by Helen Gray
“Marsha had parked down there that day. It looks like that’s where she was killed, and then her body was moved across the road and up the hill. The killer had to be someone who could have been there at that time and done that. Does anyone at all come to your mind?”
Ken rubbed his forehead. “There are several people who probably feel that someone did us all a favor, but I can’t envision a killer among us.”
“It’s a given that your personal feelings weren’t exactly warm toward her,” Toni said cautiously. “You did have problems, didn’t you?”
Ken grimaced. “There was friction, certainly. The woman was trying to get me fired. But, as you pointed out, I’m too much of a marshmallow to kill her.” The last was said in a small return of his normal spirits.
“Okay, let’s see how many people we can identify who had real issues with Marsha. I know Jack has to be considered, since most murders are committed by people close to the victim.”
“His wife … ex-wife has to have some pretty bitter feelings.”
“The same might apply to their children. What about staff?”
Ken shook his head slowly. “This is so hard. I’ve never had to think about any of us in this way before. I know she wrote up Maxine Horner for complaining to a board member. And there was a stink when she fired Rick Montgomery last fall. And ….” He hesitated.
Toni leaned forward. “What?”
“Well, I guess you heard the rumors about a relationship between her and Jimmie Huff.”
Their special services director had only been in the district the past two school years. “I’ve heard. The story is that she and Marsha worked together in the past, and that’s how she ended up here. If Marsha brought her in for personal reasons, it didn’t last long.”
“The problem,” Ken said, spreading his hands in a gesture of helplessness, “is that there are so many who wanted her gone. Not dead, just gone,” he clarified wearily.
“Didn’t she have any close friends?”
“Not that I can …” Ken paused. “She was pretty tight with Dana Smith. They had lunch together fairly often, which is kind of strange now that I think about it. Dana is just the bookkeeper, and it wasn’t like Marsha to associate with people she considered beneath her.”
Toni’s brain hummed. “Do you think they could have been up to some financial monkey business that turned sour?”
He rolled his eyes up at the ceiling, as if he could find answers there. “I guess anything’s possible. They spent a lot of time together in those offices, so it’s feasible. But even if they weren’t up to anything, Dana should know Marsha better than anyone.”
Toni glanced at her watch. “I need to go, but one more question first. After you left the school that day, did you go straight home?”
“I did. But later I went out to pick up Sandy’s Christmas gift.”
“What time did you leave and get back?”
“I told Sandy I had to attend a meeting and left right after dinner, around six-thirty. I was trying to surprise her,” he explained. “I got in my old pickup and drove to the mall at Cape Girardeau to pick up the new coat I had on layaway for her.”
“So you got to Cape around eight o’clock. What time did you get home?”
Ken grimaced. “I should have come straight back to Clearmount, but I didn’t. I felt practically dizzy with relief that evening, knowing I had the week and a half of holiday break ahead of me when I wouldn’t have to come in here and deal with whatever new problems Marsha had devised for me.”
“So what did you do?”
“When I came out of Macy’s I went to my truck to come home,” he said, as if quoting repeated facts. “But I wasn’t ready. So I locked the package in the truck and started walking. It was cold, so I stopped at a mini mart and had a cup of coffee. Then I kept going. I don’t know how long I walked, but it got my circulation going. As I walked and exercised, my thinking cleared, and I finally came to a decision.”
Toni didn’t comment, just waited.
“I decided to update my resume´ and check the online listings. Then, after the break, I would start making calls and job hunting in earnest.”
Toni grinned. “I believe we were on the same page.”
“You, too?” He seemed surprised.
She nodded. “What time did you get home?”
He raked a hand through his dark hair, rumpling it further. “Around eleven. I can’t be sure to the precise minute, but Sandy had already turned off the television after the ten o’clock news. She was just coming from the shower and made a remark about it being a long meeting to run that late.”
“So you can’t really prove where you were around the time Marsha was likely killed. But you would have to be one quick dude to have killed her around ten-thirty, the time when she called Jack, and have made it home by eleven.”
“The police seem to think there’s enough leeway in the timetable that I could have done it.”
“Have they talked to Sandy?”
He nodded. “Someone came by last night and questioned her.”
“So she found out you weren’t really at a meeting that night.”
He managed a weak grin. “She thought that part was kind of funny, because we always joke about it being okay to lie around Christmas time. Secrets are fun then.”
Toni grinned. “Same at our house.”
Ken rubbed his temples and reached for the bottle of pills he took for the headaches that plagued him. He held it up and gave her another wry grin. “Over the break I never took one of these. I thought maybe the headaches were gone.”
He shook out two pills and popped them into his mouth. Then his expression sobered. “There’s a certain irony to all this. Marsha was trying so hard in life to ruin me, and now she’s about to get it done in death.”
“Well, we’ll just have to keep that from happening,” Toni said with resolve.
His brow creased. “How’s that?”
“By finding out who did it.” She glanced at her watch again. “I have to run, or I’ll be tardy.”
Chapter 5
As she walked back to her classroom, Toni’s conviction of Ken’s innocence grew so strong that it made her want to shout it to the police. Call her a trusting fool, but her gut said he was a victim, not a killer. But who had done it? Considering the logistics of the crime, it seemed most likely to have been a man, but that wasn’t conclusive. If rumors were to be believed, Marsha had multiple intimate relationships. No one could be discounted.
In spite of Jack Rayford’s seemingly upset state, could he have done it? He had a lot of clout in this small town, so the police would have to tread lightly if they were to consider him. What would have been his motive? Another woman? What kind of alibi did he have? The number of questions continued to swell.
Toni’s thoughts shifted to Marsha’s computer. How thoroughly had it been checked? Perhaps it held answers that the police wouldn’t recognize, since they were not on a day-to-day familiarity with the education system.
Toni wasn’t sure how much more help she could get from the police department—or how much she should help them. They seemed focused on Ken, and the fact that she disagreed would put severe limits on how much they would tell her.
As her thoughts crystallized, a new sense of purpose flowed through her. To prove her convictions she would have to suspect everyone, be less trusting and more observant. But she had to know the truth.
By five after three Toni’s classroom had emptied, except for Beth Price, who was out collecting recyclables from containers that the science club kept in the commons and various locations around the building to collect aluminum cans, plastic bags, plastic bottles and newspapers.
The girl came through the doorway, dragging two large black trash bags that were each about three quarters full. “Here’s the last batch.”
“Let me help you.” Toni left her desk and grabbed one of the bags. They added them to the stack in the back of the room.
For the next ho
ur Toni graded papers while Beth sorted the stuff into proper containers. When she finished recording grades, Toni closed her grade book and joined Beth at the back of the room.
“Thanks for helping, Mrs. Donovan. You didn’t need to do it, but it’s fun having you work with me,” Beth said as they pulled cans and bottles from bags, dumped any contents into the sink at one of the lab stations and tossed them into a different bag.
Toni smiled at the soft spoken, slightly built girl. “I know you’re president of the science club, but you shouldn’t have to do all the work yourself.”
“Oh, it’s all right, Mrs. Donovan, I enjoy it. Besides, the other kids have ball practice and things like that.”
In other words, they were all too busy dating and being popular to do lowly grunt work related to academics. Beth fit on a lower rung of their social scale because she wasn’t an A student or an athlete. Toni wasn’t quite sure what that made her, other than invisible—unless someone needed something. Hungry for attention and importance, Beth took on a multitude of responsibilities. Toni hated to see her taken advantage of, but she didn’t have the heart to risk hurting the girl by curtailing her efforts.
“Are you and Jodi Garrison friends?”
Beth dropped two cans into a bag and looked up. “Not best friends, but we get along pretty well.”
“Do you know anything about her home life?”
Beth paused, a can in each hand, her face creased in thought. “Well,” she said at last, “I know her dad works at the car engine plant, and I think he works a lot of overtime. Her mom also works a lot of hours. So they’re not home much.”
That only confirmed what Toni already knew. “Do you have any idea why Jodi misses so much school?”
“I’m not sure,” the girl said quietly, tossing the cans into a bag. “She didn’t used to miss at all, but this year’s been different.”
“Yes, it has.”
Beth grew even quieter. A look of hesitation crossed her face.
“What is it?” Toni felt a tad guilty at using Beth to get information, but justified it because of her genuine concern for Jodi.
“She broke up with her boyfriend.”
That could explain a lot. Teenage romances were taken so seriously that teens had even committed suicide after a break-up. God forbid that Jodi was anywhere near such a point. “Do you think her being sick so much could be related to the break-up?”
“I hope not, but I really can’t say,” the girl said, clearly uneasy. “Nothing’s been the same lately. I mean about Jodi. We used to eat lunch at the same table and take some of the same classes. But last summer she started going steady with Randy Owens and spending all her time with him. Then, between Halloween and Thanksgiving, they broke up. She was really spaced out for a while, so I know she was hurting bad. I thought she would start hanging out with our group at lunch again, but she didn’t. Then she started missing school. I’m worried about her.”
“Beth, are you ready to go?”
They looked around to see Maxine Horner just inside the door. A teacher aide in the special education department, she worked with Mrs. Morris upstairs. About five two, Maxine had long curly hair that needed a trim, and she spoke with a slight lisp. She and Beth were neighbors, and Beth sometimes caught a ride home with Maxine when she stayed after school.
Beth grabbed a wire twist tie, gathered the top of the bag, and then wrapped the wire strip around it. She gave it a twist. “I am now.” She turned to Toni. “Kim and I will get these out of here in the morning before first period.”
“Thanks for everything, Beth.” They both knew she meant more than just the recycling.
Maxine lingered just inside the door as Beth left. “All anyone’s been talking about is you and Dr. Z finding Mrs. Carter’s body,” she said, her S’s hissing. “It musta been awful.”
Maxine wasn’t exactly the sharpest axe on the block, but her curiosity was natural and understandable. “It wasn’t among my most pleasant experiences.”
Maxine stuck her head out the door and called down the hall. “Go on to the car, Beth. I’ll be there in a minute.”
She moved closer to the desk. “Do they have any idea who killed her?” she asked, obviously hungry for juicy details.
Toni shoved her grade book into her satchel. “The police don’t tell us what they think. But what about you? Do you have any idea who it might have been?”
Maxine shook her head. “No, but I know a lot of people who’d like to line up to say thanks to whoever it was. Oops, sorry,” she apologized with a giggle. “I shouldn’t say that.”
Toni almost smirked, but caught herself. “I understand the sentiment.”
Maxine frowned in thought. “Well, I guess that really was my first reaction, but a murderer running around free…well, that’s just plain scary.”
Toni tapped a pencil on the desk. “If you knew anything helpful, would you tell it?”
Her head nodded rapidly. “Sure, but I still couldn’t say I’m sorry she’s dead.”
“Does that mean you had personal run-ins with her?” Toni tried to sound matter-of-fact.
Maxine snorted. “You bet it does. As you may know, my uncle’s on the school board. Well, when some stuff got dumped on our department, I discussed it with Uncle Art. Marsha found out about it—he musta said something—and she wrote me up for talking to him personally about a school problem. Said it was going over her head. So I’ve got a pink slip in my file.”
“That sounds unfair.” Toni tried to sound appropriately sympathetic.
“What Marsha wanted to do, Marsha did.” Maxine’s head bobbed in rhythm to the words. “That woman was something else. She’s not only a jerk about her job, but she dumps her woman lover for a married man. I mean was,” she corrected. “I guess she couldn’t make up her mind what made her tick.”
Toni decided to continue playing dumb. “You mean she had something going with a woman on our staff?”
Maxine snorted and rattled on. “Of course. Didn’t you know that Jimmie Huff came here last year from the same district Marsha came from earlier? Marsha brought her here, or Jimmie followed Marsha, one or the other. And they were real thick last year. One of the janitors, I think it was Clay, caught’em in a compromising way, if you know what I mean, in the teachers’ lounge after school one day. They didn’t know he saw’em, but he told it around.”
“Does that mean you think Jimmie did it?” Toni sneaked a glance at her watch, wondering if Maxine would ever run down.
Maxine noticed and got the message. “I have to go. I don’t know who did it, but I know one thing that gives me a lot of comfort. I have an airtight alibi,” she said as she darted out the door.
Toni tried once more, without success, to call Jodi’s parents. She picked up two pizzas on the way to her parents’ house. When she had to stay after school, the boys sometimes rode the bus to their grandparents. If Faye had to work the late shift, like today, Russell took care of them. Toni, the boys, and Russell shared the pizzas.
*
Friday morning Toni put off the errands she needed to do during her plan period and used the time to visit the special education director’s office. At the door she hesitated, unsure of her reception. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and peeked inside.
Jimmie, seated at her desk, looked up with a smile. It disappeared when she recognized Toni.
“Are you busy, or may I come in?”
“Come in,’” she said, her tone not very gracious. Her hair was dark, sculpted around her ears, and she wore a black tailored pantsuit. Toni guessed her to be in her late forties.
“Can you chat with me a bit?”
“If it’s about school, fine. If it’s about Marsha, forget it,” she snapped, radiating hostility.
“Does that mean you aren’t interested in finding out who killed her?” Toni spoke with a forcefulness she didn’t really feel.
“It means I’m tired of everyone asking questions,” Jimmie replied frostily. “I kno
w you found her body, but so what. It’s not your job to find out who did it. Let the police handle it.”
“You’re right. I know they’re working on it, and I know you’ve probably been questioned. But I’m worried about Ken,” Toni said in a spurt of honesty. “I think they’ve settled on him as their main suspect, and I’m sure he didn’t do it.”
Jimmie studied her for a long moment, and then her shoulders sagged. “What do you want to know?” she asked, a touch of frost still in her tone.
Toni took a seat and faced her squarely. “I understand that you knew Marsha and worked with her before coming here.”
“I’m sure that’s not all you heard.”
“No, it’s not,” Toni said honestly. “So was what I heard true? Did you and Marsha have a special relationship beyond academics?”
“Yes,” Jimmie answered, her tone flat. “And after she got me here, she dumped me. Now you want to know if I killed her. I didn’t.”
“Look,” Toni said softly. “I’m not trying to give you a hard time. I just don’t want to see Ken Douglas get charged with something he didn’t do. I hoped you might know something that could help clear him of suspicion.”
Jimmie seemed to relent a bit. “I doubt that anything I know could be helpful, but I guess I can go over the history for you.”
Toni was all ears as Jimmie took a thoughtful breath.
“When Marsha applied for a position here, it was because she was working on her Ph.D. and knew your superintendent planned to retire soon. She took an assistant position with plans to move up.”
Which she had.
“Did the two of you keep in close touch during that time?”
“Not very. She was caught up in her new job and ambitions, and we drifted apart. She played her political game well and snagged the superintendent’s job when it came open. Then this position came open, and she called me. I almost didn’t apply—and shouldn’t have—but I caved in and did what she wanted. It was a quick hire, and we were together again. Then she decided she wanted Jack. I guess he was in a position to do more for her.”
Toni nodded in sympathy. “You were already under contract and stuck here when that happened. Did she make things uncomfortable for you?”
