Her heels clattered against the linoleum floor as she made her way to the office. A very tall woman, wearing a teacher sweater with tulips embroidered down the sleeves, popped out midway down the hall and waved her arm, signaling to come her way.
“Hi. I’m Ann Walters. We spoke on the phone earlier. You’re here to see Mr. Edwards, right?” the woman asked.
Standing alongside Ann, Rikki realized how tall the woman was. Even with sky-high heels, Rikki was shorter by at least six inches. Tipping her neck back a bit, she nodded.
Ann smiled encouragingly, as if used to people intimidated by both her size and the fact she was ushering them into the principal’s office. “He’s with a student right now, but will be with you shortly.”
Rikki walked to the waiting area and took a seat. The door directly opposite had a frosted glass window with the words Principal’s Office embossed in gold. Next to it was another office. Through the open portal, she saw a student pressing an icepack against his nose, blood splattered on his white T-shirt, his face even paler than his shirt. The boy wore cleats and shin guards, so Rikki assumed the injury had been sustained in a sports setting, versus a fight among students.
A petite blonde sat behind the desk in the office, talking on the phone, eyeing the student with concern on her face. The woman’s mothering hen expression settled some of Rikki’s nerves and created a warm response in her chest. Not even knowing the woman, she knew instinctively she’d like her. The nameplate on the desk read Sarah Willis.
When the student glanced her direction, Rikki averted her eyes, not wanting to be caught staring. There was little else to command her attention while she waited for her appointment, so she studied the tips of her shoes, twisting the strap of her briefcase between restless fingers.
The principal’s door flew open and a stout African American man in khakis and a bright blue polo shirt ushered an uncomfortable looking student out, then strode over to Ann’s desk. The student scurried out of the room while Mr. Edwards bent over and held a hasty, whispered conversation with the secretary. Ann nodded in her direction, and Rikki froze when the man’s piercing brown gaze pinned her. Recognition flared in his eyes, making Rikki’s heart thud hard against her breastbone. She hadn’t told the person on the phone what she wanted to talk to the principal about, but if the look on his face was anything to go by, he’d figured it out on his own.
Edwards straightened and walked toward her. Okay, his job was to be intimidating. He worked with rebellious students and cranky parents all day, every day. But Rikki was here to help him save one of his teachers. He could smile and at least make her feel welcome. Shifting uncomfortably, she met his stare with her best Marguerite gaze. She’d perfected an icy expression over the years. She refused to go into this meeting on the defensive.
“Ms. Sims? I’m Tom Edwards,” he said, extending his hand toward her. She stood, taking the opportunity to swipe her hand against her skirt before grasping the man’s hand. “Won’t you step into my office?”
Walking to the desk, she took one of the hard wooden chairs flanking it and set her briefcase on the floor next to her.
Edwards rounded the desk and the ancient leather wingback chair creaked as he sat. “What can I do for you today?”
“I…I wanted to talk to you about Sam Kerrigan.” Taking a breath, she rushed on. “I know you recognized me by the look in your eyes out there.”
“You’re also known as Rikki Salerno.” A deceptively damning statement delivered in a basso profundo voice that rivaled James Earl Jones’s.”
Rikki nodded. “You know I have a strong interest in clearing this matter up. Sam told me that Sherry Hillman made some very severe accusations against him. I came to set the record straight.”
The man’s facial expression remained bland, non-committal. He seemed to be a man willing to listen to all sides of a story prior to passing judgment. She respected that. Sam had told her he was a fair and impartial person. Rikki hoped he’d be loyal to his teachers in situations like this.
When he didn’t speak, she continued, “The, uh…inappropriate behavior that Sherry accused him of didn’t happen the way she says. I know. I was there for all of it.”
His face softened into a sympathetic expression. She liked it better when he was the stoic, unfeeling principal, not this kind man. Showing those damn photos to a cold professional would have been worlds easier.
Swallowing the anxiety strangling her, she continued. “Sam told me Mrs. Hillman had photos of him in compromising situations, things that happened in front of his students on the field trip last week. You know I was a chaperone, and I’m telling you it never happened.” Her voice rose and she struggled against anger rising like a black tide.
“Mrs. Hillman has photos documenting his alleged misbehavior. She’s a reputable citizen of Granite Pointe and a strong financial supporter of the school district. It will be her word against yours.”
His voice was regretful, as if he didn’t want to tell her the proof she had didn’t matter. Sherry Hillman would win.
Not if Rikki could help it.
“Mr. Edwards, I was there. What she claims didn’t happen. I have photos of my own as proof.”
She reached for her briefcase, pulled the packet of pictures from it, and set it on her lap. Heat built, creating an inferno in her chest and face when she slipped her fingers under the flap of the envelope. She’d started pulling the damning pictures from the enclosure when Edwards raised his hand.
“Stop,” he commanded.
Chapter 24
Rikki jerked when Edwards issued the abrupt command. The leather chair shrieked as he jumped to his feet. The way he averted his eyes told her there was someone in the room more uncomfortable than she was.
“Ms. Sims…Rikki, if you have in that envelope what I think you do, I’d like to ask my assistant principal, Sarah Willis, to step into the office.” Edwards cleared his throat, then continued. “You understand that it was difficult for me to view the photos Mrs. Hillman presented with Sam in the room. Having the female subject of the pictures here in the flesh—oh hell, no pun intended—will be most undesirable.”
A smile lurked due to his joke, but Rikki merely nodded, waiting for him to continue. He pulled the open neck of his shirt away from his throat, as if it constricted his breathing.
“We need to see the evidence and hear your explanation of the matter. But I don’t have to look directly at what you have in your hand with you in the room. I believe you might be more comfortable showing them to another woman than to a man you don’t know. Aw, hell. It’s going to be uncomfortable for you regardless, isn’t it?”
Unexpected relief exploded in her with the force of an antique flash bulb. “I appreciate your discretion, Mr. Edwards.”
“Sam is a highly popular teacher, and none of us believed for a second that he’d do something so heinous. We appreciate your willingness to rebut Mrs. Hillman’s proof. I can’t begin to express our gratitude. I’ll be right back.”
Skirting the desk again, Edwards walked through the door of his office and into the room next to it. The low murmur of voices reached her ears, then the sound of two distinct sets of footsteps. Rikki stood as Sarah Willis approached her while Edwards closed the glass door behind him.
“Ms. Salerno, this is Assistant Principal Sarah Willis. Sarah, I’m going to ask Ms. Salerno to show the pictures she has only to you during this interview.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Salerno. I know I speak for all of Sam’s co-workers when I thank you for coming forward.” Sarah smiled, a warm, friendly expression, putting Rikki at instant ease.
When they were all seated, Rikki handed the envelope to Sarah, who deposited it in her lap, waiting for Rikki to speak. Nerves flitted around her gut like a cricket, jumping from one spot to another.
“I’m sure you know, because of the police report from last Friday night, I was on the photography club field trip with Sam…um, Mr. Kerrigan.” Out of the corner of her eye she
caught movement as Sarah fiddled with the envelope flap. Tension invaded her shoulders like a marauding army, swift, ugly, and painful. She did her best to separate the emotion from her words, modulating her voice into the cool, professional tone she adopted when speaking to an audience. “Maybe the best way to do this is to explain in order of occurrence.”
Edwards leaned back in his chair and rested his hands on the leather-covered arms. “Good idea. Start with Sam’s excursion to Sims Spit with the photo club. That was Mrs. Hillman’s first item of evidence.”
Okay, they’d start with the easiest one first. “I was already at the Spit when the club arrived. One of the boys jostled me and I pitched into the creek. The water was freezing and I slammed my shoulder against a rock. I lay there stunned until Sam leaped into the water and tried to lift me up. Unfortunately, when he rescued me, he was behind me and reached under my arms to pull me out. He accidentally put his hands on my chest.”
Edwards’ eyes drifted momentarily to her breasts, not wholly unexpected. Yeah, that’s right, buddy. They’re so big they’d be hard to miss. When he lifted his eyes back to hers, she met his embarrassed look with stone-cold professionalism. It was the only way she was going to get through this.
“Um…sorry. Please continue,” he said.
“One of the students was pretty fast with his camera. I haven’t seen the pictures, but I could probably identify which student it was just by the angle of the shot. I have a suspicion, but I won’t say. At least not right now.”
“So it was an accident?” Sarah asked.
When Rikki nodded, relief sprang into the assistant principal’s eyes. One accusation down.
“The picture you have of Sam on top of Suzannah Holmes was also accidental. We were all sitting around the campfire, waiting for the sun to set. Suzannah had just passed out her infamous brownies and taken a seat. The next thing you know, she’s screaming about a snake slithering across her feet. She jumped up at the same time Sam did. Sam moved toward her, past a couple of other students, and collided with Brett Erskine. Sam flew forward into Suzannah and they both hit the ground. The girl had her arms around his shoulders and ended up on the bottom when they landed.”
Rikki stopped. Suzannah had deliberately trapped Sam against her. “Suzannah twisted at the last second to be sure Sam landed right between her legs, then she locked her ankles around his waist. If it had been a pure accident, she would have had the wind knocked out of her. There’s no way she would have wrapped her legs around him.
“The way she held onto him when he tried to scramble off her meant he spent several precious seconds in that position. Long enough for another student to snap a rather damning photo.” Rikki tamped down her growing anger, shoving it into the cool, calm place she considered Marguerite’s. “It was a set-up and most of the kids there would agree. Sam was trying to help one of his students who seemed to be frightened. No one else saw a snake. I seriously doubt there was one, since most of them around this area are still hibernating.”
Edwards smiled for the first time, transforming his face from stern to immensely likeable. “Good, that’s good. As far as I’m concerned neither of those pictures will hold up in an investigation.”
The righteous indignation that had bloomed in her chest while dismantling the first two accusations against Sam faded away, leaving trepidation in its wake. It was time to show them the proof that would rebut Sherry Hillman’s final charge. Rikki wiped her sweaty hands over her thighs and clutched her skirt.
She cleared her throat, resisting the urge to bolt from the room. “My next point is a little more personal. Oh, hell. It’s a lot more personal.”
Sarah put a calming hand on Rikki’s forearm, drawing her gaze. “Ms. Salerno…Rikki, can I call you Rikki?”
Having this near stranger looking at intimate pictures of her and Sam was bad enough. She wanted to be on a first name basis, too?
Part of her wanted to keep things completely professional. The other half, the woman suffering from extreme anxiety at the idea of anyone seeing that side of her, screamed for the comfort and connection of someone willing to look past a horrible picture to see her as a person.
Rikki knew full well what Sarah would see when she opened that envelop. She’d be on her knees, between Sam’s legs. He’d be leaning back on her sofa. His lips slack in pleasure, hers wrapped around his cock. His hands cradling her head, hers cupping his balls. Sam’s naked body a stark contrast to her fully clothed one. The expression on his face in the picture was different from what she’d seen that night. Hot, sensual desire had radiated from his half-closed eyes when she’d looked up the plane of his body. The two-dimensional photo didn’t come close to capturing the passion between them.
Could she share this picture as the human, Rikki, not the automaton Ms. Salerno or Sims?
The same mother hen look Sarah had used with the injured student in her office graced the blonde’s face again, swaying Rikki’s decision. Pressing a hand against her rebelling stomach, she nodded, granting permission for Sarah to use her first name.
She tapped the envelope in her lap. “Rikki, I’ve already seen the pictures Mrs. Hillman presented yesterday. I know this is uncomfortable for you and there is probably little to nothing I can do to put you at ease. It couldn’t have been easy for you to come here today. But I…we, appreciate it.” Sarah glanced toward Edwards before continuing, “No one thinks less of you because of these damned pictures. The school district will do everything in our power to restrict who has access to them. Only those who absolutely need to be in the loop, the district’s attorney and the school board president, will see them.”
Sarah’s words calmed her, as did the small lines creased into Sarah’s youthful face when she smiled. Given that the pictures had been displayed to the world, the ship damning her had already set sail on the tabloid sea of aspersions.
Nervousness eased its grip on her throat and stomach enough for her to explain what they were going to see. What anyone with a computer, mouse, and a reason to visit the company webpage had already seen. “Yesterday, someone hacked the Sims Foundation website. Our normal displays were replaced with very intimate pictures of me and Sam.” She gestured to the envelope resting in Sarah’s hands. “That photo was taken from my front porch, looking into my house. Taken without our knowledge or permission, I should add. I’d like to compare the website copy to the picture Sherry provided as evidence against Sam.”
Edwards scooted his chair away from the desk and fished a key ring from his pocket. He unlocked the center drawer and pulled a file folder from it. A bit like locking the barn door after the horse had been stolen. Still, it was decent of Principal Edwards to shutter behind lock and key a photo the world had already seen. At the time, he must have done it for Sam’s sake. It was clear now Edwards would staunchly protect his employee. Without a word, he held it out to Rikki. She hesitated, then grasped it.
It’s just a photo. You look at thousands of them each month. Be objective. Let Marguerite evaluate it. She wasn’t in the room with you and Sam that night. Look at composition, not subject.
She’d mentally cataloged items to consider based on the photo she’d taken from the Sims website. Light. Shadow. Background. Foreground. Those elements were important details that would erase Sherry Hillman’s false accusations. In spite of the personal nature of the picture, it was time to be impersonal.
She flipped the folder open quickly, like pulling off a bandage, hoping it would hurt less. No such luck. An instant sting ripped through her. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing away the memory of how beautiful that night had been, and how tainted it now seemed. Spilled milk, Rikki, you stupid cow. Get on with it.
Forcing her eyes open, she drew her Marguerite personae around her like chain mail. She examined the picture for obvious indications that the image had been manipulated to look like it happened in the wildlife refuge, not in her living room.
In Sherry’s photo, Rikki was positioned between Sam’s thighs, her
head buried in his lap, with her back to the campfire. Embers floated toward the stars, and light from the fire reflected on the faces of the students surrounding the pair of them, apparently observing the action. There was no corresponding glow on Rikki’s back or Sam’s face. A halo of light surrounding Sam’s head came from the lamp in the corner at Rikki’s house. She had left it on to create a romantic ambiance, and she remembered the dim glow it had cast. Searching the doctored photo for a source for that glow, she found nothing.
It was hard to restrain the urge to yell “Bingo!” Glancing up from the photo, she found Edwards gazing out the window behind him, granting her what little privacy he could. Gratitude for his continued discretion ripped away her remaining hesitation.
Rikki turned to Sarah to find her expression expectant. Rikki pointed at the envelope still sitting unopened on Sarah’s lap. “Open it. I can prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this photo was doctored to make it look like we were in front of students.”
Sarah pulled Rikki’s version of the picture out and held it up next to Sherry’s version.
Excitement rippled through her. She had irrefutable proof that the evidence against Sam had been fabricated. Giddiness trumped her discomfort over the subject matter. Rikki had studied enough graphic design to be able to point out the major discrepancies between the pictures.
“The photo posted on the Sims webpage was taken outside my home. Sherry insists her photo documents inappropriate behavior in front of the students. First, let’s look at the similarities. Both photos show Sam and me in a private moment. Same pose, same clothes, same expressions. Do you agree?” She looked eagerly at Sarah.
“Yes, both photos have you and Sam in the same position.” Pink stained Sarah’s cheeks, but her voice remained cool and professional. God love her.
“Look at the way the light is different in them. Tell me what you see,” Rikki demanded.
Sarah studied the pictures, her gaze flitting back and forth between them. Edwards spun his chair toward them and leaned forward, avidly watching Sarah’s face for reaction. Neither he nor Rikki had to wait long.
Exposed to Passion (Five Senses series Book 3) Page 22
