by Harper Lin
Amelia chuckled at her daughter as she pulled her comfy sweatshirt over her T-shirt. She still wasn’t completely recovered from her cold, and even though she liked to look pretty for Dan, she wasn’t up to it.
“You really have a big mouth,” Adam said to his sister.
“Who asked you?” Meg replied.
“Is that true? It’s officially a homicide?” Amelia asked as she took a seat next to Dan and unwrapped the burger with extra pickles he’d picked up for her.
“Looks that way,” Dan muttered, pushing the boatload of fries over for Amelia to help herself.
“It was Brian Richtman,” Meg offered.
“Did you know him?” Amelia asked.
“I only knew he was cute. He was on the football team, so aside from the eye candy, he didn’t have much to offer if you didn’t like football. Not to speak ill of the dead. But he was a dumb jock. Adam would know for sure.”
“I can’t say about the eye-candy nonsense, but yeah, he was pretty dumb,” Adam said as he shoveled the last french fries from his plate into his mouth. “He’s in my math class.”
“So Brian was a senior?” Amelia asked.
Adam was taking a couple senior courses with a handful of other brainiacs.
“We weren’t friends, but he seemed like a nice-enough guy. I mean, it’s hard to dislike a guy who can only count as high as the number on his jersey.” Adam smirked. “Number four.”
“Okay, well, this boy is no longer on this planet, and his mother, I’m sure, is devastated, so let’s not be mean.” Amelia looked at Dan, who was chuckling.
“His girlfriend is probably really upset,” Meg said. “They were always together. It’s going to be hard for her too.”
“Yeah.” Dan looked at Amelia. “We talked to a couple of the kids already but so far haven’t come up with a motive or even a person of interest.”
“Do you think it was a student?” Meg gasped.
Dan hadn’t realized what he’d said until it was too late.
“We have to look at everyone, honey. You know that,” he said without sugarcoating it.
“Yeah, but if a student did this to Brian and he was a football player, what about someone like me? Or Adam? He can’t fight.”
“No one is going to come after you,” Adam said. “You’ve got the best defense.”
“What?”
“Your face,” Adam teased.
“Yeah, well, lucky for you, your BO arrives five minutes before you do,” Meg replied. “Anyone trying to sneak up on you will give their position away with all their gagging.”
Amelia was happy to see that her children were back to behaving like their old selves. But she had the strange feeling Adam was putting on a show of sorts. Something had him worried, and it wasn’t the death of Brian Richtman. Amelia was determined to find out what.
After dinner, as usual, the kids retreated to their rooms at separate ends of the house, and Amelia and Dan were left alone.
“Yikes.” Dan looked at his watch. “Sorry, but I’ve got to get back to the station.”
“So soon?” Amelia said.
“There is always a ton of paperwork involved in these things. Plus, the coroner will have his report ready. I’ve got to see what he says. Now, Amelia, you are just getting over a very bad cold,” Dan said as they walked to the front door. “I don’t want you snooping around the school, looking for trace evidence and blood spatter. I want you resting.”
“Well, of course, Doctor. Why would I ever want to be around an icky high school? The germs I had probably came from there. Heaven knows what those two bring home with them.” She pushed Dan back with one hand. “In fact, you better not get too close yourself. The next thing you know, I’ll be bringing you chicken soup.”
“Will you wear a nurse’s uniform?”
“No.”
He disappointedly snapped his fingers but slipped his arm around her waist and pulled Amelia closer.
“I’ll take my chances.”
He gave Amelia one quick, passionate kiss before heading out the door.
“I warned you.” She smiled as she waved goodbye.
“I’m a cop, Amelia. I live dangerously.”
“Let’s hope catching a cold is as dangerous as it gets.”
Once he was gone and the kids were doing their homework, Amelia went into the kitchen and sat down to finish her meal. As she devoured the burger, she thought about Brian Richtman. For that short time at school, Amelia had been afraid she would have to do what Mrs. Richtman would be doing: planning the funeral of one or both of her children.
Maybe John was right. Maybe Amelia should let him take the kids for these last few years in high school and put them in one of those fancy schools with the gates around the property and armed security stationed at the entrance.
“What are you saying, Amelia?” she scolded herself as she began cleaning up after dinner. Thankfully, there wasn’t anything but a couple of carryout bags and extra napkins to toss away. “You’re just tired. You worked yourself too hard when you still aren’t at a hundred percent yet. Not smart.”
Instead of a glass of wine, she took a shot of Nyquil, went upstairs, and got into bed with a book. Five minutes didn’t go by before Meg was standing in the doorway.
“Hi.” Amelia smiled at her daughter.
Meg waved.
“What’s up?”
“Can I talk to you?”
“Of course.”
“Can I get under the covers with you?”
“Sure, you can.” Amelia flipped the blankets over.
Meg quickly hurried over and hopped into the big bed and pulled the covers up to her chin.
“It’s kind of early for bed,” Amelia said as she snuggled next to her daughter as she used to when she was a little girl.
“I know.”
“Is something on your mind?”
“Can I stay home from school tomorrow?”
“Why?”
Meg’s eyes began to tear up.
“Honey, you don’t have to be scared of going to school. I’ll guarantee this was not a random act.”
“How can you be so sure?” She sniffed.
“For one, whoever did this picked a star football player. Not exactly easy prey, right? There are tons of weaker, less athletic kids than Brian, right?”
Meg nodded.
“It was also done in broad daylight. That makes me think it was more of an accident than a real Jason Voorhees, Freddie Kruger head-out-and-kill-someone act.”
Meg furrowed her eyebrows and nodded in agreement.
“You’re really good at this, Mom. No wonder Dan likes you so much.”
“Hey.” Amelia had to laugh. “Why don’t you go get your yearbook, and you can show me who Brian is and tell me who his friends are. Maybe we can figure something out to tell Dan.”
Meg hopped out of the bed and dashed to her room. Amelia could hear her tearing through her stacks of books and stuff, shouting that she knew it was in there somewhere.
Before she trotted back with the previous year’s yearbook, Adam appeared in the doorway.
“Adam. Are you okay, honey? You seem a little out of sorts. Did this thing at school bother you?”
He swallowed hard and took a step into the room.
“Mom, I need to talk to you about something. It has to do with Dad.”
Amelia instantly felt her blood begin to boil.
“Is it about going to live with him?”
“No.”
Amelia was shocked. What in the world did her ex-husband have Adam all in knots over if that wasn’t it?
She patted the edge of the bed.
Adam reluctantly came to the edge of the bed, but he didn’t sit down.
“What is it, then, honey?”
“Jennifer is pregnant.”
Amelia had known this was coming, but she didn’t expect it so soon. She checked her feelings for the jealousy, the anger, the envy, but surprisingly, none of it was there. Maybe
she was in shock, and the next day, she’d wake up filled with rage and bitterness. But as of right then, all she could do was shrug and nod.
“It was bound to happen, Adam. Your dad and Jennifer are married, and that is one of the things married people do.”
“I know, but I’m not cool with it. I don’t know why. I feel disgusted and embarrassed, and I hate him for it.”
“Adam, that is completely normal. You have every right to feel those feelings. The fact that he told you and not your sister is in itself a messed-up thing…”
“He didn’t tell me. I heard Jennifer talking on the phone the last time we were at the house. She was all excited and crying and telling her mother, I think. She asked to talk to her dad, so I assume she was telling her mother.”
The rage began to seep in. No amount of Nyquil was going to put Amelia to sleep that night.
“So your dad doesn’t know you know?”
Adam shook his head.
“Honey, I’m not sure what to tell you about this except that what your father does, he does because he thinks he’s helping. He’s new at this divorce thing too. He probably has no idea how to talk to you about it, and until he gets the facts and the procedures, dates, and times all ironed out, he won’t say a peep.” She tilted her head to the right. “It’s what makes him such a good attorney. Maybe not so good a daddy at times.”
Adam scoffed and nodded in agreement.
“Just remember one thing. You are his first-born son. You will always be the apple of his eye.” Amelia wasn’t sure how true that was. But she had to say it for Adam’s sake.
“I wish I didn’t have to go over there this weekend.”
“You’ll have your sister with you. Go. Eat lots of junk food. Watch lots of television. Laugh. Tell stories. You’ve got a humdinger with this new development at school. Maybe you can find out the gorier details and tell your dad at the dinner table. That might be fun, right?”
A small smirk came across Adam’s lips.
“Do you feel better?”
“Yeah.” He turned to leave the room. “Thanks, Mom.”
“You’re welcome.”
Just then, Meg came bouncing in the room with her yearbook tucked under her arm. She purposefully bumped into Adam, who bumped her back with such force she nearly fell on the floor.
Everyone started laughing as they each yelled for the other to behave.
“Mom and I are going to look through the yearbook for any suspects. Want to help?” Meg scooted back underneath the blankets again and plopped the book in her lap.
Adam thought for a moment.
“Let me go get some milk, and I’ll be right up.”
“This is going to be fun,” Meg gushed.
“Not scared anymore?”
“No. Now that Adam is helping, it’s not so scary.”
Meg started to talk about something her friend Katherine had been saying at school, but all Amelia could think of was how close her two kids really were. They fought and teased, but it was never cruel.
Adam had proven himself to be a fantastic big brother. Meg adored him, even if she never said the words out of her mouth. This new baby would be very lucky to have a big brother like Adam.
“That’s it!” Amelia shouted.
“What is it, Mom?” Meg looked shocked and annoyed.
“Oh, um. Sorry, Meg. I was just trying to iron out a recipe I was thinking of trying, and I think the solution is cilantro,” Amelia lied.
Meg wrinkled her nose. She was not a fan of the herb.
“Okay, let’s take a looky-loo in that book there.” Amelia needed a distraction to keep her from calling John and reading him the riot act. It all made sense now. He wanted a couple of in-house babysitters.
Amelia clenched her teeth as she swallowed.
Chapter Six
After two hours of flipping through every page of the Washington West High School yearbook, not only was Amelia familiar with almost every student, but she also knew way too much about the love lives of half of them.
She decided that she’d take the kids to school the next day instead of letting them take the bus. The idea that there had to be therapists and counselors on the premises made Amelia nervous. The last thing she wanted was to have some stranger evaluating her kids and finding something wrong with them that required a pill or two.
“I’m not going to any counselor,” Adam said while they drove to school. “I wasn’t the one who got conked on the noggin.”
“What about you, Meg? Do you think you want to talk to a professional?” Amelia asked.
“I doubt it. Unless it gets me out of algebra class.”
“Algebra is easy,” Adam teased.
“Yeah, for people who don’t have anything else in their pitiful lives. Don’t forget I have art club tonight, Mom.”
“Right.” Amelia took a deep breath as they pulled into the parking lot. It was obvious from all the cars that many parents had had the same idea. “You guys want me to walk you in?”
Meg said yes. Adam said no.
“We’ll compromise. I’ll walk Meg in, and Adam can go ahead.” Before the car was parked, Adam was out and heading to a group of guys waving to him, and they disappeared inside the school.
Before Meg was even out of the car, her friend Katherine was at her side.
“Hi, Ms. Harley. Can you believe what happened yesterday?”
“I know. I heard. It’s terrible,” Amelia replied. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m fine. It’s a little creepy. I wonder if the ghost of Brian Richtman will haunt the gym. That’s what’s got me freaked out. I’ve heard that when a person meets an unnatural death, their spirit is doomed to plague that spot until a Catholic priest is called in to exorcize the place.”
“I believe it,” Meg chirped. “Gosh, I never thought about that. I was scared that the killer might come after us, but now that you mention it, a ghost or restless spirit is way worse.”
“Way worse,” Katherine said seriously. “I also heard that they can take over a person’s body if they aren’t getting any attention. Like, if you use a Ouija board or something.”
“I’m not touching one of those things. I didn’t talk to Brian Richtman in real life. Why would I want to talk to him when he’s dead and can’t take me to prom?”
Amelia had to bite her tongue not to laugh. As she stepped into the school with her daughter, she remembered how she always liked the way schools smelled. It was a mixture of paint, paper, and books, and it always took her back to her own teenage years. The pressure of turning in homework and taking tests was over for her. Memorizing major exports of countries she never planned to visit or trying to solve for X always popped into her mind and made her thankful her academic career had come to an end. But some of the memories were fun. It wasn’t that she liked school or was a good student. She fell in the average category. As she looked back on it now, she realized that was probably why she excelled at a career in baking.
But the memories of dramas about who said what about whom, which boys were the dreamiest, and which teachers were so unfair or smelly or both were the most important topics of the day. Actually, Amelia had to admit it was a little embarrassing to think back to that awkward time of life. How often did she think she knew it all at the age of fifteen only to find out years later that her mother was right?
“Boys are like streetcars,” her mother repeated more than once. “If you miss one, another will be along sooner or later.” It was one of her mother’s favorite sayings. She usually followed it up by saying, “You have to kiss a lot of toads before you find a prince.”
She had been right all along. Darn her.
Those years were such an innocent time. Especially compared to now. The death of a classmate was a hard pill to swallow. As Amelia looked around, it was obvious that there would not be a single discussion on anything other than the death of this football player.
“Amelia!” someone said from the direction of the principal�
��s office.
When Amelia looked up, she saw the familiar face of Reggie Moss, the assistant vice principal. He was as bald as Yul Brenner and as big as Orson Wells. He was a regular on the weekends at the Pink Cupcake, and on those rare days off, he never missed the first fresh cupcakes of the morning. Amelia felt a little bad serving him since he was so big and obviously could stand to lose a few pounds. But then she saw him take off running after a guy who tried to swipe a woman’s purse. Darn it all if Reggie Moss hadn’t run like the wind and tackled the guy.
As it turned out, Reggie played college football and almost made it to the pros. As with so many aspiring athletes, an injury brought the whole thing crashing down. As crazy as it might seem, he did not coach the school’s football team. He didn’t coach anything. He was the vice principal and sometimes substituted for the science teacher, Miss Higgins.
“Meg, Katherine, you guys want to come and talk to Vice Principal Moss with me?” Amelia teased. “He’d probably like to know you’re doing okay.”
Both girls rolled their eyes and turned away, hiding behind their backpacks and cringing with embarrassment.
“Meg, you’ll be all right?”
“I’ll be fine, Mom. Thanks for walking me in.”
Amelia smoothed her daughter’s hair and kissed her on top of the head. Then she did the same to Katherine and watched them walk close together down the hall, whispering to each other the entire time.
She turned back to Reggie then smiled and walked down the hallway, weaving in and out of students who were displaying a sea of varying emotions.
“Hi, Reggie. How are you holding up? I’m so sorry about what happened.”
“Can you believe it? Brian was a good kid.”
“That’s what I heard.”
“Now that the press is satisfied and the police have just about wrapped things up, we might be able to get back to normal around here.”
“Did the police find out what happened already?”
“Well, I’m not at liberty to say, so if you tell anyone you heard it from me, I’ll deny it. But they suspect foul play.”
“Really?” Old news, Reggie. Give me something I can work with.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they discovered it was that Mast boy.”
