Dying to Teach (18 page)

“Anybody else?”

“A coupla guys. The same as Todd…went in and came out with equipment.”

“Did they bring anything
in
with them?”

He shook his shaggy head. “Why d’you want to know anyway? Miss Forest was already—sorry Kiana. She was already dead.”

“Humor us,” Evan said.

“I didn’t see anybody else.”

“What about Mr. Reynolds?”

Dawson scrunched his nose, thinking. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen him around the gym. Not even for games.”

“What about janitors—did you see any of them there?” Evan asked.

Dawson laughed. “Not to clean the place, if that’s what you mean!”

“We know. Did you see them near there at all?”

He shook his head then stopped. “Yeah. The goofy looking one. Don’t know his name.”

“The one with the mustache?”

“Yeah.”

So Lincoln Underwood had been there.

“Do you know if Mr. Chalmers was ever married?” Kiana asked.

“Don’t think so. Should I ask what that’s got to do with anything?”

“Probably nothing,” Evan said.

With that Dawson was gone.

“You okay?”

She nodded. “I guess I can’t blame Mr. Todd for being angry Mr. Chalmers was suspended. I’d feel the same way if it was him who died and Gwen got suspended.”

Funny Evan didn’t mention anything about the fire to Dawson. Seemed like the kind of subject a kid would talk about. It sure was on her mind. Maybe he deliberately didn’t say anything. Maybe he thought Dawson knew something about it. Kiana couldn’t imagine him anywhere near the auditorium.

“Bummer that we didn’t have time to search any further at school,” Evan said.

“I know. I really wanted to get into Mr. Reynolds’ office.”

“Mr. Reynolds now? I thought you only wanted to do Chalmers’ and Philmore’s classrooms. Mind if I ask, why Reynolds?”

“I have a feeling he knows more than he’s saying. The day Mrs. Deacon arrived—Monday—I overheard him saying he overheard a disagreement between Gwen and somebody.”

“Somebody?”

“Yes, I was on the way to meet Mrs. Deacon when Miss Shaw called me back to talk about the performance and I missed the rest of the conversation. But he definitely said he overheard Gwen having a disagreement.”

“You don’t think it could be the same one I overheard?”

“I don’t think so. It wasn’t possible for him to be there without you or the band seeing him.”

“You think searching his office will turn up the answer to who it was?”

“No. I just think it would be good to look, you know? Did you ever hear whether the cops searched in there?”

Evan shook his head. “And I can’t see how us searching there can help anything.”

Kiana could actually pinpoint the moment his expression closed. He wasn’t into the discussion any more.

Evan drained half the cocoa and pushed the mug away. “Come on, let’s go home.”

Kiana took a long sip from the cup. This place served the best hot chocolate in town and she wouldn’t be able to finish it, unless she wanted to walk home. Which she didn’t. She drew the napkin from under the mug. It now had a brown circle that had seeped through and blurred the ink. She folded it in quarters so the dampness was on the outside and pushed the thing into her pocket.

Evan stood there waiting, zipping and unzipping his jacket. Something was going on with him. His face had that glazed look he got when he’d grown disinterested with a subject. He was probably just tired; she herself felt she’d been crushed by a steamroller.

Kiana followed him from the shop and got on the bike. In a few minutes they pulled up in front of her house. The porch light was on, and so was the one over the kitchen stove—she could see it glowing out on the lawn. That light being on meant her mother had gone to bed. Kiana’s father was on the road again—a salesman for a pharmaceutical company.

“I’ll see you about five, right?” Kiana said as she slid off the seat.

“Uh…Kee.” He didn’t meet her eyes.

He didn’t have to say it. He was quitting the investigation. Ditching her.

She slipped the helmet strap down over the seat rest, even though her emotions were screaming out of control. “I understand. See you at school then.”

“I’ll pick you up here at the regular time. Okay?”

“Sure. I guess.”

Kiana let herself carefully into the house. She hung her jacket in the hall closet and turned to see her mother standing at the foot of the stairs. “Hi.”

“Hi. Everything all right? Rehearsal seems to have gone late.”

“Everything’s fine,” Kiana lied. Then she added a measure of truth, “After rehearsal Mrs. Deacon ordered pizza. Her boyfriend came and we sat around talking about the case.”

“Come up with any answers?”

Wearily, she shook her head. “I’m going to bed.” She bent and kissed her mother on the temple.

“You going out early again?”

“Yes.”

“Leave me a note.”

“I will.”

Kiana plodded up the stairs, knowing that tomorrow morning she’d be in Mr. Reynolds’ office but had no idea how she’d manage without Evan.

NINETEEN

Jarvis left Angelina’s hotel at 5:30 a.m. feeling both rejuvenated and exhausted. He located his car in the parking garage and sat in it a moment, letting the engine warm up. While speeding to Carlson after the conversation with Kiana yesterday afternoon, he’d received a call from Detective Rodriguez—head investigator on the Gwen Forest case.

“I got something from that photograph,” Rodriguez had said in his slight Mexican accent. “Don’t know how it fits into the case, though.”

“Want to meet someplace?” Jarvis had offered.

“Yeah. Trouble is, I’m at a family thing right now. The wife would squash me with her father’s tractor if I left a minute early. I’m working midnight to seven. What if we meet about six?”

“Works for me. I’m on my way to the school anyway,” he said. “Surprised you’re not already there.”

“What’s up?”

“Somebody set the school’s green room on fire.”

“What!”

Jarvis had heard exclaiming voices in the background, then a woman telling Rodriguez that if anybody from work was on the phone, he should hang up. Jarvis grinned and said, “The fire’s out. All is well, but I figured you would’ve been called in. No way it was an accident.”

Rodriguez muttered something to which Jarvis didn’t ask for clarification.

“I’ll find out more and probably see you there,” Rodriguez said.

“Otherwise, I’ll see you at six.”

* * * *

They settled into a corner booth with coffees and hearty breakfasts. Detective Rodriguez worked under cover for the Nashua PD so, like Jarvis, he dressed in street clothes—blue jeans and a black long sleeved shirt. He wore his dark, shoulder length hair tied in a ponytail with a leather strap at the base of his neck, which negated any resemblance he might have to a police officer.

Rodriguez took a long drag on the coffee, grimaced and added two heaping spoonfuls of sugar. Jarvis did likewise. “I guess I missed you at the school,” he said with a smirk.

“Wiseass.”

“Did they find out anything?”

Rodriguez shook his head. “Fingerprint crew took samples but you know where that’ll go. Didn’t look like the janitors spent any time at that end of the building, ever.”

“They’re there now. Sucking water from the seats. Blow drying the place with fans.”

Rodriguez selected some pages from the seat beside him. “I got the arrest histories on the main suspects. Some interesting stuff.” He ate in silence, his attention more on Jarvis’ reaction to the paperwork than the food.

Jarvis thumbed through the pages. “Where’s Josh Philmore? The kids—Evan and Kiana.”

Rodriguez shook his head. “No records. We’re still collecting info on some of the others. This isn’t CSI, you know.”

Jarvis read, taking an occasional bite of the eggs. “Wow,” he finally said.

“Which one?”

“Most. For example, how did Randall Reynolds get the principal’s job with an arrest for marijuana possession on his record?”

“Knew somebody in high places?”

“Maybe.” Jarvis checked the dates on the paperwork. “He and Gwen were arrested at the same time. Granted, it was way back.”

“For Gwen, as a teacher, would one arrest be a deal breaker?”

“Dunno. Maybe not. But for a principal’s position…”

“Right.” Rodriguez leaned back so the waitress could refill his coffee. “Remember that she got him the job? You think she somehow hid the information from the school board?”

Jarvis leaned back so the waitress could fill his cup. Her eyes were on the stack of papers before him. She straightened up but didn’t leave. “Terrible thing that happened to that teacher.”

“Did you know her?” Rodriguez asked, reverting to cop mode.

“She came in a few times. Being so close to the school, everybody hangs out here.”

“Can you recall anyone she came in with?”

She set the pot on the edge of the table. “Most of the time with this guy who wore sweatsuits all the time. I think he was the football coach.”

“Did she come in with anybody else?” Jarvis asked.

“Sometimes with a bunch of teachers. Sometimes with a girl. A pretty girl. Matter of fact, she was just in here. With her boyfriend. At least I think it’s her boyfriend, they’re together all the time.”

“Do you know her name?”

“Not that I recall, but she has long black hair and dark skin.”

“You say they were just here?”

“A couple of hours ago. They were making plans to go…I think they said back to school.”

“Okay, thanks.” Rodriguez fished out a business card and handed it to her. “If you think of anything else…”

Once the waitress left, Rodriguez identified Kiana as the one who’d met with Gwen.

“Odd a student and teacher meeting, don’t you think?” Rodriguez asked.

“Not in this case. They were working on that play, trying to save the drama program. Besides, they were close.”

“Who told you that?”

“All you gotta do is listen to her talk.” Jarvis shoved the plate away. He told Rodriguez about the kids going through Ted Chalmers’ things and that they were investigating this case on their own. “I tried to talk them out of it but you know how kids are.”

“Did they find anything interesting?”

“To them or to us?” Jarvis grinned. “They found a pair of girly underwear in his desk.”

“In his office? Hot damn—getting a piece at work.”

“Your wife would
really
squash you with the tractor then!”

Rodriguez gave a deep belly laugh. “What were we talking about?”

“Changing the subject, huh?”

“I thought that
was
the subject.”

“We were talking about Gwen Forest getting the principal’s position for Reynolds.”

“And possibly covering up his arrest record.”

“Even if she did, I can’t see how something as trivial as one situation so far back can explode into a motive for murder.”

Rodriguez pointed his half-full fork at Jarvis. “They got in a fight. She threatened to blow the whistle on him.”

“That would get her in just as much hot water as him.” Jarvis crumpled his napkin and tossed it on the empty plate. “So, where does that leave us?”

Rodriguez swallowed and didn’t speak.

“What’s that smirk for?” Jarvis asked.

“Keep reading.”

Jarvis shifted Gwen and Josh’s information to the bottom of the pile and read on. “Interesting. Very interesting.”

Rodriguez read the page upside down. “You got Priscilla Philmore there?”

“Yeah. How the hell did she avoid jail time?” Jarvis read further. “Oh, I see. She agreed to big-time counseling. She still going?”

Rodriguez made a note in his notebook. “We’re checking. Still, where’s a motive for murder? She and Forest were best friends.”

“Same as with the husband.” Jarvis shrugged. “If they argued… People do strange things when pissed off.”

“You got that right.”

“You’re still wearing that smirk. I assume it’s got something to do with the last sheet here.” Jarvis moved the pages around. “Ted Chalmers. He still the main suspect?”

“Like I said the other day I like Kiana Smith a lot—especially after what the waitress just said. With her and Forest knowing each other…but I have to admit with two charges for lewd and lascivious, our Mr. Chalmers is looking better by the minute.”

“There’s no guarantee Forest knew about the charges.”

“No guarantee she knew about Priscilla either,” Rodriguez said. “This is stuff people keep scrupulously protected.”

Jarvis held up a finger for Rodriguez to wait. He scanned Ted Chalmers’ page and couldn’t find what he wanted. “Do you know if this guy has ever been married? Does he have a kid?”

“Nothing on there so probably not. Why?”

“Because of the underwear the kids found. The kids seemed to think it would be out of character for Gwen Forest to wear them.”

Rodriguez gave a bark of laughter that had the waitress glancing up from scrubbing the counter. “The kids think he was cheating on her?”

Jarvis shrugged.

Rodriguez gave his plate a frustrated shove then caught it before it slid off the table. “I always thought that as you interviewed people, the suspect pool was supposed to shrink.”

“Doesn’t always.” Jarvis tasted the home fries then added a generous shaking of pepper. “So, what happened to grow your list?”

“Did you know the principal is gay?”

The information was indeed a surprise, but it did explain at least one thing. Jarvis tapped the empty fork on his plate. “Maybe that’s why he and Forest got an annulment.”

Rodriguez’s eyes lit up and he said, “He was unable to perform,” the exact same time Jarvis said it.

“It also explains why they remained friends. Gwen understood the situation.”

“Explains why she was helpful and not bitter.”

“But why would she leave town?” Rodriguez asked.

Good question. That part didn’t make sense. If she and Randy were friends but just not compatible why not get the annulment and go their separate ways? In the old days there was a stigma to that sort of thing but in the 90s it was, as they say, everything goes.