Rescue

into what may be the disappearance of one of your students.“
    A frown. “One of my students?“
    “Or perhaps former students. Eddie Haldon.“
    The frown deepened. “Do you have some sort of identification?“
    I took out the holder and passed it to her.
    She looked up from reading it. “This says ‘Commonwealth of Massachusetts.’“
    “That’s right.“
    “You’re not licensed in New Hampshire, then.“
    “No, but if you’d like, call Kyle Pettengill about me. We had lunch together today.“
    Kiernan didn’t seem convinced. Handing back the holder, she picked up the phone, dialing directly herself. Then, “Kyle, Chris at the Elementary... No, I’m fine, how about you?... Good, good. Kyle, I’ve got a gentleman sitting in front of me named John Cuddy...“ Kiernan laughed in spite of herself. “Yes, that’s him. Kyle, what I want to know is... Yes, yes.... I see...Right, well, I guess I will...Thanks, Kyle, I’ll do that, too...Right, bye.“
    I said, “What made you laugh?“
    “Something about the way Kyle described you.“
    “I don’t suppose you’d want to share that with me.“
    “You can ask Kyle, tell him I don’t mind if he doesn’t.“
    “Okay.“
    Kiernan took a breath. “Mr. Cuddy, New Hampshire is a very... libertarian state. Do you know what I mean?“
    “Macro version: minimal governmental intervention in the lives of its citizens. Micro version: you mind your business, and I’ll mind mine.“
    She watched me. “Was that your way of telling me not to underestimate you?“
    “It was my way of telling you what I thought ‘libertarian’ meant.“
    Kiernan nodded. “Then you can appreciate my position. School records are confidential unless the appropriate authorities jump through the appropriate hoops to get them, and the appropriate authorities—for our purposes, the police— aren’t interested in jumping just now.“
    “Meaning you can’t tell me if you sent Eddie’s school records to a given address at the request of his parents.“
    She hesitated before answering. “Meaning I can’t discuss Eddie, period, without parental permission.“
    “Which Pettengill told you I’m not likely to receive.“
    “Ever.“
    “Look, Ms. Kiernan, I do appreciate your position. But hear me out for a couple of minutes.“ I went through Melinda and Eddie with the flat tire on Oswald Finn’s car, Severn in the blue truck, the body from the channel, and the Haldon’s attitude when I spoke to them. “So, that’s where I am. I think Eddie’s in some kind of danger, or at least that his parents don’t have a due what’s really going on with him. I need help here, and you’re in a position to maybe give me some.“
    Kiernan did hear me out. It wasn’t until I was finished that she stood and folded her arms, moving to the window behind her and looking at some jungle gym equipment and two bicycle racks.
    Over her shoulder, she said, “Do you know how you get to be a principal, Mr. Cuddy?“
    Pettengill had asked me such a similar question, I just said, “No.“
    “It starts in school, I think. As a student yourself, admiring the men and women who help you and the other students you see sometimes struggling and sometimes excelling. Then you do a stint during college as a student teacher, and you realize it’s not as easy as it looked, but you get hooked and go into it and grade homework when you can barely keep your eyes open after dinner and into the night. You get up at dawn to prepare new assignments, and you cover administrative things like bus duty and lunch duty, and if you’re halfway decent you get tenure because they can’t find many others who are willing to do what you do for what they pay you to do it. Then at some point you lose a little of the fire, a little of the ‘why’ you teach, and you drift into administration. You keep your tenure, even though you know you don’t really want to go back into the classroom. But you also know that it’s the only thing you’ve ever done, the only thing you could fall back on.“
    Kiernan turned to me. “All of which would be lost if somebody ever told a parent you were leaking student information to a smiling Irishman from Boston.“
    “That what made you laugh on the telephone?“
    She smiled herself, fought it, and then laughed again. “Kyle said I would kind of like you.“
    “But liking me doesn’t include helping me.“
    Kiernan unfolded the arms, sat back down. “Can you promise me