Kevin brought the antique wooden shaft down violently across his raised knee. The sound of the thick wood snapping echoed across the courtyard like a gunshot. The beautiful mother-of-pearl inlays shattered, spraying tiny white fragments across the red bricks.
“Get out of my way, you useless old man,” Kevin snarled.
He turned and hurled the two broken halves of the cane over the retaining wall, sending them crashing deep into the thick azalea bushes.
I reached the G-Wagon, out of breath, my chest heaving. Bella trotted up right behind me, sensing the aggression and letting out a low, warning bark at the three teenagers.
“Get in your car, Kevin,” I ordered, my voice shaking with pure fury. “You are done. I am taking this straight to Headmaster Vance. You just assaulted a staff member.”
Kevin slowly turned his head to look at me. The adrenaline was still pumping through him, but his sneer quickly returned. He wasn’t afraid of me. He wasn’t afraid of Vance. He knew the rules of Prescott Academy didn’t apply to him.
“He tripped, Mr. Davis,” Kevin said smoothly, looking at Trent and Chase. “Right, boys? The old guy just lost his balance. I was trying to catch him.”
Trent chuckled. “Yeah. Tripped right over his own feet.”
“Get out of here,” I snapped, pointing down the driveway.
Kevin adjusted his letterman jacket, gave Elias one last look of utter disgust, and climbed back into his expensive SUV. The engine roared, and he threw it into drive, accelerating recklessly down the pedestrian path and forcing two younger students to jump onto the grass.
I immediately turned to Elias. The old man was still leaning against the stone wall, his hand resting on his chest. He looked pale, but his breathing was returning to normal.
“Elias, are you okay?” I asked, reaching out to support his elbow. “Do you need the nurse? I’m calling the police. That was battery.”
Elias gently pulled his arm away from my grip. He straightened his canvas overalls, his eyes distant. “No police, David. I am quite alright.”
“He shoved you into a wall and broke your property!” I argued, bewildered by his calm response. “That cane—”
“The wood was getting weak anyway,” Elias interrupted softly. He didn’t look at me. He was staring over the retaining wall, his eyes locked on the dense tangle of azalea bushes where the pieces of his cane had vanished. For a moment, I thought I saw a flash of deep, terrifying calculation in the old man’s eyes, a look completely unnatural for a victim of an assault.
Then he blinked, and the frail groundskeeper returned.
“I have sweeping to finish in the main courtyard,” Elias muttered. He turned and walked away, his steps slightly uneven without his cane, disappearing toward the arches of the math building.
I stood there in the afternoon sun, my heart hammering against my ribs. Bella pressed her warm side against my leg, whining softly. The crowd of students had scattered, eager to avoid being named as witnesses.
I wasn’t going to let this go. I didn’t care how much money Senator Baxter donated to the athletic department. Kevin had crossed a line, and I needed physical evidence that the altercation had happened.
I turned and climbed over the low stone wall, stepping into the damp soil of the flowerbeds. “Come on, Bella. Find it.”
CHAPTER 2
Bella’s tail wagged as she pushed her nose into the dense, dark green foliage of the azaleas. It only took her a few seconds. She let out a sharp yip and nudged a piece of wood near the roots of a massive oak tree.
I knelt in the dirt and pulled out the lower half of the cane. The brass tip was scuffed, and the wood was splintered jaggedly at the break. I tossed it onto the grass and kept digging through the branches. A moment later, I found the handle.
The mother-of-pearl inlay was ruined, the delicate craftsmanship destroyed by Kevin’s knee. I held the heavy handle in my palm, brushing a clump of damp soil off the broken end.