Schooled in Murder (34 page)

“Who told you to lie?”

“They all did.”

“They who?”

“The superintendent, the head of the board, the head of the department, the principal.”

“Did they tell you why?”

“No. They just told me what to do. I had to do it. I didn’t have time to think. I couldn’t discuss it with anyone outside that group. I couldn’t tell my wife any of this. How could I tell her I was cheating on her?”

“Weren’t you frightened that one of them might be a killer?”

“No. They just told me what to say. I guess I assumed one of them might have done it, or they were all in on it, but everybody kept saying it was the old guard. I didn’t want to think about it. I wanted to save my skin. Maybe somebody would kill me. I was scared. I’m still scared. Why aren’t you yelling at Milovec? He’s still here. I saw him heading down to the office. He’s a big part of this. Some of them are still here. Go confront them. They said they were going to meet after school today. They’re really pissed at you about the grades and test scores thing.”

I said, “I didn’t do wrong.”

“But you brought it out in the open.”

“That was a group of us.”

“But they blame you,” he wailed. “I was supposed to come up here and see if you’d gone. If you had, I was supposed to download everything from your computer onto my flash drive. They were determined. They are determined.”

“Still planning?”

“Supposed to be.”

I thought for a while.

“Am I going to lose my job?” he asked.

“You will if I have anything to say about it. Are you going back to join them?”

He stood for a moment in silence. “No,” he whispered. “No, I’m going home. I’m going to talk to my wife. I love her.”

I didn’t hold out a lot of hope for that relationship.

47

Anger trumped all my other emotions. These people were plotting their lies even as I stood in my classroom. I told myself, Wait for Scott, wait for your lawyer, wait.

But I was furious.

The honesty of a single teenager.

I told myself I should be able to be calm.

But I wasn’t.

My tears earlier were gone, replaced by steely resolve to fight anyone and everyone. I stalked out.

First, I hunted for the head of the department. All the classrooms I passed were empty. No one was in the English department offices. I stomped down the stairs to the main office. The conference room was dark. The district offices were in an attached building next to ours. Unlike the main building in the school complex, their air-conditioning worked in summer and the heat system kept them nice and toasty in the winter. They were steps ahead of us in the high school on both counts.

I found the superintendent, Riva Towne, still in. Her secretary barred the way. I said, “I have important information about the murders. I’ve got to talk to her.”

“I was told to keep you out,” Harriet Smithers said. She smiled grimly. “However, you’ve done wonders for the secretaries since we got into the union. And Georgette is a friend. She told all of us to help you if she wasn’t around.” She nodded her head toward the double doors.

I didn’t knock.

Towne looked up from her desk. She was on the phone. She said, “I’ll have to call you back,” and hung up. I realized that I should have called Scott on my cell phone and left it on. Anger had trumped planning.

“What are you doing here?” Ice and anger radiated in her tone and manner. I didn’t note the slightest trace of professionalism.

I stood in front of her desk. I said, “I’d like to take a picture of you sitting here. I’d like to sell it on eBay so that people can see what ´evil incarnate’ looks like.”

“That’s insubordination,” she said. “You’re fired.” Her eyes were flinty, her lips compressed into a sharp line.

“Really? We’ll have to have an insubordination seminar. Do you have a witness to what I said? Oh, of course not, it’s just us. Or maybe you could get somebody to lie about it. That seems to be your management style. Get people to lie and hate each other and fight and get nothing done. The same ploys the other administrators in this district use. Unfortunately for you, the jig is up. Everything is going to come out. The statistics rigging. Teachers spying and lying. Having a teenager make false accusations. All of it.”

For the first time she looked wary, but she wasn’t ready to back down yet. She said, “I’m surprised they haven’t arrested you. You’ll be lucky to have a job here. You run around being insubordinate because you’ve got a rich boyfriend.” She stood up. “Get out.”

“It’s not that easy,” I said. I was breathing hard. I was
nearly speechless with wrath. It was difficult to form the words, but I intended to get all of this out in the open.

She said, “You look like you’re out of control.”

I said, “I don’t believe you’re ever going to meet someone as angry as I am now. And you’re going to listen. Let’s start with Fred Zileski.”

She bit her lip.

I said, “Never trust a teenager to keep his mouth shut.” She said, “No one’s going to believe what a teenager says.”

“Which would work against people believing what you wanted him to say about me. Your larger problem is that you’ve got to be more careful when you’re concocting a massive conspiracy. Somebody might wind up telling the truth. You’re amateurs. You involved too many people.”

“You intimidated that boy. You can’t harass students.”

“You won’t be able to turn this back on me. Mr. Zileski knows everything. He was here. He’ll be talking to his ex-wife. And the police.”

“So, some kid is making up stories. Why should I care?”

“We’ll let that go for now. What you don’t know is that now we’ve got real live teachers starting to tell the truth.”

“Who talked to you?”

“Milovec has told all, or if not all, at least enough to incriminate you in all the lies.”

She said, “If somebody implicated you in the murder, it wasn’t my idea.”

“You were part of the plan to get me accused of murder and of inappropriate conduct with a student. I’m sure you knew about the attempts to sabotage my computer. My attorney is on his way. Charges will be filed. You will be the one who no longer has a job.”

She laughed. “You think you’ve got some kind of power around here? You think you’ve got some kind of immunity?

You think you can claim discrimination? You think you can get away with anything?”

“What precisely is it that you think I’ve gotten away with?”

“Breathing. Being gay. You should have been fired as soon as it came out. That would have been before the gay-rights ordinance in the state.”

“What you’re saying is that you’re a coward and a bigot, and you’re looking for an excuse to get rid of me. You wanted me accused of murder to get me out of the classroom.”

“Morals charges don’t work anymore.”

“And you’d suborn a student?”

“His father has twisted that boy.”

“Sounds like the kid has an honest streak. Something you seem to lack. Did you commit both murders?”

Towne said, “You’ve got a hell of a nerve coming to my office.”

“Let’s see, you tried to destroy my life, and you’re upset because I’m in your office. My lawyer will be interrupting your evening.”

“I don’t know what you think you can prove. Your job is going to be gone.”

“Wrong again, you moron.”

“Name-calling isn’t going to help.”

“Really? After what you’ve done, you’re worried about name-calling?” I was, however, going to have to stop it. I was so furious and was breathing so hard that I had to speak between deep inhales. “Did you kill Eberson or Higden?”

“That’s absurd.”

“Not this evening, it isn’t. At the least, weren’t you worried that one of the people you were meeting with might be a killer?”

“That’s absurd, too.”

“You might need to change your absurd index meter or get a new one.”

“The old guard killed them.”

“Who?”

“Proof will come out. There is much more to be said. No one will trust you. No one likes you.” I said, “Blow it out your ass.”

She picked up her coat. “Unless you intend to physically restrain me, I’m leaving.”

I didn’t attempt to stop her.

48

Spandrel wasn’t to be found.

I ran into Morgan Adair. He was in his coat and hat. “What’s up?” he asked.

“Deceit and murder.”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

My upset must have shown on my face. I asked, “Have you seen Spandrel?”

“I think she went home.”

I said, “I’ve got to find her. I’ll tell you about it later.”

I passed darkened empty classrooms. I couldn’t get a handle on my emotions. I was almost dizzy with anger. Through the window of my classroom door, I could see moonlight filling the room. The full moon was rising. I’d turned out the lights when I left. I entered. The door clicked shut behind me. I reached for the light switch.

A voice called, “Stop.”

Mabel Spandrel sat in the chair behind my desk. She held a gun pointed at my chest.

She said, “Stand there.” She waved the gun toward the front of the classroom. I moved carefully to where she
pointed. I wound up in front of the windows with my back to the moon. Shouting would be useless. No one was on this floor. I’d be dead before the echoes died.

I said, “This whole thing was about me being gay?”

“No,” she said. “You just don’t get it, do you?”

“Maybe you can explain it.”

“We have a few minutes. We need to wait until everyone is out of the building.”

Would it be long enough for Scott to get here, realize something was wrong, and come looking?

I said, “You’re going to kill me. Did you kill the others?”

“No. I’m not sure who did those. No, right now, I just want to get even with you. You’ve cost me my job, my career, my husband, my kids.”

“It would be nice to think I accomplished that,” I said. “You ruined your life all by yourself. While that does please me after what you tried to do to me, I can’t take credit for it.”

“Don’t get snotty, motherfucker.”

“How did I accomplish all that?” I asked.

“The scandal about the test scores is going to come out. I don’t know who you suborned in that office. They are a tight-lipped bunch. I don’t know why they’re so loyal to you.”