by Helen Gray
“You think we need to talk to every kid on those lists, don’t you?” Quint eyed her over his soda cup as he drank.
“You bet I do,” she returned instantly. “You need to put enough pressure on them to get someone to spill whatever it is that’s been going on between them and their coach.”
“Hey, calm down,” he said between bites. “I agree.”
“There are more things I want to know,” Toni went on.
He raised his hands in mock horror. “No kidding. Now why doesn’t that surprise me?”
Toni ignored his theatrics. “I’m wondering about the guy’s finances. Was he accumulating a fat nest egg, or was he hurting for money? Did he have a will? If so, who was his beneficiary? And what about his car? Have the technicians found anything of interest in it?”
Quint shook his head. “Too many questions at once.”
“Answer in any order.”
His manner led Toni to believe he had at least some information, however small, but he was enjoying making her beg. He had served his country in combat and returned to take on the responsibility of law enforcement, but he was still baby brother tormenting his big sister.
Quint took his time downing another bite of burger and following it with a long slow swig of Coke. Then he turned serious. “The car hasn’t yielded anything unusual. There were the normal papers and odds and ends in the glove compartment, an umbrella in the back seat, and debris in the floor and under the mats. As for his finances, the detectives are still checking around on that. That’s one of the things they wanted to ask his widow about. As for a will, it’s the same answer. He had a small checking account in a local bank, and there’s a lockbox, but we need Mrs. Campbell to open it. That’s all I can tell you at this point.”
Accepting that there was no more to be gained, Toni turned her attention to her burger. A few minutes later they walked back out onto the parking lot.
“I have to get going,” Quint said, pausing next to her van and giving her a penetrating look. “I understand that you’re curious, and a scientist, and that both those parts of your nature want answers. But will you please be careful?”
“Of course,” she agreed casually.
He gave her a wry grin. “I also understand that it’s more fun to go sleuthing than to just spend every afternoon after school hanging out with your in-laws.”
He started to walk away and halted abruptly. He pulled a folded paper from his shirt pocket and handed it to her. “Here’s a little present I meant to give you.”
Toni unfolded it and found that it was a copy of Jesse Campbell’s resume.
“Grant Volner gave us that, and I made this copy for you later,” he said before she could ask questions.
She grinned. “Thanks.”
As he started walking away again, she had another thought. “Did anyone ever find the guy’s watch?”
Quint stopped and turned, frowning. “Huh?”
“There was a white line around his wrist, a tan line. But he wasn’t wearing a watch. Did it slip off in the water?”
“I’ll check on it.”
*
Before going to sleep that night, Toni curled up against the head of the bed with Jesse’s resume. As she read back through the man’s work history, she noted the time lengths. Two years at Glendale. Five years at Branson. One and a half at Kickapoo. Two and a half in a construction job. Almost three years at Ozark. Aware of what was behind the job hopping, she noted that the construction company he had worked for was located in Nixa. Since she seemed to be working backward through his checkered career, that was the next logical place to try to fill in some more blanks. It was too far from Springfield to make a quick run after school, but the school just preceding it in the timeline was right here in town. That was where she would visit tomorrow. But she didn’t know anyone at Kickapoo and wasn’t sure if she could get anyone to talk to her.
She mulled the matter a bit and had an idea. She had not met Ken’s friend at Ozark. She would attempt two things at once—meet Grant Volner and form a personal impression of him, and see if he would point her to someone at Kickapoo who could be helpful.
Chapter 10
Monday morning began badly. After Toni was dressed for school, she spilled coffee on her white skirt and had to change. She grabbed a cotton dress from the closet, but when she went to put on a pair of hose, she snagged them and caused a big run. Aggravated, she pitched them and shoved her feet into a pair of white sandals.
As she rushed through the utility room doorway into the garage, she caught the side of her sandaled foot on the edge of the door and smashed her little toe. Gritting her teeth to keep from screaming, Toni hit the button to raise the garage door and hobbled across the floor past Dan and Barb’s vehicles to her van in the driveway. She crawled inside and dumped her bags in the passenger seat, and then sat there massaging the injured toe. It throbbed so badly she feared it could be broken.
Toni moaned in pain, wondering how she was going to drive. At least it was on her left foot. She couldn’t just sit there, so she gritted her teeth and lowered the foot. The drive was painful, but she made it across town without mishap.
By the time class started, she was able to walk without limping—if she was slow and careful. But it took real effort to concentrate. She was able to conduct the lecture on the digestive system from her desk, but the two-hour lab was more difficult because she had to circulate the room to assist students with their work. She perched on the edge of the desk any time she wasn’t needed at a table.
After lab ended at one o’clock, Toni began to tidy the room.
“Let me clean up for you today,” Nicole Warren said, having hung back as the other students left. “You’re limping, and I have time to help before going to work.”
“I wouldn’t mind a little help today,” she said gratefully. As Nicole tidied the room, Toni explained how she had hurt her foot.
Nicole snickered. “I guess we both have some weird times.”
“At least you’re funny. I’m just a klutz. I hope you didn’t think we were making fun of you Thursday. We were just enjoying a brain lapse question from the top student in the class.”
Nicole’s self-deprecating laugh was pleasant, but then it faded away. “Do you know if the police are making any progress on finding out who killed my former coach?”
“They’re working on it, and I’m sure they’re making headway, but I’m not sure if they’re near an arrest,” Toni said, not about to share too much with a student.
She steered the conversation to class matters, and Nicole soon had the room finished. When they parted outside the building, the heat was stifling. It was mid-July, and the days were long and dry. They needed rain, and the forecast didn’t predict any in the near future.
Her toe was feeling sore and stiff, but she had been off of it long enough that it no longer throbbed constantly. Toni debated whether she should just go to the house and lie down. She was not obligated to play detective. She also knew that, even if she did go to bed, she would just lie there and think about the murder. She needed action. She climbed into her van and headed for Ozark.
When she reached the high school, Toni limped inside the building. A custodian came down the hall, pushing an industrial mop bucket. “How do I find the high school principal’s office?” she asked him.
The gangly man’s grin showed a gap where there should have been a right bicuspid. “Last door on the left down there.” He pointed to where he meant.
She thanked him and limped in that direction. When she reached the indicated door, Toni pushed it open and peeked inside. A secretary occupied a desk in the front office. The older, somewhat plump woman looked up from her computer screen. “May I help you?”
“I’d like to speak to Mr. Grant Volner,” she was saying when the door at the rear opened and a man emerged. He looked up from the papers in his hands as he noticed her.
“May I tell him who’s asking for him?” The secretary hadn’t noticed the man’
s presence.
“My name is Toni Donovan. I’m from Clearmount, and my principal is a friend of Mr. Volner’s.”
The man’s expression changed, his eyes brightening a little. “I’m Grant Volner,” he said, rounding the desk with a hand outstretched. “Ken said he thought you might stop by. I was just going to get a cold drink. Would you care for one?”
When they were seated in the man’s office a few minutes later, he set his Pepsi on his desk blotter and leaned back with a sigh. “Ken told me a little about you and said it was your son who found Jesse’s body. Do you honestly think you can figure out who killed him? I assure you it wasn’t me,” he added quickly.
“Ken doesn’t think you did.”
Grant nodded, his face drawn. “As angry as I was—am—I couldn’t do that. I hope you believe me.”
Toni studied him. Sandy haired with deep set dark eyes, the man struck her as a sincere sort. “I want to believe you,” she said gently. “I don’t know you, but I like to think my principal is a good judge of character.”
“That’s fair enough,” he allowed, rubbing a hand over his forehead. “Does your being here mean you’re trying to find out who killed Jesse?”
“It means I’m too nosy for my own good,” she quipped, and then turned serious. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable with personal questions, but I’d like to hear your story first hand. I understand you have young children.”
His mouth tightened. “I do. And I have to admit that, if it had been anyone but Jesse, they might still have two parents together. I would have handled things differently.”
“Like trying to patch things up instead of divorcing?”
He nodded. “The biggest mistake of my life was going to bat for Jesse when I knew he wanted another coaching job and couldn’t get one. I knew he could produce wins, so when we lost our coach in a tragedy…” He shrugged and spread his palms. “Well, you know the story.”
“I’d still like to hear it first hand.” She felt an affinity for the man. He had lost the mother of his children and his best friend. Somehow she thought he was a too tightly controlled person to have killed a man, even a friend who had betrayed him.
“Jesse and I grew up together in Sedalia,” he began and went on to relate his and Jesse’s history pretty much as Ken had told it.
“When did you find out your friend was having an affair with your wife?” she asked when he wound down.
He winced. “My wife was the Parents as Teachers coordinator, so she saw Jesse around the school. I don’t know exactly when things turned personal between them.”
She nodded and waited for him to continue.
He made a self-deprecating shrug. “As usual, the husband is the last to know. I didn’t figure it out until I actually walked in on them in an…uh, clinch in her office one night after a basketball game.”
“Do you have any idea who killed him?”
“I’m not even sure I want to know,” he admitted, reaching for his Pepsi, as if he needed something to do with his hands. “Maybe it was a parent who was enraged because a kid wasn’t getting enough playing time,” he added with a touch of bitter wryness.
Toni couldn’t see the point in pursuing that line of questioning, so she shifted gears. “Can you give me the name of someone at Kickapoo who will talk to me about Jesse’s time there?”
He pondered a moment. “You mean someone who can give you a picture of the inner workings, right?”
She grinned. “Right.”
“Of course I know the administrators, but I think my sister-in-law, my brother’s wife, might be a more interesting contact for your purpose. She teaches art at the high school.”
Toni’s mouth twitched. “Her perspective might be a little different.”
He reached for a pen and paper. “Her name is Michelle Carringer, and she lives in Springfield. Are you planning to try to catch her today?”
“If I can.”
He finished writing and extended the piece of paper. “Here’s her address. If you’ll wait a minute I’ll call and see if she’s home.”
“Fine.” She sipped from her Coke while he dialed and got an answer.
“I have a lady here who would like to drop by to talk to you,” he said. A pause. “She’s a teacher, and she’s looking into Jesse Campbell’s death. It was her son who found the body.”
He covered the phone with a hand and spoke to Toni. “She says she’ll only be home for a couple more hours, but she’ll see you if you can come right now.”
“Tell her I’m on my way.” She grabbed her soda, stood, and forced herself to walk out the door without limping as he relayed the message.
*
The neighborhood where Mrs. Carringer lived was located in the south side of Springfield, so Toni found it within minutes. She checked the street addresses and turned onto South Roanoke. At the house number Grant Volner had given her, she pulled to the curb.
As she made her way the driveway, a woman walked around the side of the house. She was statuesque and looked to be in her late thirties. She wore a smock that showed only bare legs below it and thick-soled sandals with no socks. If that didn’t look funny enough, she had a streak of bright red hair down the side of her dishwater blonde, shoulder length tresses, like some strange breed of skunk.
“I was just putting some stuff in the storage shed,” she said, advancing toward Toni. “Are you Mrs. Donovan?”
Toni nodded. “Yes.”
A hand shot out. “I’m Michelle Carringer. Call me Mickey. Everyone does.”
Toni shook the woman’s hand. “Thank you for seeing me.”
“Let’s sit down,” Mickey said, going to the top of the steps. Instead of going inside the house, she plopped on the edge of the porch, her feet on the top step. Toni made her way gingerly up the steps and sat beside her, tucking the skirt of her dress around her legs.
“Whew! It’s hot.” Mickey fanned her hands before her face. Then she reached down and grasped the tail of her smock. She pulled it over her head, revealing khaki shorts and a white tank top, and laid it beside her. She nodded at Toni’s foot. “What’s the problem?”
Toni grimaced. “I started the day by walking into a doorway. The damage isn’t major, but it sure is sore.”
Mickey Carringer gave a husky laugh. “It’s good to know I’m not the only one who has days like that.”
Toni looked up at the bright sun, wondering why they didn’t go inside where it was air conditioned.
“I love the outdoors,” Mickey went on. “I’ve been watering my little garden. I’m not ready for school to start. I’m having too much fun. Too bad I can’t just retire and do whatever I want year round.” Her grin showed large white teeth.
Toni perceived Mickey as a bit of a free spirit, with a perky personality, but she seemed exceptionally intelligent.
“My young son found Jesse Campbell’s body at the park,” she said, opting to be totally frank in hopes that the woman would reciprocate. “I’m trying to learn more about him, and you never know what little piece of information will be helpful in an investigation.”
Mickey’s expression changed to puzzlement. “I thought Grant said you’re a teacher, not a detective.”
Toni nodded. “I’m a science teacher at the high school in my hometown of Clearmount, but I’m doing a summer class at OTC for a friend who had a baby last month. The fact that a man was killed rouses my curiosity, but having my son find the body makes it more personal.”
“I suppose I can understand that,” Mickey allowed.
“I know Jesse worked at Kickapoo, where your brother-in-law says you teach. Did you know the man personally?”
“Oh, sure. We were on staff together, and there’s a certain amount of contact—and a grapevine—in every school. Isn’t there?” she added with a meaningful roll of her eyes.
Toni grinned. “I know what you mean. What can you tell me about him?”
“I assume since Grant sent you that he wants me to give you th
e real dirt. Jesse was a cheat.”
The blunt statement took Toni off guard. She had counted on having to dig for facts, and it looked like facts might be digging at her. “What do you mean?”
Mickey heaved a sigh. “I mean he was a double cheat. He cheated with women—and at sports. He got caught with the women, but he was slicker in sports.”
Toni frowned. “I need that explained.”
Mickey ran her hand around the back of her neck, massaging it and tucking her hair behind her ears. The red streak seemed to have a flyaway tendency all its own. “Let me back up a little. I’m not sure how he got hired in the first place. I didn’t know it at the time—so maybe the administration didn’t come completely clean with the board the way they should have—but he had been cut loose from his previous school.”
“Which was?”
“Branson. I still don’t know the true details about that, but the scuttlebutt is he got involved with a female student. But he had a winning record that I guess the school here just couldn’t resist. My guess is he had an inside track, knew someone personally who would pull for him. Too bad they didn’t do more research.”
“What kind of research?”
Mickey inhaled and blew the breath out in a long puff. “Call me jaundiced, but I tend to believe the talk. The guy won lots of games, yes. But there were rumors of recruiting and eligibility violations. He apparently did a lot of scouting at other schools in the area and knew the top players. He got a couple to enroll with us while living in another district. I understand he did even better than that before coming here, that he moved students into his district and rented a house for them and paid for their food and clothes.”
“Was it ever proven?”
Mickey shook her head. “No, it was just talk. But there was so much talk that I side with the old cliché that says where there’s smoke, there’s fire. There was just too much smoke.”
Toni had another thought. “How could a high school coach afford to pay that kind of expenses for players? Teachers can live on what they make, but they’re not known for being rich.”
