Scat by Carl Hiaasen

all this," Nick said.
    "Let's go back to the day before the field trip," said the deputy. "I want to ask you about something that happened in class between Mrs. Starch and a boy named Duane Scrod."
    Nick felt the muscles in his neck stiffen. "She pointed a pencil at him, and he bit it in half."
    "Didn't he also threaten her?"
    "What do you mean?"
    The deputy said, "Some of your classmates remember Duane saying something like, 'You're gonna be sorry.' And then Mrs. Starch saying, 'Is that a threat?' Do you recall such a conversation?"
    Nick recalled it quite clearly. He also recalled worrying that Smoke might be serious. Nick felt uneasy telling this to the deputy, because he couldn't be sure what Duane Scrod had meant.
    But Nick's father had taught him to always be truthful, no matter how hard it might be.
    "Mrs. Starch told Duane to write five hundred words about pimples," Nick began. "That's no joke."
    The deputy obviously had heard about the essay from the other students, because she displayed no reaction.
    Nick went on: "Then Duane said something like, 'You'll be sorry,' whatever. He was mad-kids say all kinds of stupid stuff when they're mad."
    The deputy took a few more notes. "Does Duane have a nickname?" she asked, as if she didn't already know.
    "Smoke," Nick said.
    "Why do they call him that?"
    "Because that's what he wants to be called."
    The deputy glanced up. "Some of the other students said it's because he's a pyromaniac-because he likes to mess with fire."
    "I don't know. We don't hang together," Nick said.
    "But you've heard that rumor, right?"
    Nick could sense that the deputy wanted him to say that Duane was a nut case. "I thought you wanted me to stick to what I saw and what I know," he said. "I didn't think you were interested in rumors."
    The deputy raised her eyebrows. "Sometimes rumors turn out to be true, Nick."
    "Can I go back to class now?"
    She said, "That wildfire at the Black Vine Swamp wasn't really a wildfire. It was arson."
    "What?"
    "The investigators called it a 'controlled burn.' Whoever set the fire also dug a trench line on the other side so it would burn itself out. They knew what they were doing," the deputy said.
    Nick was dumbfounded.
    The deputy tapped her pen lightly on the clipboard. "Do you think Duane would ever try such a thing, to get back at Mrs. Starch for what happened in class? Light a brush fire to freak her out and spoil the field trip?"
    "I have no idea," Nick said honestly.
    In his mind he was replaying the glimpse of that tannish blur in the cypress trees, the panther that turned out to be a human. Maybe it was Smoke.
    Nick kept this thought to himself. He needed to go home and look at the videotape of the swamp prowler again.
    The deputy went on: "Duane was pretty angry about that essay assignment, wasn't he?"
    "Sure," said Nick, thinking: Who wouldn't be angry? Mrs. Starch had totally humiliated the guy.
    "Were you aware that Duane got in trouble once for burning down a construction trailer out near Immokalee? He was only ten years old when it happened," the deputy said. "Another time, they caught him torching a billboard on the interstate, using mops dipped in gasoline. Three in the morning, a state trooper busted him."
    "Are you serious?" Nick was stunned. Those weren't typical dumb-kid pranks; they were crimes.
    "Are you afraid of Duane?" the deputy asked.
    "Not really. He doesn't hassle anyone."
    "Was Mrs. Starch afraid of him?"
    Nick had to chuckle at that one. The deputy asked what was so funny.
    He said, "If you met Mrs. Starch, you'd think it was pretty funny, too."
    The deputy scribbled another few lines, then capped her pen. "Nick, do you have any idea where we might find Duane?"
    Nick firmly shook his head. "Nope. That's the truth." The deputy rose. "Thanks for your help."
    "I really don't know the guy at all," Nick insisted. "That's the thing. Nobody seems to know him, do they?" She opened the door and motioned for Nick to