Rivaled in Murder

by Helen Gray

  HELEN GRAY

  Rivaled

  in

  Murder

  RIVALED IN MURDER

  Copyright @ 2018 by Helen Gray

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any reviews, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Any references to historical figures, places, or events, whether fictional or actual, is a fictional representation.

  Cover by Cynthia Hickey

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

  Proverbs 14:30 (NIV)

  Chapter 1

  Clearmount, Missouri, February

  Once her students had exited the science lab after fourth hour class, Toni Donovan grabbed her sandwich and hustled next door. She and John Zachary were good friends as well as high school teaching colleagues, and sometimes ate their brown bag lunches together in one of their classrooms to compare notes—when neither of them had duty in the cafeteria or elsewhere. His wife taught music at the elementary school, and her schedule didn’t coincide with theirs for lunch.

  "Be right back." John waved a hand as he disappeared into the storage room at the back of the room where he kept a small refrigerator. He emerged moments later with two cold sodas. He taught chemistry, physics, and the physical science classes, while Toni did the life sciences and a forensics class. A sandy haired giant, his black pants and tan polo shirt fit him like a glove.

  Toni accepted the Coke he handed her. "Thanks."

  He melted into the chair behind his desk and popped the tab on his soda can. "I showed a video last hour, and when it finished I left that on to catch a weather report." He tipped his head toward the muted TV mounted on a wall shelf facing them from across the room. Then his glance dropped to her pink shoes, but he refrained from commenting. So she liked pretty shoes—and had them in almost every color imaginable. These happened to match the pink blouse she wore with a black pantsuit.

  Toni removed her ham sandwich from a plastic baggie and bit into it. As she chewed, she glanced up at the muted TV. A message scrolled across the bottom of the screen. Two students from a neighboring high school were missing. Toni didn't recognize the names, but sympathy spiked through her for the parents of those teenagers.

  “I heard this morning that Nancy Wilson has notified the board she’s retiring this year.”

  John’s comment reclaimed her attention. “That makes three so far this year. I envy them.” Visions of having no ringing bells at every hour of a set schedule, sleeping in late, freedom to do as she pleased, whenever she pleased, flashed through Toni’s mind.

  John studied her as she took another bite of her sandwich and chewed. “If you’re saying you’re feeling burned out, I get it.”

  She heaved a sigh and swallowed. “I’m tired. It seems like I’m in a rut, spinning my wheels and going nowhere. And if Jeff or Toby pull any more stunts or break any more glassware in labs, I’m not sure what I’ll do. I’m afraid I’ll destroy something.”

  He nodded and downed the last of his sandwich. “I know what you mean. I guess it’s just the February doldrums, but the students seem more interested in their social lives than anything academic. And their lackadaisical performance makes me dread figuring up third quarter grades.”

  Toni winced and tossed her plastic baggie in the trashcan. “Me, too. Oh, Tina said she has to leave right after school and won’t be able to round up can collections.” She missed Beth Price, the girl who used to look after this project. Beth was now in college, and her successor was not as dependable.

  The science club recycled aluminum cans and paper products, and the money they earned financed their charitable service project of purchasing school supplies and Christmas gifts for needy students.

  John stood and tossed his baggie after hers. “I’ll round up the bags of cans from the containers if you’ll sort them.”

  Toni nodded agreement. “Sounds fair.”

  The raucous ring of the bell cut off further conversation.

  Toni hurried back to her own classroom and admitted her fifth hour students. Once they were seated, she took roll, moved to the lab counter, and placed a flat pan atop a wire gauze on a tripod. Then she addressed the students. “Today I want to demonstrate what a mushroom cloud looks like. It’s not exceptionally educational, but it’s cool.”

  Her comment and grin caught the students’ attention, as she had intended. They leaned forward in their desks, eyes glued to her movements.

  “Zinc is an essential element required for skin and bone growth, and to process food and nutrients,” Toni lectured as she poured zinc powder from the sheet of paper, which held the properly weighed amount, onto a second sheet that held the proper amount of Sulphur. “Sulphur is essential to life, too,” she continued as she poured the combined ingredients back and forth repeatedly to blend them. “It’s a minor constituent of fats, body fluids, and skeletal minerals.”

  She picked up a magnesium ribbon—and hesitated. She had done this demonstration so many times it had become rather humdrum. Impulsively she decided to make it a little bigger this time. She put the ribbon down, added a little more Sulphur and zinc powders onto the paper, and mixed it all some more. Then she poured the mixture into the pan and picked up the ribbon again. She lit the mixture.

  Uh oh!

  Immediately Toni realized she had overdone it as a brilliant flash of light, followed by hot sparks and a hissing sound, was accompanied by a huge mushroom-shaped cloud of white smoke ballooning over the lab counter and across the room.

  Students bounced to their feet, hands over their noses and coughing. They moved as one toward the door. The smoke and odor, which smelled like rotten eggs and raw sewage, rolled out into the hallway with them.

  Toni grabbed a key from her desk drawer and raced to the locked cabinet where she kept supplies. In her haste, she had to jiggle the key around several times to get it to work. She jerked the door open and grabbed the can of air freshener she kept on hand. But when she went to spray the room, it only released a small puff of freshener, and then just air.

  “Drat,” she muttered, and hurried to the phone. She rang the custodian’s extension. Thankfully he answered, and laughed when she explained what she needed.

  She hung up none too gently and scurried into the hallway to join her students.

  “You sure know how to raise a stink,” one of them said, waving a hand in front of his face.

  Toni gave the boy an exaggerated glare. Then she snickered. “I guess I do.”

  After some laughs with the group, and some good natured ribbing from the custodian, they returned to the room. Toni quickly cleaned up the mess she had made and resumed class—with hands occasionally waving before faces or held over noses.
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br />   When those students left and her sixth hour class arrived, there were comments about the unpleasant odors lingering in the room. But this class of sophomores and juniors who had already taken at least one prerequisite class understood the idiosyncrasies of a science lab and found it amusing. This particular group could get a little exuberant at times, but they seldom challenged her authority or failed to complete their assignments. It gave Toni the assurance that she was helping young students fulfill their potential and prepare for their futures. She loved it—and found herself particularly grateful for them today. Her spirits lifted a bit.

  As she watched the students clean the lab and put equipment away after class, her attention zeroed in on Melody Haynes and Zoë Cahill. They wore typical teen garb of jeans and tee tops, with their long, lightened hair pulled back into ponytails. Both had transferred to Clearmount from Brownville two years ago. Already friends, their bond had become even stronger in their new environment. But today they lacked their usual buoyancy. They acted lethargic, and their expressions were somber.

  Toni approached the two girls. "Is something wrong?” she asked softly as Zoe stowed slides in the cabinet and Melody wiped the counter.

  Glances passed between the two girls, and a shiny film came over their eyes.

  Zoe swallowed and blinked, her lips compressed. Then she spoke in a trembling voice. “One of the two kids from Brownville who are missing is a close friend of ours.”

  “We’re worried about her,” Melody added, her voice also tremulous.

  Toni immediately recalled the scrolling message on the TV screen. “You mean the ones in the missing report on the noon news?”

  They nodded.

  A chill crept up Toni's spine, affecting her so strongly that she almost spoke aloud the thought that flashed through her mind. She clamped her mouth shut and fought to quell the desolation that flooded her. Deep inside her a terrible certainty gripped her that their friend was dead. And memories rose to the surface.

  There had been two murders here in their own small town. Their superintendent had been murdered and her body found in the body farm Toni’s forensics class maintained to study the rate of decomposition in animals they placed there. The second case had been when a missing preacher’s remains were found by a trio of her students during an outdoor educational field day. Then, while teaching a summer class in Springfield, she had become involved in finding the killer of a former coach whose body had been found in the park lagoon.

  "Melody and I lived up the street from one another, and Shelby lived across the street from me,” Zoe explained. “We went to school with her from the time she started kindergarten. We were a few months older and one grade ahead of her, but we were friends until we moved here after my dad discharged from the army and got a job here. Leaving Shelby was the hardest part of changing schools."

  "My mom and I moved here after she and my dad divorced. I miss Shelby, but Mom takes me to see her once in awhile," Melody added as the bell rang.

  Toni breathed a silent prayer on their behalf as the girls headed out the door. Her mind tended to wander back to the missing teens during the next hour, but she managed to focus on business enough to conduct class. At the end of seventh hour she stuffed papers in her book satchel and gathered her purse and coat. When she reached the lobby, Gabe, her twelve-year-old seventh grader, and Garrett, her ten-year-old fifth grader, were waiting near the door for her. Together they walked to her red van in the parking lot.

  "Is Dad coming home tonight?" Garrett asked as he climbed into the passenger seat beside her. It was his turn to sit up front, a rotation he and Gabe had worked out to their mutual satisfaction years earlier. Now that Garrett was in Middle School, rounding the boys up after school was simpler. The elementary building was located up the hill behind this much bigger one that housed the middle, junior high, and high school located in different sections of it.

  "He said he should be here about six," she said as she backed up and headed to the exit.

  "What's for supper?" Gabe asked from the back seat.

  Toni looked both ways and pulled onto the highway. "I thought I might grill some chicken tenders." She turned right onto the gravel road to the Country Club.

  "Could you make the Mexican casserole instead?"

  She had fixed it only a few days ago. But it was Kyle’s favorite, too. “Okay,” she agreed.

  Expressions of approval came from both boys. She turned into the estates, drove to the last house on the right, and parked in her side of the double garage. She was putting supper on the table when her husband arrived home two hours later.

  "Smells good," Kyle said from the east doorway, having come through the utility room from the garage. He tossed his hat on the clothes dryer and greeted Toni with a quick kiss. As he pushed her medium length dark hair back from her face, the boys charged into the room.

  "I got a hundred percent on my science test," Gabe announced proudly.

  "I’m proud of you, Son." Kyle gave him a shoulder pat and aimed a wry grin over his head at Toni. "I'm sure your science teacher mother is as well."

  "I found Miss Weldon's shoe," Garrett said, and continued in a rush. "She took it off to rest her sore toe she said she bumped on the doorsill at home. Robbie Duncan hid it, but I found it in the trashcan. Robbie's always getting in trouble."

  "And you're always finding things." Kyle gave him a knuckle rub on the back of his head. Their youngest had an uncanny sixth sense when it came to finding things others had lost. Some of the things he had found, or prompted others to find, Toni didn’t like to remember.

  The small television on the kitchen counter caught their attention. It was the story about the two teenagers who had gone missing in the neighboring town. When the story ended, Gabe faced Toni. “Do you know those kids?”

  “No, but the missing girl is a friend of two students in one of my classes. They’re worried to the point of tears over her.”

  His small brow creased. “I never heard of either of them, but I know that kids from Brownville and here meet sometimes out at that big pond on the Taylor farm to ice skate. Do you think those two could have gone out there and fallen through the ice?”

  Toni’s gaze met Kyle’s across the table. He glanced at Garrett, who was listening, but didn’t seem particularly intrigued. He returned his attention to Toni. “In a case like this no possibility should be overlooked. I’m sure the searchers are open to any ideas. Why don’t you call Buck?”

  She picked up the phone and dialed their police chief.

  “We’ll check it out and notify Chief Jeffers at Brownville if we find anything,” Buck said after she repeated Gabe’s comments to him. “Thanks for the input.”

  After supper the boys went to their room, and Kyle helped Toni clear the table. "How are things going?" she asked him.

  He paused and aimed an intent look at her. “Are you sure you want to hear about it?”

  “Of course.” She motioned for him to sit. “Wait a second, and I’ll listen over cups of coffee.”

  She went to the pot next to the stove and poured two mugs. “Okay, give it to me straight,” she ordered, placing one before him and sitting across from him with the other one.

  Her sandy haired, green eyed husband had worked several years for Heartland Air Transport, but when the company began experiencing problems and shifting personnel and flights, Kyle had eventually been given the choice of a reassignment to another state or resigning. Rather than uproot the family and move, he had decided to start his own air charter business. He still had to be gone overnight sometimes, but not as much as when he worked for someone else.

  His work consisted of facilitating flights to and from airports that might not be served by a major airline. Corporations, government officials, and travelers who were willing to spend more than airline tickets for special flights were the bulk of his customers. Sometimes he was asked to give air tours, during which he shared information about their destinations with passengers.

  Th
e only actual “employee” he had at this point was the mechanic, a long-time friend he used for maintenance. Toni was his administrative assistant, which added to her own work load.

  The past six months had been grueling, but satisfying. They had gotten a commercial loan to finance equipment and advertising for the first few months. Their savings, plus some funds their parents had insisted on investing, had purchased the land and plane. The paperwork—aircraft certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, consulting, appraisals, and now their tax return—presented the biggest headaches from Toni’s perspective.

  Kyle shook his head slowly back and forth. “Buying the plane has probably been the easiest part of getting launched. Landing fees, handling fees, insurance, and maintenance are constant drains. And the FAA put us through another evaluation this week.”

  She sighed. “I know safety procedures, employee qualifications, and licensing are important. But it’s such a tedious and never-ending stream of inspection and demands.”

  He eyed her over the rim of his coffee mug as he sipped. Then he set it down. “It’s worth it, though. I’m independent, and I can live where we’re happy.”

  “Are you getting enough bookings?”

  He shrugged. “It’s picking up as I advertise more. That’s another big expense, but it’s worth it.”

  He pushed his mug to the side and leaned forward to look Toni directly in the eye. “How about you? How was your day?”

  “Tiring,” she said vaguely, flexing her shoulder muscles.

  “Hey, I was straight with you. Now it’s your turn. I can tell there’s more to your tiredness than just physical. What’s bothering you?”

  He was right. She met his gaze. “I’m tired mentally. My low energy level is matched by lack of motivation. I think I’m burned out.”

  His head bobbed. “Why don’t you take a break?”

  She frowned. “I can’t just take off work. And it’s almost time for third quarter grades.”

  He thought a minute. “Maybe we could go to Springfield for a weekend.”