The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier Page A

where the ladders start.
    “Fine,” Trent said. “Now, let’s talk about the terrain of the area where Alicia was found.”
    The boy frowned. “Terrain?”
    “The features of the area—woods, bushes, undergrowth,” Trent explained. “You’re familiar with it?”
    “Yes,” the boy replied. “We played there a lot. There’s a baseball field and some swings and a slide for the young kids.”
    “Did anyone tell you the exact spot where Alicia was found?”
    “Somebody said a few feet off the path, near some trees. They said her . . . they said she was covered with branches and leaves and stuff.”
    Trent noted that the boy had stumbled a bit and had avoided using the word
body,
which was entirely appropriate. Trent had also done so to make it easier for the boy.
    “What do you remember about the area? Was there loose gravel, grass? Was it rocky, overgrown?”
    The boy shrugged. “Just . . . ground. Like you find in the woods.”
    “Stones, rocks?”
    “I guess so. I remember tripping on a big rock once when I went into the woods to . . .” Jason stopped, hating to admit that he had stepped into the woods to pee.
    “To relieve yourself?” Trent asked helpfully.
    “Yeah.” Feeling his cheeks warming, wondering if he was blushing, like in school.
    “A lot of stones and rocks, right?”
    “Yes.”
    Knowing the boy would supply the answer he sought, Trent asked: “What do you think the weapon was, Jason?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Trent waited.
    “A rock?” the boy asked.
    Hiding what would have been a smirk of triumph, Trent said casually: “Could have been a hammer. If the perpetrator brought a hammer along. If the murder was premeditated.”
    “Premeditated?” Jason knew the meaning of the word, having heard it a thousand times on television shows, but he couldn’t connect it with what happened to Alicia.
    “I mean,” Trent said, “if someone had planned Alicia’s murder in advance. But I don’t think it happened that way. Do you?”
    Planning Alicia’s murder in advance? Jason shook his head at the possibility.
    “No,” he said.
    “I think it might have been something that happened on the spur of the moment. Not quite an accident but certainly not planned, perhaps as surprising to the perpetrator as it was to Alicia.” Avoiding the word
killer
or
murderer,
of course.
    “And if it happened that way, spontaneous, not planned, then this brings an entirely new viewpoint to the tragedy.”
    Jason frowned, unsure of Mr. Trent’s meaning. “I don’t understand.”
    “What I mean is this. For instance, if you, Jason, committed a terrible act, for instance, if you had killed Alicia without premeditation, without planning it out in advance but in a moment of panic or losing your temper—then it would make a big difference in the way the case was handled. We would allow for mitigating circumstances. Not first-degree murder. Perhaps your mind was in turmoil at the time. Juries, the police, they understand how those things can happen.”
    Jason understood. He was aware of different charges in murder cases mostly from television, first degree and second degree, manslaughter, but had never given them much thought. He frowned as he looked at Mr. Trent. The questioner wore an expression on his face that Jason had not seen before. He looked . . . sly. Jason recalled words from a book he’d read as a little kid. Sly as a fox. And suddenly the import of Mr. Trent’s words struck him.
If you had killed Alicia.
    “But I—”
    Trent cut him off. That ancient ploy: a question to divert the subject.
    “Know what’s interesting, Jason?” he asked.
    “What?”
    “The choice of weapon. You said a rock was used. That’s what the police also think. ’A blunt object causing trauma.’ Those were the official words. It’s interesting that you also said a rock caused the trauma. Why did you say that, Jason?”
    “I don’t know. There’s a lot of rocks there.”
    “What do you think