School's Out for Murder (Schooled in Murder Book 2) (3 page)

Gangly-Arms turned back at the last moment to say, "I'm sorry you had to be the one to find the victim. Again." And then he was lost in the crowd of uniformed officers doing whatever needed doing at such a horrific scene.

Emily hadn't realized she was standing motionless, just staring off into space, her mind filled with thoughts of the mayor, Maclaine, and Tad, until she felt Gabby wrap an arm around her shoulders and nudge her forward. "You've done all you can here tonight," she said. "Let's get you home. Do you have your car?"

It took Emily several seconds to even process Gabby's question. Her car. Her beloved PT Cruiser had been totaled in the accident last fall. She now drove a peacock-colored Nissan Versa Note, which she loved almost as much as her PT, but not quite. Had she driven her car? "No," she finally answered Gabby. "No, I told Tad I would catch a ride with you when he left with…" She was appalled at the tears that filled her eyes. Surely she wasn't crying over Tad helping a colleague in distress? No, it had to be the events of the whole evening and her own exhaustion.

"I'll drive you," Gabby said firmly and steered her in the direction of her own minivan.

"What about Greg and the girls?" Emily asked dazedly, following along behind Gabby like a lost puppy.

"He came straight here from work. They took his truck home. Come on, in you go." Gabby was using that crooning voice she used when the twins were especially tired. Emily vaguely wondered why she found it so soothing when she was twenty-seven, not three. And then she quit thinking at all, simply watching the streetlights as Gabby drove toward her duplex. When she no longer recognized the way home, she roused herself enough to ask, "Where are we going?"

"Where else?" Gabby asked, pulling into their favorite late-night ice cream place.

"I love you. Have I told you that lately?" Emily perked up.

"Nope. But you can tell me by paying," Gabby joked. And just like that, Emily found a small bit of her faith in humanity restored. Murders might happen, people might hate one another enough to commit such violence, but there was good in the world as well. Emily was blessed with a wonderful family and an exceptional best friend. What better way to celebrate that than with huge caramel sundaes?

By the time they had licked the last drop from their red plastic spoons, Emily was ready to talk. She began with, "Thanks."

Gabby smiled and gave her a shoulder nudge. "Anytime. You'd do the same for me." And she would. Thus, the reason for their friendship lasting through the years. "What are you thinking?" Gabby asked her.

Emily winced. She hated to admit what was really troubling her. "I know I should be worrying about Mayor McBain and what happened to her, or about all the students and parents I will have to console and deal with tomorrow, but my mind keeps going back to Maclaine. Of course I feel bad for her. I know Janice McBain was more like her mother than an aunt, but I have to wonder—why turn to Tad? I mean, they have a lot in common, and he has been helping her get settled in at Ellington High, but is there something more that I've been missing?"

Gabby gave her the "mom stare" and Emily felt herself shrink under its force. "What?" she asked defensively.

"Emily Grace Taylor," Gabby said. "I'm disappointed in you. You know darn well that Tad worships the ground you walk on. He has never done anything to make you doubt his trustworthiness. So what gives?"

Emily wadded up her napkin and tossed her plastic ice cream container in the trash. "Insecurity, I guess. I mean, look at Maclaine! She's gorgeous and skinny, and they have that whole math thing going on, and I'm just, well…me."

"And 'you' is perfect," Gabby told her.

Emily rolled her eyes. Gabby could not possibly understand the insecurity of knowing you had a few pounds to lose. She was svelte and gorgeous, what with her huge brown eyes and luxuriant dark curls, and she was the mother of twins, for Pete's sake! Sometimes life just wasn't fair.

Ignoring her eye roll, Gabby fired up the minivan and headed toward Emily's duplex—

for real, this time. Gabby and Emily spent the short drive debating who all might have hated Mayor McBain. Unfortunately, as an outspoken and controversial political figure in their small town, the list was fairly long. But did hate extend to murder?

Pulling into Emily's drive, Gabby made her promise to call first thing in the morning, or earlier, if she needed anything, and headed home to her family. Emily took in the dark night sky studded with stars. A light breeze was moving the tops of the trees and cicadas droned in the darkness. It was a beautiful night, despite the horror she had encountered under the bright lights of the carnival. As she unlocked her front door, she heard the soft sound of voices drifting from the back patio of her shared duplex. Her first instinct was to let herself in quietly so as not to disturb the couple next door, but then she heard Helen call out, "Emily?"

"It's me," Emily called back, turning the key in her lock.

"Come on back. It's a gorgeous night," Helen called.

Not seeing a gracious way to decline, Emily circled their duplex to find Helen and her new love interest, Richard Barnes, seated in cushy chairs, sharing a glass of wine by the fire pit. Helen tipped the bottle her way, but Emily shook her head. Her favorite beverage was cold and caffeinated, which probably accounted for the extra padding on her hips. "There's cold Dr. Pepper in the fridge," Helen laughed. Deciding that might help her headache, Emily stepped into the kitchen to grab one and then sunk into an empty seat on the patio.

"How's the carnival going?" Helen asked, the light from the fire reflected in her dancing eyes.

Emily hesitated. Of course they didn't know what had transpired that evening. Helen looked so happy and relaxed there in front of her fire that Emily hated to be the one to tell them the bad news. Helen had already been through so much the past year when she'd been kidnapped and framed for Coach Layton's murder. And while Emily had found her and the real killer in time to save Helen's life, the trauma she had been through had taken its toll. The once energetic, athletic woman—the counselor the students adored and Emily's mom's best friend—had not bounced back quickly. For months, she had been quiet and timid, easily startled and afraid of her own shadow. She had even given up her biggest passion—running. But thanks to the caring attentions of Richard Barnes, a fellow teacher at Ellington and formerly one of Emily's least favorite people on the planet, she had finally begun to resemble her old cheerful self. Emily had even seen her out jogging a few times, but always with Barnes close behind. It still floored Emily that an attraction could exist between this unlikely pair, but seeing the happiness and peace that exuded from Helen, Emily couldn't help but revise her opinion of Barnes from rodent to at least a less-annoying pest. Maybe a squirrel….

Barnes was watching her closely now, and Emily tried not to squirm, afraid he could see into her thoughts. He broke the silence with a single word: "Well?"

"Well, what?" Emily asked, playing innocent. She didn't want to bring news of another murder investigation to Helen's peaceful evening, but she doubted Barnes would let her off the hook that easily.

"You'd make a lousy poker player, Taylor. Something's happened. What is it?"

Helen was immediately on the alert, sitting up straight, her fingers white-knuckled as she gripped the chair arms. Emily hated the hunted look she saw in her friend's eyes. She decided it would be better all-around if Helen heard the news from her. She cleared her throat and then quietly reported the evening's events in as calm a voice as she could manage. The strain had her headache stabbing at the back of her eyes with a vengeance. When she concluded with Maclaine's exit with Tad, she let out a huge sigh and drank deeply of her icy soda.

Helen's face was white and pinched-looking, but Emily was relieved to see her eyes looked clear and focused, rather than haunted and afraid. Barnes was holding her hand tightly, and for once, Emily wasn't repulsed by the sight. The three of them sat in silence for a few moments, absorbing the information and thinking through its repercussions.

Barnes spoke first. "What will happen with the carnival? Will it be shut down due to the investigation?"

"I'm not sure," Emily answered. "Gangly-Arms said they were only closing it early tonight. He didn't mention shutting it down tomorrow. I guess I should've asked."

"Gangly-Arms?" Helen questioned, and then gave a slight chuckle. "I assume you mean Detective Welks. He was so kind to me last fall, when…" She cleared her throat. "The poor young man does have rather unfortunately long arms, doesn't he?"

Emily snorted out a laugh, sending Dr. Pepper spattering. It felt good to let out some of her pent-up tension and was surprised when even Barnes joined in. Emily wondered if he'd still be laughing if she told them that she thought he looked like a rat. That had her laughing even harder.

Once they'd settled down, and Emily mopped up her sprayed soda, the talk turned to who might have had it out for the mayor. There were the same speculations about political concerns that she and Gabby had discussed, but Barnes brought a new idea to the table. "Do you think that our Superintendent Johnson could be under suspicion? He and Mayor McBain have certainly exchanged some heated words about the school carnival lately."

Emily frowned. "Surely no one would believe that he would be upset enough about the carnival to kill her over it!"

"You never know what people will believe," Helen murmured. People who had known her for years had still had their doubts as to whether or not she killed Coach Layton. It was a sobering reminder.

Emily stood and stretched. "I guess we'll know more tomorrow. I'm working the early shift at the English booth, and it's been a long evening. I'm going to head to bed."

Helen and Barnes both said their good-byes, and Emily trudged back around to her own front door. After double-checking her windows and locks, she took a long, hot shower and then crawled into bed with her journal. She hoped that writing down all the events of the evening would make things seem clearer in her head. But it didn't. She sent up a prayer that the killer would be found quickly, hopefully bringing some measure of comfort to the family. She also prayed that she would not let her jealousy get the best of her.

The sound of her alarm brought Emily out of a nightmare in which she wandered through a maze of mirrors, tripping over dead bodies at every turn. In her reflections, she could see that she was wearing a pair of turquoise patent leather shoes. Emily tried to kick them off, but they seemed to be glued to her feet. She ran as fast as she could to escape the maze, but every turn was a dead-end. She had never been so glad to be awoken by her alarm in her life. After slapping it silent, she sat up and took in her rumpled sheets. She didn't feel like she'd gotten any sleep at all, but she was due at the carnival by 9 a.m.

She made it by 9:10 a.m., which was practically a record since 'late' was her middle name. The fairgrounds where the carnival was held were still pretty quiet at this time of day. The rides wouldn't start until 10 a.m., so most of the activity taking place centered around the rows of booths and food carts setting up for the day. Due to the ongoing police investigation, the area where the Whac-A-Mole booth had been set up was now cordoned off and swarmed with official-looking personnel. The English department booth's necessary game equipment had been moved to a new booth at the other end of the row of games. Emily began pulling up and securing the heavy canvas curtains that covered the booth when it was not in use. She was checking their stock of stuffed ravens when she heard Tad calling her name from the front of the booth. She took her time responding. She had tried to convince herself that she was not upset, since she had woken up to find four missed calls from him, but the truth was, she
was
hurt that he had so quickly agreed to play Maclaine's hero last night. Before she could decide how she wanted to handle things, Tad had moved around the front counter and joined her in the storage area at the back of their booth.

"How're you?" he asked softly.

Emily didn't answer, but she did turn to look him in the eye. He looked exhausted, and while she felt sorry for what he had probably had to deal with the night before, she still felt slighted. She didn't want to seem selfish, though, so she asked instead, "More importantly, how's Maclaine? And Larry?"

Tad scrubbed his hands over his face, and his shoulders slumped. "They're not great, Em. Mayor McBain was like a mother to Maclaine, and she was Larry's world. At least they have each other. But I asked about you." Tad reached out to hold her, but she sidestepped.

Grabbing an armful of stuffed ravens, she carried them to the front of the booth. "I'm okay. Just tired. I don't want to be focusing on my own devastation at stumbling over another dead body. Maclaine and Larry are the ones we should be worried about. I'm glad you could be there for them." When he just stared at her, the doubt in his eyes evident, she added. "Really. I'm fine."

"I wanted to come by as soon as I got Maclaine home and settled, but—"

"Ms. Taylor?" someone called from a distance. Emily turned to see Rylan, the Romeo from last night, making his way toward the booth.

"I have to deal with this," she told him. "We'll talk later." She softened the words with a touch on his arm.

"Okay, I'll hold you to that. I need to get over to the Mathletes booth anyway." He headed out, stopping to talk to the teen boy.

"I hope it's okay if I make up that extra shift today, Ms. Taylor," Rylan said, as Tad walked away. "I figured you might need the help, what with the murder and all." Emily could see both curiosity and fear in the boy's eyes, but obviously the fear wasn't great enough to keep him from showing up at the booth.

"Thanks, Rylan. I appreciate the help. Michelle and Jacqueline will be here to help out by 10, and then I have Josh and Nicole working the second shift."

"I can work as long as you need me," Rylan assured her. And that turned out to be a good thing because as soon as the booths were open and the rides underway, the carnival was packed.

The carnival usually ran from Thursday evening to Saturday evening. As a long-standing tradition, many parents of young kids used a vacation day from their jobs to help out at the carnival on the Friday after school let out for the summer. Even with those extra parents and kids, Emily was surprised at the large turnout. It seemed as if everyone in Ellington had shown up, and most of them were making their way by the English booth. While the extra crowd meant more business, Emily felt discouraged by the fact that people clearly wanted a chance to see the scene of the crime. Emily's heart broke a little that Mayor McBain had achieved more notoriety through her death than she had been able to accomplish in life. The irony that the mayor had hoped to shut down this very carnival was not lost on her either. She had heard it had been a long and heated debate over whether or not to shut the carnival down completely, but in the end, the longtime denizens of Ellington took precedence over the fairly new police detective's recommendations. The area in which the murder had occurred was blocked off and giant tarps shielded the area from view. Still, people craned their necks, trying to get a glimpse of the activity inside.

As the crowd grew and the stuffed ravens flew off their shelves, Emily did her best to ignore the gossip swirling through the air like snow. When she caught a snippet of conversation between Michelle and Rylan, however, she stopped to listen. "You know that new math teacher in the junior high?" Michelle was saying. Rylan grunted in the affirmative, so Michelle continued, "Well, my dad says she's Mayor McBain's niece, so she'll inherit everything. And you know the mayor was totally loaded."

"What about her husband?" Rylan asked, and Emily nodded, wondering the exact same thing.

"Oh, no," Michelle said with relish, her heavily mascaraed eyes wide. "Everyone knows her husband was having an affair with a local dentist. The mayor changed her will to leave everything to Ms. Forrester. She'll be rich! I bet she doesn't even bother to keep her position at Ellington High."

"If she's rich, who could blame her?" Rylan answered, before turning to hand a mallet to a young boy with a sticky grin. As he explained how to whack the plastic moles that would pop up out of the holes, Emily took the opportunity to corner Michelle.

"I heard you talking with Rylan," she began, but Michelle interrupted her.

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Taylor. I wasn't trying to cause any harm. I was just repeating what I heard my parents say. It's way sad that Mayor McBain had to die like that."

"Yes," Emily said, "it's
way
sad. But I was wondering about her husband. Did you say he was having an affair?" Emily knew she should avoid speaking with the students about this, but she felt an urgent need to understand what Micelle had overheard from her parents.

"Yep. My dad says it's common knowledge that he's been having an affair with that new dentist in town. I can't remember her name. I think it's Amy something?"

"Amelia?" Emily questioned, her stomach sinking to somewhere around her knees.

"That's it!" Michelle bobbed her head, her riot of curls bouncing around her cheeks.

"Thanks," Emily said, leaving the girl to help Rylan with the new crowd of kiddos.
Slipping to the back of the booth, Emily pulled out her cell phone and speed-dialed Gabby.

"I was wondering when you'd call," Gabby said by way of a greeting.

"Sorry, I was running late as usual," Emily answered. "But get this, a couple of the students were just talking about how Larry McBain was having an affair and so the mayor changed her will, leaving everything to Maclaine."

"Wow." Gabby's voice was hushed, so Emily figured two little girls with big ears were nearby. "That might be a motive for murder."

"Yeah," Emily agreed. "But that's not the half of it. Guess who he was supposedly having an affair with?"

"I honestly don't have a clue," Gabby replied. "I've only talked to Larry McBain a handful of times, and to be honest, he struck me as a man who was more than willing to coast along on his wife's coattails. Why would he jeopardize a good thing?"

"No idea. But the problem is, Gabby, we know the person he was supposedly cheating on his wife with."

"Who?" Gabby asked.

"Amelia Franklin." Emily felt absolutely sick to her stomach even speaking the words out loud. Amelia had been a year ahead of Gabby and Emily in school, but she had always included them in anything the upperclassmen were doing. They had all remained in touch over the years, and only recently had Amelia returned home to open her own dentistry practice.

Gabby let out a groan, to which Emily could completely relate. "Amelia?" Gabby croaked. "There's no way!"

"I'm with you," Emily answered, "but if rumors are circulating about her and Larry, she may need a friend or two to lean on."

"I'll call her right now. Can you get away for lunch?" Gabby asked.

Emily smiled. One of the many reasons she loved Gabby was that she was always the first to stick up for the underdog. "I think so. Just let me know the plans. And Gabby? Thanks."

"For what?"

"Just for being you." Emily answered and hung up.

Her first thought was to go talk things over with Tad. If he had been with Maclaine and Larry last night, maybe he had some insight into what was going on. She was stepping out of the booth to head over to talk to him when Principal Matthews showed up, looking upset. "Emily, we need to talk," he said.

Unused to seeing him so flustered, Emily hurried with him to a nearby bench. "What's wrong?"

Principal Matthews pulled out a crisp linen handkerchief to wipe at his forehead. Emily noticed that he had misbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt, and he was missing his customary tie. Something had to be seriously wrong—besides the murder, of course.

"I just heard from Detective Welks of the Ellington PD. He is still pushing to shut the carnival down completely. After the unfortunate incident last night, he says it's not safe to keep the carnival running. After all, we do have a murderer on the loose."

Emily felt that calling the mayor's murder an "unfortunate incident" was putting it a little mildly, but she let that part go. Instead she focused on the last part of the principal's statement. "I don't think we have to worry about some serial killer here. Obviously, someone had it out for Mayor McBain. I'm sure the carnival is perfectly safe."

"Exactly!" Principal Matthews exclaimed. "The school depends on the revenue from this carnival. I know Mayor McBain wanted it shut down to avoid any competition with 'Old Home Days,' so it would appear she's getting her wish granted posthumously."

Emily winced. She was pretty sure this is
not
how the mayor would have wanted things to shake out. She understood the principal's concern, but she wasn't sure what he wanted her to do. "How can I help?" she finally asked the flustered man.

"I'm glad you asked, Emily. I know that during the incident last fall—"
What was his deal with referring to murders as 'incidents'?
"—you did some work with Detective Welks."

"Yes," Emily conceded, wondering where this conversation was headed.

"So, I was wondering—um…that is, if you don't mind…"

"Yes?"

"If you might go and speak to him on the school's behalf. Make him see how important this school carnival is to our bottom line." The principal looked at her with such hope in his eyes that Emily knew she couldn't possibly refuse.

"Sure, I'd be happy to. I have to run by the station to sign my statement anyway."

"Wonderful!" he exclaimed, some of the strain easing from his face. "Let me know what they say." And with that, the principal headed off to check on other booths with decidedly more spring in his step.

After checking with the group manning the booth to make sure they were all set, Emily headed to her vehicle. Buckling in, she decided that this stopping-by-the-station-to-sign-a- statement thing was becoming quite the habit. Maybe she should write her own police procedural mystery. She'd certainly had enough firsthand experience the past year. Shaking her head, she decided that the last thing she wanted to write about was murder. There was enough of that in real life. She'd rather write a lighthearted romance, one where the hero sweeps the heroine off her feet. And speaking of heroes, she promised herself as she pulled up to the station, as soon as she had things straightened out here and had reported back to Principal Matthews, she was going to find Tad and sit him down for a long talk. She understood he was the kind of guy who would help out anyone in trouble. That's all that was going on with Maclaine. Her jealousy was completely unfounded—laughable, really. What she and Tad had was special, she thought as she pulled open the heavy front doors. Maclaine might need his help, but she would never come between her and Tad. It had been absurd of her to even worry about such a thing. Emily was chuckling to herself at her own stupidity as she made her way to the front desk. But her laughter died in her throat when she spotted Maclaine coming out of the interview area—with Tad at her side.