Chapter 4
Raymond gave directions to Mr. Dunkle’s classroom, and Indira and Fox charged ahead.
I slunk along after them, my mind racing.
Of course it was Dunkle. I’d suspected him all along.
Well, kind of.
I mean, I definitely hadn’t liked him.
And while, no, I hadn’t exactly formulated the hypothesis that Mr. Dunkle might be the one stealing Keme’s lunch (not in so many words, at least), I’d suspected…something. I’d had a bad feeling about him for sure. And that meant I’d basically been right all along.
As we got closer to Mr. Dunkle’s classroom, my heart started to beat a little faster.
This was going to be it: the final confrontation.
Indira and Fox had done a surprisingly good job of this whole sleuthing thing so far.
But they were amateurs. They didn’t have the breadth and depth of my experience when it came to confronting crazed killers—or, for that matter, evil math teachers.
This was going to be my moment. I’d let them get things started, but once things got serious, I’d step in and—
It's not like you always have to have a plan. Sometimes, you can just wing it.
This must have been Mr. Dunkle’s prep period because his door was open and he didn’t have any students in his classroom. Indira and Fox strode inside, and I took up a spot by the door to listen.
“May I help you—” came Mr. Dunkle’s familiar, reedy voice.
That was the exact moment someone grabbed my arm and I screamed.
It was only a little scream. A tiny one. In my throat, mostly.
Keme gave me a scouring gaze that was two parts disgust and one part total bafflement. But then he started to pull me away from the classroom, whispering, “Dash, please, you have to go!”
“No,” I whispered back as I pried his fingers off (or tried to—he was freakishly strong).
“We finally figured out who was stealing your lunch—” The we in that sentence might have been a tad generous, but I felt like I’d basically figured it out myself.
Through deductive reasoning. Like Sherlock Holmes.
“—and now we’re going to make sure it stops—”
Several things happened in quick succession.
Mr. Dunkle shouted, “Don’t open that drawer!”
Fox said, “Ah ha!”
Indira said, “These are vape pens; where’s Keme’s lunch?”
And Keme, clearly overcome by frustration, burst out, “Nobody is stealing my lunch! I’ve been giving it to Millie!”
They must have heard us in the classroom because the silence was absolute.
And then a hand fell on my shoulder. And a matching one landed on Keme’s arm. And a voice I was starting to dread said, “Mr. Dane. Mr. Collson. Why don’t we have a talk about wandering the halls during class?”