The Big Empty by Stan Jones

Author:Stan Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crime Fiction
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2018-10-29T20:10:25+00:00

Nita was slumped in a red plastic chair, eyes puffy from crying, hiccupping intermittently and wiping her nose on the sleeve of her hoodie. An angry red scratch ran across one cheek.

“Oh, Dad!” she cried as Active stepped into the principal’s office. She launched out of the chair, threw herself into his arms, and sobbed. The frown on Grace’s face got a little deeper. Was the girl parent-shopping in her moment of crisis?

Active folded her into his chest and cradled a hand around the back of her head. How small it was; sometimes he forgot she was still only a child. And the way she had said, “Dad.” The word had come to feel less awkward since their talk on the Hawk River. But now, the weight of responsibility that came with it paralyzed him.

Maybe Grace would know what to do.

Their eyes met over Nita’s head for a second. He thought Grace might reach out to the girl, turn her around, and embrace her.

Instead, she pulled one of the red chairs up to the principal’s desk and sat down. “You said on the phone that Nita hurt someone, Ms. Savok? Any bones broken?”

Lena Savok was long-torsoed and fortyish, projecting an executive-suite cool with her gray suit, stern look, and thick black hair pulled back into a bun. Her office matched her personality—a ruthlessly organized desk with not so much as a stray pen on the blotter, nothing on the walls but diplomas, credentials, and a framed color photograph of a band of musk oxen circled up on the tundra, horns out.

The principal took off her glasses and folded her hands in front of her.

“Mr. and Mrs. Active, I appreciate you coming in. Thankfully, the other student was not seriously injured, just a bloody nose. Her mother took her home.”

“What happened?” Grace twisted the fingers of one hand in the other.

“I think it would be best if Nita owns her actions by explaining the situation herself.”

Grace pushed back her chair and turned to face Active and Nita. “Well?”

Active got a box of Kleenex from the principal’s desk and handed it to Nita, who was back in her chair now. He sat down beside her. She blew her nose loudly, wadded up the Kleenex, and stared at her hands, not saying a word.

Active stroked her shoulder. “It’ll be okay, kiddo. Tell us about it.”

Nita drew a deep breath and blurted out, “I punched Mindy Harper.”

“Why would you do that?” Grace almost shouted.

Nita glared at her. “Because of what she said about you.”

Grace’s eyes widened and she pressed her hand over her heart. “About me?” She looked like a fox in a trap. Active felt a tremor in his chest.

“Wha—what . . .” Grace’s fists were clenched, but not enough to control the trembling.

Active realized he was standing now. “What did Mindy say, Nita?”

The girl’s eyes swung from Active to Grace and back again.

He smiled and nodded. “Go ahead, sweetheart.”

Nita looked at her lap again. She drew a deep breath that raised, then lowered her shoulders.

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