School's Out for Murder (Schooled in Murder Book 2)

by Tracy D. Comstock

  Maclaine shook her head like a little girl, her hair whipping her cheeks. "No!" she cried. "And that's the worst part!"

  Emily and Tad exchanged a puzzled glace over the top of Maclaine's head. Apparently there was something they were missing. Wasn't the lack of proof a good thing? Maclaine didn't seem to believe he was having an affair anyway. "Why is that the worst part?" Emily asked her quietly.

  Maclaine threw up her hands. "Because now John wants me to find the proof. Nothing was finalized with her will before Aunt Janice—anyway, now I have to decide what to do. I don't believe that Uncle Larry would've ever cheated. I just want to forget the whole thing! It's all too much. I mean, the police called me early this morning and said we can finally make arrangements, and then this…I don't think I can do this right now."

  "Do what?" a voice asked from the hallway.

  All three of them jumped, then turned to see Larry McBain standing right outside the kitchen doorway. Maclaine jumped up and ran to him. "Uncle Larry, I'm so glad you're home!"

  Larry pushed her back gently, leaning down to look her in the eye. "You okay, Mac?"

  Maclaine avoided the question by burying her head in his chest. Watching them, and hearing Larry use an obviously well-known nickname, Emily could see that they were close. She knew there was no way Maclaine would actively take a stand against Larry. She believed in him; in essence, he was the only family she had left. But Emily couldn't help wondering if Maclaine was blinded by her affection for her uncle. What had the police asked him?

  Larry was watching her and Tad, still patting Maclaine on the back. His expression was unreadable. The silence, broken only by Maclaine's sniffles, was becoming awkward. Emily grabbed Tad's hand and gave it a tug, hoping he would take the hint and they could make a quick exit. But instead, Tad said, "We're so sorry for your loss, Mr. McBain. If there's anything we can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask."

  "I appreciate it," Larry said gruffly. "I think Maclaine and I have it covered right now, don't we?" he asked, looking down at Maclaine affectionately.

  "Yeah, I think so. I went and saw Susanna this morning after you left with the police, and…"

  "You saw Suze—I mean, Susanna?" Larry interrupted, leaning back again to look at Maclaine closely. He'd tried to cover his slip, but Emily had heard the tone of his voice. Larry and "Suze" might not be having an affair, but Larry's feelings for her were clearly more than platonic.

  Maclaine seemed not to notice the intensity of her uncle's stare. "Yes, I wanted to make sure she was really okay. She looked good, really, just a little pale. I think she's going to move in with Dinah as soon as she's released from the hospital."

  "That's good," Larry said, trying unsuccessfully to pull off a nonchalant attitude.

  "Did you find Amelia?" Maclaine asked next, turning back to Tad and Emily.

  "We did. She was home, so we hope maybe the police are finally looking for a real suspect," Emily answered, watching Larry closely for his reaction. She was puzzled by the complete lack of awareness Maclaine exhibited toward her uncle's true feelings. His worry for Susanna was palpable, but Maclaine chattered on, oblivious.

  "Wonderful! No one who knows Uncle Larry or Amelia would ever believe those stupid rumors. Right, Uncle Larry? You told the police the rumors were ridiculous, I'm sure."

  Larry shifted uncomfortably. "Sounds like the police already know that, Mac."

  "But you still told them the whole rumor was just that—a rumor, didn't you?" Emily could tell Maclaine was trying to eliminate any chance that there might be even false proof out there of an affair on her uncle's part.

  "It's all fine," Larry answered. Emily could tell by Maclaine's expression that she was as unimpressed by his noncommittal answer as she was. "You ready to go and make the arrangements for the funeral?" he asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

  "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess. I'm going to stop by my boyfriend's place now that he's finally home from his conference. But I'll meet you there." Turning back to Emily and Tad, she said, "I appreciate you guys coming by. Please tell Amelia when you see her again that I wish her nothing but the best."

  "Of course," Tad told her. Sensing that they had overstayed their welcome, they beat a hasty retreat.

  Once they were back in her car, Emily turned to Tad and asked, "Do you have any idea who Maclaine's boyfriend is? She's never actually mentioned him by name."

  "No, but I haven't really given it much thought. You're my number one concern, Ms. Taylor," he said, leaning in for a kiss. Emily played along with the light tone Tad was trying to strike, but her mind was still working at the question. It seemed odd to her that Maclaine never mentioned him by name.

  "Thank you kindly, Mr. Higginbotham." Emily smiled into Tad's eyes, truly grateful to have him by her side. Suspecting infidelity on the part of her husband must have been so hard for Janice. Was her decision to change her will a knee-jerk reaction to her hurt, or did she have some proof in mind that Larry was having an affair? Clearly he and Susanna had some kind of feelings for each other, but whether they had acted on those feelings or not was an entirely different matter.

  "Want to grab some lunch?" Tad asked, drawing her out of her reverie.

  "Sure," she said, starting the car. Maybe lunch would give them some time to hatch out what they knew about Janice's murder. "Where to?"

  "I'm in the mood for some good Italian. How about Palleuca's?"

  "Yum…breadsticks," Emily agreed, heading back toward the center of town.

  "Since we'll be going right by Amelia's practice, you want to drop in and see if she wants to take a break and eat with us? She still looked pretty rattled when we were over there this morning."

  Emily felt a goofy grin spreading across her face, but she didn't bother to try to stop it. How lucky was she to be dating a guy that always put others' needs ahead of his own? Granted, Amelia was his friend, too, but Emily felt her heart fall just a little further at his concern for her.

  "Perfect," she told him, making the left turn that would lead them by the front of Amelia's practice. "Have I told you lately that I think you're a pretty awesome guy?"

  Tad's smile all but stopped her heart. "Well, I'd never get tired of hearing it. What do you say that after lunch, we stop… Stop!"

  The sudden change in Tad's tone had Emily automatically hitting the brakes. "What? What's wrong?" she asked, bewildered.

  "Look!" Tad said, pointing to the front of the building that housed Amelia's dentistry practice. "The front door is open."

  "What now? What's with people leaving doors open today?" Emily groused as she pulled into the parking lot. She stepped out of the car, pocketing the keys, not truly concerned, assuming a patient just hadn't made sure the door latched on their way out. But something in Tad's expression had her pulse rate picking up.

  Breaking into a jog, Tad pushed through the front door, scanning the lobby area. Emily had just come puffing in behind him when she heard him shout, "Em, call 9-1-1! It's Amelia!"

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Panic exploded in Emily's chest making it hard to breathe. She automatically began fumbling in her pocket for her phone as she rushed to the single square of light in the hallway that indicated the one occupied room in the building. She stumbled through the door into Amelia's office, her knees buckling when she saw Amelia lying on the floor, looking like a rag doll that had been tossed aside. Blood oozed from a large gash across her temple. She was lying completely still and was so pale that Emily was afraid to ask. She saw Tad checking her pulse, but was frozen with fear.

  Seeing her sag against the wall, Tad yelled again, "Emily, call 9-1-1! She has a pulse, but it's faint."

  "I don't have my phone," Emily said stupidly.

  Tad jumped to his feet and grabbed the phone off of Amelia's desk, placing the call himself. Emily heard his words as if from a far distance. Sliding the rest of the way to the floor, she crawled the few feet to Amelia's side. "Don't touch anything!" Tad snapped, turni
ng back to the phone. Emily jerked her hand back from where she had been about to grab Amelia's hand. Instead, she bowed her head and began to pray that her friend would be okay, her shoulders shaking with her repressed sobs.

  It seemed like only moments passed before emergency personnel flooded the room, forcing her and Tad out into the hallway. The moment Tad's arms came around her, Emily gave way to the tears, terrified for her friend. In no time at all, a stretcher was moved in. Amelia, still unconscious, was transferred to it, and then the paramedics were wheeling her back out to the ambulance. Sirens blaring, they raced out of the parking lot.

  The sudden stillness in the office was crushing. Emily tugged at Tad's arm wanting to follow the ambulance. Tad gently removed her hand, saying, "I have to call the police."

  Staring numbly at her surroundings, it took Emily a second to realize that this was a crime scene. Someone had hurt Amelia. This was no accident. She began to hyperventilate. Tad led her to the couch in the waiting area and made her focus on him, slowly helping her get her breathing under control. "I'll use the phone in the office," he told her. "You stay here and use my phone to call Gabby."

  "Shouldn't we call Trent?" she asked, reaching her hand for his phone.

  Tad shoved a hand through his hair, leaving it standing in spiky tufts. "Of course I didn't even think of him. I have his number saved in my phone. Can you handle it?"

  Emily nodded, already scrolling through his contacts list. Stabbing Trent's name, she listened to the rings, trying to decide how to break the news to him that Amelia had been hurt. But Trent never picked up, the call going to straight to voicemail. She left a brief message, asking only that he call her on Tad's phone as she had something important to tell him. She didn't want him to hear the news on a recording. Next, she called Gabby, who answered right away. "Hey, girl, I guess Tad found you," she greeted her.

  "Yes, he did. I was at the hospital visiting Susanna. From there, we went to see Amelia."

  "Great, how's she doing?" Gabby asked, blissfully unaware of Amelia's condition.

  Emily choked on a sob. "Not so great, Gabs," she managed to get out.

  "What's wrong?" Gabby asked, instantly on high alert.

  "She was fine this morning, but she wanted to go into work. Tad and I decided to come by and see if she wanted to go to lunch with us after we stopped by to visit Maclaine and Larry. When we got here, the door was open and Amelia was…was…" Emily couldn't manage to choke out the words over her sobs.

  "Was what?" Gabby asked. "Em, you're scaring me!"

  "She was unconscious in her office. She has a g-g-gash on her head and she wasn't moving and…" Here Emily broke down.

  "I'll meet you at the hospital," Gabby said, and hung up.

  Tad came back into the lobby at that point and told her that the police were on their way. "If you want to go ahead to the hospital, I can catch a ride with the police. Did you get ahold of Trent or Gabby?"

  "Trent didn't answer, but I didn't want to leave this news on his voicemail. I asked him to call your phone. I did get ahold of Gabby, and she's meeting me at the hospital."

  "Good, you go on and meet her. If you're sure you're okay to drive," he added, tipping her chin up to look into her eyes.

  "I'll be okay," she assured him, drawing a shaky breath. "Thank you."

  Tad kissed the top of her head and stood in the doorway, making sure she got started okay. Just as she was pulling away from the curb, she heard sirens headed their way. Hopefully, Tad wouldn't be far behind her.

  * * *

  This time at the hospital she parked in the lot outside of the emergency room. Hurrying to the front desk, she told the tired-looking woman behind the glass partition that she was one of the people who had found Amelia Franklin and asked for an update. "Let me find someone to talk to you," the woman said kindly. Emily nodded and moved numbly to one of the chairs in the waiting area, staring blindly at the game show blaring from the television in the corner as she waited to hear some news on Amelia's condition.

  The television had moved on to a soap opera by the time Tad joined her in the waiting room. "Any news yet?" he asked, grabbing her hand.

  She shook her head no, too worried to speak. Tad went over to the vending machine and came back with two ice-cold sodas. Emily could only manage a sip over the lump of worry in her throat. Understanding, Tad put his arm around her. She tipped her head onto his shoulder, and they waited in tense silence, each taking comfort in the presence of the other. About the time Emily thought she might scream from the strain of waiting, a doctor in scrubs, a face mask dangling by one ear, pushed through the doors at one end of the room, asking, "Amelia Franklin?"

  Tad and Emily stood up as one, hurrying over to the grim-looking doctor. "We're the ones who found her." Tad motioned to the two of them. "She's our friend. Is she okay?"

  "She's still unconscious. She took quite a blow to the head. It's really too soon to tell, but I think there's reason to be cautiously optimistic. We've moved her to ICU."

  "Can we see her?" Emily asked.

  "Not right now, I'm afraid. Her body needs time to rest. And also," the doctor lowered his voice even more, "she's under police protection. A detective's coming out to talk to you both. I'm very sorry this happened to your friend."

  Tad tightened his arm around Emily as tears once again began to course down her cheeks. "Thank you, Doctor," Tad said stiffly. The doctor nodded and disappeared back through the swinging doors, off to help the next patient waiting there.

  Emily and Tad returned to the same chairs they had been holding vigil in, waiting to speak to the detective in charge. "Who would have done this to Amelia?" Emily asked against Tad's shoulder, still unable to keep her tears in check.

  Before Tad could answer, someone called, "Emily?" They both looked up to see Gabby hurrying toward them. She collapsed in a chair next to Tad and asked, "Any news?"

  Emily nodded and Tad filled her in on what the doctor had just told them. "We're waiting to talk to a detective," he concluded.

  "I don't understand how this could have happened. If only we'd gone by her office earlier," Emily said.

  "Now you stop that right this minute," Gabby ordered her, rooting in her purse for another tissue. "There's no way you could have known. Do you know long she'd been lying there?"

  Tad and Emily both shook their heads.

  "Where's Trent?" Gabby asked next.

  "I tried to call him right before I called you. He didn't answer, and he hasn't called back," Emily told her. "Maybe we should try him again?" But before they could decide, the double doors opened and Detective Gangly-Arms strode through and up to their huddled group.

  "I should have known you would be the one to find her," he said without preamble.

  Emily straightened up in her chair, her chin jutting out in defiance. "It's not like I take pleasure in finding one of my friends hurt and unconscious."

  Gangly-Arms had the grace to flush a deep beet red, but he didn't apologize. "I need you to tell me exactly what happened when you went by Dr. Franklin's office."

  Emily and Tad took turns recalling what had happened, from the moment they saw the door was ajar to arriving at the hospital. "How did you know she'd be at her office?" the detective asked them once they had finished their recounting.

  "We went by her house to see her earlier today. She said she was restless and thought she would go into work," Tad explained.

  "What time was this?" Gangly-Arms asked.

  "It was after I came by to check on Susanna Fowler," Emily told him, "so I would say somewhere around 9:45 or 10:00 a.m."

  "Was she alone?" Gangly-Arms was jotting notes in a small notebook.

  "No, her boyfriend, Trent Winters, was with her," Tad said.

  "And where is he now?" Gangly-Arms asked.

  "We're not sure," Tad told him. "Emily left a message on his phone, but we haven't heard back from him."

  "Anyone else with her at the house?" When they said no, he added, "Did she tell y
ou anything else of importance that I need to know?"

  Irritated that Gangly-Arms was still acting as if Amelia was a suspect, Emily blurted, "Only that she had nothing to do with what happened to Mayor McBain. She had no reason to want to murder her!"

  Instead of answering, Gangly-Arms just stared coolly at her, the expression on his face impossible to decipher.

  "You can't honestly still think Amelia had anything to do with the murder now that she's been attacked too, can you Detective Welks?" Gabby asked him.

  "We're still pursuing all avenues of inquiry," the detective answered vaguely.

  "Whoever did this to Amelia obviously wanted to silence her or remove her from the picture. If Larry McBain was having an affair, with someone other than Amelia, of course, then maybe that woman got jealous of all the rumors about their supposed involvement and took matters in to her own hands. Maybe whoever it is wanted to make sure this supposed other woman was no longer an issue. In fact, that woman probably killed the mayor to clear the way for her and Larry to be together in the first place," Emily outlined.

  "That's a very nice theory, Ms. Taylor, but we real detectives, outside of TV land, typically look for evidence rather than relying on civilian theories." Gangly-Arms' reply set Emily's teeth on edge, not only because he was dismissing her theory, but also because he was belittling her favorite television show, Castle.

  "Or maybe Larry killed his wife for her money and then hurt Amelia to cast suspicion on someone else. Or Larry got enraged because Amelia would no longer accept him as a patient due to the rumors, and he lashed out in anger," Emily added.

  "That's your most outlandish theory yet," Gangly-Arms told her, standing up and putting his notebook back in his pocket. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some real work to do."

  Gabby and Tad both put a restraining hand on Emily, who was prepared to jump up and give the smug detective a piece of her mind. As far as she knew, Gangly-Arms had only had a hand in solving one murder, and she was the one who had been instrumental in bringing that killer to justice. Where did he get off acting all high and mighty? Looks like a little success went straight to his head, she thought with a sniff. Guess she'd just have to beat him at his own game.