Among the Imposters

Thirty Five

The entire dining hall full of boys gasped. “He was hiding in the nurse’s office,” Mr. Talbot was saying. ‘And the other one’s over at the girls’ school. Come on. I don’t want to miss my golf game this afternoon.

‘No!” Jason roared. Even in chains, he had a commanding presence. The police officer with the chestfiil of medals turned to look at him with something like respect ‘I told you! I’m not an exnay. I can show you the exnays!”

Jason stepped forward, chains rattling. Mr. Talbot reached out to grab his arm, but the officer stopped him.

“Maybe he’s right,” the officer said. “I always love it when they betray each other. And I wouldn’t mind getting a bonus for exceeding my quota this month.”

Mr. Talbot shrugged and looked at his watch, as if all that worried him was showing up late for his tee time.

Jason hobbled slowly across the room, until he reached Luke’s table. Luke felt faint. Everyone around him seemed to be holding his breath, too.

Jason pointed.

“Him. Antonio Blanco is his real name, but he goes by Samuel Irving. Him. Denton Weathers, alias ‘h-avis Spencer. Him. Sherman Kymanski, alias Ryan Mann. Him. Patrick Kerrigan, alias Tyrone Janson.” Now Jason pointed to Luke. “And him. I don’t know his real name, but he’s pretending to be Lee Grant.” He turned back to the Population Police officer, beseechingly ‘And I know there are more. Just give me some time—’

Mr. Talbot started laughing. His guffaws rang out in the silent dining hall like bells after a funeral.

“Lee Grant an imposter? Now, that’s a good one. I’ve known Lee since he was a baby. His whole family used to celebrate Christmas with mine, back when we lived in the city. Come to think of it, I’ve got one or two of those Christmas pictures in my wallet· right now. Want to see them?” Mr. Talbot asked the police officer. He was already pulling the wallet out of his back pocket “Hey, Lee, good to see you. Come look Remember the year your parents made you wear the Santa Claus hat?”

Somehow Luke managed to make his legs carry him over to Mr. Talbot. Once before, Mr. Talbot had lied and said that he was a close personal friend of Luke’s father’s cousin. That was dangerous enough. Mr. Talbot could never back up this lie.

But the picture Mr. Talbot thrust at him was crystal clear. There was Mr. Talbot and three other adults, standing by a fireplace. Two boys that Luke recognized as Jen’s brothers — Mr. Talbot’s stepsons — sat on the hearth. And there, right between them, was Luke, in a flannel shirt and a Santa hat. Mr. Talbot even flashed the photo in front of Jason’s face.

‘But I know—” Jason fumed. “He — I mean, I’m sure of the others. I’m positive!”

“Um-hmm,” Mr. Talbot said. “I bet you just made up those names, trying to save your own skin.”

Suddenly Patrick/Tyrone spoke up.

“He is, sir. My· name is really Robert Jones.”

“I’m Michael Rystert,” Sherman/Ryan added.

The other two gave different names, too — Joel Westing and John Abbott. All four boys spoke in calm, even voices. Luke was stunned. What was going on? How could they possibly pull this off?

“They’re lying! Look at their records!” Jason screamed.

“Good idea,” Mr. Talbot said. “Is there a teacher or administrator who would be so kind—?”

At a far table, Luke’s history teacher, Mr. Dirk, stood up.

“Just give me a minute,” he said. Luke wondered how he could have ever found the man intimidating. He scurried out of the room like a mouse. In no time at all, he returned with four thick files. He handed them to the police officer. “Mind, please don’t let any of the boys see. We like to keep their records private—”

But everyone was craning his neck, straining to see. Luke had the advantage because he was still standing next to Mr. Talbot. The police officer flipped quickly through the top file — Luke could see MICHAEL written again and again on each page. And in the next file, it was ROBERT, over and over and over.

“They’re fake!” Jason howled.

‘Aw, who could have faked these? In the two minutes we were standing here?” the police officer said in disgust. He threw the files down on the table and jerked on Jason’s arm. “Come on. Out of here. Enough of your lies. We’d better go make that other pickup quick, or Mr. Talbot here will make me reimburse him for his lost greens time.”

“But — but—” Jason sputtered, all the way out of the dining room.

And then he, and Mr. Talbot, and the Population Police officer were gone.