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Shandra parked her Jeep in front of the Lawrence house. The car that had followed her the other night sat in the driveway alongside the same pickup.
She stepped out of her vehicle as the front door opened.
Mrs. Lawrence had a purse and keys in her hands. She glanced out toward the street and frowned. “What are you doing here?” she asked, not taking a step off her porch.
“I’d like to talk to Lenny.” Shandra strode across the lawn and up to the woman.
“Why?”
“Did you know that Ms. Tait was murdered yesterday?”
“We heard something on the news. The kids are moping around. I was going to go to the store and get ingredients for sundaes.” The woman’s fiery demeanor sputtered today under the mourning of another teacher.
“Would you mind if I talk to Lenny and Lana while you go to the store?” Shandra was going to talk to Lenny one way or the other. The boy was always popping up around the school and seeing things.
“I don’t like it, but I also don’t like how many teachers are showing up dead. I want answers as much as my kids and the other parents.” She nodded and opened the door.
The two teenagers sat on the couch staring at music videos on the television.
“Ms. Higheagle wants to visit with you while I go to the store.” Mrs. Lawrence nodded to a chair and left, closing the door behind her.
Lana gave her a weak smile. “Did you hear about Ms. Tait?”
“I did. That’s why I wanted to come visit with you. See how you’re doing.” Shandra sat in the chair and shifted to face the couch and the two quiet students.
“I’m okay. Still can’t believe Ms. Tait, a counselor, would take her own life.” Lana shook her head as she stared down at her knees. Her fingers played with the frayed edge of the hole in her pants.
“She didn’t take her life. Someone else did.”
Lenny’s gaze shot to her. The tips of his ears turned red.
Lana gasped. “Another one?”
“We, Detective Greer and I, believe that Ms. Tait had figured out who killed Mr. Huntley.” She didn’t wait for any reaction just trudged on. “And we know about the Rid the Scum online chat group and Ms. Tait’s pranks on Mr. Huntley. My biggest fear is that a student is behind all the deaths.” She studied the brother and sister. “I really don’t want to find out that either of you had a part in it.”
Lana leaned forward but Lenny squirmed.
“I helped Ms. Tait with some of the pranks on Mr. Huntley, but I didn’t know about the online chat other than overhearing a couple of people talking about it.” Lana faced her brother. “You should tell her what you know.”
“Lenny, both Detective Greer and I know that you followed me the night I visited the Langes. Did you take the clay head from my Jeep, and then put it and the shredded online chat on his porch?” Shandra reached out a hand. “I don’t believe you had anything to do with the murders, but I do believe you might know more than you’ve told us so far.”
“Lenny, do you? You are always wandering around the school and talking to everyone.” Lana poked her brother’s arm. “You’re going to make a great investigative reporter someday.”
“Lenny, what do you know?” Shandra tried to appear supportive while wishing she could squeeze the information out of the young man.
“I knew about the online chat. After being part of it, purely to know what was going on, I realized what Miss Chevious was trying to do. She wanted someone to take out Mr. Huntley, AKA, The Scum.” He shrugged, raising his hands. He had a band aid on a finger. “The conversations didn’t sound like anyone was taking her serious but then when he was killed, I started rereading what all had been said. There was one person who seemed overly eager to make The Scum pay. That’s when I shredded the online chat to give to the police.”
“Did you make the clay head that I found in Travis’s cubby hole?” Shandra asked.
“No. I don’t know where it came from, but I saw you take it out and put it in the box. I figured it had to mean something that’s why I followed you to see where you were going. While you were in Boyd and Travis’s house, I logged onto the chat and someone in there was saying how they were sure that Travis, the retard, had killed Mr. Huntley.”
Shandra shook her head. “That chat had become vicious.” If she could get her hands on Rachel right now, she’d give her a lecture on common decency.
“When your dog came running at me, I left but circled around because I didn’t see you take the box into the house. I wanted to make sure Detective Greer found out about the online chat, but I didn’t want anyone to know I did it. I have a reputation as someone you can tell anything, and it won’t leak. That’s how I keep my eyes and ears on everything.”
“Including all the women and girls Mr. Huntley harassed?” Shandra glanced over at his sister.
Lana wore a frown.
“When I discovered Principal Pawner wasn’t doing anything about it, I figured nothing could be done.” Lenny gave his sister an apologetic wince.
“The day Mr. Huntley died, did you see or hear anything unusual?”
“Mr. Huntley chewed on Mr. Shepard, but that seemed to be a daily thing. I think because Mr. Shepard broke up a lot of Mr. Huntley’s harassing the girls. Ms. Miller told Huntley off after Travis ran out of the Art Quad. You saw Boyd put Huntley up against the wall. That was epic!”
Shandra agreed in her head but on the outside, she raised an eyebrow.
“Well, you know, someone finally standing up to the old pervert.” Lenny’s eyes gleamed.
“After lunch, before Ms. Miller found the body, did you see anything?” Shandra willed the young man to think of something.
“No. I was in charge of showing the class how to do a process on the computer. That’s when Ms. Miller left.”
“How long was she gone?” Shandra didn’t think petite Gertrude could have swung anything hard enough to have caused the damage but one never knew.
“She left about twenty minutes into class and never came back. We all found the back door locked when we went to leave after class and that’s when we learned about Mr. Huntley.” He shook his head. “Ms. Miller wouldn’t hurt him. She can barely move some of the equipment in the room around.”
“So somewhere between the time class started and twenty minutes later, Mr. Huntley was killed.” Shandra tapped her finger against her chin. That wasn’t a very long time frame to get a prop from the prop room, confront and kill the victim, and return the prop all without being seen.
“What about yesterday afternoon. Did you see Ms. Tait?” Shandra decided to move on.
“I did. I was finishing my lunch when she walked in. I went over to ask her something and she walked right by me as if she didn’t see me.” Lana’s bottom lip came out in a pout.
“I was told she had a doctor’s appointment in the morning and wouldn’t be in in the afternoon.” Shandra waited to see if either made a comment.
Lenny jumped in. “She didn’t have a doctor’s appointment.”
“How do you know that?” Shandra asked.
“Because I heard her tell Ms. Miller she was going to get to the bottom of all the outlandish behavior at the school.”
“When did you hear this?” Shandra had to give the young man credit. He definitely had his ear to the pavement when it came to the school.
“The afternoon before. I heard her tell Mrs. Jones that she wouldn’t be in tomorrow morning, she had an appointment to take care of the problems at school.” Lenny shrugged. “I figured she was going to the school board. That’s what mom does when she’s unhappy with what’s happening at the school.”
Shandra studied Lenny. Had Nancy gone to the school board? Mr. Pawner had already sent in his resignation, or so he said. He would be the only person other than the killer who would be threatened by a visit to the school board. Especially considering how he hired Rachel.
The door opened, and Mrs. Lawrence walked in carrying a grocery bag. “I have all the sprinkles, nuts, and toppings you two like.” Her gaze landed on Shandra.
“I’ll let you enjoy the rest of your Saturday.” She stood and faced the twins. “Thank you for talking with me. I hope we get this all cleared up soon. I want you to feel safe at school.” Shandra motioned for Mrs. Lawrence to follow her.
At the door, she asked, “Who on the school board do you think a teacher would go talk to?”
Mrs. Lawrence studied her a moment then said, “Mr. Tulley and Mrs. Simon. They are the two who get things done.”
“Thank you.” Shandra exited the house and glanced at her phone. It was nearing noon. She texted Ryan. Do you have time for lunch?
Within seconds came the reply, Meet you at the deli.
She climbed into her Jeep and headed to the east side of town. The deli was two blocks from the Sheriff’s Department.
~*~
Ryan sat in a cozy kitchen in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jones. Kathy was the other counselor at Warner High and had the office next door to Ms. Tait.
“I’m sorry to bother you on a Saturday and after such emotional news,” Ryan said, picking up the coffee cup the woman had placed in front of him when she invited him into the kitchen.
“I still can’t believe someone killed Nancy. I found it hard to believe she’d commit suicide, as the news first reported but someone killing her...” Mrs. Jones shook her head as tears glistened in her eyes.
“Did you speak with Ms. Tait yesterday?”
“Only briefly. She’d said her meeting in the morning had been successful.” Mrs. Jones sipped her coffee.
“Meeting in the morning? I thought she had a doctor’s appointment?” Ryan was feeling lost.
“No, that’s what she told nosey Rachel. She had a meeting with someone on the school board. She was going to put an end to all the shenanigans going on at the school.” Mrs. Jones nudged a plate of cookies toward Ryan.
He ignored the treats and focused on the woman. “Do you know what shenanigans and who she talked to?”
“I don’t know who she talked to, but she and I had been told about this online chat where kids talked of doing things to the teachers they didn’t like, and she thought it might have had something to do with Mr. Huntley’s death.” Mrs. Jones covered her mouth with a hand. “My word. Do you think that’s why someone killed her?”
Ryan was having the same thoughts. He needed to discover who Ms. Tait talked with from the school board and hope forensics had come up with an image on the surveillance tapes.