Gone Too Far (Devlin & Falco #2) - Debra Webb Page 0,77

anyone else see them. She stormed to the dressing room. As quickly as she could, she stripped off her gym clothes and tugged on her jeans and sweater, then her shoes. She was going home. She would just call Aunt Diana and ask her to pick her up. Tori couldn’t take this anymore.

“Tori.”

She shut her gym clothes into her locker and turned around slowly. “Yes, ma’am?”

Coach Lawrence stood just inside the door, her hands on her hips. “Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry,” Tori said, unable to hold back the new wave of tears. “I think I just need to go home.”

“I understand this is a difficult time for you,” Lawrence said. “Why don’t you go on to Mrs. Leary’s office and talk to her? I’d feel better if you did that first.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Tori grabbed her backpack and headed to the counselor’s office.

Even the few students she passed in the hall stared at her as if she were some sort of freak. She just wanted to run away. To hide. To disappear.

Mrs. Leary waited at her door for Tori. When they were settled in her office, she started the conversation with, “If you’d like me to call your mom, I will.”

Tori swiped her eyes. “I guess I can try to get through the rest of the day.” She had to be strong. Her mom and Falco would figure this out. Wouldn’t they? Worry twisted inside her. What if they couldn’t?

“I intended to call you to my office this afternoon.”

Tori stilled. “Why?”

“I’ve heard about the outbursts you’ve been having.”

Tori stared at her as if her head had split open and an alien being had emerged. “What outbursts?”

“The anger episodes,” Leary explained. “Like the one in the gym only a few minutes ago.”

“That hasn’t happened before,” Tori said, suddenly terrified of what the counselor might say next.

“We all show our emotions in different ways,” Leary assured her. “As long as our reactions don’t get out of control, it’s not a problem.”

“Wait.” Tori held up her hands. “I don’t have anger episodes. Where in the world did you hear something like this?”

“Tori, let’s not worry about that; let’s focus on what we need to do to deal with your feelings.”

The world felt as if it were spinning out of control. “I’d like to call my mom.”

A knock on the door stopped whatever Leary intended to say next. When she would have stood, the door opened.

“I apologize for the interruption,” Mr. Foster said. “I need a word with you, Mrs. Leary.”

“Excuse me, Tori.” Leary moved around her desk and stepped into the corridor with Mr. Foster.

Tori closed her eyes and exhaled.

“Oh my God!”

The words sifted through the door, had Tori turning toward it. The sound of a sob or gasp had her rising from her seat and moving closer to the door. It was sobbing! Mrs. Leary was crying! Pulse racing, Tori held her breath and leaned an ear to the door.

“We won’t announce anything until we have further details regarding her condition.”

“Sarah’s parents must be beside themselves.”

Sarah? Had something happened to Sarah? Tori curled her fingers into fists to prevent yanking the door open and demanding to know what was going on.

“For now,” Mr. Foster said, “let’s be thankful the suicide attempt was unsuccessful. My God, what next?”

Sarah had tried to kill herself.

Hurt twisted inside Tori.

This couldn’t be happening.

24

3:00 p.m.

Taylor Residence

Eighteenth Avenue South

Birmingham

“I am so grateful for your friend who came to my rescue,” Taylor said. “All these years since Father died, I never minded being alone. Never felt alone. I had my work. But then, after the ministroke and being forced to retire, I was lonely.”

Sadie produced a rare smile for the lady, who had become unexpectedly important to her. “If you hadn’t told me about the stroke, I would never have known. Asher never mentioned it.”

“Because he didn’t know. I didn’t want him to worry. It wasn’t such a bad one. Just a wake-up call the doctors identified as a TIA.”

“The intruder didn’t get beyond the living room; is that correct?” Sadie asked, steering the conversation back to the immediate issue. Naomi had told Barton this was the case, but now that the lady had calmed and regathered her wits, she might recall differently.

“He came in through the back door. When I walked into the kitchen to see what all the noise was, he pushed me down and plowed his way into the living room. By then your man was beating down the door. The intruder whipped around and exited the same