Glare Ice Read Online Free Page B

your joke?”
    Meg freaked at the thought of trying to explain to him the way her mind worked and the pun she had created. “Just remembering something from TV last night.”
    “Meg, what are we going to do with you?” he asked.
    Her mind, at times like these, could be her own worst enemy. It was still trying to make jokes, and was coming up with answers like: Give me an A and send me home for the day, A crown might be a nice choice of headwear, Let me be the teacher and you can be the student. She had to bite the inside of her mouth so that she wouldn’t start laughing again.
    “Meg, can you answer me?”
    These were trick questions. It never did any good to try to answer them. She knew that Mr. Turner had an answer all ready and was dying to tell her what he had thought up to do with her. So she just shook her head.
    “You didn’t finish your work on time, and you fell asleep during class. I had such high hopes for you when you started this class, Meg, but I can see your bad attitude is getting in your way. Since you are so sleepy, I think we should let you have a little nap so you can stay awake for the remainder of the day. So while the rest of the class is outside playing, I want you to put your head down on your desk and close your eyes.”
    Meg looked at him in disbelief. She needed to get out and play with everyone else. This meant she would be trapped at her desk for the next half hour, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep. “Mr. Turner, I will try—”
    “No, Meg. It’s too late. I must show you that I am the boss in this classroom. You don’t know what’s best for you. I do. Please put your head down.” He stared at her, his eyes boring into her like laser beams.
    She put her head down. At least she didn’t have to look at him. But she could feel him standing there, watching her. He did have complete power over her. He could make her do anything he wanted her to do. She hated him. She hated school. She hated life. She felt the tears backing up behind her eyelids. She bit the insides of her mouth again, trying to hold them back. She would not let him see her cry. She knew that he would like that.
    Claire had been given the call from the Bank of Alma to handle. Janet Stone, the bank manager, told her that it appeared that someone was forging signatures on one of their customer’s checks. The account had been overdrawn, which had called it to their attention.
    “This woman, Mrs. Tabor, is in her eighties and not in good health. I’m worried that someone is taking advantage of her. The checks were written out to cash and then cashed at our branch down in Alma. Mrs. Tabor has her account with us here in Pepin. As far as I know, she never does business down at that branch. They wouldn’t know her there. When we examined the two checks against the signature we have on file, it was not a match.”
    “How much money are we talking?”
    “Each time the check was written for one hundred dollars. Not a lot, but for Mrs. Tabor it probably equals groceries for the month.”
    “I’ll check into it.” Claire got Mrs. Tabor’s telephone number and called the woman. After talking to the older woman for a few minutes on the phone, Claire decided it might be better to handle this case in person. The woman seemed confused and distraught. She had told Mrs. Tabor that she would drive over to see her. It was about seven-thirty in the evening, but Mrs. Tabor assured her that she didn’t go to bed until nine at the earliest.
    One night every two weeks, Claire worked late. She traded with another deputy, Billy Peterson, who was taking a night class. It suited her fine. Gave her a chance to fill out all those never-ending forms that she meant to stay on top of, but often didn’t. And she hoped it helped her be more like one of the guys at work. It was hard to be one of the guys when you were the only woman and the only investigator.
    Being investigator meant that she mainly worked a regular day shift. The