The Class Menagerie

behind her and put a strong arm around her waist, but let her hang there, shaking with horror and shame.
    She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, forcing herself to calm down. After a moment, she risked opening her eyes again. Her vision had stopped lurching and swimming. A moment more and she’d stand up....
    Among the wads of picnic trash, discarded visitor brochures, and empty soft drink cans in the basket, there was something red. Shiny and red. Even before she plunged her hand in to get it, she knew exactly what it was.
    Lila’s notebook!
    She staggered upright and handed it to Mel. “The notebook,“ she said, barely trusting herself to speak.
    He flipped it open. The yellow pages had been torn out, leaving only a ruffle of ragged paper at the top of the pad. “Shit!“ he said as he stuffed it into his pocket.
    “Everybody out of the way.“ One of the medics was pushing the two of them toward the east door. Four others were gently lifting Crispy onto a gurney. She had a tube in her throat, tubes running into her arms, wires seemingly snarled all over. The three burliest men surrounded the gurney and started angling it out the west door. One held two bottles of liquid aloft. Another was running sideways and rhythmically squashing a rubber bellows that connected to a tube that went down Crispy’s throat.
    Jane leaned against Mel and sobbed.

    “I’m all right,“ she said testily to Shelley. “Really! Now stop fussing over me.“
    “Getting nasty, huh?“ Shelley said, setting a fresh cup of coffee in front of her. They were sitting at Jane’s kitchen table.
    “I hate to admit this, but I don’t exactly know how I got home,“ Jane said.
    “I drove you.“
    “I thought so, but I wasn’t certain. Where’s my car? What did you do with the rest of them?“
    “Your car will be brought along whenever a couple of officers are free to bring it. With the help of the police, I stuffed the others into cabs and sent them back to Edgar’s. I seriously considered drowning them all and being done with this, but there were too many cops around.“
    “Edgar must be berserk by now. At least he won’t have to throw the party tonight,- even though he’s probably made all the food already.“ Jane knew she was meandering mentally, but it seemed a pleasant alternative to thinking about Crispy.
    Shelley stirred her coffee. “That’s not exactly true. About the party.“
    “Shelley! You can’t mean the party is still going to happen! Is Trey crazy?“
    “No, Trey’s on the very brink of being arrested. And the party has become an inquest or inquisition or something. It’s not a party anymore. It’s a place where all the suspects and witnesses and possible witnesses have been told to show up if they value their freedom.“
    “Trey,“ Jane said. “Crispy said she was going to meet Trey. Or I was supposed to meet him. I don’t know what she meant.“
    “I couldn’t hear her,“ Shelley said. “What were her exact words?“
    Jane took a gulp of coffee. Too big a gulp. It scalded her mouth slightly. But the pain seemed to clear her mind. “She said ‘Meet* and I asked who she’d met. And she said ‘Meet Trey.’ And I said something like, ‘Did you meet with Trey?’ and she said, ‘no.’ And that’s all she said. Shelley, was she alive when they took her away?“
    “I don’t know. I think she must have been or they wouldn’t have been in such a rush to get her to the hospital.“
    “Could we call the hospital and ask? Do you know where she was taken?“
    “I tried already while you were in the bathroom chucking up everything you’ve ever eaten in your life. They wouldn’t give me a hint. They just said it was a police matter and to make my inquiries through them.“
    “Then let’s do that.“
    “Jane, you know Mel will call you as soon as he can. And nobody else in the department would tell you anything. Tell me again. Exactly what did Crispy say?“
    Jane repeated what she’d already told her and added, “I don’t get it. When I asked her if she’d met with Trey, she tried to shake her head and she definitely said ‘no.’ So why was she talking about Trey at all? What could he possibly have to do with this?“
    “I can’t imagine.“
    “Maybe she wanted me to meet him. Maybe she’d told him something she wanted me to know, but didn’t have the strength to tell me herself.“
    “I don’t think so. At least, when I eavesdropped on Mel questioning him, he vehemently denied