d stolen his plaque. She’s not even capable of that.

After spinning off the road this morning, Teddy didn’t have high hopes for the day. But things have really turned around, starting with catching Joe in the kitchen. Then the interaction with Fallon. And right after first period, he received an email from the front office about Zach:

Please be aware that Zach Ward has withdrawn from Belmont, effective immediately. He will be homeschooled for the rest of the semester. Forward your current lesson plan to the school administrator’s office ASAP.

Teddy never doubted Zach was the other person the DA was referring to in his press conference. Still, the news that he has left school is better than seeing Joe eating breakfast in Belmont’s kitchen, even better than Fallon’s little visit. It’s the best news he’s heard all day.

The second-best comes at lunchtime, when he opens one of the windows in his classroom and pokes his head out. Nothing. No cameras are anywhere near the outside of his windows. He leaves the one in the far corner unlocked.

AT EXACTLY TWELVEo’clock, Zach is at home and his new tutor arrives. His name is Titus.