Once her students had been gone for a good forty minutes, time measured out in the slow ticking of the clock on the schoolroom’s back wall, Danica decided it was safe to leave. She went over the classroom floor with the broom, taking her time, and then made sure to give her surroundings a good visual sweep as she went out to empty the dustpan before determining that no one seemed to be around. Mrs. Marshall and her two boys had left at least a quarter-hour earlier.
The coast was clear.
Danica wrapped her shawl around her shoulders, then slipped out the back door and locked it. After glancing around one last time, just to be safe, she hurried along the path that joined the one which led up to Thorpe Hill. A minute or so later, she was safely among the pine trees, and far less likely to be
