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mercy. She was stark naked, and she was smothered in blood from head to foot. Her hair was a riot of bloody black curls, and her eyes were staring white out of a scarlet mask. She was criss-crossed with gaping cuts and covered in huge red bruises.
    She had left an erratic trail of bloody footprints on the vinyl floor behind her, and two bloody handprints on the door.
    Her mouth was stretched wide open but she said nothing – just stood there, with her hands held out.
    Jim jumped up from his desk, went across to her and took her in his arms.
    â€˜ Teddy! ’ he shouted. ‘Call nine-one-one! Paramedics and police! Do it now! Grant – go to the infirmary and fetch Nurse Okeke! Tell her to bring blankets and a stretcher and a first-aid kit!’
    Maria’s knees gave way, and she started to sag. Her skin was growing tacky as the blood started to congeal, and Jim felt as if they were stuck together in some kind of unholy embrace. He lowered her gently to the floor and said, ‘Kim – my coat!’
    Kim lifted Jim’s crumpled linen coat from the back of his chair and spread it out. Jim lifted Maria a little and laid her head down on it.
    â€˜Here,’ said Arthur, ‘you can cover her up with this,’ and he handed Jim his Michael Jackson sweatshirt.
    Maria’s eyes were still wide open and staring, but she didn’t seem to be focusing. She opened her lips and a bubble of blood formed between them, and then softly burst.
    â€˜Maria,’ Jim urged her. ‘Maria – can you hear me?’
    Maria’s eyes rolled toward him, although he couldn’t tell for sure if she could see him.
    â€˜Maria, what the hell happened? Who did this to you? Maria!’
    Maria opened her lips again and mouthed something, but there was a sudden clatter and squeak of running feet in the corridor outside the classroom, and Jim couldn’t hear what it was.
    â€˜What did you say?’ Jim asked her. ‘What happened, sweetheart? Who did this?’
    â€˜ Door ,’ she whispered. ‘ Door. ’

FIVE
    L ieutenant Harris arrived ten minutes after the squad car and the paramedics. He climbed out of his bronze Crown Victoria and walked across to the ambulance, where Jim was standing with Dr Ehrlichman, the principal, and Nurse Okeke.
    Two uniformed officers had assembled Special Class Two under the cedar tree, and were taking notes. One of them had hay fever and kept sneezing. Lieutenant Harris gave them a wave and called out, ‘See you in a minute, you guys.’
    Lieutenant Harris was short and almost square, bull-necked, with a gingery buzz-cut, and a gingery suit to match. ‘What happened?’ he asked, patting his perspiring forehead with a balled-up Kleenex. ‘I picked up the call as I was driving home.’
    â€˜One of my students got herself badly cut up,’ said Jim. He raised his arms to show Lieutenant Harris all the dried blood on his shirt, like a dark red map of the Balkans. ‘Maria Lopez, seventeen years old. We don’t know how it happened, but the paramedics are trying to make her comfortable before they take her off to the hospital.’
    Lieutenant Harris peered inside the ambulance. ‘Is it life-threatening?’
    â€˜I don’t know. I hope not. But she has lacerations all over and she’s pretty seriously bruised.’
    â€˜So how did she get that way?’
    â€˜Search me,’ said Jim. ‘She excused herself to go to the restroom. She took so long that I sent one of the other girls to go look for her. She wasn’t there. But a couple of minutes later she came bursting in through the door totally naked and covered in blood.’
    Lieutenant Harris looked around the grounds, his lips tightly compressed, as if he were searching for some kind of a sign. A burning bush, maybe, or an angel holding up a sacred text. When he turned back, he said, ‘Does anything normal ever happen in your class, Mr Rook?