Page 63 of A River Red With Blood
“Yes.”
“Is that usual, an inspector keeping tabs on a school with which the department is no longer involved?”
“Who says I’m keeping tabs on it?”
“If not, then what?”
“I provide advice,” said Teal.“And I help out on a voluntary basis.I was asked to join the board of trustees, but I felt it would be a step too far, and I doubt the department would have agreed anyway.I’ll wait until I retire.”
“What kind of advice and help do you provide, Mr Teal?”
“Whatever is required.When the school stepped down from state funding, I guided it through the transition, beyond thegeneral departmental assistance offered as a matter of course.At the school itself, I’ve painted dorms, put up fences, aided in the transfer and transportation of students—”
“Midnight abductions?”
Those teeth flashed again.
“I wouldn’t call them that.”
“What would you call them, then?”
“I’ve already answered the question: transfer and transportation.”
“It doesn’t strike me as a healthy way to deal with troubled children.It sounds like a recipe for trauma.”
“Your observation contains the answer,” said Teal.“They’re troubled.Some of them have shown violence toward parents, siblings, teachers, and fellow students.Yes, they’re teenagers, but frequently housed in adult bodies.Spero is a last resort, or next-to-last, and not one they’re keen to embrace, not at first.And who could blame them?I wouldn’t want to leave my family, my friends, my refrigerator of food on demand, my computer games, to be sequestered in rural Maine, where even the privilege of watching TV for an hour in the evening has to be earned.Few of them accede willingly, and at the other extreme, a number fight hard against it.So yes, there are times when the school authorities have to come in the night and take a boy when he’s tired and disoriented, but only minimal force is ever used, and restraints if there’s no option, as much to prevent the boy from hurting himself as anyone else.Is it traumatic?Yes, but we explain what’s happening to them throughout, and they calm down soon enough.”
Teal was the soul of reasonableness.But then, the worst men had the ability to make even the unconscionable sound acceptable, and it always ended the same way: with dead children.
“Do you enjoy it?”I asked.
“No, Mr Parker, I do not.I have a daughter of my own and would hate for anything similar to befall her.That’s one of the reasons I stayed involved with Spero.I wanted to develop a system that worked for all, but primarily the students, beginning with their first encounter with the school.That means being in the van with them, especially in the most challenging of cases,and later on-site as they adjust to their new circumstances.I view it as an extension of my work with the department.With luck, what I learn may subsequently be applied at similar schools.”
I let it go.I’d never tried to force a terrified teenager into the back of a van in the dead of night, so the mechanics of the operation were beyond my remit.I just knew it wasn’t something for which I’d volunteer.I expect there were those who were prepared to do it for money.You can get people to do anything for money, assuming you have the right people and the right money.It’s harder to get them to do dirty work for free, especially if it involves inflicting suffering on others—unless they don’t find it dirty at all, but instead kind of like it.We have a name for those people: sadists.
“And how does the department feel about the assistance you provide to Spero?”
“I’m not being paid for what I do,” said Teal, “so it’s not a concern.I’m not the only person here who volunteers at a school.”
It was notable that Teal was making no effort to hide his ongoing links to Spero.Nevertheless, he was hiding something.He was too open not to be.
“Were you part of the team that took Scott Theriault from his home?”
“No.”
“Any particular reason why you weren’t?”
“I was otherwise engaged.I have a full-time job and a family.I assist at Spero when I can, but I’m not on call.”
“Did you ever meet Scott Theriault during your visits to Spero?”
“I might have.I don’t recall.”
“What about the principal, Dante Santopietro?How closely do you work with him?”
“We speak regularly.Dante is Spero.Without him, it wouldn’t exist.”
“I hear he was once a student at Élan.That wasn’t a great place to end up.”
