Best Laid Plans

by Kristi Rose

  His hand trembled as he lifted it and took several gulps, looking overly exerted from the task. Water ran out the sides of his mouth and onto his shirt.

  I took in his surroundings but nothing else seemed off. Laptop open, three pens splayed out next to a notepad, a cell phone, the lid to the water bottle, and an inhaler.

  My brain tried to compute. He’d been fine a few minutes ago chugging his coffee and even hanging with the organics only Hunter Boots Moms. His hands had been everywhere, touching and squeezing everyone. Ironic that he was accusing six-year-olds of sexual harassment when he couldn’t keep his hands to himself. But as much as I wanted to resolve this issue with Cora, his appearance was more pressing.

  “Josh?” I stepped toward him.

  He slouched, his shoulders rolling inward, and sucked in a ragged breath.

  “You don’t look so good. Here, let me help you sit.” A couch was up against the wall to my left. I reached out, but he brushed my hand away with more strength than I expected considering he looked like death. Not the warmed-over version either, but the one that was already in a pine box.

  “Water,” he rasped and held out the bottle.

  “There’s water in there, Josh.”

  The bottle slipped from his hand. “Water,” he said, only it sounded like “wa-er.”

  “Have a seat, and I’ll get you water.” I tried to take his arm and steer him to the couch. He slapped at me but missed, swatting at air instead.

  He gasped.“Hands. Off,” he boomed.

  I jumped, surprised by the force behind his words.

  Confused and frustrated, I dashed for the door and help. As I reached for the knob, Josh made this gross gurgling sound. Dread filled me. When I turned back, Josh was listing away from the desk. He swayed once, then fell forward like a downed tree. His head struck the front corner of his desk in a thunk that sounded like a watermelon smashing against concrete. Bile rose in my throat and out came a scream I hoped would bring the walls down.

  I rushed to him. The impact of colliding with his desk had broken his fall and forced him onto his right side. Blood gathered at the laceration on the left side of his head. His eyes were open and vacant. They stared at nothing.

  “Josh,” I yelled and nudged his shoulders. I didn’t want to shake him because of the wound to his head.

  His office door flung open. Mrs. Rivers gasped.

  “I didn’t—I couldn’t—he—,” I didn’t know what to say. I’d just witnessed a man dying and had done nothing to save him. I wasn’t sure I could’ve done anything, but that was irrelevant. I should’ve made him sit down. All the “should haves” were rushing through my mind.

  “What have you done?” Mrs. Rivers said, horror on her face.

  “He fell,” I said. “Get help.” I’d taken an emergency response class and recalled that in times of shock, and I was guessing this was one of those times, people needed specific instructions.

  “Call 911, Mrs. Rivers,” I commanded with authority. I searched Josh’s wrist for a pulse. Finding nothing, I scooted away from the principal, my eyes on his Calvin and Hobbes tie. I loved that comic strip.

  Outside in the main room Mrs. Rivers was on the phone. Moments later, she came to stand in the doorway.

  “Is he dead?” she whispered. Behind her, someone gasped. Jami, I assumed.

  “I think so,” I replied.

  “What happened?” Her tone was sharp, and when I met her gaze, there was accusation in her eyes.

  I shook my head. “No, when I came in he was already sick. He didn’t look right. He fell over and hit his head.”

  “After he told you to get your hands off him,” she said.

  I clamped my lips together. I’d wait for the police. From her perspective I could see how it might look like I did something. Principal Josh had yelled at me and then BOOM. Dead.

  As if on cue, commotion came from the lobby and someone said, “In there.”

  Mrs. Rivers moved aside, and Leo Stillman stepped into the room.

  He sucked in a sharp breath. “You okay?”

  I shook my head.

  He went to Principal Josh’s body. “I’m afraid to ask, but did you witness this?” He felt for a pulse then sat back on his haunches. I assumed he found nothing. He spoke into his shoulder mic while watching me.

  I nodded.

  “She did this to him,” Mrs. Rivers said.

  I shook my head. “I did not.”

  Leo and I had a weird relationship. In the past, I would’ve said he couldn’t have given two figs about me, even though his kid brother and I were tight. But since the snafu with my husband-not husband, we’d formed an undefinable truce. Maybe it was mutual respect since I was now in the business, sort of, and had brought down bad guys? Maybe we’d begun a foundation for a friendship? I’d yet to find the right defining term, but I trusted Leo. I was glad he was first on the scene.

  “Tell me what happened,” he said.

  I started from the coffee shop and Carlie dropping the sexual harassment bomb. I figured a little backstory would help. To Leo’s credit, he remained impassive and professional, raising only one brow when I brought up the sexual harassment.

  “He was pale and sweaty?” Leo asked.

  I nodded. “He was fine a bit ago. Seeing him look like that caught me off guard. I tried to get him to sit down, but he was agitated.”

  “How did he end up here?” Leo nodded to the body beside him.

  I glanced at the ceiling, refusing to look at Principal Josh. Leo groaned and moved to stand before me.

  “Come on, let’s get you out of this room.” He steered me out of the office. “Touch nothing.”

  As we went out, the emergency personnel went into the office. Leo sat me in a chair along the wall in the lobby, my back to the office we’d just come from. Leo told Mrs. Rivers and Jami I-forgot-her-last-name to take seats on the opposite side of the room, where parents wait when picking up their kids.

  I sat in the chair, hands clasped in my lap, my knees shaking.

  Leo sat in the chair next to me. “How did he get from being alive to dead?”

  I shuddered. “I was going for help, had my hand on the door when I heard this weird gurgling sound and when I turned he was falling over. He hit his head on the desk.”

  Oliver Gee, another cop came in. “Cleared the area. Saw nothing suspicious. No one out on the property.” He told Leo. “I have Smith monitoring the premises.”

  Officers Smith and Gee were the least inexperienced cops on our small-town force.

  Leo nodded to the office ladies. “Go take their statements.” He said to me, “Chief Louney is on his way.”

  I groaned. DB Louney, our police chief, was a tool. He’d only gotten the job because he was good looking and his dad had the position before him. But he lacked an ability to think of anything other than himself or to connect two rational dots. He liked to take the easiest path possible. I would know. I’d been his chemistry partner, and he’d cheated off me to pass.

  I was the sole witness to a man dying. And it had been an awful experience. And now I would have to retell it to Dweebie.

  As if thinking his name evoked his presence, the front door opened and DB strolled in. He wore his uniform shirt tight to show off his physique.

  Mrs. Rivers jumped to her feet. “Thank God you’re here, Chief.” She pointed a finger at me. “She killed Principal Josh.”

  5

  Tuesday

  I gasped. “I did no such thing,” I said.

  “Just relax, Sam,” Leo whispered. “Let me handle this.”

  DB came to me, walking like there wasn’t any rush, as if a dead man wasn’t in the room behind me and we had all the time in the world.

  His thumbs were hooked into his utility belt, his arms flexed, his preferred posture to show off his big guns, as he liked to call his biceps.

  He paused at the doorway and looked into Principal Josh’s office. “He a goner?” he asked the EMT inside. His eyes flick
ed to me when the EMT confirmed it.

  Leo stuck his hands on his hips and said, “I know what you’re gonna say DB, and you’re right. We need to evacuate the school. Officer Gee’s secured the premises. He didn’t see anyone, and Officer Gee is still out there monitoring things. Here’s what we know.” He reviewed the events.

  “Yep, we need to evacuate the school. Any thoughts on the best way to do that?” He asked Leo.

  I stuck my hands under my legs and bent forward. I’d experienced shock before and could tell it was settling in. My hands were shaking, and soon my body would follow. Sometimes, I liked to upchuck, too. I swallowed convulsively.

  Leo asked Mrs. Rivers, “How would you notify parents if there was an issue?”

  “We’d send a text alert and an email. We also have a system where we can set up a voice message and call everyone.” She was standing with her arms crossed, sending occasional glares my way. June looked so much like her. Both petite and blond. Her anger and accusation were upsetting. How could she believe I’d do such a thing?

  “Are you up to sending out an alert?” Leo asked.

  Her gaze flicked to me. “Not with her right there.”

  DB faced me, a wry smile on his face. He surveyed me, I presumed an attempt to make me squirm. But I stared back. His droopy-eye stare had nothing on the vacant soul-has-left-the-body one Principal Josh had. That look was forever burned in my mind.

  “Let’s take her to the cruiser and let her sit in the back,” DB said.

  “What?” I cried.

  Before we could say anything further, the front door opened, the superintendent and the five-member school board came into the lobby, my mother behind them.

  Alice Andrews, the school Superintendent, surveyed the room, her smile fell, and she said, “Has something happened? We’re here to talk with Josh Chapman and tour the school.”

  “Samantha?” My mother stepped up to the barrier desk.

  I tried to smile but my teeth were chattering.

  Mrs. Rivers pointed to me. “Josh is dead, and she killed him!”

  Leo groaned. Mom gasped. Alice Andrews laughed nervously. My teeth clanked together.

  “I did. Not. Kill. Him,” I said.

  Mrs. Rivers wagged her finger. “Whatever. My guess is you were angry because of the sexual harassment accusations made about your niece. Annber Greene was just here this morning complaining.”

  My mother straightened, her features hardening. Dad, Rachel, and I called this her pit-bull lawyer look.

  Mrs. Rivers continued, “You even told Josh he was lucky you didn’t brain him with your camera.”

  Alice Andrews covered her mouth but continued to laugh. The sound was so out of place it came off as abrasive, causing me to wince.

  Alice leaned against the wall, waved her hands in the air as she sucked in a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I do this when I’m nervous.” She covered her face as her shoulders shook from restrained chuckles.

  Whoa. Weird.

  Lydia Delahooke, a school board member, said to Alice, “Maybe you’re laughing because you’re happy, now your niece can take the position.” She held up her index finger. “But only in the interim.”

  “Folks,” DB said to the group. “We have to ask you to leave.

  “If you have a student here, please step outside and wait. We’ll be dismissing the students shortly,” Leo added.

  I grabbed at Leo’s arm. “Did you hear what Mrs. Delahooke just said?”

  He squeezed my hand. “We’ll talk to both her and Mrs Andrews.”

  DB ushered everyone out but my mother, who’d skirted his efforts. When he went to take her elbow, she jerked back and said, “Tread cautiously, Chief. I’m a lawyer, and that’s my daughter.” She stared DB down.

  “Mrs. True, please. This has all just happened. What we know is Josh is dead. From what the EMT thinks is a head injury, and Samantha was the only person in the room when it happened.”

  “He hit his head when he fell over,” I said. The memory of his blank-staring eyes as he went down will forever be burned on my brain.

  “She pushed him,” Mrs. Rivers said.

  “How would you know? You weren’t in there,” I shouted then shivered.

  Leo took a package from the EMT, broke it open, and shook out a thick wool blanket. He wrapped it around my shoulders then pulled it in tightly.

  “Shut up,” he mumbled. “Don’t give him anything.” He jerked the edges of the blanket together, which made me look at him.

  “Do you understand?” he whispered.

  I did. I gave a slight nod and considered the situation I was in. Whether or not I liked it, whether or not I wanted to believe it, I was the prime suspect should Josh’s death be ruled a homicide. In the true crime world, there were endless stories of innocent people going to jail for life or taking a plea deal because to maintain their innocence meant a harsher sentence, but to plea meant a chance at life outside of prison. The justice system was a twisted entity where reality was frightening. Guilt, after all, was determined by how one perceived facts.

  Leo did not want me to give DB, or anyone in this room anything that could be used against me in court. I blew out a breath and tried to calm myself, tried to get a grip. What I needed was a good cry or sugar. Either would suffice. Both would be awesome.

  DB came over to Leo. “We need to divide and conquer.” He glanced at me. “She needs to be questioned.”

  “I already have her statement,” Leo said.

  “Maybe, but what Mrs. Rivers said sounds like motive. We need to do more at the station.”

  Leo blew out a sigh. “I’m happy to do the crime scene if you want to take the questioning,” Leo offered.

  Initially, I wanted to protest. I wanted Leo to question me. I trusted him. I opened my mouth to say something, but he shifted and stepped on my toe, a warning to keep my trap shut.

  I listened to them work out the logistics of releasing the students. Leo was methodical and organized, and I knew then that I’d want Leo to process the crime scene. There would be no question about the chain of evidence. There would be no stone unturned. DB was a selfish, lazy, and careless individual. I knew this. Leo knew this. Anyone with a brain and observation skills knew this. DB was not the sort to collect evidence from a scene unbiasedly. Leo had been right telling me to hush. My toe ached as a reminder of my near miss of stupidity.

  “Officer Gee,” DB called across the lobby. He waved the young officer over. “Take Miss True to the station for questioning.” He smiled at me. Not a kind smile either. A smug one. “Guess who’s taking a field trip to the police station.”

  My mother darted around the desk barrier to where we were. “Excuse me,” she said to DB. “I’ll be going to the station with her and, as her lawyer, I can tell you she won’t be saying anything.”

  DB sighed and hung his thumbs from his utility belt. “Mrs. True, are you even licensed anymore? Go on home, and Samantha will call you when we’re done.”

  My mom straightened, and I wanted to warn DB. He’d unknowingly dismissed her and the law in one statement. Something only stupid people did in her presence.

  “I beg your pardon?” she said with a steady tone that edged on lethal. “Did you just dismiss representation for this woman when counsel was evoked? And do not forget Dwayne Butler Louney, that I’m also the mayor of this town. I’m in charge of appointing the proper person for your position. I may not have been the mayor when you were initially appointed, but I’m the mayor now. Watch your step. Now would not be the time to have me think you’re inept at your job, would it?”

  I sucked in a breath. For all her good intentions, she’d just made everything worse.

  DB’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me, Mayor. All I wanted to do was question Samantha. She’s not being charged. I’m assuming, as a lawyer, you remember how the process goes.”

  My mother’s right brow cocked. “And you can do so in the presence of her attorney.”

  Chances were strong we�
��d go around and around here. I said, “Mom, why don’t you grab Cora and take her to Dad. I’ll go over to the station and wait for you there.” I raised a hand. “I promise not to say another word until you get there. Though I’ve already given my statement to Officer Stillman.”

  My mother crossed her arms and smiled up at DB. “She’s already given her statement. Perhaps you should read that and invite her back should you have more questions. Unless you’re charging her?”

  DB looked from mom to Leo then me. Leo stepped up to DB’s side and said in a quiet voice that both mom and I could hear. “There’s no weapon. There’s no motive. Worst case she shoved him, and he fell and hit his head.”

  DB glared at me, glanced at Josh’s office, then refocused on my mother. “Madame Mayor, Josh Chapman was a member of your community. He has rights as well. I know it’s inconvenient for Samantha to keep telling her story, but if there’s more to this scene than what we see, Samantha might hold our strongest chance of resolving this. Is there any harm with her retelling the sequence of events?”

  Mom bristled. “No, so long as she has a lawyer present.”

  My spidey-senses told me there was something more to this picture. Maybe it was from the forensic classes I took in college or all my true crime TV watching, but something was off. Like Alice Andrew’s reaction. Maybe whatever was eating at me wasn’t as nefarious as murder, but maybe it was. My guess was there were several layers to Josh Chapman, and the good people of Wind River were about to peel them back.

  DB’s voice boomed across the lobby, “Gee, take Miss True to the station.” He studied me. “I want to hear it directly from you what happened in there. Why Mrs. Rivers thinks you killed her boss.”

  My mom slapped her leg in frustration.

  I went to stand, but the shock of the events left me lightheaded. Leo offered me a hand and pulled me up. I held onto his arm for strength as I steadied myself. My legs were weak and trembling. My nerves were frayed. I wasn’t sure I could make it out the door much less to the station, but I wasn’t sharing that with anyone.