Appliqued to Death

by Kathleen Suzette

  Suellen’s children ranged in age from eleven to two years. There were days that I envied her, sitting behind her at church as she sat with the whole brood. Sure, that many kids so close together in age had to be a tremendous handful, but every time she gave birth, I found myself drawn to that new baby. Daniel and I had considered adoption, and it still wasn’t out of the question, but I had hoped and prayed for a baby of my own for so long that it seemed like adoption would be like giving up on my dream.

  “Sure, sure,” he said picking up the newspaper and folding it over to read.

  “Tell me, Daniel,” I said thoughtfully. “What do you think about Principal Jefferson?”

  He looked over his newspaper at me, his black-framed glasses had slid to the end of his nose. “That’s a loaded question. Can you narrow it down for me a little? Exactly what part of him are you asking me to comment on?”

  I sighed. “As the killer, I mean. What do you think about Principal Jefferson being the killer?”

  He laid the newspaper down in his lap and considered this. “Well, I never thought of him as being a killer before, but now that you mention it, he is a bit underhanded. I suppose he might have it in him to kill someone, but I would imagine there would have to be a good reason.”

  “Both Peggy and Bill Woods said Jefferson was afraid of Darren. Bill thought there was a possibility he may have had something to do with his death.”

  “I always thought it was odd that he let him get away with so much, but if he was afraid of him, why would he kill him? I mean, it was all working out so well. Darren Peabody did as he pleased, and Principal Jefferson did as little as he could to interfere with that.”

  “You can say that again,” I said.

  “You know who I think had an issue with him?” he asked, picking the newspaper back up. “Bill woods. He was almost obsessed with Darren Peabody and the things he got away with.”

  “That’s what Ellen Baines said,” I told him. “I hate to think Bill would do something like that, but then I’d hate to think anyone in Salyers would murder someone.”

  “If you ask me, I think Bill was jealous of Darren.”

  “Jealous? What do you mean, jealous?” I asked him. I picked up the blanket I was working on and began to remove the threads that had gone wrong.

  “Darren was younger, he was certainly better looking, and he just kind of had this free lifestyle. Bill always struck me as somebody that wasn’t entirely happy with the profession he had chosen, and maybe he was just feeling like he had missed the boat somewhere.”

  I sat back in my chair and looked at him. “Are you sure? I always thought Bill enjoyed his job as a PE teacher and football coach. I mean, isn’t that what all men live for? Football? Seems like he has every man’s dream job, being able to coach a high school football team.”

  “I guess,” he said laying the newspaper down again. “But have you ever noticed that when he isn’t interacting with people, he just appears angry? I don’t know, maybe I’m reading too much into it, but one time he said that if he had it all to do over, he never would never have become a teacher.”

  I turned to look at him. “When did he say that?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. it’s probably been a couple of years ago. Honestly, I’m probably reading too much into things.”

  I thought a lot of people felt the same way Bill Woods did once they hit middle-age. I think it’s a time where people stop and really think about the choices they’ve made in life and it wouldn’t surprise me if there are a lot of people that had regrets about things, careers being one of them. But one thing couldn’t be denied. Bill really couldn’t stand Darren Peabody for some reason. And I had never seen evidence that Darren had ever given him a legitimate reason to feel that way.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Brenda, you did a beautiful job on this hem,” I said to her. Brenda was in my third period class and was a sophomore. She showed promise as a seamstress, and on top of that, she really seemed to enjoy her work. She had used a blind hem stitch on the dress she had made, and it was flawless.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Taylor,” she said, beaming. “I was afraid I had messed it up near the seam.”

  “No, I think it looks very good.”

  The classroom speaker suddenly crackled to life, and we all stopped to listen.

  “Students and faculty, Principal Jefferson requests your attendance in the gymnasium at 10:30 sharp. We’re going to pay our last respects to Darren Peabody, our dearly departed and beloved art teacher. This is required attendance by all.”

  Beloved? Surprise wasn’t the word for this announcement. I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 10:15 now.

  “All right girls,” I said. “We need to put our things up and head over to the gymnasium, so we won’t be late.”

  I couldn’t imagine Principal Jefferson wanting to do a memorial service in the middle of the school day for anyone, let alone Darren Peabody. Even though many said Jefferson was afraid of Darren, I thought the real truth was that he just didn’t like him at all.

  I stepped over to my open door and looked toward Peggy’s classroom. In a moment she stepped to her door and looked at me quizzically. I shrugged and shook my head.

  I turned back and watched as my students put their things up.

  “Mrs. Taylor,” Amanda Pearce called from across the room. “Are we going to be able to come back to class and work on our projects again before the period is over?”

  “To be honest, I don’t know, but I don’t think so. Let’s just put everything up so we can head over now. If we have time, we can work some more afterward.”

  When the girls finished putting their things away, we lined up in the hallway. Peggy brought her class out, and we all headed over together.

  “What do you think is going on?” Peggy whispered to me, glancing over her shoulder to make sure none of the girls were close enough to hear.

  “I have no idea,” I said, watching as other classes moved into the hallway “I just can’t imagine Principal Jefferson feeling badly enough about Darren’s death to do a memorial service.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. When Fern Davis passed away from old age two years ago, you didn’t see a memorial service for her.”

  “And she had been at the high school for forty years,” I agreed. “I can’t imagine what he thinks he’ll get out of this.”

  The entire student body filed out of their classrooms and headed to the gym. Once inside the gym, students were divided by graduating class and took their seats on the bleachers. Peggy and I walked to the front of the gym and lined up along the wall where most of the other teachers were standing.

  Daniel was that the far end, and he leaned forward and looked at me, eyebrows raised. I shook my head and shrugged and leaned back against the wall. I scanned the gym, as well as the teachers standing nearby. Bill Woods wasn’t here yet, along with several others.

  To my surprise there was an elderly woman and two younger women that looked to be about my age sitting on the right-hand side of the bleachers, on the bottom bench. I had never seen them before, but I had a sick feeling that they were related to Darren. They were all dressed in black and I suddenly felt self-conscious in my pink polka dot stress. It was the last thing I would have chosen to wear to either a memorial service or a funeral. I looked at Peggy. She was wearing a yellow floral dress that looked much too cheery in the face of what we were about to do. Oh well. At least I wouldn’t be alone in wearing a happy outfit.

  “If I would have known we were doing a memorial service, I would have worn a more appropriate dress,” she leaned over and whispered to me.

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” I said. I glanced over at Principal Jefferson and he was wearing an appropriate black suit. I gritted my teeth. The least he could have done was let the faculty know we were going to hold a service for Darren. It had been a week since Darren Peabody’s body had been discovered, and I realized I hadn’t checked the obituaries to see when hi
s funeral would be. I suddenly felt bad about that. He was a coworker after all and attending his funeral would have been the appropriate thing to do.

  “Don’t tell me that’s Darren’s family over there,” Peggy whispered.

  “I have a bad feeling about that,” I said. I leaned forward again to get a look at Daniel, but he had his eyes on the three ladies.

  Ellen Baines was standing next to Daniel, and she dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. I frowned. She said they hadn’t been close.

  Principal Jefferson stepped up to the front of the gym, microphone in hand. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” he said, his face solemn. “We’re so happy you all could make it this morning. We wanted to pay our respects to a great teacher that we lost last week.” Principal Jefferson looked around waiting for a reaction from the students, but all he got were blank stares.

  I looked at Peggy and she mouthed the words ‘great teacher’. Her eyes went wide when she said it. I shook my head. I doubted there was anyone on staff that thought Darren was a great teacher. And really, it was kind of unfair. After all, he did his job, even though he never showed up on time. The art students liked him though, and that was important. I doubted any of the other teachers made much effort to get to know him. Not that that was completely our fault, of course; he seemed to like being a loner.

  I scanned the students as he spoke. Some of the students seemed broken up, while others just looked bored. The art students seemed to have it the worst—there were tears and some of them hung their heads. Occasionally a couple of them leaned toward one another, whispering, or patting one another on the shoulder. Christine Tidwell sat up near the top of the bleachers, openly weeping. It surprised me. She hadn’t been an art student. Why was she so broken up about his death? Then I remembered that Peggy had said the two of them seemed quite chummy when she and Darren had gone to the café where Christine worked.

  Principal Jefferson droned on in that way he had, and I tried to pay attention, but it was difficult. My mind automatically wandered when he spoke for more than a minute or so. All I could say was that I tried to follow along. My eyes were on the clock and at 10:50, Jefferson finally introduced the ladies. They stayed where they were and just nodded at the principal when he said their names. As feared, it was Darren’s mother, as well as his two sisters. Principal Jefferson went on for another fifteen minutes about how wonderful Darren Peabody was before finally wrapping it up.

  I glanced at Peggy and then made my way over to the ladies to pay my respects.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Peabody,” I said to his mother, and then I nodded and smiled at his sisters. “I just wanted to tell you all how sorry I am for your loss. We appreciated Darren Peabody and what he brought to the school.” It was the best I could do. I didn’t dislike Darren, but we weren’t close.

  His mother smiled at me and nodded. “Thank you. We do appreciate hearing that. I’m not sure what we’ll do without our Darren.”

  Darren’s mother was older than I had imagined, with short curly white hair and porcelain-colored skin. The lines in her face were etched deeply, and I wondered how many of those lines Darren had caused her.

  “I can’t imagine how difficult this must be,” I told her.

  The woman that looked to be the older sister held her hand out toward me. “Thank you, we appreciate that,” she said. “And you are?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said, shaking her hand. “I’m Mary Taylor. I teach home economics here at the high school. I’m so sorry for your loss.” I nodded at her sister when I said it to include her.

  “Do you have any idea who may have killed my brother?” she asked.

  I was surprised at how forthright she was, but I didn’t blame her. If my brother had ended up dead on his front lawn, I’d want to know who killed him, too. “I wish I did. I just can’t imagine it. Salyers has always been such a safe, quiet little town.”

  “I don’t call cold-blooded murder safe and quiet,” his other sister said.

  “I completely understand why you would think that. But really, it’s normally a quiet town,” I said, trying to remain neutral. “Did Darren ever mention anyone that he might have been having difficulties with?”

  She shook her head. “No. He never mentioned anyone or anything that might have been disturbing to him.”

  “Well,” his mother said thoughtfully. “He did say there was a PE teacher he was having trouble with. He said he was a lazy old man, and he didn’t like the fact that Darren came in as a newer teacher a few years back and was so well-liked by the students. He said he was always complaining about him.”

  It surprised me that Darren thought he was so well-liked. I didn’t think he was disliked by the students exactly, but I doubted any of them even thought about him other than the art students. “Really? Did he happen to mention this PE teacher’s name?”

  She thought about it a moment. “Yes, Bill something or other, I believe it was.”

  A chill went down my spine when she said the name. I had had a sneaking suspicion it was Bill, but to hear it said out loud really gave me pause. I forced myself to keep my eyes on her and not look around the gym. I hadn’t seen Bill come into the gym during the memorial, but he might have slipped in when I wasn’t watching. “Did he say exactly what kind of trouble he was having with him?”

  She looked around as others came closer to offer their condolences. “Perhaps I shouldn’t say,” she said, nodding.

  “I don’t blame you,” I said, taking a small step back to make room for others. “Maybe you should talk to the investigating officer on the case.” I said this last in a whisper.

  She nodded. “I will.”

  “Well, I’d better get going. Again, I’m sorry for your loss.”

  I slipped away from the three ladies so others could offer their condolences and headed over to where Peggy stood.

  “We better get back to our classes or our fourth period students will get to the classrooms before we do.”

  “If we must,” she said.

  I wondered what Mrs. Peabody knew about Bill. The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed that he had taken such a dislike to Darren in the first place. But maybe there was something behind it all. Something he didn’t want anyone to know about.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Darren had been bothered enough by Bill’s behavior to mention it to his mother. It might have been in casual conversation, but if it hadn’t been something he’d had on his mind, it wouldn’t have come up. The problems between the two of them may have gone deeper than I thought. I didn’t know if Robert would tell me what Mrs. Peabody said to him, but it made me suspicious about Bill. Was he really capable of murder? I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to know.

  “Come on,” I said to Peggy as she stuck her key into the lock on her classroom door. It was the end of the day and most of the students had already gone home.

  “Where are we going?”

  “We’re going to go pay a certain PE teacher a visit,” I said.

  She looked at me, one eyebrow raised. “That’s an excellent idea.”

  “Isn’t it though?” We headed to the gym.

  “What are you going to say to him?” she asked as we hurried across the blacktop.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I’ll think of something when we get there.”

  When we got to Bill’s office, I was glad to see he was alone this time.

  He looked up from the paperwork on his desk. “Well,” he said giving us a smile. “It looks like the entire home economics department is paying me a visit. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  I smiled back at him and realized I still didn’t have any idea what I was going to say. I took a seat without him offering it, and Peggy followed my lead. “Hi Bill,” I said. “How are you doing today?” When in doubt, stall ‘em.

  His eyes narrowed slightly at the question, but he recovered quickly. “I’m doing just fine. Just going over grades for my classes. The school year will be over before
we know it and I can hardly wait.”

  “Oh? Do you have plans for the summer?” I asked him. “A fancy vacation, maybe?”

  “Nothing fancy, but I’ve been dreaming of going fishing for months now. I’d like to go out to the lake and camp for a couple of weeks at a time this summer, but I’ll probably only manage a weekend here and there.” He looked at Peggy and then at me again. “Do you ladies have plans for the summer?”

  “Yes, I plan on doing a whole lot of home maintenance that I never got around to during the school year,” Peggy said and glanced at me.

  “Daniel and I haven’t decided what we’re going to do yet,” I said. “But I sure hope we get a vacation in this year. We didn’t get a chance to go anywhere last year. There just seems to be so much to do around the house and the summer just flies by.”

  “You can say that again.” He nodded and smiled at me, and in the ensuing silence, he looked at Peggy and then back to me again. “So, is this just a social visit?”

  “Oh,” I said trying to think fast. “We just thought we’d stop in and say hello. It was sure sad to see Darren Peabody’s mother and sisters wasn’t it? I can’t imagine what they must be going through right now.” I knew he hadn’t seen them. On the way out, I had looked the gym over, and unless he had run back to his office as soon as we were dismissed, I didn’t think he had shown up for the memorial service at all.

  He looked confused for a moment. “Oh, no, I didn’t make it. I had so much paperwork to do that I stayed here in my office to catch up.”

  It was as I had suspected. “Really? You couldn’t take a few minutes just to offer your condolences to a former staff member’s family? It was a mandatory service, after all.” I said it as kindly as I could; as if I were just a little confused by it and not accusing him of anything.

  He tossed his pencil on the desk and clasped his hands behind his head, leaning back in his chair. “Just because someone works at the same place you do, doesn’t mean you feel badly enough about them dying to attend a memorial service.”