So, one jerk on the top of the list. Who else?
The janitor. Something weird had been going on there, though Alice didn’t know if anyone else had noticed. When Donnie said he’d see him at the retirement party, the man had bristled all over. Then the treasurer—what was her name? Trish?—had run forward and smoothed everything. No party. No retirement. The way he’d acted, it was like someone had forced the entire thing on him.
As Alice dwelt on the small interlude more, she realized that fit with what the teachers had been complaining about the day before. The endless raffles and attempts to raise money for the school. Staffing was always the most significant expense, in any business. If somebody wasn’t necessary, axing them was the quickest way to save some cash.
A struggling school might lead the principal to dismiss the janitor, perhaps laying the responsibility for his tasks on the teachers. No. In the darkness, Alice shook her head. No teacher would voluntarily perform yard work without extra pay. But if there’d been someone young and eager and half the price?
The scenario fit together with the disgruntled expression on the janitor’s face, but Alice had no way of knowing if she was close, or just spinning a yarn out of thin air.
Still, it wasn’t as though she could test out theories in the middle of the night, anyhow. Name two on the list, the janitor. Now, who else?
Trish was the next name Alice arrived at. The woman was the school treasurer, and if the place was hemorrhaging money as it seemed, then her job might be on the line.
She thought back to her talk at the school. As everyone had been filing out of the school hall, Donnie had complained about the raffle and then mentioned that an accountant was looking over the books. Alice was sure that Trish had blanched at the notion. The more she thought back to the incident, the guiltier the woman became.
Name number three. The suspect pool was growing nicely. Alice could only hope that Detective Sergeant Hogarth was examining the evidence and formulating a similar list.
Alex’s estranged wife should make it on there somewhere, of course. Never rule out a failed marriage as the precursor to murder. Alice gave a small giggle at the thought. She might have watched a few too many cop shows on TV in her time.
As Alice rolled onto her side, swapping the plain ceiling for the shifting expanse of clouds visible through her bedroom window, she also remembered the boy who’d so briefly gone missing.
She hadn’t considered it before. Alice was hesitant enough around people to find it perfectly reasonable to not come out when called, but his behavior was a little strange. Not the coming to school, then skiving off when he saw that no one was paying attention. That was to be expected of any school-age child. But to sit, hiding in the bushes, while the police hunted for you and called out your name?
Chester gave a snort, and Alice reached a hand out to comfort him. The vet had placed a small cone collar around his neck to keep him from nibbling at the stitches—even keyhole surgery left a small scar—and her wrist banged against the side, waking the dog even further. He gave a low whine, and she patted his head until he settled back down. After a few minutes, his breaths lengthened, and she judged he’d gone back to sleep.
Had Michael done something wrong, and that was why he wouldn’t come out when the police called his name?
Given the number of people milling about, it didn’t seem likely that he could have caused too much trouble. If he had, surely someone would have spotted it before they even noticed the boy was missing.
Had he murdered the principal in a fit of schoolboy pique?
Alice snorted at the thought. Even a large boy would have trouble wielding enough force to do damage with a jar of honey. From what she’d seen, Michael didn’t fit that bill at all.
What if he’d seen someone else do it?
The thought startled her so much, Alice sat straight up in bed, her eyes wide. Had anybody thought to question the boy after he’d been found? The idea fit so well with the subsequent behavior, she couldn’t dismiss it from her mind.
If the boy had witnessed the murder, it stood to reason he’d want to hide away and not be found. Although, it didn’t fit with the police, did it?
If he’d seen a stranger murder his principal, then surely the boy would have run into the arms of the first policemen to walk by, calling his name. He had no reason to protect Sally if she’d been the one responsible. Michael didn’t owe her any favors and probably wouldn’t have been swayed by threats, not once the police turned out in numbers.
No. It only made sense Michael would hide away if the person he’d seen was someone he knew. Someone who might know where he lived or how to get to him or his mother.
Not Sally, but who?
Chapter Twelve
Donnie might have been top of her list of suspects in the night, but when Alice got up the following morning, she realized he’d make a better ally instead. If she was going to find someone responsible for Alex Dunbar’s murder, and clear Sally’s name, then she needed someone who knew this group of people better than she did herself.
Of course, she reserved the right to stick his name back at the top of the suspect list if he was as much of a jerk to her today!
With a few emails and texts, Alice got confirmation that everything she’d arranged the day before for staffing was on track. She realized then she’d done no baking at all, let alone enough to fill the trays up to the brim. Still, she’d woken up early enough to take care of that and could refill again at midday, to catch the lunchtime crowd and the next rush for afternoon snacks.
Doug dropped in to see how the previous day had gone and Alice felt a surge of happiness at his inquiry. He made a fuss of Chester and, once the cake was in the oven baking, she brought the dog outside to watch as Doug trimmed the plants nearby the house.
Next task, Alice looked up Donnie on the internet. Only his landline phone number was listed, and she didn’t feel like calling. His address was also there, so Alice decided to pay him a visit instead.
Leaving Chester in Doug’s watchful care and with a couple of dog treats in easy grabbing distance if he grew hungry, Alice set off for Donnie’s place. She hustled so she could drop the baking off to the cafe and get around to his house before he’d leave for school.
She needn’t have hurried as it turned out.
Donnie pulled open the door with a puzzled frown, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans.
“Is school canceled again today?” Alice asked by way of introduction.
“Yeah. What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to ask for some help.” When he didn’t invite her inside, Alice stepped forward, causing him to fall back from the doorway, leaving it free for her to walk indoors. “The police arrested my friend for Alex Dunbar’s murder, and I want to find who really did it, so I can clear her name.”
Donnie shook his head and folded his arms across his chest. “No way. If your friend’s the murderer, I’m not having anything to do with it. Rumors carry, you know, and I’ve got to apply for new teaching jobs right now. I don’t need this trailing around behind me like a bad smell.”
Alice ignored him, walking farther down the hallway to find a lounge room set up with a console gaming system paused mid-action. She turned it off while Donnie hurried after her.
“Don’t do that! I was in the middle of a boss-fight.”
“There’s work to do,” Alice said unperturbed, setting the remote down on the arm of the sofa.
“Not by me, there isn’t.” Donnie stared at her with a deepening frown. “I’ve already told you I don’t want to help. Now, get out of my house.”
“If you’re applying for jobs, then there’s stuff you probably don’t want circulated about your behavior,” Alice said in as calm a voice as she could manage. On the way over, she’d considered what to do if Donnie didn’t want to lend a hand, and decided that if she was strong, she could probably blackmail him. Just a bit, nothing illegal.
“What stuff? You don’t know the first
thing about me.”
“I know that you teased me yesterday. I’m an autistic businesswoman who came to your school to donate my time giving a talk on beekeeping to the children, and also donated honey, which your principal would have raffled off to raise money for the school.”
Donnie stared at her blankly.
“How do you think potential employers will feel about a teacher who mocks an autistic adult? Do you think they might reconsider your application, or think you might do the same to the children on the spectrum in their classes?”
The man shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his arms clutching each other now, rather than being folded. “I’m not like that. You can’t go around making those accusations.”
“I can when they’re true,” Alice scolded. “I know how you treated me and I’m quite happy to tell someone about it. There’s lots of interest in this case from the press, you know. I’m sure a reporter somewhere would love to print a story from a different angle. Why, I met one yesterday just waiting down at the police station.”
“They’re only reporting on the murder. Reporters don’t care about me.”
“Why were you teasing me yesterday?”
“I tease everyone,” Donnie said, laughing and shaking his head. “So you don’t need to pull that disabled rubbish. I didn’t treat you any differently than I do everyone else.”
“I’m not sure it will appear that way to the press,” Alice said, sighing as though the revelation pained her. “They might just see a big bully who’s not above belittling people who are different.”
The man laughed, then narrowed his eyes when she didn’t join in. “You must be joking, surely? I didn’t even know there was anything wrong with you,” Donnie grumbled. “You don’t look autistic to me.”
“He teased me at school for being different, then told me it was my fault for not appearing autistic enough,” Alice said, using her hands to space the words out as though they were a gigantic billboard.
Donnie stared at her with his mouth open. His jaw worked, but nothing came out.
“I just want help with a task, then I’ll be out of your hair. If you want, I can drop the charade and just act like I want to. I’m sure I’d be different enough for you, then.”
“I don’t want you to act any different!” Donnie dropped down into the sofa and picked up the remote. “That was just an observation.”
“Then, I’ll make one too,” Alice said. “My observation is that it’ll be quicker and easier if you help me than if you don’t.” She plucked the remote back out of his hand. “So, are you going to help me?”
He stared at her for a minute, a smile slowly blossoming on his face. “Sure, I’ll help you.” Donnie sat back in the chair with a shake of his head. “It can be my charitable volunteer work for the year.”
Alice caught the teasing tone on that one and mock hit him with the remote. “First off, do you mind telling me if you killed Alex Dunbar? I’d like to strike one person off my suspect list!”
After a few minutes of awkward conversation, amongst which Donnie protested his innocence, Alice laid out the pool of suspects she’d concocted the night before. She ended with her revelation that Michael must have seen the person who did it.
“Good luck getting in to see him,” Donnie said. “I agree, it’s possible he might have been a witness to something, but I doubt his mother will open the door to anyone except the police if that’s the case.”
“Should we tell them our thoughts?” Alice had talked to the sergeant on a previous case and found him to be reasonable. However, she was also aware he might not be so receptive at the moment, considering he believed her business partner was the killer.
“How about we keep things close to our chest until we have something better than a nagging suspicion?” Donnie stretched and walked into the kitchen to put the kettle on. “I need some coffee if I’m going to keep my mind sharp enough for this.”
Alice followed him through. “What do you know about the janitor?”
“First off, Wallace isn’t a janitor. I believe his full job title is groundskeeper and maintenance man. The school has a cleaning staff, though they’re through an agency, not direct hires.”
“Wallace?”
“Wallace Featherston. And yes, he had a retirement party planned for this Friday. I thought it was a voluntary affair, but from what Trish told me yesterday, our esteemed colleague arranged it behind his back to force him out.”
“Could Alex really do that?”
Donnie shook his head. “No. Wallace needed to hand in a notice of resignation before he’d be able to let him go. Perhaps he was hoping to force his hand or help him decide.”
“Had Wallace said he might be close to retiring?”
At that question, Donnie thought for a minute, then shrugged. “I don’t hang out with the guy enough to answer that one. Barely saw him around Tashmore at all. He wasn’t overly friendly if you get my drift. Tended to find jobs to do outside when the rest of the staff were on their scheduled break times.”
Alice could sympathize with that. When she glanced over at Donnie again, she saw a wry smile on his face and wondered if her own expression had reflected the fleeting thought.
“What about Trish? Would she know?”
“She’d know more, just because she kept her ear to the ground.” Donnie offered a broad smile. “Or because she genuinely cares about him. But, if she’s on your suspect list too, then I wouldn’t waste her time asking about Wallace. No matter what his reasons, I don’t think the old coot has the strength.”
“Really?” The strongest person Alice knew was Doug, and although he might be a few years younger, he wasn’t too far off in age from the groundskeeper. “I would’ve thought all that yard work would keep him fit.”
“Nah. If Alex was trying to force him out, he could probably get it done eventually through a job review. Not to be nasty, but Wallace had a stroke a few years back that left him with weakness on his right-hand side. Since he was right-handed, it didn’t work out too well.”
“Shouldn’t he have been let go at that time, if it affected his job?”
Donnie shrugged again. “That was well before Alex’s time, and the last guy to hold the job of principal was just waiting out his own retirement.” He paused and pursed his lips. “Tell you the truth, it was a bit of a wake-up call to the school to get somebody as young as Alex in there. Most of us who’d been there a few years got used to doing the bare minimum.”
“Is that why the finances are in such a state?”
“Who knows?” Donnie gave her a wink. “They don’t let us lowly teachers get hold of the finances for the school, you know. Besides, pouring through the ledgers would be too much like work.”
“You could get hold of them now, though, couldn’t you?”
When Donnie frowned, Alice continued with her line of thought. “You said Alex had called an accountant in to look over the books.”
“So?”
“An external accountant wouldn’t know who’s next in charge at the school. If you called him up, posing at the temporary principal, he’d probably be happy to share that information with you.”
“He’d probably be happy to pass on to the replacement principal that I requested the information, too. That won’t look great on my CV.”
“No, he won’t. By the time they sort that stuff out, it’ll be weeks down the track. The guy must look at over a dozen different sets of accounts daily. He won’t remember one little request.”
Donnie still didn’t look convinced, and since Alice wasn’t entirely sure of her argument either, she went in hard. “Even if he did, that’s his job on the line, not yours. The accountant’s the one who's responsible for the security of the documents under his control. If he figures out later that he shouldn’t have passed them on, then he’ll cover it up.”
With his eyebrows raised, Donnie gave her a nod. “I’m getting a whole new set of respect for you, Alice, the beekeeper. You’ve got a de
vious wee mind hidden away beneath that innocent facade.”
Together, they looked up the name of the accountant online, and Donnie put through a call. After a moment of exchanged pleasantries, he started the deception.
“I’m calling from Tashmore Primary School. I’m sure you’ve heard already that our principal met a rather grisly fate yesterday?”
Alice couldn’t make out the words from the person on the other end of the phone, but the cadence sounded like he was offering his sympathies. Donnie just nodded and waited for the man to finish.
“What I need from you, is a copy of the accounts that Alex Dunbar sent through to you from the school. I understand he was trying to trace some losses.”
Another pause as the man answered.
“I can send you through my school ID in an email. It’s easy enough to scan, will that do?”
One final pause and then Donnie put the phone down with a wide grin. “I’ve just got to send him through my tags, and he’ll email the accounts and his preliminary observations straight away. I guess you were right.”
Alice felt a small thrill of pride, then a niggle of worry that what they were doing wasn’t ethical.
Locking Sally up when she did nothing wrong isn’t ethical either.
If her mother had been there, Alice presumed she’d say two wrongs don’t make a right, but that knowledge didn’t stop her. When Sally was safely out of police clutches, she could sort her conscience out.
Until then, anything she could do, she would.
Chapter Thirteen
The set of accounts went on for so many pages that even a quick scan through them took minutes. Alice could have sworn the numbers were jumping around in front of her eyes a few seconds in.
“For the love of all that’s holy, make it stop,” Donnie groaned when they were halfway through the pdf file. “I promise, I’ll be good.”
The Honey Trap (A Honeybee Cozy Mystery Book 2) Page 7
