"What is it?" Gabby asked, panicked by the look of stark terror on Emily's face.
"The shoe," Emily gasped, pointing behind her.
"Shoe?" Gabby asked. She turned to see where Emily was pointing. Emily's phone had fallen face-up, casting a circle of light on the dark ground. Spotlighted in that circle was a gorgeous turquoise, patent leather stiletto. Not comprehending, Gabby reached for the phone. Emily smacked her hand away.
"Don't you see?" Emily's question was harsh, her voice unnaturally high. "Look at the bag."
Again, Gabby strained to see in the dark. Only this time, when she saw what had caused the color to drain from Emily's face, she gasped and fell back, clutching onto Emily. "Is that…?" was all she could manage to ask.
Emily nodded weakly. "It is. There's someone in that bag, and I think I know who."
Gabby turned terrified eyes on her. "You do? Who?"
With a gulp, Emily said, "It's Mayor McBain. Those where the very shoes I was lusting after when I saw her at the school this morning."
"We should go for help," Gabby whispered, too upset to move.
"We should make sure first," Emily told her. "I don't want to make a scene if this is some sick prank. There are kids everywhere." Gabby only nodded, so Emily moved forward alone. Grabbing the very edge of the sack, one she dimly recognized as coming from the sack race area, she gave it a furious tug. The bag slipped up far enough to reveal a sight Emily had prayed never to see again. Flashbacks of finding Coach Layton's lifeless body earlier that fall bombarded her as she stared down into the sightless eyes of the mayor's turned face. Blood soaked her white blouse and the ground beneath her, its obvious source, a small bullet hole between her shoulder blades.
CHAPTER TWO
Staggering backward, Emily fell to the ground. She could not believe this was happening again. The students could not see this. The kids at the carnival could not see this. She had to do something. She had to get help. Why wasn't she moving?
Whimpering, Gabby stepped around the body, leaving Emily's phone on the ground. Pulling frantically at Emily's arm, she dragged her to her feet. "We have to get help, Emily. We have to do something!" Snapping back to the present with its own harsh realities, Emily responded to the urgency in Gabby's voice by sprinting back into the crowd at the front of the booth. Her first thought was to get Tad, but he was with the girls. Her head felt light and colored dots that had nothing to do with the carnival lights swam before her eyes. Only Gabby's clawing grip kept her focused as she tried to catch sight of someone, anyone who could help.
Emily almost cried with relief when she saw the school resource officer, Ben Carson, patrolling the grounds. She threw herself in his direction, babbling out the gruesome news that a body had been found behind the English department's booth. Officer Carson's face was clouded with confusion, and Emily helplessly realized she wasn't making any sense. She turned to Gabby, but she was just nodding, tears rolling silently down her cheeks, her fingers still holding Emily's arm in a death grip. Rather than waste more time, Emily pulled on Officer Carson's uniform sleeve, dragging him with her and Gabby to the site of the crime.
The minute Officer Carson saw what Emily was yammering about, he grabbed his walkie-talkie and took charge of the scene. Emily vaguely felt him leading her and Gabby to a secluded spot beneath a tree. She seemed unable to tear her gaze from the mayor's lone shoe spotlighted in the circle of illumination her phone provided. She moved to sit down next to Gabby, but before she could get her legs to cooperate, her knees buckled, and her world went black.
* * *
Emily awoke to Gabby patting her cheeks gently. From her prone position, the stars and carnival lights swam in a dizzying circle. With effort, she sat up, propping her back against a tree.
"You okay?" Gabby asked softly. She held out a cold bottle of water someone had brought over.
Emily took her time answering, twisting the top off the bottle and drinking deeply. Officer Carson had set up a perimeter and was keeping back the gathering crowd of lookie-loos. "This feels like the worst case of déjà vu ever," she finally told Gabby. Her best friend dropped down beside her, resting her head on Emily's shoulder. Her deep sigh told Emily that she understood more than any words could have.
Earlier that fall, Gabby had helped Emily investigate the other murder—that of the beloved high school football coach, Jim Layton. Now, here they were again, with another murder victim on their hands.
"How can this be happening again?" she finally asked, disgusted at the tremor in her own voice.
"I don't know, Em. But if we're honest, Mayor McBain hadn't exactly been making a ton of new fans lately. This is probably something political," Gabby told her, then added, "Not that it being political makes this any less terrible."
"At least this time we don't have to be worried about the murder being pinned on one of our dear friends," Emily said, referring to the fact that their good friend, and the high school counselor, Helen Burning, had been kidnapped and then framed for the murder of Coach Layton. In the course of her and Gabby's attempts to prove Helen's innocence, they had been in a fairly serious car accident together, the one where Emily had broken her arm. Emily had vowed then and there that she would never put her best friend in peril again. This time, she would leave the detecting up to the professionals.
And speaking of professionals, Emily saw Detective Welks, or Gangly-Arms, as she thought of him due to his long, awkward-looking limbs, making his way over to their group. Emily would never have thought she would actually be grateful to see him again. He paused to speak with Officer Carson, but Emily saw him glaring at her out of the corner of his eye. She gave him a weak little finger wave. Whatever he said to Officer Carson had the school resource officer scurrying off to do his bidding, as he headed straight for Emily.
"We really need to quit meeting this way," Emily tried to joke.
Detective Gangly-Arms merely glowered. "How does a high school English teacher manage to stumble over not one, but two dead bodies in one year?"
Assuming it was a rhetorical question, Emily didn't bother to answer. Instead she asked, "What do you think happened?"
Raising a brow, he replied, "My fine detecting skills lead me to believe that she was shot at close range."
Now who was being sarcastic? "Yes, but why? And by whom?"
"That's precisely what I plan to find out. Once the crime scene techs get here and we have the carnival shut down, you're going to tell me exactly how you happened to find the deceased."
"You're shutting down the carnival?" Emily yelped, ignoring the rest of his declaration for the time being.
"Temporarily. We can't have people trampling all over the murder scene. And I highly doubt you want any of your students to have to see this."
That shut Emily up. Her first thought had been the revenue the school would lose by shutting down the carnival, but naturally, she didn't want any of the students to have to witness this sight. With a satisfied nod that she understood, the detective turned back to the crowd of officials setting up lights and taking measurements around the prone body of the mayor.
"I'm going to go send Greg and the girls home, and then I'll be right back. You gonna be okay?" Gabby asked.
"Of course," Emily nodded. But as soon as Gabby's dark curls disappeared into the crowd, she hugged herself tight, feeling bereft and sad. She moved as far back as she could get from the goings-on around her, while still trying to remain close enough that the detective wouldn't have any trouble locating her when he was ready to get her story. Still, no matter her distance, that lone turquoise shoe seemed to taunt her from under the bright lights. Had it really been only that morning that she had noticed those adorable shoes, wishing that her salary extended to such fabulous footwear? She now felt faintly guilty for lusting after the shoes of a dead woman. So lost in her own feelings of self-reproach was she that she didn't see Tad until he had slipped an arm around her shoulders.
She jumped, then seeing the sympathy in
his gorgeous gray eyes, she broke. Burying her head in his chest, she began to sob. As he stroked her hair, she cried for the senseless death of this woman, for the family and friends who would be devastated by her loss, for the town that would mourn the loss of their mayor, and for herself and her misfortune of being first on scene at yet another gruesome death. When she was down to sniveling, snot-choked sobs, Tad held her by the shoulders and looked deep into her eyes.
"This is not your fault, you know." And in those words, Emily realized the true reason for her devastation. She had left her booth to ride on the Ferris wheel with Tad. Despite keeping an eye out, she had abandoned her post, and in that time someone had taken the life of another. If she had been where she was supposed to be, maybe she could have stopped this from happening.
"But Tad, if only—," she began, but he stopped her with a gentle finger on her lips.
"No, Pit, no 'if only.' This was the work of a deranged mind. There is no way you could have known or prevented this from happening."
"Of course not," Gabby said indignantly, coming back to join them. "I've sent Greg home with the girls. We'll be right here with you through all of this. I know you, Em, and you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. This had nothing to do with you. Tad's right. There is nothing you could have done to prevent this. Understood?"
Emily nodded mutely to her friend, standing with hands on hips and looking ready to take on the world on Emily's behalf. "I'm lucky to have you two." She attempted a smile, but she could feel by the way that it sat on her face that it was a poor attempt.
The three of them stood on the fringes of the commotion, watching the swarm of officials going about the business of taking care of the dead. What a macabre dance, Emily thought, watching all their carefully choreographed moves. She had never been more thankful that she was a teacher than at that very moment.
"Ms. Taylor," Gangly-Arms said, returning to their trio. "I'd like to get your story now, if you're up to it."
"Of course," Emily agreed shakily.
The detective glanced at both Tad and Gabby expectantly, and taking the hint, Gabby said, "I'll just be right over there if you need me." Tad, however, stood his ground, his arm tightening around Emily's shoulders.
"Mr. Higginbotham," Gangly-Arms began, and then he was interrupted by a loud wail.
Startled, they all turned to see a beautiful, slim blonde staring at the figure on the ground, her hand to her mouth, as she swayed slightly. It took Emily a second to place her. Maclaine Forrester was the newest addition to Ellington's teaching staff. She had only recently been hired to replace the junior high math teacher who had retired after thirty-two years. She was new to town, but not to the community, as she was Mayor McBain's niece. Emily knew this would be a devastating loss for the young woman, and her heart went out to her.
"So it's true?" she cried, pointing at the body.
Gangly-Arms stepped forward and spoke to her in gentle tones. Emily couldn't hear everything that was said, but she could see the tears continue to flow and the shoulders heave as she nodded in response to the detective's words. When Gangly-Arms turned back to Emily, she was more grateful than ever for Tad's supportive presence. Before she could say a word, however, Maclaine suddenly dashed across the short space between them and launched herself into Tad's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Tad looked as startled as Emily felt, but he gingerly patted the glossy blonde curls, causing Maclaine to wrap even more tightly around him, like Saran wrap on a plastic bowl. Emily struggled against a hard knot of jealousy that twisted her insides. She exchanged glances with Gabby, and saw that her friend's eyebrows had risen so high they had practically disappeared into her bangs. In answer to Gabby's What the heck? bugged eyes, Emily shrugged. She could only assume that as Maclaine was fairly new to town, Tad was one of the people she felt she knew best since, as head of the math department, he had spent the past couple of weeks showing her the ropes at school.
Gangly-Arms looked as uncomfortable as Emily felt, but he finally cleared his throat and said, "Perhaps it would be best if you went on home now, Ms. Forrester. I'll come by and speak with you once I've finished up with interviews here."
"Oh, Uncle Larry!" Maclaine cried. "What will I tell him?"
"He has already been informed, but I'm sure it would help him to see you," Gangly-Arms said. Emily could clearly see how much he hated this part of his job.
"Of course," Maclaine answered, then turned imploring eyes on Tad. "I don't want to go alone. Will you drive me?"
Tad shot an apologetic look at Emily, but she gave him a tight nod and said, "I'll catch a ride with Gabby." Maclaine needed someone more than she did right now. Still, that didn't make it any easier to watch Tad lead the gorgeous blonde away, her head against his shoulder, and her hands like talons around his strong arm.
Gabby moved up beside Emily, prepared to support her during any interrogation by Gangly-Arms—who, uncharacteristically, didn't say anything about Gabby listening in to his questioning. Gangly-Arms had shown he had a soul before, but his silent acknowledgment of her need for support meant more to Emily than he could realize at that particular point in time. After finding her second dead body in the space of a single year, as well as watching her boyfriend walk off with a gorgeous woman, she was feeling annoyingly weak and weepy. Still, she sucked it up and informed Gangly-Arms of everything that she had witnessed, from her view of the booth at the top of the Ferris wheel to her trek back to the Whac-A-Mole booth to chastise the lovebirds to her discovery of the mayor.
"So you didn't notice the shoe or the burlap bag from the top of the Ferris wheel?" Gangly-Arms questioned again.
"No." Emily rubbed at the base of her neck where a headache was pounding away. "I didn't notice them, but I wasn't looking for them. I was focused on the booth and Rylan and Brittney." She paused as a thought struck her. "But don't you think Rylan and Brittney would have noticed if the mayor had been right at their feet?"
"I'll be speaking to each of them as soon as their parents get here." Emily knew he couldn't start interrogating many of the witnesses as most of them were underage. At the thought of all the parent concerns she would have to deal with, Emily's head pounded harder. As if sensing her raging headache, Gangly-Arms conceded, "But yes, I would think a body would be hard to miss, even if they were focused on stealing a few kisses."
Emily sent up a prayer of gratitude that the two teens had been spared such a disturbing sight. "Are we done here, Gan—, er, Detective Welks?" she asked. The long-limbed detective gave her an odd look, and Emily had the irresistible urge to giggle, a sure sign that she was running on fumes.
"We'll be in touch if we have more questions. Your timeline of the events you witnessed is very helpful. Thank you. Of course, you'll have to come down to the station to sign your statement." The headache threatened to blind her. Another trip to the police station. Yippee.
Gangly-Arms turned back at the last moment to say, "I'm sorry you had to be the one to find the victim. Again." And then he was lost in the crowd of uniformed officers doing whatever needed doing at such a horrific scene.
Emily hadn't realized she was standing motionless, just staring off into space, her mind filled with thoughts of the mayor, Maclaine, and Tad, until she felt Gabby wrap an arm around her shoulders and nudge her forward. "You've done all you can here tonight," she said. "Let's get you home. Do you have your car?"
It took Emily several seconds to even process Gabby's question. Her car. Her beloved PT Cruiser had been totaled in the accident last fall. She now drove a peacock-colored Nissan Versa Note, which she loved almost as much as her PT, but not quite. Had she driven her car? "No," she finally answered Gabby. "No, I told Tad I would catch a ride with you when he left with…" She was appalled at the tears that filled her eyes. Surely she wasn't crying over Tad helping a colleague in distress? No, it had to be the events of the whole evening and her own exhaustion.
"I'll drive you," Gabby said firmly and steered her in th
e direction of her own minivan.
"What about Greg and the girls?" Emily asked dazedly, following along behind Gabby like a lost puppy.
"He came straight here from work. They took his truck home. Come on, in you go." Gabby was using that crooning voice she used when the twins were especially tired. Emily vaguely wondered why she found it so soothing when she was twenty-seven, not three. And then she quit thinking at all, simply watching the streetlights as Gabby drove toward her duplex. When she no longer recognized the way home, she roused herself enough to ask, "Where are we going?"
"Where else?" Gabby asked, pulling into their favorite late-night ice cream place.
"I love you. Have I told you that lately?" Emily perked up.
"Nope. But you can tell me by paying," Gabby joked. And just like that, Emily found a small bit of her faith in humanity restored. Murders might happen, people might hate one another enough to commit such violence, but there was good in the world as well. Emily was blessed with a wonderful family and an exceptional best friend. What better way to celebrate that than with huge caramel sundaes?
By the time they had licked the last drop from their red plastic spoons, Emily was ready to talk. She began with, "Thanks."
Gabby smiled and gave her a shoulder nudge. "Anytime. You'd do the same for me." And she would. Thus, the reason for their friendship lasting through the years. "What are you thinking?" Gabby asked her.
Emily winced. She hated to admit what was really troubling her. "I know I should be worrying about Mayor McBain and what happened to her, or about all the students and parents I will have to console and deal with tomorrow, but my mind keeps going back to Maclaine. Of course I feel bad for her. I know Janice McBain was more like her mother than an aunt, but I have to wonder—why turn to Tad? I mean, they have a lot in common, and he has been helping her get settled in at Ellington High, but is there something more that I've been missing?"
School's Out for Murder (Schooled in Murder Book 2) Page 2
