Murder Of A Snake In The Grass (21 page)

Skye led the boy out of the room, back to where he had been waiting. She told Coach, “We’d like to see Elvis now.”

She recognized Elvis as one of the boys who’d been with Grady last Friday. Back then, she’d thought he was around ten years old. Now she realized his short stature and the childish look in his big brown eyes had fooled her. He buzzed around Skye like a mosquito, excited by all the attention. She indicated the seat recently vacated by Arlen.

Homer again led the questioning. “What happened this morning on the bus?”

“We got ourselves some booty.”

“What?” Homer roared. “What you did was wrong, and I want you to be respectful when you talk to me about it.”

Elvis stared at the principal, clearly confused. “My friend Grady said it was all right. That we were men, and we had the right to do what we wanted with the girls.”

Homer’s jaw dropped, and Wally said quickly, “Elvis, Grady isn’t your friend, and he’s dead wrong about men having the right to hurt women like that.”

“We didn’t hurt her. Grady said she liked it.”

“Grady lied, and you did hurt her,” Wally explained. “Plus, you can go to jail for what you did. Not to mention you’ll probably be suspended, maybe even expelled, from school.”

Elvis frowned. “But that’s not fair. Grady said it was okay.”

“You need to listen to the grown-ups, not Grady.”

Skye led the boy out of the room. She would need to pull Elvis’s records. She suspected he might be mildly mentally impaired, but she didn’t remember seeing his name on any
of the special education class lists. What was the story there?

Grady was the last one. He swaggered into the office and flung himself into a chair.

Homer said, “What’s your version of this morning’s incident?”

“The bitch had it coming. She dissed me.”

“And how did she do that?” Homer asked.

“She’s supposed to be my lady, and she thinks she can break up with me.”

“An abominable sin.”

“I do the breaking up.” Grady narrowed his eyes. “Hey, a man’s got to do what he’s got to do, or people will take advantage.”

Wally joined the conversation. “So we meet again, Mr. Nelson.”

“Yeah.”

“The school’s going to suspend you, maybe even expel you, and once the girl presses charges, you’re going to jail.”

“She’ll never press charges against me. She’s too scared of what might happen.”

The conversation went downhill from there, and Homer soon sent the teen back to Coach.

After Grady left, Skye asked, “Isn’t it time to call the parents?”

Homer nodded, and she went to talk to the girl. They had decided it would be best for Skye to talk to Nanette Carroll without Homer and Wally.

Nanette was resting on the cot in the health room. She sat up when Skye walked in and pulled up a chair. “Hi, Nanette. My name is Ms. Denison. I’m the school psychologist. I hear something bad happened to you this morning. Do you feel like telling me about it?”

Nanette shook her head and fine blond hair flew around her face. “Please don’t make me.”

“I won’t. Is there anything you’d like to talk about?”

The teen hugged her knees. “Not right now. Is my mom coming?”

“She’s on her way.”

“Could I be alone now?” Haunted gray eyes pleaded with Skye.

“Sure. If you ever want to talk to me, ask Opal to call me, okay?”

“Okay.”

Skye went back to Homer’s office. “Any luck?” she asked.

Homer smoothed the hair that swirled from beneath the cuff of his shirt. “Depends on your definition of luck. I got hold of Mrs. Yoder and Grandma Doozier, but no one answers at the Nelsons—there’s no work number listed on his reg-info card.”

“Would you want to call Ursula and ask her how to reach them? She’s the father’s sister.”

“Right. I forgot Ursula was Grady’s aunt.”

Homer got on the phone, and Skye went back to Opal’s desk. The secretary was taking a well-deserved break.

In a few minutes, Mrs. Carroll arrived. She looked like her daughter, fair skin, dull blond hair, and sad gray eyes. Wally advised pressing charges, and she agreed to consider it. She explained that her ex-husband, Nanette’s father, lived out of state, and she wanted to talk to him before making any decisions.

Skye suggested counseling for Nanette. Mrs. Carroll said she didn’t have the money. Skye provided her with a list of low-cost and sliding-scale services in the area and said she was available to talk to Nanette at school, if Mrs. Carroll signed a consent form. Mrs. Carroll wanted to check with her ex-husband about that too.

After Nanette and her mother left, Skye said to Wally, “Can I trade this job for what’s behind door number two?”

“It’s probably worse.”

“True. I did want to mention something to you before the Yoders get here.”

“Okay.” Wally remained sitting. “Go ahead.”

“A year ago last spring, Arlen Yoder’s older brother Gus was caught with a knife and drugs, trying to force himself on one of the senior girls. He should have been turned over to the police, but things got messed up, and the parents managed to buy off the girl and our witness. The only consequence to his actions was not being allowed to graduate with his class, although he managed to circumvent us and participate in the ceremony anyway.”

Wally made a sound of disgust deep in his throat.

“Mr. Yoder was extremely unhappy with the school’s decision. During a meeting he leaned over the table and grabbed me from my chair. I wasn’t seriously hurt, and Homer wouldn’t call the police, but the thing is, I’m afraid to tell this man that another of his sons is in trouble.”

“The jerk.” Wally’s expression was thunderous. “There’s no reason why you have to be in the room. Homer and I can handle it. If Yoder tries anything with me, I’ll shoot him.”

Skye studied Wally’s face. She wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not.

The Yoders showed up shortly thereafter. Opal had reclaimed her desk, and Skye had moved to the health room to make some calls. Within minutes of the couple’s arrival she could hear Leroy Yoder shouting behind the closed door of Homer’s office. She was thankful not to have to sit through another meeting with him. That man scared her. He was huge, had no impulse control, and didn’t think the rules applied to him. Just the kind of guy you didn’t want to enrage.

Earl Doozier appeared before the Yoder meeting was finished, and Opal sent him in to talk to Skye. “MeMa couldn’t come; she’s feelin’ poorly,” he explained

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Skye said. “I didn’t know Elvira had a twin. How many brothers and sisters do you have?”

He scratched his head. “Umm, two of each.”

“Does your other sister live around here?”

“Yeah, she lives with MeMa and Elvis on the home place. She’s done real good for herself. She works for Doc Addison.”

“I’m sure you’re proud of her.”

“Yep. Sure am.” He leaned forward and whispered, “Say, Ms. D., is it true what Knapik said Elvis done?”

“I’m afraid so. He’s fallen in with some bad company.”

“I knows it, and now I’m going to do something about it.” Earl dusted off his hands. “No more hanging around with Grady Nelson.”

“That’s a good start. Also, I wanted to ask you how Elvis was doing in school.”

“Not too good. He had to take all his freshman classes over again this year.”

“Is he getting any special help?”

“Nope. They tested him a while back, and I think they said he was too dumb for those special classes. But I didn’t catch a lot of what that man from the county said, so maybe I got it wrong.”

Skye thought over what Earl had reported and decided that when Elvis had been evaluated, his IQ must have been between seventy and eighty. That would mean he would not qualify for services with a learning disability, since a child had to have average or above average intelligence to be considered LD.

Unfortunately he also would not be considered mentally impaired, as a student’s IQ had to fall below sixty-nine to qualify for that handicapping condition.

Elvis fell into a gray area. He didn’t qualify for any special services, but there was no way he could keep up with average students. Skye hated when this happened. There was nothing in place to help these kids make it through school, and they usually ended up dropping out.

“No, Earl, unfortunately, I think you got it right.” She heard the principal’s door open and held her breath.

The Yoders marched past, dragging Arlen by the arm. Skye was relieved that they hadn’t noticed her.

“My turn, huh?” Earl asked.

“Want me to come in with you?”

“No, thanks, Ms. D. I can handle this.”

That meeting was a lot quieter and a lot quicker. Earl and his younger brother filed silently out the door and drove off.

Homer poked his head out. “Are they gone?”

“Yes.” Skye kept her face emotionless. “Elvis has left the building.”

When Homer called Grady’s aunt, she said that Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were in the city shopping, and there was no way to reach them. She offered to come get him herself, but they couldn’t release him without parental permission. The school was stuck with Grady until his parents got home and listened to their phone messages. It was decided he would stay where he was, and a rotation of adults would supervise him.

Wally said to Skye, “I’m going back to the station. Give me a call when the Nelsons show up.”

“Do you have a minute before you leave?”

He glanced at his watch. “Sure. Want to grab some lunch?”

“Why not? What more can happen?” Oh, no, she had done it again, jinxed herself twice in one day. “I’ll go get my things and meet you in the parking lot.”

Skye told Opal she was leaving, grabbed her purse from her office, and hurried down the front steps. Wally had pulled the squad car up to the door and left the engine running. She slipped into the passenger seat and sighed, relieved to be making a clean getaway.

He turned to her. “Where to?”

“McDonald’s is all I have time for.”

“Mickey D’s it is.”

They drove the short distance in silence. Skye didn’t
want to get started and then have to stop in the middle of a thought. After parking, ordering, and getting their food, they made their way to a corner table in the back.

Skye spread a napkin on the table and poured dressing onto her McSalad. She took a swig of Diet Coke and said, “I’ve got some more information about the murder for you. Have you learned anything new?”

“Let’s see; still no sign of Gabriel Scumble’s rental car. We all saw him drive up in it, but it’s gone. We called all the rental car companies, and no one has him listed as a client. The Montreal police are having trouble getting a warrant to look at the records of the building where his penthouse is located. It seems that in the past the Scumble family has been suspected of acquiring its extreme wealth through less than honest means. But Gabriel, who appears to be the last of the line, worked his whole life to make reparations.”

“So it could be that the murderer came to Scumble River’s Bicentennial because he or she had a grudge against his family,” Skye speculated.

“With all those strangers in town, that’s certainly a possibility,” Wally said. “But there’s no physical evidence to point in that direction. If someone came to murder him, they would have brought their own weapon, not used whatever was handy.” Wally took a bite of his Big Mac.

“True. Anything else?”

“We’ve sent out that handkerchief the bird woman found for DNA testing, but it’s probably all Gabriel Scumble’s blood.”

“That handkerchief had lipstick on it, too, right?”

He nodded, his mouth full.

“Well, I knew I had seen that color before. It’s a really unusual shade. I finally figured out who wears it. Fayanne Emerick had it on at the dance last night.” She paused, then asked, “Why weren’t you at the dance?”

Wally ignored her last question. “We can’t make an arrest
on lipstick color, although I’ll keep that information in mind.”

“How about DNA from the lipstick?” Skye leaned forward.

“Maybe, if she had just licked her lips or something.”

“Can’t you do something? I’m sure the colors are a match.”

“I’ll check it out, but she has no motive.”

Skye liberated one of Wally’s fries and used it as a pointer. “But she keeps popping up. First, she had a fight with Gabriel Scumble in the Beer Garden a few hours before his murder. Second, her relatives and his relatives go back to when the town was formed. Now we have the lipstick on the bloody handkerchief.”

“A lot of pieces, but nothing that makes sense,” Wally said. “What does the fact that their ancestors knew each other two hundred years ago have to do with a murder now?”

Skye slumped in her seat. She couldn’t be mad at Wally, because she couldn’t figure out how it all went together either. But—Skye straightened in her seat—she knew who
could
figure it all out. Miss Letitia North, the town historian. She would pay a call on the older women after work.

They finished lunch, and Wally dropped Skye off back at the high school. The rest of the afternoon was quiet. Homer spent the time talking to the superintendent and school board members about the hearings for Grady, Arlen, and Elvis. Skye resumed her interrupted schedule after phoning the elementary school and saying she wouldn’t be there that day. Grady’s parents finally showed up at the end of the day and took him home. The excitement would start up again tomorrow.