When I heard that knock upon the door I experienced an unreasonable sense of relief.
"Come in," Ms Jefferson called even as the door opened.
I do not recall whom or what I expected to enter. Probably something on the order of the U.S. Cavalry, at the very least. Okay, so I may have watched one too many of those 1960s' Wild West movies on TV, at Nancy's place.
Disappointingly, it was not the U.S. Cavalry, though. It was only Mallory Carmichael.
She had tucked up the skirt of her school uniform to make it a good deal shorter than what was permitted by our school's uniform regulations. I had witnessed her doing that in the bathroom several times already.
"I am back," she told us brightly.
"That is good to know, Carmichael," our teacher acknowledged. "Mind you, you have taken an inordinate amount of time to go to the bathroom."
"I know," Mallory admitted. "But it was totally not my fault," she added, with heavy emphasis on the word 'fault'.
Ms Jefferson frowned. "Whose fault was it, then?"
"If anything, it was Headmistress Stuart's fault," Mallory explained. "I ran into her on my way back to the classroom, and I made the mistake of mentioning that these two gentlemen are here to take Nat somewhere to question her. So, the head made me tell her everything about it. You know how she can get, sometimes." Mallory made a face. "I mean, I wouldn't exactly call her paranoid or anything, but"
Ms Jefferson cleared her throat. "You are on thin ice here, Carmichael. On very thin ice."
Mallory flinched. "I said I would not call her paranoid, didn't I? What I meant to say is, Headmistress Stuart is always very much concerned with having things proceed in an orderly manner. Which is of course exactly as it should be," she added.
"Well, I am awfully glad that you think so, Carmichael," Ms Jefferson observed, not without a touch of irony.
"Anyhow, it took me quite a bit of time to explain all that, but as it turned out, this was just the beginning."
The two men had been listening to this exchange with obvious impatience.
"Could you hurry up and get to the point, girl?" Agent Banks asked Mallory. "So we can return to the business at hand."
"But this concerns you, too," Mallory told him, "and I am extremely sorry that I caused the two of you so much inconvenience. But it was Headmistress Stuart who did it, not me."
"Inconvenience? What inconvenience?" Mr Banks inquired.
Mallory frowned at him. "I was about to explain that, before you interrupted me." She cleared her throat. "So anyhow, the headmistress made me accompany her to her office where she insisted on calling the police. Yes, I know. But the good news is, a police patrol car happened to be in the neighborhood, so we won't have to wait. They should be here any minute now. I am sure everything will be cleared up swiftly, now." She turned towards the two men who I noticed were looking more than a bit alarmed at that point. Mallory offered them a bright smile. "Again, I am so sorry if I caused you any inconvenience."
Agent Anderson nodded curtly.
"You may return to your seat now, Carmichael," Ms Jefferson told her.
Mallory hesitated. "There is one more thing." She was addressing the two agents rather than our teacher. "Speaking of inconveniences ..."
Agent Anderson glared at her. "What else?"
"Yes, what else?" Agent Banks echoed.
The expressions on both men's faces showed outrage, mixed with something that suspiciously resembled fear.
I had seen that particular look before, on the faces of teachers who had been interrogating Mallory Carmichael. At a point when they had known already that she had done some serious mischief but when they had yet to determine the exact amount of damage that she had done.
If Mallory noticed that look, she did not show it. "Well, on my way back from the head's office," she continued, unruffled, "I walked across the school's parking lot and I took the opportunity to admire your car. It's the black sedan, right?"
Agent Anderson stiffened. "So?"
Mallory sighed. "It's not a big deal, really. But I may have accidentally let the air out of the tires of your car."
"You may have accidentally done what?" Agent Anderson snapped.
"Tires? As in, tires, plural?" Agent Banks asked.
"Well yes, all four tires," Mallory specified.
Mr Anderson's face had turned bright red with anger. "You accidentally let the air out of all four tires of our car?"
Mallory took one cautious step backwards. She fixed him with an insolent look. "You know, there is no need to make such a fuss about it. I mean, let's face it: accidents happen."
"Accidents happen? That's all you've got to say about it, accidents happen?"
Agent Anderson looked about ready to throttle Mallory Carmichael. His partner gripped the other man's arm tightly.
"There is no time for that," he hissed. "Come on." He added, in a normal tone of voice, "Remember, we have an appointment elsewhere, early tomorrow." He turned to address our teacher. "We have to leave now, Ms Jefferson. But make no mistake about it, we will be back."
After the two men had left our classroom, Ms Jefferson turned towards Mallory. "You did not really talk to Headmistress Stuart, did you, Carmichael?"
"No, Miss," Mallory admitted. "Mind you, not for lack of trying. But Headmistress Stuart was not in her office, and neither was the school secretary. I did let the air out of the tires of their car, though. Out of all four tires," she added. "Just to be on the safe side."
Ms Jefferson smiled. "That was well done, Carmichael."
"Thank you, Miss."
"I will go and find Headmistress Stuart to inform her about what happened, and ask some of my colleagues to assist me in making sure that those two gentlemen leave the school premises if they have not already done so. Girls, you may visit the cafeteria or spend some time outside for the remainder of sixth period. And do stay together. Fogg, you stay with your classmates until I return with Headmistress Stuart. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Miss."
Ms Jefferson pointed at me. "The same goes for you, Hart. Stay here and make sure that Fogg does not run away or do anything similarly foolish."
"Yes, Miss."
*******************************
A / N : If you enjoyed reading this chapter, please consider adding your comments or voting.