The Murray Mansion Floorboards

Rational Solitude III

AMANDA

The students were in an uproar. Amanda watched them quietly, wishing that she knew how to reason with them. Not even Kathryn seemed to know how to calm their growing frenzy.

"It wasn't Stewart!" Lara exclaimed, frightened. "The murderer's still loose, and we have no idea who it is!"

"I still say it was Stewart!" James said. "He only made it look like he broke his hands."

"James, you're being irrational," Nathan argued. "Wouldn't the nurse know his hands weren't broken?"

"Of course! But I bet the maids are in on it...like a group of professional criminals who can communicate with each other without speaking! Or maybe they're just pretending they can't talk...."

"Be quiet James!" Madison snapped. "Your crazy conspiracy theories aren't helping!"

Nobody's helping with all this yelling, Amanda thought, rubbing her temples with her fingertips to soothe her growing headache.

"I don't see how you can say such horrible things about Stewart," Heather said to James. "He was obviously in pain! Besides, we never blamed Rick, Roy, or J. Q. King just because they were victims!"

"Well they're dead! It's different," James retorted.

"Not Roy!" Madison and Nathan yelled at the same time.

"Really? There's a murderer running around. What do murderers do? They murder people."

Lara started crying.

"Enough!" Kathryn screamed. A moment of silence broke through the chaos. She stared at each student furiously, even Amanda. "Where is Stewart?"

The students were suddenly aware of the absence of the boy. They looked around the room, searching for him among the bookshelves.

"Isn't he at the nurse?" Nathan asked.

"For two hours?" Kathryn replied. "I don't think so."

Whispers broke out among the students. Where was he?

Amanda grew slightly worried at the discovery, but then she caught herself. He's probably fine, she thought. He's probably doing better than we are. At least he doesn't have to listen to these people.

James couldn't keep his voice down for long. "He's off doing something horrible!" he yelled.

"You're stupid!" Star countered.

The room erupted again, Kathryn included. Amanda observed it and reflected on how she had never been in such a noisy library in her life.

"This conversation is going nowhere useful," she muttered to herself under the yelling. She pulled the piece of paper, still covered in grime, from her pocket. She looked at it thoughtfully. It's a good time to leave and get this cleaned, she thought.

Amanda slipped out unnoticed through the fighting and shouting. Even though the noise was probably loud enough to cover her escape, she shut the door silently and tiptoed until she was out of hearing range. Then she began her dash to the nearest bathroom.

She was turning a corner in the hall when she ran into something and was knocked off her feet. Lifting her face from the carpet, she saw Stewart lying on the floor a few feet away. He was struggling to his knees and holding his hands tight against his chest, a look of pain contorting his features.

"Oh my goodness," she said, scrambling to her feet and walking to him. "Did I run into your hands? I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going."

Stewart looked up at her and winced again.

"Here," Amanda said, grabbing his upper arm. "Let me help you up."

After she pulled him to his feet, she noticed something else that had fallen to the ground. Papers that Stewart had been carrying were now scattered everywhere.

Amanda leaned over to pick them up. "I'm sorry," she apologized again. "I shouldn't have been running like that. Here." She held the papers toward him.

Stewart eyed her, then the papers.

Before he could reach for them, Amanda's eyes fell on them briefly. To her surprise, she saw printed words. They looked like articles that someone could find on the internet. She looked at Stewart. "What--?" she started.

But he had already taken the papers, pressing them between his wrists. He nodded a small thanks and began a hurried walk down the hall.

Amanda didn't stop him. But she was riddled with questions that bothered her. Was he using the computer? she thought. What was he looking up, and what did he print out?

She could go to the computer later and check the search history, but she currently needed to do something else. She reached into her pocket for the dirty paper. She didn't feel anything.

She reached into her other pocket. Nothing. Growing a little worried, she searched the floor. When she still found nothing, a thought struck her. She turned in the direction Stewart had left. "Hey!" she yelled. "Wait!"

But he was gone. He took the paper back, Amanda thought, shocked. I guess it was important.

And what was on those other papers he had?