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She relayed her thoughts to Doug, and gave him the time school ended.
“That sounds good. But don’t go to the conference room before we get there. Stay at your classroom door with Jason until you see us. I don’t want you to confront the kid’s father in a closed room with just the resource officer for back-up.”
That made sense, and Pixie readily agreed.
Now, to wait.
It was going to be a long afternoon.
Pixie glancedat the clock for the tenth time during the final five minutes of the day, willing the hands to move just a few more clicks. Then she could have the children file out to their lockers to get their things, bring them back inside to be watched over by the aid, and hover in the doorway, waiting for Doug to show before she and Jason would head to the conference room to await Mr. Zablov.
Sergeant Kimbley, the resource officer, knew what was going down, having not only spoken to Pixie, but to his superiors at the police station after MECASA had been in touch. The plan was for Kimbley to intercept Mr. Zablov if he arrived before MECASA did, and bring him to the conference room, directly, waiting for Pixie, Jason, and the authorities.
Pixie smoothed a hand down her dress, nervously, assuring herself over and over, it would all work out.
When the bell finally rang, it startled her, but she quickly regained her equilibrium, herding the bus kids out to their appropriate lines before going back into her room to open the connecting door. The aid bustled in, giving her a thumbs up and a smile indicating that she’d take care of the remaining children, so with nothing left except the business at hand, Pixie went back out to the hallway accompanied by Jason, with whom she’d said she needed a word, and took up position.
She tapped her high-heel-clad foot and glanced over the heads of children, not seeing Doug, or anybody remotely official looking in uniform.
Where were they?
When she finally saw Officer Kimbley walking toward them, her mouth fell open. This wasn’t how things were supposedto go. Kimbley and Mr. Zablov were quite clearly heading for her classroom instead of the designated conference room? Pixie panicked.
She took the situation in, swiftly, and thought she understood. Mr. Zablov’s face was flushed with anger, his fists clenched at his sides. He must have demanded to go to his son’s classroom, and the Sergeant hadn’t wanted to make a scene, so he’d agreed.
Pixie quickly took a startled Jason by the arm as gently as possible, and told him they needed to head back into her classroom, then go into the adjoining room. Right now.
Jason, clearly blindsided, didn’t argue, thank God, but he did question Pixie when they headed outthatroom’s door.
“Where are we going, Miss Spires?” he asked, his voice trembling.
“I’m taking you someplace safe, Jason. You have to trust me, okay?”
He didn’t look happy, but he complied.
Pixie hustled them both through a sea of departing children. It was like swimming upstream, but finally, after what seemed to be an interminable amount of time, she reached the conference room where she and Doug had agreed to hold the eventual showdown. And…damn. There was no Doug, and no team, either. Now what? She knew Officer Kimbley would have to bring Mr. Zablov here eventually to avoid an ugly scene in her classroom, but could she and the Sergeant keep the volatile man away from Jason until more help arrived?
“Sit over there, sweetie,” she told Jason, pointing in the direction of a chair farthest away from the door. He did so without argument, and Pixie took up a position between him and the still closed portal. Looking at his dejected form, she gave a sigh, then straightened her shoulders. It was time to tell the poorkid what was about to happen. Keeping him in the dark would have his imagination running riot.
“Jason, there are some people coming to meet us who are going to help you with your home situation. With your father.”
Jason shrunk down on himself, his eyes growing wide, his head slowly moving back and forth in the negative. “No Miss Spires. Nobody can help,” he said shakily.
“These people can,” Pixie told him, putting as much authority into her voice as she could. “I know them and trust them. One man, Officer Lumous, is a good friend of mine, and another person coming to help is my sister. They’rebothpolice officers, and they’re actually on a SWAT team together.”
She thought that last might make the pair sound bad-ass enough to deal with the kid’s prick of a father.
“Are they…going to shoot him?” Jason asked, a squeak in his voice, butdamn. Didn’t the kid suddenly look hopeful? She hated to burst his bubble.
“No. But they’re going to take him into custody where he can’t…be mean to you anymore.” Pixie had wanted to say “hurt”, but because she didn’t know exactly what was going on, she didn’t want to put any words in Jason’s mouth.
Just when she was about to go over and give him some more, reassuring words, the door burst open behind her, and she spun around. An irate, and clearly out-of-control Mr. Zablov stood there, fuming.
“You,” he snarled at Pixie. “I should have known. Why is my son here instead of in your goddamned classroom, and why is this cop ‘escorting’ me.” He spit out the word like it was poison.
Pixie was very happy to see that Sergeant Kimbley was only a few steps behind Zablov.
“I told you yesterday,” she attempted evenly. “That if Jason wasn’t properly cared for, we’d have to take a harder look at what can be done to make that happen. When your son cameinto school today, it looks like you ignored my suggestion, so I had no recourse but to take matters into my own hands.”
