Free Keepers of the Cave by Gerri Hill Page A

allowed to use it is on visitation days when they can sit with their parents.”
    “How many students?” Paige asked.
    “We can house up to two hundred. Currently we have one fifty-eight,” Gayla said. “Has Director Avery explained the color codes?”
    “He mentioned it, but no, he didn’t really explain it.”
    They were now in the building that housed the classrooms. The hallway was large and seemed endless, their shoes echoing loudly as they made their way deeper into the school.
    “Red and blue,” Gayla said. “The reds are a mixed group. Some are just bordering on being a juvenile prisoner who should be at a detention center. Those who have committed violent crimes are not allowed here, thank goodness. Reds are sent here by a judge’s order. This school gives them the chance to get their life back together and to make a fresh start. The blues—in my opinion—should not be here. Most are just troubled girls whose parents didn’t know what else to do with them. Some parents look at this as some kind of boarding school, which is crazy. Others think it’s a boot camp that will instill the discipline that they obviously didn’t.”
    “Surely they’re kept separate,” Paige said.
    “Somewhat. The blues have the most freedom, especially at night with a couple of TV and game rooms. With good behavior, reds are allowed to get sent down to Blue Hall each evening, if they wish. The reds have a small TV room, but watching privileges are limited to two hours each evening, so that’s incentive right there.”
    “How do you coordinate the classrooms?”
    “Times are staggered. The blue rooms are just like your normal high school, basically. Reds have an armed guard in them.” Gayla smiled. “Your partner will no doubt be assigned that job. You make a cute couple, by the way.”
    Paige didn’t know why, but she blushed at the comment.
    “I saw you in the car earlier,” Gayla explained. “Very attractive.”
    “Yes, she is.”
    “I heard you went to the cookout yesterday. We went to Dallas instead. I needed a city fix. Real restaurants, shopping, movies.”
    “Yes, I know what you mean. CJ and I are from Houston so this will be an adjustment, I’m sure.”
    Gayla stopped in front of a pair of double doors. “The gym,” she said, pushing them opened. “It’s not full size, obviously, but it’ll give you enough room to work with.”
    A basketball hoop was attached to one wall with four balls tossed haphazardly around it. A net stretched across the two shorter walls, for volleyball, she supposed. Other than that, the room was vacant.
    “Curriculum is standard?”
    “We’re sanctioned by the state but also have some federal guidelines to follow. There are six other schools like this across the nation, this being the only one in Texas. Unlike a juvenile detention center, once the girls are here, they’re here until they graduate.”
    “So a fourteen-year-old could be sentenced to two years, but if they come here, it’s four?”
    “Exactly. Our youngest is thirteen, oldest nineteen. For the most part, the system works. And it’s rewarding when they graduate and you know they now have a life ahead of them.” Gayla shook her head. “Not all, of course. Some leave here and go right back to where they were, but we do our best.”
    “You’ve been here how long?” Paige asked.
    “This will be our fifth year. I do love it. And, as you know, you can’t beat the pay. But there’s a reason for the high salary,” she said. “We live mostly isolated. And the main gate locks at ten so it’s not like you can make a late night of it. Except Saturdays.” She smiled again. “Shopping is a real challenge. I hesitate to even call Hogan Grocery a real store.”
    Paige nodded. “I know what you mean. CJ and I drove to it on Saturday, hoping to find something for the cookout. The store was closed. In fact, the whole community looked shut down. We didn’t see a soul.”
    “Well, not trying to sway you or