“I got everything too,” said Katy, turning her camera off and slipping it back into her pocket.
She turned to me.
“Hey, why don’t we upload this to social media right now? Send it to the newspapers. Let’s tell everyone what’s really going on behind the fences in this uppity school.”
I shook my head. “We have to be careful, Katy.”
“Why?”
“To protect the girls. We don’t want them to pay for this stupidity all their lives by going public.”
We stepped back into the corridor, the music receding as we walked away from the party room.
I needed space to think.
“How can you have a mega, alcohol-fueled party and get away with it?” said Katy, as we headed toward our room.
“One heavily soundproofed room. Teaching staff who live at the other end of the grounds. A stern but aloof principal who never comes to the top floor, and staff who’ll clean it all up and keep their mouths shut because they’re desperate for cash.”
“Add two teachers who encourage bad behavior and a bunch of rebellious kids who think they’re living it up, and you have a recipe for disaster,” added Katy, shaking her head. “I can understand why Brianna ran away before. She was probably hazed like those other girls.”
“The question is if Ruby had anything to do with her latest disappearance,” I said.
“You think she’s the one behind all this?”
“What if,” I said. “What if Brianna had threatened to rat on Ruby and Tom and talk to the principal or her parents or even her Aunt Becky about these hazing parties?”
“I bet you Tom’s a massive coward. Men like that usually are. But Ruby would have killed the girl,” said Katy.
“Exactly,” I said. “Or made sure she wouldn’t talk.”
“So Brianna went to these parties but had a fallout with Ruby or Tom?” said Katy. “Or with Isabella? She seems to enjoy a special status here.”
“We have to watch that girl. She knows a lot more about Brianna than we think. Getting her to talk will be another matter.”
We had come to our room, but I was restless. I couldn’t believe what we’d seen, and my adrenaline levels were sky high.
While Katy leaned against the railing, still reeling from our discovery, I paced the corridor.
We had to do something. But what?
Calling the local cops could backfire. If what Sam had seen was truly an act of bribery, we couldn’t trust the local authorities anymore, and Martha May even less.
We were already in the chief’s bad books as it was, and all it could end up in was our instant dismissal, as Martha May would be more concerned about her school’s reputation than doing the right thing.
That wouldn’t help these girls.
Or Brianna.
“Let’s say Ruby or Tom killed Brianna for threatening to rat on their parties,” I said. “Why would they go after Sam and Jayden?”
“Maybe Sam saw Brianna argue with them near the glass house,” said Katy. “Maybe he saw them kidnap or lure the girl into the woods.”
“Jayden’s another mystery,” I said. “Do you recall his reaction when he saw Isabella and her friends smoking in the gym?”
“He was shocked, like we were.”
“That means he was in the dark about the parties and all the other goings-on. So why kill him?”
“I say it’s Martha May all along,” said Katy. “I don’t know why she hired us, but her hands are dirty—”
The sound of a door opening and closing from below silenced her.
We peered down the stairway.
Truant students out for a midnight smoke? A teacher checking in on the girls? A staff member woken up by the noise and coming to see how much damage they’d have to clean up the next morning?
A majority of the students were in the common room partying it up at that moment. Anyone not there was probably sleeping or hiding in their rooms on the third floor.
We could hear footsteps.
The person wasn’t making any attempt to mute their noise, like they didn’t expect anyone else to be out at this time.
I pulled out my sidearm and gestured for Katy to follow me.
We tiptoed to the second floor where the classrooms were, sticking to the shadows.
“They’re near the front,” whispered Katy. “Right at the bottom of the stairs.”
Whoever it was had entered the building through the front door.
Was it the principal? A teacher?
We waited, listening to the footsteps. A door creaked open and shut somewhere below us.
We crept down the last flight of stairs, keeping our eyes and ears alert.
It was dark on the first floor, with only the fire exit signs and a handful of security lights on. The prowler knew their way, as they hadn’t turned on a single light.
Then came the sound of steel against steel from the direction of the main corridor.
It took me a few seconds to recognize the noise.
The file storage cabinets.
Someone was in Nick’s office.
We headed toward the double doors that led to the main office.
We saw the light as soon as we turned into the corridor. We snuck up to the office quietly and peeked inside.
The doors were closed, and the frosted design on the glass panels made it hard to see much. But we could make out a moving silhouette inside as they shuffled around the reception area, where Nick’s desk was.
“Nick?” whispered Katy.
“It’s a woman,” I whispered back.
Whoever it was, she was rifling through the file cabinet behind the desk. As we watched, she slammed a drawer shut and opened another. She took something large out and put it on the desk.
For the next few minutes, she stood bent over, reading the contents. If she’d looked up, she’d have noticed the shadows of our heads peeking from the side of the doors, but she was thoroughly focused on her task.
It was hard to say who it was, but it could have been Martha May, Sally Robertson, Cathy, or any of her female kitchen and cleaning staff, or even one of the older students.
“We’re going in,” I whispered to Katy.
She nodded.
Aiming my gun forward, I put my hand on the door.
The woman still had her head bowed over the file.
In one swift move, I pushed the handle down and slammed the door open.
She screamed.
Chapter Forty
“Sally?”
Sally stared at us, terror in her eyes, her trembling hands up in the air.
“Don’t shoot,” she said, in a shaking voice. “Please don’t shoot.”
A quick glance told me she wasn’t carrying any weapons. She looked genuinely frightened.
I lowered my gun but didn’t holster it. Katy did the same.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
She gulped and put one hand on her chest. Then, she leaned against the back of Nick’s chair to steady herself.
“You scared me to death,” she said, wheezing. “I thought you were going to shoot me.”
I waited for her to compose herself, watching her movements carefully.
On the desk was an open manila folder. Other than loose papers, I couldn’t make out the writing.
“What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” said Sally finally.
“We’re looking for the missing girl,” I said. “We heard noises down here and came to find out who it was.”
I paused.
“What about you? Why are you here?”
Her chest heaved. She shot me a petrified look.
“I… I…”
“Breathe,” said Katy.
Sally nodded and swallowed.
“I… I… er, I came here…”
I stepped closer to the desk.
“We have all night. Take your time.”
I reached over to pick up the folder when she grabbed it.
&nb
sp; I raised an eyebrow.
“Something you don’t want us to see?”
With more energy than I thought she had in her, Sally spun around and stuffed the file into the open cabinet. She slammed the drawer shut and turned around.
“I was finishing some work,” she said, her face flushed. “That’s all.”
“What kind of work does a school psychologist need to do at three in the morning?” I asked.
Her shoulders dropped, and she looked down.
“I’m not a psychologist.”
“What?” said Katy.
“Who are you, then?” I asked.
“I’m an RA. A registered nurse.”
Sally looked away, a pink flush creeping up her neck.
“Ms. May likes to give us fancy titles to justify the school fees. But I don’t get paid half of what a real psychologist does.”
We were learning a lot about this school tonight, but Sally still hadn’t answered my question.
Whether she was a nurse or a psychologist was immaterial to her rooting around the principal’s office at the dead of the night. There was something strange about this woman I couldn’t put my finger on.
I recalled how jittery she had been when she came to visit us at the bakery. I also remembered the telltale signs of the principal’s letter being opened.
I had no proof, but I was sure she had snooped and read that letter, just like she was snooping in here now.
“What are you doing here?” I said, motioning to the cabinet. “What are you looking for?”
“I couldn’t… sleep…” She stumbled over her words, like she was grasping at straws. “I forgot to finish a student report yesterday, and I didn’t want to get in trouble with Ms. May, so I came to finish it up.”
She gave us a discreet look from under her eyelashes.
“You know how she can be?”
A good excuse, but I wasn’t buying it.
“Sally,” I said. “You can talk freely. Can you tell us what’s going on in this school?”
She looked at me, her eyes guarded.
“What do you mean? Nothing’s going on here.”
I wondered why she was so quick to defend this nightmare of a place.
“Nothing?” I said, leaning forward.
“I told you. Brianna’s run off someplace and we just need to find out where she is. That’s all.”
Katy narrowed her eyes.
“We’ve been in this school only two days and all we’ve seen is one crazy thing after the other. This isn’t a private boarding school for girls. This is a madhouse,” she said with feeling.
Katy was still irate at herself for considering The Red Lake Academy as a finishing school for Chantelle.
Sally remained quiet.
“Be honest,” I said. “Do you know anything about Brianna’s disappearance?”
She shot me an angry look. “I was the one who came all the way to ask you for help.”
Reluctantly.
“What about Sam and Jayden? What really happened to them?” I asked.
Sally gave a terrified glance my way.
“Sam overdosed and Jayden… killed himself. The police said so, didn’t they?” she stammered. Her face had turned bright red. “Why are you asking me all these questions?”
Her voice was high-pitched, and her eyes fluttered nervously. She knew more than she was telling us. Much more.
“What about Martha May?” I asked.
She looked up in surprise.
“What about her?”
“Is there anything we need to know about her?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s tough. She can be really hard on us. Look, I’m just the nurse here. I don’t know anything.”
Katy pointed an angry index finger at the ceiling.
“Right. And I bet you also know nothing about the crazy party upstairs with booze and drugs and sex with underage girls!”
Sally blinked, but her expression didn’t change.
Chapter Forty-one
“Everyone knows,” Sally replied in a small voice.
“Even your boss?” I asked.
“Except Ms. May.”
“How can you let this kind of thing go on?” said Katy. “If you knew about it, why didn’t you stop it?”
Sally shook her head, her eyes firmly on the desk.
“I’m just trying to get by.”
She looked up, tears in her eyes.
“If Ms. May tells me to call myself the school psychologist, I will. If Ruby and Tom tell me to pretend these parties don’t happen, I will. I’m trying to make ends meet.”
“We’re supposed to believe that?” said Katy. “You have a good job at a private school.”
“She doesn’t pay much.” A dark look crossed her eyes. “I’m not one of them. I don’t have rich parents. I’m in over my head with debt. I’m only here because I get room and board.”
I understood desperation, but Sally wasn’t an underpaid, minimum-waged kitchen helper, like most of Cathy’s team. If she was a nurse, that meant she had a university degree and the means to pay for it.
Martha had casually mentioned on the first night that Sally had attended Red Lake Academy. If her family could afford to send her to an upper-class private school, she wasn’t the helpless observer she was pretending to be.
“That’s no reason to stay quiet in the face of this craziness,” said Katy, pointing at the ceiling again. “Was it Ruby and Tom who took Brianna?”
“Why don’t you ask Ruby and Tom that and leave me out,” Sally said, her voice high pitched. “Why are you picking on me?”
“We’re only trying to get to the truth,” I said.
“I told you. I’m the last person to know anything. I keep my head down, follow instructions, and stay quiet.”
“Would you still stay quiet if you saw someone kidnap a student?”
Sally didn’t answer right away.
“Of course not,” she said, finally, but she was markedly avoiding eye contact now. “If I knew what happened to Brianna, I’d have told you. I’d have told Ms. May. I’d have called the police.”
“There was a tinted black truck parked behind our back entrance the day you came to the bakery. It was the same truck that hit Jayden’s car. Do you know anything about it?” I said, observing her carefully.
Sally gave a start but said nothing.
“We also got a call at the bakery minutes after you left,” I said. “It was an anonymous man’s muffled voice warning us to stay away from the school. I think you know who that was.”
Silence.
“Was it Tom? Nick? Are they behind Brianna’s disappearance? Or was it someone else your principal hired?”
She shrugged, but I could see her hands had started to shake.
Had someone threatened her?
That was the impression she was giving, but she was too jittery, too skittish, till I wondered how much I could trust her words.
“What are you hiding?” asked Katy.
“Nothing.”
“Hey,” I said, softening my voice, wondering if we were being too harsh. “All we’re trying to do is find a girl and we need your help. You don’t have to be scared of us.”
She remained quiet.
With an exasperated sigh, Katy stepped around the desk toward the cabinet drawer.
Sally jerked her head up and stared at her like a deer watching a lion prowl around her.
“What were you rooting in here for?” asked Katy, pulling out the drawer she’d slammed shut only a few minutes ago.
Katy went through the folders as Sally looked on, her face flushed.
“What was it?” asked Katy. “We’re going to find it, anyway. You might as well tell us.”
Sally cleared her throat.
“I, er, I was just looking for a student record, that’s all.”
“Whose records?” I asked.
“This new girl’s file, the one I was supposed to write a report on. Just a r
egular report.”
Her voice was flat, and she was blinking hard. Every nerve in me told me she was making it up as she went.
With a resigned sigh, I took out my phone. There was another matter I had to attend to right now.
“I’m calling the cops,” I said. “What’s happening upstairs is unacceptable, not to speak of it being illeg—”
“Don’t!”
I looked up in surprise to hear the urgency in Sally’s voice.
“Why?” asked Katy, frowning. “You know something, don’t you?”
Sally looked at me, flustered.
“Don’t do it,” she said. “You don’t know anything. If you call the cops, it’ll be a disaster. Please…”
“Who is it, Sally?” asked Katy, “Who is behind all this?”
“Can you tell us about the town’s mayor?” I asked. “What about the police chief? Is this entire town using these girls? Is that why you don’t want me to call them?”
Sally was trembling now, clenching and unclenching her hands, looking like she was on the verge of a panic attack.
I pressed on.
“Is that why Brianna disappeared? Because she was about to complain about the drugs, the alcohol, the raves, the sex? Was she going to rat them out to Martha May or to her parents?”
Sally stared at me, her face ashen.
Her eyes screamed desperation, but I couldn’t help but feel she was looking right through me. There was another force pulling on her. Katy and I were just a distraction.
“Who is it, Sally?” I asked. “Who’s behind all this? Tell us. A girl’s life might be at stake here.”
Suddenly, as if she just woke up and remembered where she was, Sally scampered around the desk, giving me a wide berth.
“I need to go,” she muttered as she headed toward the door.
When she got to the threshold, she stopped and turned back.
“You know I’m the only sane person on this campus, don’t you?” she said in a raspy voice, before stumbling out of the room, almost tripping as she did.
We watched her leave, silently. Within seconds, we heard the front door open and shut.
“Running off like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland,” said Katy.
“Something has her spooked,” I said, “and it isn’t us.”
Merciless Crimes: A Thrilling Closed Circle Mystery Series (Merciless Murder Mystery Thriller) Page 17
