Stalking Death (20 page)

Jenna Adams was staring daggers at him. I kept my face bland and pleasant, directing my next question to Sidaris. "In your opinion, how much of a threat to Shondra Jones does this group represent?"

He shrugged. "Wish I could tell you, Ms. Kozak. The thing is, we don't know a whole lot about this group. They're pretty secretive. The Administration could identify potential members pretty easily, by looking at which students meet the legatee criteria, and who, among those, are friends or associates of Alasdair's."

He cleared his throat again, looking to Chambers for direction. Again Chambers didn't respond. "It's hard to predict what they might do. We only have a sketchy idea of who they are and what they've already done. It's likely that many of their victims haven't come forward. And it's hard to anticipate how they'll behave without their leader."

I wanted more details about this group and what they'd done to their existing victims, but Sidaris was speaking so reluctantly I decided to concentrate on Shondra. "This threat," I asked, "do you have any details, any names, any information to help us protect Shondra?"

"I got it from a confidential source."

"Mr. Sidaris, someone has been murdered. You must see that we can't take a chance on another violent event."

But did he understand the risks? Did Chambers? I'd been on campuses where they didn't. I decided to spell it out. "Two major underpinnings of the boarding school world are trust and safety. The parents who send their children here have to be able to trust that those in charge will keep their children safe. Another incident where a student is harmed, or even threatened with harm, and there could be a major exodus of students from this campus. We don't get a lot of chances to get this right."

Chambers was fiddling with something on his desk, biding his time until he could politely dismiss us and be gone. Trying to shake him, I added, "And you have to think about next year's class, about how it could affect your applicants if there's another incident." There was no response.

"Todd." I tried to make it sharp enough to get his attention. "If you ignore a threat to one of your students and she gets harmed, that could destroy your reputation. Not just the school's. Your own. We need to follow up on this threat."

"You're making a mountain out of a molehill," he said, looking at his watch. "And Shondra's a big girl. She can take care of herself."

A string of expletives tap danced through my brain. "Mr. Sidaris. Ms. Adams. Obviously you came forward because you believe this is something we should worry about. We can't protect Shondra Jones if we don't know where the threat is. You have to share what you know."

Sidaris, taking his cues from Chambers, wore a stubborn look. "If you have experience in these matters then you know," he said, "adolescents are skittish about sharing information. Right now, I'm in a position where they talk to me. If they think I'm not trustworthy, they'll stop."

I couldn't stand it. "They'll stop what? Telling you when the next girl is going to be assaulted? You think that makes any difference if bad acts aren't prevented? If something happens to Shondra Jones, there may be no next time. A school can only weather so many blows. Word gets around that students at St. Matthews aren't safe and the parents start pulling their kids out, you won't have to worry about your relationship with confidential sources because you won't have a job."

Jenna Adams shot Sidaris an "I told you so" look. He shrugged and studied the backs of his clasped hands.

This was like trying to reason with a bunch of Zombies. I tried another tack. "All right, Mr. Sidaris. You refuse to name your source or give any details. How about my earlier question. Based on what you know, is Shondra Jones at risk?"

He nodded.

"Can you suggest any reasonable way to protect her without revealing your sources?"

He had the grace to look embarrassed. "Well we... uh.. Jenna and I... think that Shondra ought to stay with her. With Jenna, I mean. She's got a spare room. And it's not too likely that anyone would look for her there. Until this thing blows over, I mean."

God. These people were just so damned thick. Didn't they understand? Murder doesn't blow over. Dead is forever, loss is monumental, the emotional fallout extraordinary. No one knew that better than I did. She'd been dead three years and I still saw my sister Carrie in my dreams. Still thought of things I needed to tell her, expected her on the line when the phone rang at times when she used to call.

If Alasdair had had close friends, it might take them years, too. I didn't expect Jenna Adams planned to have Shondra live with her for years. Right now, the hurt and anger were very fresh, the need to respond and act urgent. What about classes? Meals? Sports practice? Crossing the campus? How would staying with Jenna protect her there?

"Let's think sensibly about this," I said. I wished Andre were here. I wanted a tough cop who was good at interrogation to extract the necessary information from these people and craft a safety plan for Shondra. Knowing her the little I did, I didn't expect she was going to be very receptive to anything we could think up. But I could easily believe she was at risk. "Todd, what do you suggest?"

"I think it's a mistake to take this too seriously," he said. "So far, it's been nothing but a bunch of pranks. There's no reason to think that will change."

This from the man who thought he had Jamison Jones contained. I remembered the note on my windshield. Ask about what Alasdair and them do to girls. Were we really talking about pranks or was Chambers covering up something more sinister? And what did it mean in terms of the threat to Shondra? Prank or serious violence?

"What about you, Jenna? Do you think this is a credible threat?"

These days, we Americans spend half our time reading news reports in which our government asks us to assess vague threats. Nationally, they've cried wolf so often I can imagine the level code entering the casual vocabulary of emotional assessment, as in, oh, yeah, I'm having kind of an orange day. This threat, on the other hand, was local and immediate. There's a big difference between worrying about every mall and airport in the country and one teenage girl.

"Of course I do. Otherwise we wouldn't be taking up your time, asking you to pay attention to this. It's not like we don't have things to do. You know how close sports teams get. We've both got nervous adolescents camped on our doorsteps, waiting for comfort and guidance, wanting to know how they're supposed to react."

I wanted to hug her. She, at least, got it. Sidaris seemed to be responding to some subtext I couldn't read, something that flowed between him and Chambers. I wondered what their conversation would have been like if I weren't here. But I had to deal with what I could, try to protect Shondra until we could investigate the threat and craft a long-term plan with or without Chambers' cooperation.

"Realistically, Jenna, what are the chances Shondra would stay with you?"

I had to ask. I had no way of gauging the depth of her relationship with Shondra. She shifted her shoulders, ducked her head slightly, and spread her hands. "Not great. But it's worth a try. I... we both... we care about those kids. Shondra's not the easiest person to deal with. But she's for real. She may hold back in class, but on the court, she's a leader. And she's just an incredible ballplayer. She has these fabulous instincts. You should see her handle the ball."

She dropped her hands. "Sorry. Guess you can see I'm her coach, huh?"

And a caring human being. "How was she, this morning, when you spoke with her?"

"You can imagine, if you've met her. The two of them are so tight. They're each practically the only family the other one has. To his little sister, Jamison walks on water. She was stricken. Sure it was all her fault. If only she were half as good with praise as she is with blame."

She slapped her palm on her knee. "There I go again. Wasting your time. Just let me know how I can help. Should I talk with her, see if I can persuade her?"

"Todd?" I wanted him making the call. So far, I had little respect for his decisions except the one to call us, but he had to keep making them. Ultimately, the way the school came out of this fell squarely on his shoulders. I'd try to keep his ass out of the fire, but I wasn't shoving him aside and sticking my own in.

"Whatever Jenna and Al think is best. I don't think it's a big deal but there's nothing wrong with erring on the side of caution. Now, if you'll excuse me." He grabbed his coat and headed for the door.

"You're going to the hospital?" I asked. He nodded. "Better give me your cell number, then. And don't stay too long. We need you here." I sounded like somebody's mother. He snapped out a string of numbers in a manner which made it clear that if I was someone's mother, he was someone's child.

The three of us watched the shiny black door close behind him. I tried one more time. "There's nothing else you can tell me? No names? Incidents? We've got a campus full of kids to protect here and Shondra may not be the only target. What about Jamison's friends? Her friends? Their teammates?"

Al Sidaris had his troubled look back. "All I heard was about Shondra. But I guess you're right. It could be worse."

And he wasn't helping. "Is Woodson aware of this group?"

"I really don't know. Frank's a good guy. Capable. But he keeps his distance around the students, so who knows. And Chambers plays it kinda close to the vest when it comes to..."

He didn't need to finish. I knew Chambers would go a long way to protect Alasdair. But Alasdair was dead. So now who was he protecting? Was he willing to put Shondra Jones at risk to protect the dead boy's reputation, just to appease Grandfather MacGregor? It was a disgusting, if quite real, possibility.

I pulled away from conjecture and back to the present. "But there have been incidents?" I stared into Sidaris's sad brown eyes.

"Have there?" he asked.

There was nothing more to say. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. It wasn't ignorance. Chambers had known what Sidaris was talking about. Was going back to the days of hazing and upperclassmen having license to misbehave and mistreat others part of Chambers' vision for the school? Was it possible he approved of secret societies that encouraged the harassment of women or minorities or had he simply been willing to tolerate a lot of inappropriate behavior from Alasdair if it meant he got to build his arts center?

Sidaris seemed to be waiting for some direction. "Okay," I said, "so I guess you do as you've suggested. Jenna asks Shondra to stay with her for a few days." I hesitated. "Let's say for a few days. Until we've got a better handle on this. And if she refuses... I'd appreciate a call so I can think about what else we might do. And Al, would you tell Woodson you've heard rumors of a threat to Shondra, ask him to keep his eyes open?"

"Guess it can't hurt," he said.

Right. And what you're not telling me could help. I watched the two of them depart, considering his words. At this point, who knew what would hurt? And who even cared?

Chapter 15

Many meetings and phone calls later, including a disappointing one to Andre that produced no response, it was Saturday night. The campus calendar listed a number of possible activities—a movie, a concert, a student written and directed play, but as I crossed the campus, I didn't meet a soul. The rain had slackened to a light drizzle and the air was thick with fog that muffled sounds and created great halos of light around the streetlamps. The night had a soft loveliness but also a deep sense of desolation.

I wasn't feeling like a very cheery cowgirl myself. I might not yet have found the straw that broke the consultant's back, but my load was getting heavier. Every meeting made things worse. The PR people were under pressure from the media to hold a press conference but no one could move forward without Chambers. Shondra and Jamison's grandmother had called several times and no one wanted to return her call without checking with Chambers. He had disappeared after our meeting and either turned off his phone or was refusing to answer.

Chambers' continuing failure to disclose all the facts made any advice we gave unreliable, and his failure of leadership with respect to his faculty, staff and students threatened to render anything we did moot. I didn't see how we could reassure parents that their children were safe when it wasn't clear they were.

Chambers wasn't the only one not answering. I'd tried to reach both Shondra Jones and her housemother without success. It was that information void in a particularly vulnerable area that had sent me out on this nocturnal campus walk even though every hair on my body bristled.