John Grisham - The Accused

Theo stopped next to April and said, “Hi.”

“Hello, Theo,” she said with a smile, then she turned and drew close for a better look at his face. “I thought you had a busted lip.”

“I did. The swelling’s gone.”

She was disappointed with his wound. “How was the suspension?”

“Overrated. Pretty boring, really. I actually missed school.” They began to slowly walk away. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“My mom begged me to come today. She said we might need an extra eyewitness in case Lucy started spitting at people. So far, she hasn’t felt the urge. What are you doing here?”

“I came to check on Lucy, to see if I might be needed in Animal Court again. Can we talk, in secret?”

“Sure.” April was a quiet girl who understood the importance of secrets. Her family life was a wreck, and she often confided in Theo, who always listened thoughtfully. Now, it was her turn to listen. They sat at a small table near an ice-cream vendor, and when Theo was certain no one else could hear, he told April everything.

The ice-cream vendor was closing his booth and needed their table. They began walking again, slowly ambling toward the front of the market. “This is awful, Theo,” she said. “I can’t believe the police are accusing you.”

“I can’t either, but I guess I look pretty guilty.”

“What do your parents think?”

“They’re worried, and I get the feeling they’re doing a lot of talking when I’m not around. You know how parents are.”

“Not really. You have normal parents, Theo. I do not.”

Theo wasn’t sure how to respond to this.

“And Ike thinks it could be related to a bad divorce?”

“Yes, that’s his theory, and it’s a pretty good one. Nothing else makes sense.”

“I sort of know Jonah Finn.”

“You do?”

“Not well, just a little.”

“What’s the scouting report?”

She thought about this as they walked, then said, “Trouble, a loner, misfit, really smart guy who makes bad grades. I think his family is about as whacked-out as mine.”

“How do you know this?”

“There’s a guy in his class, Rodney Tapscott, who lives across the street from me, and he and Jonah hang out some. Do you know Rodney?”

“I know who he is, but I don’t really know him. Doesn’t he play the drums?”

“He tries to. We can hear him across the street.”

“Can you talk to him?”

“About what?”

“About Jonah Finn. I need to find out all I can about this kid. Right now he’s my only suspect and I need information.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“And April, this is top secret. I can’t get caught snooping around, and we can’t accuse anybody of anything. This is a long shot, you understand?”

“Got it, Theo.”

Other than April, the two friends Theo believed he could trust the most were Woody Lambert and Chase Whipple. Claiming the three needed to use a rainy Saturday afternoon to begin work on an upcoming project in Chemistry, Theo convinced his two friends to meet and make plans.

The truth was that Chase was the last person in the world Theo would partner with in a Chemistry lab. Chase was a brilliant, mad scientist with a long record of experiments gone haywire. He had started fires and set off explosions, and no lab was safe when Chase was at work. He had been banned from the labs at school unless a teacher was nearby for close surveillance. Woody was indifferent to Math and Science, but did well in History and Government.

They met in the basement game room of the Whipple home, and, after half an hour of Ping-Pong, they got down to business. Of course, first they had to replay the fight. Chase, who had never struck another person in anger, had witnessed the entire brawl and had been thrilled with the excitement. Woody reported that his mother yelled at him, then started crying. His father just shrugged and said, “Boys will be boys.”

Theo swore them to secrecy. He even made them raise their right hands and promise to tell nothing, and when he was satisfied they could be trusted, he told them the entire story. Everything. The slashed tires, broken window, vandalized locker, planted loot, meetings with the detectives, everything. Then he got around to Ike and his research, though Theo did not confess to lifting the password from Vince’s computer. He described how Ike had gone through the law firm’s divorce files and identified a probable suspect, or suspects.

“That’s brilliant,” Woody said.

“It makes sense,” Chase added. “The guy behind all of this is somebody who hates you and you don’t even realize it.”

Theo agreed, and then talked about the Finn boys and their parents’ ugly divorce.

“My brother is in the tenth grade,” Woody said. “I wonder if he knows Jessie Finn.”

“We gotta find out,” Theo said. “That’s our project right now-to find out all we can about these two guys.” Chase left to go upstairs and get his laptop. Woody pulled out his cell phone and called his brother, Tony, but got voice mail. Theo called Griff who reported he had made no progress in getting the name of the ninth grader who was trying to sell black market 0–4 Tablets for fifty dollars. Griff promised to keep trying.

Mrs. Whipple, who was also a lawyer and close friend of Mrs. Boone, brought down a platter of cookies and a carton of milk. She asked how the Chemistry project was going and all three claimed to be excited with their progress. After she left, Chase went to the website of Strattenburg High School, and after a few minutes of browsing said, “There are three hundred and twenty ninth graders at SHS. Guess how many are named Jessie?”

“Four,” Woody said.

“Three,” Theo said.

“Two,” Chase answered. “Jessie Finn and Jessie Neumeyer. We need to get the name from Griff.”

“I’m trying,” Theo said.

“Griff,” Woody hissed. “I’m going to punch that kid out next time I catch him off campus. I can’t believe he jumped on me like that. What a little twerp.”

“Knock it off,” Theo said. “As of now Griff is on our side. Besides, he apologized. So did Baxter.”

“Baxter hasn’t apologized to me. I’d like to see his eye right now. Probably black-and-blue.”

Chase went to Google Earth and typed in the Finn’s address on Edgecomb Street, near the college. He zoomed in and said, “Here’s their house.” Theo and Woody huddled behind Chase, and all three looked at the screen. The Finn home was a two-story white frame on a street lined with several just like it. There was nothing different or remarkable about it. In the backyard there was a small, aboveground pool, and along the back fence there was a storage shed. The information was nice to have, but of no real value.

Theo’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He yanked it out, opened it, looked at the screen, and said, “It’s Griff.”

Griff told Theo that his sister had finally made contact with Benny, and Benny had called Gordy, and Gordy had reluctantly said that the guy peddling the 0–4 Tablets was named Jessie somebody, didn’t know his last name and really didn’t know much about him. Griff assured Theo that his sister had not revealed the reason for her interest. Theo again stressed the need for secrecy.

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Woody said.

“Why don’t we go to the police?” Chase asked. “They can talk to both Jessies in the ninth grade and find out which one is trying to sell the stuff.”

“It’s too early,” Theo said. “Suppose it’s Jessie Finn. When the cops approach him, what’s he gonna do? Admit he’s got a stash of stolen computers and cell phones? Fall on his knees and confess everything? No way. He’ll just deny it all, and if the cops can’t find any of the loot in his backpack, they can’t do anything. He’ll get scared and we’ll never find the stuff.”