Keyed in Murder

by Helen Gray

  Karen smiled wanly. “I just got off work—like you,” she added perceptively. “I stop by here each day and work on the books for an hour or so before going on home.”

  “I hope you’re feeling better than the last time I met you,” Toni said sympathetically.

  Karen nodded. “I’m fine,” she said briefly.

  “How is Loretta doing?”

  “Your librarian is improving, but she’s talking about taking early retirement from the school.”

  “We’ll miss her,” Toni said in a sadder tone that she really felt, and then went into her spiel about the fundraising project. When she asked who Karen and her husband thought had killed Jake, the woman’s expression darkened. “We have no idea, and it’s not your job to find out.”

  With that consensus of opinion from Jake’s friends, Toni left the office, no wiser than before. But her mind continued to turn. Karen Lawson was pregnant, and she and her husband were rumored to be hanging out at drug parties. If Karen was doing drugs, even if only for recreation, she was putting her baby at risk. What were these people thinking? It was bad enough to risk their own lives, but even worse to endanger their innocent, unborn child.

  Preoccupied, Toni was startled when she nearly collided with someone. “Oh, excuse me,” she said, and found herself speaking to Twila Morgan, the auburn haired newspaper reporter.

  Twila grinned. “Don’t worry. I do it all the time. I mean get lost in my own thoughts and forget where I am,” she said casually. “Say, I’ve been meaning to catch up with you and see if you’ve had any more dangerous incidents or figured out the murder case for the police.”

  The words were friendly enough, but Toni detected a bit of an underlying bite. She produced an amiable smile to cover her irritation. “I have nothing new for you. Gotta go.” She headed for her van. As she slid behind the wheel, she saw Twila enter the office she had just left, probably to visit with her sister.

  Unable to give up with a project unfinished, Toni drove to Kingsley’s Mini Mart and bought gas for the van. When she went inside to pay, she delivered her flyer and spiel. Luke and Donna Kingsley were both present, and each seemed genuinely concerned when she asked her question about Jake’s death. They even chatted about it briefly and wished her luck in helping the police.

  When she left there, Toni drove to the edge of town and stopped at a trailer that housed the office of Frank and Lisa Chandler’s construction business. He was just leaving, but took her flyer and brushed off her question about Jake’s death. “I have confidence the police will catch whoever did it,” he assured her.

  Out of time, Toni headed back across town, fearful that someone was going to get away with murder. Her route back to Main Street took her past the police station. As she passed it, she notices an officer guiding someone from the back seat of his police cruiser. She took another look in her rear view mirror. And gasped.

  It was Ben Wilkes.

  Toni was flabbergasted. They couldn’t be arresting Ben for Jake’s murder. Could they?

  She tried to visualize him as her attacker. And couldn’t. He wasn’t coordinated enough, or strong enough. And he couldn’t possibly have a motive.

  She turned onto Main Street, her brain whirling, and drove to the next block. Then she turned and drove around the block to pull into the police station parking lot. As soon as she was parked, she grabbed her purse and bolted from the van. She had to be sure.

  Heads turned when she entered the station. Buck was there, and he did not look happy to see her. She marched directly to him. “If Ben is your murder suspect, you’re wrong,” she hissed into his ear as she reached him.

  He scowled. “Toni, butt out. This is our business. Go home to your boys.” Then he softened—a tiny bit. “Get out of here, and I’ll call you after a while.”

  Recognizing that he was humoring the daughter of an old friend, she backed down. “Promise?”

  “Yeah,” he growled. “Now scram.”

  She scrammed. When she arrived at home, Kyle and the boys were already there. Kyle’s face lifted from watching the mixing bowl of whatever he was stirring at the counter. “You look flustered.”

  “I am,” she said, tossing a kiss from her fingertips and continuing to the bedroom. She dropped her bags on the bed and returned to the kitchen.

  “I just put some chicken in the oven to bake,” Kyle said. “These baked beans are about ready to join the poor dead bird.”

  “I’ll add some potatoes to bake,” she decided.

  “While we work, you can fill me in on your snooping.” His tone indicated she had better be straight with him.

  She went over her contacts and conclusions. “My brain is in a dither,” she said as he set the table and she made tea. “I’m no closer to any answers, and I can’t imagine Ben being involved in anything that’s going on around here, except that he found Jake’s body. They can’t possibly think he killed the man. There’s a killer running free who may never be caught, and that makes me furious.” She set the tea pitcher down with a thump that would have broken it if it hadn’t been plastic.

  “And scared?” Kyle placed his arms around her shoulders and looked into her face.

  She leaned her head against his chest. “I guess I am—a little.”

  He tipped her face upward. “Unfortunately, I think you have reason to be afraid. You’ve stepped into another dangerous situation and made someone think you know more than you do. Having you running around town like you did today worries me. I know you aren’t going to be able to stop questioning everyone and everything, but will you please not do it alone?”

  Toni considered his request. He was generally supportive of her sleuthing, but his concerns were understandable. She had to consider her family and their feelings—and safety. “I’ll do my best,” she promised, thinking John or Jenny would probably welcome any opportunity to accompany her when Kyle wasn’t available.

  It wasn’t until an hour after they had finished eating that Buck called.

  “Are you ready to listen to reason?” he asked when she answered.

  “I’ll try,” she said, feeling like an admonished child. “What can you tell me?”

  “When we were checking Jake Crawford’s phone records, we found calls made to Ben. So we took a look at Ben’s records, and found that he had made calls to Crawford. We had to bring him in for questioning.”

  Toni took a quick breath and squelched the urge to tell the chief that the calls meant nothing bad. “What does Ben say?” she asked as politely as possible.

  “He says he never talked to Jake, but that the calls were between him and Jake’s boy, who had borrowed his dad’s phone while his was lost.”

  “Have you verified Trent’s story?”

  “Not yet, but we will,” he said dryly. “Now will you stop worrying and stay home when you’re not at school? And let us know when Kyle has to be gone overnight. That’s an order.”

  Chapter 11

  Tuesday morning when Toni checked her email during third period at school, she found a message from Patsy Brower asking if she could come by her room right after school and talk to her. Toni responded that it would be fine—wondering what was so urgent.

  When the bell rang for lunch, from across the hall John raised a hand to get Toni’s attention over the rush of students exiting their rooms. He mouthed, “Are you coming for lunch?” and pointed at his room.

  She nodded, sensing he wanted to talk to her. Hopefully he had something important to relate. When the hallway emptied, she collected her sandwich and Coke and went to join him. “What’s happening?’ she asked, taking a seat.

  He plopped onto his desk chair and removed the lid from his microwaved lunch dish. “Last hour I went to the office to turn in some forms, and I saw Ken come out of his office with two unhappy looking students. Pam said they were caught with drugs. She didn’t know the details.”

  So they were dealing with a drug problem. As the secretary, Pam would know.

  “Since there wa
s no one but the two of us in the office at that time,” John continued, “we were able to chat. Pam knows you and I will talk, but that it’ll go no further. She told me that this was the second major incident of the day. This morning just before the bell rang for first hour, a girl’s purse was stolen—Peyton Owens in case you’re interested. During class there was a search, and a janitor found the purse in a trash can in the girls’ bathroom.”

  Peyton was a sophomore with an attitude. The girl seemed to consider herself superior to the rank and file—and rules---probably because her parents were wealthy and influential. “Were drugs stolen from the purse before it was ditched?”

  “Pam said the girl denies that there were any drugs in it, but during Ken’s interrogation, she admitted that the most important thing missing was her phone.”

  “Wasn’t her money taken?”

  He nodded. “Yes, but the phone was her main concern.”

  “Why would someone steal her purse to get her phone?” Toni asked herself aloud. “It could be as simple as someone lost his or her phone, or had it confiscated by a parent, and couldn’t stand being without one,” she answered her own question, enumerating slowly.

  “There’s a stronger reason,” John said. “Ken called the girl’s parents, and they showed up demanding answers from their daughter. Apparently they’ve had some problems on the home front. Together Ken and the parents induced Peyton to admit that she took pictures of someone doing something she shouldn’t have been doing. She didn’t admit to blackmailing her unsuspecting model, but that’s Ken’s assumption. Only after her parents threatened to take away her car and allowance did Peyton give up the name of her victim. Pam didn’t name the person, and I didn’t ask.”

  “So did the victim take the purse?”

  “Pam says she was questioned and denied taking Peyton’s phone, but her personal phone was confiscated, and a picture was found on it that had been sent to her by Peyton—along with a threat. So now there’s a boy involved.” His brows arched in meaning.

  Toni groaned. “Oh, the battles that rage among teenagers. And here we are gossiping about this one. It’s interesting, I admit, but I don’t see any connection between it and the other things that have been happening. It’s more personal, confined to a couple of girls who seem to be pretty evenly matched. My guess is that phone was destroyed or disposed of in a permanent way.”

  “It was the drug possession case that I thought might be related, but the other came up in the same conversation,” John explained. “It’s more bad stuff, though.”

  They wolfed sandwiches, and Toni headed for the doorway. “Oh,” she said, pausing. She explained about Patsy coming by after school, and he immediately offered to meet her boys in the lobby and bring them to his room for popsicles.

  “You’re a good friend,” she said, taking him up on his offer. “Thanks. I’ll fill you in if Patsy tells me anything relating to the murder case that I might want to investigate and need a bodyguard.”

  He nodded. “You know I’m always interested, and Jenny and I will help in any way we can, especially with the boys.”

  Thankful for such obliging friends, Toni returned to her room and prepared for the next hour’s classroom lab.

  When Patsy stepped through her doorway after the room had been vacated at the end of the day, Toni was glad to see that the woman appeared to be in a better frame of mind, not joyful by any means, but her posture was more erect and her demeanor purposeful.

  Toni put down her paper grading and stood from her desk. “It’s good to see you.”

  “Don’t speak too soon,” Patsy said in subtle warning. “Before I risk spoiling your afternoon, I want to thank you for all you did in support of Norm. He’s very grateful and back to work, on a project besides Jake’s addition,” she added quickly. “He’s not sure what Bonnie will decide to do about the store building addition.”

  “I assume she’s the owner now,” Toni said, not having given much thought to that aspect of the situation.

  Patsy shrugged. “Yes, but there will be paperwork and decisions to deal with regarding the business. Jake was preparing to expand, and she may not feel like proceeding with that. Her kids aren’t old enough to help her run it full-time.”

  Toni dropped back onto her chair and motioned at another one. “Have a seat and tell me what’s on your mind.”

  Patsy sat, and her expression became hard to read, somewhere between anger and puzzlement. “I’m feeling pretty stupid,” she began in a self-derisive way, brushing a hand over her dark, shoulder length hair. “This has nothing to do with the murder case—at least I don’t think it does—but it’s more of the kind of things that are happening around here.”

  Toni waited for her to get to the point.

  “Our petty cash was stolen from my desk this morning,” she said in a rush. “We keep a manila envelope with about twenty dollars in small bills and change on hand for little emergencies.”

  “When was it taken?”

  Patsy frowned. “I think it had to have been this morning before classes. As you know, it can get a little hectic at that time of day. The reason I can’t be absolutely certain is because I didn’t discover the envelope was missing until just before lunch when I went to make change for a student wanting quarters for the drink machine. I looked everywhere for it before I told Mr. Prewitt it was gone.”

  Toni understood that it would have been hard to tell her boss she had lost track of their little cash stash. “What did he do?”

  “He checked in his office to be sure it hadn’t been carried in there. But then he got a call and had to go deal with a classroom situation. That’s when I emailed you. The rest of the day was so busy that we never got back to looking for it. But I don’t know where else to look. It’s not a large amount of money, but if someone took it, they need to be caught.”

  This wasn’t vandalism like the other incidents, but it was wrongdoing on school premises. And it was bold. Were the same students involved?

  “You said that right before classes is the most likely time for it to have been stolen. Can you remember who you saw around your office during that time?”

  Patsy squeezed her hands together in a tight double fist. “There were several coming and going.”

  Toni leaned forward on her arms on the desk. “Close your eyes and try to remember everything that happened from the time you entered the building until classes began and the halls emptied.”

  Patsy did as instructed. At first her face was tense. Then her eyelids fluttered a bit, and her expression became more relaxed, as if she was watching a film inside her head.

  “You’ve remembered something,” Toni said when her eyes opened.

  Patsy nodded, her eyes focused beyond Toni. “There was an incident,” she said in a monotone. “A boy’s voice yelled at me from just outside the doorway, saying a girl had passed out in the gym. I jumped up and ran to the gym. But there was no one there.”

  A picture of the incident formed in Toni’s mind. “You thought it was a prank, didn’t you?”

  Now Patsy focused her gaze on Toni. “Yes, and it made me mad, but the phone was ringing and students were at my desk wanting things done. So I got busy and forgot about it.”

  “Do you remember who the boy was who called you?”

  Patsy grimaced, shaking her head. “I never saw him. It was just a yell from the hallway. I got suckered, didn’t I?”

  Toni nodded, grimacing. “That’s what it sounds like. You were gone long enough for someone to run in and grab the envelope from your desk. The students who were already in your office followed you, didn’t they?”

  “Yes,” she said slowly. “Then they followed me back, and I took care of their needs.”

  “Whoever did this had it planned—and didn’t act alone,” Toni said, thinking out loud. “Someone stood guard while another grabbed the money. And they already knew that your principal wasn’t in the office right then. He wasn’t, was he?”

  Patsy’s head co
ntinued to shake slowly back and forth. “This is another form of vandalism, isn’t it?”

  “I’m afraid so.” Toni gave Patsy a brief overview of Gabe’s attack, her subsequent research about gangs in school, and the faculty meeting discussion and planned training. As she spoke, the expression on Patsy’s face morphed from anger to outright horror.

  “My children are at risk,” she said in a near moan.

  “Don’t panic,” Toni said calmingly. “You’ve raised them in a caring, non-poverty environment. They’re smart enough to recognize this kind of thing for what it is.” She hoped.

  “I think Norm and I need to have a talk with them,” Patsy said.

  “That’s a good idea. After you’ve explained what might be going on, ask them if they’ll be on the alert for any rumors. After all, we both know that the students know everything that’s going on in the school and beyond, often before staff and parents are aware.”

  Patsy managed a tiny grin. “You’re right. I’ll promise them that anything they learn can be shared with me in confidence. And I’ll have another talk with Mr. Prewitt in the morning,” she added as she stood to leave.

  Five minutes later Toni parked in her driveway and scooted out of the van while the boys gathered their instruments and back packs to follow her. She shifted her falling purse back onto her shoulder and selected her house key from her key ring as she walked to the front door. She opened the storm door, but did a double take when she went to insert the key into the lock. Scratches and splintering surrounded the lock, signs of forcible entry. She turned the door knob and found it unlocked.

  Forcing back anger, Toni spun around to face the boys. “Go back to the van,” she ordered sharply. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  They both stared wide-eyed at her, and then at the damaged door. “Let’s go,” Gabe said to his little brother. They turned and raced back to the van.

  In spite of her usual common sense, Toni pushed the door back and stepped inside the foyer. She listened for any sounds of an intruder and did a quick survey as far as she could see into the living room and beyond. Then she eased back out the door and fished her cell phone from her purse. She dialed the police department.