Lane Assignments

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

The following week:

CPOV

As with anything I've thrown at her, Ana is a natural at the steeplechase. Natalie's been coming in two or three times a week to coach her, and it's been nice to see her back in her element, laughing and carefree again. Ana's been holding her own in her first meets, and I tell her the same thing I tell all my athletes as they walk onto the track. Toes on the line, head up, eyes on the prize... and GO!

Practice over for the day, I head back into my coaching office, which is in one corner of the boys' locker room. Even with the door shut, I can smell the distinctive combination of sweat and antiseptic cleaner, each scent battling to overpower the other.

I grab my bag and go to turn off my computer, but then give into a temptation that's been niggling at me for the past several weeks. Since a certain brunette junior walked onto my track and into my classroom. Kate said she attended Montesano schools through last year, then moved away briefly, then returned. Why? I log into the school's main server, my fingers moving almost of their own accord, following the tabs to find student records. Clicking on the search box, I type Steele, Anastasia.

Steele, Anastasia

Student ID: 122052

Grade: 11

GPA: 3.25

Parent/ Guardian: Raymond Steele, Father. Employer: Self-employed, Steele Woodworking.

Address: 1014 Spruce Ave, Montesano.

Spruce Avenue is in a working-class area of older, but well-maintained homes. Mostly ranch and split-levels built in the 1970's and 80's. So Raymond Steele is a woodworker, most likely with a shop in his back yard. He most likely isn't weathly, but he's not hard-up either. The important thing here is that Ana chose to be with Mr. Steele and not with her mother. I look down the list and see nothing out of the ordinary until I pull up her individual grade reports. Kate mentioned that she attended Montesano schools until last year, then transferred to Dallas, then returned at the beginning of fourth quarter.

I pull up her freshman and sophomore transcripts... all A's, with the occasional A- or B. It looks like all the B's, in fact, are for PE. She and sports really haven't gotten along...

Parents are listed as Carla Wilks and Raymond Steele, who are living apart, with Ana's address being the same as her mother's.

Then I pull up the transcript that was received from a high school in Dallas. First quarter grades are good, but then they drop to all B's and a C for second quarter, and then to all C's and even a D for third quarter. A couple the grades have an asterix by them, noting that they are incomplete. So obviously there was something going on in Texas that was not good. Did it have to do with kids at school? Or was it something at home?

Carla Morton is listed as the parent, and also residing in the household is a Stephen Morton. For a reason that I can't explain, the little hairs on my arms stand up when I read his name. Stephen Morton... her mother's new husband, her step-father.

What happened to her in Texas? What was so bad to cause a dramatic drop in her grades, to cause her to return so abruptly in the middle of the school year? My phone pings with a new message, preventing my mind from traveling further down that dark path.

I dig my phone out of my pocket and see that the message is from Natalie.

It's go time... Are you on your way?