Free Confessions: The Private School Murders by James Patterson Page A

large croc handbag handed me a wad of tissues and said, “Shall I call someone?”
    “Thanks, but I’m okay,” I replied miserably, taking a deep, shaky breath.
    “We’re fine,” said Harry, his voice breaking.
    Yeah, right. I wondered if we’d ever be fine again.

21
    Jacob Perlman was waiting
for us on the red leather sofa in the living room. Along with his standard khaki shirt and pants, he was wearing his fierce no-nonsense look, and I had an idea why.
    “Uh-oh,” I said, coming into the room.
    “Sit down, Tandy. All of you.”
    We arrayed ourselves around the coffee table that used to be a shark tank and was now just an empty five-by-five glass container with some dead algae clinging to the walls.
    “Raise your hand if you went to school today.”
    He looked at us. The boys looked away.
    “We went to court,” I volunteered. “Matthew’s trial started today.”
    “I’m aware of that. Now.” Jacob crossed his arms over his chest. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “You might have said no,” Harry said. “We didn’t want to fight with you about it, and we especially didn’t want to be overruled.”
    “I haven’t seen my brother in a month,” Hugo said passionately. “I had to see him. I don’t care what you do to me. I’d skip school and do it again.”
    “So you lied by omission,” Jacob said. “We talked about this.”
    I leaned forward in my seat. “But I—”
    Jacob held up one finger to silence me. It worked. “When you didn’t go to school, Mr. Thibodaux was concerned.”
    “Ugh,” said Hugo.
    “You’re surprised, Hugo?” Jacob asked, raising an eyebrow.
    Hugo hung his head. “No, sir.”
    “Mr. Thibodaux called me.”
    “Oh, man,” said Harry.
    “I take it you know where this is going?” Jacob said. “Well, I’ll tell you, anyway. I called each of you. None of you answered. I tried again. Still nothing. And then, since your phones are supposed to be on at all times and you’re always to answer when I call, I worried that something might have happened to you. So I called the police.”
    “We turned off our phones when we went into the courthouse,” I explained. “You knew Matty’s trial was today. Why not look for us there? We weren’t missing nearly long enough for the police to begin a search.”
    “Given recent events, in particular the murder of a young woman
across the street from this building
, I didn’t have time to hope you were fine and go down to the courthouse to check. Sergeant Caputo and I were extremely worried. Normally, he would wait forty-eight hours, but you kids are special friends of the Twentieth Precinct.
    “The police canvassed this building. Several officers searched for you around your school. A squad of uniformed officers went looking for your dead bodies in Central Park.”
    Hugo said in a small voice, “Do you think maybe you overreacted a little bit? I mean, we went to court. Everyone should have known that. He’s our brother. The trial is major news. Caputo’s partner was even there. Testifying
against
Matty.”
    “You could have flipped on the news and seen our faces splayed all over it,” Harry added.
    “You disobeyed,” Jacob said firmly. “You didn’t tell me where you were. That is a
big
deal.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “We’re not used to reporting in yet, Jacob. We never had to before.”
    Jacob went on as if I hadn’t spoken. He kept his voice even, which was almost scarier than if he’d gone crazy.
    “The search was finally called off when, as you say, Harry, one of the officers saw your faces splayed all over the news. But not before thousands of tax dollars were spent and you aged me about ten years. You owe an apology to the NYPD and to Mr. Thibodaux.
I
don’t want your apology. I want obedience.
    “The three of you are grounded until further notice. School. Home. That’s all. Tonight, after what I’m sure will be a very awkward dinner, you will go to your rooms.”
    Hugo said, “Jacob, just