“Holy shit,” she said out loud.
As quickly as she could, she dialed Jordan’s number. When Jordan didn’t pick up, she called Martha.
“Hey,” Martha said.
“Put Jordan on.”
“Well, hello to you too.”
“I found something huge.”
“I’m still going to need you to say hello. Because manners. Also, Jordan has now tried on ten thousand skirts and I’m bored out of my mind and you owe me so hard.”
“I think the councilman has been actively trying to kill the park.”
“What? Hang on.” CJ heard a fumbling noise and then Martha’s voice, now distant and hollow. “You’re on speaker. Jordan’s right here. Should I conference in Ava?”
“Yeah. Get her.”
Ava was at her mom’s office working with her fancy French tutor. Or maybe it was her fancy calculus tutor. Her mom hired a lot of fancy tutors. CJ waited for the call to connect. She felt impatient and excited all at once.
“We’re all here,” Martha said.
Ava started to say hello, but CJ cut her off. “I think the councilman is helping the developer kill the park. Is he allowed to do that?”
“What?” said three voices in unison.
CJ’s call waiting clicked. She checked the number. It was Wyatt, her new boss at Sensational Recreational. She wasn’t sure why he was calling. She wasn’t starting until next week.
“I have to take this other call,” CJ said.
“Wait, no. Don’t go,” said Jordan.
“I have to. I’m sending you a link. The reason park attendance is down is because someone shortened the hours. You’ll never guess who.”
“Who—” shouted three voices before CJ clicked over and cut them off.
“Hello?” CJ said. She tried to sound calm even though she was absolutely buzzing. It wasn’t just someone who had shortened the park hours. It was the councilman. Why would he do that unless he wanted the park gone?
“Clarke. I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.” He was speaking loudly, practically yelling over something happening behind him. It sounded like screaming.
“What is that?”
“Not important. I know you’re not supposed to start until next week, but is there any way I could persuade you to come down sooner?”
“Uh… I mean… how soon?”
CJ heard a crash and then more screaming. She said, “Oh my god! What is that?” at the exact same moment that he said, “How fast can you get here?” Then they both said, “What?” at the same time. Then there was a long pause.
“You first,” Wyatt said.
“What is that sound?”
“That, Clarke, is the sound of children at play. Now how fast can you get here?”
CJ pulled into the parking lot of the rec center fifteen minutes later. As soon as she got out of the car, she heard the screaming. It was coming from the gym. CJ quickly locked her doors and half walked, half ran across the parking lot. When she opened the double doors, she was surprised to see that Wyatt had been telling her the truth. This was the sound of children at play. A dozen or so boys in wheelchairs were spread across the basketball court playing a game that she would later learn was flag rugby. It was completely confusing, totally violent, and the boys absolutely loved it.
CJ saw Wyatt, wearing a striped referee shirt and following along with the action of the court. Occasionally, he blew the whistle that hung around his neck, and the boys would either cheer or shout depending on the call. Wyatt noticed her and waved her over.
“Clarke,” he said as she approached. “What took you so long?”
Was he serious? She didn’t think he was serious. But maybe. “Uh… I drove straight here. But I’m ready to get to work. Where do you need me?”
Wyatt’s attention shifted to something on the court, and he blew his whistle so loudly that CJ jumped. “Sorry,” he said. Then he shouted something at one of the kids, who argued with him before finally accepting the penalty. Wyatt turned back to CJ and said, “I feel really bad, but it turns out I dragged you down here for nothing. There was a crisis, but it’s over.”
“What happened?”
“Dakota. My one girl. She was miserable. Like really miserable. And I thought that maybe you could come down here and do your female thing. You know, that thing you pitched me in your interview. Make her see that this is actually fun. I mean, doesn’t this look like fun?”
CJ watched two boys collide into each other and then shriek with laughter. It did look like fun, actually.
Wyatt blew his whistle. “Dudes. Dudes. This is flag rugby. No contact!” He turned back to CJ. “Dakota ghosted right before you got here.”
“Oh my god.” CJ was worried now. “Should I look for her? Do you have any idea where she went?”
“Yeah. She went home. With her mom.”
CJ relaxed. “Oh. You said ‘ghosted.’”
“Yes. She ghosted.”
“If she told you where she was going, that’s not ghosting. Ghosting is when you just disappear with no explanation. Like you would do to someone you’re dating.”
“Well, I would never do something like that in a dating situation. That’s horrible. So I use the term differently. But I respect your cool teen slang.”
“You know I’m only two years younger than you, right?”
“But they’re big years.”
CJ tossed him a look.
“Anyway, sorry to drag you away from whatever you were doing. I hope it wasn’t anything important.”
“All good,” said CJ, trying to keep it light even though she was dying to get back home. She had about a thousand texts from her friends. Most of them were in all caps. She was pretty sure they were on the cusp of uncovering something huge. “So I’ll see you Monday?”
“Wait. As long as you’re here, stick around for a few. I want to introduce you to the dudes.” Wyatt blew his whistle. “Dudes! Time out! Huddle up. Come meet Clarke.”
CJ followed him onto the court. “You know I go by CJ, right?”
Martha couldn’t believe what CJ had found. Of course she also couldn’t believe that she was the only friend available for Jordan to drag around the mall that afternoon. She usually worked on Mondays, but that was before Victoria came along and the entire schedule got turned upside down to accommodate her boss’s niece. Martha decided that if she was going to be stuck at the mall, she was at least going to make the most of it. So while Jordan paid for a pencil skirt and a boring white blouse that made her look older, Martha popped over to the food court. She wanted to pick up some Chinese to take home to her dad for dinner. He was a hopeless cook and would probably die of malnutrition if Martha ever moved out.
As she walked across the mall, Martha tried to process what CJ had found. She didn’t really think it was that big of a deal at first. Then Jordan pulled up a picture of some serial-killer whiteboard she had in her room. She was using it to keep track of everything she knew about the councilman. It was completely thorough. And vaguely creepy. She’d listed the names of all the councilman’s political donors and the dates of their contributions. The developer happened to have written him a pretty big check just two weeks before he limited the park hours. It did seem weird. Although, at the moment, Martha was more irate about something else she had noticed on the serial-killer board. Jordan had also noted his stance on an upcoming vote about a minimum-wage increase. He was opposed. She hadn’t been following the issue that closely, but she was vaguely aware that they were considering a city-wide initiative to raise the minimum wage by fifty cents. It made Martha livid that he would oppose that. An extra fifty cents an hour would be life changing for some people. It would certainly make a difference to her. Especially if this Victoria girl kept taking her hours.