Page 10 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Road Kill

He let out a sigh and made a notation in his little black book. “I
guess we’d better hear it all. Start with the bus ride out there.”
“All right.” She looked up. “Seventeen of us in the life science
class met here at 8:00 a.m. and boarded the bus in the parking lot.
Our teacher, Ross Ewidge, arrived a few minutes later, quieted
everyone down, and recited the usual rules about behaving on a field
trip. He checked off our names on a roll card and made sure we had
the proper clothing and other equipment—a small digging tool and a
shoulder bag suitable as a specimen bag. We had also been instructed
to bring our own lunches in a brown bag. Then we drove off. We
arrived at the ranger station in San Pajaro at nine-fifteen.”
“You’re certain of that?”
Labelle held up her left wrist. She had a rather more expensive
watch than most students, and not a particularly feminine-looking
one. Possibly the kind divers wear.
“Yes. One of the rangers came out and recited the usual rules
about behaving in the park. Mr. Ewidge had arranged for us to be
allowed to remove small bits of drought-resistant flora for later
identification and use on our final reports. He reminded us that the
written test would count for more than our field work. Then he said
we had until eleven-thirty to gather specimens and return to the bus
for lunch. After that he was going to lecture on the ecology of the
place. We were going out collecting first because it would get hot
later in the day.”
Brad Fassner nodded, content to let her arrive at the distressing
scene on the cliffs in her own way. Labelle drew her words out
carefully but without hesitation. I never had the impression that she
was making it up as she went along.
“So we gathered up our gear and started up the various paths that
led up into hills from the ranger station. By then it was already a
quarter to ten and getting warm. We broke up into small units, one to
three students each. Mr. Ewidge had not put any restriction on who
we could go around with, so a lot of us just fell in with our friends. I
would have been alone, but Sherrie Cook approached me and asked
if we could team up. It surprised me at first, because her boyfriend
was in the class, too. But he had gone running off with some other
boys who were not taking it all as seriously as they should have,
according to her, and none of her club were there that day.”

9