Last to Die: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

with its impenetrable forest, it seemed that anything might appear.
    In the backseat, Teddy was now alert and staring out the window,as if everything outside was fascinating. Maybe here, deep in the forest, was exactly where the boy should be. This was the first time she’d heard him say more than two spontaneous sentences.
    “Will there be other kids here?” he asked.
    “Of course. It’s a school.”
    “But it’s summertime. Aren’t they all on vacation?”
    “It’s a boarding school. Some of the kids stay year-round.”
    “Don’t they have families to go to?”
    She hesitated. “Not all of them.”
    “So this is where they live all the time?”
    She glanced over her shoulder, but he wasn’t looking at her; he was focused instead on the thick curtain of greenery outside his window. “This seems like a pretty nice place to me,” she said. “What do you think?”
    “Yeah,” he said. And added softly: “I don’t think he can find me here.”

TWELVE
 
    C LAIRE WAS THE FIRST TO SPOT THE ARRIVAL OF THE NEW BOY. FROM the stairwell window, she watched the hatchback drive under the school’s stone arch and roll to a stop in the courtyard. The driver climbed out, a compact woman with unruly dark hair, dressed in blue jeans and a windbreaker. She stood and stretched, as if she’d been driving for a long time, then walked around to the back of the car and pulled out two small suitcases.
    The rear passenger door swung open and someone else climbed out of the car: a boy.
    Claire pressed up against the glass to study him, and she saw an egg-shaped head with light brown hair topped by a wisp of a cowlick. He reminded her of Pinocchio, all stick arms and legs moving in mechanical jerks and stops. He squinted up at the building, and his face was so pale that Claire thought: That’s what a vampire must look like. Or someone who’s been shut away too long in a cellar.
    “Hey look. It’s the Night Crawler.”
    Claire’s back stiffened at the too-familiar insult. She turned to seeBriana and her two snooty girlfriends come sweeping down the staircase on their way to breakfast. These three were the golden girls, the princess posse with glossy hair and perfect teeth.
    “What’s so interesting out there?” one of the princesses asked.
    “Maybe she’s looking for a new place to hunt for grubs tonight.”
    “Hey, Briana. Look,” one of the princesses said. “There’s the new kid we heard about.”
    The three girls pushed Claire aside and crowded forward to stare through the window.
    “
He’s
fourteen?” said Briana.
    “You heard about him?” asked Claire.
    Briana ignored her. “What a stick boy. He looks like he’s about ten.”
    In the courtyard below, Headmaster Baum and Dr. Isles came out of the building to welcome the new arrivals. From the way the two women greeted each other, it was clear they were already acquainted.
    “He looks like an insect,” one of the princesses said. “Like some creepy praying mantis.”
    Briana laughed and looked at Claire. “Hey, Night Crawler. It sounds like your new boyfriend just arrived.”
    H ALF AN HOUR LATER , at breakfast, Claire got another look at him. The boy was sitting at Julian’s table, where the older boys sat. That’s probably why they’d put him there, so he’d be looked after on his first day. He seemed dazed and a little scared, as if he’d just landed on an alien planet. Somehow he sensed that she was looking at him, and he turned to stare at her. Then he kept on staring, as if Claire was the only one he found interesting. As if he’d just spotted the one other person who was as much a misfit as he was.
    The insistent clink of a spoon against a water goblet made everyone look up at the teachers’ table. Headmaster Baum rose to his feet with a noisy scrape of his chair.
    “Good morning, students,” he said. “As I’m sure you’ve noticed,we have a new student with us today. Starting tomorrow, he’ll be attending classes.” He gestured toward Pinocchio-boy, who blushed at the sudden attention. “I hope you’ll make him feel welcome. And I hope you all remember what it was like when you first arrived, and try to make Teddy’s first day here an excellent one.”
    Teddy, with no last name. She wondered why Headmaster Baum had left out that particular detail. She studied him more closely, the same way the boy was watching her, and she saw his lips curve into a smile so tentative that she wasn’t entirely sure it was there. She