Peaches’ relationship with Elizabeth and Monte began in August, when she was required to show up at the nurse’s office every day, even though the students would not be in attendance for almost a month. Once she’d ordered supplies and arranged her office, she had nothing to do except attend staff meetings and make copies of emergency contact forms. She took long lunch breaks and went for walks. One day, she walked past Monte and spied the drum set through the window, just sitting there collecting dust. The bar was open—at least, the door was unlocked—so she went inside. There was no one around. The bass drum had been set up wrong and the cymbals were missing a screw. Peaches wiped the drums down with a Kleenex from her bag and fixed the bass drum. Then she sat down and played a Pretenders song with two ballpoint pens, really whacking the drums hard with them because it was only Wednesday and her work week had been so long, hot, and boring. When she looked up, Elizabeth was standing behind the bar, pouring herself a shot of vodka, wearing nothing but a black bikini top and black vinyl shorts, splattered head to toe with metallic silver paint, looking ten feet tall and scary as hell. But she was civil to Peaches.

“I’m Elizabeth,” she said. “You can come in and play whenever you like. I’m here very infrequently.”

“Sorry about the pens, I didn’t see any sticks. I’m Peaches,” Peaches said. “I’m supposed to be the school nurse, but it was not necessarily the correct career path for me.”

And so it began.

The bar was a welcome escape from Peaches’ smelly office. Elizabeth would leave notes with instructions on the drums. Would you mind meeting the beer guy? He comes from 3 to 5. Or, Toilet paper, paper towel, and napkin truck dropping off boxes today 4 to 6. She’d disappear and then reappear again. They rarely spoke and then only cursorily. Elizabeth spent most of her time in the basement. The week before school started, she’d disappeared altogether—until now.

Formaldehyde, that was what she smelled. A heavy thud resounded beneath Peaches’ feet, followed by a muffled, exasperated growl. Peaches had been instructed to never enter the basement. Elizabeth would be up when she was ready.