by Kate Bell
“No, not really,” she said, looking away.
“When was the last time you saw Iris?” he asked.
“At school on Friday,” she said. “Can you believe she brought me some construction paper? She’d found it on sale at a really good price and bought extra. She gave me some of it.”
“She does sound like she was a nice person,” I said.
“There are regrets you have in life that you wish you could take back,” she said.
“That’s for sure,” Alec said, looking up.
“Oh, you know what?” she said. “I just remembered. There was construction paper scattered on the floor in the hallway when I came in on Monday. The same construction paper Iris bought.”
“A lot?” I asked.
“Maybe around twenty-five to thirty sheets? And some crayons. I thought maybe one of the kids had made a mess and got scared and left it there without telling anyone. Some kids are really shy and they’re afraid to tell anyone if they think they’ll get in trouble.”
Alec looked at her, thinking. “Where at in the hallway?”
“I’ll show you,” she said, standing up and leading the way.
We followed her out into the hallway.
“There, she said, going to the stairwell and pointing down. “At the bottom of the stairs.”
A rope hung across the stairs, with a sign that said no admittance.
“What’s down there?” I asked.
“Classrooms that we don’t use. The teacher’s lounge is also down there and that’s why I figured one of the kids was down there when they knew they shouldn’t have been. Some kids panic when they do something they know is wrong and I figured they just left the paper and crayons.”
“You don’t mind if we have a look?” Alec asked.
“No, help yourself,” she said and Alec unhooked the rope and we started down the stairs. Janice flipped on a light so we could see and followed us down. There wasn’t anything unusual at the bottom of the steps.
“The paper and crayons were laying here,” she said, pointing to the floor.
Alec looked around the area, then took his phone out and took pictures. I couldn’t see anything worth taking pictures of, but he was the professional. Across the hall was the teacher’s lounge and I walked over and pushed the door open.
The lounge had an assortment of tables, chairs, and a sofa and overstuffed chairs. One wall had a row of cupboards with a microwave on the counter and a refrigerator in the corner. There was nothing exciting in here, but I remembered thinking the teacher’s lounge was some hall of adulthood that I was afraid to enter when I was in elementary school. I could see a kid sneaking down here and then getting scared of being caught and leaving everything behind.
Alec joined me in the lounge.
“Nothing exciting,” I said with a shrug.
He walked around, looking at everything and opening cupboard doors. “I think you might be right about that.”
We left the lounge and Janice was waiting just outside the door. “Okay?” she asked.
Alec nodded. “Thanks for all your help,” he said. “If you think of anything, will you give me a call?” he asked and handed her a business card.
“Yes, I will,” she said, and headed back down the hall.
“Those are your police detective cards, aren’t they?” I asked as we walked down the hall.
He smiled. “I have a lot of them. Besides, I never said I was a detective, I just said I was working for the police department.”
--7--
Janice went back into her classroom and as soon as she was out of sight, Alec pulled me down another hallway.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Iris Rose’s classroom has to be here somewhere,” he said, looking at the names on the door.
We kept walking and looking and finally found it at the end of the hall. “Voila,” I said. “You’re so smart.”
“I prefer to call it experienced,” he said.
“And it looks like someone’s home,” I whispered. The door stood ajar and the light was on.
Alec pulled the door open and we were surprised to see Richard Rose sitting at Iris’s desk. His eyes opened wide when he saw us.
“Hello, Mr. Rose,” Alec said.
He gave us a sad, lopsided smile. “Hello, Detective, Mrs. McSwain.”
“Allie,” I offered. We approached the big desk. “How are you doing?”
He sighed tiredly. His eyes were red and swollen and I couldn’t help but feel he couldn’t have committed the murder. He seemed like he was genuinely grieving his wife’s death.
“I came to clean out Iris’s classroom. Mrs. Decker, the principal, offered to do it for me, but I wanted to do it,” he said. There were three empty paper boxes next to the desk and from the looks of it he hadn’t gotten started yet.
“I’m sure that’s a very difficult job,” I said.
He nodded slowly. “Harder than I had imagined.”
“Would you like some help?” Alec asked.
I looked in his direction. I knew he wanted a look around the place in hopes there would be something that would give him some clues to her murder.
Richard opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it. After a moment, he said, “I suppose it might be helpful.”
I walked over and picked up two of the empty paper boxes and handed one to Alec. The classroom was done in winter scenes with four corkboards displaying posters featuring cartoon characters reminding students to use their manners, don’t do drugs, and grammatical parts of a sentence. I smiled. The best part of elementary school had been when the teacher decorated the classroom for holidays and the changing seasons. Christmas was over and Valentines was still over a month away, so Iris had chosen winter scenes. I loved the green and blue plaid mittens cutouts with the red sled beside them. I thought Iris probably had a pretty happy classroom. The children would miss her.
“Do you want me to take down the cutouts?” I asked looking over my shoulder at Richard, who had yet to stand up.
“No, those can stay. There are some personal pictures on the one board. We went out into the woods and took pictures of as much wildlife as we could find and she brought them here for the kids. That day holds a lot of memories for me. I’d like to have them,” he said sadly.
“You got it,” I said and went over to the board and began unpinning the pictures.
“Are these pictures of other teachers?” Alec asked from his side of the classroom.
“Yeah, that was during a Christmas party one year. You can leave those. They hold memories for people here.”
I wondered if Janice was in those pictures, but I couldn’t ask in front of Richard. Alec would tell me later. I wondered how Iris felt about having to work with her husband’s lover. I know how I would feel, and it wasn’t warm and fuzzy.
Richard pulled open the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a plastic world globe and began sobbing quietly. I looked at Alec, who gave me a terrified look. Men were terrible at handling other men’s emotions. I went to him and squeezed his shoulder.
“You don’t have to do this, Richard. Let Alec and I pack things up. You go on home and we’ll bring them by your house,” I said.
He shook his head. “You don’t know what to pack,” he sobbed.
“If we pack things you don’t want, we’ll bring them back here for you. I promise we won’t leave anything behind that looks even the least bit important.”
He shook his head. “I just can’t believe it. Who would do something like this?” he looked up into my eyes and at the moment I wished more than anything that I could give him an answer.
“I don’t know. I’m so sorry,” I said. I felt my chest tighten and tears sprang to my eyes. I blinked them back. Richard didn’t need me breaking down in front of him and Alec might freak if he had to deal with both of us crying.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “Everyone liked Iris.”
“No, it doesn’t. I really wish you’d
let us handle this for you. It might be easier for you to look through these things by yourself,” I said gently.
I grabbed a couple of tissues from the box on Iris’s desk and handed them to him.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said, taking the tissues from me. He slowly stood up from the chair. “I’m sorry to do this to you.”
“It’s no problem,” I said. I desperately wanted to hug him, but it seemed inappropriate. I didn’t know him.
But maybe I could be the official hugger that went along with Alec on investigations. I glanced at Alec who had his nose to a bulletin board. I doubted he would care for that. I turned back to Richard. “You get home and get some rest and we’ll bring you Iris’s things.”
He nodded. “Okay, thank you. I can’t thank you two enough, really.”
“No thanks needed,” I said and walked him to the door. He left without looking back and I closed the door behind him.
“That is so sad,” I said.
Alec nodded, having taken the seat that Richard had vacated. I picked up one of the student seats and sat it next to him as he pulled open a drawer. Alec sorted through it, but it only held school supplies.
“So, with Janice right down the hall, what are the chances he’s going to stop off and say hello?” Alec asked.
I gasped. “Do you think?”
“Well, he’s free now,” he said.
“That’s so rude,” I said in disbelief.
He shrugged. “Maybe so. And he could be perfectly innocent, but it is convenient.”
“Should I go peek and see if he stopped by her classroom?” I asked.
“No, it would be bad if you got caught.”
“Between Richard, Janice, and Iris’s mother, who do you think is most likely?” I asked him, while searching a small side drawer.
He grinned. “I think it’s far too early to know. We don’t even know how she died yet. But if I had to make a guess, I’m going with her mother.”
“What? Why? That doesn’t make sense,” I said.
“Are you still hung up on thinking a mother wouldn’t murder her own child? That’s been proven to be wrong over and over,” he said, pulling out a book.
“What’s that?” I asked. “And yes, I’m going with my own theory that a mother wouldn’t kill her own children, at least not in most cases. Those times when it has happened, well, those are just freak women that never should have had children.”
“I agree on that point,” he said, flipping pages in the book. “This appears to be a journal.”
“Really? Why would she keep it here?” I asked. “Maybe she didn’t want Richard to find it?”
There had to be something juicy in it, otherwise why would it be here at school?
“I doubt it. It looks like she kept a journal of her day. She’s talking about the kids and what she taught and also some problem behaviors in a couple of the kids,” he said, and turned the page.
I sighed. “I guess that makes sense. This desk doesn’t lock and it would be right there for anyone to read.”
He looked up at me. “And what is your theory?”
“I honestly don’t know. I don’t want to think either Richard or Janice are involved. They don’t seem the type,” I said, pulling out a bead bracelet. “This is cute.” It had beads and crystals on it, but it was obviously not expensive.
“It is,” he said absently.
“Did you ever run across a murderer that seemed completely innocent, but then you found out they were guilty?” I asked him. “I mean, no skeevy feelings about them at all? Not even a hint?”
He chuckled. “That happens more often that you’d think. Although most people give themselves away in the way they behave. But it happens. And there’s one thing you don’t seem to have thought about.”
“What?” I asked. I had no idea what he was talking about. I thought I was becoming quite the good detective.
“Those tears from Richard could be tears of remorse. Maybe he’s grieving the fact that he couldn’t control himself in the heat of an argument.”
I gasped. He was right, I hadn’t thought of that. “Do you think that’s it?”
He shrugged. I have no idea. We have a lot more investigating to do.”
“I want you to admit something,” I said.
He looked at me. What?”
“That you love having me along for the investigations.”
He tipped his head back and laughed a lot harder than he should have.
“What is so funny?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
“You. You’re so funny,” he said, returning to reading the journal.
“Excuse me, mister. I am not funny. I’m being serious.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s what makes it even funnier,” he said.
I breathed out hard. Some people.
--8--
It took us just over an hour to pack up everything that looked like it might have some sentimental value to Richard, including the journal. I had taken the liberty of reading a few entries and was touched by her care for her students. I thought it would make Richard happy to be able to read through it and remember how sweet Iris had been. Sadly, we hadn’t found anything that would be of use to us in the investigation into Iris’s death. I had really hoped there would be something.
We put the lids on the boxes and Alec put the fern she had had on her desk on top of one of the boxes and picked it up. The door swung open and a young man with dark rimmed glasses stopped in his tracks and stared at us. He held a bouquet of red roses in his hand and his black hair was slicked down.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t, uh, mean to disturb anyone,” he said looking at the floor.
“Oh, no problem,” I said and smiled at him. “We were just packing up Mrs. Rose’s classroom for her husband, Richard.”
Alec gave me a look and set the box and fern down on the floor. He strode over to the young man with his hand extended. “Alec Blanchard,” he said.
The young man gave him a deer-in-the-headlights look. He stood in front of Alec, not offering him his hand. Alec smiled bigger.
“And you are?” Alec asked, still extending his hand.
The young man rubbed his right hand on his coat and then stuck it out to shake with Alec. “Uh, Josh Stine. Josh, uh, Stine.” He looked away from Alec. He had a slight build, and his face was broken out in severe acne. I thought he must be around eighteen or nineteen at the most.
“Did you know Mrs. Rose?” Alec asked him amiably.
Josh looked up at him. Alec was at least six inches taller than he was. His face turned red and he stammered. “Yes. I uh, she was, well, she was my, my teacher. Once. A long time ago,” he said, nodding his head, but not meeting Alec’s gaze.
“Really? So did Allie’s daughter, Jennifer,” Alec said, including me in the conversation.
I crossed the room and held my hand out to him. “I’m Allie McSwain. When was Mrs. Rose your teacher?”
“Oh, um, a long time ago,” he repeated and wiped his hand on his coat again and then shook my hand. His hand was slightly damp.
“Did you know my daughter? You look like you might be about her age. Jennifer McSwain?” I asked him.
He looked at me and focused his eyes. “Yeah, I did. I mean, we weren’t friends or anything. But I went to school with her.”
I smiled at him, hoping to make him more comfortable. He seemed very nervous. The bouquet in his left hand was being squeezed.
“I thought you looked like you were about her age,” I said happily. “I almost think I remember you from some school function. Did you sing in the choir?”
“What?” he asked, wide-eyed. “N-no, I don’t sing. I can’t sing.”
“Oh, okay, my mistake,” I said. “Did you bring the flowers for Mrs. Rose?”
He remembered the flowers when I mentioned them and he looked down, his jaw twitching. Did he know she was dead? He had to, didn’t he?
He finally nodded slowly. “Yes. I brought them for her.” He l
ooked up at me. “I mean, I know she’s, she’s gone. But I brought them for her.”
I nodded sympathetically. “I’m so sorry. Jennifer was shocked, too. She must have meant a lot to you, too.”
His eyes filled with unshed tears. “She was the best teacher in the whole world. And she was pretty. She always encouraged me. And really, really nice. She was always nice to me.”
“It’s such a shame. I can’t think of another person less deserving of dying so young than she was,” I said and glanced at Alec.
“Josh, when was the last time you talked to Mrs. Rose?” Alec asked lightly.
Josh turned toward him. “I guess a couple of weeks ago,” he said with a shrug.
“Oh, so you kept in contact with her after you left school?” he asked.
“Not exactly. But I moved back to town. I had gone to college in Houston, but, my uh, my mother, she got sick and needed my help,” he said evenly. “I stopped in to say hello to Mrs. Rose a couple of weeks ago. It was good to see her.”
“So you moved back to help your mom?” I asked.
He nodded. “Only for a while. Until she gets to feeling better. I’m going to study and take classes online until next fall.”
This last part, he said with a note of pride. He was a curious person and I racked my mind, trying to remember if Jennifer had ever mentioned him to me. I could have sworn I had seen him at some school function, but I was drawing a blank.
“Do you think someone is going to take over her class?” he asked.
“Oh, I would imagine. Or maybe they’ll split the kids up among the current teachers. I would imagine it takes a while to hire a new teacher,” I said.
“What?” he said and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “That isn’t a good idea. Those kids need each other. Especially after losing Mrs. Rose.”
“Well, maybe they’ll hire a substitute and that way they can all stay together, right here in this classroom,” I suggested. I glanced at Alec who was watching Josh intently.
“That’s a good idea,” Josh said and he started walking slowly toward Iris’s desk. “She was the best teacher in the whole world.”
“We’ve heard the same thing from other people,” Alec said.
