Rivaled in Murder

by Helen Gray

  *

  At the end of lunch, Kyle eyed Toni across the table. “You’re antsy. What are you planning? And don’t deny that you are,” he added, dipping his head and giving her a brow-raised look.

  He knew her too well. “I’d like to find the rest of those cheerleaders and see if they’ll tell me anything I don’t already know.” She mentally crossed Linda off the list.

  He sighed in resignation. “The boys and I are fine. Go satisfy your curiosity.”

  She headed to get her coat.

  When she reached Brownville, Toni had no problem finding the home of Sheena Clark. She spotted a small boy—she estimated him to be six or seven—in the yard to the left of the house. He was attempting to build a snowman from the inch or two of snow covering the ground.

  Toni exited the van and walked across the yard to him. “Hello, young man. That’s a fine gentleman you’re creating there. Does he have a name yet?”

  The boy turned to face her, a grin showing a gap where his two front teeth were missing. “Not yet, but I think I’ll call him Mithter Thnowman.”

  Toni suppressed a chuckle. “That sounds like a good name for him. Is Sheena here?” She assumed this was a little brother.

  He shook his head. “Thee’s over at the thchool playing pickle ball with Thindy.”

  “Thanks. Have fun with Mr. Snowman.”

  Minutes later she pulled in at the school and parked near the tennis courts, pleased to spot two teenage girls batting a plastic ball back and forth across one of the four tennis nets. The ball was plastic, about the size of a baseball, and had holes in it similar to a wiffle ball. The paddles they were using were wooden and shaped something like a twelve-inch rowing oar.

  Leaving her purse in the van, Toni exited, locked the vehicle, and tucked her keys in her coat pocket. Then she walked slowly along the line of the wire fence that surrounded the courts, peering down as if searching for something. She made her way to the gate and inside the enclosure.

  The girls paused in their play and faced her. “Have you lost something?” one of them asked.

  “You girls didn’t by chance find a ring around here, did you?” She swept a hand in an arc that encompassed the length of the entire area.

  Both shook their heads.

  “I never heard anyone else mention finding one either,” the darker haired girl said.

  Toni formed a grimace. “I parked along there by the fence Monday night when I came to the basketball game.”

  Their expressions brightened at mention of the game.

  “I didn’t miss my friendship ring until I returned home that night,” she continued, holding her hand out and rubbing a finger along the bare third finger of her right hand. “And I didn’t have an opportunity to come look for it until today.”

  They walked closer. “I don’t recognize you,” the blond one said. “Are you from Clearmount? That’s who we played Monday night.”

  Toni nodded, as if surprised at the connection. She tipped her head and eyed them closer. “Did I see you girls leading cheers?”

  “Yes,” they chimed, nodding and practically preening.

  “You look different out of uniform,” Toni continued in a friendly fashion. “I enjoyed watching you. What’s the game you’re playing now?”

  The blond stepped forward and extended a hand. “I’m Sheena Clark.”

  “And I’m Cindy Evans,” the dark haired one said, extending a hand as Sheena stepped back. “You’ve never played pickle ball?”

  “It’s new to me.” Toni glanced around. “Isn’t it kind of cold for outdoor play?”

  “Yeah,” Sheena said. “But we like the outdoors. The snow wasn’t very deep, so we swept it off this part of the court with one of my dad’s shop brooms.” She indicated the one propped against the fence.

  “How is this game played?” Toni was antsy to question them, but wanted to garner all the rapport she could before tackling that.

  “Eleven points is a game, and score is kept like in badminton. Slip your hand through here.” Sheena removed the wrist rope at the end of her paddle and held it for Toni.

  Toni did as instructed, gripped the handle, and slapped the paddle against her other palm.

  “Go see if you can serve it over the net,” Sheena directed. “Cindy will knock it back if you do. I’ll watch.” She stepped to the sideline.

  “Here,” Cindy called, tossing a ball to Toni and going to take a position the other side of the net.

  Toni took a position behind the line and served. It went across, and Cindy knocked it back to her.

  “Good job,” Sheena called in approval. “Try another one.”

  Toni smacked the ball harder this time. But the paddle slipped in her hand, and the ball went sideways, hitting Sheena in the arm.

  “I’m sorry,” Toni apologized, hurrying toward the girl.

  Sheena laughed and picked up the ball. She tossed it to Cindy. Then she looked back at Toni, studying her. “You look familiar. Are you a teacher?”

  “Yes, I teach at Clearmount.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “I’m Mrs. Toni Donovan.”

  As she said it, Cindy approached. And her expression slowly changed, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Are you that teacher who helped solve some murders?”

  “Guilty.”

  Now both girls adopted distrustful expressions.

  “You aren’t really looking for a ring, are you?” Sheena accused, sounding more curious than critical. “You came looking for us.”

  “I’m guilty of that, too,” Toni admitted. “Two of my students have been very upset over the death of their friend, and I figure cheerleaders know everyone and everything that goes on in a school. Isn’t that right?” She looked from one to the other of them, keeping her tone and expression friendly.

  The wariness slowly ebbed from their demeanors. “We know about what happens in school,” Sheena said. “But murder outside of the school is as puzzling to us as to you, at least to me.” She looked at Cindy for confirmation or disagreement.

  Toni extended the paddle to Sheena. “You knew Brant and Shelby in school. What can you tell me about him?”

  Sheena took the paddle. “He was a transfer, but he soon started dating around. I never dated him.”

  “Me either,” came from Cindy. “But some of the other cheerleaders did. I know he liked to party, and sometimes he caused trouble for some people.”

  Good. They appeared to have accepted her as non-threatening. “What kind of trouble? Anything that would make someone mad enough to kill him?”

  Cindy pushed her long hair back over her ears. “Well, the worst story I heard was that he liked to hang out at shopping malls, and during the holidays there was a big to-do at one of them. Brant talked about it like it was a riot. Said he tripped a guy who had shoved him, and they got into a fight. Then others started fighting, and the brawl got so bad that the police had to close the mall for a couple of hours to get the situation under control.”

  “Do you know if Shelby was with him?”

  The girls exchanged a look that Toni couldn’t read. But it looked secretive enough to make her uneasy.

  “She might have been,” Cindy allowed. “But I don’t remember hearing who he had with him. It could have been a bunch of the guys.”

  “I think it was,” Sheena added.

  “What about the person he fought?”

  Sheena shrugged. “Get mad enough to kill him over a thrown drink and a scuffle? No way.” She didn’t seem overly concerned about it.

  “Did you like Brant?”

  “I didn’t like him. But I didn’t not like him,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “Same here,” Cindy said. “He liked himself enough that we didn’t need to like him.” She clamped her mouth shut, as if fearing she had said too much.

  “We need to get moving before we freeze to death.” Sheena shivered and trotted away.

  Cindy gave Toni an apologetic look. “She’s right. If we sta
y on the move, it warms us.”

  “Thanks for talking to me.”

  Toni headed back to her van, feeling she had just wasted a good chunk of her day. These two girls didn’t strike her as killers, but they had more of an idea about where the enmities lay than they were willing to tell.

  She should probably go on home, but there was only one name left on her list. She hated leaving a task unfinished, and she couldn’t take the chance of missing something. She had heard the name Fiona mentioned by Zoe and Melody, but she wanted to meet the girl and form her own impressions.

  Minutes later she drove up to a modest, two-story home with an upstairs walk-out porch above the front entrance. She approached and rang the doorbell.

  The handsome teenage boy who opened the door eyed her in curiosity. “May I help you?”

  “I’m looking for Fiona Martin.”

  “May I say who’s looking for her?” He was polite, but wariness tinged his words.

  Toni gave him a head tilted, closer look. “Didn’t I see you shoot some impressive three pointers Monday night?”

  A smile crept across his face. “You might have,” he allowed drolly, the lines of tension around his eyes relaxing. “Come on in, and I’ll get her.”

  Toni entered and perched on the sofa where he indicated. While placing her purse on the floor by her feet, he went to a doorway through which she could see stairs at the far side of the hallway. “Fiona, you’ve got company,” he called up them.

  “Coming,” a feminine voice called back.

  He returned to Toni. “Our folks aren’t here right now, and I’m working on a robotics project. Will you …”

  Toni waved him on. “Don’t worry about me.”

  A minute later, a petite blond with big brown eyes entered the room. Her manner struck Toni as more demure, and younger, than the other girls to whom she had spoken. She stood.

  “Hello, Fiona. I’m Mrs. Donovan, a teacher at Clearmount.”

  The girl smiled and offered a handshake. “Hello. What can I do for you?”

  “Just talk to me,” Toni said, deciding to be basically forthright with this girl. “I have some students who are very upset over the death of a friend of theirs, and I’m looking for information regarding that tragedy.”

  Fiona’s eyes glistened. “Do you mean Zoe and Melody?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you helping catch who did it?”

  “If I can.”

  The girl hesitated, as if assessing Toni’s trustworthiness. It took several moments, but then the tension visibly drained from her body. When she motioned at the sofa, Toni resumed her seat. As Fiona sat beside her, Toni faced the girl. “Were you a classmate of Shelby’s?”

  The girl’s chin quivered. “Yes. She was my friend.”

  “So you spent a lot of time with her.”

  She looked up at the ceiling, struggling to steady her trembling mouth. “I used to, but not so much this year.”

  “What happened? Did she spend that time with Brant?”

  The girl nodded mutely.

  “Will you tell me about your relationship with Shelby?”

  Fiona took a long, deep breath and visibly firmed her shoulders. “I grew up here in this small town and was in the same grade with her. She lived near Zoe and Melody and was friends with them, but they were a grade ahead of us. So Shelby and I were friends in a different way. But we were a foursome when our schedules let us all be together. When Zoe and Melody transferred to your school, Shelby and I missed them so much it hurt. It got better when we started visiting back and forth and attending the monthly birthday parties.”

  She paused and pressed her lips together to regain her faltering composure. “When we were in middle school, Shelby developed a full-blown case of what my mom calls the boy-crazies. She started wearing tons of makeup and flirting with the boys a lot. In junior high she began aiming higher, flirting with older boys. This year everything was different.”

  “Brant?”

  She nodded. “Shelby was a good student and wanted to be a nurse. But even that changed after she started going out with him. All they wanted to do was party and have fun. She told me not long ago that she wasn’t going to waste time going to college. After high school she was going to go right to work in a club owned by somebody in Brant’s family and make lots of money.”

  “You were both freshmen, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you the only freshman on the cheerleading squad?”

  Fiona flushed a bit and nodded. “It probably doesn’t hurt that I have an older brother who’s cute, athletic, and someone a lot of those older girls would like to date.”

  Toni grinned. “It sounds like you have a fair perspective on things. The older girls like you, but they also like your brother. Do you think they resented Shelby?”

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation. “And some resented Brant because he cheated on tests, which made it harder for the honest kids to achieve honors.”

  “Do you have any idea who resented him enough to kill him?”

  The girl’s eyes pooled again. “No, I wish I did. And if I did, I would tell you.”

  Toni thought of another angle. “How do the cheerleaders treat other students, especially other girls?”

  Fiona deliberated a few seconds before responding. “Some they treat good. Some they ignore. But sometimes they squabbling among themselves,” she added with candor.

  "I'm curious about that. I heard about an incident of fighting during a practice that led to the squad being punished. Did you have to serve detention with them?"

  Fiona grinned. "I never miss practices, but I did that day. I had chipped a tooth and had a dental appointment. So I missed practice, the fight, and detention."

  Toni placed a hand on the girl’s right hand and squeezed it. “I appreciate your honesty, and I’m so sorry for the loss of your friend.”

  Fiona squeezed back. “I admit I had some resentment toward Shelby,” she admitted softly. “I missed spending time with her, especially with Zoe and Melody gone.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I’m past the resentment now, but I can’t get past missing her. I hope you catch her killer.” She choked on a sob.

  Toni pulled the girl to her. “I’ll keep you in my prayers. And I’ll tell Zoe and Melody I talked to you. If you ever come to our school for an event, or anything, please look me up. Will you do that?”

  The girl moved back to peer into Toni’s face. “I will.”

  Toni took her leave, convinced that this girl was not a killer, and didn’t know who had killed her friend.

  Chapter 15

  Sunday morning, Toni was pleased when Zoe and Melody entered the church and sat in the pew across the aisle from her and her family. She tried to focus on the service, but the murder case kept hijacking her thoughts.

  “In Isaiah 42:3, the Bible says God will faithfully bring forth justice.”

  The word justice captured her wandering attention.

  “It’s easy to let discouragement sap our energy and joy. If you’re in a tunnel of discouragement, keep walking toward the One who sets prisoners free and encourages those who are faint hearted and tempted to despair.”

  As the pastor’s words seeped through her, Toni looked over and directed a smile of encouragement at Zoe and Melody. They looked so solemn and withdrawn that she sensed they knew about Linda, but she couldn’t be absolutely certain.

  As soon as the benediction was said, she slipped from her pew, aiming a silent signal at Kyle to take the boys on to the van. As they left, she stepped over to where the girls still sat and scooted onto the pew beside Zoe, who was nearest the aisle. “Have you heard about …?”

  “We heard the TV story yesterday about a body being found Friday night,” Melody said bleakly before Toni could finish her question. “Do you know yet who it is?”

  Toni nodded, bracing herself to relay the news. "The Chief of Police called me. It's Linda Fisher."

  "We knew it," Zoe blurt
ed harshly, pounding a fist on the back of the pew in front of them. "It had to be her."

  Toni nodded, also keeping an eye on Melody, who sat in morose silence. "I hate what's happening, and the effect it's having on you two."

  Zoe gritted her teeth. "Well, somebody better hurry and stop whoever is doing it, or we might not be around much longer."

  Toni's jaw tightened from her effort at control.

  "I didn't especially like Linda," Melody said quietly. "She did too many stupid things just to be accepted by the in crowd." She made little quotation marks with her fingers when she said in. "But I didn't want anything bad to happen to her."

  Toni's throat tightened. "I hate it, too." She reached over and grasped a hand of each girl. Then she bowed her head. “Lord, please protect and comfort these children of yours.”

  They stood and hugged her, sobbing. When they left, Toni resolved anew to do whatever she could to see a killer brought to justice.

  *

  When they arrived home, Kyle didn’t remove his coat. He took some steaks out onto the back patio and grilled them while Toni made potato salad and slaw. She still had half a chocolate cake from the day before that would do for dessert. They had just finished eating when the phone rang. Kyle answered it, and then handed it to Toni. “It’s your mother.”

  “I’ve found a connection between Delia Cunningham and Connie Ebert,” Faye said as soon as Toni answered. “They’re married to cousins. They seem to be an odd mix. Connie’s domineering, but Delia looks up to her. And she needs money. I checked the work schedule, and Connie’s on duty tomorrow. How about we go by the manor after school tomorrow and see if we can wring some kind of confession out of her, or at least let her know we’re on her trail and scare the daylights out of her.”

  Toni didn’t know quite what to think of this new track-em-down attitude her mother was exhibiting, but she supported her desire to prove what had happened to Mavis—and why.

  “Where shall I meet you?”

  “I’m off tomorrow, so I’ll be home. Come by and leave the boys with Russell while we go investigating.”