by Helen Gray
"I'm next door to her at school," John said. "Jenny and I will accompany her to the parking lot each afternoon."
Kyle nodded acceptance. "I appreciate you keeping an eye on her."
"I just hope we get to go to school all week," Toni said, wanting to divert the subject. "The weather could turn bad enough to have to cancel."
"I hope that doesn't happen," Jenny said as she picked up her fork.
*
That afternoon Toni and Kyle attended Mavis’s funeral with her parents. It was another emotional drain, but as she listened to the woman’s obituary and the pastor’s message, Toni couldn’t help but think how much Mavis, a stickler for perfect attendance at both church and school, would have approved. It was the Lord’s Day, so no one had to miss school for her service, and they would be in church.
As Kyle drove them home from the cemetery, Toni's phone rang. It was Jeremy.
"Hey, Mrs. D," he greeted her brightly when she answered. "We made some more phone calls and checked with some people down here in Poplar Bluff, asking about the Anderson guy. He's a member of a motorcycle gang who specializes in jacking cars."
"Are you saying Anderson isn't dealing drugs for Brant's cousin?"
"It's possible, but we can't find anything that ties the two together. If we learn anything new, I'll contact you."
Feeling she had hit another dead end, Toni had barely ended the call when the phone rang again. She put it back to her ear. “Hello.”
“I ran into Jake Dillinger at the hardware store,” John announced.
Jake was a Clearmount native, but he had taught at Brownville for several years before there had been an opening for him in his hometown district. “What tidbit did you glean from him?”
“He says Brant was a girl-izer and took advantage of Todd’s sister.”
Toni translated that as a teenage version of a womanizer. “So that’s what their fight was about.”
“According to Jake, that was it. The girl was only a freshman, and Todd wanted Brant to stay away from her. There has been enmity between the two guys ever since.”
“I wonder if the police know about it.”
“Probably. But I thought you could make sure.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks."
His information didn't put them any closer to knowing who had killed Brant and Shelby, but it gave Toni a sense of optimism. Sooner or later something would happen, or a small bit of information would surface that would pinpoint the killer.
Monday morning Toni had just entered her classroom and was removing her coat when a tap sounded at the door. Her principal entered the room.
“Hello, Miss Bright Eyes,” he greeted good-naturedly, eyeing her sleepy countenance. “Are you awake enough to talk?”
She forced her eyes wider and gave him a leer. “It depends how much brain power is required.”
He chuckled. “You can just listen. And please sit so you don’t fall down.” He pointed at her desk.
When Toni draped her coat over the back of the chair and sank into it, Ken slid into the nearest student desk, putting him at eye level with her. “I ran into Coach Bergstrom yesterday at the restaurant.”
Perking up, Toni leaned forward on her arms. “Did anything interesting come up about their murder case?”
“I started to ask him about it, but I could tell it made him uneasy, so I backed off. But after we finished eating and went outside, I found him waiting next to my van. Sandy and the kids got inside, and we stood outside and chatted for a bit. I asked if he had heard or seen anything that made him think drugs were being sold to his athletes.”
Anticipation surged in Toni. “What’s the scoop?”
“He confided that a student reported to him that Brant had hinted to some of the guys that he could get drugs for them if anyone wanted them.”
“When did that happen?”
Ken’s expression turned grim. “The day before he was reported missing.”
Toni’s mind whirled. She recalled the jailed cousin’s words—and how they were phrased. He said Brant had not sold any drugs for him. It was probably the truth. He hadn’t sold any—yet.
“I think he was testing the waters, getting ready to market for his cousin.”
Ken listened attentively as Toni told him about her Saturday visit to the cousin in jail. When she finished, he glanced at his watch. “That’s interesting, and I wish we had more time to discuss it. But there’s one more thing I want to tell you before the bell rings.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Brice Haggett, the high school principal, called me at home last night to compare notes. He said one of his teachers has been accused of hiring someone to kill Brant.”
Whoa. She hadn’t bothered to tell Ken about the jail visit to Brant’s cousin and subsequent trip to Poplar Bluff. “I don’t know what to think,” she said after correcting that omission.
“Give me the name and address of that guy, and I’ll see if Brice knows him.”
“That poor principal has his hands full. But that ties in with the cousin’s accusation. I’m sure the teacher had motive, but that doesn’t mean he or she would do such a thing.”
“It’s a man. Chuck Wells teaches social studies, and apparently Brant had it in for him. He disrupted class regularly, sabotaged the man’s car, and caused trouble at every turn.”
“Some would see that as motive, but why kill the girl? Had Shelby caused this teacher any trouble?”
Ken shook his head and pushed to his feet. “I asked that same question. Brice says she never had any discipline for anything relating to that teacher. Well, I have to run or get caught in hall traffic when the bell rings.”
Toni hurried to get ready for class.
Chapter 8
During second hour Toni’s classroom phone rang. Keeping an eye on activities in the student lab, she hurried across the room and picked up the receiver.
"Can you come to my office as soon as your free period starts?" her principal asked.
Free period? It seemed to be busier than her regular class periods these days. "I'll be there."
When she entered Ken Douglas's office twenty minutes later, Coke in hand, she found that he was not alone. The guest stood and stepped toward her, hand outstretched. "Hello, Mrs. Donovan. I'm Brice Haggett, and I wanted to meet you while I'm in town on another errand."
A man in his mid-fifties, Mr. Haggett was neatly dressed in a dark gray suit over a pristine white shirt with a bright red tie splashed down the front of it. She had seen the Brownville principal at school events, but wasn't personally acquainted with him other than their recent phone conversation.
She set her Coke on Ken’s desk, shook the visitor’s hand, and slid onto a chair near the door. She smiled at him as he resumed his seat near the desk. "What can I do for you?"
He returned the smile. "Mostly I wanted to put a face to your name. I've heard about you, and seen you at ballgames and other school events, but didn't have the connection made. May I chat with you a little?"
She shrugged. "Sure."
"This murder case has our students and staff in a state of shock, as I’m sure you understand from experience."
She certainly did. "What specifically is troubling you at this point?"
He grimaced. "It's not one thing. It's the whole mess. Students in general are upset and full of questions. And the cheerleader girls seem to be at one another's throats. Yesterday during practice, one of them you asked about, Britney Thomas, was being tossed in the air while practicing a routine. Her catcher, Mallory Johnson in case you're familiar with any more names on the squad, missed her, and she took a bad spill. Britney flew into a rage, accused Mallory of doing it deliberately, and went after her. Then other girls got involved, and it ended up in a brawl."
Toni caught her own principal's sympathetic gaze from across his desk. He seemed content to just listen, so she focused back on Mr. Haggett. "You had to punish them, but you feel they're on edge, maybe even scared, because of the
killings."
He nodded. "That's right. Everyone present seemed involved, so I have to punish all or none. Because of the special circumstances, I put them all on restricted activities, with detention during the day. But they're still allowed to cheer at the games. It would hurt the sponsors and team to have no one cheering for them for the short time that's left of the season. But they have to go directly to games, and directly home afterward—no stops for eats or anything like that."
Toni read the worry in his face and manner. "You're concerned, and you want to be fair. It's not my place to judge how you handled it, but it seems to me that you've done the best you could."
His fingers tapped on the edge of the desk where his arm rested. "There seems to be unrest among them, and the student body as a whole. I don't know what's going on, but I sense there's a lot behind the scenes. The worst part is that I'm afraid of more people getting hurt, and I don't know how to prevent it."
"We know the feeling," Ken said, finally entering the discussion. He looked at Toni for confirmation.
She nodded. "I wish I could tell you that won't happen, but I can't do it. May I ask about another student?"
He shrugged. "Ask away."
"I understand that a boy named Todd Wilkins fought with Brant."
He blew out a long, slow breath. "That happened some time ago, during last school term, and they both served detention for it. I guess it's only natural that it would be remembered and talked about now. I couldn't overlook anything, so I had a talk with Todd. I asked him point blank if he shot Brant, and that led to shooting Shelby to silence her. He adamantly denied it, and I'm inclined to believe him. He’s an excellent student, and the fighting incident is the only time he's been in trouble."
"It was over his treatment of Todd's sister, wasn't it?"
"Yes. She dropped out of public school and started being home schooled. She had a baby during the summer, and it was adopted by a childless couple in their church. Tina is still home schooled and has a part-time job."
Toni leaned forward. "If Todd really meant to hurt Brant, it seems he would have done it sooner, not wait months and do it after his sister is finding her feet."
He nodded. "I agree. If you don't mind, I may keep in touch with you; call if I learn anything that might connect to your transfer students being attacked."
"I appreciate that, and it’s been a pleasure meeting you. Call me any time.”
Toni ran another errand and returned to her room just in time for her next class. She had to focus on business. She did, but during her lunch break she made a quick call to Buck.
"I don't know if this means anything or not," she said when he came on the line. "Jeremy says the trio has been researching, and they learned that the guy I spoke to in Poplar Bluff is a member of a motorcycle gang that's known for jacking cars.”
She replaced the receiver, feeling the tiniest bit smug at leaving him with a dead phone line for a change.
*
“What would happen if you ate one of those?”
Toni withheld a grin at Jeff Dent’s question, eyeing the small bundle of daffodils she held in her hand. She had picked them up at the flower shop on her way to school that morning for use in this fourth hour flower dissection lab in freshman biology. Each student was to bring in a flower, but she always provided extras, knowing some would forget. Surprisingly, Jeff, an average student with a penchant for nonsense, had remembered and brought one.
“It would probably make you sick. I don’t recommend it.”
The boy shrugged and returned his attention to his flower.
“By dissecting a flower, we can examine its parts and gain a better understanding of the pollination process.
she said, beginning class. “Flowers are the reproductive structures of angiosperms, which means flowering plant. They consist of both male and female parts and reproduce asexually.”
Now she had their attention. Toni moved to the board and began a list. “First, you need to know your flower structure.” She pointed out the petals, sepals, anther, stigma, and gynoecium.
On each table she had placed a scalpel, a dissecting board, and pins. “Cut the flower off the plant, and then remove the petals and sepals from it.”
When they had done that, they pinned them to the dissection boards, cut the flowers down the middle, and examined the internal structure.
“Okay, tidy up,” she instructed two minutes before the bell would ring.
At the end of the day, Toni made quick work of putting her room in order, gathering her personal belongings, and going to meet Pam. Her parents, as expected, had been more than happy to pick up the boys and keep them until she returned tonight and claimed them.
Pam grinned when Toni entered the office. “Your classes are dangerous.”
Toni plopped into a chair. “What have I done now?”
“Told a student not to do something.”
Her mind immediately reverted to fourth hour. “Jeff?”
Pam nodded. “He got sick in art class. Mrs. Langston called the nurse to come get him. He was taken home after upchucking for what he said was the eighth time. He finally admitted that he ate two of your daffodils.”
Toni closed her eyes and lolled her head back against the chair.
“It turns out,” Pam continued, “that Drake Newberry dared him and offered him five dollars to do it.”
Toni opened her eyes. “Will he be okay?”
“The nurse says he’ll be fine. But hopefully he’s lost his hunger for flowers. Let’s go find that pizza you mentioned.”
They arrived at the Brownville School ten minutes before game time and had to circle the parking lot to find an empty space. There existed a strong, but healthy, rivalry of long standing between the neighboring schools, so Toni wasn’t surprised at the large turnout.
They were standing in line at a table near the front entrance to pay their admission when Zoe, Melody, and a tall boy came strolling down the hall toward them. Straight black hair brushed his shoulders, and two wide white streaks of grease paint crossed each cheek. He wore red and black sweats and a jubilant expression, an arm draped over the shoulder of the jeans-clad girls each side of him. He came to a halt when they did.
Zoe scooted away from him. "Behave, Gump.”
He ran a speculative look over Toni and Pam. Then he pounded his chest with a fist. “I’m the Brownville Bear. And these two are my sweet angels of mercy and joy. I’ve missed them since they transferred to another school.”
Both girls snickered. “They know us, Gump,” Melody said. “They’re from our school.”
"He's Farris Gunther," Zoe said to Toni and Pam, shaking her head and pointing at him. “He calls everyone angels of something.”
"He’s better known as Forrest Gump," Melody clarified to Pam. "Forrest, these ladies are Mrs. Donovan, our science teacher, and Mrs. Wesley, the high school secretary."
Farris stuck out his hand, grinning broadly. “I guess that makes you the angels of bugs and hall passes. It’s good to meet you.” His words were glib, but uttered with such humor that they couldn’t take offense.
“Let me stamp your hand, please.”
Toni and Pam turned as the ticket seller reached a hand across the table with her stamper. Each stuck out a hand for a quick stamp on the back of it that would allow them to get back in without paying again should they have to leave the building for any reason.
"Let's find a seat by the cheerleaders when we go back to the gym. I’ll be your guardian angel,” Farris said to the girls, his grin infectious, and oblivious to the people jostling past them.
Toni spoke quickly before the boy could get away. "Do you have any idea who jumped Zoe and Melody in the parking lot of our school?"
His face creased behind the streaks of grease paint. “I don’t know, but I wish I did so I could punch their lights out.”
“Farris, come on.”
A blond girl in a red-and-black cheerleader outfit came speed walking toward them, impatience
written all over her round face.
“Coming, bossy angel,” he said without a trace of intimidation.
Toni watched as the still chattering boy followed the cheerleader and tugged Zoe by the hand after him. Melody trailed behind them. “I'm not sure what I think of that young man.”
Pam’s eyebrows lifted. “I understand. He seems more interested in angels and having a good time than anything that could be connected to those murdered kids.”
They went on into the gym, which was crowded as expected, the scene on the floor one of red and black clad players running drills at one end, orange and black at the other. The pep band had set up on the stage, and musicians were tuning instruments.
Toni and Pam chose seats facing the Brownville bench and cheerleaders, and had just spread their coats on a bleacher and sat on them when the pep band broke into the national anthem. They stood at attention, and sat back down when it ended. Toni felt like a yo-yo.
They watched the game for a few minutes, but then Toni’s attention drifted to where the Brownville cheerleaders stood in a huddle on the sidelines. Suddenly one of the girls wheeled around to face the girl to her left. She said something, and movements and expressions indicated an exchange of words that was heated.
The second girl’s face went ugly, and she gave the first one a shove with her shoulders.
Suddenly two other girls swooped between them and held them apart. All four stood rigidly for a few moments, and then the fight seemed to drain from the two angry ones.
Toni peered more intently. She thought she recognized some faces from seeing them in the hallway when they had played at Clearmount last week. But she didn’t know any names to connect to them. One of them was the girl who had met Farris in the hall minutes earlier. “I wonder what that was about.”
Pam shrugged. “Probably squabbling over a boy.”
Toni frowned. “Think so, huh? Well, I hope they don’t let it get out of control.” Her attention returned to the floor as the mascot did a wild dance next to a cheerleader.
